“Ya, how are you writing so fast? And so neatly!”

You turned away from the projector screen and furiously copied the notes as you answered, “Maybe because I’m Asian?” You looked up from your notebook and burst into soft laughter at your seat partner’s face of incredulity.

You forgot that he was Asian too, just raised in the states. He was good with the group project when he asked you and his friend Suga to form a team with him. Suga was a passive man and you were shy, so you let RM take the lead. And you excelled at the group presentation.

“I’m sorry,” you said, “I meant that I was raised in Asia with Asian competition.”

“Well then, let me copy your notes then,” he replied and took your notebook from you. You smiled and tried to stop him lamely, not wanting to get your professor’s attention. You were done copying the points for that slide anyways. Your professor had a weird teaching method for an educator in IT and Social Media studies – no one would receive notes digitally or copy them electronically; everyone had to return to the pen and pad.

“Quickly,” you said quietly to him, waiting for him to be done copying your notes.

“Thanks,” RM replied and returned the book to you.

For the rest of the lesson, you had a face near yours as he copied the class notes from your book instead.

You sat with your friends but you noticed that the corner of the classroom was empty. Some of your male classmates, including RM, were missing from the Korean studies class. You wonder how you went from seeing him as part of a rowdy bunch of boys in this class and then to your seatmate in the other.

You guessed they really skipped the class when the professor walked in and the corner was still empty.

Your jaw dropped the next day when you entered the IT class. RM was already in his seat, with something new around his arm. “What happened to you?” you said softly to him.

“We went ice skating and I fell,” he answered bashfully.

“This guy… Why break hearts when you can break yourself right?” Suga nagged from behind you.

RM chuckled at his comment and turned to you, “Wanna sign my cast?”

You wanted to glare at him, but you were barely close enough to him to do so. ‘This is what you get for skipping class,’ your Asian wanted to say to him.

“Can you write?” you asked with concern that he hurt his dominant hand.

He shrugged at you and said, “I’ll just borrow your notes and photocopy them, then.” Suga scoffed at him from behind.

As the month got colder, your friends decided to go out for a grill buffet. While waiting for the lift after your Korean class, you saw RM walk out towards you. “Going back to the dorm?”