I love taking walks. It is relaxing and I always use that time to think about my life and my actions. Like I don't think enough.
I was heading to my favourite shop to get some bubble tea and met Minseok halfway. He was going to work and we started walking together. Talking with him was always pleasant. That was probably what drew me to him. Having a good communication with someone was extremely important for me. Minseok was a wonderful guy, but he wasn't for me. He already had someone and somehow I learned to accept that. But I didn't want to lose him as a friend. Even though we saw each other only in classes, I felt that we were getting closer. As friends, of course.

Minseok put on his uniform and made me the bubble tea.

"I haven't seen you here for quite some time", he said while giving me my drink. "My collegue says that you are a regular here."

I blinked nervously. "Actually, I had a lot to study, you know." He nodded in understanding. I couldn't just tell him that I avoided seeing him, right? "But I promise I'll stop by more often", I said with a small smile and he smiled back at me.

Leaving the cafe, I was scanning the river bank to see if my favourite spot was empty. It was, fortunately for me. 
I hummed in satisfaction after taking a bit of bubble tea. Life was really good sometimes. I only wished I had my parents and my sister here with me. But sacrifices had to be made. If I wanted to have a better life, I had to study hard to get a good job and in order to do that I had to leave my small town and my family in it.
________________________________________________________________________

Jangmi's birthday was in two days. She was already in the state of euphoria, organizing everything for the party. I bought her a present. It was a book from her favourite author, Tony Parsons. I was excited for the party, but at the same time I felt a bit anxious. I had been to some parties, but I didn't quite enjoy them. But, this was Jangmi's birthday, so I decided not to worry too much.

"What are you going to wear for the party?" she asked me.

"Jeans and shirt, what else?"

She shook her head and got up from my bed. "Wear a dress, or a skirt. I invited some of my hot friends to the party", she winked at me and I automatically rolled my eyes. She was at it again.

"I don't have a dress, or a skirt. I don't wear those. Besides, I don't care that your hot friends are going to be there."

"I can borrow you a dress." She looked at me hopefully and I could only shake my head. She sighed, already giving up on talking me into wearing a dress.
What could I do? I just didn't like wearing skirts or dresses. I wore only things I felt comfortable in, and those only made me feel exposed and I didn't like that. 

"Hey girls!", Hyorin said as she entered the room. "Is everything organized for the birthday party?"

"Everything is fine except Chaerin", Jangmi said and I glared at her. "She doesn't want to wear a dress."

"You should listen to the birthday girl", Hyorin pointed at me. "You can bear to wear a dress for one night only. Besides, I'll borrow you one."

Before I even managed to say no, she was already getting the stuff out of her closet. 

"Choose which one you want", she said. "And you can't say you don't want any."
_____________________________________________________________________________

Af course, I ended up wearing a dress to the party, as Jangmi wished. The party hadn't even started yet and there was a lot of people already. I had a feeling that she invited every single person she had ever met. I could understand her, it was her twentieth birthday after all. The only thing I warned her about was not to get drunk. What's the point of celebrating something if you are going to have a terrible headache tomorrow?

We were sipping our drinks when Chanyeol approched us. "Jangmi, I brought someone to party." Jangmi smiled at him and told him to bring them.

A few moments Chanyeol showed up with three guys and I immediately wished I never came there. Sehun and two more guys were next to Chanyeol, one of them, Baekhyun as I found out later, carrying a present. The other guy was Jongin and I remembered him. He was with Sehun that day at the cafeteria.

The guys were at the same table with us. I understood that Baekhyun was Chanyeol's childhood friend, while Sehun and Jongin were his friends from highschool.
Jangmi nudged me with her elbow when Sehun sat next to me and I mouthed her to stop. 

"Is Hyorin at the dorm?" Sehun asked me and I nodded my head.

"Yes, but I don't think she'll stay there for too long. It's Friday night", I chuckled and glanced at him. He smiled too and I tried to look into his eyes, to try to find the pain I believed he carried. But I failed, because he abruptly looked away from me and turned his attention to Baekhyun and Chanyeol and their jokes.

I got up, feeling a bit down and decided to grab a drink from the bar. While waiting for the drink, I looked around and saw a few people from college. They waved at me and I waved back. Finally, I got my drink and I decided to drink it at the bar. I didn't want to go back to the table. Besides, the music was starting to get louder and some people already started dancing and I didn't want to be pushed around or be forced to dance by Jangmi.

"A beer, please", I heard a voice saying to the bartender. It was Sehun. He glanced at me and quickly looked away. What was going on with him tonight?
I didn't know what was going with me either, but I felt the need to talk to him. The problem was how to start a conversation. 

"Kim Chaerin!", a voice startled me. Jongdae sauntered over and smiled at me. He was a bit tipsy, holding a glass of something that looked like a mixture of ten different drinks. His arm found his way around my shoulders and I winced when he squeezed them. "Hey Chaerin, are you going to help me with English?" he said and grinned.

I suddenly remembered that I told him a couple of days ago that I would help him with English. "Sure, but only when you are sober", I said with a chuckle and he grinned again.

"Do you know this guy?" he whispered in my ear and pointed at Sehun. I nodded. "Well, he's been looking at you all the time. I think he's pissed off right now."
Glancing at Sehun, I noticed that there was something different about him. His shoulders looked tense, arms crossed in front of him. He did look angry.

"I gotta go!" Jongdae screamed, startling me again. He took a few steps forward before slipping, but he somehow managed not to fall. 

"Do you know this guy?" Sehun asked all of a sudden. Great, that was an opportunity to talk to him.

"Yes, he's a fellow chemist."

"He seems to be drunk", he said and his sharp tone surprised me.

"Well, those things happen at parties."

"He didn't have to bother you."

I looked up at him and saw him clenching his fists. "Sehun, is everything okay?" He looked as if he was about to fight someone, that someone being Jongdae because he was glaring in his direction. I didn't understand what he was so angry about. Maybe he was jealous of Jongdae? No, no, that was stupid.

"Sorry", he said, heaving a sigh. "I just hate it when guys get drunk and bother girls. I only want to punch them."

"Don't punch Jongdae, please. He's going to whine about it until the end of the semester. We won't get a single experiment done", I joked and he cracked a smile. I was strangely happy seeing him smile.

"That's really cool, doing experiments and stuff", he said. "I've always wanted to try that out."

"Well, I can ask our lab technician to allow you to enter the lab. I think she loves everything and everyone who likes Chemistry. I'm sure she'll give you something to mix."

"Really?" his eyes bulged out. "You would do that? I would really love to enter a lab", he said excitedly and looked like an excited puppy.

"I'll ask her, but I'm sure she'll say yes. I'll tell Hyorin to let you know whether you can go."

He took a sip of his beer. "I can...give you my number if you like", he said, looking away from me.

"Sure."

And that was how I got Sehun's phone number and another possible meeting with him. Deffinitely more than I expected from that night.