When you hear someone opening the door, you stifle a yawn, expecting Bambam. You get up and look at the door with tired eyes.

But it isn't Bambam.

A tall guy enters and the first thing that catches your attention immediately is his hair cut. It reminds you of a bowl cut, the one children in elementary school all used to wear not too long ago, but the rest of him is anything but childish. He has long legs and a sharp, cold gaze with dark eyes that are staring at you. Directly at you.

“Oh!”, suddenly frightened, you stumble over your own feet, tumbling over the floor until you finally land directly on the floor in front of his feet.

He stares down at you, his eyes turning small with annoyance and mistrust. Then he scoffs.

“Move.”

You angle your head so you can look up at him but are only met with a proud jawline. “Ah, I'm sorry...”

Your voice cracks and you gulp, quickly scrambling to your feet, trying to regain your balance and dignity.

“I'm just here for Bambam, because of the documents... and Taehyung.” Your efforts at explaining yourself seem to be futile, because the unknown guy just rolls his eyes.

It's just now that you realize that there are beads of sweat grazing his face, making his hair stick to his forehead. He also has a large bag with him. He must have been exercising. You blink and feel your cheeks starting to heat up.

Suddenly, something clicks in your head.

“You must be Yugyeom, right?” Your words stumble out of your mouth before you can stop them. He only rewards your recognizing him with a disparaging glance.

“I'm waiting for Bambam... He should be back in a few minutes-”

As if on cue, the door opens again and you turn to see cold blond hair and a bright smile.

Bambam looks at you and then at Yugyeom. “You're already here!”, he exclaims. “I thought you had practice. Taehyung was looking for some documents that he left here.”

You take in Yugyeom's changing expression. His frown that he showed to you slowly melts away as he looks at Bambam speaking. You can't help but feel slightly offended. Why did he look at you with such scorn and contempt? You've never seen him before...

Bambam suddenly beckons you forward with a good-natured smile. “This is Juyeon.”

As soon as you step into his line of vision, Yuyeom's frown reappears again and his hard gaze brushes over you.

“Juyeon, this is Yugyeom, my roommate.” Bambam looks at you with a conspiratorial grin. “Don't mind him, he always looks unfriendly at first.”

You can hear Yugyeom scoffing, but your heart swells a bit in you chest. Bambam, whatever he does or says, is always perceptive, like he can see right through you and your every expression. Maybe being so transparent should concern you, but at least right now, it doesn't.

A small smile appears on your lips and you stare down at the floor bashfully.

You can hear some shuffling and realize that Yugyeom is probably putting his bags down.

“Sorry for making you wait so long”, Bambam says. His fingers gently reach for yours and you look up with surprise.

“Thank you for coming back”, you mumble. He smiles and it makes your spine tingle.

“Let's take you home.”

**

It's early in the morning and you're sitting at the dinner table next to your phone, staring at your laptop. Ever since you've been dancing with Bambam, you've been thinking about looking up a school online. Some kind of club or academy where you could take lessons.

The thought itself already overwhelmed you, but defying your expectations, dancing with Bambam had been really fun. You still had a bit of time to spare, because exams were yet to come and you were sure that your parents would be happy if you decided to take up a hobby.

You skim through the options until you find one that sounds promising. The website looks modern, the prices are affordable and it boasts good reviews.

You hear the key turning downstairs and look back at your latop, staring at the opening times. You make a mental note to go there.

“Hello!”, your sister greets with a friendly voice. You can hear her taking her shoes off and putting her jacket on a hanger.

You close the windows on your laptop and turn it off.

Your sister enters and as soon as she spots you, her expression turns sour. Her eyes narrow and she clicks her tongue.

“Hey”, you greet back, trying to smile at her. Her expression darkens considerably and you look at her.

“What is it?”, you ask. You can already feel your voice beginning to get squeaky. You're really bad at arguing because direct confrontations always make you nervous instead relying on others to defend you. It's another habit that you should shake off. Maybe you can start today.

“What is it?”, your sister repeats incredulously, raising her eyebrows.

You blink. You really have no idea what you've done wrong. You didn't forget her birthday or talk bad about her. In fact, you two haven't been talking at all for a while. But why is she so mad?

The display of your phone suddenly lights up with a new message from Bambam. You stare at it for a second. He's asking if you have time this afternoon. Your heart flutters in your chest, before you quickly look back at your sister again, trying to focus on her.

“Jaebum has been asking for you since the party”, she finally spits out, throwing her bag on the couch. “He wants your phone number.”

You tilt your head, trying to remember something. But you can't. The name Jb doesn't ring any bells. None.

Your sister clicks her tongue and looks at the ceiling, exhaling loudly.

“Are you really that desperate?”, she finally asks, glaring at you. “You knew that I had a thing for him.”

You still don't get it and look at her with wide eyes. The insult stings. “I-”

“You knew that I liked Jb and you still went after him!”

Her words knock the air out of your lungs and for a moment you stand still. Your limbs fall to your side. Jb. Jaebum. The sweet-talking guy with copper hair. The smoker. The guy who teased you. The guy your sister likes. It's one and the same person.

Suddenly, her sour mood and her grim expression when you entered the house with him make sense. You feel apologetic immediately.

“Oh my god, I'm so sorry.” You put your hand in font of your mouth and turn to your sister. Tears are prickling at the corner of your eyes and your face heats up.

Your sister just scoffs.

“I didn't... I really didn't know. I'm so stupid. I'm so sorry, Suyeon.”

You stand up and look at her unsurely. “I really didn't know.”

“You didn't know what?” Her gaze is hard and unfaltering.

“I didn't know it was him. If I had known I wouldn't have talked to him. I'm sorry.” The words stumble out of your mouth until you finally stop and look at your sister. She's still standing there in a belligerent pose, her arms crossed, staring at you with suspicion.

“I really didn't know”, you insist one more time and she stares at you, clicking her tongue again.

“Do you think I'm stupid?”, she asks with disbelief before hastily turning on her heel and walking up the stairs.

You consider running after her for a second, but decide it would be best to give her time to cool off. When your sister, or anyone for that matter, is angry, they are unreasonable and irrational, unable to listen to anything. Arguing with her now would probably only worsen the misunderstanding.

You sigh and sit back down to bury your head in your arms. So much for changing your ways and being willing to confront people.

You remember Bambam's text and get your phone.

'Do you have time right now?', you text back.

**

You end up going to the same ice cream parlor again. Bambam says that it's to make up or the botchd first day, but you tell him that it was just fine and remind him that it's you who is paying this time.

This time, you're taking the strawberry ice cream and it arrives with whipped cream, fresh fruits and two spoons.

Bambam gives you your spoon and smiles. “Dig in.”

You carefully scoop up a bit of ice cream and put it into your mouth. It's delicious and a smile spreads on your lips.

“It's good”, you mouth carefully. Bambam's eyes are bright and you realize that he's wearing blue again. A blush spreads on your cheeks. He must have caught your fleeting gaze, because his smile gets even wider.

“How is... uni going?”, you quickly ask, trying to steer him away from any topic that you're not yet comfortable talking about.

Luckily, he doesn't seem to mind.

“Well, there's a lot of time left until the exams start, so I'm not too stressed right now. What about you? You're in your last year. It must be really hard, right?”

He swallow some ice cream and you can see his adam's apple moving. You quickly look away.

“It's not that bad. Like you, the exams are still far away, so I have a lot of time left...” Your voice comes out in an embarrassed mumble and you quickly try to hide behind your hair.

“Then you still have a lot of time for dates”, he states and you cough lightly.

You can hear Bambam chuckling awkwardly and quickly put another spoon into your mouth, avoiding his eyes.

After that, your conversation quickly settles into a comfortable rhythm of asking questions, getting answers, being asked questions and giving answers.

“Why do you look so down today?”, Bambam finally asks, staring into your eyes like he can see everything that is going on in your head. You blame his perceptiveness.

Shrugging, you look down at your spoon. Explaining what happened today with your sister is difficult. Not because you're embarrassed, but because you generally dislike badmouthing people and spreading rumors. Surely, Bambam would keep your secrets, but it would be impossible to shake off the feeling that you're telling on your sister.

“I just hurt another person”, you admit distractedly. “Not physically”, you quickly add with a slight smile. “But with my actions.”

You play with the spoon in your hand and then look up. “Where do you usually hang out with your friends?”, you quickly ask, trying to change the topic.

This conversation is, again, verging on the margins of you. Your worries. Your fears. And every time you give up a piece of yourself, every time Bambam is venturing further into this cosmos of anxiousness and concerns, into this cosmos of you, it raises tiny red flags, like you're leaving yourself too vulnerable.

“Do you often come here? You... You seem like a regular.” It doesn't sound really smooth, you're not a master of extemporizing, you're honestly bad at oming up with small talk topics out of the blue and all on your own.

Thankfully, Bambam is nice enough to catch onto your mood.

“I sometimes come here with Yugyeom”, he says and you think back to his roommate with the icy expression and hard gaze. “But we often hang out at Jinyoung's place, too, because he's loaded.”

He rubs his thumb and pointer finger together and grins at you. You mouth curls upwards inadvertently. His grin is so bright that it could light up the entire world.

**

When class ends next day, you still find yourself thinking back to Bambam. After giving you a ride back home, he hugged you and you swore that you would suffocate because even his smile alone was enough to make you die of asphyxiation.

Thinking back to how surprisingly comfortable it was in his arms still leaves you tingling.

Your classmates cajoled the teacher into not giving you homework today, so you're technically free today, but like always, you find yourself heading to the library instead.

Revision is the most important thing. At least that's what all the teachers say. You do agree, though, so you try to brush up your knowledge and review subjects as much as you can. It's really going to pay off in the long run.

You shoulder your backpack and open the door.

The library is big and spacious, with many windows and tall shelves filled with both contemporary and older literature. You settle down at your regular table and get out your books, folders and notebooks.

A quick glance around tells you, that the library is almost deserted. The only other person you can see is a guy clad in a flannel with chestnut brown hair staring down at his book. He seems really immersed and you see his study utensils.

He must be really dedicated.

You smile slightly and get to work. While languages are your strong point, you often struggle with the sciences. You're good at memorizing, but it takes you effort and time to grasp particular concepts or ideas that hide behind formulas.

Maths for example has been one of your enemies ever since fifth grade. It can be really difficult to understand certain things, even with your trusted calculator.

You open the book and look for a page that can do today and then start.

It's tiring and when you're stuck in the middle of a really complicated calculation, you let out an exasperated sigh and look up at the ceiling in frustration.

From your peripheral, you can catch someone's warm gaze on you and quickly look down.

The guy from the other desk is observing you and meets your gaze calmly. He's definitely handsome with styled hair that is darker at the roots, strong eyebrows and dark eyes. He has a prominent nose and soft looking lips. He's really, really good-looking.

Suddenly, he blushes and a mischievous grin spreads on your face.