Jinyoung lets out a sigh of relief as he steps out of his last class for the day. He stretches his neck from side to side, letting it crack, making his neck muscles a bit lighter. He then twists his body, in hopes of another set of cracks that will make his lower body a little less tense. As he was twisting a couple of times, someone bumped into him, making both of them fall onto the ground. The person on top of him lets out a bright grunt that sounded like honey to the boy as his head fall onto Jinyoung’s chest.

“I’m so sorry,” The person on top of him says before springing up on his knees. Jinyoung almost lets out a whimper of disappointment. “I was in a hurry because I am late for something.”

It is then when Jinyoung’s eyes adjust to confirm who the person who had bumped him is. He blinks once, twice, and thrice before revealing a chuckling Daehwi with his forefinger on his lips, as if preventing sound to come out. Daehwi smiles at him and offers him a hand, which Jinyoung gladly takes with a grateful smile.

“It’s fine; I was also not looking.” Jinyoung replies after a while of dusting his pants (and Daehwi’s too). He sends the other a gentle smile. “Where are you headed to?”

Daehwi’s eyes widen into big circles immediately after Jinyoung had asked the question. He bites his lower lip, a bit too harsh, as his eyes soften into worrying ones. He picks up his backpack on the ground that he dropped earlier and looks at Jinyoung apologetically.

“Thank you so much for reminding me. I have to go.” Daehwi mutters under his breath, barely audible but enough for Jinyoung to catch what he had said. Daehwi pouts and blows air into his cheeks.

“I promise to tell you soon, Jinyoung.”

And Daehwi scurries outside the building, leaving a confused Jinyoung behind.

He remembered my name?

As soon as he arrives at his dorm, Jinyoung tosses both his backpack and his body on his bed. He buries his face on the soft linen his bed currently has and starts to curl into comfort. The softness of his bed feels extremely nice and Jinyoung cannot help but let out a tired yawn.

A cool breeze enters his room through his opened windows, filling the space. Jinyoung lets out a hum of content as the air slightly caress his exposed skin. It is then when his phone rings suddenly that he springs up and scurries his bed for his phone.

Park Jihoon

https://facenotebook.com/foreveryourHwi You’re welcome

Jinyoung throws his phone on the bed and lets out a grunt. How did that Park Jeojang find out about Daehwi, Jinyoung thinks to himself as he shuts his eyes, letting out a sigh as he pinches his nose bridge. He tries hard not to reach for his phone and click the link, as tempting it may be, so he decides to make himself a simple cup of ramen and some hotdogs.

His mind drifts off to what happened earlier as he poured hot water in his cup of ramen. Daehwi seems to be in a hurry, even bumping into Jinyoung in the process. Where is he off to? Does he need help in anything? Why is he in a hurry?

Jinyoung then tries to remember what had happened: Daehwi with his crumpled clothes, Daehwi with his sweaty neck and forehead, and Daehwi with a little red mark on his hands. He frowns and tilts his head in contemplation. Did he see it right or does Daehwi really have those marks?

His thoughts, however, come to a halt when hot water scalds the back of his hands. Jinyoung hurries towards the sink and quickly wets his hand with continuous running water. He turns off the faucet after sometime and leans his body against the counter. Jinyoung shakes his head at himself, before deciding that his cup of ramen is no more as he throws it into the trash can.

He then sets up the pan to fry hotdogs, turning the knob on low heat. Jinyoung stares at the pan blankly as it heats up over time. The stove’s fire flicker for a while before Jinyoung groans and turns off the heat as he walks toward his bed. He smacks his head mentally as he grabs his phone and clicks the link Jihoon had sent him.

This is Park Jeojang’s fault, Jinyoung thinks as he waits for it to load. He taps his feet on the floor as he waits, only to stop and turn all his focus on what is on his screen.

On it is Daehwi’s profile page, all open for him to look and explore. He scrolls down, hoping to find something about the boy and sees pictures of cute dogs and a bunch of Korean boy bands he assumes Daehwi likes; but what he sees next sends his jaw dropped and brows frowned.

A picture of Daehwi smiling with his eyes like crescents that reflect happiness and another male slinging an arm around his shoulders greets him.

Jinyoung feels his chest drop and suddenly he feels heavy, like he has a fever. He cannot stop blinking, let alone prevent ragged breaths from escaping his mouth. Jinyoung takes deep breaths and closes his eyes before locking his phone and keeping it inside his bag. His mind goes haywire. He cannot think straight. Does Daehwi have a boyfriend?

He ruffles his hair after a while before plopping down on his bed. He had decided that he would not think about what he saw, let alone Daehwi, for the rest of the night. He has no reason to, heck; they were not even close to friends. If Daehwi has a boyfriend, so be it. No big deal.

He decides to distract himself by watching a movie. Jinyoung squats down to set up the DVD player and chooses a film to watch. When he had decided what to watch, he sits down the couch and focuses on the film.

It seems that his choice of movie is not a good one as his mind drifts back to Daehwi again when the female lead bumps into the male lead, both of them on the ground. Jinyoung reddens and turns off the player as he rubs his face, too harsh in anyone’s opinion. He lets out a sigh of annoyance as he closes his eyes shut, in attempt to calm himself and to shake off his mind from any thoughts.

He trudges slowly towards his bedroom, lying down on his back as soon as he reaches the bed. He stares too long at the ceiling and did not notice the time pass by and his eyes slowly shut themselves. The cold wind lulls Jinyoung into a comfortable sleep, the stillness of the night helping in the process. Little did he also notice that he had blindly walked to his bag and fishes out his phone before going to sleep, hands clutching the device tightly.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~~*

Jinyoung slowly walks the halls of the College of Business Administration for his business law class, rubbing his eyes along the way while trying to stifle a yawn. He fails, however, letting a yawn escape his mouth as he drags himself towards the end of the hall where his classroom is.

As he gets further, he sees a crowd of students huddled along the hallway, all looking up at the screen above them. There were whispers and mumbles among the students and Jinyoung tilts his head in confusion as he wonders why they are here and what got them all riled up.

Jinyoung squeezes himself between the students, mumbling an apology to whoever he bumps into. The mumbles gets louder and louder and Jinyoung did not feel so suffocated in his life until now. Nevertheless, he attempts to squeeze his body out of the student mess and ends up being in front of the crowd.

He expects something like an announcement of suspension of classes or some contest with huge prize money to appear on the screen; but when he looked up, his assumption is proven wrong.

On the screen is a picture of Daehwi smiling, the same smile he saw last night, holding a V sign pose with his left hand on his waist. Jinyoung tries to prevent a smile from forming on his lips, but fails miserably as he looks at the screen fondly. However, another picture flashes on the screen that makes Jinyoung look at the screen in disbelief.

The same picture of Daehwi and another man that he saw last night is flashed on the screen; but there is something that makes Jinyoung’s brows meet as he feels a sudden rush of anger inside him.

On the bottom of the picture are the words: Lee Daehwi, thank you for getting me ₩20,000. Enjoy, .

Jinyoung clutches his fists, his eyes still glaring at the screen. What the hell is going on? What does this mean?

The crowd suddenly starts to disperse and Jinyoung can feel the air flow again. He closes his eyes to feel the wind, in hopes of it helping to calm him. His eyes twitch a bit as his brows meet yet again when he hears someone approaching. He hears a silent whimper and a few ragged breaths, which made him open his eyes.

What greets his eyes is Daehwi looking at the screen, jaws dropped and a teardrop slowly gracing his cheek. Daehwi quickly covers his mouth as his tears flow out of his soft eyes. His body tenses up and down and Jinyoung quickly goes beside him, just in time to support him falling. Daehwi’s sobs are getting harder and Jinyoung’s first instinct is to cover Daehwi’s eyes as he leans the other’s head on his chest.

“Daehwi-ah…” Jinyoung whispers as he holds Daehwi closely. “I’m here, Daehwi-ah. Let me take you somewhere else.”

Daehwi does not answer as tears prevent him from doing so, hiccups furthermore immobilizing him. Jinyoung whispers Daehwi’s name repeatedly as they walk the quiet halls of the building, with nothing to hear but Daehwi’s grief.