Tomorrow, 2:45 PM. 
The Art Building, Second Floor.

Seunghyun sat nervously at a bench across from the door to room 2-3B; armed crossed, watching people passing by the hallway, wondering if he was gonna be kissing one of them. There were two other guys and three girls standing nearby, waiting. He figured they must be the participants too.

He chose to wear his favorite pair of black jeans, a white t-shirt underneath a red and black checkered shirt, left ed, sleeves rolled up to his elbows. Zen said to wear something comfortable, so this was comfortable for him. He actually had spent a good half an hour picking out what to wear when he finally felt like he was getting ready for a date. He chuckled, shook his head and just pulled out whatever he would usually wear every day, slicked his fingers with a few drops of hair gel and combed them through his dark hair, leaving them tangled in a y mop, and walked out.

One of the guys took the seat next to him and introduced himself as Will. Short for William. Oh, great. I thought it was short for Willy Wonka from the weird vibe you’re oozing.

“You’re here for the ‘Kiss a Stranger’ project?” Will asked.

“Yeah,” Seunghyun nodded, “I’m helping my friend.” He smiled and hoped Will would leave him alone as that guy started to eye him head to toe. If Zen didn't come out that door and start the thing in the next minute, he swore he was gonna leave.

He fished out his phone from his pocket, flashing an awkward half-smile towards Will, and was about to text Zen when the door opened to his roommate’s beaming smile.

“Okay, we’re ready. Let’s get inside!” Zen beckoned the six people into the room. “Take a seat. Take a seat.”

“What took you so long?” Seunghyun muttered as he passed by his roommate.

“A little eager for a kiss, are we?” Zen chuckled, patting Seunghyun’s back teasingly.

“No. That guy is already eyeing me like a pedo. Please tell me he’s not my partner.”

Zen laughed. “What? Of course not. I’ve promised you someone cute, haven’t I? Just wait and see.” Zen grinned, leaving Seunghyun in confusion and a little anticipation, and walked up to the front of the room.

"Thank you, everyone, for volunteering in this project. We, my team and I, really appreciate your time for being here. This is for our Psychology of Human uality course project, studying human interactions based on uality; straight and gays. Of course we could just film two people meeting for the first time, conversing with each other about whatever. But that’s boring. So we decided to push it a little closer to the edge and make it more interesting by experimenting with strangers kissing each other for the first time.”

The whole room was paying their attention to Zen.

"So," Zen clasped both his hands, "what we're gonna do today, as we all know, is to kiss a stranger. We're gonna pair you up and film your encounters."

Seunghyun noticed from the corner of his eyes, Will chanced a glance at him, smiling like a ert.

"We're taking the 'stranger' thing quite seriously, though.” Zen continued. “That's why your partners are in the other room," Zen threw a playful wink, "which means you are not gonna kiss anyone in this room and you wouldn't get to meet your partner until you are finally in front of the camera. We want to capture the raw and genuine reaction when you first meet your partner."

Seunghyun let out a relieved sigh. So there was no way that he would get paired up with Will. He shuddered at the thought of what could happen.

“Later, we’re gonna draw lots to determine your turns. But before that, do you have any question?”

One of the other guys raised his hand. “Are we allowed to talk to them? Like ask them questions? Ask for their names? Or do we just kiss them?”

“There are no rules, really. You can talk to them, ask them whatever you want. It’s up to them whether to indulge you with the answer or not. Just start a conversation, break the ice enough to make it less awkward.”

“What if things got heated up?” The room filled with nervous and awkward laughs at the question.

“Well,” Zen ran his hand through his hair, “we’re aiming for just a kiss, but you and your partner are welcome to take it somewhere else if you feel the need to.” The whole room roared with laughter.

“Not that I mind, but are we gonna get a partner of the opposite or..?” One of the girls asked.

“There is a possibility of you getting a partner of the same , because we’re gonna draw lots so it’s random. That’s why we asked if you would mind kissing a partner of the same in the form.”

Seunghyun frowned. Form? What form? There’s a form?

Another girl raised her hand. “How are you filming this?”

“The filming will be in the room across the hall. There will be a camera, my team members, Jenna and Dean, and myself. We will be very much present in the room while you guys kiss each other out, but we will be as invisible as possible as to not interrupt your moment. You wouldn’t even notice that we're there.”

The participants seemed satisfied with the explanation and no one seemed to have any more questions.

“Any more questions?” Zen asked anyway, to be sure. When the participants shook their heads in unison, he continued. "Okay, so now we're gonna draw lots. Your partners have already done that earlier. So whatever number you draw, we're gonna pair you up with the person who got the same number. Pretty simple, right? So okay, let's come up here, one at a time and draw your number."

The participants took turn to draw their lots and Seunghyun was the last one. Zen leaned forward when Seunghyun approached.

“I’ve saved this number for you. He’s a catch.” Zen winked, holding out a piece of folded paper in between his index and middle finger.

“Don’t be a cupid, Zen. I’ll be the judge of that.” He snatched the paper, turned around and walked back to his seat, ignoring his roommate chuckling. He let out a sigh as he lowered himself back into the chair, unfolding the paper to see when would be his turn.

“Alright, if you’re all ready, let’s start with participant number 1.” Zen flashed a smile.

Seunghyun froze and muttered under his breath. “Well, me.”

“Let’s go, my friend!” Zen called out with a mischievous grin.