How to spot the difference between coincidence and subconscious obsession.

When he was in fourth grade of primary school, Minwoo learnt the word amphibious.

 No one had taught it to him, he had happened to hear it from someone else (had it been on the bus? On the break, from the mouth of older students? He couldn’t quite remember), so he didn’t really know what it meant. But it sounded smart, like a word he’d like to say, if he actually knew how to , so he repeated it to himself a few times to memorize it, but forgot all about it a few hours later.

Then, for a few days, everything started being an amphibian.  In school, frogs started being amphibians. In the news, cars started being amphibians.  Oh, and his mother’s college friend, too, she was a ‘double faced goddamn amphibian that went wherever the wind f…ing took her’, according to her angry tongue. And, somehow, the list went on.

Weird, right? Amphibian, a word he had never ever heard before- meaning it wasn’t a common word, now he heard it everywhere.

For some reason, that had unsettled nine-year-old Minwoo. Why was this happening, why is he only hearing it now? Had he somehow been deaf to it before? If so, then how many words were hiding from his ears at that very moment? Did he have to learn every word in the universe so he could hear everything in the universe?

Luckily, days later, that whole bundle of scary thoughts faded away. ‘Amphibious’ was just another word in his personal dictionary, nothing else.

Years later he had found a name for that… phenomenon that had happened to him back then. A quick Google search for a school project told him it was the Baader-Meinhof effect, and it was named after a German guerrilla group whose name had gotten stuck on some dude’s head, making him hear it everywhere right after.

This dude, along with other dudes (who were all psychiatrists, of course) realized that our brains recognize patterns everywhere, all the time, but they always ignore them. But when you give your brain brand new weird information, it calls your attention so much that your subconscious starts noticing it more and more, making your conscious mind freak out.

These days, Minwoo had realized that this was not limited only to words.

It was Wednesday’s night, and for some reason, the brunette was walking down the stairs from the building. Out of boredom more than actual neediness, he was on his way to buy some detergent (he was about to run out of it), a new shampoo, and maybe a snack, since he was probably going to keep reading and reading his notes (even though he felt he could recite the entire book word by word) until he fell asleep.

He wouldn’t admit it, but that horrible music had been a very good distraction to him while it lasted. Damn the guy’s ex-girlfriend.

His feet dragged him to the store, the doors opening by themselves. The white brightness of the place blinded him for a second, before he muttered a weak ‘hi’ to the attendant. He walked around, picking the stuff he wanted.

Well, at least he assumed it was an ex-girlfriend. Even with that pink hair, the guy didn’t seem to be into guys. He had had this boyish-but-manly aura going on with him, he guessed he was the kind of guy some older girls liked.  

But even if girls were attracted to him, did it mean that he was attracted to them?

Well, to be fair, he didn’t seem to be into anything that wasn’t crying and getting drunk the day he saw him. The guy had been in a really bad state.

His hands automatically picked his brand, and headed for the hair products aisle.

He wondered how pretty his ex must have been. He had never fallen in love yet, but he thought that to get into that state he had found him on, the girl must have been gorgeous. In his mind, a parade of different types of girls started appearing, as he tried to decide which one would fit him the most.

Wait, why did he even care, again?

‘Go back to your shopping, Minwoo’, he scolded himself.

He finally took the shampoo and made a beeline to check the items. When he got there, the girl was talking to the phone and writing down something on a paper, her long nails firmly grasping the pen.

“Yeah… Yeah, okay, got it. Later!”, and she hung up. Before Minwoo could even say a word, she looked at him, “Just a second, please!”, and she ran away from the counter with quick, small steps.

“Yeah…”

Actually, now that he was thinking of the guy, he couldn’t help but to notice how actually weird and careless he was. Who the hell let’s a stranger into their house, feeds them, and invites them to see a movie? All that in a poor hygienic state?

Soon enough, the employee was back carrying a big, white box, and left it on the counter; then, she began with Minwoo’s stuff.

Like, that couldn’t even classify as an ‘I’m trying to hit on you’ thing; at least he would never let someone he liked in unless his house was crystal clean. And he was at least decent looking, and his hair properly done.

Unlike this guy.

Well, more to reinforce his theory that–

 “Sir!”, he was instantly pulled out of his thoughts. His eyes looked up again (he hadn’t even realized he was looking at his shoes), and found the girl looking at him with an expectant look, “I said, it’s 11.000 won.”

“Ah, yes, sorry…”, he mumbled, as he took out his wallet. He paid, and took his bag, but as he was walking out, he heard her again.

“Sir…! Hey, wait!”, he turned to see her looking back and forth between the white box, and the door. “Um, you live in the building next door, right?”

“Uh, yeah?”

“Ah, you see, my co-worker didn’t come today, and I can’t leave the shop alone...”, she said, her voice had changed to an apologetic one, “But this costumer just asked for a delivery service…”

“Oh…”, he said, already knowing what’s about to come.

“Could you please take it to him? It isn’t too heavy. I’ll give you a discount next time you come buy something!”

A few minutes later, Minwoo was struggling between the box and the keys to enter the building. It WAS heavier than it looked. He soon entered the place, and called for the elevator.

Oh wait, the box, right. What floor did he have to take it to?

He left the box on the floor and opened it; there was a ticket inside detailing the order, but instead of looking at it, he got distracted by the things that were inside.

A shaving cream, some popsicles, two… no, three bottles of soju, two cans of beer, three packets of snacks and five of instant ramen. Oh, and a bag of marshmallows.

Who the hell could live on that?!

He finally took the ticket. 406. Of course. Of course.

Sighing, he entered the elevator, went straight to the fourth floor and walked towards the door with impetus, the same impetus he knocked it with. There was a bell, but somehow knocking felt better.

Surprisingly soon, the door was being opened.

 “Yeah…?”, Jeongmin’s sharp eyes looked up, and his face was brightened with recognition, “Hey!”

Well, at least he looked better than last time. ‘Better’ being, he wasn’t in his pajamas. Sure, the dark circles and the dry skin were there but…

“You cut your hair.”, dropped from Minwoo's mouth, his face expressionless.

He looked good. Well, better. It was short now, really short compared to what it had been before, and really simple… but it somehow suited him. Minwoo thought that if he did the same to his, his face would look weird, and his nose huge. But on his face, the soft pink brushed softly his cheekbones, and made them stand out.

“Yeah, it was starting to get annoying.”, he smiled a little, and his eyes went to the white box. “Oh, so today you are delivering something!”

“I happened to go by the store, and the employee asked me a favor…”

“Are you suure…?”, his voice was mocking as he took the box from his arms, “Are you sure you weren’t just bored and  wanted to hang out?”

Minwoo got a little bit annoyed. Who the hell did he think he was for him to go out of his way to see him?

 “Yes, I am sure.”, his voice reflected it.

Jeongmin responded with a small snicker, “Okay, okay.”, the shorter one checked inside the box, and held a content smile, “Cool, everything’s here. Do I give you the money or…?”

“No! I just had to bring this here!”, he exclaimed with irritation, “And now I’m leaving!”

He turned and started walking away, not even waiting to see his reaction.  But before he began walking down the stairs to his floor he heard him calling again.

“Hey, wait! Are you up for a few drinks?”, the pink haired held up a beer can and shook it a few times, a half smile gracing lips.

Minwoo momentarily forgot his moodiness, blinking a few times, his mouth slightly opened. Was this guy making fun of him or actually inviting him over?

“I-I’ve got school tomorrow…”, he was still a little stunned.

“Aigoo, always with that school, with that school, do you ever loosen up?”

Minwoo's eyebrows were unamusedly flat again.

“Bye. ”, and with that, he finally walked down again.

What an annoying night.

Two days later, he was coming from college a little earlier than usual. His teacher had received a call in the middle of the class, and he had to cancel the rest of it because it was his wife, and they were having an argument again (apparently, Mrs. Jung was furious because her husband had eaten the rest of her cake, when she ‘speficially told you not to, Jeongin how could you?!’)

(Yes, he had found out his teacher’s name was Jeongin. Too close, too close to Jeongmin. Could you believe that?)

But Minwoo, being the type of student he was, seized this opportunity to get the new books he was going to need for the second part of the semester… even though the first part was going to end with the first exams of each class, which were about a week away. But hey, better be prepared than sorry, right?

Or something like that.

So, there he was, a few metres away from the main door, hugging about seven books and at least 200 pages of photocopies, his bag hanging over his hip, and his tongue missing the starbucks he could have gotten himself if he hadn’t had the wonderful idea of getting all that material all at once.  And, to make things worse it was only when he was in front of the building’s door that he realized he had left his keys inside his bag.

He groaned. Ah, how could he be so stupid?! How was he supposed to open it now?!

Well, his keys were actually not really keys, but two small cards (one for the building’s door and the other for his place) that you only had to swift over the scanner, and the door opened automatically.

‘Maybe if I twist my hip high enough... And stand on the tip of my toe…’

And thus he began this awkward sort of dance, trying to get the stupid card to the stupid scanner so his stupid could stop embarrassing himself in public and finally get to his apartment. At some point, an old woman passed by and looked at him with concern, and two high school girls giggled at him; Minwoo swore he could feel their stare on his back as he kept on trying.

But luckily after a moment, it seemed like he was about to do it… Yes, he was so close, so close! If he jumped just one more time…!

Beep

The door opened. Had he opened it?

“Heey! 306!”

No, he had.

“Hey”, the brunette muttered, quickly making his way inside. He wasn’t in the mood to deal with his awfully social neighbor. Or more like, he would never be in the mood.

He felt his sharp stare on his back, as he made his way to the elevator. He was praying it came fast, fast enough to avoid…

“I’m about to buy some ramen and soju, wanna hang out?”

…that question.

He knew he was going to ask that, he knew it. Why it bothered him so much, though, he didn’t know. And he didn’t want to figure it out; he was far too busy with the upcoming exams to be thinking about making hot friends.

Wait, what?

“Sorry, pretty busy right now.”, the excuse shoot out of his mouth like an arrow.

“Are you ever not busy?”, the shorter sighed, a small side smile never leaving his lips.

“Um…”

Bing

The elevator arrived just in time. Just in time for Minwoo to escape politely.

So he just limited himself to point at the elevator, and give an apologetic smile, before getting in and slamming the button to the third floor (with his elbow, as his hands were still busy trying to balance all the damn papers).

And as soon as he got to his door, he slammed his forehead on the dark wood in frustration.

His house key was also in his bag.

“Ugh!”

After that, to his dismay, it seemed that the world’s newest game was to remind him of his dear neighbour.

While he was getting out one morning, he found two other guys who lived in the building talking, and they were talking about ‘Awww, how come Jeongmin didn’t go to last Saturday’s party either? It was wild’.( Minwoo had obviously ignored them, but a fine looker would have noticed his steps going faster.)

Other day, checking an Instagram account of one of his followers that had commented on his latest selfie, he found… Yes, he found Jeongmin’s Instagram account.

He seemed to be… wow, actually quite popular, he had about 9700 followers, and some selfies with some celebrities. And wow, the party from that video sure seemed fun. And oh, look, his latest publication had been two weeks ago?

‘Wait’, he told himself, as he quickly closed the app, ‘what am I doing?!’

And the list went on and on. Suddenly, in his Monday class, there was a Jeongmin (not the same guy, luckily, but can you imagine Minwoo’s mini heart attack when he heard the name?). 

He had almost ran on the short guy on the door, on the elevator, on the stairs… Minwoo almost felt like a criminal who was hiding. He couldn’t walk in peace around his block because he knew he was going to meet with him.

And why was that such a bad thing, though?

Well, he, himself, still didn’t know.

 It was… awkward for him somehow.

Now, he was well aware that the guy wasn’t a bad person (at least he didn’t seem like that), and that his invitations were always on the friendly side…

But still.

He didn’t want to make friends. He didn’t want to get distracted from his studies, from his exams, from his school schedule. Soon he would have to enter a club, because he needed the credits to graduate; it didn’t matter that he was still on his second year, and had still three years to go. It was better to be ready, just in case something happened. Having things planned and sorted out beforehand was the best way to get to success.  And to him not stressing out 24/7.

The last straw happened on a Saturday’s afternoon. It was around…  three in the afternoon.  The building was quiet, because the people that had partied last night were still asleep. It was so peaceful that it was unreal.

Every two floors, there was a small broom closet where all the neighbours were to throw the trash that was picked every morning by the building employee who trashed away in the dumpster.  And Minwoo was doing exactly that, climbing up the stairs with his own smelly black bag (which was not exactly as small as you would expect). He finally got to the door, opened it, and cleanly threw the trash inside. But when he turned…

“Hey”, he heard from behind his back, and his head turned almost with fright, as a chill ran down his spine.

It was him, of course it was Jeongmin.

But…  He looked shaggy again.

He was wearing some white and navy blue pajamas, and his hair, which was just a bit longer than last time, was still in its bedhead phase. His eyes were adorned by dark bags, and he somehow seemed… gloomy. As if a lightbulb that shone inside of him (the one that gave him that subtle brightness he irradiated) had died out.  The way he moved gave something away too, his movements were a little lethargic and his shoulders seemed slumped.

His mind put two and two, and he realized that the guy was anything but fine today.

Even though he noticed all that, the first words that came out of Minwoo's nervous mouth were…

“A-are you stalking me?”

 “…?”, the pink haired sighed, putting on a bad face, “What?! No…”, he made his way between Minwoo and the door, and threw his two bags in. His voice sounded raspy and tired, as if he hadn’t used it in a long time.  The brunette watched him with alert eyes as he did that.

He was waiting for it. He knew it was coming.

He’d ask anytime. 

Anytime…

But the shorter one began walking away, mumbling a faint ‘See ya…’ as he passed by Minwoo and straight to the stairs.

What? All that paranoia for nothing?!

 “Hey!”, he called out, before even thinking. Jeongmin turned slightly, waiting for him to speak. “No invitation to hang out today?”

What?!

‘Am I stupid?!’

 Did Minwoo actually hated himself and wanted to see himself go through all phases of stress possible?!

 “Nah,”, he replied lazily, shaking his head a little, as his eyes focused on him, “I’m not in the mood.”

“It’s because of your ex, right?”, his big mouth said again.

‘I should learn how to shut up maybe, some day...’

“…”, the grimace came back to his features, as he looked away, massaging the back of his neck, before starting to walk up the stairs. Minwoo bit his lip, watching him as he left.

He felt guilty, somehow. He… he just couldn’t let the guy walk away like that. Not in that state. He seemed really, really bad, and even though it wasn’t even his fault, he felt like he had to do something.

So he ran up the stairs, until he caught up with him.

“Let’s watch a movie.”, he said, tugging from the sleeve of his shirt to make him pay attention.

Jeongmin’s eyes darted down to his hand, and then to his eyes, a hint of surprise shone behind the heaviness his look was portraying that day, “Other day, okay?”

“No!”, the brunette exclaimed, tugging again a little harder, “I… um…”, he was trying to find an excuse, “Yesterday I had my first exam of the term and I still need to relieve the stress.”, the pink haired arched an eyebrow, but Minwoo didn’t let that bother him, “So, let’s watch a movie.”

Jeongmin sighed, turning his face to the opposite side. Seconds passed by, Minwoo waiting expectant for an answer, before he spoke again:

“Do you like action movies?”, he gave in with a sigh.

Minwoo didn’t allow himself a victory smile, “Sure.”, but he sure was smiling in the private of his mind.

Ten minutes later, Minwoo was stiffly sitting on the big black leather couch. It was hard not to give in to the softness of the pillows; the couch was just as comfortable as it looked, if not even more. The fresh leather felt just so good under his skin, so firm, that it was surprising how much the insides actually gave in to his weight, molding to him perfectly. It was really, really hard not to just… straight out lay on it.

But, it would be rude; he was still in a stranger’s house. Technically.

He looked around once again, as he waited for Jeongmin to come back. Everything was just as he remembered, the two bright plants, the elegant furniture, the pillows that didn’t belong, the messy blanket. The difference was that as soon as they had entered the place, Jeongmin had made a bee line to the living room and had picked up all the empty bottles and snack bags that were around.

Oh, look, there was something else different, too. He had just noticed a guitar and some papers sitting a few meters away, against the wall. Was that a broken string what he was seeing?

His train of thought was lost when he saw him coming back with some cans, and some snacks. The brunette politely accepted the can that Jeongmin gave him, as he opened his own, and was surprised to see that it was actually a Sprite can. His eyes subtly darted to the other guy’s can, and saw that his was a beer, though.

“How many of those have you drank today?”

Jeongmin’s eyebrows lifted slightly in surprise, as he sent him a look. “Aigo, what’s with that judging look..?”, he drank a bit of the bitter drink, ignoring his question. “What movie do you wanna see? Have you seen TOP’s Tazza yet?”

And that’s how they spent the rest of the afternoon. Minwoo had to admit, even though that type of movie wasn’t his style (gambling is not something he found… badass; well, not until now), the movie had him sitting on the edge of his seat all along. Before he knew it, he had finished his can, and Jeongmin had handed him another one, his eyes not leaving the screen as he chewed on whatever snacks they were eating.

“…Whoa.”, Minwoo let out as soon as the credits rolled by, with a half a smile.

“Kinda wanna go to a casino now…”, Jeongmin joked, with a matching smile on his own lips.

“Right?!”, he exclaimed with excitement, as he turned to him. Wait, no.

‘Calm down, Minwoo’, he told himself, as he checked his phone to see the time.  It was 7:30. He also saw a few messages from his mom, but didn’t open them. “Wow, it’s sorta late…”

“Yeah, almost dinner time. Wanna stay over?”

Around 10:30, he was closing the door of his own apartment.

Wow… He had actually had fun.

He couldn’t believe it, but he had actually enjoyed his annoying neighbour’s company! And he had found out a lot about him that day, as well.

Jeongmin was about to be 22 in a few months, and he had been studying since he finished high-school. He was majoring in Music Theory and Composition, and minoring in Music Industry, because that’s what he wanted to do as a living. He was actually a composer, but hasn’t been able to sell any of his songs yet.

And, get this, his dad was the vice-president of one of the most important TV networks of Korea, Jolie Ent. And he told him that his dad had been pretty pissed off at him when he told him he’d rather work in the music rather than in the drama industry, and that he had tried to make him work in a lot of doramas when he was younger, but that he did his worse acting on purpose, until he eventually stopped. His cousins had apparently worked on some, though.

But he said that thanks to his dad he already had some connections, and was just waiting to get his degree so he could finally immerse himself in the music industry and his works.

“G-Dragon wrote a song a day ever since he was 14, and he is awesome now. And here I am, struggling to write at least two a week.”, he had said.

He was only two subjects away from graduating, and that’s what he was doing now.  So he hoped that by the end of the semester he could finally say goodbye to the annoying work that was studying and finally, finally maybe get a contract in some company to help compose songs for idol groups.

Minwoo thought that his plan was pretty solid. Probably the only solid thing about him so far.

The brunette was tired. He took off his shoes and put his socks in the laundry basket, and as he cleaned his feet, he read his mom’s texts.

‘How are you honey, have you eaten well today?’

‘When is your next exam?’

‘Honey why arent you answering’

‘Are you ok!!!’

The last text was sent two minutes ago.

He hurriedly dried his feet and was quick to call her.

“Hey, mom!”

“What’s that, not answering your mother’s texts?!”, Minwoo had to inch away from the speaker of his phone.

“How was your day, mom?”, he put on his sweetest voice. He knew his mother could be… quite difficult when she got mad. “Did you go to auntie’s?”

“Answer me, No Minwoo! Aren’t you going to apologize?! Don’t you know how nervous I get when you don’t answer?!”

Okay, so he knew where his paranoia came from.

“Yeah, mom, I’m sorry! I was at…”, if he said he was at his neighbour’s, she’d probably freak out again…” At a friend’s, sorry!”

“What? What friend? You didn’t tell me you made a friend!”, her voice changed, tinting itself with surprise. His eyebrows flattened in annoyment. Hey, he CAN make friends, as many as he wants. It’s just that... That right now, he wanted to focus in his studies. Like he had on high school. And mid school.

And maybe part of primary school too?

“Yeah, I…”

“Wait, wait… Is it a friend or… a friend?”, his mother’s voice changed slightly.

Minwoo's face lit up. “Mom!”, he was embarrassed. How come his mom wanted to know everything?!  “No! He’s one of my neighbours! He lives one floor upstairs!”

“Oh, it’s a boy. Okay…”, she seemed to have calmed down. He mentally sighed. Good.

She asked about his day, and he ended up telling her about the movie. She told him about hers, as well, and all about the new cat his aunt had bought (apparently it was a fancy one), and now she wanted to get one, because without him,  the house was too big for her.

“Hey, mom, it’s pretty late…”, Minwoo said, when he saw the clock and saw it was about to be half past eleven. The parties on the other floors were about to start soon, and he couldn’t let his mom know that his place wasn’t actually the quiet, serious environment he had told her it was.

“Yes, dear, and I have to go get dressed. I’ve got a fancy dinner tonight!”

“What, and you are only telling me now?”, Minwoo faked hurt, as he yawned. “Okay, then I’ll leave you to do that. Wear something pretty, okay?”

“And you eat well, and study well, okay?”, she said, affection melting her voice, after a small laugh.

“Yeah. Talk to you tomorrow.”

“Yes, honey. I miss you lots! Love you. Night-night!”

“Miss you too, mom. Night-night.”

After hanging up, and a quick shower, Minwoo was inside his bed, and waiting for sleep to kick in.

‘Today was fun’, was the last thought he had, before falling asleep.

Hello you all!! Wow… 120 views!? When did that happen?? Anyways, thank you so much for reading this! I hope you are enjoying it so far!

January was a long month, right?

 I’m sorry for the lack of updates!! Im currently at vacations, so I went on a trip and my month sort of revolved around it x(( But hey! I hope the length of the chapter makes up for it. (Or maybe it was too dense?? Please let me know!!)

But yeah, I’m sorry, I’m the type to choose length and flow of the chapter over fast updates :/ I hope it’s okay with you all.

ALSO, hey, check out my new cover! Do you guys like it?? It’s the first time I do a cover for a fanfic, so I hope it came out prettily for your liking, haha!

Anyways, I’ll see you all next chapter!  Bye for now!

PD: Can you guess who are jeongmin’s cousins? I dropped a hint on this chapter! Anyway, you’ll be seeing them next time