“What do you mean you’re not home?!” Jihoon screamed into his phone receiver as he got out of the cab.

“I forgot to turn in my paper and Mr. Kim’s making me come in to hand it to him,” Soonyoung replied from the other end. “Sorry, Jihoon, but you can’t keep forgetting your key like this!”

Jihoon groaned as he punched in the building entrance code. As the main door opened, he headed inside towards the elevator. “What’s the point of having roommates if they’re not here to open my doors?” he complained, waiting with an irritated look on his face.

“You make me feel so special,” Soonyoung said, sarcastically.

his hair back as he waited for the elevator, Jihoon sighed and loosened up a bit. “I know, yeah. Sorry, I’m just tired. I called Mingyu, too, and he didn’t pick up. We still have the spare on top of the door frame, right?”

“You can check, but I think Mingyu took it in the other day.”

With a ding, the doors opened and he stepped inside. “Great.”

“Look, I’ll be home before you know it. Or Mingyu will. Just wait a little.”

Jihoon closed his eyes and tilted his head back, letting it rest against the wall as he moved upwards. “Thanks, hyung.”

“See you later.”

“Bye.” Without moving anything but his hand, Jihoon hung up the phone and just stood there as he passed floor after floor.

On all accounts, you could say Jihoon was just your average teenager, trying to get by with his grades and living it up with a couple of friends at his university. Nothing too special. But then again, that would depend on who you asked. To Soonyoung and Mingyu, he was the roommate who never woke up on time and always forgot his things at home. To Junhui, he was the loyal friend who helped him with Korean customer service calls. To Wonwoo, he was the classmate that always had his homework done but could never stay awake in class. And to Seungkwan, he was the guy who always bought the same coffee from his shop every single morning. People knew him in different forms, but to him, he was always the same Jihoon. Nothing too special.

When the doors finally opened on the ninth floor, Jihoon shook himself as he widened his eyes and walked out, turning right and heading for his apartment. “Please be there,” he muttered to himself. After hours of just sitting and studying in the library, he needed to take a nap, or lie down, or just do something that wasn’t so draining. After rushing by several doors and making all the necessary turns, he made it to his place, apartment 917B. “Please be there,” he repeated under his breath as he quickly reached up towards the upper door frame. He had to jump a little to feel it before realizing that he was officially locked out. “Damn it!”

Completely frustrated, he groaned and slammed his back into the door, sliding down to rest on the ground. Jihoon definitely had a temper, but he was way too tired to do anything too extreme at that point. Instead, he just rested there, moping to himself, with his face in his hands, until his moment of silence was interrupted. “You okay, there?”

Jihoon’s head shot up at the unfamiliar, calming voice. But as he looked up, his eyes nearly popped out of his head. He was too startled to make any sort of complete sentence. “Uhh...umm...uh…”

In front of him stood a gorgeous boy. Aside from his voice, his big, happy eyes were the first things that Jihoon noticed. They were smiling down at him along with his soft, perky lips that glistened just a little. It wasn’t until after noticing the shininess of his mouth did Jihoon realize the boy was sweating and hugging a giant cardboard box. His gleaming arms wrapped around it flexed, showing off the more-than-slight muscle on each. Unfortunately, Jihoon couldn’t help but just continue to stare at the beautiful creature that appeared before him.

So he repeated himself. “You okay?” he asked again, this time with a slight chuckle.

His mouth gaping open, Jihoon shook himself and turned his head down as he felt his heart start to beat incredibly fast. “Uhhh!” He wasn’t sure if it was the panic from talking to a cute stranger or just the embarrassment from staring at said stranger that made him so nervous. Either way, he sprang to his feet, finding it very hard to keep his balance. Still staring at the ground, he nodded his head and placed a hand on the back of his neck, rubbing it anxiously. “Yeah! I’m fine,” he quickly replied.

“Good,” the boy laughed. “You looked a little down just now.”

Hearing that sweet voice again made Jihoon tilt his eyes up, this time slightly more prepared for how attractive this person was. Seeing that smile made him ease up a little. “Thanks. No, it’s just I got locked out of my apartment,” Jihoon replied, pointing back at his door.

“Oh, cool!” he exclaimed, smiling even bigger and throwing Jihoon off. He quickly explained, “I mean, not cool that you’re locked out, but cool that you live there. I just moved here.”

“Oh,” Jihoon uttered. Before, he was in too much of a hurry to notice that the door across the hall from him was wide open. From what he could see, the room was completely empty except for all the boxes near the front.

The boy grinned and bowed his head down slightly. “I’m Seungcheol.”

Jihoon finally smiled back and bowed, too. “Nice to meet you.” It may have sounded calm in his tone, but the name “Seungcheol” bounced in Jihoon’s head, as if it were...excited. But he had no idea why. As he tried to figure out what he was feeling, he just kept smiling and staring at Seungcheol, getting to notice the rest of his features, such as his messy hair or his towering height. Suddenly, he wasn’t so tired anymore.

Seungcheol raised his eyebrow and leaned forward. “And you are…?”

“OH!” Jihoon sputtered. “Uh, sorry! Jihoon! Uh, I’m—” he took a second to catch himself. “Jihoon. I’m Jihoon.” His face started to heat up as he thought of how stupid he must be coming off.

But Seungcheol just laughed. “Nice to meet you, Jihoon.” He gently placed the box down as he pushed it inside. He dusted off his arms before addressing his new neighbor again. "So you're locked out?"

Jihoon pursed his lips, still lost in the way Seungcheol just said his name. "Yeah...I forgot my key...and…” He took a second and just shook his head, pulling back his hair as he sighed. “Sorry, I’m just...I didn’t mean to bother you while you were moving.”

“Oh, no, you’re not bothering me!” Seungcheol corrected. “Here, you should come in.”

Surprised, Jihoon looked up at him and stuttered, “What?! No—I mean—It’s okay—Um, I’m totally—”

But Seungcheol’s laughing shut him up. “No, seriously, you should come in. You’d be my first guest.”

Apprehensively, Jihoon raised his eyebrows at him. “You sure?”

But Seungcheol just smiled at him, making Jihoon feel his stomach turn. “I don’t bite,” he teased, stepping aside and gesturing through the door.

After one last glance at Seungcheol’s cute stare, Jihoon slowly walked into apartment 917A, lowering his head and hugging his arms. “Thanks,” he mumbled into his chest, desperately trying to hide his pleased grin.