Sehun stops to adjust my weight on his back for the third time and I find myself self consciously thinking that I might be too heavy for him. I look up at the clouds rolling in above us and finally decide to speak up.

"You can put me down. I'm totally fine with walking. You really don't have to do all this." I babble on as I lean back slightly as an indication for him to let me down.

"Quit moving. We're almost there,” he murmurs. I carefully lower my head closer to his shoulder blade and stop resisting.

We are trudging along the sidewalk that runs by the school's wrought iron gates. The street lamps are on now, making it seem a lot later than it actually is.

The old dormitory annex was refurbished as a new infirmary 3 years ago, making it rather out of place with the rest of the University's sleek design. The infirmary looks much older on the outside than it is on the inside; at least that's what I had heard from some upperclassmen before I got here.

Sehun sets me down when we get to the door way and we take shelter from the wind that is now picking up and whipping a light mist of water droplets around us. I take off my heels to avoid hurting my precious ankle even more. He tries to open the heavy wooden door but it doesn't budge an inch.

The building's dark windows indicate that nobody's here.

Sehun inspects a flyer fluttering in the wind, hanging to the right side of the door.

"Apparently the infirmary doesn't start operation until tomorrow, because that's when the semester officially starts." He runs his fingers through his hair with a sigh.

A low rumbling of thunder accompanies the sound of heavy raindrops falling faster onto the pavement. We both look out from under the canopy of the infirmary out into the dimly lit street.

"I'll call a cab,” I offer quickly patting my body for my phone but realizing that I am wearing a dress with no pockets.

Oh that's right, I gave my phone to Rian to hold in her purse.

Sehun watches me look futilely for my phone and shakes his head. "My apartment is a block from here. We can call a cab later". He looks down at my bare feet "You think you can run?"

I probably had no choice in the matter, so I nod my head anyway, seeing as that seems to be the best option at this point. Sehun takes my hand and we make a mad dash out of our shelter and into the pouring rain.

My feet slap hard against the cold wet cement as I clutch my shoes to my chest, trying to keep up with him.

We finally slip into the doorway to his apartment building and pant heavily trying to collect ourselves. The rain has made my bangs into a stringy curtain over my eyes, and when I wipe them away my breath hitches as I take in the sight of the apartment lobby. The floors are beautifully marbled and the walls are paneled with a dark mahogany wood. It looked more like a hotel than an apartment building.

Sehun doesn't say anything as we walk down the plush carpeted hallway, his hair is drenched and dripping onto his nose. My toes are defrosting on our way to his apartment door.

"Wait here," He says pulling out his key. I nod and watch him disappear in through the crack of his apartment door.

Wringing out the remaining wetness from my hair, I wait outside patiently. After a short while, I can faintly hear Sehun speaking to someone inside.

"Are you dressed?"

Curious, I press my ear to the door to hear the muffled voices better. Did he live with someone else?

"Put a shirt on. We have a guest."

"Another girl?" comes a voice I've never heard before. It's male.

"A friend."

The door opens abruptly and I stumble away when I find myself face to face with Sehun. He's changed into a different shirt from the one he was wearing at the party. Sehun gives me a weird look before stepping aside to open up the door further.

I am now inside a spacious loft big enough to be a two story house. An easel with an unfinished painting is propped up in the middle of the living room; used tubes of paint and scrap pieces of paper are littered around it; I can even see a clay sculpture standing another corner of the room.

A boy dressed in a loose white shirt and paint-stained jeans is crouching down, looking underneath the living room couch. When he hears us approach, he jumps to his feet and turns around with a wide smile.

"Welcome to our humble abode!"

His brown hair is sticking up in all directions and there is a splotch of white paint on his tan cheek. There is something oddly charming about the way his nose scrunches up when he grins.

He shoots out his hand for a handshake, but when he notices the undried paint on his palms he decides to give a give bow instead.

"I'm Kai--"

"His name is Jongin" Sehun cuts in. He turns towards Jongin and gives him a light smack to the back of the head. "Stop trying to make that a thing."

Jongin exaggeratedly buckles in pain but ends up dissolving into a fit of laughter.

"I'm Yebin" I giggle at Jongin's antics. "Did you go to the mixer?” I ask as he regains a straight face. Sehun walks to the kitchen area and opens up the cabinet for 3 cups.

"Yea, but I came back a little early. There was something I wanted to finish." He trails off. He seems distracted, eyes darting around the room looking for something. His eyes return to me, but his smile is a little delayed. "Did you?"

"Yea, I did. Sehun was my date". When I look over to Sehun, I see him pause briefly in pouring drinks to glance up at us.

Jongin looks like he's mentally putting two and two together. He points at Sehun and then me. "Oh... so you two aren't dating?"

"N-no!" I stammer out, shaking my head emphatically while a flush of pink tinges my cheeks.

Sehun doesn't bother to confirm or deny, instead he walks calmly over to us and hands both of us a glass of water.

"My bad!" Jongin scratches his head with a goofy grin, "Hahaha! I can never tell with Sehun!" His eyes dart instantaneously to the far corner of the room and I turn around confusedly in the direction he's looking.

Sehun quirks an eyebrow at his roommate "What do you keep looking at?"

"N-nothing." he stammers, "I'm not looking at anything."

"Yes, you were. I saw you just now."

"No, I wasn't" he retorts back. Jongin reflexively glances back at the corner again.

"See you did it just now! What the hell are you looking at-"

"ACHOO!"I sneeze loudly, effectively cutting off the two feuding roommates. Jongin looks relieved for the interruption to say the least, but Sehun still demands an answer.

Jongin bounds over behind me and places his hands on my shoulders as if I were a shield to defend him against Sehun, the fire-breathing dragon.

"Poor Yebin's gonna catch a cold. What kind of man doesn't offer a girl his jacket?" he taunts.

"YAH!" Sehun yells, but he is unable to do anything with me standing in between them. Questioning his manhood has struck a nerve.

"It's ok, I'm fine. I don't need--ACHOO!"

Sehun sighs running his hands through hair, and leaves the room only to come back shortly with a large grey sweatshirt and basketball shorts.

"Here" he hands me the clothes and gestures to the hallway. "Go ahead and dry your clothes in the dryer. You can change in the bathroom."

I nod and head in to the direction he's pointing in.
 

The bathroom is a lot bigger than I was expecting it to be. The cold white marble floor is practically sparkling; the shower head looks like something you would find in an expensive hotel; heck, even the toilet looked foreign to me.

The clothes that Sehun gave me were pretty basic, but looking closely you could see that they were impeccably made. I begin to pull the sweatshirt over my head, but the smell of laundry detergent mixed with a light scent that is distinctly male, causes me to halt my movements. I am left standing in the bathroom, arms still raised above my head, with the sweatshirt half pulled on, taking it all in.

BZZZT

A crack of lighting flickers and a following rumble resounds and the lights go off. The bathroom is now dark enough to disorient me. I feel for my surroundings, but before I can adequately collect myself something slimy slithers over my foot.

"AH!" I yelp in surprise. My arms are still raised over my shoulder. I had never fully put on my sweatshirt, and I fall hard on the floor due to the unequal weight on my injured ankle.

"Owww" I moan out louder than I expected to.

Loud footsteps approach the bathroom door.

"What is it?! What happened?!" I hear Sehun yell from outside followed by the sound of the door slamming open. Because it's dark, he trips over my body on the floor.

For some reason the sweater is now a web of cloth that refuses to go down over my shoulders. The sweater blocks my eyes so I can't see him, but I can feel Sehun's hair brush against my bare stomach and that's enough for me to kick him away.

"Ouch--ow-- Quit kicking me!" He agitatedly yanks the sweater that is blocking my vision down over my head and sits up against the bathroom wall. "What is it? What happened?" He asks again, calm yet breathless from our minor scuffle.

"There was something-- I- I don't know what it was. I-it was slimy." I sputter out still not fully recovered from the scare.

A cellphone flashlight blinds the both of us and I squint up at the outline of Jongin in the bathroom doorway.

"Ok guys, nobody panic, but I think Monggu got out."

"Monggu? Who's Monggu?" Sehun asks.

"My pet snake."

"Your what!?" Sehun moves to stand up but hits his head on the door handle.

"I said not to panic!"

In the dark, I can see the faint outline of Jongin holding his hands up defensively.

"I thought I told you no pets." Sehun seethes out rubbing his head with his hand.

"No, you said 'no dogs'." he corrects. "You never said anything about snakes."

Sehun lunges at Jongin in an attempt to strangle him, but he slips away screaming like a banshee. I stumble forward on my feet to catch up with them and find them in a standoff in the middle of the living room.

Jongin shines his cellphone backlight under his chin, as if he were telling a ghost story.

"Sehun before you say anything, I just want to make it clear that Monggu is more afraid of us than you are of him. He's gentle; he wouldn't hurt a fly."

"Jongin, where the hell have you been keeping it this whole time?!"

For some reason, I can tell that their arguments weren't few and far between, it looked more like a daily occurrence.

"In our room" he says quietly under his breath, but it's loud enough for Sehun to hear him.

"You what!?" Sehun grabs at Jongin and puts him in a chokehold. They stumble around knocking over the easel behind them.

"I READ SOMEWHERE THAT SNAKES ARE ATTRACTED TO LIGHT!" I interject quickly trying to change the subject before they completely destroyed the living room.

Sehun pauses at my sudden outburst.

"Great idea, Yebin! Let's do that" Jongin wheezes. He wiggles out of Sehun unsuspecting grasp and quickly points his cellphone light around the room. Sehun his teeth and follows suit. I, not having a flashlight, strain my eyes to look around the room.

I spot something moving in the kitchen.

"Guys, I think I found him." I whisper. We all gather around the kitchen sink for a closer look.

Sehun and Jongin shine their lights near the bottom of the sink. Sure enough, Monggu is there, but its body is undulating rather vulgarly with every movement it makes. At this moment, it appears to be swallowing a mouse whole.

BZZT. The lights flicker back on and I blink to gain control over my vision.

"Well, that gets rid of our rat problem." Jongin chuckles and scoops up the snake into his arms. Its tail coils around his arm. "See? He is useful."

Jongin jabs his snake-laden arm at Sehun causing him to flinch away rather violently, and briefly touch my arm in surprise. Even the cool and collected Sehun seems rattled by Monggu.

"Aish! Get that thing away from me!"

"Isn't he cute?" Jongin coos, ignoring Sehun while rubbing his index finger on the snake's head.

A boy and his snake… Who would have thought?

"Touch him, Yebin," he invites "he won't bite, I promise."

I look up at Jongin's smiling face and swallow nervously before reaching out a hand to pet the snake as far away from its head as I can. I guess you could call it cute, as cute as a cold blooded reptile could be.

I eye the time on the microwave. It's currently 11:45 at night, and our official first day of school was to start tomorrow morning.

"I should probably get going..." I say pulling my hand away from the snake. "Thanks for the clothes, I'll go and change back--"

"You didn't even get to dry your clothes." Sehun reminds. "Keep them, you can give them to me tomorrow."

"I wouldn't want to impose..." I'm too polite for my own good.

"I don't want you catching a cold when it could have easily been prevented." Sehun states firmly.

I bow graciously and jog back to the bathroom to pick up the wet clothes I left behind. When I come back to the living room, I see that Monggu has been put away and Jongin is pulling on a leather jacket near the front door.

He jingles his keys. "I'll drive you home, and don't say no, you're not even wearing shoes" he points out before I even have a chance to decline.

Sehun is reclined on the couch with his arm thrown over his eyes. He looks like his energy has been right out of him. When I say goodbye, he gives me a lazy wave in response. With that, I follow Jongin out the door.
 

Jongin's car is stylish yet nondescript, much like himself. I move to open the car door, but he rushes over and waves me away, opting to open it for me.

I blush and duck into the passenger's seat. Jongin seems to be rather stubborn with his idea with chivalry. First he had scolded Sehun for not giving me a jacket, and now he was insisting on opening doors.

Jongin closes the door after me and climbs into his own side of the car.

"So where are we going?" He asks pulling out of the parking garage.

"Dorm building 3, it's the closest to the Quad". We sit in the dark quiet for a while after that exchange of words, and I twiddle my thumbs, looking at the road ahead of us.

My shyness gets the best of me. I want to talk to him but I don't want to sound stupid.

"What major are you?" he finally speaks up, looking to make small talk.

"Dance," I respond without missing a beat. I take a glance at my sprained ankle. What a great way to start the first year of school.

"Seriously?" he says excitedly "Me too!" he takes one hand off the wheel to give me a high five.

I smile back at him. "I would have taken you for an art major."

Everything about the way Jongin carries himself screams "starving artist", well, without the starving part. When he concentrates on the road, I can see flashes of what he would be like in front of an easel painting a masterpiece. He has a far away look, a look I've seen many times when I watch my mother dance.

"I mean, given all the stuff in your apartment you seem like an art major." I elaborate.

The way we are talking becomes more relaxed, as if we had known each other for a long time. I guess our shared interest in dance is the reason for this change in dynamic.

"I'm minoring in art, but my real passion is dance." he sighs contentedly and glances at me before returning his eyes on the road. "I could tell, you know?"

I look at him confused. "Tell what?"

"That you're a dancer."

"Oh yeah, how?" I sit up and turn to him, my curiosity piqued.

"Your feet. They're turned out when you walk. I noticed as soon as you walked in."

My...feet?

"Oh... I guess you're right" I laugh. Turning out your feet was basically the first thing you learned in ballet. It was called "first position," the foundation of almost all ballet moves. I guess my 15 years of practice really affected the way I walked. I'd never really thought about it before now.

"You also have great posture,” he notes. "I can spot dancers from miles away just based on that. Not like Sehun, he's got an awful slouch."

I chuckle in agreement. Sehun did always seem to be slouching over with his hands in his pockets. I didn't know whether it was on purpose or not. It was probably part of a calculated effort to maintain his cold and cool "devil-may- care" image.

We pass by the Quad and pull up in front of my dorm, Building 3.

"I guess I'll be seeing you in class?" he asks, eyes meeting mine and waiting for an answer in anticipation. In that moment I see a glimpse of Jongin, the artist. His eyes have that far-away look, and he looks at me as if he were looking at a sculpture.

"Yea" I blush and nod my head shyly breaking away from his steady gaze.

Jongin waits for me to open the door to the dorm before waving and driving off. I smile to myself knowing that I will see one familiar face in class tomorrow. There's something natural and genuine about Jongin that makes my stomach feel like there are a million butterflies fluttering about.

I tiptoe into my dorm room, making sure not to wake Rian and pull on my nightclothes as quietly as I can. Sehun's clothes are folded neatly on the nightstand, I would have to wash them and give it to him tomorrow.

I plop into bed, but I struggle to fall asleep. Tomorrow can't come any sooner.