Four Years Later

Jihoon opened his eyes slowly as he turned to look the clock on the wall, It read 7:30 am. He slowly arose from his bed as he turned to look at his room mate, Jisoo, who was probably already out of bed. Four years he’s been living with Jisoo, and he still has absolutely no idea how the older is able to rise so early in the morning. Jihoon got off the bed hazily as he made his way to the living room. After four years of endless studying, he would be graduating college in about a few weeks. He was ecstatic and he honestly didn’t want to continue studying. It’s not that he hated school, he just wanted to gt a job and making a living, other than working down at the open mic cafe with Jisoo. Don’t get him wrong, he loved that cafe and he grew fond of all the friends he had made there but he always felt like there was something missing. Of course, in the back of his mind, he always knew what it was, but he had no time to think about it.

At this moment, he had his job and his studies to focus on, anything other than that was out of the question.

Jihoon walked out into the living room as he spotted Jisoo, who as expected, was already finished with his breakfast. “How do you do it?” asked Jihoon.

“Do what?”

“Four years, I’ve been living with you, and I still don’t know how you wake up so early,” he said as Jisoo laughed.

“That wounds me, I thought we were the best of friends,” said Jisoo as he clutched his heart and fiend heart break. Jihoon rolled his eyes at his room mates antics.

“Where are you going?” asked Jihoon as Jisoo grabbed his keys and put his wallet in his pocket.

“I have a date today.”

“At seven in the morning?” said Jihoon skeptically as he looked up at the clock.

“No, but I’ve got a few errands to run before I go. If I didn’t know any better I’d say you’re jealous,” said Jisoo playfully as Jihoon rolled his eyes.

“I’m practically seething,” he joked as Jisoo gave his a quick hug and a kiss on the head. When Jihoon first came to America, there were lots of things he was confused about. One thing was the amount of pda that he saw almost everywhere. It took some time to get used to and so did getting used to how affectionate Jisoo was. At first, he thought Jisoo was too hands on, but the more time he spent with him, the more he realized that, that’s just how Jisoo was. Korea and America were distinctly different in their cultures and customs. It took Jihoon some time to assimilate to the changes, but he did it none the less.

“Ok, I’m going to head out already. Don’t miss me too much,” Jisoo said as he was out the door in seconds. Jihoon chuckled as he started eating breakfast. He only had a few classes today before he could come back. He showered quickly and brushed his teeth and within minutes he was out the door and walking up to the bus stop.

Classes were boring as usual. Well, he enjoyed going to his last class of the day, Music Composition, which he fared well at, might he add, but the professor hadn’t showed up today, so class was canceled.

Jihoon decided to hang out around the campus for a while before he made the trip back to the dorm. It seemed as if he had just walked into the campus just yesterday. He remembered how nervous he felt to enter such a big campus. Of course, his university was no UCLA, but he never really liked huge campuses, he didn’t need to go to a prestigious school just so he could study music. Jihoon was a firm believer that no matter what college someone went to, no matter what rank it was, what mattered was what you accomplished there.

Jihoon walked through the court yard as he found a place to eat next to the food court. Maybe he could start ahead and finish some work so he wouldn’t have to do all of it at the dorm? He took out his journal and-

“Hey, Woozi!” Well, so much for having some work done. Jihoon sighed as he looked up to the figure of his friend, Baekho, approaching.

“How many times have I told you not to call me Woozi?!” says Jihoon as he frowns at the nickname.

“Aww but it suits you,” replied Baekho as he took a seat next to Jihoon.

“What are you doing?” asked Baekho.

“Well, I was going to start on my project, but then you came along and-”

“Saved you from boredom,” he cut in as Jihoon rolled his eyes. Sometimes he questions the friends that he makes. He has no idea how he ended up befriending Baekho and-

“Hey, Woozi! Baekho, I was wondering where you went off to,” said Aron, yet another friend of theirs.

“I saw Woozi here so I came to rescue him from his boredom.”

“I was not bored!” said Jihoon as Aron took a seat next to them.

“What were you going to do before he came?” asked Aron

“Finish my project.”

“Yup boredom,” said Aron as he agreed with Baekho who looked to smug for Jihoon’s liking.

“Yeah, yeah whatever,” said Jihoon as he put away his journal.

“You and Jisoo should come over and sleep over at out apartment again.” Oh, no. Jihoon was not having that. The last time he had slept over, all three of them had managed to take a picture of Jihoon while he slept. Yeah, that wasn’t happening again.

“Yeah, no. I know you creeps still have that picture of me sleeping!” said Jihoon as glared at them accusingly.

“Aww come one, you just looked so cute, we couldn’t resist,” they both said as Jihoon just rolled his eyes as they laughed.

After a few hours of just talking, both Baekho and Aron had their last class to attend to as they both bid Jihoon goodbye and went their way. Jihoon took the bus back to his shared flat with Jisoo as he thought about what he was going to do after he graduated college. Obviously, looking for a job was important, but Jihoon wasn’t quite ready to let go of his job at the open mic cafe. He sighed as he walked into the dorm. He had to finish his last assignment for his final grade as he walked into his room. He dropped his back pack on his bed as he took a seat by his small desk and began working on his composition.

When Jihoon first came to the states, he only knew a very small amount of English, so he worried about how he was going to be able to go to college in the US but thankfully Jisoo was nice enough to help him out. He swears Jisoo is his life saver. If it weren’t for him, Jihoon would have probably dropped out of college. English was a particularly difficult subject. He still has no idea how to words like cough and tough could not rhyme, when words like lonely and bologna did. It was insane!

Jihoon had lost track of time as he continued to work on his composition. He didn’t hear when Jisoo had opened the front door, which created quite a scare when Jisoo had opened the door to their shared room.

“Hey, Ji,” said Jisoo as he sported a frown and sat down on his bed.

“Hey, what’s got you down?” asked Jihoon as he set down his pen and turned to face Jisoo.

Jisoo sighed for a moment as he lied down on his bed. “My date,” is all he said as he heaved a sigh.

“It didn’t go well?”

“Not at all. You know how I believe in no before marriage, right?” asked Jisoo as he sat up.

“Yeah.” Jihoon wasn’t really aware of the christian religion before he met Jisoo. Of course, Hansol, his old friend from Korea was christian as well, but Jihoon never really asked about the religion, but now that he had moved in with a christian roommate, he had learned quite a lot. At first, Jihoon thought Jisoo was going to hate him because Jihoon was gay, but surprisingly Jisoo was rather accepting of who Jihoon choose to be with. Jihoon was relieved because he believed Christian hated homoual people. But no, Jisoo wasn’t like that.

“Well,” began Jisoo as he pulled Jihoon out of his thoughts.

“She knew how I felt about that, but she still tried to get inside my pants!” he said with a frustrated sigh.

“It’s going to be hard finding someone to date if they’re all like that!” he said as Jihoon laughed.

“What’s got you laughing?” asked Jisoo as he continued to frown.

“You just reminded me of a friend I had in Korea,” replied Jihoon.

“I should meet her then.”

“It’s actually a he.”

“Then I should meet him, then,” said Jisoo as Jihoon began to reminisce. He started to feel a pang in his chest as he was reminded of his friends he had left in Korea. It had been years since he had communicated with any of them. Of course, in the beginning, he had called every week to see how they were doing, but he had started college soon and seeing as how Korea and The US were in different time zones, his calls were soon delayed and then they stopped all together. He was sad about that, it had been alt least two years since he had contacted his friends. Had they all forgotten about him. He wondered how Seungc-

“You know, if my mom hadn’t practically adopted you into the family, I think we would have made quite a good couple,” joked Jisoo as both he and Jihoon started to laugh.

“Anyway, what are you working on?” asked Jisoo as he stood over Jihoon and peered over his work.

“I’m just trying to finish my last assignment before graduation,” said Jihoon as he sighed. He was almost finished.

“Oh, I see. Yeah, I have to finish my project too”

“And instead you’re going out and having fun, huh,” said Jihoon with an accusing stare.

“I’m almost done with it, so I decided to take a break. One, might I add, that I haven’t seen you take in all these past four years that I’ve known you,” shot back Jisoo.

Jihoon sighed as he knew this was coming. “I’ve hung out with you tons of times.”

Jisoo rolled his eyes. “That doesn’t count. I mean like on dates, you know. All I’ve seen you do is study, work, and more study. I practically have to drag you outside of the flat.”

“Dating really isn’t something I want to do right now,” said Jihoon as he shrugged. He ever really got to tell Jisoo the reason why he had moved all the way over here. Thankfully, Jisoo never pried him to talk. He would have to at some point though because he gotten quite close to the older boy, and he supposes telling him is the least he can do.

“What are we going to do after we graduate?” asked Jisoo as he snapped Jihoon out of his thoughts again.

“Uh, I don’t know. I’m still trying to figure it out.”

“You know, I’m thinking since I’m going to take over the open mike cafe, we could become business partners. We have a small studio in the back and you can create your own music while we both run the cafe.” Jihoon liked that idea. He loved working there and he doesn’t really want to go back and live in Seoul, not when the stakes are high for Seungc- He doesn’t want to think about it right now. He was able to go four years without thinking about it, so he can do it some more.

“Earth to Jihoon,” he hears Jisoo says as he sees a hand waving in front of him.

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Nothing you just spaced out. You don’t have to make up your mind right now, you can get back to me latter,” said Jisoo as he stood up and stretched.

“Ok, thanks.”

Jihoon wondered for a bit. He missed Seoul, and if he took Jisoo’s offer, he would have a permanent stay here. He would be able to be a part owner of an open mike cafe, something that he liked to do, and producing music on the sidelines would be a bonus. Who knows, if he saved up enough money, he could call over his friends from Seoul and have them visit him. It would be a great opportunity.

Maybe he will accept his offer.