“Kyungsoo!” Jongin called through the thick wood of the door, landing a few hard knocks on it.

I jumped lightly, almost choking myself with my tie. That damned Jongin and his obnoxious tendencies.

“What?” I opened the door, doing my best to glare at him.

“Let’s get going. You know how James is about being party-tardy,” Jongin chuckled. “By the way, I hope you don’t mind that I brought Joonmyun along. He, like you, has a giant stick up his ,”

Joonmyun was a biology major and was far too good-tempered to say anything snarky in response to Jongin’s little remark.

“Ha. Ha. You’re hilarious,” I rolled my eyes, stepping outside of my room, making sure that the door was locked.

“My sense of humor is why so many people find me delightful,” Jongin flashed Joonmyun and me a cocky smile.

“I’m sure that’s it, Jongin,” Joonmyun wrinkled his nose, patting Jongin on the shoulder.

I laughed in agreement with Joonmyun.

“So now you’re ganging up on me?” Jongin feigned offense.

Joonmyun and I looked at each other, exchanging glances. In all honesty, we were definitely ganging up on Jongin. It wasn’t everyday opportunities like this presented themselves.

“And what makes you think that we’d do that to you?” I raised an eyebrow.

Jongin just sighed, stuffing his hands in his pockets. The rest of the walk to James’ little off campus house went the same way. Jongin would make a pass at either Joonmyun or I, and we’d come up with equally smart- like retorts. But of course it was all in jest. When we arrived at the house, I sighed. Did I really want to go to this party? The prospect of holing up in my dorm and reading up on the universe sounded extremely tempting. But I was too late to make an excuse and leave, the door had already swung open.

“Hey guys, come on in!” James greeted.

The three of us walked in, thanking James along the way.

“Alright boys, get mingling, and I’ll see you at the end of the night,” Jongin grinned before saluting, and disappearing into the crowd.

“I take it he insisted you spend too much time in the lab, too?” I turned to Joonmyun.

“Yeah, but unfortunately, I can’t really disagree with him,” Joonmyun chuckled, putting his hands into his pockets.

“Ah, the perks of being friends with Jongin,” I shook my head, a light laugh escaping my lips.

As the night continued on, Jongin has rejoined us along with a few other people he wanted us to meet. Thankfully he didn’t tell us that they too had sticks up their asses. Though, I’m sure if he had, it wouldn’t have been wrong. I glanced around the room of Ivy League scientists, seeing the same thing over and over again. With a defeated sigh, I began to turn back to the present conversation, but stopped. There was a girl, a beautiful girl standing alone. Her dark hair fell around her face, framing it impeccably well. Her eyes were dark with a glowing warmth, the imperfect curve of her nose only making her more beautiful. She didn’t look familiar, but I knew that I’d love to get to know her.  She caught me looking at her and smiled at me. Even if we don’t get to know each other, I know that I’ll never forget that smile. I gave her my own smile, though I knew that it was nothing special.

“Right, Kyungsoo?” I heard one of the boys in the group, Tom ask me.

My gaze lingered on the girl for a moment before I reluctantly turned back to the discussion.

“Yeah, that’s right….” I nodded absentmindedly.

“You owe me 10 bucks, Joonmyun,” Tom grinned, holding his hand out in Joonmyun’s direction.

“Dammit,” Joonmyun cursed, fishing out his wallet before handing Tom the promised money.

“Why are you betting on me?” I blinked a few times.

“No reason,” Jongin shrugged.  “Seriously though, who is that girl over there?”

“What girl?” I asked, though I knew exactly whom he was talking about.

“The one you were staring at,” Joonmyun mused, the others chuckling.

“I was not staring,” I dead panned, wishing they would drop it already.

“Yes you were. Now go talk to her, mate!” James smiled before putting his hands on my shoulders, turning me away from the circle, and pushing me toward the girl.

I took a few uncertain steps toward her and turned back to the group. They only motioned for me to keep walking. I rolled my eyes, but continued moving forward anyway. I would be a dirty liar if I said that I didn’t want to talk to her. Before I knew it I was standing in front of her.

“Hi,” I smiled, rubbing the nape of my neck.

“Hello,” she replied, returning the smile.

There was a fleeting moment of uncertainty. Maybe she wasn’t really looking at me. Perhaps she was looking at Joonmyun, Tom, James, or Jongin? Was I making a fool of myself?

“Would you like to, uh, talk?” I asked, trying to act calm.

“I would love to,” she laughed lightly, nodding.

“Great,” I smiled brightly. “I don’t think I ever caught your name,”

“I’m Jinah,”