The textbooks in your arms were heavy and you could feel your arms about to give way and collapse. You hated the second day of school. Teachers always felt that the need to distribute books then so they could start giving out homework. Your AP biology textbook was about to fall and jam your feet. You could feel it slipping from your grasp.

            You squeezed your eyes shut when you felt it land on your feet. Lovely. Just fantastic. When you gingerly bent over to pick it up, calculus and government spilled over as well. “Darn! I hate textbooks!”

            You hated going to this high school. The workload was ridiculous and everything had been falling apart since senior year began. You tried to take a deep breath but when you tried to pick up the textbooks, your bag fell off your shoulder.

            “Do you need help?” a voice asked and someone jogged up to you.

            Great. Thank you to whoever planned this. Someone to witness your humiliation. “I hope you don’t suffer from second-hand embarrassment. I’m finding it difficult to pick up my textbooks and not flash the world with this stupid uniform.”

            “Oh, you’re the new girl who came in last term!” You looked at the newcomer. He had a nice smile and didn’t look like he was amused. In fact, he had quite an innocent air about him.

            “Yes, and you are?”

            He actually blushed as if he was silently rebuking himself for having not introduced himself earlier. “I’m Moon Jongup. You look like you need some help with those textbooks.” Swiftly, he knelt down and scooped up all three textbooks in one sweep. You stumbled up and he fixed your bag as well.

            “Thank you.” Now you were shy. A nice stranger had just picked up all your books for you without hesitation.

            “Is your dorm nearby? I can take the books for you. It’s not after six, so visiting should still be okay.”

            “I actually got stuck with the dorm furthest from campus.”

            “Oh! The one near that gnarly tree?” You nodded. “Not a problem. I was heading there anyway to see my sister. Let’s go.”

            You fell into a companionable silence. Once in a while you looked over at him. He was still smiling to himself and carrying your textbooks under his right arm. How could someone be so strong? Unable to quench your curiosity, you reached over and pinched his biceps.

            “Wow, you’re so strong. It’s all muscle.”

            He laughed sheepishly. “I guess practice from carrying my sister around all the time. Besides, it’s not that heavy for me. I still can’t believe you carried it almost halfway through campus.”

            You giggled and flexed. Your muscles were embarrassingly nonexistent. “Oops, guess I left my spinach at home.”

            Jongup tossed his head back and laughed. His eyes crinkled when he smiled. You beamed a little on the inside. It was nice to be making friends. Jongup’s stride was a little longer than yours and you found yourself having to walk at a brisk pace to keep up.

            “Oh, sorry, am I walking too fast?” he slowed down and you looked down to hide your smile. “I know you’re fairly new. Do you like it here?”

            “Not really. I don’t have a lot of friends. I mean, I like my roommate just fine. But that’s about it. She’s younger than me so we don’t really have classes. And she’s always with her friends so I guess I’ve been getting by.”

            “Ah. Well, can I see your schedule?” You showed him the back of your binder. “Oh! I’m transferring into you biology class and your arts class. So I guess we can see each other around more.” He let out a small smile again.

            “It’s nice to know someone,” you admit. “A lot of the girls are already in their own posse and it’s hard to just cut in. So I tend to be just an acquaintance.”

            “You can always sit with us during lunch. I sit over with my friends. We’re all guys but we’re also really cool. I mean, Himchan practically acts like a girl. He’s from the nearby college. Tomorrow we’re going out to the new cafeteria that opened. Come with? We can go after biology.”

            Your mouth dropped open. In less than twenty minutes, you have been admitted into a crowd and had even been invited to join them for lunch. “But would they mind?”

            “Mind? No way! They like that I’m making friends. When they graduated, they worried about me. There are six of us and four are older. So they all go to the affiliated colleges. They’ll be thrilled I’m making friends.”

            You laughed and turned the corner to your dorm building. “I can bring it up for you,” Jongup offered.

            You led him down the hallway and he was about to say something but you threw the door open. Your roommate was in there. She looked up and her eyes widened. “Oppa, what are you doing here?” Her eyes flicked from you to him and then to the textbooks under his arm.

            “I didn’t know you were roommates.” Jongup looked surprised.

            She giggled. “Hey, Oppa, if you get a girlfriend, does that mean I’ll be seeing you around here more?” The two of you blushed a bright red and she laughed, twirling out of the room. “I’ll leave you two alone, I suppose. I’ll be back in an hour!”

Jongup request

OHMYGOSH I CAN'T. JONGUPPIE SO CUTE WHY HOW akhdgadjkgha