Jin took a deep breath as she left her room to go to class. She was extremely nervous about seeing Vernon and about what he could possibly do. She prepared herself for the worst, stuffing her bag with tissues in case it would end in tears.

She also brought her diary. After the incident, she had reconsidered ever taking it out of her room, but she needed it. Especially today. Especially now. Especially when she had no one else to talk to about it.

She didn’t want to walk with Sena, in case she ran into Vernon. Confronting him with her around will lead to disaster. She went out early, telling Sena she needed to go check out a book from the library.

Mingyu would be at the library then, as was his custom. Jin wanted to thank him in person for sticking up for her that day. She also knew that Wonwoo was watching, and that she would owe him an explanation as to why she was talking to his crush.

As she walked to the library, her eyes scanned the parameter around her. She wanted to be alert if Vernon was lurking about, if she would run into him before she was ready to. She was so nervous about it. Her heart beat every step she took. When she finally arrived at the library, and saw no sign of him inside, she let out a sigh of relief.

Mingyu and Wonwoo were there. Mingyu was sitting in his usual study place, and Wonwoo was in his usual far off corner of the library, watching.

She went to Mingyu first. She approached him from behind and gently tapped his shoulder. He turned his head, and when he saw her, he looked happy.

“Pajama girl!” he said with a bright smile.

“I just wanted to thank you in person. And to apologize for any inconvenience I caused…”

“Don’t be silly! You apologize too much,” he told her, “are you holding up well?”

“I’m okay.” Mingyu looked happy to hear that/

“My name is Mingyu, by the way,” he said to her, holding out his hand.

Jin had forgotten that they had not been properly introduced, that he had not yet told her his name, nor she hers. She thanked God she had not called him by his name before this, because he would have wanted to find out how she knew it. She could not have explained what was happening with Wonwoo.

She shook his hand, “my name is Jin,” she told him.

“Nice to meet you, Jin. It’s a pretty name.”

“Pretty? It means demon in Arabic,” she told him jokingly.

Mingyu laughed at the random comment, “how did you know that?”

“I speak Arabic. I lived in Jordan for most my life,” she explained.

“That’s pretty awesome,” Mingyu looked impressed.

Just as Jin was about to respond, she felt Wonwoo’s penetrating gaze on her from where he usually sat. She realized that she should probably explain to Wonwoo what was happening before she socialized excessively with his crush.

“I need to go do some work now,” Jin told Mingyu, “and I’ll leave you to yours.”

“We should hang out some time,” Mingyu told her, “I would love to hear about your adventures in Jordan.”

Jin nodded, though she didn’t quite understand if “hang out” meant only hang out, or if it was something else she would never agree to because of Wonwoo.

“I’ll text you,” Mingyu told her before they exchanged bows and goodbyes.

Jin made her way to Wonwoo’s table. Wonwoo’s eyebrows were raised and his arms were crossed. He didn’t look particularly mad or anything, much to Jin’s relief.

“I’ll explain,” Jin told Wonwoo as soon as he could hear her.

“I’m listening.”

She sat down beside him. She had already planned to tell Wonwoo the half truth about what Mingyu had done for her. She would just leave out the Vernon bullying her part (because she didn’t want to cause drama).

“The night before I got sick, I left my diary in the library. When I was looking for it, Mingyu saw how anxious I was, and he asked me what was wrong. I was in pajamas and I was crying, so I was quite the mess. Anyways, I told him I forgot an important notebook there, and he said there was someone who was sitting in the same place I sat. He eventually located the person and helped return my diary. What you just witnessed is me thanking him.”

Jin studied Wonwoo’s reaction. He seemed dazed, enchanted. She didn’t really understand why.

Wonwoo blinked and then said, “I’m glad you found you diary. Sorry you had to go through that a few days ago…”

Jin nodded, “it’s fine. I’m over it.”

“He seems nice,” Wonwoo said, looking at Wonwoo.

“He is,” Jin said, “he’s very nice. When I was crying, he understood immediately that I wanted to be alone and left me. He also reassured me when I was frantic with worry. And when I texted him to thank him, he told me that he hoped I was okay. He’s a very good person.”

Wonwoo was listening intently to what Jin was saying. He was so obviously lovestruck. It was strange to witness this side of him. Wonwoo usually appeared strong and resolute and inexpressive, but Jin was now seeing him in such a vulnerable state.

“I’ll introduce you to him,” Jin said.

“I might have you do that one day. But not now.”

“Whenever you want,” Jin told him. Wonwoo turned his head to look at Mingyu for a while. Jin started to think their conversation was over and so she took out a reading she had to do before class.

Just as she was about to start the reading, Wonwoo called out to her softly.

“Yeah?” Jin asked.

“You don’t like him, do you?”

“I don’t, I swear,” Jin reassured him. Wonwoo looked glad to hear that.

-

Jin had managed to go on for most of the day without seeing Vernon once, but her World Religions was coming, and she knew that the dreaded confrontation was right around the corner.

She wished she could just know what he had in mind and get it over with. She had been anxious about it all day, and at this point, she just wanted it to happen so she could just stop thinking about it.

She went to her World Religions class ten minutes early because she was too restless to wait. She sat in the classroom alone, her fingers tapping the table, and her entire body trembling. Every time she heard a shuffle, her heart would stop and she would look to see if it was Vernon. The members of the class eventually started pouring into the classroom. Jin anxiously waited for Vernon. When he finally did enter, she froze.

He came in just when the class was about to start. Vernon made eye contact with Jin, and the end of his lips curved into a small grin. He raised his eyebrows at her and went to his seat at the back of the class. The professor started the lecture.

Jin hated this. Vernon was right there, and she still got no indication from him about what he was going to do with the information he had about her. She was dying to get it over with, to just know what to expect, to put her heart at ease.

Half an hour into the class, and Jin could neither concentrate nor stop the anxiety. When Vernon left the class to go the bathroom, Jin decided that she might as well confront him then. She also left under the pretense of needing to pee.

She waited outside of the boys’ bathroom where Vernon probably was and paced about. A minute later, Vernon came out. He looked startled to see her there.

“Lookie what we got here,” Vernon said with an obnoxious smirk, “how many guys did you add to that list since the last time I read it?”

“Just tell me what you want to do,” Jin implored, gulping in her nerves.

“At first I wanted to tell all the guys on your list as revenge for embarrassing me in class that day…”

“Oh God, please don’t,” Jin implored.

“Worry not, sweetheart. I won’t tell,” he winked. Jin was only slightly relieved.

“What’s the condition?”

“No condition. Not yet anyways. I’ll keep the information as potential leverage against you in the future.”

“What kind of leverage? What could you possibly want from me?”

“You’ll see,” he winked.

“Please just tell me,” Jin begged. She was waiting all day for a sense of closure, and it frustrated her that she was not getting any.

“Give me a kiss and I’ll give you a hint,” Vernon pointed to his cheek.

Jin froze. Somehow, the hint did not seem worth it…

Vernon rolled his eyes, amused, “you’re cute.”

“You’re patronizing,” she responded softly, but bitterly.

“I’ll tell you one thing,” Vernon said, taking one step closer to her and looked as if he was going to reach for her. Jin withdrew, and held up her hands to signal she did not want him to touch her.

His arms dropped to his side, but he still had that haughty look in his eyes.

“Rest assured,” he said, “your secrets are all safe for now. And if I do use them as leverage against you, it won’t be too cruel.” He winked at her once, and turned around to start walking back to class. Jin just stood there, speechless.

After walking a couple of steps, he stopped and turned his head to face her again. “Oh, and by the way: happy belated birthday.”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Dear Diary,

Can you believe that the first person to wish me a happy birthday in university was the person I hate the most in this world?

The fact he knows that it was my birthday shows that he read my other entries, not just my list.

I hate Vernon. Honestly though, I hate him less than I hated him yesterday and the day before, but I still hate him.

He said he wouldn’t tell anyone, but he might use it as “leverage” in the future, whatever that means. He’s just so freaking ambiguous and now I can’t stop thinking about what he would ask me to do.

I hate him.

My hate for him has now become the theme of my diary, so it seems. He deserves it all, to be honest. I makes me feel better to hate him.

What does he want from me? To do his homework? Write his papers? Money? To go to bed with him? To kiss that stupid cheek of his? I can’t think of anything else he could possibly want…

Ugh. I hate him.

On a more positive note, I told Wonwoo about what happened with Mingyu, leaving out the Vernon bit, of course.

I didn’t tell Wonwoo that Mingyu planned to “hang out” with me though. I still don’t know what “hang out” meant for Mingyu, but I’m hoping it does mean dating or anything.

Of course it doesn’t mean dating… why would Mingyu want to date me anyways? He’s this mesmerizing being from heaven, and I’m just the pajama girl that lost her diary and invoked his help. He said he would text me, but he probably won’t.

Anyways, did I mention that I hate Vernon?

A/N: I’m so very sorry that it took relatively longer to update this time. It’s just life and university work getting in the way of me doing anything fun again. The next chapter might take a few days as well. I hope you understand!