- Chapter 16 -

What would you do if you're in love with one person, but committed to another?

Apparently, the boys decided to move to their group meeting venue because, according to Kyungsoo, it was now getting hard to book the study room when the finals were coming. And it turned out that the librarians got many complaints from students who thought that they've favored Kyungsoo too much with the room booking liberty---nobody blamed Kyungsoo really, who would not prioritize the genius Kyungsoo when he was one of the few who would function the library facilities into maximum capacity?

Sehun offered his studio to become their base camp for the finishing project. Apart from being close to the campus, which was within walkable distance, they were also in need of a large space and not a lot of disturbances especially because they were now making the mockups. Beside the workshop studio in the campus, Jisoo actually agreed that Sehun's studio was the best choice.

Sehun lived in a duplex recidency nearby. His parents ran a big law firm and since they were mostly in the States to take care of their new branch there few years back, they bought Sehun his own place to live. It was a two-story building that Sehun made as a workshop where he could study and work on his study projects at the first floor, while he lived at the second. Jisoo visited Sehun's studio a few times in the past, it was a spacious garage-like workshop with long rectangular wooden desk at the center of the room and complete supporting tools neatly organized at the wall desk by the window. In other side of the wall, lied several design prototypes that he had made for his personal collections and portofolio, ranged by size and type of designs. It was just like the campus workshop but with no sharing tables and messy equipments, and more private, of course. Sehun provided his group mates the password to the workshop, which was always be changed after any project's done, so that the kids could always got in and worked without him being there all the time. For the time efficiency, they immediately started making a design model for the final percentage after shopping for the materials and equipment they needed.

Sehun put a cup of hot instant latte on the table as Jisoo was cutting the board pallete for her basic building design. She threw him a short 'thank you' before he put another cup near Kyungsoo. While sipping her hot latte, Jisoo spun her head scanning the room to observe the changes Sehun made on the studio wall. The last time she visited, the studio wall was painted in dark gray color. And now it's white, making the atmosphere felt more spacious and fresh.

Sehun also made a reshuffle on the window which was now much taller and bigger up to the ceiling and two times wider than before. The frame was made of a Japanese style black iron, showing the view of the garden outside. The window side table was her favorite place to work now.

"You made changes on the studio." Jisoo commented, she was still comfortable looking out the window from where she was sitting.

"Yeah, the kids helped me make this place more feasible for humans to work for, Baekhyun quoted." Sehun replied, chuckled as he seemed to recall what Baekhyun had told him.

"Why? It was quite decent."

"It's a dragon's lair." Kyungsoo commented, and that made her laugh---she couldn't argue that though.

Jisoo then gathered her stuffs and moved it to the long table by the window before continuing her work there in peace.

It was nice to be around Sehun again like this. Apart of his new status, he was just like how he used to be when they were together. He joked around, he told her stories, and sometimes he even flirted---which was then Kyungsoo would chaff him with a 'girlfriend' cough, then Sehun would gave her that silly grimace muttering 'ah, right' before he went on pretending like nothing had happened. And this didn't only happen when they're working together, the familiarity went on even when they were on campus. Sehun would be happy to walk with her in the corridor, join her at lunch---only if there Jongdae wasn't there---in the cafeteria, offer her a ride home, or sit with her when they had the same class together then copy her notes.

But at the same time, Sehun seemed to be trying to provoke her by bringing Irene with him wherever he went. They were like, everywhere. On campus, in the park, in the cafeteria, he even sneaked her into the big class where people who didn't know her maybe thinking that she was one of the students in their faculty.

They were the new lovebirds on campus, making out like a lovey dovey couple as if the world belonged to them. Jisoo didn't even remember they were that bad before, but of course who was she to comment. She tried so hard to be nonchalant and pretended like they were invisible if she had to walk past them, earphones blocked her both ears.

She didn't hate Irene, really. She loved her instead, because she was just that lovable. Irene never considered her an enemy, or an ex to watch out for. She treated her like a big sister, respected her like a senior, even spoke in honorics. The girl brought happiness when she was around, unlike the cold impression that was expressed by her face, her character was far more friendly and cheerful. It's just that, everytime she saw her, she couldn't get off her mind of that one time when she rang him while they were, she guessed, in the middle of their...

Business.

It was Saturday, and Jisoo was making plan with Kyungsoo to work on the mockups so they could finish it earlier than the schedule. There was something wrong with the electricity of the workshop because everything was not working except the automatic door lock, and Kyungsoo had no idea where the electricity mode was located. He knocked on the second floor, but no one answered, so he asked her to call him. 

Sehun answered her call at the second ring, sounded breathless as he was gasping for breath. 

"Yeah?"

"Hi, I'm with Kyungsoo right now, and we're like, at the studio but it seems like we have a blackout here. And Kyungsoo..." And she heard that voice the first time in her life, a voice of a girl. And she freezed, like, Sehun didn't even try to muffle the voice, like he deliberately show it to her. And it was in the middle of the day, for God's sake. She had no ide what to say that she had to pass the phone to Kyungsoo and let him talk to Sehun (she literally blocked her ears with her hands when Kyungsoo snapped at him "Dude, you're fu**ing her in the middle of fu**ing day, are you out of you mind?!"). They cancelled their plan that day and went to Starbucks instead to warm their head with some hot cocoas. Things were back to awkward since then.

And yes, Jisoo didn't want to hate her. But she couldn't help to think how Sehun would kiss another girl or that he might have slept with her. And being everything that she's not, Irene might have been a more free soul, she might just have let him do her just because...

because they never did?

"Hello, earth's calling Jisoo, are you still there?" Jisoo snapped out of her reverie as Jongdae knocked on the table. "Be focus, will you?"

They're scratching Victoria's Yogurt House on the list today. She had Jongdae sat with her there to revise Korean Architecture and to proofread Jongdae's essay on Asian architecture and Urbanism, the elective subject he took this semester. Jisoo had her focus back on the papers on the table, there were not much to correct when it came to Jongdae's writing, since, as usual, he always exceled it. So what she did was only correcting his typos and wrote some alternative words for the dictions, only to keep his mouth shut.

Accross the table, Jongdae read the material and wrote several questions she had to answer before then they would discuss it later.

For years in the university, that's how Jongdae became her studybody. He was one of these students who had both the student power (of bureaucracy) and brain; and had a smart-as* cousin always had it own perks for Jisoo because it meant that she didn't have to bother looking for a study group (other than because she never had any grade A in Making Friends subject) and she could have him studying with her all she wanted.

If Jisoo liked Kyungsoo because he kept their discussion short---Kyungsoo always used the right and sharp analogy when explaining something and it was lot efficient--- Jongdae tended to be more detailed. He always discussed to the very trivial things, and made sure she really got what they were talking about before moving on to another topic. And even though Jongdae was being Jongdae, who kept criticizing her for being slow-witted---Jisoo felt her intelligence was actually above average, but of course it's still hard to keep up with his speed---she still preferred to study with him compared to the others.

Jisoo put her pencil down and gave the paper back to Jongdae so he could check her work. Some nods and she knew he was happy with the result before then he muttered a single 'thanks'. Jongdae gave her the questions he had listed, and Jisoo her laptop to prepare her notes and references. Her eyes wandered to the cashier counter as she scanned the questions, asking Lisa to order her more Chocolate Latte (she had finished hers minutes ago) and Americano for Jongdae because she was, she highlighted, too occupied to order on the bar. And she was waiting for Jongdae taking out his card from his wallet when her attention changed over the entrance door as Sehun walked in, not alone.

Maybe it was something that she muttered under her breath unintentionally that Jongdae spun his head to the same direction, and he chuckled to the new scene as if saying 'are you kidding me'. She dropped her head to hide herself, it's a good thing that their seat was at the corner Jisoo thought they would be hidden well there. Or so she thought, because a moment later Irene stood by her table.

"Unnie! Hi, it's so good to see you. Can we join you guys?" She pointed at herself and Sehun who was still at the bar, oblivious of his girlfriend doing.

Jisoo was about to say something when Jongdae did it for her instead.

"Nope, we're full, sorry." He threw her a short smile before getting back to type something on his laptop. "Are you ready to answer the questions?" He then asked Jisoo, making sure to let the standing girl know that they're studying right now, which meant, no distraction allowed.

Jisoo put a grimace and mouthed 'sorry' to Irene, who was then answered her with mouthing an 'okay' before she left and pull another chair nearby. 

Because Jongdae didn't say anything else, Jisoo didn't say a word about his attitude. He actually didn't need to be unfriendly to the girl, but she couldn't blame him either. He had done her a big favor because he knew she was too nice for saying no. If it wasn't for him, she might have been crying inside for having to seat with unwanted people.

Jisoo threw a thin smile (only to be polite) when Sehun passed, he nodded his head before joining Irene. And she made and effort to focus on continuing her study session answering Jongdae's questions about the prehistoric shelter composition, trying to forget that she was not far from where his ex who seemed to deliberately make her jealous of all the super cheesy talk and spoiled teasing.

She sighed deeply. It's too hard, she thought. She put off her glasses and pinched her nose bridge feeling somewhat a little bit dizzy for all the stress. She didn't want to listen, but Irene's voice was just loud enough f