THE TRANSFER STUDENT

Loss and Lost, Pt. 6

Jungkook was thankful he had placed down that hot cup of tea on the table before talking to Jieun's father, because he was dead sure he'd have spilled it all over himself from that one question Jieun's father had asked him.

"I was asking about things between you and my daughter."

It wasn't that he wasn't able to answer that question, he just wasn't expecting it.

"Sorry?"

Mr Lee laughed. "Do you not understand my question? Do I have to phrase it in a more... understandable way?"

"No sir," Jungkook answered immediately. "Um, well..."

"Stop putting the poor boy in a spot, honey," Mrs Lee walked into the living room, carrying a tray of cut fruit which she placed on the coffee table. "Have some fruit, Jungkook."

Mrs Lee took a seat next to Mr Lee opposite Jungkook and Jungkook immediately felt like he was there as a son-in-law, meeting his girlfriend's parents for the first time. Well, it was scary.

"Thank you, auntie," Jungkook laughed nervously, reaching forward to grab some fruit as he was told.

"So what did I miss?" Mrs Lee glanced at her husband, before turning back to Jungkook. "I hope Jieun's dad wasn't giving you too much trouble."

"No, no-" Jungkook laughed. "Not at all."

"I was just asking him how things were going with our daughter," Mr Lee said matter-of-factly. "Is that too much?"

"Ya," Mrs Lee laughed, glancing at Jungkook. "Still, how can you ask so directly? How can you even be so sure if he likes her or not? You can't just assume things like that."

"Assuming?" Mr Lee turned to look at Jungkook. "Am I making false assumptions?"

"N-"

"I mean," Mr Lee interrupted before Jungkook could answer, turning back to his wife. "No guy would come look for a girl at this hour out of worry if he didn't like her, am I wrong?"

"Dear," Mrs Lee shook her head. "Times have changed. Youngsters nowadays do that for their friends even if they're not interested. Regardless of gender. You can't just use your standards to judge other people, am I right, Jungkook?"

"I-"

"Sure, times may have changed," Mr Lee argued. "But things like these don't change. You always say as a woman, you understand our daughter. So let me say this - as a guy, I think I understand Jungkook better."

"Please," Mrs Lee rolled her eyes. "I know Jungkook is a good boy and I'd love for him to be our daughter's boyfriend too, but honey, you can't just make assumptions like that..."

"It's okay to make assumptions," Jungkook interrupted softly, gently biting his lip as he spoke.

"...it's really not good to-" Mrs Lee stopped mid-sentence, turning to look at Jungkook with her eyes widened to twice their normal size. "Sorry, hun- what did you say?"

"I..." Jungkook sat up straight, looking directly at Jieun's parents. "Mr Lee, Mrs Lee, I really like Jieun. I just- I really, really like her."

~~~

"Taehyung?" Byulyi's eyes darted to Taehyung's left and almost gasped at the sight of Jisoo. "J-Jisoo? What are you both doing here? At this hour?"

"Ya!" Jisoo whispered under her breath. "This is what you meant by a favour? Wha-"

Taehyung turned to Jisoo, speaking loudly enough for both Byulyi and Jisoo to hear. "Jisoo-ah, do you mind waiting outside here for a while? Just give me a second-"