lol so i'm actually alive and i didn't decide to abandon this story, been just a little busy playing smtown superstar and a massive writer's block soooo (een working on this chapter for almost a month and i'm glad i actually finished it lol)
will be using Seongwu instead of Seongwoo from now on since I heard that's how Ong likes to spell his name in english (i'm not sure tho, just saw this on twitter)
also, i read the comments every now and then i just don't know how to respond (i'm awkward like that lol) thank you for the comments, they make motivate me tbh meheeee

*Chosun & Dong A are two newspapers from Seoul lol

“I am so tired.” Minhyun covered his face with his hands, frustrated and annoyed at the same time. Jaehwan, who’s staring at the sheet of paper which contained Minhyun’s schedule, laughed. “I’m like, really doomed. As in really.”

“Your schedule is , man.” Jaehwan placed an arm on Minhyun’s shoulder. He gave the sheet of paper back to Minhyun, patting him gently on the back afterwards.

“Look who’s talking.” Jinri rolled her eyes, nudging Jaehwan on the sides. “You’ve got 9AM classes, Jae. You’re still dead meat.”

“Yes, but it’s better than 7AM.” Jaehwan said with a grin, earning a kick on the sheen from Minhyun. His rejoice was like salt to Minhyun’s wound.

So far, nothing unexpected has happened yet. Their first day for this semester has been smooth so far, well maybe not for Minhyun.

Despite coming early to school two days ago, Minhyun wasn’t able to secure a perfect schedule. He was able to get almost his entire desired subject schedule except the one for his thesis, and it just had to be that seven a.m class. It wasn’t actually a problem for him entirely since he likes to get his work done early. However, he’s the type of person to sleep in so waking up at six in the morning every Monday and Wednesday would be a problem. Looks like Minhyun would be going to school half-awake on these days. Starting the school year with dark bags under the eyes doesn’t seem appealing.

It seems like the odds were in their favor this semester. Jaehwan and Jinri were able to get their desired schedule, and none requires them to go to school before eight in the morning. They had most classes together, except one elective. Jinri had to take it alone since Jaehwan took it the previous semester so it wouldn’t get in the way of his soccer practice this semester.

“What are we having for lunch?” Jinri hummed, holding onto the strap of her bag. She looked at Jaehwan, who’s still busy laughing at Minhyun for looking like a zombie on the first day of school. “Stop making fun of Minhyun, he looks tired.”

“Yeah, I am tired and I need some hot chocolate right now.” Minhyun scrunched his nose as he wore his hoodie. If it was possible for him to walk with his eyes closed, he would’ve done so already.

“Let’s just eat at the cafeteria. I’m too lazy to go out of the uni since it’s cold.” Jaehwan said while fixing his coat and his guitar strap. “Besides, I’m meeting Sewoon there as well, he said he was going to give me a copy of the song he’s writing.”

Jinri nodded slowly. “How would you even fit all that in your schedule? You’ve got your soccer practice, thesis, and our consecutive productions this semester.”

Jaehwan shrugged nonchalantly. “The guys agreed that we’re going to take it slow this semester. At most we’re going to have two gigs a month, and on weekends so it won’t be much of a hassle. Right now, we’re just jamming.”

“Sewoon’s the guy who looks like Ponyo, right?” Minhyun asked, pushing the door of the cafeteria open.

“Yep, he is.” Jaehwan nodded and looked around the cafeteria. “You guys go ahead, I’ll look for Sewoon and a vacant table.”

Jinri and Minhyun nodded and went to get their selves some food. Minhyun went on and on about how he’s having a hard time choosing a specific company for his internship during the summer. Being the EIC of their school newspaper definitely has its perks, and Minhyun has continuously been receiving offers from different newspaper outfits within Seoul. All that Minhyun had to do was choose.

“They’re all good.” Minhyun pointed out as he placed some kimchi on his tray. “But I’m not really sure which one to choose. Chosun and Dong A* both sent me emails though, but I’m still weighing the cons.”

“It’s actually good that you have a choice. Just choose the one less ty than the other.” With that phrase, Minhyun chuckled softly. “What? I’m just being honest here. Every company has their own s. Just choose the one who has the least of them all, or good at hiding them at least.”

Minhyun nodded slowly, placing some kimchi on Jinri’s tray as well. “I have the whole semester to think about it, why am I worrying about it now?”

“I should be asking you that question.” Jinri shook her head in amusement. “I mean, the only problem you have is choosing. I don’t even know where to start.” Jinri let out a slight laugh, holding her tray and gesturing for Minhyun to give her some egg rolls as well. “I don’t even have internship offers at the moment, and my thesis is still a little shaky. I think the next semesters would be hell for me.”

“You’ll get through it, and if you need any help, I—”

“You already have a lot on your plate, Mi—”

Minhyun placed the tongs on his tray and flicked Jinri on the forehead. “You didn’t let me finish, you . What I meant is that if there’s anything that I can do like print your thesis or something, nothing big. My mom just bought me a new printer so I can print your work for free.”

“Really?” Jinri’s eyes brightened up at the thought of being able to save some of her money designated for print outs.

“Yep, just give me one ream of paper and we’re done.” Minhyun nodded with a grin. “Wait, should I get one for Jaehwan?”

“He’s a big boy, he can get his own food.” And with this, Jinri meant that she’s not going to take another round of complaints from Jaehwan for actually trying to be nice. One time, she volunteered to get food for Jaehwan as he looked for a vacant seat, and only got complaints for not getting the right amount of food in return. Jinri scanned her tray of food once again before looking at Minhyun. “Now where is he?”

Minhyun took a quick scan of the cafeteria before looking back at Jinri. “I don’t know. Let’s g— oh.” Minhyun was interrupted by the figure of Jaehwan waving at him from across the cafeteria. “There he is. Let’s go.”

Jinri nodded, following Minhyun as he headed towards where Jaehwan is. As the two got closer, Jinri was able to recognize the people with Jaehwan at the moment, and she thought she should’ve known better.

When Jaehwan said he was going to look for Sewoon, Jinri didn’t know that Sewoon meant Sewoon with the other band guys— including Seongwu.

Having Jaehwan join a band with Seongwu meant that she would be seeing him a lot more than she used to. Jaehwan is the kind of person who liked introducing his set of friends to each other (that’s how Minhyun and Jinri met), thus, the possibility of actually hanging out with Seongwu’s set of friends is almost at ninety percent. This kind of thought already came to Jinri’s mind, but she didn’t know that it would be this soon. She was too busy thinking about escaping these kinds of situations, but at the moment, she hasn’t come up with at least one that would be helpful, especially now when Dongho already saw her and is gesturing for her to join them. They can choose not to sit with the group, but it would be rude for them to plainly ignore Dongho’s extremely eye-catching invitation (he stood up from his seat and waved at Jinri).

“Jinri, Minhyun!” Dongho said with a smile, tapping his hand on the table. “Join us, the guys are talking about their band things.”

“Band things.” The guy beside Dongho, Ren, said with an amused smile as he shook his head. His long blonde hair was now replaced with short dark brown locks.

“Guys, meet Jinri and Minhyun.” Dongho said enthusiastically as he introduced the people around the table one by one. Jinri already knew Jonghyun, they had one class together three semesters ago. Ren’s name was actually Minki, and he just likes to use his nickname for their gigs. Sewoon’s the ponyo guy, and then there’s Seongwu.

“Hey, Ong.” Dongho patted Seongwu’s shoulder to catch his attention. He was too busy playing a game in his phone a while ago and told them to talk to him when he’s done since the level’s almost finished anyways.

“Alright.” Seongwu said with a smile, placing his phone on the table. Clasping his hands together as he looked at Dongho with expectant eyes, he smiled. “What do you have for me, big guy?”

“I was introducing Jinri to the other guys. It’s your turn now.”

“Jinri?” He raised a brow and turned his head to look at where Jinri and Minhyun were standing. “Oh, hi. It’s nice to see you again.”

Jinri nodded slowly, bowing slightly at everyone before taking the seat across Seongwu. After greeting the people around the table, Minhyun took the seat beside Jonghyun, leaving the seat across Seongwu for Jinri. Beside Jonghyun is Sewoon, who’s busy teaching Jaehwan the chords of the song he wrote. Since it’s the only vacant seat within the table, Jinri had no choice but to sit across Seongwu.  Whether Minhyun did it on purpose or not, she wasn’t actually sure.

“Again?” Dongho raised a brow, shifting his gaze from Jinri who’s busy eating her meal then back at Seongwu who’s ignoring his food as he scrolled through his phone.

“Mm.” Seongwu said nonchalantly, nodding slowly. “I met her a few days ago, during the gig.” He ate a spoonful of rice before stuffing his mouth with the egg rolls. “I told you before, she paid for my research paper. You know how I don’t like it when I owe people something.” He then looked at Jinri as he chewed, and she tried her best not to meet his gaze since she doesn’t know how to react to it. It still bothers her that Seongwu actually made the effort to look for her and pay her back for what she did last semester since she did it without expecting something like this in return.

Dongho’s lips formed a small o-shape as he nodded slowly.

The twenty minutes that it took for Jinri to finish her meal was the longest twenty minutes of her life to date. On a normal day, it takes at least thirty minutes for Jinri to finish her food, but since she felt a little uncomfortable to eat with Seongwu and his friends, she just ate quietly. Minhyun would check on her if she was okay from time to time since a silent Jinri only occurs during the time of the month (and Minhyun knows that that time was a few days ago), and she would just say a half-hearted yes.

Throughout the whole meal, Dongho kept on asking her random questions like ‘how was your break’ and then diverting the attention back to Seongwu, as if he’s trying to get the two to talk directly to each other. Jinri was just awkward, and kept on answering short sentences, while Seongwu seemed like his usual self around his friends (which is something that Jinri saw for the first time this close).

Beyond Seongwu’s perfection-like exterior (brains+ good looks+ personality + member of a band + actually good at painting and anything art related), is a somehow humane version of Ong Seongwu. Right in front of her is Ong Seongwu, busy shifting from eating his lunch to beating the high score he set on the mobile game that kept him busy. From time to time he would let out little reactions, or make random comments about what the other guys were talking about. Once in a while he would blurt out puns (which the guys thought were lame at first, but end up laughing at it because it does make sense when they thought about it), and Jinri could see the small smile on his lips after hearing the guys laugh.

Even though Jinri felt uncomfortable, she has to admit that she does feel happy that she gets to see that side of Seongwu. Seeing him this close made him seem more human, instead of only being a picture of a perfect guy named Ong Seongwu inside her head.

“I’m getting drinks, does anyone of you feel like bossing me around and ask me to buy one?” Seongwu said, looking at each of the people around the table with a playful smile. “Anyone?” He looked at Jinri last, his smile changing from a mischievous one to his usual one as he raised his brows.

Jinri wasn’t looking, she was too ‘busy’ poking the leftover kimchi on her plate that she didn’t feel like eating. Minhyun had to nudge her and tell her that Seongwu’s waiting for her answer. Jinri looked up from her dish to Seongwu, and she felt her cheeks heat up. She quickly shook her head and mumbled a soft “No thanks, I’m fine,” before looking away.

As soon as Seongwu left the table, Jinri heard Dongho let out a soft chuckle.

“Wow, your face is really red, Jinri.” Dongho said in a matter-of-factly tone, trying to stop his self from smiling.

Jinri let out a sigh before covering her face with her hands. Great, now everyone knows, she thought to herself as she shut her eyes close for a few seconds. Thanks a lot, Dongho.

“Did you plan this, Jaehwan?” Dongho turned to look at Jaehwan.

Jaehwan shrugged. “Not really, I was just looking for Sewoon. I didn’t know he’s with you guys. So if you’re plotting a million ways to kill me, you can postpone it first, Jin. Wait for an actual valid reason to kill me so I won’t hunt you down a few months after my death.”

Minhyun let out a soft chuckle, patting Jinri on the shoulder gently.

“She likes Seongwu?” Minki asked curiously, pointing at Jinri with his chopsticks. Dongho nodded. “Then what about Heehyun?”

For some weird reason, Jinri felt like she wasn’t supposed to be there for that kind of conversation.

“They broke up over the break.”

“Thought they got back together?” Jonghyun asked before popping a piece of chocolate in his mouth.

Dongho shook his head. “Naaah. They talked about getting back together but it seemed like Seongwu doesn’t want to anymore.”

“Didn’t Heehyun come during their last gig?”

“Yeah, she did say hi. Well, it seemed like it wasn’t going to work.”

All of them were silent after that. Only the sound of the people around them talking and Jaehwan playing the guitar can be heard. Seongwu’s arrival broke the silence among the group (since he announced that he’s back).

After finishing the kimchi she thought she didn’t feel like eating anymore, Jinri felt like it was time for her to leave. She’s already had her dose of awkwardness and anxiety enough for the rest of the week anyways (and also her weekly dose of seeing Seongwu in the university). “I’m going ahead first,” she announced, loud enough for all of the guys to hear. Everyone looked at her, including Seongwu who even took the time to pause his game. That made her feel a little uneasy and distracted her already rehearsed sentence. “Uhm.. I need to get some coffee before my next class, so I’m leaving first. It was nice meeting all of you.”

Taking her tray with her as she stood up, she bowed at the guys before wearing her bag strap. As if on cue, both Minhyun and Jaehwan stood up as well, following her after saying goodbye to the others.

It was probably the most uncomfortable thirty minutes of her life up to date, but Jinri had to admit that it did feel weirdly refreshing to step out of her comfort zone. And with comfort zone, she meant the space twenty five meters away from Ong Seongwu.

Being in a room filled with strangers both comforted and made Jinri feel anxious.

It was both lucky and unfortunate of her to be in a class filled with freshmen; lucky for some professors take it easy in consideration of the new kids trying to adjust in the university life, and unfortunate because freshmen are usually over excited about a lot of things and tend to do group activities with so much enthusiasm.

The good thing about being alone in a class filled with noisy freshmen was that she doesn’t feel the need to hold small talks with them. One of the things she doesn’t like is the awkward small talk with strangers (even though she is an awkward person); she would like it better if she talked to someone she clicked with even in such a short time than waste her time talking to someone about how the hands of her wrist watch move.

The only thing that makes her anxious was the thought of group activities: if you’re the only person who doesn’t belong to the block, then you’re most likely the one who ends up getting paired with the person the group doesn’t feel like doing the project with. It was still too early in the semester to think about stuff like that, but since Jinri has experienced something similar to that, she couldn’t help but consider doing all those things by herself instead.

Jinri took out her phone and kept herself busy with it in order to kill the time. Only a few minutes were left before the class starts. It was still the first day of the semester so there would only be introductions, syllabus discussions and the class will be over.

The noise started to die down as soon as the professor came inside the classroom. He was followed by a tall guy, trying to make his existence not so much of a scene-stealer by tiptoeing. His pink hair wasn’t of much help.

Jinri raised a brow as soon as she saw the guy with the pink hair and the bunny-like front teeth— Kang Daniel, the guy she met at the club a month ago. She didn’t expect to see him outside the club (since he’s a DJ meeting him in different clubs wouldn’t be a surprise anymore), specifically, in the same university and the same elective as hers.

Daniel scanned the room for an empty seat— the only ones left were on both sides of Jinri. No freshmen bothered to sit beside her because of her intimidating aura caused by her resting face. When Daniel saw her, he looked surprised and happy at the same time. He quickly made his way towards the empty seat beside Jinri. “Is this seat taken?”

Jinri shook her head. “Naah. Go ahead.”

Daniel sat down with a smile, his two front teeth showing. “Hey, it’s nice to see you when you’re not drunk.” He said with a smile as he fixed his things on the desk.

Jinri let out a soft chuckle as she shook her head in amusement. “What a nice way to say hello.”

Daniel chuckled softly, nodding slowly as he patted Jinri’s shoulder gently. “Didn’t know we’ll meet again like this.”

“Back at you, Daniel. I didn’t even know you go to this school as well.”

“I’m from the music department, and our buildings are like, in the opposite parts of the campus so it makes sense.”

“My building?”

“Yeah?” Daniel tilted his head a little to the side as he looked at Jinri, looking a little confused. “Aren’t you from the college of arts?”

Jinri raised a brow, a little surprised and crept out. “How did you know that?”

“Since you’re friends with Chungha, I just assumed.” Daniel nodded slowly. “Am I wrong?”

Jinri nodded slowly, taking out her registration from her notebook. The professor was done with the introductions and was now taking the attendance to check whether there are extra students who weren’t supposed to be there.

Daniel stood up and brought his registration sheet as soon as his name got called, rubbing his elbow which he hit on the desk on the way to the small platform at the front.

“That hurts.” He scrunched his nose as soon as he sat back down on his seat.

Jinri didn’t know whether Daniel was talking to her or just talking to his self so she decided to just not say anything. Besides, they weren’t that close anyways.

Seeing Daniel inside the room gave Jinri the idea that maybe, she might not be doing activities alone. The two of them were the only upper classmen in the room, and the possibility of them working together for a project is a little high.

“Hey.”

She turned to look at Daniel after he poked her arm with his finger. “Mm?”

“Do you mind saving me this seat in the next days? My class before this one is PE and you know where the pool is, right? I don’t want to end up sitting on the floor or something.” Daniel scrunched his nose before looking at Jinri. “Please?”

Jinri blinked and nodded slowly. “Mm, alright. No big deal.”

“Thanks.” Daniel smiled as he wore his white cap. “You seem a lot nicer when you’re not drunk, you know?”

If Jaehwan or Minhyun were the ones who said that, they probably earned a punch from Jinri. But since it’s someone she only met once, she decided to just keep her calm and thought of a witty comeback. “And I must say that you’re still talkative even when I’m totally sober.”

Daniel let out a soft chuckle as she looked at Jinri in awe. “Woah, nice one you got there.” She expected him to somewhat get offended but he wasn’t offended at all. Instead, he took it in a good way, and it amused Jinri.

“Ong Seongwu?” That certain name caught Jinri’s attention. Their professor was calling Seongwu’s name, and that just means one thing: he’s taking the class as well.

Jinri didn’t know that this day can get more uncomfortable— from having to eat with Seongwu and his group of friends to actually having to spend one semester with him in the same class.

Trying her best not to look surprised and a little panicky, Jinri scanned the room to check whether Seongwu was there or not. If Seongwu doesn’t show up, it just means that he’s going to get dropped from the class (since it’s a university rule). Maybe he changed his mind and decided to take another class, or he just didn’t feel like coming to class today. Any of those reasons would actually be to Jinri’s favor.

If he does show up, he had no choice but to take the seat next to Jinri. She knows she isn’t ready to spend the whole semester sitting beside Seongwu (the professor told them that their seat at the moment would be their permanent arrangement for the whole semester).

“Last call for Ong Seongwu?” The professor looked around the room, checking whether Seongwu’s there or not. “Ong Seon—”

“Here!” Seongwu came inside the room in a rush, holding his registration sheet in one hand and a small towel with his other hand. He handed the sheet to their professor and waited for it as the professor signed.

Jinri let out a sigh before leaning her head on the desk. Why does this keep on happening to me? She thought to herself as she closed her eyes. Was she a bad person in her past life for the universe to enjoy her misery like this? If it was some kind of joke, then the universe should stop pranking her this way because it isn’t funny anymore.

“Eh?” Daniel’s husky voice pulled her out from her train of thoughts. “It’s the Ong guy from my PE class before this one.”

Jinri closed her eyes once again and started hitting her forehead on the desk. Thank you, universe.

“Hey, hey!” Daniel placed his hand in between Jinri’s forehead and the desk, his voice a mix of surprise and worry. “Why are you hitting your head on the desk? That must hurt.”

Jinri sat up and let out a sigh. “It would actually be better if the floor ate me alive.”

“Eh. If you die, no one’s going to save me a seat.”

“That’s actually comforting.” Jinri scrunched her nose before running her hand through her hair out of frustration. Daniel chuckles softly, poking Jinri on the arm repeatedly as he told her he was only joking.

“Is this seat taken?” Seongwu said as soon as he reached the empty seat beside Jinri. He was drying his hair with the towel as he waited for Jinri’s answer.

Both Jinri and Daniel looked at Seongwu. She blinked and shook her head. “N-no. Go ahead.”

Seongwu nodded slowly and sat down, his eyes never leaving Jinri. “Uhm. Are you okay?”

“Yes.” Jinri nodded slowly, her mind a total mess. Why is Seongwu still looking at her? Why is this happening to her? Her heart felt like it was going to combust out of her chest and her mind’s a total wreck, just like spongebob’s mind breaking down. “Uhm.. why?”

“Are you really sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, sure.” Go on, say more nonsense. “Uhm.. why?”

Seongwu pointed at her forehead. “Your forehead’s really red.”

Thanks a lot, universe.