Part 2

Looking back, Eunha was certain that breaking up with Jaebum had been for the best.

College entrance exams were near, and the break-up left her free towards the end of senior year to focus all her attention towards her studies. She managed to clear the exams she needed to, and was accepted into one of the top law schools in the country. Jaebum’s grades had never been particularly noteworthy but he was studying in a pretty decent university too, having secured admission through his excellence in sports, and making his university baseball team.

They stayed in touch, meeting up for coffee once every couple of weeks and exchanging texts now and then. Jaebum was a reliable friend and Eunha found that his friendship was even more valuable, now that they had put their tryst at dating behind them. Not to mention that Jaebum had been seeing a beautiful girl from his own college for the past couple of months and Eunha had to admit that they were perfect together.

“Hey guys! How are you doing?” Eunha asked with a grin, sliding into the seat opposite them in the coffee shop. Jaebum and his girlfriend were sipping their coffees and had texted Eunha to come join them. “Ah… you two look like such a pretty picture, it feels a shame for me to come and ruin it.”

Jaebum turned to her and rolled his eyes. “Very funny, Eunha. Isn’t that getting a little old?”

“Seoyeon doesn’t seem to think so. She still blushes every time I say you guys look cute together,” Eunha said with a grin. Seoyeon smiled and bit her lip. She was a rather shy person but she adored Jaebum and was very supportive of him. It had taken Seoyeon a while to get used to the fact that Jaebum was still close to his ex-girlfriend, but she too had gradually accepted that there was nothing between them anymore. Eunha smirked lightly and placed her hand under her chin. “Anyway, I’m not jealous. I have a date tonight, with a sunbae from my summer internship.”

Seoyeon smiled. “Really? That’s nice. Is he handsome?” she teased.

“You wouldn’t believe. It’s probably nothing serious, I think he just wants to flirt around with a hoobae, but I don’t mind,” Eunha said with a laugh. “Besides, I don’t have enough time to date seriously right now. I have a couple of research papers due in a few months.”

Jaebum perked up. “Ah- speaking of hoobaes- do you remember Park Jinyoung?”

Eunha smiled and nodded, remembering him instantly. It had only been a year since high school. “Of course! Cute kid with the braces and the lisp! Wasn’t he always acting out during baseball practice? I remember he used to give you a lot of trouble. How’s he doing these days?”  

Jaebum nodded. “He’s grown up a lot, actually. You’d be surprised at how quickly he matured in a short time. He apologized to me for the way he’d always behaved with me in high school. He said he’d imagined me as a rival and that he was sorry for letting petty things get in between us. Our egos clashed often, but it was really big of him to acknowledge it like that.”

“That’s nice to hear.”

“Anyway, he got admitted into your university recently.”

“Really?” Eunha asked brightly. “That’s great! I never even knew he was good with academics…”

“He got his act together during his senior year and he’s been working really hard. I hope you don’t mind that I gave him your phone number? I thought he might like to know at least one sunbae in his new university. Freshman year can be scary.”

Eunha nodded excitedly. “Of course! I’d love to show him around and help him with anything he needs. You should tell him to get in touch with me. I really miss the whole baseball team. They’re such fond memories, and everyone had so much fun.”

Jaebum nodded. “Yeah, I’ll let him know.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It was two weeks later when Eunha got a text from Park Jinyoung. He was extremely polite, addressing her as sunbae-nim, while informing her that he was going to be joining the same university as her and that he hoped she wouldn’t mind taking care of him. Eunha was enthusiastic to respond and invite him out to coffee, so that he could share how his first few days at the university had been.

When Eunha entered the campus café to meet Jinyoung, she didn’t recognize him.

He had been a typical teenage boy back in high school, styling his hair up in spikes with too much hair gel and wearing bright sneakers that the teachers always scolded him for. She never expected him to be the quiet, handsome, bespectacled man in a beige boyfriend sweater that was reading a book in the corner of a café. Eunha’s eyes passed over his figure a few times until she finally realized that it was him.

“Jinyoung?” she asked hesitantly, as she approached his table.

Jinyoung’s eyes snapped up and he put down his book immediately, standing to give her a polite bow in greeting. He had grown a lot since high school. Although he wasn’t as buff or muscular as Jaebum, his shoulders were broad and his jawline was so sharp that Eunha had to tear her eyes away from it. Jinyoung looked like the sort of boy that girls would follow to the library so they could sit and fawn over him while he studied.

“Ah- sunbae-nim, hello,” he greeted politely. Jinyoung’s eyes moved up towards hers and he stared at her gently for a long moment, unblinking. “Sorry, I didn’t notice you. I got caught up reading, I-“

“That’s fine,” Eunha said with a smile once she had recovered from the surprise of seeing a grown-up Park Jinyoung. She sat down opposite him and placed her bag on the empty chair. “And you don’t have to do all this sunbae-nim stuff, we’ve known each other for a while now. Call me noona,” she insisted.

Jinyoung nodded quietly. “Oh- yes. I didn’t want to be too forward…”

“It’s fine. Actually, we’re only a few months apart,” Eunha admitted thoughtfully. It seemed rather silly to be holding on to minute age differences as stubbornly as they did in high school. Jinyoung was literally born in the same year as her anyway- they were both born in 1994. “Maybe we can just address each other as friends?”

“Ah- I don’t think Jaebum-hyung would like that,” Jinyoung said with a small smile. Everyone know that Jaebum was really stingy about age difference. “If I started treating noona as a friend then he would have to accept that he and I are the same age too.”

Eunha rolled her eyes. “Eh, Jaebum’s so picky about such things, right?”

“Yeah,” Jinyoung replied, still smiling. The corners of his eyes crinkled up in a slightly mischievous manner. There was something endearing about it.

A brief moment of silence passed as they looked at each other. Eunha suddenly realized how deep Jinyoung’s gaze was. It wasn’t sharp or harsh, yet somehow extremely intense. It gave her the feeling that he was listening carefully to every word she said, that his complete attention was on her. Eunha had to shift slightly in her seat to distract herself from his piercing gaze. “So, um, how have your first couple of days at college been?” she wondered.

“Interesting,” Jinyoung admitted thoughtfully, nodding. “I haven’t been bored yet. Some of the professors are extremely fascinating. I’m really enjoying Professor Jung’s classes in particular.”

Eunha’s eyes brightened. “I loved her class too! Everyone said that Jurisprudence is a really boring, dead subject but she really managed to make it come alive! You should pick a good research topic in advance for her paper. I left it to the end and I got stuck writing on legal positivism.”

Jinyoung put his elbow on the table, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at her thoughtfully. “Really? I was thinking of writing on positivism. I found Kelson’s basic norm theory particularly interesting.”   

“Professor Jung has started teaching Kelson’s theories already?”

Jinyoung laughed, a little embarrassed. “Uh, no. I kind of read ahead in the course material. I sound like a nerd, right?” he wondered hesitantly.

Eunha shook her head. “Jinyoung-ah, this isn’t high school. Reading ahead is something to be admired,” she re-assured him gently. She sat up suddenly, remembering that they were sitting in the café but hadn’t ordered anything. “Oh! What do you want to drink? I’ll go place an order, I completely forgot.“

Jinyoung scooted his chair back. “I’ll do it, noona-“

“Eyy, it’s okay. Let your sunbae handle it. Consider it my treat for your getting accepted into the university. It can’t have been easy, I know that from experience,” Eunha replied as she fished out her wallet and pushed the menu lying on the table towards Jinyoung. He didn’t look at it, his intense gaze fixed on her instead.

“I thought you didn’t want me to treat you as a sunbae?” he challenged lightly, the corners of his eyes crinkling up mischievously again.

Eunha was surprised at his cheekiness and laughed. “Well. You can treat me as a sunbae when it’s in your interest, how about that?” she suggested. “Besides, Jaebum would want me to take good care of his dongsaeng. You should hear him talk about you. He really seems to adore you these days.”

Jinyoung smiled softly. “Jaebum-hyung is like a brother to me.”

“Yuck, when did you guys suddenly become the poster-boys for bromance?” she asked with a fake shudder and a giggle. Then she pointed at the menu again. “Come on, hoobae, hurry up and pick what you want to drink or I’ll choose for you.”

Jinyoung leaned back and smiled. “I want to see what noona would order for me.”

“Yah. Don’t be so cocky. What if I bring you an organic avocado smoothie or something, would you drink that?” she demanded.

“Okay, I get your point. I think I’ll have a latte…”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Eunha wasn’t sure exactly when she started falling for Jinyoung. It was such a slow, gradual thing that she barely noticed it happening. They began meeting up for coffee every so often, and occasionally studying together in the library while they bounced ideas off each other for their papers, or discussed the latest research they were doing.

Eunha was mesmerized whenever Jinyoung spoke. He sounded so different from the child-like lisp that his braces had caused him in high school. Jinyoung spoke softly and slowly, enunciating every word. He was usually very composed but the occasional hand gestures slipped in when he was particularly passionate about what he was saying. Sometimes Eunha got so lost staring at him that she forgot to pay attention to his words. It would take her a few moments to recollect herself but Jinyoung always smiled at her cheekily and waved it off, never commenting on her distractedness. He, on the other hand, always gave her his fullest attention. His chin would be resting on his hand and his soft gaze fixed on her, nodding at every word she said. Eunha could spend half an hour talking about a pebble stuck under her shoe and Jinyoung would listen with the same, enraptured attention.

“What are you working on?” Eunha asked him one day, as they sat across from each other at the library. Jinyoung was one of the few people whom she could study with, and actually get some studying done. Most of Eunha’s other friends started chatting and got distracted when she tried to study with them. “Still working on that Jurisprudence paper?”

Jinyoung glanced up from his laptop and nodded. “I’m done writing it, actually. I just have to fix my citations and footnotes. I heard Professor Jung asks a lot of questions on what sources we used?”

Eunha nodded. “Yeah, she’s really uptight about that.”

“I think I’ll be done by tomorrow. Thanks for your help, noona. I never realized how much easier things would be if a sunbae guides you through them,” he said genuinely, giving her a small smile. Eunha nodded silently, a little flustered. Jinyoung blinked at her through his glasses. “What are you working on, noona? Is it anything I would understand?”

Eunha bit her lip. “Actually, I wanted to talk to you about that.”

“Hmm?”

“My Constitutional Law professor was telling me about this international conference in Hong Kong in a couple of months. He thinks that if I improve upon this paper I’ve been working on for class, it might get selected for the conference.”

Jinyoung’s eyes widened in interest. “That sounds really cool. You should do it, noona.”

“The problem is that it’s a lot of work. It’s an international conference, so I would have to expand my paper to take into account the constitutions of a lot of other countries; the USA, Australia, maybe even India. I might not be able to do it alone. I’m taking a lot of other classes this semester that I can’t afford to fail.”

Jinyoung blinked, listening intently.

Eunha cleared . “I told my Professor about my problem, and he suggested that I find a co-author. The conference allows up to two co-authors for a paper, and they give equal credit to both authors. So I was wondering if you would be interested. In writing the paper with me, that is.”

Jinyoung stared at her for a moment, eyes wide. Eunha could tell that he was shocked and his ears turned slightly pink as he processed the idea. His eyes flickered across the table and he looked back up at her nervously. “M-me? Noona, are you sure? Wouldn’t you rather work with someone in your own year? You want to do this with a freshman?”

Eunha nodded and smiled. “Yup.”

“I don’t… I don’t know if that’s a good idea. For you. I don’t even know that much about Constitutional law, I might just drag you down.”

“You didn’t know about Jurisprudence a month ago, and look at you now. You’ve almost finished a paper that’s worthy of publication,” she pointed out.

Jinyoung hesitated. “But still…”

“Look, knowledge of the subject isn’t that important. Your research skills are excellent, you can learn quickly. I think you’re really dedicated and motivated, Jinyoung. You’re the kind of person that would do your best without me having to push you to do the work, and I think we would work well together. I don’t know anybody from my own year or any sunbaes that I can trust to work well with me.”

Jinyoung turned more and more pink as she spoke. He tried not to show it, but the idea that Eunha considered him responsible and smart enough to co-author a paper with her was flattering. He took a deep breath and nodded, giving her a soft smile. “I think we would work well together, too. I’ll put in my best, noona.”

Eunha grinned, relieved. “And hey; my Professor says that if the paper gets selected, the university will sponsor our trip to Hong Kong. Sounds fun, right?”

Jinyoung chuckled. “Yeah, it does.”

There was a brief silence as they smiled at each other, and Eunha felt her heartbeat thud. She wondered if she was doing the right thing. Was it a good idea to work with Jinyoung when she so clearly had feelings for him? It could turn ugly, but Eunha was positive that she could manage it. She would control her feelings and ignore them until this conference was over. Jinyoung would undoubtedly be an amazing co-author and this conference would do wonders for her resume.

Eunha opened to speak again, but she was cut off by somebody plopping down into the seat next to Jinyoung. It was Wonpil; Jinyoung’s classmate and one of the few friends the boy seemed to have. Wonpil grinned at them both.

“Jinyoung-ah! Eunha sunbae-nim! I had a feeling I would find you both in the library!” he greeted happily.

Eunha rolled her eyes. “Call me noona.”

Wonpil smiled happily. “I came to tell you studybugs that my band is playing at the club across from campus tonight. It’s our first time doing a live gig; you’ll come watch, right? Jinyoung-ah? Put the books away for once, you’re such a buzzkill.”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “Don’t make me sound like a nerd. I’ll come.”

Wonpil turned to Eunha will a puppy-like grin. “Noona? Will you come? Can you bring some hot sunbae friends of yours? If I can get Suzy-sunbaenim and Min-sunbaenim to come watch our performance then Sungjin-hyung might just let me sing the chorus next time. It would be so cool! Please, noona?”

Eunha shrugged. “I’ll ask if they’re free. Although it sounds like you don’t want me there-“

“Of course I do! It’s just that Sungjin-hyung has a major crush on Suzy sunbaenim.”

“Doesn’t everyone?” Eunha mused wistfully. It was unfortunate that she was flatmates with one of the hottest girls on campus; no man was capable of resisting Suzy’s charms. All the same, Eunha couldn’t bring herself to be particularly jealous. Suzy was beautiful but she was also extremely sweet and there was no use in resenting her. Eunha sighed. “Okay, Wonpil. I’ll do my best.”

Wonpil beamed. “You’re awesome, noona! I’ll catch you guys later. Bye, Jinyoung!”

He got up and left the library quickly, almost knocking over a few bookshelves in his haste. Eunha watched him in amusement and Jinyoung chuckled, scratching the back of his neck awkwardly.

“Sorry about Wonpil,” Jinyoung said with a smile. “He’s been really excited about that band. They’re actually not bad.”

“Oh? We’ll have to see about that.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

The club was rather crowded when Eunha entered. It turned out that Wonpil’s band was popular after all, because there were a lot of students around. She felt a little underdressed as she smoothed down her skirt and sleeveless top. Most of the girls here were in full clubbing attire. She scanned the crowd for familiar faces until she finally spotted Jinyoung.

Eunha was amused to notice that Jinyoung didn’t seem to have changed his attire either. He was in his usual jeans and plain sweater, glasses perched on his nose. He spotted Eunha as well, and waved her over. “Noona! Come join us!” he called out. Eunha squeezed her way through the crowd over to him.

“Wow, it’s really crowded here, huh? I didn’t realize Wonpil’s band was so popular. I was almost- Jaebum? Seoyeon?” she broke off, wondering how she hadn’t noticed the couple standing along with Jinyoung. They both laughed at her and nodded. “Wow, what are you guys doing here?”

Jaebum smiled. “Sungjin’s a friend of mine. He invited me.”

“Wow, that’s great! I was hoping that I wouldn’t have to face Wonpil alone. I asked Suzy to come, I really did, but she has an exam tomorrow so she couldn’t make it. I hope he’s not too disappointed,” Eunha said with a sigh, before brightening up. “But this is a great turn-out, huh? Did you guys get drinks?”

“We were going to,” Seoyeon said, gesturing towards the bar. “But it’s really crowded there.”

“I’ll go. What do you guys want?”

Jaebum raised an eyebrow, and shook his head. “No, no. You’ll get crushed in that crowd, half of those people are drunk and have no sense of personal space. Me and Jinyoung will go get the drinks. Come on, Jinyoung-ah…”

Jinyoung nodded instantly. “Sure, hyung-“

“No, seriously, it’s better if I go. They serve girls faster,” Eunha insisted. She had been to this bar plenty of times with her friends and it was a known fact that the bartenders were predominantly male. They always served the girls first (although maybe it was because Eunha was usually with woman as pretty as Suzy). All the same, she had a better chance of scoring drinks than Jaebum did. “They do this all the time, they’ll serve a group of girls first if they see them. Just tell me what you want-“

“Forget the bartenders, those guys hanging around the bar are just looking for a chance to a girl while she’s carrying drinks and can’t defend herself,” Jaebum said, sounding irritated. “If you’ve been here before, you should know that.”

Eunha raised an eyebrow. “Fine. Seoyeon can come with me and help me carry them-“

Jaebum scoffed. “You are not taking my girlfriend there with you.”

There was a brief, tense silence. Seoyeon looked uncomfortable and Eunha felt the irritation rise up inside of her. Why did Jaebum have to be so unreasonably protective? It was stupid for him to insist on going to the bar when they both knew that it would be much easier for her to get drinks. She felt a little hurt at his sharp tone. Even Jaebum seemed to realize he had been too harsh and he opened his mouth, but Jinyoung cut him off.

“I’ll go along,” he offered quickly, breaking the tension. Jinyoung gave Eunha a soft smile. “Noona, you can place the order at the bar and I’ll help you carry them back. It’ll be easier to deal with the crowd.”

Jinyoung started moving towards the bar before any of them could respond, taking Eunha’s hand and leading her gently along with him. Eunha hurried to follow him and they pushed through the crowd together. Jaebum hadn’t been completely wrong; there were a few shady-looking guys hanging around near the bar area but Eunha could handle herself. She waved at the bartender and placed her order while Jinyoung stood quietly behind her, keeping an eye on the people around them.

“Jaebum-hyung means well,” Jinyoung said quietly. He was standing behind her and the club was so loud that Eunha almost didn’t hear him. She turned her head and blinked at him quietly. Jinyoung cleared his throat. “He’s just worried about Seoyeon-noona, and he’s protective over people he cares about.”

Eunha smiled softly. “I know that.”

“Of course you do, I just-“

“You don’t need to defend him, Jinyoung-ah. There’s a reason I’m still friends with Jaebum even though we broke up long ago,” she reassured him.

Jinyoung nodded silently. “Right.”  

The bartender handed her the drinks with a smile and Eunha passed half of them back to Jinyoung so he could help her carry them. She managed to squeeze out of the crowd around the bar (one guy rather obviously tried to bump into her but Eunha dodged him easily). Jinyoung blinked at her, concerned. “Are you okay?” he asked.

“Fine,” she replied lightly. They walked back to where Jaebum and Seoyeon were waiting, Jinyoung following behind Eunha silently so that he could keep an eye out for her. He handed one of the drinks in his hand to Jaebum.

“Thanks, Eunha,” Seoyeon said gratefully. She nudged Jaebum with a meaningful look. “I think Jaebum has something to say…”

Jaebum scratched the back of his neck. He looked like a scolded puppy. “I’m sorry I was rude earlier.”

“That was not rude,” Eunha said with a casual laugh. “Rude was the time you grabbed the barista’s collar in my favorite coffee shop because you thought he was staring at Seoyeon’s chest. But then it turned out he had some sort of lazy eye and couldn’t really control where he was looking.”

“Hey! Anybody would have assumed he was checking her out, his eyes were constantly downwards-“

“You got us kicked out, Jaebum. Permanently. You’re lucky Seoyeon puts up with you.”

They all laughed, and the tense atmosphere dissipated. Eunha had known Jaebum long enough that these sort of incidents were common; just because they disagreed often didn’t mean that they took things too seriously. She noticed that Jinyoung was staring at her quietly and she smiled at him. Jinyoung flushed a little and took a sip of his drink. Eunha smiled at him. “What were you guys talking about before I turned up?” Eunha wondered.

Jaebum nodded. “Oh, yeah. I was asking Jinyoung how college was going. He told me you both are going to co-author some sort of conference paper together?” he mused. “I don’t know, I couldn’t understand half of what he was saying. When did you become so smart, Jinyoung-ah?” Jaebum joked.

Jinyoung smirked. “Hyung, I was always smart.”

“Yet it took you a surprisingly long time to figure out that you were at baseball,” Jaebum teased.

“I knew that I was , I just liked being on the team too much to quit,” Jinyoung admitted. His cheeks flushed as he remembered that his biggest motivation to attend baseball practice in junior year had been to see Eunha. He would have quit the team sooner if she hadn’t been the assistant manager. “I liked the people on the team more than the sport. I heard that Yugyeom was made captain this year?”   

Eunha’s eyes widened. “Really? Kim Yugyeom?”

“I was shocked too,” Jaebum admitted with a laugh. “But that kid hit some sort of late puberty. You should see him, he’s the size of a giant. It takes him, like, three steps to run from one base to another. Speaking of which, the tournament just started. Do you guys want to go watch one of the games? If they make it to the finals, we can go watch.”

“Yeah! We have to see Yugyeom as captain!” Eunha said cheerfully.

“I’ll tell him we’re coming. He mentions you a lot, Eunha. He constantly tells people that you rescued him from that bully who was bothering him back then, do you remember?” Jaebum wondered.

“Rescued is a bit much,” Eunha said with a laugh. “But yeah, I really want to see Yugyeom and Bambam and the others too. I’ve never had as much fun as I did when I was your manager. Seoyeon-ah, you have to meet those kids too. They’re completely wild.”

Seoyeon smiled and nodded. “Sounds good.”

Suddenly, the lights started to dim and the band stepped up onto the stage at the front of the room. Everyone started cheering and pushing towards the front. Eunha found herself being pushed into Jinyoung as a bunch of people hurried towards the stage. She laughed and leaned away from Jinyoung, blinking up at the flustered boy. “What does Wonpil want Suzy for?” she wondered lightly. “Look at the number of girls here. Women love guys who play instruments, there’s something inherently cool about them.”

Jinyoung blinked down at her. Eunha was pressed into his side by a group of excited girls that had surrounded them, and he could smell her light, fruity perfume. He bit his lip. “Does noona like guys who play instruments too?” he wondered.

Eunha shrugged. “Not particularly.”

“Then what does noona like?”

She gave him a playful smile. “I have a thing for guys who look good in glasses,” she said simply, before grabbing his hand and tugging him forwards slightly. “Come on, let’s get a little closer to the stage.  That bassist is particularly attractive and I want a better look.”

Jinyoung flushed and followed her silently.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Here- the Indian Constitution has this chapter on Fundamental Rights and the American one discusses the Bill of Rights,” Eunha mused using her pencil to point at the laptop screen. She bit her lip nervously as she scanned the documents. “I’ve gone through the translated versions of these but somehow, they don’t seem completely reliable to me.”

Jinyoung nodded. “The originals are in English?”

“Yeah. Can you go through them again, Jinyoung-ah? Your English is better than mine, you might spot something that I didn’t,” she admitted lightly. “When you have time, of course. I know you’re already working on the judgements and that’s a lot of work-“

“It’s fine, noona. I’ll do it,” he reassured her. When Eunha still looked unsure, he gave her a small smile. “I can do it. I’m not a child. I wouldn’t take on more work than I could handle, just because you’re asking me to do it. You should trust me more, noona.”

Eunha flushed and shook her head. “Right, sorry. I personally hate being babied around, I don’t know why I keep doing it to you. I just feel like I’m bullying you into doing more work since you keep accepting what I say without challenging it.”

“You want me to challenge what you say?” he wondered.

“If you think it’s appropriate, then yes. We’re co-authors on this.”

Jinyoung bit his lip as he clicked at his laptop a little bit and pulled up a document. “Well, I might be wrong but… a couple of the points you made on the last paragraph seemed misplaced to me. It’s not completely consistent with the stand we’re taking in the preceding part.”

Eunha blinked. “Really? Okay. I’ll go through it again.”

“I can fix it for you.”

“No, no, I’ll do it. That part was originally my responsibility, if something’s wrong then I should fix it myself. Thanks for pointing it out, Jinyoung-ah.”

Jinyoung nodded, just as his phone started buzzing on the table with text messages. He looked apologetic and quickly tucked the phone into his pocket. It was kind of rude to have your phone constantly buzzing when you were having an academic discussion with a sunbae, wasn’t it? But Eunha had readjusted her laptop screen away from him already, and began typing away. Jinyoung checked his phone quietly; he had a bunch of messages from Wonpil.

Eunha glanced up from her laptop. “Jinyoung-ah, can you send me the part you were just saying was inconsistent? I want to fix that tonight.”

Jinyoung nodded quickly, preparing to send her an email when he suddenly noticed the time. “Noona, it’s already ten pm…” he pointed out carefully.

Eunha only hummed thoughtfully, not really listening to what he was saying. Her eyes were flitting across the screen rapidly as she read something. It was almost an entire minute before she looked up and blinked at him distractedly. “Hmm? Oh! Right, it’s ten! You can leave if you have somewhere to be, Jinyoung-ah. You don’t have to stay behind this late,” she reassured him.

Jinyoung shook his head quickly. “No, I don’t have anywhere to be.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Your phone keeps buzzing.”

“It’s just Wonpil. He tried to arrange this group date sort of thing and I told him I wasn’t going but he keeps messaging me. It’s fine. I’d rather work on the paper, anyway. We’re running behind schedule,” Jinyoung insisted. Eunha blinked up at him, feeling a sudden rush of disappointment. Group date? Was he going to meet some girls from his own class? She suddenly felt the urge to tell him to stay here and work with her, but she shook it off quickly. That would be a horribly selfish thing to do. She couldn’t keep him locked up here in a Friday night. He probably thought it was impolite to leave first because she was a sunbae.

“Jinyoung. Seriously, just go out with them. You don’t have to give up your social life.”

“… You don’t mind?” he asked carefully.

“Oh my god, just go. You don’t need my permission. I’ll finish this tonight and e-mail it to you so you can take a look at it tomorrow, okay? And I’ll proofread your segment too, so just keep an eye out for my e-mails.”

“Okay. Don’t stay up too late, noona.”

Eunha hummed. “I won’t.”

Jinyoung bit his lip and gathered his things, before stuffing them into his bag. Part of him didn’t want to leave. It wasn’t very safe for Eunha to be staying alone at the library so late- and with the amount of work that she planned to do, she wouldn’t be going back home anytime soon. He wondered if he should stay behind with her but somehow, Jinyoung knew that she would get angry if he suggested it. Eunha didn’t like when people tried to take care of her, or implied that she couldn’t take care of herself.

He simply said goodbye and left.  

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It was midnight by the time Jinyoung managed to get away from Wonpil and his group date. He couldn’t bring himself to take any of the girls at the gathering seriously. Most of them were too drunk to make intelligent conversation and he kept thinking about Eunha sitting alone at the library. Jinyoung dropped off the last drunk girl at her house before quickly texting Eunha.

Jinyoung: Noona, did you get home yet?

It was almost a full minute before she replied.

Eunha: No, I’m just wrapping up. I found this interesting article and I wanted to finish reading it. I’ve highlighted the parts that could be relevant to our paper. I’ll email it to you and then leave.

Jinyoung bit his lip. The buses had stopped running and the streets were mostly empty. Was she going to walk home alone at this time? Did she do this often? Making a quick decision, he instantly turned and started walking back towards the library as he typed.

Jinyoung: Can you stay there for a few moments? I just remembered this other change I wanted to tell you about. I’ll come and explain it to you.

Eunha: What? Where are you? Didn’t you go on a date?

Jinyoung: Just stay there, I’m coming.

He half-ran towards the library, just in time to see Eunha coming out of the building. She looked surprised to see him there, and gave him a confused wave. She hitched her bag up on her shoulder and approached him. Jinyoung looked out-of-breath and tried to compose himself quickly so she wouldn’t notice that he had been running.

“Jinyoung? Are you okay?” she asked him gently.

Jinyoung nodded. “Yeah, yeah. I just dropped off the girl Wonpil tried to set me up with and uh, I was thinking about our paper and I remembered this case law- it’s this Supreme Court judgement from back in 2006, right, and it’s kind of relevant to the-“

Eunha stared at him. “Park Jinyoung. First take a deep breath. You could have just told me this over the phone, you didn’t need to come all the way over here.”

“I… I felt kind of bad because noona was still working and I was on a date, so-“

“Yah! You’ve done plenty of work. If I think that you’re slacking off then I’ll tell you, okay?” she assured him with a laugh. She was surprised that Jinyoung had come running all the way here to tell her such a small thing. It was unnecessary, but her heartbeat was still thudding excitedly. Surely he wouldn’t be standing here and talking to her if his date had gone well, right? Trying to shove aside her childish crush, Eunha patted Jinyoung on the arm comfortingly. “Yah, go home. I’m tired too. We’ll meet up and share progress on Monday, okay?”

Jinyoung nodded. “Yeah.”

“Okay, I’m going this way,” she said, gesturing in the direction that her apartment was. She began walking, when she suddenly noticed that Jinyoung was walking alongside her. She looked up and blinked at him, eyebrow raised. “Jinyoung…?”

“I’m craving ramen,” he admitted lightly, shoving his hands into his pockets. He gave her a soft smile. “I always start craving ramen after I drink beer. The convenience store next to noona’s apartment sells that awesome spicy ramen. Do you mind if we walk together?”

“You don’t look very drunk,” Eunha accused him lightly, with a laugh. “But you’re acting kind of weird so I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt. I could go for some spicy ramen right now, too. What do you think of some tea to go with it?”

Jinyoung flushed and nodded. “Okay.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

They were a few weeks away from submitting their research paper when Eunha realized that she was falling too hard for Park Jinyoung. It had started out as a simple crush with innocent flutters, but it progressed rapidly before Eunha could stop it. She found herself loving everything about him. How dedicated and involved he was when it came down to academic work. How, once he became more comfortable around her, he didn’t hesitate to tell her when she was doing something wrong or when her research was going down the wrong track. How he was usually polite and soft-spoken but he would occasionally make a witty remark or a sarcastic comment that would have Eunha doubling over in laughter.

There was no way not to fall for Park Jinyoung. He was handsome, responsible, funny and yet slightly mysterious. Eunha realized that she was getting too used to late nights at the library with him and spicy ramen at the convenience store afterwards. Eunha found herself telling Jinyoung about everything- from how worried she was about her future and her looming graduation, to how the barista had gotten her coffee order wrong and she’d had to pick a fight with him in the morning. Jinyoung was always there, always interested in listening to her, and Eunha suddenly worried what she would do without him.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

“Hyung! Guys, guys, it’s Jaebum-hyung and Jinyoung-hyung! Our alumni are here!”

The cheers and applause were loud as the older boys entered the locker room. Eunha giggled and followed them quietly, happy to see the new baseball team. Some of the younger faces were unfamiliar to her but she recognized most of them. Jaebum was a legend and he went around greeting and high-fiving the team members. Eunha hung back and smiled.

“They treat him like a god,” she said with a laugh, amused. He hadn’t received this sort of royal treatment even back when he was actually the captain.  

Jinyoung smiled at her quietly. He hung back along with Eunha, not wanting to interrupt the younger boys’ fawning over Jaebum. “Jaebum-hyung is the most recent captain to win the tournament for our school. It’s become a habit to tell the tale of the finals two years ago to the new recruits. Some of the younger ones seriously believe he’s a superhero.”

Seoyeon looked amused as she giggled. She had never seen Jaebum so much in his element. “He’s trying so hard not to look pleased with himself but it’s showing on his face,” she pointed out. The younger boys had crowded around Jaebum, but a few finally broke out of the group and approached Jinyoung and Eunha. Yugyeom was the tallest among them and he bounced happily on his heels when he saw them.

“Eunha-noona! Jinyoung-hyung! You came too!” he chirped excitedly, bounding over to them. A grin spread across his face from ear to ear. “Wow, it’s so nice to see you all! It feels like freshman year when I first joined the baseball team all over again!”

“Slow down there, captain,” Eunha as he almost banged into a locker in his clumsy rush. “The last thing we need is for Captain Kim Yugyeom to injure himself before the final game.”

Yugyeom flushed happily. He grinned at Jinyoung and gave him a high five. His eyes flickered towards Seoyeon and he looked flustered for a second, cheeks turning even more pink. He gave her a polite, flustered bow. “Uh, hello-“

Seoyeon smiled at him brightly. “Hello. I’m Seoyeon, Jaebum’s girlfriend. I hope you don’t mind me coming to watch.“

Yugyeom’s eyes widened. “O-oh! No, I’m really glad you’re here to support us, thank you for coming, sunbae-nim.”

“Good luck!” Seoyeon reassured him.

Eunha and Jinyoung both exchanged a knowing glance. Seoyeon was undoubtedly pretty and there was something about her that had guys, particularly younger ones, tongue-tied around her. Yugyeom flushed and tore his eyes away from Seoyeon and smiled, embarrassed. He was running his fingers though bright yellow hair nervously. “Well, I should go, coach probably wants to talk to us-“

“Go give your teammates a pep talk!” Eunha encouraged him.

Yugyeom nodded and bounded away, leaving Jinyoung and Eunha to briefly exchange glances again and then collapse into giggles. Poor Yugyeom’s crush on Seoyeon was extremely obvious to both of them, although Seoyeon herself seemed confused. “What are you guys giggling about?” she wondered. She got no response from either of them and left it to be some inside joke which she wouldn’t understand. “Shouldn’t we go find seats…?”

Jinyoung finally composed himself and nodded. “True, noona, we should go and get good seats in the shade. It’s pretty bright outside and we don’t want to be in the direct sunlight. Jaebum-hyung will find us later.”

The three of them left Jaebum and went out to the stands where they headed for the seats that were in the shade of a large tree. Jinyoung silently gestured for Seoyeon and Eunha to sit first, so that they would get the seats closest to the tree and then sat down himself. “Ah- there’s a nice breeze here. I remember it rained during the first match of the tournament two years ago,” Jinyoung mused.

Eunha glanced at him and smiled. “What happened at the tournament last year? I couldn’t come watch because I had exams in college. I heard we made it to the quarter-finals?”

Jinyoung rubbed the back of his neck slightly. “Ah… I can’t remember. I didn’t watch.”

Eunha blinked. “What do you mean?”

“I quit the team after noona and Jaebum-hyung graduated. I wanted to focus on my studies in senior year and there wasn’t really much for me in the baseball team. It’s not like I was ever one of the star players. To be honest, I didn’t even like playing much,” he admitted uncomfortably. Jinyoung gave her a forced smile. “It worked out well. I really improved my grades.”

Eunha was surprised. She hadn’t heard this. “You weren’t on the team at all, last year?”

“No.”

“I didn’t know that,” she bit her lip thoughtfully. “I always thought you liked being on the team. Because Jaebum had a wild temper back then and he often yelled at you and Bambam and some of the others to just get lost and quit the team if you weren’t going to take it seriously, but you guys always came back.”

Jinyoung shrugged uncomfortably. Before he could respond, though, Seoyeon nudged them both and looked a little startled. “Jinyoung-ah, do you know that guy?” she wondered, pointing down towards the bottom of the stands where a tall guy was waving his hands excitedly and running towards them at top speed. He looked slightly wild.

“Park Jinyoung!” Jackson yelled excitedly. “You came! Wow! Eunha too!” he skidded to a stop right in front of them, and clapped his hands. “Who knew that Yugyeom would become captain, huh? The kid was blushing his way through his pep talk, I just saw him near the locker rooms. Jaebum had to take over.” He turned smoothly to Seoyeon. “And you must be Jaebum’s beautiful girlfriend, I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Seoyeon  flushed as Jackson shook her hand. “Uh- thank you.”

“I’m Jackson Wang. Record-holder of most homeruns scored in a single season,” he announced proudly, before clapping Jinyoung on the back. He grinned happily. “Eunha-noona, where have you been? I haven’t seen you since you graduated and left for that preppy university.”

Eunha smiled. “Sorry, Jackson. I’ve been busy. But I’m here now!”

“And with Jinyoung, of all people,” Jackson said with a grin, clapping Jinyoung hard on the back. “We missed you, buddy. Baseball wasn’t the same without you moping around and picking fights with Jaebum-hyung. When did you become so mature?”

Jinyoung rolled his eyes. “I was always mature-“

“Says the guy whose only reason for staying on the baseball team in junior year was that he liked a girl that he couldn’t-“

Seoyeon cut Jackson off. She’d spotted Jaebum coming out of the locker room and called out his name loudly, waving her arms so that he could see where they were sitting. Jackson turned his attention away to yell out Jaebum’s name too. Eunha glanced at Jinyoung, surprised.

“A girl? Did you have a girlfriend in high school, Jinyoung?” Eunha wondered. She suddenly felt like she knew very little about the Jinyoung from back then. She couldn’t remember having seen him ever talking to a girl, much less dating one. Then again, she couldn’t recollect much about him. “I can’t remember-“

Jinyoung’s expression was stoic. “Jackson doesn’t know what he’s talking about,” he said shortly.

“But-“

He ignored her. “Jaebum-hyung! Over here! We saved you a seat!”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Eunha enjoyed herself during the match. It had been a while since she watched baseball and it brought back the nostalgic memories from high school to watch Yugyeom and Bambam and their team beat the other team to a pulp. She screamed and cheered at the top of her lungs when they won the tournament.

What was probably even more amusing than the match itself, however, was watching Jackson attempt to flirt with Seoyeonas Jaebum grew visibly more irritated by the minute. By halftime, the pissed off older boy had in between Seoyeon and Jackson to create a barrier but Jackson kept at it. He seemed to be perfectly aware that he was pissing off Jaebum, though, because he kept sneaking sly glances at Jaebum’s clenched jaw and irritated gaze.

“I think Jaebum’s going to punch him,” Eunha leaned over to whisper to Jinyoung with a giggle. She expected him to smile back at her and nod but Jinyoung had stiffened up since the beginning of the game. He merely glanced at her and Eunha’s smile fell. “Are you okay, Jinyoung?”

Jinyoung nodded. “Fine.”

“You look uncomfortable. Is something wrong?”

He sighed and ran a hand over his face. When he glanced at Eunha, his eyes looked tired and a little frustrated. “I guess I just…. I don’t know. I guess the baseball team doesn’t hold as good memories for me as it does for the rest of you,” Jinyoung said quietly.

Eunha bit her lip. Jinyoung wasn’t a very expressive person but she could see some sort of pain in his eyes. He had closed up ever since Jackson joined them. Was it something to do with Jackson? Or was it about the girl he’d mentioned? Eunha suddenly wanted to comfort Jinyoung. She knew that he was the type of person to be hard on himself and she reached out and squeezed his hand lightly. Jinyoung jerked slightly at the sudden contact and he looked at Eunha with wide eyes- but his hand squeezed hers back and they kept their entwined hands on the bench in between them.

“I’m fine,” he mumbled quietly.

“I know,” Eunha replied gently, before turning back to watch the match. She smiled at him lightly. “But try to enjoy yourself. You’ve been working like crazy on our research paper so you deserve a break. We both do.”

Jinyoung gave her a brief smile. “You think so?”

“Yup. We should get a response from the conference organizers in about a week. If it gets accepted, then it’s straight to Hong Kong,” she said cheerfully. Jinyoung cracked a smile at the thought of going to the conference in Hong Kong and nodded. He gave her a smile.

“Yeah, I know. Sorry. I’m just letting stupid memories affect me. It’s not serious, I promise,” he reassured her.

Eunha squeezed his hand lightly. She wished he would tell her more about what was bothering him, but she didn’t want to press it. If Jinyoung wanted her to know, he would have told her by now. She only gave him a smile. “You’re happy now, right?”

Jinyoung nodded. “I think so.”

“That’s all that matters.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

They won the game, and there was a huge uproar of celebration afterwards. One of the local sponsors of the baseball team gifted Yugyeom an enormous gift pack of high-quality beef and the boy was staggering around with the huge package of meat in his arms and a bright smile on his face for at least an hour after the match.

“Jaebum, I think it’s your responsibility to buy these guys drinks,” Jackson said with a grin, clapping Jaebum on the back. Jaebum gave him an irritated look- Jackson had been flirting with his girlfriend all evening but the man wasn’t wrong.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Jaebum agreed reluctantly. He put an arm around Yugyeom’s shoulders and patted him proudly. “Yugyeom-ah, why don’t you and the older team members come down once you’re done celebrating and I’ll buy you guys a few drinks? You deserve it after that game today. You, Bambam and Youngjae are almost old enough, right? Just don’t tell anyone I bought them for you.”

Yugyeom flushed happily. “Really, hyung?”

Jackson laughed at him. “What are you going to do with all that meat, though? Jesus, the sponsors could have gifted you guys something a little better than that. Do you guys remember last time, we got these awesome cakes from the bakery ahjumma-“

“We can cook it now!” Eunha pointed out eagerly. The meat was likely to go bad if it was left uneaten for too long and it didn’t make sense for Yugyeom to take it home alone. “We can cook the meat and eat it while Jaebum buys everyone drinks.”

Jaebum cleared his throat. “Hold on, I didn’t say I was buying everyone drinks-“

Yugyeom interrupted him. “But noona, no restaurant is going to let us grill our own meat.”

Eunha shook her head. “We can go to my apartment. I have a grill at home. My roommate’s out of town for the weekend, so we can make a party out of it! How does that sound?” she asked eagerly. She turned and grinned at Jaebum with bright eyes. “I don’t mind grilling all the meat if you go buy the beer. It’ll be fun- we never got to do anything like this back when our class won the tournament.”

Jaebum hesitated. “You sure you don’t mind  hosting an impromptu party?”

Eunha shook her head. “Not at all! Let’s do it!”

“Okay, then,” he agreed. He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Yugyeom-ah, you go finish celebrating with your team and then come down to Eunha’s apartment. Me and Jinyoung will go buy the booze and Eunha can go ahead and set up her grill…”  

Seoyeon nodded happily. “I’ll help Eunha, I can make some really nice beef stew!”

Jackson perked up. “Sounds like I should go help these girls grill meat, then, they need a man to-“

Jaebum wrapped his arms around Jackson’s neck a little too tightly and pulled him into a chokehold. “Haha, very cute. You are coming with us to buy the beer and if I hear one peep out of you more than necessary then we’ll be grilling you for dinner.”

Jackson gulped. “Understood.”

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

Everyone was in a celebratory mood and Eunha found herself laughing throughout most of the night. Once Bambam and Yugyeom got sufficiently drunk, they began to dramatically re-enact the home run that Yugyeom had managed to hit towards the end of the game and also a particularly excellent catch that Bambam had made which sealed the deal.

“These guys are really drunk,” Seoyeon whispered, sidling up to Eunha in the kitchen where she was salvaging the remaining meat. It had seemed impossible for them to finish the entire gift pack of beef but she was already done grilling the last of it. Seoyeon looked mildly drunk. “You’re going to have a hard time cleaning this apartment afterwards. I just saw Bambam spill beer in your balcony.”

Eunha smiled. She was too pleasantly tipsy to care about it. “It’s okay!” she reassured her.

“Suzy won’t kill you?”

“Suzy’s not back in town until Wednesday. If it’s too bad, I’ll drag these guys back down here tomorrow and make them clean it all up themselves,” Eunha said with a giggle. “Can you see Jackson in an apron and rubber gloves, scrubbing my floor?”

“Surprisingly well,” Seoyeon mused. “Well, if you don’t mind, I’m going to take my man and leave now. If Jaebum has even one more beer then he’s going to cross the line and I want to have with him before he gets too drunk and passes out on me.” She suddenly covered , looking extremely embarrassed. Seoyeon didn’t usually say things as bold as that. “Sorry, I don’t know why I-“

Eunha laughed. “You’re drunk, girl. Go on, get out of here. I won’t say anything.”

Seoyeon flushed and hurried away, going to grab Jaebum and whisper something to him before the couple left Eunha’s apartment. It took a little while for the others to decide that they were done partying too. Yugyeom, Bambam and Youngjae gave Eunha clumsy hugs while Jackson placed a loud and wet kiss on her cheek before leaving. Eunha was too buzzed to mind, she was just in a good mood. Jinyoung had been quiet for most of the evening, but he gave Eunha a smile.

“I’ll go make sure these guys get into cabs safely,” he told her. He was slightly tipsy too, but he seemed more stable on his feet than the rest of them. “You’re okay, right, noona?” Jinyoung wondered as he put on his shoes and glanced up at her.

Eunha nodded and waved him off. “I’m fine. Take care of those guys. Bye!”

She turned back to her deserted apartment, suddenly feeling the emptiness one feels when everyone has left. The couch cushions were strewn all over the place and there were plates, wrappers and empty beer cans lying everywhere. Thank goodness nobody had puked- it was only trash that Eunha would have to pick up. She bit her lip and shook off the sudden lonely feeling that came over her. I need to clean up, she reminded herself. It would be better to clean up the plates and do the dishes now, rather than letting the food fester until morning.

Eunha had just gathered up the plates and put them in the sink when she heard the front door open again. Confused, she stepped out of the kitchen to see that Jinyoung had come back upstairs and was taking his shoes off near the entrance. “Jinyoung?” she wondered, as she watched him struggle clumsily with his shoelaces. “Is something wrong? Why did you come back?”

He blinked up at her softly. “I wanted to help noona clean up.”

She felt her heart skip a beat. Why was he always so sweet and thoughtful? She bit her lip and shook her head at him with a smile. “You don’t need to do that. Go home, Jinyoung-ah. You’re not completely sober.”

Jinyoung shook his head. He stumbled to his feet after having taken off his shoes and padded into her apartment in his socks. He gave her a slightly lopsided smile. “No, I want to help. Noona was grilling the meat and serving the drinks all evening. You didn’t even let me help you in the kitchen. It’s not fair to let you clean up alone. And I’m not…” he trailed off, hiccupping slightly. Eunha giggled. “I’m not that drunk! I can clean! Really!”

She smiled at him fondly. “I wasn’t going to clean myself. I was just going to do the dishes and go to bed.”

He nodded and headed straight for the kitchen. “I’ll help you do the dishes, then.”

Eunha couldn’t protest as he went to her sink and the tap. She wasn’t particularly feeling like doing the dishes herself, so she sat up on the kitchen counter next to him and smiled at him lightly. His dark hair was flopping into his face lightly and he was concentrating on the dishes; the same way he concentrated on everything that he did. Jinyoung was a perfectionist and Eunha loved that about him.

“Did the others all get into cabs okay?” Eunha asked, dangling her legs off the counter playfully.

Jinyoung snickered slightly as he scrubbed at a plate. “Bambam puked in the bushes beside your apartment. I’m pretty sure all those purple flowers will be dead by morning. Don’t be surprised.”

“I’m not,” Eunha giggled. She wasn’t usually so giggly but the alcohol still had her brain in a pleasant haze. She bit her lip and giggled again. “Did you know that Seoyeon dragged Jaebum out because she wanted to have with him? She looks so innocent, I honestly never thought those two would have an active life. It’s crazy.”

Jinyoung’s fingers paused on the plate. “How can you talk about Jaebum-hyung’s life?” he blurted out.

Eunha rolled her eyes. “Yah. We’re all adults, it’s not like we can’t talk about -“

“But he’s your ex-boyfriend. You guys dated for almost a year. What kind of girl can talk about her ex-boyfriend’s life with another woman?” Jinyoung demanded. He suddenly began to scrub at the plate more furiously. “I mean- I wouldn’t even want to hear about the life of a girl I used to like, much less that I dated barely a few years ago.”

“We’re friends now. It’s okay. And I never had with Jaebum in the first place, so-“

“I don’t want to know!” Jinyoung snapped.

“What?”

“I don’t want to know what you and Jaebum-hyung did.” He turned and glanced at her. The lighthearted playfulness in his eyes were gone. They were red and slightly unfocused, but Eunha felt herself sober up when she saw the emotion in them. His plump lips were pressed together tightly. “I don’t want to hear about you and Jaebum-hyung. It’s all I’ve thought about all day. How you and Jaebum-hyung used to be together back when he was the captain. How you guys used to sneak off together after practice. How you sometimes held hands when you thought nobody was looking. All I could think about was the both of you together. How come you’re not thinking about him?”

Eunha stared at Jinyoung for a long moment, her heartbeat thudding. What was he saying? She couldn’t understand why he was so upset, but she tried to answer his question. “Because…. I mean, Jaebum and I are friends now. I don’t regret dating him. I’m not trying to erase him from my memories or anything. I learned a lot from our relationship but I would never date him now.”

Jinyoung bit his lip. “How can you forget so easily?”

“Because I’m a different person now,” Eunha replied quietly. “I’ve learned a lot of things, and I’ve grown. Jaebum’s a different person too. And so are you, Jinyoung.  We’re all different and we’ve all grown up. We wouldn’t make the same decisions now that we would have back then.”

He turned to look at her. “Do you really think you’re different?”

“I think I’ve changed for the better,” Eunha mused lightly.

“I don’t think you have.”

She cocked her head. “Really?”

He stepped closer suddenly, so that he was standing in between her legs. Eunha felt her heart skip a beat at Jinyoung’s sudden closeness. His dark eyes were staring at hers softly, the sharp slant of his nose and his kissable lips much nearer than they should be. One of his hands came up and rested on her thigh. It was a light touch- feather-light but it sent a pleasant tingling down her spine. You’re drunk, she told herself, but the voice was faint. Jinyoung is literally inches away from you. , you can’t give up this opportunity now.

“I don’t think you’ve changed, noona. I think you’re almost exactly the same as you were in high school.” He took a shaky breath as he looked up at her. “That’s the problem. That’s why this is so much more difficult than it should be.”

Eunha felt her head spin. “What are you saying-“

He kissed her. He lunged forward suddenly, closing the last few inches of distance between them. Eunha had imagined that kissing Jinyoung would be soft and gentle, that he would be a gentleman and give her polite, feather-like kisses. But that wasn’t Jinyoung at all. His lips were assertive, taking everything they could get, his tongue slipping into without warning.

“Jinyoung-“ Eunha whimpered against his mouth. Her own hands came up to rest on his shoulders lightly, but Jinyoung was already pulling her to the edge of the counter. His arms wrapped around her tightly. Eunha found her chest pressed against his, her thighs glued to his waist. He was holding her almost painfully hard as he kissed her, almost as though he was afraid that she would try to pull away. As though he wanted to hug her and kiss her at the same time, as though he wanted to feel every inch of her body at once. He kept his arms tight around her as he gently released her lips. “Noona-“

“Don’t stop now,” Eunha whispered.

A flicker of doubt crossed his eyes, but Eunha kissed him before it could grow. She could feel herself growing wet from his hands roaming up and down her back, from the way he was pressing against her thighs. Jinyoung was warm and his skin was unbelievably soft except for the slight stubble on his cheeks and Eunha wasn’t going to let go. There was something extremely thrilling about the whole thing. About quiet, gentlemanly Jinyoung kissing her on the kitchen counter, about the fact that they were slightly drunk and that while Eunha had imagined this happening a hundred times, she’d never quite imagined it like this.

“We should- go into the bedroom-“ she mumbled in between heated kisses. He smelled like aftershave and the scent was clouding her senses. “Kitchen counter- will- hurt-“

Jinyoung pulled back for a moment and bit his lip. “Noona, are you sure?”

“Yes. Are you?”

“, yes.”

 X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X

It wasn’t supposed to be like this.

Eunha had played out the possibility of her and Jinyoung getting together in a number of ways in her head. It had always started more innocently. Him asking her out across the table in the library, or in the campus café, or as he walked her to her apartment a little late one night. They would go out to dinner. Jinyoung would take her someplace nice, although not necessarily too expensive- or maybe he would cook for her, or even let her cook for him. They would have a nice candlelight dinner and wine, and kiss for the first time near the beach or out on a balcony; somewhere the breeze was blowing, where Eunha would feel her heart skip a beat, where she would quietly tell Jinyoung how crazy she was about him, and how handsome he looked in his rimmed glasses and soft sweaters. Jinyoung would wrap his arms around her and her hair gently and tell her that he’d fallen for her too.

It wasn’t meant to be a heated tumble between the sheets while they were drunk on cheap beer. He wasn’t meant to disappear in the middle of the night and not answer her calls the next day.

Not that the latter situation was impossible. It could happen. It wasn’t as if Eunha had never had a one-night stand or slept with a guy that she never saw again.

But not with Jinyoung. That scenario wasn’t meant for Jinyoung. Jinyoung’s scenario was supposed to go differently. Park Jinyoung was a perfectionist and he was supposed to do things calmly and perfectly with her, the way he did everything in life.

Eunha waited for an entire day. She was certain that there was some explanation, that Jinyoung wouldn’t just leave without saying anything. Surely he had a good reason. Maybe he’d suddenly remembered that he had a class that morning, or that some paper was due in a few hours. Maybe he’d had to run somewhere and something was wrong with his phone. Maybe he’d lost his phone in the drunken party last night and was looking for it.

At exactly 8:25pm the next day, Eunha called Wonpil.

“Noona!” Wonpil answered cheerfully, in his usual tone. He sounded busy; there was loud music playing behind him and she could barely hear his voice. He piped up. “What’s with the sudden call on a Saturday night, noona?”

Eunha bit her lip and tried to sound casual. “Ah- sorry. You must be busy.”

“No, no, I’m at band practice but I can talk. Is it important?”

“I was just wondering if you’ve seen Jinyoung all day. He’s not answering my calls and I was wondering if he’s okay,” she admitted lightly. She hoped that the strain and the desperation in her voice wasn’t evident to Wonpil. Eunha took a deep breath and waited, hoping that Wonpil would provide her with the answer she desperately wanted.

“Jinyoung? Sure, he called me earlier today. We had lunch together and played Frisbee in the lawns. I just left him like an hour ago. Are you sure he’s not taking your calls? He had his phone with him.”

Eunha felt her heart freeze.

Frisbee? Since when do you play Frisbee, Park Jinyoung? She felt a sudden explosion of irritation. If he could play Frisbee in the lawns with Wonpil all afternoon, couldn’t he have answered one of her text messages? But she knew the answer before she’d finished asking the question in his head. It doesn’t matter what he was doing. He doesn’t want to talk to you. He doesn’t care.

“Noona? Are you okay?” Wonpil asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine, Wonpil. Thanks-“

“Our band is playing at the pub in a few hours! Do you want to-“

“Sorry, Wonpil, I have to go.”

She hung up on his abruptly, and held her phone in her hands, fingers trembling slightly. . How had she let it get this bad? How had she let herself fall so hard for Park Jinyoung that her mind was going blank  at the thought of him having left her as a one-night stand. Even if he just wanted to stay friends, she thought silently, shouldn’t he say so? How can he stop talking to me completely?

Eunha took a deep breath and tried to calm herself down. She was angry and hurt, and she wanted to throw her phone across the room and scream out loud, but she did none of those things. Eunha was going to give Park Jinyoung one last chance to redeem himself before she let herself hate him. Maybe it was a misunderstanding. Maybe he was just embarrassed.

She took out her phone and typed a simple text.

Eunha (20:32): I know you’re reading this. If you have even an ounce of respect for me, then you’ll call me by tomorrow morning.

No call ever came.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X-X