[EDITING]
When Jeon Jeongguk's sister gets engaged to his friend's brother, almost everything changes.
Desperate to hold onto a fragile friendship, Jeongguk is willing to get himself into sticky situations--even to the point of ruining his sister's...
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Chapter Four: The Swimmer
Jeongguk's friendship with Taehyung was very different from his friendship with Jimin. Whereas he had known Jimin his entire life, he had known Taehyung for only four years. Before high-school, Taehyung hadn't even lived in Seoul.
His friendship with Jimin was the result of growing up together, in kind of the same way siblings are friends. Jimin was something stable in his life and Jeongguk considered him as much a part of his family as Jeongyeon. They had experienced so many things together and had grown so used to each other Jeongguk often felt he knew what Jimin was thinking before he even said it aloud.
But while he was close to Jimin like a brother, he was close to Taehyung in a completely different way. He almost didn't know how to explain it. There was a sense of excitement to his friendship with Taehyung, something fresh in a way that he could never really guess what would happen when they were together. Every day with him was an adventure. In a way, they were a lot more similar than he and Jimin were. They both brought out a sense of youthful playfulness in each other. He almost felt a little more alive when he was with Taehyung, and it was one of his most cherished feelings.
But their friendship was far from being just a breezy one, Taehyung brought out a side in him most couldn't, not even Jimin. With Taehyung he felt he could open up a little more, he felt relaxed and could be vulnerable with him without even noticing. Jeongguk was a private person, but with Taehyung his walls would crumble down. Taehyung had only been in his life for four years, and still, he knew almost as much about him as Jimin did. There was something about him. He was a good listener.
He was different from most people he knew. He had an easy charm to him, in a way that he really seemed to care about everybody. He had many friends and was able to get close to a lot of people, which made it a little difficult to be his friend sometimes, as he was often busy with others. He was a flirt too, which sometimes got him into trouble, especially before he had started dating Mina. He had been so popular with the girls he'd gotten love confessions from left and right, whether it'd be love-notes in his locker or in person. He'd never been good at rejecting people and sometimes he'd gotten himself into a situation where he would go out with a person he didn't even like romantically, just because he didn't want to hurt their feelings. He was an affectionate person, both with his girlfriend and his friends. He loved hugs and he was big on touch. He was very comfortable in his own skin, something which made him all the more desirable with the girls, even though they didn't dare look at him now. They wouldn't mess around with Mina's boy.
Jeongguk made his way to the swimming hall. He hadn't been there for a while, as he didn't have swimming lessons anymore. Now he was only there when Taehyung was competing, but it had been a while since he had; there was a competition coming up in a few weeks.
He walked through the changing room, took off his shoes and socks, placed them in one of the lockers and headed out towards the pool. The swimming hall was a big room and his steps echoed around while he walked. On one side of the pool were stands, where an audience could sit and watch competitions. The walls were white and the windows were tall, so the room was bright, almost as if the pool was outside. There was a strong smell of chlorine in the air, but Jeongguk didn't mind it, he had always enjoyed swimming. He had good memories in the water.
