The next morning, Ms. Aera, the teacher for class 3-2, clapped her hands sharply to cut through the classroom's morning bustle. "Everyone, settle down! We have a new classmate joining us today. Let's give him a warm welcome!"

A wave of excited whispers rippled through the room. The girls, in particular, exchanged glances, their eyes lighting up with curiosity as they turned to see the new arrival. Taehyung stood stiffly at the front of the room, his gaze fixed firmly on the floor, shifting his weight nervously from one foot to the other.

"Please introduce yourself to the class," Ms. Aera urged, her smile encouraging.

"Kim Taehyung," he stated, his voice steady but so quiet it was almost swallowed by the hum of the room.

"Taehyung, come sit beside me!" a friendly girl in the front row called out immediately.

"No, you just chat in class all day! He should sit with me!" another girl protested.

"I want him to sit with me! I can help him with any subjects he finds difficult!" a third voice chimed in, full of enthusiasm.

Ms. Aera tried to quell the growing uproar, but the students were too absorbed in their desires to be close to the newcomer. Just as the debate reached a peak, Jungkook shot up from his chair at the back of the room, drawing every eye—including Taehyung's, for a brief, wary moment.

"Quiet! He's sitting with me!" Jungkook declared, his voice ringing with a confidence that brooked no argument.

The classroom fell into a mix of surprised murmurs and frowns. The girls glared at Jungkook, clearly annoyed by his bold claim.

"We're best friends, so of course he'll sit with me!" Jungkook added, puffing out his chest.

"Hey! What about me?!" the boy currently sitting next to Jungkook protested, looking both surprised and a little hurt.

"Uh... sorry, but I guess you could move to the desk behind us?" Jungkook suggested, scratching his head awkwardly.

"Seriously? You're ditching me? I thought we were best friends too!" the boy grumbled, though his tone was more bemused than truly angry.

As the classroom erupted into a full-blown debate over Taehyung's seating arrangement, Ms. Aera, utterly overwhelmed by the chaos, decided to let the new student choose for himself.

"I want to sit alone," Taehyung said with a firm determination.

The room fell silent. All eyes turned to him in surprise. Ms. Aera, seeing the logic in avoiding the competitive fuss, quickly agreed. She directed him to an empty desk at the very back of the classroom.

As Taehyung made his way down the aisle, every pair of eyes followed him. Jungkook waved frantically, trying to catch his attention, but Taehyung walked right past him without so much as a glance.

A girl at the front smirked. "Oh, right. Best friends, he said."

Jungkook's cheeks flushed a deep red. "We are! Taehyung, right?!" he called out, desperate for any sign of acknowledgment.

Taehyung continued to his seat, deliberately ignoring him. The classroom burst into laughter at Jungkook's expense.

"We really are!" Jungkook insisted, his voice rising in frustration as he threw his hands up in the air to prove his point. "Even if not best friends, we're still friends! I didn't lie! He even accepted my superhero sticker!"

"Sure, sure, whatever you say~" the girl smirked, clearly enjoying his discomfort.

Ms. Aera sighed, her patience worn thin. She looked at Taehyung, who had settled into his isolated seat with an air of relief. "Taehyung, Mr. Nam mentioned you don't have your textbooks yet. Would you like to share with someone until yours arrive?"

Jungkook, ever eager, quickly seized the chance. "Me! I'll share my textbooks with him!" he exclaimed, already grabbing his bag before anyone else could volunteer.

Without waiting for permission, he bounded over and plopped down in the empty chair next to Taehyung, leaving his previous tablemate to complain, "Hey, you just left me all alone? Unbelievable!"

"Helping someone in need is important, right?" Jungkook said cheerfully, unpacking his crumpled, well-loved textbooks covered in doodles and notes. "You should be praising my kindness!"

The other students sighed in disappointment, their chance to sit with the new student officially gone. Jungkook, however, beamed, clearly pleased with his strategic victory.

Taehyung frowned. Of all the students, it had to be Jungkook—the most talkative and least focused—planting himself right beside him.

As he'd expected, Jungkook's attention was nowhere near the lesson.

"Hey, why did you close the door on me yesterday?" Jungkook whispered, his voice a mix of confusion and hurt. "I thought we were friends."

"We are not," Taehyung replied calmly, his eyes never leaving the board.

"Huh? We're not friends yet?!" Jungkook's eyes widened in shock. "But you said you'd consider it after I cleaned my room! And you even took my sticker! How are we not friends yet? Explain!"

Taehyung took a slow breath, his patience thinning. He had accepted the sticker out of politeness and surprise, not as a contract of friendship.

"We're here to study, not to chat. If you don't want to listen, please don't bother me," Taehyung said firmly, making his boundaries painfully clear.

Jungkook was taken aback by the icy finality in Taehyung's tone. His face fell. He had been so certain of their friendship, but it seemed he was alone in that belief. Feeling hurt, he finally turned his attention to the front, the sting of rejection sharper than he'd anticipated.

True to his word, however, Jungkook kept his textbook open between them. Though the pages were dog-eared and filled with doodles, he carefully positioned it so Taehyung could see. Throughout the lesson, he attempted to engage Taehyung with whispered jokes and comments, but each was met with stony silence.

When lunchtime arrived, Jungkook's group of friends quickly swarmed his desk, their energy filling the space around them. His bright personality had earned him friends across all grades, making him quite a popular figure.

"Kook! Let's go eat!" they called out.

Jungkook glanced at Taehyung, who was gathering his things with a quiet efficiency. "Hey, let's eat together—" he started, but cut himself off as Taehyung stood up without a word. "—hey, where are you going?"

Taehyung walked briskly out of the classroom without a backward glance, his gaze fixed intently on the floor. A soft wave of gasps and whispers followed him as he passed—his striking features and tall, composed stature already marking him as someone special on his very first day.

"Hey! Taehyung, wait for me!" Jungkook called, hurriedly shoving his own things into his bag before darting after him. He caught a glimpse of Taehyung's retreating figure turning to go up the stairs and followed without a second thought.

He pushed open the heavy door to the rooftop and found Taehyung sitting alone on the sun-warmed concrete, knees drawn up, staring out at the sprawling city below.

Jungkook, undeterred by the other boy's obvious desire for solitude, plopped down unceremoniously beside him. Taehyung glanced over, visibly startled by his sudden appearance.

"...Why can't I shake you off no matter where I go?" Taehyung muttered, more to himself than to Jungkook, his voice thick with frustration.

Jungkook just grinned and flashed a 'V' sign with his fingers. "Because I'll always find you! No matter where you hide!"

Taehyung turned his face back toward the horizon. "So, why are you here instead of hanging out with your friends?"

"Because you're here," Jungkook said simply, leaning back on his hands. "And I'd rather spend lunch getting to know you better. Maybe we can finally become real friends after this."

Taehyung's frown deepened. He couldn't fathom Jungkook's persistent efforts to befriend him. The cheerful boy's insistence was utterly bewildering.

"Earlier, you didn't seem to lack for friends," Taehyung observed, his eyes following the distant glint of the school's swimming pool. "So why keep bothering with me? Does it truly matter if we're friends or not?"

Jungkook scratched his chin, thinking it over. "Yes, it matters. Isn't it better to have more friends? You said you like to be alone, but being alone is just... so sad and boring. You'd have no one to talk to, or play with, or care for you!"

"I don't mind. I don't need friends," Taehyung stated, his voice calm but final.

"Hm... if you really don't want to be friends, how about we become brothers instead?" Jungkook suggested with a hearty laugh, trying to puncture the heavy mood. "But I'll be the older one though!"

Taehyung shook his head slightly. "That's not what I meant. I don't want anyone pestering me about becoming friends—especially not you."

The laughter died on Jungkook's lips. His voice grew small, tinged with genuine worry. "...Why? Do you hate me?"

Taehyung shook his head, just once. A brief, tight motion.

"Then... you just hate the idea of making friends?" Jungkook pressed.

Taehyung's silence was an answer in itself.

"Did something really bad happen with a friend before?" Jungkook's voice was soft now, full of a concern that felt too large for a kid his age. "A big fight? Or... did you not have any friends at all?"

Taehyung looked down, the question unlocking a vault of painful memories. His late father's story was a cautionary tale etched into his soul—a story of a deep friendship that curdled into a devastating betrayal. That betrayal had been the first domino to fall, leading to financial ruin, his father's decline, and the immense suffering that shadowed his family until the very end.

The lesson had been learned in the hardest way possible: trust was a vulnerability, and friendship was a risk that could cost you everything. He had built walls to keep that pain out, and Jungkook, with his bright, sincere eyes and relentless kindness, was trying to scale them recklessly without even realizing how high they were.

He was determined to keep his distance. Jungkook lived in a world of simple joys, untouched by the kind of loss that reshapes a person. Taehyung couldn't risk letting him in. The potential for betrayal, or even just the inevitable disappointment, filled him with a deep, cold dread.

So lost was he in the past that he barely registered Jungkook waving a hand in front of his eyes. "Hey... earth to Taehyung? Did you fall asleep with your eyes open?"

Startled, Taehyung recoiled, instinctively swatting Jungkook's hand away. The movement was too sharp, too sudden. Jungkook flinched back, surprise flashing across his face.

"Stop following me around," Taehyung said, his voice low and cold. He could feel the walls around his heart thickening, stone upon stone. "I told you. I don't want to be friends."

Jungkook's expression crumpled. The bright, sunny energy that seemed to radiate from him dimmed and guttered out like a snuffed candle. He sat perfectly still, watching as Taehyung stood up and walked away, each step creating a greater distance between them.

For a long moment, Jungkook was too stunned to move. The rejection was a physical ache in his chest, sharp and unfamiliar. He had always been the type to bring people together, to draw them in with his warmth and infectious energy. He had never met a wall he couldn't climb or a heart he couldn't warm. Until now.

With a heavy sigh, he lay back on the rooftop, staring up at the vast, indifferent sky. The clouds drifted past, oblivious to the turmoil in one small boy's heart.

"Is there really no way to be friends?... " he whispered to the empty air, his voice tinged with a sadness he rarely felt. "If not me, then who will be there to share the troubled look in your eyes?"

The sky offered no answers, only silence. But even through the hurt, Jungkook couldn't find it in himself to give up after a few rejections. There was something hidden behind Taehyung's icy exterior—something fragile and worth protecting—and that alone made Jungkook want to try again.