Himchan knew her from his class.

She wasn’t particularly eye-catching nor was she the prettiest. She was one of those girls that you would walk across the street with, and wouldn’t feel her next to you; Himchan couldn’t grasp what it was about her, but always felt her presence linger after she left the room.

She had shoulder-length, chestnut brown hair, and she was always carrying something. Be it books, her laptop, a sandwich; she was never empty-handed. 

Himchan never spoke to her. He was either swamped with his assignments from traditional music or history classes – or the hordes of fangirls after him. He knew that he looked good and wasn’t afraid to acknowledge it publicly. Almost at the end of every week, he would get a minimum of a dozen confessions, and on Valentine’s day, it was like a tsunami of love letters. He couldn’t even answer to all of them properly because all the meet up times were clashed. It was ridiculous- how good he looked, obviously.

He did catch her eye a couple of times since the start of the new year, but she always looked away casually. She didn’t even blush or greet him with a smile. It was more of infuriating than interesting really. Her name- Park Ryung Bi, was it – what did it matter; she wasn’t interested in him and the feeling was mutual.

But everything changed when Bang Yongguk came into the picture.

___________________________________________________________________________________

“Yongguk ah, are you reaching yet, it’s freezing out here,” Himchan complained into the handphone while pulling his scarf up to cover his mouth. He just had to choose a bloody winter’s day to come tour the school. Couldn’t he have just looked at the campus over the internet, Himchan rolled his eyes.

“Channie ah, don’t be angry, okay~ I’m coming for you~ Thanks again, I’ll treat you to coffee later,” Yongguk chortled as a reply. He was excited to go back to University ever since he stopped his education a few years back to pursue his music dreams. He finally got a break after becoming successful and he wanted to go back to school and spend it with his best friend, Kim Himchan.

Yongguk got off the taxi – Crap, it was really cold - and started brisk walking towards the gate. He made Himchan wait for an extra  10 minutes and he knew he was going to get it later. He saw Himchan’s figure as he got closer, with arms folded across his chest. Yongguk chuckled. Even though they were both 23, Himchan always acted like a child when he was alone with him.

“Bang Yongguk, you finally got your here!” Himchan yelled as he saw Yongguk jog slowly towards him. “I risked my precious skin for you in this harsh and brutal weather, you better have a good excuse of being late!” Himchan threw a soft punch at Yongguk’s shoulder. It was really good to see him again, being carefree. Just like the old times. Yongguk flashed his signature gum smile.

Yongguk was listening to Himchan’s rants about the irrelevance of the way the classes were placed, and taking mental notes of how the campus and the schedules were; he was even excited about attending Himchan’s final class with him. As he strolled along, he realized that everyone was whispering enthusiastically around him. Being childhood friends with the school’s most popular boy, and having a musical career himself, it was going to be hard to walk in these hallways if he decided to continue his studies here.

Himchan continued rambling, as he entered a small lecture room. Yongguk heaved a silent sigh of relief. He set his bag down behind Himchan’s seat, and slinked into his chair. He glanced left and right, when suddenly, someone held his gaze.

She stood across where he sat. She was one of those girls that didn’t fuss about her looks. An over-sized T-shirt, and jeans and sneakers - Yongguk hadn’t come across a girl like that in ages. She reminded him of hard glass: looked fragile, but wouldn’t shatter. She had shoulder-length, chestnut brown hair, and it was tied up. She was carrying a hotdog bun, and she didn’t look like she was going to eat it.

Before he could ask Himchan about her, or even call out to her, the lecturer entered the room.  The girl settled down, and had a glimpse of eye contact with Yongguk.

That was when it all began for Bang Yongguk.

And when it all ended for Kim Himchan.