[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 Twenty-Two: Just Keep Swimming
Taehyung had a knack of making friends, a talent even. Sometimes, when Jeongguk stood next to him in the school hallways, he didn't know which students around them Taehyung knew and which ones he didn't. Sometimes a guy or girl he didn't even know would walk up to him and start talking to him. Some of them he sat next to in classes, some he was doing projects with, some were on the swim-team or friends with people on the swim-team. Others he had no idea how they knew him.
Taehyung's knack of building friendships didn't mean he only had shallow ones either. On the contrary, he was able to get to the root of a lot of people very quickly. He could read people, even the closed books––and he did so almost effortlessly.
How did he do it? He listened. And he didn't listen in the obvious way good listeners did. He didn't sit silent and let others dominate the conversation, he took an active part in it. While he heard everything you said, on top of that, he added deeper meaning to it. He didn't stifle your words with hums of approval, he added layers to them with charming jokes, questions, a gaze through which the told you he understood.
He understood that to listen was not always to stay silent.
Which was why, instantly, he made friends with Seokjin. Not that it was difficult making friends with Seokjin.
When Jin pulled up in his mother's car, Jeongguk was expecting to find her sitting in the front seat with him, so he followed Taehyung into the backseat. When he saw that there was no one in the front passenger seat he felt silly as if he should have known to check.
"Wait where's Eomma?" he said.
"She didn't want to come. I left her knitting in the living-room." Jin glanced behind his shoulder. "How come you guys are sitting in the back? It makes me feel like a taxi driver."
When Jeongguk shifted, Jin lifted his hand to stop him. "I'm just kidding, Guk."
"Oh," Jeongguk said. How silly of him.
Jin started the car and pulled out of the school's parking lot. He looked in the rear-view mirror. "So, you're Taehyung, right?"
"You know my name?"
"Mmm, Jeongguk's talked about you."
Taehyung looked over to Jeongguk, donning a smug grin. "Has he now?"
Jeongguk punched him in the arm. "I was just telling Jin how much of an ass you are."
Jin ignored them. "I also know your mother," he said.
"You do?"
"She helped work on some of the costumes in Reign. One of the best designers I've ever worked with."
