“What a beautiful name for a beautiful girl,” I said. Though the line was extremely cheesy, it really was true. Her name fit her absolutely perfectly.

“What a smooth talker,” Jinah smiled with a playful glint in her eyes.

“I’m not quite as smooth as I’d like, but thank you,” I admitted a little sheepishly.

“Well, you seem wonderfully smooth to me,” she said. “It’s kind of loud in here. Fancy going to sit on the steps?”

“Sure,” I nodded.

The two of us walked out to the front steps in a comfortable silence. Even though the walk was short, I was given plenty of opportunities to sneak glances at Jinah. God, she was beautiful. When we reached the steps, we sat side by side on them. The weather was cool and crisp, the night sky was clear, and the air was filled with muted chatter coming from inside. 

“You know, I never got your name. It’s only fair that I know yours if you know mine,” Jinah rested her arms over her knees, casting a glance at me.

“I’m Kyungsoo,” I introduced myself.

“Well, it’s nice to officially meet you, Kyungsoo,” she sent me another heart-stoppingly beautiful smile. “So, what kind of science are you into?”

“Is it that obvious that I’m a scientist?” I raised an eyebrow, an amused expression settling itself onto my face.

“It’s just a feeling I had,” Jinah stated. “So, what kind of scientist are you?”

“I’m a physicist,” I chuckled.

“A physicist? Very impressive,” she nodded.

“And what do you do?” I leaned back, propping myself up with my arms.

“Nothing nearly as cool,” Jinah looked at her shoes, playing with the hem of her dress lightly.

“I spend nearly all of my free time with a chalk board solving equations. I’m sure what you do is much more exciting,” I looked to her with a small smile.

“Then I suppose I’ll let you judge for yourself. I’m an English major,” she said, her hands going back to their previous resting place on the tops of her knees.

“See? That sounds infinitely more entertaining than what I do,” I said, trailing my gaze up to the sky.

“Really?” Jinah raised an eyebrow, the corners of curving into a pleased smile. “Because I’m convinced we do almost the same thing,”

“What do you mean by that?” I blinked, turning my body to face her.

“I mean that we both spend our free time holed up perfecting our crafts,” she explained, turning to face me.  “You see, we’ve both found things that we’re passionate about. Things we feel that we could do forever, things that are exciting each time we do them. Does that make sense?”

I nodded, chewing my lip for a moment.  The physicist in me wanted to say that there was no forever, only an infinity, but I stopped myself. My scientific musings and theories could present themselves in the classrooms and lectures halls. It definitely would have ruined the moment.

“That was incredibly insightful,” I concluded, not sure what else to say.

“To be fair, being insightful is just part of my job as an English major,” Jinah smiled softly. “But you must be pretty insightful too, Mr. Physics Major,”

“Mr. Physics Major?” I raised an eyebrow, shaking my head lightly, an amused chuckle bubbling out of my mouth. “I like it,”

Jinah let out her own little chuckle, wrapping her arms around her shoulders. She looked around the yard, observing all of the party-goers who were getting some air. I was about to open my mouth to say something to fill the silence between us, but alas, I was cut off by a group of idiots.

“Kyungsoo!” Tom came up behind me, landing his hands on my shoulders.

I jumped slightly, shooting Jinah an apologetic look. She shook her head lightly, offering me a small smile. I sighed before standing up and turning to face my friends. Damn them for ruining my moment with Jinah.

“What,” I grated, crossing my arms.

“We were just wondering if you wanted to come back to Tom’s dorm for a smoke and some beers?” Jongin asked.

“I mean, I was kind of in the middle of talking to…” I turned around to motion to Jinah, only to find her spot on the steps vacant. “Jinah,”

“Sorry about that,” Tom sighed.

“It’s okay,” I pressed my lips into a thin line.

“I’m sure you’ll see each other again,” Joonmyun offered, tucking his fingers into his pockets.

I puffed out another sigh and nodded. A part of me wanted to believe that Joonmyun was right, I would get to see her again. But the other, larger part was being incredibly cynical. It wasn’t likely that we’d meet again, and I highly doubted that she’d want to talk to me again even if we did. I couldn’t act like I wasn’t upset with my friends for interrupting my conversation with Jinah, but maybe it just wasn’t meant to be.

“Well, what are we just standing around here for?” I asked. “Let’s go have those beers,”