Its 8 in the morning and Joonmyun should be in room 514 of the university, listening to his professor rant about the human brain and its microscopic nerves. Instead, he’s here in front of the Basilica sitting on one of the unoccupied benches, enjoying his time alone. Mr. Lu Han, his professor, just had an impromptu wedding with his boyfriend, Oh Sehun, after breaking the news that Mr. Oh is pregnant. The class was cancelled, much to everyone’s delight. The class really loves the subject and their teacher, thus making Mr. Luhan lenient enough to choose love over career.  Baekhyun and Kyungsoo opted to go to a cafe to meet with their boyfriends due to the sudden cancellation of the class. “Both of you are not planning on a double wedding are you?” Joonmyun asks as he was about to leave. Kyungsoo smiles and answers him with a “You’ll never know” and Baekhyun gives him a wink. Of course they invited him to tag along but Joonmyun knows better and passes on being the 5^th wheel. He says he needs to go somewhere else and now here he is, looking at the Basilica’s structure with utmost fascination while clutching a book from his favorite author, James Patterson. He loves reading his works, especially the Alex Cross installment and by judging today’s atmosphere, he could hear his book internally screaming “Read me! Read me!”.  He flips to the page where he last left and continues basking into the realm of adventure.

“Oh, so James Patterson huh? He’s a nice author.  Although I could say that some of his works are quite cliché. I prefer Stephen King.”

 A deep and husky voice interrupted Joonmyun just as he was about to reach to the of the story. He furrows his brows annoyingly. How dare that stranger disturb him? And the hell, did he ever ask a stranger’s opinion? Joonmyun looks up, ready to fire a sarcastic remark. But as soon as he’s about to utter a y comeback, he bites her tongue. The stranger in front of him looks so pristine and handsome.  His short jet black hair is perfectly styled in spiky updo. His eye gaze is piercing, intimidating and authoritative. But something about his gummy smile gets into Joonmyunn and makes him feel warm and fuzzy inside. Wow. Just wow. This guy looks like one of the models in a fashion magazine.  He knows he’s been staring for a good number of seconds so he looks away and shrugs his shoulders.

“He is a good author, no scratch that, he’s one of the best. I like his writing style and his works are fast-paced. Never dragging. For me, his works are never cliché. He always gives his readers something unexpected. He surprises them with every book.” Joonmyun retorts back.

“Exactly. He surprises his readers with his every book. That’s what makes his works cliché. As his reader, you always expect a twist in his plot. There’s never a conventional ending when it comes to him.” The stranger answered with a sigh.

Joonmyun couldn’t believe what he’s hearing as he stares with irritation to the guy. He hates to admit but this stranger has a point. Thank God for that beautiful face or else he will gladly fire back a witty and somewhat impolite comment to this annoyingly handsome stranger. The stranger smirks and positions himself to the spot beside him. He looks away internally holding a debate with his inner self. Should he defend his favorite author? Or should he just leave and walk away? He chooses the latter and starts to go when he felt a strong grip around his wrist.

“Hey wait I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to be rude or offend you with my opinions. My name is Kris by the way, what’s yours? Let’s be friends.”  

“After everything you said about my favorite author, you think that I would still like to be friends with you? I was enjoying a peaceful moment with my book when suddenly you interrupted me and started opening that annoying mouth of yours. Did I ever ask for your opinion? No. And please, let go of my wrist. You’re hurting me.” And there Joonmyun lost it. Screw that handsome face, he deserves to hear him anyway.

He saw the shock that was plastered on the stranger’s, no Kris’s, face as he gently lets go of his wrist. He thought that maybe he would walk away and then he could go back to his once peaceful state; - just like nothing happened. Instead, his next reaction caught Joonmyun off-guard. Kris laughs his heart out. It’s not the typical kind of laugh but that really loud, attention-grabbing-kind-of-laugh. His laugh is really loud that some people are starting to stare at their direction.

“Why are you laughing? I never said something funny.” Joonmyun whines as he stares at Kris. She’s starting to panic. Many people are already looking at them. He smiles at them apologetically just as an old woman rushes to them. God, he feels so helpless.

“Young Mister kindly please tell your boyfriend to stop laughing loudly. We are situated near the entrance of the church and a novena is about to start shortly. The noise would be disturbing the devotees and it would be very rude to do so.” The old woman tells them kindly and walks towards the entrance of the Basilica.

He stares with Kris with disbelief, still unable to process what the old woman said. He is not my boyfriend. He mentally tells the old woman. But surely there’s no point of it and he needs to deal with the laughing idiot whose laughs are becoming more flamboyant after hearing what the old woman said. Joonmyun shakes Kris with both hands, begging him to stop laughing. Goodness gracious! Why is this guy making his life hard?

After a few shakes, alas Kris stops. Joonmyun feels relieved and plans to leave the place, but before he could turn around and walk away Kris holds both of his arms and looks at Joonmyun in the eye. Their faces are too close for comfort that one might think that they are going for a kiss.

“Hey, I like you.” He says with a wide grin. Kris’s lively eyes looking through Joonmyun’s. He could see the sincerity in his eyes.

Joonmyun could feel heat rising to his face. Surprise is written all over his face. In that exact moment Joonmyun didn’t know how to react, so instead of doing something embarrassing or being further embarrassed by this handsome stranger, he does the first thing that comes to his mind. He escapes. He hurriedly got his backpack and ran away. He didn’t mind Kris shouting for him to stop. Heavens just heard his plea and was kind enough to provide an empty cab for him at that exact moment.  He immediately hailed the cab. Maybe a little luck is still on his side. He tells the driver the address and orders him to take him there as quickly as possible. He never looked back, too afraid of seeing that handsome stranger again. Wait why is he feeling this way? Why did that stranger had such effect on him? No one made him feel this way. Not in his 24 years of existence. He remembers Kris’s handsome face. How Kris’s smile would reach to his eyes. How Kris’s grip felt around his wrist. How Kris looks through his eyes and how he saw the sincerity when Kris said that he likes him. He smiles to himself as he remembers the little details about him. Was he really serious? Or was it a prank? He shakes off those thoughts and wonders if he made the right decision.

THE NEXT DAY…

                Joonmyun is feeling gloomy when he realized that he left his book. He is not in the mood to talk with Baekhyun even if he overhears him telling Kyungsoo about their new substitute professor. He sulks in his seat and mentally blames that handsome stranger, (or should he just call him by his name?). Wait, erase. Why is he thinking about him? That was just a one-time meeting, never happening again. He allows assuring himself with these thoughts when Mr. Lee, the dean, enters together with the substitute teacher.

“Good morning everyone. As you know Mr. Lu Han just got married yesterday and is on indefinite leave for his honeymoon. I’m afraid that he won’t be able to join us for this semester. Together with me is Mr. Wu. He would take over the subject in the meantime, so please cooperate with him. Also, he is the youngest neurologist in the hospital.” The dean proudly announces to the class.

Joonmyun could hear his female blockmates gushing about how handsome their new professor is.  He looks up to see what the fuss is all about and there, shock is written all over his face when he realizes who the person is. Joonmyun could feel his jaw hanging open as he processes the twist of events.  The dean prompted Mr. Wu to introduce himself.

“Hello everyone. My name is Kris Wu and I’ll be your new neurology teacher for today. Since today is our first day together feel free to ask me any questions. It would be best to know some things about me given that we’ll be together for the rest of the semester”.   Kris spoke with air of authority and confidence.

Joonmyun doesn’t know what to think. Is fate really playing on him? While questions were being asked to Kris, he thinks of possible ways to vanish. Joonmyun steals a glance to Kris. He sure is very composed and calm. He stares a little bit longer just as he catches him staring. Kris smirks. That bastard! He seems to be enjoying Joonmyun’s discomfort!

 As soon as the class ended Joonmyun was about to rush towards the door when he recognized a familiar book on the teacher’s table. Kris has his book! He opted to stay in the classroom for a little while, telling his friends that he would just follow them to the library. He scans the classroom and he notices Kris following the dean out of the classroom, leaving his things behind. This is Joonmyun’s chance! No one was already inside, so he took the opportunity to grab his book from the teacher’s table. His heart is beating erratically due to excitement and nervousness. He got his book successfully and as soon as he was about to exit the room he felt ‘that’ strong grip around his wrist.

“Hey, I never got your name. Or should I call you mine?”