Hanbin came back to the dorm from a basketball game with friends to even more of a tornado mess than it normally was. In the middle of it was Bobby laser focused on his sociology textbook and laptop. He looked up, saw Hanbin in the doorway and just sighed angrily before shoving his stuff in his backpack and shoved past his roommate to study in peace. Hanbin turned back and watched Bobby rush out before walking into the warzone of the dorm he called home. 

“Tick tock Hanbin. Only three more days left.” 

“Jesus June!” Hanbin dropped his bag and fell back onto his bed, caught very off guard by the sudden appearance of his self proclaimed fairy godmother. “I said don’t sneak up on me!” 

“Whoops. Must have forgotten.” June said, rolling his eyes. “You have three days left and you’re just falling into the same habits. Worse it seems.” 

“If you’re just here to remind me of the deadline thanks. Now you can go. I have it all under control.” Hanbin crossed his arms and gave June a piercing death glare. 

“Sure. Totally under control.” June muttered under his breath before vanishing. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bobby sat angrily at a desk in the library, trying his hardest to focus on reviewing his notes and not on how much he wanted to slap Hanbin across his devious face. He turned the music up on his headphones, dropping his head onto the desk a little too hard. There was a hollow thunk sound that rang out through the room of thirty or so occupied study cubicles. Someone tapped Bobby on the shoulder. He sat back up and turned around to see a strangely familiar face. 

“Hey can you turn your music down? I can hear it from a couple chairs over.” The boy asked. Unfortunately Bobby didn’t hear any of that due to the deafening music. He quickly pulled his headphones off, letting them hang around his neck before he realized people could still very clearly hear Dok2 and the Quiett through them. 

“Sorry!” Bobby said a little too loud. “Sorry…” he whispered. “Have I seen you around before?” 

“Uh… maybe? You do seem kinda familiar.” A voice from the row of desks in front of the two very aggressively shushed their conversation before they could continue the small talk. “I’ll let you get back to your work.” He smiled and walked back to his study cuby. Bobby watched him walk away before snapping back into study mode. First, he made sure to lower the volume on his headphones.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was a little past midnight when Bobby noticed the guy from before getting up to leave the prison they call the library. Bobby tried to pretend he couldn’t see the guy debating whether or not to stop by his desk. He also tried not to show his excitement when he actually did stop to talk again.

“Hey.” He said, tapping Bobby on the shoulder lightly. “How long have you been studying?” There were fewer students around so he didn’t quite whisper. 

“Uh… I think since like 7PM.” Bobby replied, trying to seem relaxed.

“Dang, that’s a long time.” The guy paused, not sure what else to say. Bobby sat staring slightly up, waiting for him to say anything. “Do you have a test or something?”

“Yeah, it’s for sociology. The test is in…” Bobby checked the time on his phone and sighed heavily. “Nine hours.” 

“Well, you know… uh… it’s not good to study that long without rest. If your test is that soon you should sleep as much as you can before class so you’re well rested. It’ll help your testing.” 

“I guess you’re right. I just really have to do well....” Bobby trailed off, wondering if one more hour would even be worth it.

“If you don’t know it now you probably won’t know it in nine hours.” He replied with a slight shrug. “Oh! I’m Jinhwan by the way.” He stuck out a dainty hand, which Bobby gladly shook. Bobby had a big dumb grin pulling at the corners of his mouth and Jinhwan found it hard not to smile.

“I’m Bobby. Nice to meet you, Jinhwan.” He shook Jinhwan’s hand for maybe a little too long and quickly released his grip when he realized this. 

“So I’ll let you get back to cramming.” Jinhwan said, stumbling over his words. 

“Oh! Uh… I’ll walk out with you.” Bobby shut his laptop and closed his textbook and messily shoved all his stuff into his backpack. The two left the library and walked together for a while before Jinhwan said goodbye and headed back to the apartment he rented with his friend. The rest of the walk back to the dorm Bobby felt light as a feather. When he got back to his dorm he completely ignored Hanbin trying to talk to him. He turned his music up and got in bed, pulling his cover over his head to send the clearest message possible. 

The morning was no different. Hanbin tried to talk to Bobby with little success. Bobby got dressed and packed his stuff, rushing out to get a coffee and muffin before his test and Student Academic Counsel hearing. 

“Why won’t he talk to me?” Hanbin asked his empty dorm as he got ready for his class.

“Maybe because you’re dumb.” June answered, sitting on Hanbin’s desk.

“What? How am I dumb?” Hanbin was frustrated. “I didn’t even do anything!” 

“You didn’t do anything? Are you crazy?” June didn’t raise his voice, but his tone commanded attention. Hanbin shut up and blinked at the ghost/fairy godmother in shock. “I don’t even know why I brought you back here. You haven’t changed at all, you’ve learned nothing, and you are the same stubborn that you were before all of this. Two days Hanbin. Prove me wrong.” 

“You know it’s not fair to yell at me and just vanish!” Hanbin shouted into the air.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Bobby got out of his test and went to a store he liked to get lunch before his academic hearing. He sat in the main courtyard eating a sandwich as he took in the full bustle of campus life, breathing it in. It may be his last day as a student here, or anywhere. If he got expelled he didn’t know what he would do. Maybe enroll somewhere else, but start over with this on his record? All the professors would find out and his reputation would be ruined. His phone buzzed in his pocket, a reminder for the hearing. As he walked to the student center, he couldn’t stop his mind from racing through all the what-ifs, all the choices he had made to end up sitting in a cold room with his peers in front of him, all of them prepared to expel him. 

“Alright! Let’s start this hearing.” The dean’s voice echoed in the meeting room, ringing in Bobby’s ears. He looked up and locked eyes with the dean. She looked tired, but mostly disappointed. This was the third hearing today and there were more the next day. She was sick of watching students throw away their potential. He looked around the panel of students and his voice hitched when he saw the person in the last seat.

Life could be so cruel.