X Ambassadors - Unsteady

  The day goes on as normal. Himchan is still sitting next to me during my biology class and talks to me when I'm very obvious at being disinterested. To top it all off, I constantly see Daehyun, but surprisingly, he's leaving me alone this time. It's great because I'm not in the mood to speak to anyone today. Why? Well, I made my schedule and matched up when my exams are, and it looks like I will be having at least one exam every week from my different classes starting in two weeks. This will be a great time to study early and get ahead of the game. To do so, I might as well go to the library after my last class.

  And that is exactly what I did. I head home real quick to grab my books before heading to the library. With the speed I'm going at, I'll at least have time to go home and eat and relax a bit before going to sleep. Sounds ideal, right? But let's hope I'll keep up with that. Sometimes I end up getting distracted halfway through, especially when I know I have time in between my exams.

  I'm sitting at the library, alone on a large desk. Since there's only a few students here early on in the semester, it's quiet enough for me to study. With my book in hand and pencil ready to write notes, I concentrate with every single word and diagram in my biology book. I know this will be the subject I'll have the most trouble on since it's so broad and our professor said that he'll be a little tricky on his questions. Great. That really means I need to know my information and not just memorize the details.

  It probably takes me an hour to finish a chapter before I take a break and stand from my desk. I stretch and rub my eyes. My hand is cramping a bit from vigorously writing notes. This . I just want to go home already, but I still have three more chapters to cover for the next exam. I place my pencil in my book and shut it. Maybe I should walk around a bit just to get my blood pumping.

  Rows and rows of books pass me by as I walk through the library. This library isn't as big as other universities, but that's because this campus isn't big in general. At first, I thought I would get lost, but the more I walk through here, the more I realize there's so many ways to go back to my original spot. I walk a little longer before returning to my seat. Time to work on the next chapter.

  I flip my book open and just as I'm about to read the first lines, I spot someone in the corner of my eye. I mentally groan, knowing exactly who it is. Raising my head, I spot the infinity symbol before looking at his face. He has that same soft smile on his lips, and for some reason, my heart skips a beat. It really needs to stop doing that. I rub the pendant on my neck. "And so we meet again."

  He chuckles with that deep voice of his. "Seems so. Sorry, I didn't get to talk to you today. I was kind of in my own world. Is this seat taken?"

  I want to refuse, but then it will be obvious that no one is sitting next to me and it'll be rude if I tell him a lie. "Go ahead."

  Daehyun sits down and leans over towards my book. "You're studying early."

  "I'm trying to get ahead. I can't slack off or else I'll carry on my laziness throughout the next four years." I begin reading the first sentence, but stop when I notice Daehyun bring out his books. He doesn't take out the huge biology text book, but instead a small novel for our literature class. Crap, I also need to read three chapters for the next class.

  We make eye contact.

  I turn away, my cheeks burning. Stupid body is betraying me.

  "Is there something on my face?" Daehyun asks as he returns to his book.

  "No. I just almost forgot that we needed to read three chapters before the next class."

  "Yeah, I mean, you have time to. You can even read it as your bedtime story if you wanted to. I would study a bit more, but I'm going to read this first because I haven't read it before."

  "Right." I return to my own reading. After a few sentences, my concentration returns and I'm transported into my book, memorizing and taking notes over the eukaryotic cell and all the other cells. It's quite boring, but as another hour passes, I finally finish the chapter. When I look up from my reading, I see Daehyun staring at me. I lean back. Just how long has he been watching me? "What?"

  He smiles. "You always look so serious when you read. Your eye brows furrow and your lips purse. Sometimes you would scratch your head when you're confused and bite the end of your eraser when you're thinking."

  He got all that just by watching me within this hour? "You're strange. Stalker much?"

  "More like observant. I mean, don't get me wrong. It's kinda cute. You're not the type that can easily hide your emotions no matter how much you want to. Your small gestures tell people everything." Daehyun chuckles. "Sorry, now that I think about it, I do sound like a creep, don't I? I don't know, I just enjoy observing people. If you pay close attention, you can learn so much from even the smallest of things like a shift in their gaze or the color of their cheeks."

  I blush even harder. No, I can't be that easy to read. There's so many things that I wish to hide. I stand and gather my stuff. I need to get out of here. I shut my book and stuff it into my bag without looking at him. What is with this guy? He's so strange. Not only does he have an infinity symbol above his head, but he's acting like a total creep! I zip up my backpack and sling it over my shoulders. Without taking one last glance at him, I storm away from my desk and make my way towards the entrance of the library.

  "What is wrong with him?" I mutter to myself, "He's acting like he knows me when clearly, we've just met a few days ago! Ugh. I need to get away from him." I swing the door open. My mind is still occupied by Daehyun when I unexpectedly bump into someone. "! Sorry," I exclaim when I see a textbook fall to the ground. I pick it up.

  My eyes trail and as I look to see who this stranger was, I can't help but freeze. The guy in front of me was quite intimidating at first, but the closer I look at him, the more I notice how handsome he is. He has ear piercings and a silver nose ring. He is about my height and his dark hair matches his dark eyes, but to top it all off, I can clearly see he's well-built underneath his clothes. However, there's something cold about him, but I can't place my finger on it. Definitely, he's not someone I've seen from my memory, nor my dreams, but he has this aura that I recognize.

  I didn't realize I was staring until he takes the book from me. "My bad," I apologize again. "I was deep in thought."

  He chuckles. "It's fine. I was in a rush to meet up with my friends. I'm kind of late to their group meeting."

  "Oh." I forget I'm in the way of the door, so I step aside. "Go ahead."

  The guy walks past, but stops and turns around. He holds out a hand. "My name is Im Jaebum. What's yours?"

  "Yoo Youngjae." I take his hand. A chill runs up my spine. I look down at his wrists, but don't see anything. What was I expecting to see anyways?

  We shake hands and let go.

  "It's nice to meet you, Youngjae. Maybe we'll meet again someday."

  "Yeah."

  He walks in. I watch as he goes, but before he disappears from my view, I spot Daehyun walking towards the door. Shoot. I don't want him to see me. I spin around, but I already know he spotted me and quicken my pace. From behind, I can hear footsteps following behind. It'll be too embarrassing to run, so I just let him catch up to me anyways.

  "Hey, Youngjae!" He exclaims, probably a few meters away from me.

  Ah, crap. I stop and look at him.

  Daehyun catches up. His cheeks are flushed and his eyes are almost apologetic. "I didn't mean to creep you out back there. I guess you could say I was just saying whatever was on my mind without thinking. I won't do it again, and I promise you I'll stop staring."

  I raise an eyebrow. This guy really is strange. What if he's some sort of alien or fairy or something that doesn't understand the concept of normal human behaviors? For some reason, I just can't get mad at this guy. Sure, I was embarrassed by him earlier, but now I kind of feel bad for the guy. His expression and words seem genuine. If he really isn't part of this world, then that will definitely explain his behavior. I mentally shake my head. That's weird to think Yoo Youngjae. It's not like we're coming out of a fantasy novel.

  I can't help but smile at how pathetic he looks right now. It's almost as if he's a hurt puppy. "It's whatever. It was weird, but I kind of understand that." I've been observing people all my life especially with a gift like this. The numbers float around people's head and I always wonder what life they must be living to have a lifespan like that. Were they living a happy life? Were they abusing themselves with unnecessay substances? Would they get into an accident? Would they get sick? All those questions would pop into my head, making me fear to make a new friend. But then, there's the other side to it where I image the life they have right now and make up a wonderful life for them whether it's true or not. I guess you can say it's just wishful thinking that people live with love and happiness in their heart without thinking about death and all the hardships that follow as a human being.

  "Glad you understand." He rubs the back of my neck. "I guess I should take a step back, huh? The real reason why I didn't talk to you today was because I thought you needed space. It was successful until I saw you studying by yourself. Well, I saw you earlier, but didn't approach you until I thought it was appropriate to come up to you. I guess that was a mistake because I ended up saying weird things."

  The more I interact with Daehyun, the more I find out what he's like. It's common knowledge that the more you talk to someone, the more you know what they're like, but this feels different. It's more like I'm rediscovering something that I've been missing for so long. It's strange. I know I haven't met this guy before, yet there's something about him that draws me closer to him. I purse my lips. As much as I refuse to interact with people while I'm attending university, something always bring me to meet more people. "Yeah, you really are weird, but," I glance at the infinity symbol, "I guess I can deal with you for now."

  His eyes sparkle and he smiles, showing his pearly white teeth. "Thank you."

  My heart skips a beat. It seems like my plan to ignore people has failed. I can't tell if this will be a big mistake or if this will be a start of a new adventure.

Author's Note:

  We have a new character! And now, we're getting deeper into the story since Daehyun and Youngjae are now "friends." I'm so excited to share what I have in store for this story. It's probably going to be as long as my other stories (approximately 15-20 chapters). It just depends on what I deem important and how quickly I get into answering all the questions. Thank you for your patience and I hope you enjoyed!

With Love,

              LokiCraze123