Jaein thanked the lab accident for letting her sleep in 2 days in a row, not to mention tomorrow’s a Saturday so that makes it 4 days in a row. Her classes usually start at 9am and end at 2:30pm. It was well past 1pm when she finally woke up. Jaein sluggishly grabbed the phone from the nightstand and checked for any notifications. There was an email from one of her professors letting her know that there will be a report on the ethics of stem cells due in 2 weeks. There was also a Kakao Talk group invitation from the 9 boys she met yesterday. Seconds later, she could feel her stomach aching from hunger. 

Jaein made some scrambled eggs, morning tea, and took out some chocolate granola before sitting down at the kitchen table.  She applied for a single dorm because it was bigger and had a kitchen supplied with an electric stove, a general-sized oven, a microwave, a fridge, and a spacey sink. Her bathroom consisted of a simple shower, a toilet, and a nice sink. She also owns a double bed, a closet with hangers, and a study table with a mirror. She even has her own washing machine. It resembled a studio apartment minus a couch and a TV.

She literally had nothing to do since she finished her work yesterday, so she decided to take a short walk to the convenience store near the campus to buy some snacks. 

Meanwhile, the boys were waiting for Jongin and Yixing to finish their choreography class before heading back to the dorm.

“I’m so hungry, I can eat Kyungsoo hyung,” Sehun said as he took a bite of Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

Kyungsoo pushed him away.

“I wonder what Song Jaein is doing right now…” Jongdae mumbled out loud.

“Don’t say that dude. Kyungsoo’s going to be ing pissed if you take his girl,” Baekhyun teased, earning a strong glare from Kyungsoo.

“Stop with the teasing. I will murder all of you if you keep it up,” Kyungsoo warned.

“But Jaein is really pretty… If you don’t want her, then I’ll go for it,” Chanyeol said.

“Be my guest,” Kyungsoo replied, but hef felt a bit bitter after he said that.

“I never thought there would come a day when Do Kyungsoo finally has a crush on someone,” Minseok teased.

“Hyung… not you too,” Kyungsoo whined to Minseok.

The two dancers finally appeared in front of them.

“What were you guys talking about?” Jongin asked.

“Kyungsoo hyung’s love affairs,” Sehun answered.

“With Song Jaein? The pretty girl that saved Kyungsoo the other day?” Yixing bluntly asked.

“For ’s sake,” Kyungsoo muttered as he stood up.

“Stop teasing the poor man. The big baby over there is hungry, so let’s grab some food,” Junmyeon said as he also stood up.

♦♦♦

Monday came pretty quickly for Jaein, as she didn’t have a lot of things to do over the weekend. Her phone has been buzzing with messages from the guys asking if she was free or what she was doing, but she didn’t care to reply since she was in no mood to talk to anyone. Her mom emailed her if she could visit, but she coldly rejected her offer, saying that she was too busy with Uni.

Jaein got dressed in a pair of black jeans and a grey sweater over a white polka dot button down. She grabbed her laptop along with her bag and put on her favorite Adidas Superstars.

♦♦♦

“Before we end the class, I want you to read the chapter on the digestive system and its functions in your textbooks so you really understand it. Practice drawing diagrams and make small notes. This will prepare you for future exams. We’re not going to review this material until after Christmas break so do not slack off. We’ll be starting our forensics unit tomorrow since it’s not a really big chapter. We’ll continue with a closer look on the human anatomy after forensics,” the Professor said as he dismissed the class.

Jaein packed up her notes and stationary into her bag before standing up and stretching. That lecture lasted for a good 2hrs so her legs were dying to stretch. She was relieved that they would be starting early clinical exposure combined with extra classes by next semester.

As she was heading towards her next lecture, she bumped into familiar faces.

“Song Jaein! You’re alive!” Baekhyun exclaimed as he gave her a tight hug.

Jaein had no time to return that hug when Baek pulled away.

“We thought you were goners! Why didn’t you reply any of our group chats?” Chanyeol pouted.

“I’ve been very busy with work. Lots of papers to write and human anatomy to memorize,” she lied. She didn’t do anything productive during the weekend. “What are you guys doing here anyways?”

“We’re on a break till next class. There’s a lot of pretty girls in the premed department so we decided to take a look. We already found one,” Chanyeol replied with a wink. Jaein could only let out a soft chuckle.

“Are you free after classes? Kyungsoo wants to try this new recipe back at the dorm,” Jongdae said.

“Aren’t girls not aloud to enter boys’ dorms?” Jaein questioned.

“We’re special,” Chanyeol simply replied.

“I deeply apologize again for his narcissism. It goes out of hand sometimes,” Baekhyun said.

“Anyways, we’ll sneak you in. We’re professionals,” Jongdae proudly stated.

“So you like to sneak girls into your dorm?” Jaein questioned again.

“That’s not what I meant! I- We- WHATEVER. Just come… please~” Jongdae pleaded.

“I don’t know… I have to revise tonight,” She said, trying her best to get out of it.

“I know you’re a premed student, but don’t beat yourself up too much. It’s university. People have fun in university,” Baekhyun persuaded.

“Let’s do it another time?” she offered.

“It’s hard tracking you down if you don’t reply to our messages. We promise to be very good oppas,” Jongdae replied.

“How about I think about it and tell you later? I’m going to be late for a class,” Jaein said.

“Sure thing. We’ll find you later~” Chanyeol said before Jaein started to walk again.

We just met a couple days ago and they’re already super clingy… how adorable. She thought to herself as she speed-walked to her next lecture.

♦♦♦

“The dorm is that way Chanyeol,” Junmyeon said as they headed towards the Medicine department.

“We need to pick Song Jaein up. She said she would have dinner with us tonight,” Jongdae replied.

Her name grabbed Kyungsoo’s attention. She’s coming over for dinner. I’m cooking dinner tonight. Those little ers. He thought to himself before glaring at the 3 idiots.

“What a coincidence! Kyungsoo’s cooking dinner tonight,” Yixing teasingly said.

“I will ing stash your bodies in a trash pit,” Kyungsoo mumbled out loud.

“Something weird happened when we talked to her earlier,” Chanyeol started, grabbing everyone’s attention.

“I flirted with her, but she only replied with a chuckle. A freaking chuckle.”

“She’s not into you. Kyungsoo’s already got her heart,” Baekhyun said while poking at Kyungsoo’s cheeks.

Kyungsoo raised a hand at him before hitting the back of his head.

“Let’s save Kyungsoo’s pride when we meet her. No mentioning of his big crush on her, got it?” Minseok said, earning an ‘ok hyung’ from everyone except for Kyungsoo.

Just as they entered the building, Jaein walking out of one of the lecture rooms. She was smiling and talking happily with one of her professors. He was one of the young ones, so she got along with him very well.

“Your wife must be proud of you sir! Finally being able to cook for your kids,” Jaein teased.

“Yah, stop teasing me. I was born with an intelligent mind, not cooking skills.” Professor Yoon replied.

Professor Yoon’s eyes met a couple of boys looking straight at her.

“I see you’ve made some friends. And all boys,” he said as Jaein turned to the group of boys.

“Oh, yeah. I helped one of them when the lab thing exploded. They’ve been sticking to me like gum,” she replied.

“That’s good. At least someone other than me is watching over you,” he said before waving a small goodbye and walking away.

The boys were courteous enough to let her finish her conversation before coming up to her.

“There you are! So, will you come or not?” Baekhyun asked.

She raised the two textbooks full of colorful post its to him.

“Aw, come on. You can study while waiting for the food. Kyungsoo’s cooking is worth sacrificing your studies,” Chanyeol said.

Kyungsoo shook his head at his friend’s attempt on convincing a girl to eat dinner with them.

“You won’t take no as an answer, will you?” Jaein sheepishly replied.

“Let’s go!” Jongdae exclaimed as he pulled Jaein hand to walk.

“I’m really sorry. They’ve never met a girl who can tolerate their antics before,” Kyungsoo muttered to her.

“I’m too tired to make dinner, so why not? I’m starting a new unit tomorrow anyways,” she replied with a smile.

He noticed that she was struggling with carrying the two big textbooks, so he took them instead.

“Let me carry these for you,” he said, in which Jaein replied with small thanks.

“I have to say, they actually look cute together,” Jongin said as the boys walked behind them.

“He’s actually going to get a girlfriend before all of us do,” Jongdae continued.

♦♦♦

Getting her inside was pretty tricky because all the professors were out and about. Although Junmyeon’s parents own the institution, he can’t just break the rules. They had to pass Jaein around and cover her before actually entering the elevator. 

Junmyeon unlocked the door and opened it for Jaein to come in. She was relatively surprised at how big it was. It does make sense for 9 people to live here.

“Welcome to our crib. Make yourself at home,” Junmyeon said as the other guys entered.

Kyungsoo placed her books on the coffee table before heading into his room to change. Jaein took off her coat just as Yixing was about to take it from her to hang it. 

“Thanks,” she said to him.

“No problem. Just make yourself as comfortable as possible here,” he replied with his dimple smile.

She looked around and noticed that it looked very homey. There was a long couch in the middle of the room with a big TV. The kitchen looked pretty big too from where she was standing. Jaein estimated that there were at least 5 bedrooms in the dorm.

Jaein found her textbooks on the coffee table and sat on the couch as she opened one of them.

With the help of vitamin K, the liver produces proteins that are important in blood clotting. It is also one of the organs that break down old or damaged blood cells. She read her highlighted textbook.

Her textbook suddenly disappeared from her hold as Jongin took it.

“Your eyes will get strained if you keep reading,” he said as he examined the highlighted book.

“Vasovagal syncope? What in the world does that mean?!” Jongin exclaimed.

“It’s the fancy term for fainting,” Jaein replied, laughter following behind.

“Sehun, your borborygmi is so loud,” Jongin said to the youngest one while pronouncing it completely wrong, making Jaein laugh her off.

“My what?” Sehun asked.

“Growling stomach,” Jaein answered as her laughing fit subsided.

Meanwhile in the kitchen, Jongdae and Chanyeol were helping Kyungsoo with his cooking.

“Use your damn logic Park Chanyeol! That looks more like a tablespoon of salt rather than a teaspoon!” Kyungsoo yelled at Chanyeol.

“At least it’s not under seasoned,” Chanyeol replied.

“Over seasoning is also not good,” Jongdae muttered.

“They look like they’re having fun saying fancy medical terms. I want to do that too,” Chanyeol said as he kept stirring the jigae.

“You were the one who volunteered on helping me cook,” Kyungsoo replied as he chopped the onios.

They were making curry fried rice, kimchi jigae, and simple side dishes. Kyungsoo has to make sure that both Jongdae and Chanyeol do not mess up because he doesn’t want Jaein to die from food poisoning.

“That looks good,” Jaein said as she entered the kitchen.

Kyungsoo’s breath hitched. Her sudden entrance caught him by surprise.

“Kyungsoo makes the best kimchi jigae,” Jongdae said proudly.

“I’ve never had homemade kimchi jigae. My mom couldn’t cook Korean food,” she replied as she leaned on the kitchen counter.

“Then you’re in luck today. Kyungsoo’s also making curry fried rice. He’s never made it for us before, but his mom told us that it tastes amazing,” Chanyeol said as he stirred the soup.

“I’ve never really exceeded in cooking dishes. I’m only capable of baking,” Jaein said as he starred at Kyungsoo’s ability to dice the garlic.

“You should bake something for us. Kyungsoo tried making a pie once, but it didn’t go too well. He’s good at making bread though,” Junmyeon said behind her as he entered the kitchen.

“Sure thing. Can’t wait till you’re done,” she replied before heading out of the kitchen. 

When Jaein finally disappeared from his line of sight, Kyungsoo's breathing went steady again. What is happening to me...