The sound of the teacher's voice calling his name made Jimin look at her with wide eyes, making him lose his train of thought. He's been spacing out, just looking at what was outside the window, seeing the trees dance gracefully as the wind blew, not really able to focus on anything in particular because that moment, he just felt lost. He was stuck in his own world thinking about what was going on in his life, wondering why he was torturing himself with questions he had no answers for.

By the time he made contact with her cold eyes, he knew something was wrong, judging from the dark look on her face, and the way her eyes looked like they were going to set the room on fire.

"If you feel like something's wrong, just tell me," she said, still with that stern look, earning everyone's attention and now all eyes were on him. Jimin would've thought she actually cared about his welfare just by hearing those words from her, but the words that came the next second felt like there was a blade splitting him, opening a nasty wound across his chest. "Are you depressed? Have you been eating? You haven't been eating, have you?"

Those words made a few people snigger at him, made a few of them roll their eyes, muttering under their breath, "Tsk, fatty," and Jimin didn't know if they did that just for fun, but he did know that they did it on purpose, to provoke him, and it hurt.

His heart shattered.

Here we go again.

It would've been better if she said it after class, when no one was around, but she just had to embarrass him in front of all those people, and now he was being judged again, and those set of eyes making him ten times more insecure and those side comments being thrown at him made him feel like utter crap once again.

If people thought that all teachers were better and were more civilized, they thought wrong; not all of them were mature, and though a good percentage of them were on the good side, this teacher giving Jimin dirty looks told him one thing: a large number of them proved to everyone that they can be just as annoying as those bullies, and they could even bully you even more if they wanted to because they had control over the students since they were the teachers, and just by that thought, of her taking advantage of her title as a teacher and treating him like that, Jimin's respect for her lessened and dove so deep that it was deeper than the ocean, and was, a few minutes ago, existing, but was now untraceable.

It felt like that time where he was placed on the spot when Yoongi and the others asked him to eat when they were in the cafeteria, but that was because they were worried and they seriously cared about his health, but if he had to compare both times, he'd say they weren't even mean at all and that this was just downright rude.

"You've lost weight..." she continued, and Jimin had that strong urge to say stop because she wasn't helping him out, and she was definitely not making the situation any better. In fact, more whispers and more hurtful words were filling his ears as his classmates continued to give him dirty looks, even dirtier than hers; the fact that she didn't even try her best to stop those who were obviously murmuring and talking bad about him made Jimin's heart drop to the floor, and she didn't do anything but step on it.

And he felt like dying.

With every passing second, a part of him died little by little.

"I think it's safe to say that you've been starving, considering the fact that you're behind everyone else in class and you've lost weight that quick," she judged him so fast, it literally hurt.

"Well, he should lose more weight then..." a guy pointed out, making a few of his followers laugh along with him, but Jimin ignored it.

It seemed as if everyone was against him, Jimin thought to himself, as he heard a few more people mocking him.

His teacher judged him without even knowing his side of the story, and it was as if she was blind because it was happening right in front of her, people bullying Jimin, making him starve himself, and there she was, too busy saying what was on her mind that she forgot what was happening right before her eyes, that bullying existed in class, and they were targeting him, and only him, and that look of her being so oblivious to the situation made Jimin think that the world really needed better people since she wasn't even teaching but rambling, digressing from the main topic, not even having that high of an EQ to get that he was in deep pain just by hearing those words escape from her filthy mouth.

What made it worse was the fact that all of them were there - Taehyung was there and Jimin could just imagine that grin coming off his face just hearing the teacher say all those things, and the younger might've been panicking inside by now because he wouldn't know what to do, and Jimin could just imagine himself being drowned in Taehyung's tight hugs because that's what he always does when he worries about him. Yoongi was there and he probably would've exploded if it weren't for Namjoon's patience, but even though they were equally blunt and just straightforward, they knew their limits, and they knew better than to scream at this teacher of theirs because they knew deep inside Jimin wouldn't want that. Hoseok and Jin were there as well, and Jimin could do nothing but feel embarrassed since he knew all too well those two would stop smiling and come up to him later on to make him feel better.

Jungkook was there.

And Jimin felt like a fool because he was supposed to be an example, and he was supposed to set an example and be strong for the younger one.

He wasn't supposed to look weak in front of this teacher.

So he decided to defend himself.

"I'm not starving myself," Jimin said, loud and clear, after addressing her name, and trying his best to fight the tears from falling down his cheeks because it reminded him of the letters he's been getting, and the person he's been wanting to meet wanted him to smile and not cry for those who didn't deserve his tears.

And Jimin wasn't going to cry.

Not now at least, in front of all those people.

In his heart, he knew he'd break into sobs once he'd see Jungkook later on in the day because whenever he was with the younger, he couldn't help but let his tears escape, though he didn't want to. Jungkook just understood him and that was more than enough for Jimin.

His silence spoke to Jungkook.

Deep inside him, he knew he'd cry in Jungkook's arms once again, and he knew the younger one would bring him in close without hesitation, without any doubt, and just let him forget that none of this ever happened, that none of this ever hurt his feelings. Jungkook would shush him as he'd sway him from side to side, and his breath in Jimin's ears would calm him down, his strong arms will be around him, would secure him in place, and his hands will be rested on his neck and he'd look Jimin in the eye and tell him he's special.

Jimin knew this without thinking twice because he knew Jungkook, and he'd do anything to make him feel better.

"Excuse me," someone started, breaking the tension, and Jimin immediately followed the direction to where that voice was coming from. All eyes were fixed on Jungkook, a few strands of his black hair covering his dark brown orbs as he sat casually in his seat, stretching his legs, looking like he wasn't going to back down any moment. He had his hands in his pockets as he gave the teacher a serious look, and within a second, the teacher looked like a kicked puppy. After successfully saying her name with the tiny bit of respect he still had for her while fighting back his anger, the younger continued. "Isn't that rude? Aren't you supposed to let a student feel acknowledged, not humiliated? I'm sorry, but I didn't expect this from you."

The teacher looked taken aback, but she was a stuttering mess before she could even finish a proper sentence. Her mouth agape and a shocked look on her face, she backed away, her back almost touching the board that was behind her.

Everyone was surprised.

Never did they see Jungkook like that before - strong, bold, serious, and just straight-up. This was different from the usual happy Jungkook that looked like the type to get pushed around, but boy were they wrong. He was the type to have the upper hand, like a teacher to a student, not the other way around, and just by looking at his face right now, they knew better than to mess with him. His eyes were still on her, and Jimin knew if no one would stop the younger one, Jungkook would blow up.

Jimin wanted someone to break the ice.

As if on cue, the bell rang, the loud, ear-splitting sound reverberating in their ears, and immediately, almost all of them were silently shuffling their way out the door, with a guilt-ridden teacher looking like she had some serious thinking to do as she gripped on the wooden table right in front of her.

"I'm sorry," she apologized, her eyes landing on the floor, and right there, she felt nothing but regret.

Their respect for her decreased tenfold, and she knew she had made a horrible mistake of humiliating Jimin like that. Being a teacher meant she was supposed to be a role model, and it meant that she was supposed to let them feel like they were doing something right in their lives, not doing something wrong, and she knew teachers had no right to put a student down like that, especially in front of every student taking their class. She could've done it better, deciding that she'd just see him after school and talk about what was bothering Jimin, but she knew she had made a mistake, and she felt the one who was mature enough here was Jimin as he suppressed the urge to fight back and not respond with equal bitterness, and Jungkook as he stood up for the one she was targeting at.

She felt so ashamed that her eyebrows furrowed as tears were threatening to fall.

Jimin decided to rush out of her class as he had his books in hand, expecting the younger one to follow him out, but he was wrong.

The last thing Jimin saw as he took one last glance at her class was Jungkook now standing in front of her, his bag hung around his shoulder, as he looked like he was explaining something, making her look at him with wide eyes as she nodded, tears slowly falling down one by one.

It looked like she said, "Thank you for telling me," but Jimin was already out the door before he could see or hear more of what they were talking about.

There it was again.

Jimin felt like he had a lot of thanking to do later on because he couldn't help but be filled with gratitude, thanks to Jungkook, and he knew he was really grateful to have someone there for him when he couldn't find the right words to say when he was being put down.

Before Jimin thought his brain would explode, his feet lead him to the cafeteria, but he couldn't spot any of his friends, Namjoon and the others, sitting at their usual table, so he sat at a different table, the one which was full of students so he wouldn't feel alone.

This time, unlike all the other times, instead of pulling out a book to read, he decided to pull out a piece of sandwich he made that morning before coming to school.

Because it wouldn't hurt to eat.

So he took a bite, as the noise in the cafeteria flooded his ears, as the thought of Jungkook clouded his mind.

This won't hurt.