“Hey Erin.” The sort of nasal voice was unmistakable. You did your best to fight the urge to run away, but instead turned to face your would-be stalker. Nick was a shortish but broad guy who smelled like cigarette smoke, and had no idea what personal space or social cues were. Out of nervous instinct, you reached to your pocket for your phone, but didn’t pull it out.

“Hey Nick.” You answered, trying not to sound too awkward. Nick took a step closer to you and attempted to reach for your hand, but you turned to keep it out of his grasp, shuffling backwards slowly.

“Come on, give me a hug.” He was grinning, still approaching you. For a second you thought you might have to suffer through one of those, but luckily you felt the familiar sensation of his arm dropping on your shoulders and a moment later you heard his cheerful voice.

“Morning Erin, I got you a coffee.” Taehyung smiled at you as he pushed a warm coffee can into your hand. Nick’s expression darkened as he glowered at Taehyung, then to the can in your hand that you’d already opened to sip from.

“Thanks Taehyung, you’re so sweet.” You smiled at him. “I’ll get yours for lunch, okay?” Taehyung looked pleased with that offer and his hand pressed on your shoulder subtly so the two of you turned slightly, bringing Taehyung face to face with Nick. And between you and Nick.

“You shouldn’t buy her junk like that, she deserves much better coffee.” Nick grumbled. Taehyung luckily chose not to respond to that. You responded by taking a larger gulp of the coffee and sighing contentedly. Yes, it was a bit sugary, but it was caffeinated, and it was warm out of a machine. These cans were your favourite part of the entire university, and a good way to start a day with 8am classes.

“We have to go. Bye Nick.” Taehyung waved at him, then pulled you with him into the corridor. His grip on your shoulders loosened slightly, but since you could still smell the cigarettes, you knew that Nick was still behind you. So you stuck close to Taehyung.

“Thank you for doing this.” You muttered quietly, taking another small sip of your coffee. Taehyung smiled innocently and slid his free hand into his pocket.

“It’s 800 won per can, I’m not that broke.” He replied, sounding like he didn’t have a care in the world. You nudged him slightly, hinting that he knew what you meant, but Taehyung just continued smiling, briefly squeezing your shoulders. The grunt of complaint behind you was oddly satisfying, though it was also creepy that Nick was walking that closely behind you.

It was quite lucky that the professor didn’t care much for seating arrangements, so you didn’t have to adhere to the seating order of the first lecture. This way, you and Taehyung could plop down all the way to the back, you next to the wall with Taehyung next to you to block Nick off. He could still sit in the row in front of you, but you’d devised a brilliant tactic for that.

When Nick indeed sat down in the seat in front of you and turned to you, trying to pick up your belongings that you’d put on your desk, you just kept them close and waited patiently as the room filled up with students. Right before the lecture started, and after the row you were sitting in was filled completely, Taehyung asked you to swap places with him, which you did. That didn’t stop Nick from talking to you completely, but he was a little further away from you and you didn’t have to look at him while you were trying to pay attention.

Class passed mostly blissfully. At times, Nick would try to toss a note onto your desk, but Taehyung either caught them or wiped them off your desk immediately. You felt guilty for that. After all, Taehyung was taking this course as well. He needed to be able to pay attention.

As the end of the lecture grew nearer, though, Nick started staring at you more intensely. At some point, when he thought you weren’t looking, he would his lips. Desperate to catch the last bit of the lecture, you did your best to pretend you didn’t notice him and scribbled frantically in your notes. Nick seemed to think that was funny.

“You need to chill Erin, it’s not that difficult. I can always tutor you if you’re in any trouble.” He wiggled his eyebrows. “In private. How about we meet up after classes?” At that, Taehyung rose so quickly from his seat he almost knocked his notepad off his desk. Nick scoffed at him.

“You’re not welcome. Erin needs to spend some time with her own people.” He said. Your jaw dropped. Your own people? Taehyung answered before you could.

“What is that supposed to mean?” He snapped, shoving his things into his bag so aggressively you were worried the zipper might break. You followed suit, but kept a close eye on Taehyung. All of this really seemed to be getting to him, and you felt miserable for it.

“I mean, Erin is from the UK, like me. Hanging out with you all the time isn’t good for her emotions.” That was so ridiculous and offensive, you couldn’t help but break out in nervous laughter. Both Nick and Taehyung turned to you, and you covered your mouth, trying to regain your breath.

“My parents are Korean, you racist.” You finally managed, swinging your bag over your shoulder. Taehyung smiled somewhat victoriously at that and picked up his bag as well.

“I guess that means it’s more private time for me and Erin. Let’s go.” Taehyung smiled, draping an arm over your shoulder. You nodded, happily switching over to speaking in Korean. It upset Nick because he couldn’t really speak the language, which made it all the better for you and Taehyung to use.

“Don’t you try to flirt with her! I called dibs first.” Nick protested so loudly the surrounding students all gave him weird looks. Taehyung glanced between you and Nick, baffled. Then he turned back to you and nudged you towards the door.

“Did he just call dibs on a human?” He asked incredulously. “My English isn’t perfect but aren’t dibs just supposed to be for things?” You shrugged, trying to ignore the protest behind you and Nick trying to get past the students that were still packing up their stuff. Luckily you managed to escape the classroom before he could do that. Though, you knew it was only a temporary relief.

“It’s pretty sad I’m looking forward to going back to my dorm.” You sighed as you made your way to the international dorm. Perhaps it was the paranoia, but it felt like you were still being watched. Maybe Nick was somewhere behind you, staring at you. You didn’t dare to look over your shoulder to make sure. Taehyung also sighed and turned a corner. You could see your dorm now.

“It does, I can’t come into your dorm either.” He stated. You felt a warmth in your stomach and did your best to ignore it.

“What do you want to do in my dorm? It’s nothing special or pretty.” You commented. Taehyung gave you his bright, dorky smile and you felt like shoving him. That answer made it seem erted.

“Because we never get to hang out with just the two of us. That douchebag is always butting in and we never get to talk or actually unwind. And that because you seem fun.” Flatterer. You didn’t call him out on that, though. He didn’t sound like he was lying. You’d gotten a lot closer to the dorm, so you gathered your courage to just go for it then.

“I was planning on going to explore the Dongdaemun night markets tonight actually. You’re welcome to tag along.” You suggested. Taehyung stopped walking and dramatically grasped your hand, getting down on one knee.

“Why, my fair lady, it would be my honour to accompany you.” He choked out so exaggeratedly that you did punch his shoulder before laughing. Taehyung rubbed his shoulder but laughed along. He knew he had it coming to him. “I’ll meet you at the subway then? Exit five?”

“I’ll see you at eight thirty then.” You confirmed. Taehyung patted your arm and nudged you towards the dorm, ‘lest the beast shows his ugly face’. Before he could spout more medieval Korean at you, you gave him a quick wave and ran inside.

Happy at the prospect of hanging out like normal people with Taehyung, you dressed up a little. With all the mess at school, you hadn’t dared to wear anything cute. Another reason this was going to be a great night. Once you judged your baby blue dress perfect, you headed outside. There wasn’t a sign of Nick anywhere, much to your relief, so you texted Taehyung to let him know you were on your way and headed to the subway station.

“Taehyung!” You called out to him excitedly once you reached the exit. Taehyung, who’d been on his phone, looked up at you and smiled brightly, waving you over eagerly. He automatically reached for your hand once you reached his side before he realized that Nick wasn’t actually here.

“Sorry, force of habit. And you look great.” He smiled at you, running a hand through his hair with a somewhat awkward chuckle. You reached up and grabbed his hand, squeezing it softly.

“No worries. And thank you, you look good, too.” With those words said, you went into the subway station and got on your train. Dongdaemun’s night market turned out to be absolutely beautiful. There was amazing food, which was the most important part to both you and Taehyung, but they were also selling pillows, blankets, clothes, shoes, bags and all kinds of games and other paraphernalia. Taehyung bought himself some ddeokbeokki, and you bought a large, tornado shaped fried potato that twisted upwards beautifully.

“So how did you end up here?” Taehyung asked with a smile. “I mean, what gave you the idea to go study on the other side of the planet?” You nibbled at your tornado chip and smirked.

“Why, because I expected there wouldn’t be any creepy guys here of course!” You joked, then sighed. “Actually it’s because of my parents. My dad has a thing about Korea. He lived through the last end of the military dictatorship and lost a few friends during the student protests. So he and my mom moved abroad, but because of his grudge they didn’t really fit in with the Korean community.” You paused for a second to look at Taehyung. He looked a little concerned, but nodded for you to continue.

“My brother ended up really hating Korea, so my mom wanted to raise me differently. Mom and dad had a huge fight about it and they almost got divorced over it. So I decided I’d come here myself and see if it felt like home or not.”

“Damn.” Taehyung said after a few times. You nodded. “So, how do you like it here? Do you feel at home?” He gave your hand a gentle squeeze and you felt your cheeks heat up. He hadn’t actually let go of your hand since you’d gotten on the subway.

“I don’t know yet. I have some trouble with the social hierarchy stuff, to be honest.” You answered, taking another bite of your tornado potato. “My brother would never let me call him ‘oppa’, and we weren’t really connected to the Korean community, so I have no idea how any of that works.” You admitted sheepishly. Taehyung grinned down at you.

“You can always call me ‘oppa’ if you want.” He teased. You scoffed and bumped your shoulder to his.

“Yeah, that’s not happening.” You retorted. Taehyung laughed and let go of your hand to wrap his arm around your shoulders, squeezing them teasingly as he muttered ‘one day’. You didn’t bother to correct him. It felt pretty nice. This whole trip was great, even if all you accomplished was eating some new snacks. But those were the best kind of achievements when traveling abroad.

“We should go to Hongdae sometime.” Taehyung suggested. “It’s really nice there. There’s arcades, nice cafes, a movie theatre… Plus I can force you to eat soondae.” He grinned mischievously, knowing just how little you liked the blood sausage in pig intestines.

“Ew, no. But yes to playing some arcade games.” You laughed. Taehyung leaned over and stole a bite from your tornado potato, so you answered in kind and stole one of his rice cakes. He laughed and turned to you. Just when it looked like he was going to say something, you felt large raindrops pelting your hair and shoulders. With a yelp, you ran for shelter under the nearest ledge. The rain created small rivers running down the uneven streets.

“I thought the rainy season was supposed to be over.” You commented, smiling at the bizarre weather. Taehyung didn’t say anything, pulling you further under the ledge and away from the raindrops that fell as thick as a hailstorm. Suddenly you felt very aware of his arm around your shoulder and cast your glance down at the floor, where you saw the two of you reflected in the quickly forming puddles. Taehyung was also looking at them, and waves over his shoulder at the puddle. Dork. You closed your eyes and enjoyed the moment for a while.

As soon as the rain had come, it stopped again. Just in time for you to hear a clock strike eleven somewhere in the distance. You gasped. Curfew was at twelve and you still had to walk ten minutes from the subway station!

“Oh ! Curfew. I have to get going.” You laughed nervously. “I didn’t realize it was this late already. You get home safe too, okay?” Taehyung sighed but pulled his arm off your shoulder.

“Yeah I will. Next time, we’re definitely hitting up Hongdae.” He smiled at you. After a quick goodbye and promising you’d text him to let him know you got home safe, you both went your separate ways home.

You were still in a happy daze by the time you got home and dropped onto your bed. Taehyung was so perfect. He made you so happy. You were called down from cloud nine by the buzzing of your phone. At first you thought it was Taehyung checking in to see you got home safe, but when you unlocked your phone you found yourself staring at a text from an unknown number.

“You got home late tonight Erin. What were you up to this late? Though I must admit, you look very cute in that dress ;)” . How did he get your number?! You never gave him your number! Was he watching your dorm? How did he know you just got home? Was he just trying to get a rile out of you or was he actually watching? Panicked, you took a screenshot of the message and sent it to Taehyung with just the word ‘help’ added underneath.