“Jongdae?”

The pen halted its movements  in the brown-haired boy’s hand who sat opposite and he lifted his gaze from the smart black notebook in his lap, his brown orbs staring up widely. He’d always preferred his  nickname, but he knew it was no use arguing with his friend.  “What’re you writing?”

A smile spread across Chen’s lips and he quickly fastened the lid on the ball-point pen. He sat up straight and cleared his throat, his eyes darting down to his notebook once again.

“Nothing particularly exciting.”

 Victoria refused to buy his lie. Anytime she stumbled upon Chen with his nose in a book, scribbling frantically, she knew he was working on his latest masterpiece. He was gifted, like that. Song writing, poems, even short stories, Chen was a genius at it all.

“Oh, that’s definitely a lie.” Victoria’s teasing caused Chen to look up, a mischievous glint in his eyes. Victoria saw right through him, but that was the trouble with constantly being around the same person for almost eighteen years. But he adored her, and all of her interesting quirks. Victoria took Chen’s distraction as an opportunity to lunge forward and snatch the notebook, but he was too quick. He tugged it away, grinning wickedly at his best friend. “No, that’s not fair!”

Chen simply shrugged, “Oh well! Now, what is it that you want?”

Mimicking his shrug, Victoria glanced around the courtyard callously, pretending to be disinterested in Chen’s selfishness. “Absolutely nothing.”

“That’s definitely a lie.” Chen scoffed the wicked grin still present on his lips. He loved playing with Victoria, and although she’d never admitted it, he adored his teasing. “Let me guess, you found yet another adorable little squish that you just want to keep in your pocket forever and ever?”

It was Victoria’s turn to scoff. “No.” Chen gave her a look. “Okay, maybe. But this one isn’t a squish, Chen!”

Chen sighed, “Okay, what’s his name and major?”

“I don’t know.” Chen rolled his eyes. “But he’s a music major, also!” Victoria began bouncing happily, causing Chen to smile. “He’s really cute, Chen! And, he’s Korean!”

That intrigued him. “Korean, you say? Is that you generalising, or is he actually Korean?”

“Oh, no he’s definitely Korean. He’s from Seol!” Victoria seemed all too cheery, knowing this knowledge, and it struck Chen’s curiosity how she knew this much, yet still had no clue on his name. “Apparently he started as a Freshman this year, and he has a really beautiful voice!” Victoria dove into her bag that was now in front of her and pulled out her bottle of water.

“Please, tell me more. I couldn’t afford his biography.” Chen teased again, sliding his notebook into his own bag. It’s not like he was annoyed. In fact, he loved the way Victoria spoke about other boys, admiring their talents, spreading only the positive gossip about them. As soon as Chen had zipped his bag up, he felt a slap on his left arm. “Okay, ow?”

Victoria gave him a displeased look. “Just humour me on this. He may be a freshman, but he’s almost twenty-two.” Chen widened his eyes.

“Twenty two and only just starting University?”

“Give him a break, he only moved here a few years ago. I think he wanted to learn English before he started University.” Chen could understand that. “He can’t be that had to find, this place doesn’t have many Asian students. Imagine it, you me and him. A little Korean speaking trio.”

Chen rolled his eyes. “You don’t know Kore-“

“You can teach me! Come on!”

Chen sighed. Victoria wouldn’t give in; she’d only end up giving him a puppy dog expression before doing her aegyo that he simply couldn’t resist. So he sighed and lent forward, giving Victoria a half smile. “What was his major again?”

-

Being in their second year of University, the work was beginning to pile on Chen and Victoria. They still hung out, but it was normally in each other’s dorm rooms, either studying, working on their plans for their dissertation next year or a presentation that was due the next morning.  They often met up in the library to quickly exchange notes, even though they were on two completely different courses; Chen on a music major whilst Victoria was in fashion. But sometimes, they’d research things for the other and just pass on information that could be useful. So when Chen headed down to the library fifteen minutes earlier than needed to meet Victoria, he wasn’t surprised to find she wasn’t there. He’d been extremely bored in his room, resorting to drumming with his hands on every available surface, much to the annoyance of his snotty roommate. Why didn’t he get a shared house? He asked himself every day.

Chen headed down the design aisle in the library, looking for a particular number. He’d looked up the directory for a book that he knew Victoria might need for her upcoming assessment, so he looked around for it. Ah, 1058, something about the history of Milan and Paris fashion. Meaningless to Chen, but it may help Victoria. He pulled it from the stand and took a step back, his left shoulder bumping harshly into the oncoming traffic. The contact startled Chen and he lost his grip on the book, causing it to tumble to the floor. He spun to look at whoever he’d bumped into, not recognising them.

“I’m sorry, I wasn’t looking-“ Chen was cut off as he stared at the boy he’d bumped into. It was a boy, tall, only an inch or two taller than himself. He had dark ebony hair that flopped down over his eyes, messy and untamed. His eyes were a deep brown, wide, with his lips partied, eyebrows raised, completing the expression of shock.

“Oh gosh, I didn’t hurt you, did I? I’m sorry, I often don’t look where I’m going.” The boy gently placed a delicate hand on Chen’s arm, and he snapped his head down to it. He was suddenly rendered speechless, captivated by this boy. Looking back up, Chen mimicked the stranger’s expression, his own lips parties in a small ‘o’. He must’ve looked incredibly unintelligent with such a dumb expression on his face. The fringe of chocolate brown strands of hair fell over his eyes, and he suddenly looked, and felt, so innocent.

But Chen suddenly snapped back to reality, cocking his head to sweep the fringe from his eyes. “No, not at all. I’m completely…” Again, Chen was interrupted by the stranger, but this time because he’d dropped to his knees. An embarrassingly filthy thought crossed Chen’s mind, and he was certain he was blushing. The boy had suddenly sprung up, offering the book that Chen had dropped previously out to him.

“Fashion? That’s… Interesting.” The stranger was almost smiling a little, and Chen was still completely dumb-struck. He couldn’t put his finger on what it was about the boy that intrigued him. But then it clicked.

“Ne.” Chen opened that the other would understand it, and by the sudden spark of light in the other’s eyes, he understood.

“You speak Korean?” The boy had suddenly slipped into the Korean language, and it was like all of the confidence in the world and fell into his body. Deciding to be welcoming, Chen also spoke in his native language.

“I do. You speak English very well.”

“I’ve been teaching myself for three years, so I’m still learning.”

“Well, you sound very fluent.”

“Thankyou. My name’s Joonmyeon.” Joonmyeon. Was he possibly the Korean boy Victoria had spoken about last week?

“Joonmyeon, that’s Korean. Of course it’s Korean, you’re Korean, you’re speaking fluent Korean, shut up Chen.” Chen dropped his head, screwing his face up at his own dumb attitude. He couldn’t help it. Sometimes he was just so slow.

“Yes, it’s Korean. I’m Korean.” The boy who Chen now knew as Joonmyeon let out a faint giggle, and Chen raised his gaze to admire it. It was so light, his cheeks raised, eyes slightly squinted. It was positively adorable. There was no way this boy was older than him. “It’s nice to meet you…” Joonmyeon trailed off, tilting his head forward, trying to urge Chen to give his own title.

“Oh, I’m Chen! Well, Jongdae, but everyone just calls me Chen. Except for Victoria.”

“Girlfriend?” Chen was a little taken aback by Joonmyeon’s question. Was he prying? No, he couldn’t possibly be suggesting anything. They’d only just met. This was just Chen’s wishful thinking. But still, it wouldn’t hurt to have a stranger hit on him once in a while. Especially if it was someone as attractive as Joonmyeon.

“No, she’s my best friend.”

“Oh.” Joonmyeon almost had a slight excitement in his voice, but he quickly dropped his expression. “Well, have fun with your book on fashion.”

Chen knotted his brow a little, slightly dazed at the question. That caused Joonmyeon to nod towards the book in Chen’s hands. “Oh! It’s not for me! I’m reserving it for a friend.”

“Ah, I see.” Joonmyeon nodded again, tugging at the end of his sleeves. He rolled his head from side to side as if thinking of something to say. Chen just stared at him, which he knew he shouldn’t have, as he knew it would only make him uncomfortable. Which it appeared to do so. “I shall leave you to it then. It was a pleasure to meet you, Chen.” Before Chen could say anything in the form of a farewell, Joonmyeon had his heel, the gap between them growing significantly larger as the other boy had left his presence. Chen just stared, like he was star struck after meeting his biggest celebrity crush after years of pining. They’d barely spoken for five minutes, but it was already like Joonmyeon had left large stamp on his heart, stunned him repeatedly with a taser before signing his name.