Chapter 28: A Week of New Experiences

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The shock is still as strong as the first time. 

So strong that Yiseul shifts away towards the edge of her bed, causing her to end up tumbling off of it. The noise of her body contacting the floor must have been loud enough to disturb her uninvited visitor awake. 

“Are you okay?”

Jaewon peeks over and stares at her from above with sleep still in his eyes. 

“To some degree,” she answers softly.

He ruffles his bed hair and slides off her bed in a similar casual manner like the first time. The unexpected part comes when he bends over and she feels warmth upon the top of her head for a quick second. Shooting her a smile, he heads for the door. “Sorry and thanks for such a pleasant morning.”

She wishes she could say the same. 

“Remember to lock your door,” his voice continues from outside in the hall. 

She touches the spot on her head– was that a kiss just now? 

***

“Again, huh?” Jisoo asks as her and Yiseul share the kitchen counter for breakfast. 

Yiseul simply sighs. She was getting better at remembering except when she got back last night, she was so tired that all she could think about was laying down in bed. Everything after that was irrelevant. 

Starting a week ago, Yiseul has somehow become responsible for waking Jisoo up in the morning. She was starting to get used to all the alarms on her phone so, Yiseul peeks in every morning to make sure she’s awake. 

“Hey.”

The curt call from the doorway stirs the two and they look over their shoulder. Jinhwan stands waiting there, his eyes set on Yiseul. She places her empty cereal bowl into the kitchen sink and walks over to follow him out into the hallway.

“Let’s meet today.”

She stares back at him in surprise. “To study?”

“What else would we do?” 

Yiseul didn’t know what caused the change of heart but, she wasn’t going to question it. She had a suspicion that if she isn’t careful, she may just change his mind. “Okay.”

“When are you free?”

“Whenever you are,” she answers.

He breathes in and lets out a heavy sigh. “Fine. Meet me in the library around 6 PM.”

***

“Dorm head.”

Yiseul looks to her right and finds Junhoe. “Yes?”

“Are you okay?” he asks.

She nods. 

“Then, why did it take me to call your name five times to get you to notice me?”

“Just thinking about what to get for lunch.”

“It does get hard deciding,” Junhoe answers with a grin. He also looks back up towards the menu to take his pick. 

The more she reads through, the more she didn’t have an appetite to eat. She finds that she has about two hours before her next class. The thought of going home and maybe laying down is more tempting. 

“Yiseul!”

Before she had a chance to turn around and look, she could already feel Mina wrapping her arms around her shoulders. The sudden weight nearly causes her knees to buckle from underneath her. 

“Yiseul, can we study together soon?” she asks brightly. 

Junhoe takes a peek. “If it were me, I would make sure I were getting paid, dorm head.” She sure helps a lot of people to not get anything from it. 

“What do you guys give her?” Mina questions.

“Well, we–,” Junhoe begins to explain but, is unable to think of anything.

“At least my family helps Yiseul and her mom out,” Mina states proudly.

He finds himself at a loss of what to say and Yiseul decides to make up her mind. “Mina, I’ll come over and help you later tonight.” Calmly, she looks down at her watch. If that’s the plan, she should leave now and get some of her own work done first. 

***

Helping Mina ended up taking up more time than Yiseul anticipated. Other than the tutoring, Mina wanted to catch up. Which is to be expected– the two haven’t seen each other for a while.

Apparently, a lot of her friends had a lot to say about Yiseul allocating all of her free time to the West wing. Mina also made sure to mention that she understands of Yiseul’s new responsibilities so as not to worry about what they were saying. 

Yiseul wants to say that she isn’t at all worried. But, instead, she says, “Thank you for being understanding, Mina.”

Walking back to the dorms and arriving at her own room, Yiseul basks in the warmth. The trek back during the night sure is much colder. Sighing, she s her jacket and gets comfy at her desk to catch up on her work. Hours pass and Yiseul haven’t realized how late it is until she hears her door opening. Startled, her head snaps up to see Jaewon stumbling in. Standing up, she finds his eyes still closed. How he could find his way around in such a clumsy way somehow fascinates Yiseul. 

Taking his hand, she gently leads him back out of her room and back to his own with Junhoe. 

Settling him back to bed while his roommate slumbers away, Yiseul silently promises to make a better effort in remembering to lock her door. 

***

“Dorm head!” 

Her eyes snap open. Naturally, she takes a look at the time. 

4 AM.

She had approximately one hour of sleep before Seungyoon started knocking rapidly upon her room’s door. Slipping out of bed, she quickly finds out why he is so frantic at this hour.

Before she could get a word out, he begins to explain, “Mino is never this late getting home and if he was, he would always text me, Seunghoon, or Jinwoo– no matter how drunk he is–,”

Seunghoon and Jinwoo soon also appear with their hands clutching their own phones, waiting for updates.

“He still hasn’t responded to any of my texts,” Seunghoon reveals.

Her phone ringing from inside her room soon distracts her and she heads back inside to take a look. Not recognizing the number, she hesitates on answering an unknown caller so late into the night but, she has seen weirder things. 

“Hello?”

“Is this Lee Yiseul?”

“Yes and who is this?”

“My name is Officer Pak from University Campus Police. Do you know someone by the name of Song Mino?”

She looks out towards the three boys in the hall and points to her phone once she gathers their attention. “Is he with you?”

“Yeah– we found him wandering in the cold while drunk so, we decided to pick him up. Do you mind coming here? We just need you to sign something.”

“Sure, I’m on my way.”

***

“You must be Yiseul.”

Stepping into an office that she thought she would probably never find herself at, Yiseul looks up to see beaming faces behind the counter. “I’m here for Mino.”

“He’s this way.”

The officer leads her to the back to find Mino sitting at a desk, his head flat against its surface. 

“He refused when we offered to call his parents and instead showed us your number listed under ‘Capable Dorm Head’.” The comment brings some amusement to the officer as he places Mino’s phone into her hands. “He’s all yours.”

“Yiseul, you came for me,” Mino lifts his head to mutter.

“I wasn’t going to leave you here all night.”

He suddenly perks up. “Where’s my phone?” he asks as he begins patting his pockets. 

“Here.” She hands it over to him after receiving it from the officer earlier.

“Did they call my parents?”

She shakes her head. 

Mino breathes out a sigh of relief and places it safely back into the pocket of his jacket. “Good. They don’t have to spare their breath yelling at me tonight,” he says with a sigh.

She helps him up from the chair and politely says goodbye to the

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Sriracha31
Hi everyone! Just trying to get the message out as efficiently as possible- if you would like to connect outside of fanfics, follow me on instagram at staceface_art.

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Comments

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Wanderer_bj
#1
Chapter 62: Ohh how I miss reading something not so heavy like this. I just love this and the end was just perfect. 😍
peachyjoonie_
#2
God, I miss you. Thank you for writing.
WholesomeRain
#3
Chapter 62: I miss these characters so much I’m going to puke.
WholesomeRain
#4
Chapter 60: It makes me sick that they aren’t all real people 😔 (even tho they are, but you get what I mean haha)
WholesomeRain
#5
Chapter 35: Oh, I’m also referring to Jinhwan, of course✊💯
WholesomeRain
#6
Chapter 30: That post that says “girls don’t want real men, they want fictional men written by women’ but I’m solely referring to the versions of Hanbin that you write. (Rereading chapters, yet again)
Amsohappy
#7
Chapter 62: Wow! I finally get to finish reading this breath of fresh air. I love your style.
All through the earlier chapters, I was chanting girl stand up for yourself like a mantra. I knew it wasn't easy to just up and switch. It took time, but I'm glad she achieved it in the end. Thank you, for this refreshing read.
Amsohappy
#8
Chapter 52: Girl, that's the spirit.
I don't want to.
maysui
#9
Chapter 57: The way Hanbin gives Yiseul a space and choice for her to decide shows how much he respects her.

All this time, she can't say no and I can't blame her for that. I hope they can leave safely and live how they want to.
maysui
#10
Chapter 55: Manipulating? Brainwashed? seems to be talking about herself hahaha I'm so proud Yiseul is speaking up for herself!