The last week of the semester went by quite smoothly, you know, if you consider water balloons to the face and stink bombs planted in girls washrooms smooth. Oh, and let’s not forget what someone mowed into the school field, it rhymes with dock.

It was prank week, so of course professors who had experience stayed home with their families while students who knew better simply didn’t show up. But, there was always the fresh-out-of-gradschool professors who were overly excited and didn’t have the slightest idea of how ruthless college kids can actually be. And then there were the freshmen and well, we both know freshmen are the most confused beings out there.

You however, did not belong to any of those categories. There was another category you belonged to and that was; ‘those overly enthusiastic try-hard kids who go to every club meeting’ category. Well not really, since you were the assistant head of the music club so you had no choice but to go. But anyhow, since it was the last week of classes, all of the clubs at the university were beginning to wrap up their activities. This meant all club members had to be present at the meetings so that a final decision could be made for whether the club should or should not be continued. Although it wasn’t mandatory, you expected a few of your members to show up so you prepared accordingly by bringing over some goodies from Chews, at the expense of your aunt of course.

Since the last week of the semester was often busy you found you were able to focus more on the tasks you needed to complete and less on the things you were trying to forget.

Particularly, things that started with Jong and ended with In.

You hadn’t seen him since the day he confessed to you and you rudely walked out of his apartment. Although you were dying to see him, you somehow managed to convince yourself that it was all for the best. All you had to do was avoid him right? How hard could it be?

In the end, the only people who showed up to the club meeting were Joonmyeon, you, and that kid with the unibrow who plays the trumpet. Trumpet boy wasn’t so bad on those rare days he put on deodorant and talked about anything other than World of War Craft, whatever that was. You figured you two may even become friends one day…okay maybe not.

“Is this everyone…?” Joonmyeon asked.

A group of girls at the front cheered and nodded enthusiastically.

“Uh, you girls are in the music club?” he hesitated.

Oh, you almost forgot to mention that Joonmyeon’s fan girls also showed up, but that was a given. Although they weren’t formally in the club, they were basically members at this point.

“Ne!!~” they all replied in unison. He sighed and rubbed two fingers over his temple. Meanwhile, you were snacking on the brownies by the back table.

Joonmyeon tried to say a few words but had to stop every few seconds because of the ‘oooh’s and aaah’s’ the fan girls were emitting. He looked over at you with a helpless face and you giggled.

“Alright everyone, make sure you sign up for the camping trip that’s happening in a few weeks! Late sign-ups will not be accepted.” You cheered, while handing out the brownies.

“Noona!” you raised an eyebrow. “Err… I mean assistant head, these brownies are amazing!” trumpet boy marveled.

A smile formed on your lips as you nodded and handed out the final club list.

“Please give us your feedback on whether we should continue this club or not.” Joonmyeon announced.

“You must continue it Professor!” screamed the girls. He smiled and awkwardly nodded.

Another group of girls came running into the room and you moved over to the side of the doorway. A  quiet giggle left your lips but was quickly replaced by a gasp when someone grabbed your wrist and pulled you outside of the room. All you could see was the strangers back while you tried to pull away from his strong hold.

The room he brought you into was dark and even before your eyes had the time to adjust to their surroundings, the stranger pinned your wrists against the nearest wall, his body pressing into yours slightly. Another panicked gasp left your lips and just as you were about to scream, he retracted one hand to pull off the hood that was covering his face.

Your eyes widened.

“Sehun!?”

“Hey.” he forced a smile.

Anger and sadness took over you almost immediately

“Yah! You haven’t answered any of my calls or texts and you show up here after days like this?!” you pushed into his chest, although the impact didn’t make him budge an inch. You continued your little assault on his chest until he gently grabbed your wrists, stopping your actions.

His face was pale and tired, as if he hadn’t slept in days.

“It’s been weeks Sehun… where have you been.”

A sigh left his lips as he looked into your eyes, almost as if he wanted you to find out the answer yourself.

“Don’t… get mad, okay?” he said.

“What, why would I-” you didn’t get to finish your sentence as he quickly pulled you into his chest.

“Ouuf”

His strong arms wrapped around your small frame and he pulled you closer into him.

The familiar scent of his body engulfed your senses as your head rested on his chest. Sehun then nestled his head into the crook of your neck and shut his eyes. You felt a tickling sensation as his eyelashes briefly made contact with the sensitive area of your neck.

He was upset.

This was so like Sehun, whenever he was upset about something he didn’t like to talk about it. Instead, he would bottle it up inside him until the problem drove him insane. And the only thing that would comfort him when he felt like he couldn’t solve the problem?

Hugs.

Your hugs in particular.

This fact would often piss off Chanyeol since his freakishly tall giraffe hugs were ineffective on the boy.

The darkness in the room was now virtually gone as small rays of light gleamed in through the windows. Meanwhile, your hand was still working comforting circles into his back.

After a few minutes he loosened his hold on you and pulled back. His warm smile was no longer there.

Something really did happen.

An idea arose in your mind and you placed a hand on his arm.

“Ice-cream?”

✥✥✥✥

It was you who bought this time, although it was a struggle against Sehun’s wallet. Even when he’s sulking he insists on paying for everything, he’s too nice for his own good.

“Just the way you like it, mint chocolate chip with sprinkles on top.” You smiled, handing him the cone.

He gave you a look and let out a chuckle, reaching over to ruffle your hair until there was a visible knot at the top of your head.

“Yah!”

He let out another loud chuckle and you smiled. At least he wasn’t sulking anymore, or so you thought.

As you on your own strawberry cone, your gaze was fixed on him.

He looked up from his ice-cream only to see you blinked your eyes twice.

“Fine, I’ll tell you.” he accepted defeat. You did a little celebratory clap with a big grin on your face. His own lips curved into a smile at your childish actions.

“It’s Hyung… he’s at it again.” He sighed. 

“Oh.” You let out, your smile fading all on its own.

Sehun’s older brother, who was three years older than him, was quite often causing a stir within the Oh family. It all started when Mr.Oh decided to leave the family years ago. Well, apparently he didn’t leave, ‘his presence became less frequent’ as Mrs. Oh would often say. But everyone knew that the couple was having issues. Whether they fell out of love, or it was another matter, they didn’t live together anymore.  This of course affected the older son the most, as Sehun was far too young to remember his father. Nevertheless, after the split his brother really let himself go. It started with a simple cigarette and ended with hard drugs. At one point, his addiction was so out of control that he began selling his and Sehun’s personal belongings in order to pay for it. The last you heard of him he was turning over a new leaf, trying to stay clean for his mother and younger brother.

It didn’t work out, you guessed.

“Rehab… it didn’t help?” you sympathized, resting your free hand on his.

“It did at first, but then his buddies contacted him again and it was like rehab never existed.” He said, shaking his head at his Hyung’s actions.

He looked up from his ice-cream. “Anyway, sorry for bringing you into my problems.”

“I’m your best friend Sehunnie, who else would you tell.”

He shrugged.

“Just… don’t disappear like that again. Okay?”

Something twinkled in his eyes. “Why? Were you worried?”

“Maybe I was, so what!” you roared.

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck.

“I’m glad you worry about me. It leads me to believe that I’m important in your life.” He leveled his face, trying to catch your eyes.

A blush covered your soft cheeks until you remembered something.

You brought your hand up and pushed his ice-cream cone into his face.

“Aghh!” he hissed.

“I’m still mad at you; don’t think you can sweet talk me!”

He raised an eyebrow as if to say ‘but why?’, meanwhile trying to clean off the mint icecream that was now covering his nose.

“You know perfectly why.” You crossed your arms over your chest.

He still looked completely dumbfounded.

You sighed and pointed a finger towards the small but noticeable purple bruise at the side of his cheek. He followed your finger and made a face as if he just remembered something he’d forgotten.

“Oh, right.”

“So, are you going to tell me why you two started destroying each other’s faces?”

You tapped your fingers on the table impatiently which earned an eyebrow raise from the boy. He then rested his hand on yours in an effort to stop the motion.

“I don’t know how to answer that question.” He stated.

“Yes you do, you just don’t want to tell me. Jongin wouldn’t tell me either, why am I the only one in the dark about this!” you withdrew your hand, seemingly annoyed at this point.

“You. Went to see him?” he asked.

“Yeah.”

Sehun’s clenched his fist. He wasn't happy about that.

“Well? if you’re not going to tell me the reason why you two fought then we’re done here.” You got up, chucking the napkin that held the ice-cream cone in a nearby trash can. Taking a few slow steps away from him, you expected he’d follow after you any second now.

Any…

Second…

Now…

By the time you turned around to see what was taking him so long, he was long gone.

Guess who’s writing a strongly worded text message to Sehun tonight.

Jerk.

✥✥✥✥

It had been one week since you’d spoken to Jongin. Since you were on a short break from university, there weren’t many coincidental meetings either, well, not at first anyway. But since he was your neighbor you were bound to run into him at one point or another.

The first time you ran into him was at the coffee shop in your building. You were at the waiting counter after having ordered your favorite; French vanilla coffee with a chocolate chip muffin on the side. Since there was a rush, the barista’s were slower than usual so you decided to go sit down at one of the tables. At the corner of your eye, you noticed a man with blonde hair entering the shop. You brushed it off since not every male with blonde hair is Kim Jongin, come on lets be real now. Well, you couldn’t have been more wrong. Just the sight of him had your heart pounding painfully against your chest and you started to panic. Of course, the adult thing to do would be to act like he’s not even there. And that was your intention… but reality played out a little differently.

“____?” the barista called out while looking around for the owner of the coffee and muffin.

You naturally didn’t hear your name until…

“Uh… miss?”

“Huh, what?” you glanced up from your position underneath one of the tables.

“What are you doing under there?” the adolescent employee asked.

“Oh, I…”

Am I really hiding underneath a table right now? Damn you Kim Jongin.

You quickly got up, brushing down your dress. “Lost an earring” you forced a laugh.

“But you’re not wearing earrings-” he pointed.

“____?” The barista called out again.

“Oh, that’s me, better run!” you ran over to serving counter and grabbed your order; maybe if you were quick he wouldn’t see you.

You looked over to your side only to notice the entire queue of people staring at you.

What? Is there something on my face? People these days, Jinjja.

You turned around and ran into someone’s chest.

Anyone but him, anyone but him.

And surely enough…

“Hey you have-“

“Jongin, Hi, sorry I’m super late for something! Gotta go!” you babbled while running straight past him.

Phew, exit could’ve been smoother but not bad.

Now all you had to do was avoid him for...forever? A lengthy sigh escaped your lips.

Then, just as you were about to take your leave, you were stopped in your path when you felt a tap on your shoulder. It was that young employee who discovered you under the table earlier.

“Uh miss?”

“What is it?” you questioned.

“You have… gum stick to your hair.”

“Huh… did you say GUM??”

“OWW, OMMA!” you screamed.

“Well hold still! Dear god how do these things happen to you.” your mom questioned, while still yanking on your hair.

Can we just focus on the fact that I’ve never been more embarrassed in my life? 

So Jongin wasn’t trying to confront you after all… he was trying to tell you that you had freaking gum stuck in your hair.

Good going, idiot.

The second time you ran into Jongin was at the grocery. You were in the produce aisle when you saw him across from you. He hadn’t seen you yet so this was perfect, all you had to do was back away in order to avoid any awkward confrontations.

In reality, every time you saw him, that familiar pain arose in your heart. Maybe that’s why your heart was telling you to step away from him. No matter how much you wanted him, it wasn’t worth your heart breaking to the point of no return.

While you were lost in thought you realized he had caught your stare. You two were now gazing at each other, a hint of confusion and shock lingering in both of your stares. For a moment, it almost felt like everything around you stopped. It was just him, you, and nothing else.

You suddenly realized what you were doing and looked away, breaking the intimate connection with one quick turn of the head. Then you your heels and walked out as if you'd never seen him.

Leaving him by himself yet again.

Somewhere in your heart though you hoped he would come after you, just once.

✥✥✥✥

There were only a few days left until the start of the new semester.

The two weeks of break had gone by pretty slowly; you were busy taking up extra shifts at Chews while your friends were doing their own thing. Sehun was still trying to deal with the situation involving his brother so you two would still meet up once in a while, whereas Chan and Cindy were on a mini vacation somewhere in the mountains so you hadn’t heard much from them. Joonmyeon was away at some professor’s convention, as if those things actually existed.

Since classes were about to begin, the group decided to have one final day of relaxation until it was business as usual. You had made plans with them to have dinner at some upscale restaurant in the city and Sehun was picking you up at 8:00pm.

You picked out a peach colored lace dress and paired it with black ankle boots. Your hair was curled at the ends and you decided to put on some blush and lip balm. At 7:50pm, your phone buzzed and you assumed Sehun was early. After locking your door, you headed downstairs via the elevator and walked out to see Sehun waiting in his car for you. He was wearing a simple button down and his brown locks were tousled and messy around his face, he looked really handsome. Just as you were about to open the door of his car you realized you forgot something rather important.

“My phone.”

Sehun shot you a judgmental look.

"Hey you're early anyway!" you stuck your tongue out at him. You your heels and ran back into the building.

After unlocking your front door you caught sight of your phone that was resting on your coffee table. How did I even forget this? You rolled your eyes at your absent mind.

Then as you were locking your door, you felt someone’s stare on you.

Looking over to the side, you saw him. Your neighbor.

Jongin was leaning against his door, his hands casually placed into the pocket of his sweatpants.

“Got you now.” he said.

A/N:

Hello my lovely readers! I tried to make this chapter longer than the others; also I tried to add some more Sehun as some of you were complaining that he wasn't all that present in the story. IM SORRY, I LOVE HIM JUST AS MUCH AS JONGIN I SWEAR, MARRY ME PLS. The story arc just called for more Jongin! But Sehun will be given equal love from now on, I didn't forget about all my Sehun stans!

Another thing, University is beginning fairly soon for me too :( so I may not update as much as usual. But to make up for it, I will try and update as much as possible as of right now.