Exactly a week after, Ara figured it out.

She decided, that it was just a complex chemistry problem, with a lot of steps and equations. And her great roommate Yoonjo, was great enough to go with her to another of Heavenly Voice’s open performance at the campus common grounds.

The crowd was packed. Students from neighboring university campuses had driven over to hear the group. A few of the group members’ friends seemed to be on duty as temporary managers for the event.

Ara ignored the crowd, patches of fangirling girls consuming the grounds. She let herself enjoy the singing. Just the singing.  

Except, that each song the group sang spoke of heartbreak, loss, sorrow, grief.

And Ara could see Yoonjo becoming just as immersed as the rest of the crowd, in the longing voices of the guys up there. Hyunshik’s strong, melodic soprano. Jinho’s ringing, passionate vocals, Dongwoo’s fervent notes, Kyungsoo’s deep, tender harmony. Each of them expressed the grief and heartbreaks of their chosen songs in enchanting sensuality. Every sense that the singing stimulated in Ara’s body drew her eyes toward golf ball eyes. But she refused, opting to close her visual senses for only the auditory ones, pushing away the lures of her confrontations for just a few more minutes.

The performance didn’t last too long, as usual, and Ara found herself ushering Yoonjo home first. Her roommate left reluctantly, leaving Ara to wait in the dancing crowd, stifling the buzzing nerves in her chest.

Hyunshik eventually found her and pulled her over to the stage area, with much more room to breathe.

“I’m glad you came, Ara! How are you?”

Ara wondered if Hyunshik new. If guys spill things to each other the same way girls do.

“I’ve been… alright. Busy, I guess. You sounded great.”

The smile he returned her said all. He knew, alright. Hyunshik patted Ara’s shoulder for assurance, then turned, pointing.

“The guy you’re looking for, he’s right there. That’s him, right?”

Ara followed Hyunshik’s direction and caught golf ball eyes. Bowing in polite refusal to requests of pictures with his fans.

“Yup.”

“Go on, then.”

Ara waved to Hyunshik, meaning to thank him for things she couldn’t quite put into words later. She gradually made her way, footstep by dreaded footstep over to golf ball eyes and his fans.

The same, very round, very white, large eyes looked at her from under neat bangs. The nice jacket he’d put on for the performance made Ara think back to Kyungsoo’s first days moving into high school.

“Ara, you came.”

She nodded, curtly.

“Can you buy me some coffee?”

Huge, bright eyes livening at the question, Kyungsoo smiled that heart shaped smile.

“Of course.”

Two vanilla lattes. They found an open table upstairs. People were chatty Friday night, and Ara almost liked the contrast of noisy from the week before at the pond, when it had been too quiet, too solitary.

“I’ve… decided to accept the fact that you’re just smarter and better than me. I’m going to embrace that, I’m going to embrace the fact that I can’t keep comparing myself to you, and it’s just going to make my life a whole lot easier. It doesn’t mean I won’t work hard still, just that I won’t let you frustrate me anymore. That’s the conclusion I came to… after thinking it all through.”

Golf ball eyes clearly didn’t know whether to laugh or frown. His eyebrows twitched oddly, his lips bobbed a bit, before he finally let out something.

“But… that doesn’t penalize me in any way.”

Ara just shrugged.

“I don’t see why I need to go any further than accepting your apology. It’s not like I can blame you for being smart. That… was what used to always pressure me the most, really. But I’m not going to let it do that anymore.”

He half nodded, half tilted his head in response.

“I suppose… that’s a good decision.”

“Yeah. I hope so.”

They exchanged a few blinks. Ara sipped her coffee. It felt good, to actually have the upper hand against golf ball eyes this time. She had the answers here. He had the questions, and the confusing responses to deal with.

“And, about what you said... about starting off from a blank sheet of paper. With that I… just don’t think that’s very realistic. We can’t just pretend none of it ever happened.”

“It’s not a practical approach… Yeah... You’re right.”

Ara nodded. From the wide, upstairs windows, she could see bright lights from streets, cars, and buildings, the city goers weaving through each other for their evening out. It wasn’t particularly chilly, but the warm coffee felt good in her hands.

When she turned back and met Kyungsoo’s eyes, Ara smiled, hesitantly.

“That’s all. I think I’ve finally, just emptied out everything from the past, with you and me. It’s not that I’m going to forget it, but I’m actually ready to move on with it… if you are.”

His heart shaped lips pulled back in a shy grin, and Ara found relief in that she didn’t have to turn away. The inherent instinct she’d developed to flee, the guilt that chipped away at her with every eye contact. She wasn’t that same person anymore. Of course, she would still have to get used to it, opening herself up to his companionship. But it was a start.

“I’m glad to hear that. And I’m glad you accept my apology. Like I said, I’ll accept whatever you decide, remember? So then from now on, let’s just, work hard and help each other out, the rest of the years we have left in college? We work well together, I think.”

Ara had to pause a moment to check herself. Whether the idea of going through the rest of her college years with golf ball eyes as still a peer, a rival, and even a study friend in her life, made her uneasy.

It did. A little. He was too perfect to ignore that slight uneasiness. But what Ara wanted, was to smile, nod, and agree with golf ball eyes. They were after all, the same year, the same major, the same career track. The same coffee preferences, the same music preferences, and who knows what else, or what else not.

“Do you want me to walk you home?”

“Sure.”

The walk back to campus, and then toward their crammed-in dorms, felt like such a long way. Noisy students interrupted Ara and Kyungsoo’s quiet in scattered intervals. People recognized golf ball eyes too often, giggling and dramatized reactions making golf ball eyes’ ears redden and Ara laugh once the students were gone.

She wanted to make conversation about his newfound campus fame. She wanted something to break the silence that signaled their ever-present discomfort, the fogginess of past emotions that hadn’t quite left either of them. Still, Ara tried to stay positive. She hadn’t felt so free, so cleaned of old thoughts and feelings, ever.

The path wasn’t particularly narrow, and she didn’t feel like the two of them walked all that closely, but golf ball eyes’ knuckles gently brushed against hers rather often. Ara clung to her shoulder bag dearly with her other hand, wondering how she had been so welcoming of the coffee’s heat before. Now, the evening just felt stuffy and hot.

Kyungsoo accompanied Ara all the way to the front of her dorm building. The area strangely seemed quieter and emptier than normal.

She stuck out her hand toward him first, in an awkward attempt to do something about their discomfort. She still preferred it to those days of boiling, suppressed resentment and envy.

His hand was soft, cool, and hearty. Grip, fitted but not too suffocating. While Ara concentrated on the steadiness of their handshake, golf ball eyes stepped closer, in the midst of shaking hands, throwing Ara off.

“I’m fully prepared for a hit, if you need to. But I’m still going to, so, I apologize in advance.”

And Ara uttered incomprehensibly in confusion, lips and brows twisting into frowns, but golf ball eyes’ soft hand had slipped out of her grip. He stepped another step closer, and gentle touches encircled her neck before she made out his face over hers.

Golf ball eyes kissed her with those heart shaped lips. It should have been a moment of striking shock and disbelief.

But after a flash of astonishment, the swelling that overtook Ara, leaving the goosebumps pricking her back viciously, was bitter frustration.

All physical sense focused on the gentle push of plump skin against her own. And then, an abrupt, single tear fell against her cheek, before Ara could blink away the rest. Her chest felt as stuffy as the night air. The soft hands against her neck fought off the goosebumps from crawling up spine to the back of her skull, but the pricks against her ribs still startled.

He left the faintness of vanilla coffee when he drew back, glowing white irises full in her vision. His eyelids slumped, those dark pupils regarding Ara with regret.

“It’s still unfair, isn’t it? You’re still angry. It’s hard to let go of so easily. And you still hate me. You don’t want to, but you do.”

He folded back his hands from her neck, one by one. Thumbing away the wet spot at her cheek. He slowly let the distance between them grow, warm evening air just filling the space.

Ara shook her head, a little vigorously. She let out one frustrated sigh, after another, tensing the muscles around her face from giving way to any more of those tears.

“Why did you have to like me? It might have been so much easier if you’d hated me from the start.”

She hung her head, irritated with herself to no end.

Kyungsoo just dipped his head to meet her eyes, showing her a slowly forming smile.

“How could I hate you? You’re amazing.”

Without giving her time to respond, he grabbed her and pulled her toward him, wrapping his arms around her shoulder blades. The pricking goosebumps went away as he squeezed her into him. She let her head fall snugly onto his neck. Unfittingly, he was just taller enough for the position to feel comfortable.

The evening was warm, and golf ball eyes’ body was warm, but the embrace, oddly enough, seemed to cool her insides down. And the dimly lit space in front of the dorm building remained empty and quiet long enough for the two to stay that way, for an ample amount of time. 

The abrupt order of events from their first, honest conversation and coffee, to an unexpected kiss and comforting hug, was a rapid shock to say the least. But to say that Ara and Kyungsoo’s relationship took a fast track after that night, was rather an understatement, in Ara’s perspective.

Everything happened so fast, Ara got to wondering if some outside being hadn’t pressed the fast-forward button on her winding-down freshman year of college.

Kyungsoo, Hyunshik, and Yoonjo didn’t seemed the least troubled. It was apparently only Ara, who thought it worthwhile to reflect on the irrevocably fast pace of their interwoven lives.

Do Kyungsoo was a person of painstakingly straight-forward emotions and expressions, and a person who didn’t hold back. He was short among his friends, but tall enough to hug Ara snugly in his arms. He was skinny and small in size, and had a tendency to draw his guy friends in that way, with that odd cuteness. He had a singing voice that always became too lost in a song and it’s melody to weave itself out in time. He liked to listen to Pop R&B, IU, 2Bic, K.Will. He liked to watch Ara watch him as he sang. And he liked Ara, a lot, he always said.

Kyungsoo hated any sort of affectionate contact that surpassed holding hands, in the presence of any type of public. Whether it fell to a publicly open area with passerbys, or the hawk-like eyes of Hyunshik and Yoonjo. Ara was the same way. Even holding hands, in the presence of people other than the two of them, seemed awkward, embarrassing, unnecessary.

The fantastic tag-team that was Hyunshik and Yoonjo, provoked them in any way they possibly could. The Heavenly Voice members played the unforgiveable prank of bringing Ara on stage during a performance, and forcing Kyungsoo to sing to her on one knee. Ara didn’t speak to Yoonjo for two days after that disastrous show.

Alone, Kyungsoo liked to snap Ara out of concentrated study sessions by pulling her face away from her textbooks for long kisses. Massaging her neck and shoulders with those soft hands. Tangling his feet with hers if they sat across from each other.

And Room 206C, was a secret study room that only Kyungsoo and Ara know about. It was hidden in the farthest, narrowest hall of the life science building, past many supply closets and maintenance rooms. The room was furnished with a small, square study table with four chairs, two plush chairs with high backs, and an old, stained white-erase board. It’s only flaw lay in that not even the building’s janitors knew about it, so the trash can never got emptied.

When Ara came back from dropping off a bag of trash into a larger trash bin down the hall, low-key, she found Kyungsoo stealing sips of her tea.

“That’s mine.”

“But I need it.”

And Ara padded over to him nonchalantly, inspecting the dark circles that seemed to be deepening every other minute. She just sighed, crossing her arms.

“You look like you’re dying.”

“Then spare me some healing tea, please?”

Ara rolled her eyes and sat across from him, pulling her books toward her.

“Have you started on the Physics?” Ara didn’t look up from her neatly lined notes as she asked. Kyungsoo yawned, pulling his arms above his head.

“No. I’ll start on it in a bit. Just a little break.”

Ara glanced at her watch. 10:11pm.

When she raised her eyes from her notes, golf ball eyes was staring at her. She’d never stopped calling the guy golf ball eyes. At least, not inside her own thoughts. When she’d told him about it, Kyungsoo had just smiled, saying he probably deserved it.

“You look so tired.”

As she got to know Kyungsoo better, Ara realized that the perfect person she’d always perceived as effortlessly faultless, was not like that at all. He worked mindlessly hard to be the perfect person he was. In the past few days, he’d sacrificed hours and hours of sleep for school, his Heavenly Voice members, his other organizations, and even Ara.

“I’m not that tired. Tea should help. And you.”

He got up, grabbed her chin with a thumb and forefinger, and let those plump lips slide over hers. Ara tried to cover the way her insides fluttered and her mind flashed with alertness. She took ahold of his ear, so when he finally let her breathe, she made him stay, examining the dark circles, running her hands over the tired lines of his features.

“What happened to that handsome, perfect guy that always beat me at everything? Who’s this old grandpa?”

Golf ball eyes grinned, brushing his nose against Ara’s, before stretching out widely, falling slumped into one of the plush seats.

“More tea, and lollipops to help you stay awake?”

Ara got up, fished for her phone and her keys, as she coolly avoided Kyungsoo following her movements with weary eyes. He bit his lower lip, nodding his dark hair messily against the cushioned back of the seat.

With a simple wave, Ara made her way to her dorm room to fetch things. She ran into a jealous Yoonjo in the room who stuck her tongue out at Ara, as she ran out with the hot mug cup in hand.

When Ara slipped back into 206C, Kyungsoo was out on the seat, breathing evenly.

She set the things on the table and padded over to golf ball eyes. He seemed more like his bright self in his sleep.

Feeling guilty for waking him up didn’t stop Ara from narrowing her eyes mischievously. She pulled up his lips with hers, letting the scent of hot, herbal tea float around his lips and his even breathing. She felt him stirring, those huge eyelids almost creaking as they slid open. As soon as he recognized the trace of her lips on his own, he smirked.

“You’re amazing, Ara.”

“I know. Now get to work on that Physics.”

He tangled his fingers in hers, asking her to help him get up. Ara frowned when he wouldn’t let go of her fingers, to sit opposite him at the book-strewn table.

“So, how far are you on your Physics?”

“Definitely far enough to not stay up the whole night, like you.”

Golf ball eyes sipped the hot tea from the mug, then pouted.

“Stay up with me? And I’ll sing whatever you request for the upcoming performance?”

Ara narrowed her eyes in annoyance, letting her eyebrows wriggle in disapproval. But brushing her hair behind her ear and turning away from those glittering white irises, she feigned a large sigh.

“Fine. It’s a deal.”

A/N:

After some debate, I've changed the order of the stories so that Chanyeol is next!

And on a rather random note, here's one of D.O's favorites from 2013, one of the songs he played as a personal request when he guest DJ'ed for Shimshimtapa along with Chanyeol! For your listening pleasures~