Jeongguk arrives at his 5 o’ clock slot sharp heaving and somehow proud, because that run was record time considering he got off work later than usual because Taehyung had messed up some customer’s drink and his workplace was at least 3 blocks away from the dingy, old boxing gym that he’d booked a slot at with Jimin, the resident trainer who claimed he had once took on someone above his weight class and still came out undefeated.

Except said trainer was currently occupied with blocking punches thrown from someone Jeongguk doesn’t manage to recognize, because he’s sure that figure wouldn’t be one that he would forget easily, especially with the way the stranger’s sportswear- Jeongguk decides he won’t admit he’s been staring at her sports bra for now- hugs and accentuates her curves and abdominals that he tries to get a better look at despite the ty lighting in the gym. And Jeongguk as a normal, hormonal, twenty-something guy would have reacted to the rare female presence if not for the blaring reminder that Jimin promised a slot with him and said female was currently eating into his 90-minute session which did not come cheap for a uni student paying his own rent.

Add that to how he just completed the run of his life and a quick glance at the wall clock indicating his slot started 10 minutes ago, Jeongguk’s irritation and extremely short temper comes with good excuse when it surfaces in a shout directed to Jimin.

“What the hell hyung, we were supposed to start 10 minutes ago!”

Jimin as though just noticing Jeongguk’s presence, drops his stance and straightens up with wide eyes.

“Jeongguk? I thought you said you cancelled?”

Jeongguk grits his teeth. “I said I might be late, didn’t say I was gonna cancel.”

“Oh, I just assumed that meant you weren’t showing up,” Jimin replies breezily, not even looking one bit sheepish and it grates on his nerves even more.

“Well I can still do your slot but I took up someone else in your absence. You don’t mind training together, right?” Jimin smiles sweetly, as though his offer would suffice as compensation and Jeongguk nearly screams when-

“I’m fine if you are.”

He whips his head in the direction of the voice before freezing, realizing it came from the stranger who now under better lighting Jeongguk decides, wears that messy ponytail damn well as he subtly appreciates how the few loose strands frame the side of her face nicely, giving some order amidst the slight mess of hair.

“Yeah Jeongguk, it’s your call,” Jimin edges on shortly after, but not without a sly smirk directed towards him, and suddenly Jeongguk has newfound irritation boiling in his stomach.

“Actually, I’m not fine and I do mind, so I would like my own slot, which was previously promised to me,” he emphasizes, before feeling like a petty little kid when he sees how her eyes widen in a mixture of surprise and disgust. Jimin’s not far off, but at least the caught off guard look in his eyes makes Jeongguk somewhat satisfied.

“Wait what? Jeongguk, come on, don’t be-”

“It’s fine, Jimin. I’ll come back another day,” she says before Jimin can convince Jeongguk otherwise.

She doesn’t even give him another look as she walks past him and that’s when Jeongguk decides he won’t admit how exceptional her looks when she flexibly slip out of the ring, his grudge-holding side coming through.

His staring competition with her continues until an irritated tsk from behind gets his attention.

“Good ing job Jeongguk, I just lost potential business, thanks to you.”

Jeongguk scoffs, turning around. “Potential business? More like potential one night stand, you should’ve seen the way you were looking at her. Way to be subtle, hyung.”

Jimin scowls, before attempting to smack Jeongguk in the head which he completely misses so he settles for the next easiest way to get his revenge as Jeongguk smirks at him, on the verge of throwing out a smart-assed comment Jimin’s willing to bet ten bucks that’ll involve his height.

“50 sets of squats Jeon, starting now.”

>

Jeongguk swears he’ll kill Jimin when his thighs scream the moment he steps out of bed, having to balance himself against the bedpost when his legs wobble due to the after effects of doing one too many squats, courtesy of his favourite trainer.

Ex-favourite trainer, Jeongguk decides as he pours cereal into his bowl because Jimin can take his infectious smile and stupid advice on how stretching can relieve muscle ache far away from Jeongguk, who for a minute actually believed that bull.

His right leg cramps up all of a sudden and he groans half in pain and half in irritation before limping to go get changed in time for the campus shuttle.

The shuttle drops him off just outside his lecture theatre and with 15 minutes to spare, he heads into the nearby Starbucks because if its anyone who’ll fall asleep in calculus it’s probably-okay definitely- going to be him and apparently this lecture was very important, especially for students who according to Taehyung, ‘have been sleeping through the entire semester of calculus’ (Jeongguk prefers the term selective participation but each to his own) because the prof was planning on releasing crucial hints for the upcoming midterms.

Jeongguk hopes Taehyung is damn certain about these “crucial hints” as he stifles a yawn, because he definitely isn’t a morning person and he could be doing better things (like sleeping) than queuing in line for coffee at 9am.  

He’s about to yawn again when a swish of dark, brown hair down the row catches his eye.

Jeongguk straightens up the moment he ties the familiar figure to the stranger’s hair and suddenly, he’s never been more awake in the morning.

From where he’s standing, the SNU varsity jacket covers nearly half her frame until he remembers the goldmine of a figure probably being hidden underneath layers of padding and he hopes he’s not blushing as the queue starts to move forward.

Her hair is up in a messy ponytail just like yesterday and some part of him wishes to see how she’d looked with her hair let down and flowing smoothly across her shoulders.

The image proves to be too much of a distraction obviously, because he doesn’t budge when it finally comes to his turn, only snapping out of it when the cashier asks if he’s going to order anything with an annoyed tone.

“Y-Yeah, I am, sorry,” he apologizes before mumbling his order, stepping to the side and having a mini panic attack when he finally realizes the little commotion he caused had attracted her attention.

She stares at him for a few seconds before blinking, recognition flashing across her eyes before settling into something Jeongguk can confirm it’s nothing positive along with the scrunching of her eyebrows.

Her narrowed gaze stays on him for a mere two more seconds before she’s looking away and grabbing her drink, briskly heading towards the exit where he can only helplessly trail the swishing of her ponytail before it finally disappears for good.

His gaze lingers on the exit for a while more, and when he tears his eyes away, it comes with a newfound confidence and determination that he’s going to set things right, clear any misunderstandings and start on a clean slate like how any good, respectable man would do-

“Sir, do you still want your americano or not?”

A wave of embarrassment rushes over him as he picks up his drink with a hushed apology, deciding he’ll work on being less easily distracted first, especially when it comes to her.

>

A week later he arrives at Starbucks, fully determined as he sits at the table closest to the entrance and keeps his gaze trained on the customers shuffling in and out of the shop.

There’s not much left to do except wait, which Jeongguk excels at or so he thinks because as the thirty-minute mark passes, he starts to doubt whether his confidence in her showing up is misplaced and oh my god what was he thinking hoping for some kind of coincidence when he never had the best of luck and , maybe he should leave because he’s sure the girl at the cashier probably thinks he’s a weirdo for staring at the entrance continuously.

He’s right about to bail when the familiar SNU jacket creeps into his vision and almost immediately, he feels his entire body sag in immense relief.

Her messy ponytail makes its usual appearance as she walks towards the counter to order and suddenly Jeongguk’s on the move, though he doesn’t know what he’s doing when he approaches her because the minute she walked in the lines he had rehearsed in his head had been wiped clean.

He gulps, and settles for a soft ‘hey’ that should have came out more confident in his opinion but she’d already heard it and turned around.

A look of wary crosses her features the moment she sees him, and Jeongguk feels his heart race in anxiety when he observes the hesitance in her eyes, as though she’s contemplating whether to acknowledge his presence or not.

He smiles a little when she finally replies, despite it being a curt ‘hi’. At least she’s not ignoring him, which is good.

“Do you go to SNU too?” he asks, trying to make small talk.

She glances at him, studying his face in silence before he hears her sigh deeply.

“Yeah, I do,” she replies.

Jeongguk’s eyes brighten, and he hopes he doesn’t sound too excited. “Oh, me too! What course are you-”

“What are you trying to do exactly?” she cuts him off, eyes narrowing suspiciously.

“I…uh I-” he tries, but the image of her scrutinizing him intimidates him more than he’d expected.

He continues to gape in silence, attempting to search for the right words when she checks her watch with an irritated sigh and that’s all it takes to send him into overdrive panic mode.

“Look, if there’s nothing you need from me-”

“I’m sorry,” he blurts out in a rush, watching her annoyed expression turns into one of confusion as she halts in place, regarding him inquisitively.

When he’s sure she’s not going to leave, he musters up the courage to find his voice.

“Look, I know we met on a wrong note-” he notices how she raises her eyebrows at that, just short of saying ‘you think’ and Jeongguk ducks his head sheepishly before continuing.

“Anyway, I just wanted to say sorry because I was having a bad day at work and I know I shouldn’t have taken it out on you but I did, so… would you let me buy you your drink as an apology?”

Jeongguk hopes he’s not seeing things when the corner of her lips lift slightly, because he thinks it might be a smile on her face he’s currently looking at and , he doesn’t mind if this was the only expression he had to look at for the rest of his life.

“Iced latte, no sugar,” she says finally.

It takes him a second to process her words, before coming up with the most well-thought out response he’s ever given. “Huh?”

She tilts her head to look at him playfully. “I thought you said you were buying me coffee?”

Jeongguk blinks, finally understanding as a slow grin creeps onto his face. “Does this mean we’re… okay?”

she presses her lips together but he notices how she can’t keep the smile off her face anyway.

“Depends on whether you’ll get my order right,” she says, before turning around.

Jeongguk almost lets her go when he realizes he hasn’t gotten her name yet.

“Hey! I-I didn’t get your name…”

She pauses making her way to one of the tables and smiles. “I’m Chaeyoung.”

He blinks before smiling back. “U-Uh, I’m Jeongguk.”

She bites her lips a little and Jeongguk hopes she stops doing that because it’s getting way too distracting.

“Nice to meet you Jeongguk, I’m counting on you to get my order right.” She teases, before turning around and Jeongguk smiles wider than ever as he finally turns to face the cashier.

(of course he’ll get her ing order right.)

>

Jeongguk somehow, Chaeyoung thinks, manages to slot into her life and her mind smoothly after their little get-to-know-each-other-better coffee “date” (it’s what Namjoon had called it despite her insistence that it was nothing like that), and she can’t decide if she hates it or loves it when he starts sliding into her thoughts more often than she’d like him to.

It starts with something simple, what she determines is friend-level kind of consideration when she looks for him as soon as she steps into the gym, knowing he’ll always be there because her slots are back to back with Jimin, and awaiting the sweaty, but somehow still dazzling smile he throws her way when she passes him in the ring to head for the changing rooms.

She also gets him lunch sometimes because she knows he can forget to eat while studying and as a good friend she tells herself, that she’s just concerned if he’s getting enough nutrients as a growing male and not because it gives her the opportunity to visit him at his dorm where he has the fluffiest pillows ever to fall asleep to, or just relax with her book while he plays his computer games next to her.

It’s not until she walks into the gym one evening, only to find the ring empty and Jimin slightly worried when he comes to her and asks if she’s seen Jeongguk around in school, that she find her concern for him growing into something she’s not so sure she can continue to label as friend-level anymore.

“No, I haven’t. Why? Did he not show up?” she asks, starting to feel anxious.

Jimin shakes his head and frowns. “He didn’t. He would usually inform me when he’s going to skip his slots, but I didn’t get any messages at all today.”

Chaeyoung ends up distracted during the session, delivering a few of the worsts kicks and punches she’s ever done, but Jimin is nice to not call her out for it and instead cuts the lesson short after telling her to work on her focus. She’s disappointed to say the least, but something else- someone else- nags at the back of her mind and she agrees before stepping out of the ring and heading straight to the changing room for her phone.

Jeongguk’s disappearance fully gets onto her nerves when his phone goes to voicemail three times in a row and she doesn’t have the time to question if her state of panic is healthy, or appropriate for someone that’s merely labelled as a friend as she quickly dials Taehyung instead.

She doesn’t know how long it has been after she’d slumped against the lockers, still trying to get through to Jeongguk’s phone despite leaving him a thousand text messages when she hears the gym doors push open and the sound of footsteps.

It’s silent for a moment after the footsteps stop and she’s about to go back to exploding Jeongguk’s phone with missed calls when the distinct sound of the punching bag rustling violently catches her ears.

(Chaeyoung’s embarrassed to admit it, but it only takes a single grunt for her to run out of the changing rooms and into the gym.)

Jeongguk is there, panting in just his sweatpants but the only thing she focuses on are the reddish bruises that are starting to form on his knuckles, because the idiot apparently didn’t wear any gloves before trying to hit the living daylights out of the punching bag.

Her frown deepens as he continues his reckless punching. “That bag pissed you off or what?”

He turns instantly in her direction, eye widening as he registers her presence. “Chaeyoung? What are you doing here?”

She purses her lips as she makes her way forward. “Because I decided to show up for my slot, unlike someone else.”

He scratches his neck sheepishly and laughs. “Right, I guess I forgot I booked one with Jimin hyung today.”

There’s a brief moment of silence when the both of them suddenly decide to look everywhere else besides each other’s eyes and Chaeyoung tries not to focus too much on the lines of Jeongguk’s sculpted abs as she finally speaks up.

“So… you gonna tell me why you were trying to kill Thomas over there?”

Jeongguk raises his eyebrows, an amused smile crossing his face. “Thomas?”

She nods, smiling a little herself. “Yeah, I name every one of them. That one over there is Rebecca.”

She points at a punching bag in the corner with a certain amount of seriousness and Jeongguk finally laughs, revealing a handsome smile that she’d much prefer to see as compared to the tense expression he’d carried just five minutes ago.

A bad day at work he tells her after laughing, but Chaeyoung know he’s lying because she might have asked Taehyung, and found out he’s been stressed over a group project from one of his other mods, especially since his partner wasn’t contributing quality work and she knows Jeongguk’s too nice of a person to tell him off, so it doesn’t come off as a surprise when she finds out he’s decided to edit his partner’s work behind his back instead.  

Chaeyoung hopes it’s not obvious when she nods stiffly before looking around for cloth, and then approaching him after she’d found it and offering hesitatingly to wrap his hands.

His eyes widen for a second before he’s nodding quietly, and she misses the small smile of adoration directed at her the moment she drops her gaze to his hands.

She knew he was staring at her the entire time she helped him wrap up his hands. She also knew that if she looked up and met his gaze, she would probably end up trying to kiss him. And being one heck of the risk-taker she was, she settled for avoiding any form of eye contact with him and took his shy grin after she was done as a tiny consolation.

Namjoon had outright called her stupid when she told him about it and Chaeyoung had weakly rebutted him with “I still score higher than you in econs”, because admitting he was right meant admitting that she had real, more-than-friends kind of feelings for Jeongguk and in all honesty, she didn’t know if she was okay with that.

>

Jeongguk’s busy blocking punches from Jimin when Chaeyoung walks in, duffle bag slung across one shoulder and wearing his favourite sports attire of hers.

He gives her a small smile in the time Jimin calls for a 2 minute break, and she waves back cutely nearly giving him a heart attack before disappearing into the changing room.

When she reappears she’s walking alongside Yoongi, the other resident trainer Jeongguk had briefly trained with when he first started boxing. Although Yoongi was relatively small compared to him, he still packed a punch and Jeongguk can vouch first hand after experiencing a bruised jaw from Yoongi once when he had underestimated his opponent. He frowns for a moment as he sees the both of them entering the ring, but then decides to leave it when he remembers the one thing Chaeyoung hates the most is people thinking she can’t defend herself.

Jeongguk’s well aware of her skills from the past two months of training together occasionally, Chaeyoung having surprised him when she delivered an unexpectedly strong punch to his stomach once (He knows he should really stop belittling his opponents but how could he when she’d asked so adorably for him to fight her just to prove that she could take him down) and he knows he shouldn’t worry, but when Yoongi strikes all of a sudden and leaves her off balance and falling to the ground, he cannot help but clench his fist when Yoongi reacts one beat too late to offer her a helping hand.

He’s prepared to march over when Jimin smacks him on the head, a warning glare sent his way.

“Focus, Jeon.”

He reluctantly tears his eyes away, but not before making sure she was able to stand by herself on both feet.

Jimin finally lets him off after making him complete 40 speed bag punches and he’s about to make his way into the changing rooms when a peek in her direction offers him a glimpse of Chaeyoung successfully performing an arm bar on Yoongi.

A wave of pride rushes through him at the same time adoration blooms in his chest, as he smiles at the sight of Yoongi tapping his fingers furiously on the ground and Chaeyoung’s eyes twinkling in delight right after.

He doesn’t know when she notices him staring, but as soon as she finds his gaze and sends an excited grin his way, Jeongguk thinks maybe he doesn’t have to teach Yoongi a lesson after all.

>

There’s nothing that amuses Chaeyoung more than seeing Jeongguk being absolutely embarrassed by his group of friends that do not seem to know when to stop teasing him, ever since she and Jeongguk arrived at this kbbq place all of them agreed to meet up at.

All, which consisted of his uni friends that had been bugging to get him to introduce her to them the moment they heard Jeongguk had gotten a ‘girlfriend’.

Chaeyoung smiles apologetically at their defeated faces as she clears up the misunderstanding, missing the disappointed gaze that Jeongguk had directed at her before looking away to invest his full interest in his bowl of plain rice.

“I actually believed he was afraid of girls and was legitimately concerned until you showed up,” Hoseok, a senior in performing arts at SNU she’d learned, pipes up from beside her as he pours her another drink.

Opposite her, Jeongguk shrinks lower into his chair and she has to hold back a laugh at how adorable he looks attempting to get the ground to swallow him.

“Eh, I’d say your doubts hold some truth because I’ve never seen him bring home a girl before,” Seokjin adds, before reaching for another piece of pork to pile onto his lettuce wrap and Chaeyoung decides Jeongguk’s right about one of his roommates having a ridiculously large appetite.  

“No way!” Someone else shouts across the table, and she recognizes it to be Taehyung, his other roommate and co-worker.

He waves his hand dismissively in the air, and she laughs at how he takes a deep breath before speaking, as though he’s about to say something extremely important.

“He definitely brings one girl back every week because there’s always weird sounds when I pass by his room at night-”

“Hyung that’s enough!” Jeongguk shouts, ears flaming a flustered shade of red as the entire table erupts in laughter.

Chaeyoung doesn’t think Jeongguk can get any redder until Seokjin proves her wrong when he reminds Jeongguk playfully that he should either invest in some headphones or keep his videos to a minimum volume because the walls after all are not soundproof.

His face bursts into a new shade of humiliation as he quickly stands up to leave and settle the bill, and she giggles fondly to herself seeing the obvious flush in his cheeks even from a distance.

It’s a far cry from Jeongguk’s manly, intimidating self he usually flaunts in front of her, and her heart beats affectionately at this image of him that she doesn’t get to see often but hopes to, especially if she manages to play a part in making him feel this way.

Jeongguk offers to send her back when he notices how late it had gotten after the rest had parted ways, and Chaeyoung tells herself that she’d only held back her protests because Jeongguk had suffered enough today, not because she wanted to spend more time with him and walking her back made up for a good excuse.

The both of them walk in silence for a few minutes until Jeongguk speaks up, distracting her from the neon street signs she’d been leisurely focusing on.

“Um…sorry about my friends tonight,” he apologizes.

Chaeyoung slows down her pace slightly and looks at him. “What are you sorry about? I liked them, they were all really nice and funny.”

He coughs. “They made it…uncomfortable.”

“For you, maybe,” she smiles teasingly and he blushes.

She laughs. “Don’t worry, I actually enjoyed their company. Thanks for introducing them to me.”

Jeongguk looks up at her finally, and Chaeyoung watches as the smile on his face turns from a sincere one to something playful within seconds.

“Because you have no friends?” He jokes, and she smacks him in the chest.

“Jerk, don’t make me take you into a chokehold,” she scolds, but the bright smile on her face shows how she’s nowhere near serious.

Jeongguk chuckles heartily before pulling her closer to mess up her ponytail and she retaliates by nudging him in the ribs, despite her heart fluttering at the sudden proximity.

The walk home takes faster than she’d expected and there’s an unspoken silence between the both of them when she pauses outside her apartment complex, neither of them willing to move. Chaeyoung decides to give him a brief hug after contemplating, almost reluctant to let go after his arms wrap around her but she manages to pull away eventually to thank him for walking her home.

“No problem,” Jeongguk smiles, though there’s an inscrutable look in his eyes that she cannot seem to place.

She goes ahead and bids him goodnight anyway and is about to enter her complex when something catches onto her wrist.

Jeongguk spins her around before she can even react, and Chaeyoung’s met with a nervous gaze as the both of them lock eyes.

“Did you… need something?” She prompts, when the heat of his stare starts to make her feel a little uncomfortable.

He swallows, and her eyes follow the tiny movement of his Adam’s apple, finding it immensely attractive suddenly.

“Can I ask you for a favour?”

She averts her eyes to his face. “Depends what it is,” she tries to say as calmly as possible.

Jeongguk his lips carelessly and Chaeyoung has to fight the urge to groan.

“Let your hair down the next time we meet.”

The request takes her by surprise, and she hopes she’s not blushing too hard as she replies. “Why?”

Jeongguk’s eyes widen, not knowing what excuse to use because this was clearly for personal, selfish reasons that he’d rather take to his grave than admit when he’s still alive.

He gulps, stuttering slightly. “B-Because you always wear it the s-same way. You should try something different.”

He watches as she considers his preposition carefully, heartbeat still soaring due to the bull excuse he’d literally just pulled out of his until she catches his gaze and gives him a smile so wide Jeongguk decides it’d be fine if he was to die from a heart attack currently.

“Okay,” she agrees, eyes twinkling with excitement and a hint of mischief that throws him off slightly but ignores eventually because he’s too overwhelmed with surprise to bother about it.

“Wait, really?”

Chaeyoung’s grin extends all the way to her ears. “On one condition.”

Jeongguk deflates. “Oh my god, I knew it wasn’t gonna be that simple.”

She snorts at him before crossing her arms smugly. “Get an A on the coming calculus exam and I’ll carry out my side of the deal.”

“What? Come on! You know that’s virtually impossible!” he whines indignantly.

She flutters her lashes, before smiling so sweetly at him he thinks he could get diabetes. “Jeongguk darling, nothing is impossible.”

He tries to ignore the way his heart races at the term of endearment before he replies.

“Calculus is impossible.”

Chaeyoung gives him a challenging look before shrugging light-heartedly. “Well, then happy fantasizing about how I look with my hair down.”

Jeongguk’s sure his face is as red as a tomato as she teasingly winks at him before running into her apartment complex.

“I-I don’t fantasize- you little , get back here!” he shouts, chasing after her.

“I’ll see you next week Jeon!” she laughs playfully, disappearing into the lift and the last thing Jeongguk sees is Chaeyoung sticking out her tongue at him, which he can’t help but smile at, despite the lingering stuttering of his heartbeat.

Jeongguk walks out of Chaeyoung’s apartment complex in a mix of warm fondness and motivation, unknowing of her blushed cheeks and half bitten lips in an attempt to stop smiling the moment the lift doors had closed.

>

Giving up, is neither in Jeongguk’s blood nor his name.

But one hour into studying, and Jeongguk is ready to declare that this is the hardest he’s ever done since he was born.

Taehyung snickers when Jeongguk crashes his forehead into the thick calculus textbook for the third time after getting the answer wrong again and Jeongguk seriously considers slapping him in the face with his pencil case as he glares at his best friend slash part time calculus teacher from where he has his cheek pressed against the differential chapter of his textbook.

“Will you stop ing laughing,” he grumbles and Taehyung only chortles louder as he draws another big fat cross on Jeongguk’s answer sheet.

“Only when you stop being so ing horrible in calculus,” Taehyung sneers and Jeongguk rolls his eyes.

“Dude, you’re not even getting the basic formulas right, it’s gonna be a miracle for you to ace this midterm in two weeks.”

“You’re telling me,” Jeongguk mutters into the pages of his book.

He feels Taehyung slapping him on the back. “A miracle that’s going to happen because luckily for you, your dearest friend here is a genius in calculus and has senpai level knowledge of integral, differential-”

Jeongguk peeks open one eye before deadpanning. “You got an A- on the previous exam.” 

Somehow, that triggers Taehyung and Jeongguk watches in slight intimidation as Taehyung’s eye twitches before he bends down to Jeongguk’s level.

“Listen, I would have gotten that A if Kim ing Namjoon didn’t screw up the bell curve. I was one ing point away from an A grade,” he hisses, glaring and Jeongguk suddenly feels a little threatened at the proximity.

He’s about to start feeding Taehyung’s ego by praising his self-acclaimed senpai level knowledge of Calculus to appease him when he catches Chaeyoung walking into the library, alongside an unidentified male specimen he finds kind of familiar but can’t put a name onto.

“Are you even listening to- what the are you staring at- oh.”

Jeongguk turns to face Taehyung when he hears the sudden menace in his voice.

“What? Do you know that guy?” he finds himself asking before he knows it.

Taehyung snorts unappealingly. “That, my friend, is Kim Namjoon.”

Jeongguk whips his head back so fast he nearly gets a cramp in his neck, but his eyes narrow the moment they tune in onto her, and how she’s smiling so much while talking to Kim ing Namjoon as the two of them walk towards one of the tables at the back, not even noticing his burning stare.

How the does Chaeyoung even know Kim Namjoon?

And what is her relationship with that idiot, he wants to go up to her and ask, but instead he grits his teeth before turning around with an annoyed glare.

“Looks like we have a common enemy,” Taehyung snickers loudly and Jeongguk tries his best to act nonchalant by rolling his eyes.

“Well yeah, if he affects the bell curve he indirectly affects my grades too,” he replies calmly.

From the side, Taehyung has on a look that screams he’s not buying any of this bull and Jeongguk pointedly tries to ignore his best friend.

>

There’s a bitter feeling in Jeongguk’s mouth when he steps into work that afternoon despite the grade he’d got being his personal highest ever since he’d taken up Calculus as a module.

Taehyung had called his B+ grade a mini miracle in an attempt to cheer him up- heck, even his TA was surprised and praised him for his improvement when he handed out the results- but the disappointment still lingered in Jeongguk’s replying thanks as he packed his bags and walked out of the classroom.

His phone vibrates the minute he closes his locker and Jeongguk’s heart drops at a new message from Chaeyoung, asking how he’d did on the exam. It feels like a slap in his face when his fingers type in his reply before sending and he sighs as he locks his phone, not wanting to deal with the possible sympathy weaved into her reply until later when he saw her at the gym.

“I’ll wear a wig and act all pretty like Chaeyoung for you if that’s what it takes for you to stop sulking,” Taehyung comments, as Jeongguk slides into the counter beside him.

He watches blankly as Taehyung attempts to flutter his lashes flirtingly before letting out a deep sigh and dropping his head onto the counter. “You’re not helping, Tae.”

Taehyung doesn’t reply and Jeongguk hears the oven go off and a bit of rustling before feeling something nudge at his elbow.

He turns his head just enough to look at how Taehyung’s pushing a chocolate chip cookie into his arm with a stupid grin and Jeongguk turns back again to bury his face between his shoulders.  

“Well , I even heated it up for you, ungrateful brat. At least take one bite,” Taehyung pesters, and it’s enough to put a smile on Jeongguk’s face despite how ty he’s currently feeling.

He looks up just as the café doors swing open, long tresses catching his attention temporarily only to be taken away the next second by Taehyung attempting to shove the entire cookie into his mouth.

“There we go, all in one bite!” Taehyung exclaims excitedly and Jeongguk glares at him as he chokes on a mouth full of chocolate chips.

“That wasn’t one bite-” he tries to say, but it all comes out in a mess of mangled sounds and he almost aims for wiping that pleased grin off Taehyung’s face when someone clears their throat.

They both turn immediately and Jeongguk feels himself choke for a second time in one day.

She looks different, Jeongguk thinks and then wants to face palm himself because well done for stating the ing obvious. But as he takes in Chaeyoung’s long hair falling across her shoulders for the first time, his eyes light up unconsciously because she still managed to look so her despite the different hairstyle and Jeongguk finds himself liking it, liking how her presence is still so genuine and authentic and he realizes why the way she wears her hair doesn’t make a huge difference because he’s fallen for who Chaeyoung is, and he doesn’t know why it took a change in hairstyle for him to understand his attraction was actually love.

Jeongguk actually considers asking Taehyung to punch him in the face as he stares unabashedly at Chaeyoung’s new appearance in front of his counter, the shy smile on her face doing nothing to help the racing of his heart.

“Are you going to stop staring and ask me for my order or…” she trails off softly, revealing a playful smile.

He gulps. “R-Right…what do you want to-” he stops suddenly, changing his mind.

“What are you doing…here?”

“To get some coffee?” she continues to and he splutters out of nervousness.

“I-I mean… your hair-”

Chaeyoung’s laugh reaches his ears and immediately he shuts up, suddenly finding the faint hint of pink on her cheeks extremely endearing.

“Alright, I was just kidding,” she smiles brightly at him and Jeongguk thinks he’s on the verge of having another panic attack as he tries once more, impatience running in his veins.

“Your hair- I-I didn’t get an A-”

“You did,” she cuts him off. “An A for effort, at least to me, so… I thought you deserved to be rightfully rewarded.”

Jeongguk cannot help but gape at her, suddenly finding that heart of hers a million times more attractive than her current appearance.

He can tell his continued silence is probably making her uncomfortable as she shifts slightly from feet to feet.

“Um…I should go. I’ll see you later, at the gym?”

It takes Taehyung nudging him from the side before he’s able to chalk up a reply, but not without stumbling over his words.

“Y-yeah, s-see you later.”

Chaeyoung offers him one last smile before turning around to head for the exit and Jeonggguk just stands there and watches her leave, not fully processing the situation until Taehyung smacks the back of his head with a tray.

“Ow! What you hit me for?” he whines, rubbing at the sore spot and Taehyung makes a noise that sounds like a mix of exasperation and disbelief.

“I knew you were stupid, but I didn’t know you were oblivious as well,” he scolds and Jeongguk frowns.

“What are you-”

“Dude she obviously likes you! She came all the way here and you just let her ing walk out! The least you could’ve done was ask her on a date or something!”

Jeongguk swears he’s the stupidest person on the planet as he rushes out the café, apron left discarded on the counter after Taehyung had threatened to smack him once more if he didn’t get his moving and chasing after Chaeyoung.

He nearly exclaims in relief when he spots her at the traffic light, thanking all the gods for his luck and his athletic abilities that he supposed made up for his lack of intelligence as he sprints towards her, managing to grab onto her arm just as the pedestrian light turned green.

She spins around in shock, only to find Jeongguk panting as though he’d just ran three marathons.

“Jeongguk? What are you doing?”

Jeongguk’s grip on her arm relaxes and Chaeyoung finds herself feeling disappointed as he slides his hand off her. He steadies himself, looking at her nervously before swallowing and her eyes unconsciously follow the intriguing bobbing of his Adam’s apple.

“Will…will you go out… with me?” he finally says, looking somewhat hopeful yet fearful at the same time that some part of Chaeyoung wants to tell him he shouldn’t be afraid, because she’d be crazy to reject him after she’s wanted him for so long. Warmth blooms across her chest until her entire body flushes with overwhelming happiness and she hopes she’s not shaking too much in excitement as she replies him.

Chaeyoung smiles shyly and pray her eyes don’t light up too much when she asks, “Like…now?”

Jeongguk blinks like he can’t believe the situation before he’s smiling so wide Chaeyoung thinks he’ll split his cheeks.

“Yes, now,” he grins, wanting to add how this was long overdue but stopped himself by biting his lip.

“What about your work?” she asks, but the teasing smile on her face tells Jeongguk that she doesn’t really care.

“Tae has me covered,” he replies curtly.

“What about Jimin? We booked slots with him-”

“Forget Jimin, I’m not letting you go anywhere near him while you’re looking like that,” he frowns, irritated at the sudden mention of his hyung’s name.

He notices the way her eyes brighten up at his possessiveness as she bites her lip to hide a growing smile. “You’re the jealous kind, aren’t you?”

“What? N-no, I’m not-”

She wags a finger in his face teasingly. “You soooooo are.”

Jeongguk’s face flushes but he’s determined to hold out the entire way. “Where’s your proof?”

“You burning holes into the side of Joon’s head when we were at the library that day is enough proof,” She snorts, and Jeongguk would’ve smiled at how incredibly endearing she looked if not for the fact that he was totally wrong about how he thought he was being discreet with his glaring.

“Wait- y-you saw me?” he asks.

Chaeyoung shrugs. “I mean, you were pretty obvious with your staring.”

His eyes widen. “I wasn’t!”

She narrows her eyes at him accusingly and he decides there’s no use denying reality so he settles for pouting like a little kid and staring at the ground. He doesn’t know that Chaeyoung had smiled and found that extremely adorable and even more so when he’d muttered ‘how come he gets a nickname?’ under his breath.

“Would you feel better if I called you guk?” she offers, reaching out to take his hand and Jeongguk smiles ridiculously wide to himself before slowly raising his head to meet her waiting eyes.

They gleam with a mix of affection and playfulness, and a hint of an unspoken question that he hopes he answers, as he intertwines their fingers together before smiling cheekily at her.

“I prefer baby, but that’ll do.”