THE TRANSFER STUDENT

The Party, Pt. 3

Silence.

Taehyung let Jisoo's question sink in. Who did he have a crush on? Jisoo already knew the answer to this question, didn't she? Then Taehyung understood. She wasn't asking that question for herself, she was asking it for him.

She was helping him... or so she thought.

Just a few days ago, Taehyung had spilled his secret to Jisoo - the fact that he was in love with Jieun. He said he wasn't going to act on it, why was Jisoo doing this? It's not like he wanted Jieun to know-

He turned to his left, glancing at Jieun, who was looking at him with her big round eyes. His eyes shifted to Jungkook, who was seated right next to Jieun. He looked calm and he raised his eyebrows when Taehyung looked at him.

Taehyung recalled what had happened in that bus a while back, when Jungkook and Taehyung had left Jieun's house together.

"You like Jieun, too. Don't you?"

Jungkook had asked Taehyung this question when Taehyung had asked him if he had feelings for Jieun. The "too" gave him away - that confirmed Taehyung's suspicions immediately, that Jungkook indeed had feelings for Jieun.

Taehyung's smile faded from his face momentarily.

Jungkook watched him carefully, not uttering a word.

"What?" Taehyung laughed it off, trying to clear the atmosphere in the air. "What makes you think so?"

Jungkook raised his eyebrows.

Taehyung stared right back, his smile fading slightly.

Normal people would probably speak by now, to avoid the ensuing awkwardness, but Jungkook just stared right back.

Taehyung continued staring. It had suddenly escalated into a staring competition, before neither of them realised.

Finally Taehyung burst into laughter. A very awkward laughter, but Jungkook couldn't tell.

"What?"

"That's ridiculous," Taehyung said. "The fact that you'd think I have a crush on Jieun."

"You don't?" Jungkook's facial muscles seemed to relax a little.

Taehyung observed him a little more, then nodded.

Jungkook stared him for a little longer.

"I swear - I don't."

"Okay."

That was how their conversation ended. The next time he encountered another crisis was when Jisoo had told him that she told Jieun about his crush on her... and they laughed about it. Taehyung couldn't admit it at that time, but it crushed him.

Maybe Jisoo could tell, even when he couldn't, that honestly, keeping his crush to himself was hard.

Taehyung's eyes shifted back to Jisoo, who gave him an assuring nod. Should he really do this? This was probably his only chance of confessing, but did he really want to? This confession could mean everything - the end of his friendship with Jungkook, the end of his friendship with Jieun, possibly even the end of F5...

"Taehyung!" Hoseok exclaimed, snapping Taehyung back to reality. "You sure are taking extremely long to think, aren't you! Quick, decide - Truth or Drink?"

Taehyung looked down at the glass of alcohol palced in front of him. It was either he said it now, or drank the glass of alcohol and forever held his peace. Was it his friendship with the gang he treasured so much... or expressing his feelings to a girl he had just met for less than half a year?

The answer seemed clear - for everyone's sake, no matter how hard it was, he should just keep his mouth shut.

"Tae? Are you okay?"

Taehyung turned his head, only to see Jieun looking at him with a concerned expression on her face. The same expression she had when he had run to her house late at night, asking her to help her get over his breakup - the same night she had told him that he should stop thinking so much about others and start thinking more about himself...

"I choose Truth," Taehyung made up his mind, not taking his eyes off Jieun. "I'll tell the truth."

"Okay," Hoseok clapped his hands excitedly. "Tell us her name! Our class? Our year? A senior?"

"It's not a senior," Taehyung swallowed hard. Was he really making the right decision? "She's from our year. And yes, she's from our class."

"Our class?!" Jackson exclaimed. "Oh my gosh, it can't still be Jennie, can it? Who is it? Tell us! I'm curious."

Jennie raised her eyebrows, looking genuinely concerned.

Taehyung shook his head, his eyes still looking at Jieun, who looked back at him with questioning eyes.

"It's not Jennie," Taehyung's throat felt dry. Maybe he shouldn't follow through...

"Who is it?" Jieun probed, with a smile. A smile that was so beautiful, so endearing-

"It's Jieun, Lee Jieun."