The lunch hall smelled spicy and sweet. The sound of chatter could be heard from down the hall. Tables were lined with trays of golden curry. You your lips as a growl erupted from your stomach. Grabbing your tray from the lunch bar, you hastily made your way to an empty table away from the crowd. You take a spoonful of the golden substance and shovel it into your mouth. The savory flavor spreads a smile across your face. If you had to choose one thing to live on, it would be curry. It brings back happy childhood memories. Happy memories are few and far between with your family, so when one is remembered, you do your best to cherish it. Lost in your thoughts of innocence; a familiar face sits down across from you. His orange hair looked neon from the rays of sun shining into the window. A square smile painted on his face, eyes arched and wrinkled. You noticed a small freckle on his nose and just how sharp his jawline was. His facial features seemed to soften as he spoke."Jimin, I see you're enjoying the curry! Curry is my favorite thing to eat. Especially on a day as cold as today." You your bottom lip, lapping up the little bit of curry that had managed to not make it into your mouth. Taehyung eyed your lips for a good second before breaking the silence again. "Now is as good a time as ever to get to know each other since we don't have any classes together yet. You seem like a cool person to hang out with so I'll break the ice first. What do your parents do?" Your heart drops to the pit of your stomach. Reluctant to answer the question, you begin to think of a lie." I can't tell him about my actual home life. I don't want to be pitied." Lying the spoon down on your tray, you part your mouth to speak. "Um, well." His eyes stared at you in anticipation. "My dad is a chef at a 4 star restaurant in New York. My mom teaches at Harvard in the States, that's why I study so well. And my sister is studying at a medical school in Japan to become a doctor." Your voice trails into a small crack towards the end of your sentence. Biting your plump bottom lip from anxiety, you can only hope he believes you. "Wow! That's so cool! My family isn't that elite. My dad owns a convenience store, my mom helps out there a lot. My little brother has just started Elementary school. You know, I always wanted to study-" The sound of static becomes audible. It almost sounds like a walkie-talkie when you push the button to speak into the receiver. "Students, I encourage you to be careful this evening as you head back to your dorms. There have been reports of an assault that took place near hear, the assaulter is rumored to be around this area. Please don't stay out past curfew and be sure to walk in a well lit area." The intercom cuts off and the lunch hall falls silent. Everybody is anxious and students are turning and looking to other students in confusion. Taehyung averts his attention back to you, you begin to feel that nauseous feeling creep into the back of your throat. Your mouth is watering, but not from the curry. You fiddle your thumbs and look down at the ground, too anxious to continue eating. "What if he's in this campus."  You shake your head to snap yourself back into the present. "Don't worry Jimin, I'm sure he's not around the campus. Besides, our security is top-notch." You feel a bit at ease from hearing the encouraging words. The ear-splitting sound of the class bell goes off again. It's finally time for the last lecture of the day. Taking your tray up to the wash station, you leave it and trail off down the hall to your homeroom. The teacher pushes his thick, squared frames back onto the bridge of his nose. His eyes looked fierce, almost like he had bad news to tell everyone. "Students, now I know we have only just started, but I feel as if this week would be a good time to have a mock exam." The harrowing sighs of students fill the air. In your peripheral vision you can see Hoseok shift in his seat, he seemed to be nervous. "I will be handing out study materials, they aren't exactly notes so don't think you can get away without taking any. History is an important subject, so I ask you all treat this importantly." Taking a stack of paper, he placed it onto the teaching podium. "Please take a packet before you leave." He continues with his lecture, but all you can think about is Hoseok. He looks agitated and you want to know why. Minutes go by and the bell sounds off one final time for the end of the day. Frustrated students grabbing packets and complaining along the way, you Notice Hoseok leaving, and not grabbing a packet.

The sun has begun to go down; orange, pink and peach hues paint the watercolor sky. The mock exam is going to be held this Friday, you don't want to fail it, so you decide it would be a good idea to stay behind and study some notes. The headmaster's warning completely slips your mind, and before you know it, you had studied for two extra hours. Now the sky is black, save for a few stars. Not many stars are visible because you live in a city where the lights never go out. Or so you thought. Before you exit the class, you take two packets. Hoseok never grabbed one, and all you can think about now is helping him out. Soon you're dashing out the door. It's a Tuesday night and the air is bitter and cold. Winter will be here soon. You're walking on a narrow sidewalk that leads back to the dorms, there aren't any shortcuts or you'd have taken them already to escape the harsh cold. Green bushes line the sidewalk you are walking on. They are starting to turn brown and die out. You come to an area on the path where the lights are out and the ground is littered with dead leaves. There is no wind, surprisingly despite it being close to winter. But you can still hear rustling coming from a bush. "There's no wind. How can the bush shake like that if there's no wind?" It's all coming back to you now. The headmaster had warned everyone to not be out at night. But here you are, all because you wanted to hang back and study. Park Jimin, you should have studied in your room. You've outdone yourself this time. Gulping back your anxiety, you begin to quicken your pace to get back to your room faster. You fumble with the front pocket of your school blazer to make sure the key is there. You can't feel it. The panic within you begins to escalate even more as you realize you had left it in your room. Unfortunately it's still a 15 minute walk because the campus is huge. The rustling becomes even more audible. You are already walking pretty fast, but now you are breaking out into a sprint. Clenching your chest to catch your heart if it ever decides to try and beat out of your chest. Your breathing becomes labored and all you can think about is just making it back alive. And Soyou. If you die right now, Soyou will be lost. Then it happens. A person jumps from behind a bush and lands in front of you. Screaming and cowering in fear, hand still on your chest because now you are sure your heart will try to escape. Tears stain your cheeks and all that your brain processes is the fact it is dark, cold, and that you are about to die. "Hey! Jimin. It's me, Hoseok." You're still crying hysterically as Hoseok places a hand on your shoulder. "Jimin, stop crying. It was only a joke. It's just me." His voice is finally able to reach you. Sniffling and wiping away the tears, you look up to find concerned eyes staring down at you. "It wasn't funny." You say in between sniffles. "Today at l-lunch, the headmaster said an assault happened near here and that the assaulter was rumored to still be around this area. H-He warned us to not go out after d-dark. But I forgot and stayed behind to study." Clear beads begin to roll down your face again, they sting as the cold air hits them. "I didn't know. I was tired so I skipped lunch and went to find somewhere to sleep instead. I never heard anything from the headmaster, and nobody seemed to be talking about it either. I'm sorry Jimin, I didn't mean to scare you." He stretched his hand out to you so he could help you up off of the ground. You grab his outstretched hand and he began to pull you up with one swift motion. "I thought I was going to die." Hoseok furrowed his brows, his eyes seemed apologetic. "It's okay, I won't let anything happen to you." The words sent a warm feeling throughout your body. You're not cold anymore, and your irregular heart beat seemed to regulate itself again. "Please don't make me walk back alone. Please stay next to me, for now." Your whisper perplexed Hoseok. He didn't know that you'd be that upset, or that terrified to ask him to stay with you.

The 15 minute walk back to the dorms seemed like an eternity. Neither of you spoke, but you made sure to trudge beside him closely. You can almost touch his arm with yours. But you didn't care, you wanted to know that you were going to be safe, and Hoseok makes you feel safe. He didn't seem to care either, as he never mentioned you being too close. That or he pitied you to the point where he didn't want to say anything. He's making sure his steps match yours, he isn't walking too fast or too slow. You and Hoseok finally approach the doors to the dorm. Your eyes beam at the sight of the doors. You scramble into the entrance and walk up to the third floor, then you make your way to the room. Your thoughts are clouded, but that doesn't stop you from remembering that you forgot your key. Tears well up again and start to slide down your face once more. "I don't have my key." Your voice cracking as you look over to Hoseok. He pulls his out of his right pant pocket. "It's okay, I have mine." Hoseok unlocks the door and holds it open for you to walk through. You know you should shower, but you're too exhausted. Your eyes already feel heavy and your legs don't want to hold your weight. Hoseok watches as you absentmindedly wander into bed and cover yourself so that not even an inch of you is visible. "I royally messed up this time." He set the alarm at an early enough time so that you could get up to shower and left a note on the snooze button. "Don't forget your key this time, crybaby." Hoseok turned out the lights and headed into bed himself. The thought of you being scared to death made him restless. The boy is constantly tossing and turning. In between your spouts of waking up you could hear him shifting.

The shrill sound of the alarm going off makes you rise out of bed. You hit the snooze button and notice it has a film over it. Unlike how it felt when you first touched it; it didn't feel like hard plastic. You crane your head to the side and peel the paper off. Rubbing the sleep from your eyes so that they focus, the brazen note is the last thing you wanted to see this morning. "He scared me to death last night, treated me kindly after he did so. And now that it's a new day he starts again." Huffing and puffing in frustration, you gather your clothes and head to the shower; thinking of ways to win arguments when you see him. Your thoughts soon drift towards other thoughts, and you remember Hoseok looked distraught yesterday. You can't help but worry about him, even after all that has happened within the last 13 hours. Thoughts of Hoseok and only Hoseok are swarming your mind.

Your feet lead you to class, where you take your respected seat next to Hoseok. He smirks a little bit before asking "did you read the note I left you?" Hissing in distaste "Yes, I read it." You take a packet out of your backpack and slam it onto his desk. "You didn't take one of these yesterday." He didn't say much after that. He only clicked his tongue in annoyance and crammed the packet into his desk. Teacher Yang walked through the door and began class mentioning the exam. "Students, I've prepared some possible questions that may be on the exam for you all to look over." The intercom hums before a voice begins to speak through it. "Teacher Yang, please report to the Headmaster's office." Teacher Yang looked impatient.  He let out a heavy sigh of defeat. "Okay everyone, as you all heard I have to leave. Please pass back the question pamphlets and look over them." The sound of paper rustling and voices clutter the air as teacher Yang made his exit. You turned your gaze to Hoseok. "Hey, yesterday when teacher Yang mentioned the exam, you looked uneasy. What's that about?" Hoseok gave you a sour look. "It's none of your business." He averts his gaze and places his elbow on the desk then rests his cheek on his open palm. It makes you uneasy and you wished he would say something. It didn't matter if it was sarcastic or not at this point. The thought of Hoseok not looking at you or speaking to you made your heart ache. And you didn't know why.

Class ends and it's time to go back to your rooms. This time you make sure to leave before it gets dark. You still don't know if the assaulter is still on the run or not, they didn't exactly update anybody on the situation. Your room is cold because neither you nor Hoseok turned the heating unit on before you left. Speaking of Hoseok, he isn't here. Upon noticing this, you're beginning to get antsy. I might as well wait on him. I have nothing better to do. Your side of the room is clean, not even a speck of dirt is on the floor; whereas Hoseok's side is cluttered with clean clothes he refused to put away. School papers litter the ground and the sight of the mess kicks your instincts into gear. "What a slob." Deciding to be nice despite him ignoring your existence, you pick up the papers and stack them neatly onto his bedside table. You're folding his clothes and stacking them onto his bed. The scent from one of the shirts catches your attention. It smells like Hoseok. Sweet. Vanilla with hints of sandalwood. The scent is inviting, it makes you feel warm and fuzzy inside. You've become completely distracted with the enticing scent, and soon you're drifting to sleep. Hoseok opens the door and is taken aback by the image. You're curled up and cuddling with his shirt on the floor. Your face buried into the neck of it. Your chest rising and falling slowly but steadily, he's marveling at how peaceful your face is. The sight of it is enough to make Hoseok melt. The corners of his mouth turning upwards; he was lost in admiration from the sight. "I can't just let him sleep on the ground like that." The sound of his feet sliding across the floor brings you back into consciousness. Your eyes open slowly to look up to the boy standing above you. You're still drunken from sleep and have completely forgotten you're cuddling the shirt. You bring yourself into an upright position, still staring up at Hoseok as his eyes sparkle with contentment. "What time is it." Confused, you think it's early morning from how long you think you have slept. "It's 12:30." You jump to your feet with worriment, still tightly gripping onto the shirt you once cuddled with. Your head is spinning now because you stood up too quickly. Hoseok reached an arm out to help you steady yourself. "Why were you out so late? Don't you know that guy could still be wandering around?!" Hoseok's eyes lose the sparkling effect from before, instead his features hardened with disappointment. The corners of his mouth had lost the smile and was now replaced with a frown. His eyes slightly glared at you and his voice turned into a low growl. "Don't worry about it. I'm back now aren't I." He spun on his heels and began to walk in the opposite direction. But before he could get too far away you clasped onto his wrist. "I was worried. I didn't know if you were safe, or if you were coming back tonight at all." Your voice was nothing but a croak. He didn't try to break your grasp. He didn't vent frustrations either; instead he said something completely different. With no attitude or sarcasm in his voice at all. "I'm not going anywhere." You released your hand from his wrist and dropped it at your side. You felt better after hearing those words. Eased of worry, full of reassurance instead. Those words were enough. You watched him with the eyes of a hawk as he made his way into bed. "I'm back now Jimin, you can go back to sleep. I won't go anywhere, I'm too tired." You still worry he'll leave your side. Instead of sleeping on the bed, where it would be comfortable and warm, you slide your blanket and pillow onto the floor next to his mattress. Your eyes are stinging from drowsiness. You can hear the soft and gentle snores leaving his mouth. It's a lullaby to your ears, shortly you yourself had fallen asleep from listening to his breathing.