chapter 18
the psychology of good studentsIt’s a usual thing now to see Kyungsoo and Jooyoung walking together around campus, mainly because Kyungsoo’s been religiously fulfilling his promise of waiting for her after class. Today, they wander into the Medicine faculty for no reason at all.
“I thought we were going back to my room to do our assignments,” Jooyoung says laughingly. “Why did we end up here?”
“I dunno.” Kyungsoo naturally sticks his hand out, and she grabs it without thought. They walk around holding hands so often now they don’t even think twice about it. Jooyoung doesn’t even know when this started, but it really doesn’t matter now.
She narrows her eyes at him, bumping him on the shoulder. “What happened to asking me not to procrastinate?”
“I dunno,” he repeats, and locks his fingers tighter around hers. She spies a small smile on the side of his lips, and she can’t help but smile too.
She’s about to some more when she sees Minseok approaching them. He doesn’t seem to see them at first but when he looks up from rubbing his eyes, his face lights up immediately.
“Jooyoung! Kyungsoo!” He waves animatedly, striding towards them. Looking a mess in his white coat, slippers and greasy hair, Jooyoung can only guess he’s come from an overnight training at the hospital again. Poor Minseok, but that’s what passion does to you, she guesses. He never complains about being fatigued after all-nighters at the hospital.
Kyungsoo waves his free hand too, grinning. “Hey, Minseok.”
But he doesn’t seem to be looking at Kyungsoo. Instead his pace slows when he nears, and his gaze is fixated on Jooyoung and Kyungsoo’s locked hands. She wonders for a moment whether she should untangle them but Kyungsoo doesn’t seem to have any intention of letting go, so she doesn’t either.
Then Minseok eyes them both up and down, before addressing Kyungsoo in a too-serious voice, almost like he’s starting a confrontation. “Okay, bro, firstly I’m sorry for bringing up a dead rumour again, but...” He leans in and cups his hands to his mouth to whisper, as if what he’s about to say is taboo. “Are you with Krystal? Were you ever?”
Jooyoung almost shouts at him because every mention of her is so infuriating, but a subtle squeeze on her hand from Kyungsoo stops her from doing so. It’s so light she doesn’t even know whether he did it on purpose, but it stops her anyway, and she lets him talk.
Kyungsoo smiles at Minseok like he should’ve known everything right from the start, and shrugs. “Not in that way.”
Minseok looks at him with an unfalteringly straight face, and then before they have time to be thoroughly confused, he pulls Kyungsoo into a hug. Jooyoung is hurled forward too because he doesn’t let go of her hand.
“Hey, Kim Minseok!” Jooyoung shouts in shock at the sudden pull. Then she has to laugh because he is wriggling his eyebrows at her in the most comically suggestive way.
Minseok grins at her, Kyungsoo still in his embrace. “Bro,” he says as he pats Kyungsoo’s back, “you made the right choice.”
Jooyoung rolls her eyes, but can’t help but think the same.
The vibrations on her phone are distracting Jooyoung (who’s supposed to be doing a reading, but...) so she succumbs to the temptation of checking it. It’s a call from Kyungsoo, so she picks it up, because what else can she do if he’s the one calling?
“Hey,” she greets, her eyes pulling away from her laptop.
“Hey. I’m not disturbing you, right?”
“Anything related to you is a disturbance,” she deadpans, leaning back into her seat. She shrinks downwards and relaxes, resting her head on the top of her chair. The night is nice, and although she’s working she doesn’t feel the stress today, which is good. “Why’d you call?”
“I just wanted to make sure I’m forgiven fully. Am I?” Kyungsoo asks, and Jooyoung wants to roll her eyes (who calls just to ask that? And wasn’t it obvious enough that he is?) but her tongue stops short of pinning him down with a sarcastic remark.
“Hmmm. I have one last request before you are,” she bargains. Jooyoung feels so bad about what she’s going to ask of him, honestly, but she’s been thinking about it for ages and it’s rare that something’s on her wishlist that’s unrelated to either her animated movies or her grades, so she decides to gather the courage and ask. Since he'd brought the topic of forgiveness up, right?
She can imagine him nodding at the other side of the line. “Okay. What is it?”
Jooyoung sticks her tongue out and smiles almost devilishly, although he can’t see anything. “Get drunk again. You just need to drink a little.”
Kyungsoo groans over the other end of the line.
“I’m treating you,” she persuades. “We can just drink in your room. You know how I feel about clubs anyway. I know you feel the same way. Just a bit?”
“You are such a sadist,” he mumbles, and Jooyoung almost cancels her request in the sudden guilt that runs across her, but then she hears Kyungsoo sigh and take his keys. “I’ll pick you up from your room.”
She grins.
“I’ve been to your room, stupid. I know where it is,” she laughs, suddenly excited. “But you might as well come. Choose your drink.”
”Do you even think I know anything about alcohol,” he says. She hears him walk down some stairs. “Just get me the most expensive one.”
“I don’t wanna,” she says. But Jooyoung goes to her mini stash of alcohol in the corner of her room and pulls out the bottle she’s been saving because it’s too precious to drink (it was a gift, but the price was insane).
He comes soon after, and they return to Kyungsoo’s room, bottle in hand, with him complaining about her sadistic ways and her trying to defend herself by attacking him back verbally. A pretty normal conversation.
And Kyungsoo drinks the liquor anyway. Jooyoung pours the alcohol into a small glass, then he sighs and downs it in a one-shot. She doesn’t tell him that this isn’t his typical soju or even champagne, it’s hard liquor. It’s whiskey. So she watches him unblinkingly because his reaction would definitely be worth a watch.
Kyungsoo cringes, and then starts to sway dangerously in his seat. “What in the world is-“
And in a flash he has plonked onto the table. Jooyoung raises her eyebrows, chuckling at the sudden fall of his head. She must take mental notes next time: it took two shots for the liquor in London to get him to this state. One for whiskey. She predicts three to four for soju, depending on the alcohol content. What would him and other liquor be like?
And she waits. She knows what’s coming, or at least she hopes she does.
So when he gets up and stares at her with those hugely adorable eyes again she feels the sense of accomplishment and mostly, excitement, course through her body. Jooyoung’s ready for this. She had prepared her heart before she even asked him to get drunk and now she’s prepared to happily receive everything without having to push him away because of her insane heart rate.
“Jooyoung-ie?” He calls, poking her arm with one finger. Goodness, that is adorable.
She wonders if that’s what Kyungsoo calls her in his head, because apparently drunk people speak whatever’s on their minds. And Jooyoung decides immediately that as much as she likes being a strong, independent woman, being babied by Kyungsoo can be an exception.
She hums in acknowledgement, then shifts herself just a little closer to him to prompt him. His eyes turn into crescents and his cheeks become little peaches when he smiles next, and it’s the cutest thing ever.
“Prince Soo is here for Jooyoung-ie,” he chirps, then gets up unsteadily and leans in towards her. He breathes through his mouth and she can vaguely smell the whiskey lingering on his tongue.
“Does Jooyoung-ie mind?” He asks next.
“Mind what?”
Wordlessly, he points at her shoulder and she strains her neck to see what exactly he’s referring to, but it’s really just her shoulder. Underneath a hoodie. Jooyoung has no idea what he’s talking about, but she decides she won’t mind anything he does. Besides, now he’s in his drunk, touchy baby mode, so all he wants is probably to rest his head there.
“Go ahead,” she says, slightly tilting her shoulder towards him. He looks pleased as he bounces his seat towards Jooyoung.
And then he bites her.
“Hey!” She jerks away instinctively, laughingly, but realises the whole intimacy of the situation only a few seconds later, and that’s when her face flushes so badly she wonders if she’s going to faint. It’s not painful at all, definitely, but goodness, she didn’t think Do Kyungsoo would ever be this sort of person. It’s driving her insane.
Kyungsoo’s pouting at her. “I thought you said you didn’t mind,” he says, almost like a child. His hands are clutching onto Jooyoung’s arm, ready to bite her again.
“Something else,” she coaxes, just because she’s worried her heart can’t take it. “Anything else.”
“Anything?” His face brightens again and in this moment the twenty year old him has faded somewhere into the distance. Now on centre stage is five-year-old Kyungsoo, starving for attention, which Jooyoung is willing to give him wholeheartedly.
He pulls her into his chair, and she obliges. Then he wraps his arms around her and moves his nose along her neckline, burying his entire face in her nape. He holds her like this for a moment, then mumbles into her neck, “This is very nice.”
She feels his lips brush along her neck and land on the bottom part of it where it connects to her shoulder. Jooyoung hopes he can’t feel her goosebumps. His lips are warm and soft and so thick, oh goodness. It’s not a kiss, but it still feels good resting on her shoulder.
He moves his face then, and now he hugs her all the more tighter, his lips now on the part of her neck right below her jawline.
“K-Kyungsoo,” she stutters, feeling his every breath warming her jaw steadily.
“Mm?” She can feel the vibrations of his throat right behind her.
“Have you ever gotten drunk with another girl by your side before?” Jooyoung’s not jealous, no, nothing of the sort, just genuinely curious. Although she can’t deny the thought of it really happening sends an acrid taste down . Especially since he gets so touchy and clingy and ravenous.
“Rawr,” he says instead, right into her ear.
“Hey, don’t ‘rawr’ at me. Have you?”
“I do this only to you,” he drawls, now detaching himself from her. Jooyoung feels her heart thump a little harder. Aw. Kyungsoo lightly pushes her shoulder, wanting her to turn around, so she does. She’s staring right into his hazy eyes, and somehow the intensity of it all makes her so shy she has to angle her gaze downwards.
“Don’t lie,” she mumbles, her face a mess of smiles and pink.
“But I do this only to you,” he repeats in a pleading tone. His eyes mirror his pout and it’s just makes her go crazy. “I only want to do this to you.”
He pulls her by her wrist closer to him, until she’s sitting on him, whilst facing him. He reaches his hand out, and then brings it to her face, resting it there tenderly.
“And this,” he murmurs in a deep voice, rubbing his thumb gently along Jooyoung’s cheek. She swallows, pushing her heart which is at , all the way down. She’s never been this intimate with Kyungsoo before. Does he even know what he’s doing?
“And this,” he says again, then leans in, his breath next to her ear. This is it, she thinks with the last functional brain cell in her body. This is the moment she will combust and meet her demise.
She feels his lip touch the skin of her ear. Immediately she hitches her breath.
And then he starts to speak in the softest, huskiest voice, “I also want to go to sleep with you, Han Jooyoung.”
She lets out a silent scream.
“W-Why do you want to?” She teases, although she already knows, fully, surely, what her answer will be eventually.
“Jooyoung is cuddly,” he says with a lisp.
“Okay,” she says back, holding back the grin on her face. She feels Kyungsoo’s lips spread into a smile on the side of her ear. Then his head drops and soon it is resting on her shoulder. His arms circle around her waist.
“Let’s go,” he mumbles, then begins to stand up. It’s difficult to hold a drunk person and walk backwards all while he’s literally clinging onto her, but Jooyoung manages to do it in the end (albeit almost going straight into the edge of his desk, which would be horrendous).
They fall right into Kyungsoo’s bed, and he mindlessly sweeps the blanket over the two of them. Then he moves his pillow such that both of their heads are on it — which isn’t such a difficult thing to do, because they’re stuck so close together.
He puts an arm around her neck, pulling her impossibly closer. His lips are in her hair, and his legs in a tangle with hers, and his heart is beating against her chest.
“Are you going to cuddle me like this the entire night?” Jooyoung asks, tracing her fingers along the fabric of Kyungsoo’s shirt. His legs shift to lock hers, and he nods.
“And every night,” he says, with so much seriousness in his voice it startles Jooyoung for a while — the slur in his voice is gone.
She peeks up at his face, but only ends up being able to see mostly his jaw. “Don’t say things like that when you’re drunk,” she scolds softly.
“I’m not drunk,” Kyungsoo whines, his lips contorting into a pout.
She chuckles. “You are.”
“I’m fully aware of what’s going on right now. I’m Prince Soo, and you’re my little Princess Jooyoung-ie.”
“Who’s calling who little,” she laughs, but Kyungsoo seems to have fallen asleep, because his hands stop the back of her neck. Jooyoung buries her face deeper into his chest, breathing in his smell, his steady heartbeat a lullaby for her to sleep.
Jooyoung leaves before he gets up, gently pushing away his hand to get out. She’d thought he would have at least flinched, but apparently he is so knocked out by that little bit of alcohol that he doesn’t even feel her wriggling out.
Of course she doesn’t want to get up. Of course she wants to continue breathing in Kyungsoo’s scent and bury her face in his shirt. Of course she still wants to have Kyungsoo wrapped around her. But if he can’t remember how they ended up in the position when he wakes up, she doesn’t want to make things awkward by explaining everything to him. Anyway, she likes that she has a secret like this to keep to herself.
So she goes back to her room to freshen up, then reports for her class early. Recently, she’s been following Kyungsoo to his classes too, although he always insists on otherwise (and refuses to show her his schedule — but she technically has it all figured out). With Minseok and Jina both busy with their residencies and specialised trainings, Jooyoung realises she hasn’t been hanging out with anyone besides Kyungsoo. And Mr Popular himself hasn’t been going around with anyone except her as well.
For the first time in a long while, Kyungsoo’s not with her when she goes to her class, and it makes her feel a little lonely. But then the thought of last night makes her heart go all jelly again. She lowers her head and hides the smile forming on her face, sliding herself into a seat near the side of the room. She’s whipped, she knows.
When the class is over she finds she has a message from Kyungsoo.
From: Scrooge
hey why didn’t you call me to tell me you’re going for class i was still sleeping
Jooyoung smiles, slinging her bag over her shoulder as she exits the class with her head lowered, more focused on texting him back than anything.
To: Scrooge
precisely because i knew you were still sleeping i didn’t call you dumbo
To: Scrooge
anyway how many times must i tell you not t
She accidentally sends the incomplete message because a voice startles her from beside her.
“Precisely because I knew you were still sleeping, I didn’t call you, dumbo,” the voice says, as if imitating someone, and she immediately whips her head around. The man peels himself off the wall he’s leaning against and grins.
“Hey,” Kyungsoo greets, his phone in his hand. Before Jooyoung has a chance to react his phone pings again and he reads out the message that had just come in.
“Anyway, how many times must I tell you not t-“ he reads, then looks up at her laughingly. “Not to what?”
“Not to wait for me after classes,” she mumbles, but bumps his shoulders anyway. She catches a whiff of his scent and decides it’s dangerous to be staying beside him because all the thoughts running through her mind relate to last night. She walks a little in front of him, not wanting her heart to go all bonkers on her again.
“I have something I want to tell you,” Kyungsoo says, putting his hands in his pockets. The weather is getting chillier and Kyungsoo wearing a large coat makes him look especially small. He’s a tad taller than Jooyoung, but she still thinks he’s tiny.
“Go ahead,” she says, shrugging, but from the way he pauses before speaking she knows he’s feeling apprehensive. So she slows down and waits for him to match her pace with his again, hoping it’ll offer at least a bit of encouragement.
“So you know how there’s a Symposium for Research in Psychology annually?” He starts, and she nods. This Symposium is highly renowned, and only papers which are the cream of the crop get exclusively selected to be part of the night's programme.
He looks slightly bashful (so rare) as he stretches out his next sentence. “My paper got chosen to be presented there.”
Jooyoung stops in her tracks.
“Oh my goodness!” Then she can’t help it as she grins in excitement and throws herself onto Kyungsoo, tackling him down with a hug. He stumbles backwards, obviously not expecting such a reaction, before gathering his balance back and supporting her back with his hand.
“Hey, slow down,” he laughs. Jooyoung can’t stop smiling. She almost doesn’t feel him laughingly patting her back.
“I’m so happy for you!” She exclaims, still caught in the embrace. She buries her nose deeper into his coat. “You don’t even know. I feel like I’m going to to burst.”
“Aw, thanks,” he chuckles this time. Jooyoung breaks the hug so she can look at him directly, but leaves her arms around his neck. She continues grinning at him, and he merely laughs again.
“I didn’t expect you to react like this,” he admits. “I even prepared a DVD for Big Hero 6 just in case you were upset and I needed to comfort you.”
She smacks him hard on his arm, but he doesn’t stop laughing. “Jerk, do you really think I'm such a mean person?”
“It’s not that! It’s just that the Han Jooyoung I know doesn’t like giving up first places and good opportunities, and there’s nothing wrong with that.”
She pauses then, a sudden wash of... something just flooding her mind. “Wait, yeah,” she realises. “I wonder what happened to me as well.” It hits her at this moment that she’s changed, and as much as it makes her feel happy, it confuses her as well. Kyungsoo probably senses the mood becoming pensive, so he pokes her cheek and brings her out of her thoughts.
“Maybe it’s because you love me?” He cheeks. It is just a tease, like how he’s been teasing her for months, but it sends panic signals down her brain and soon her heart is beating erratically again.
“Maybe it’s just because I’m becoming a nicer Han Jooyoung?” She says back, trying to hide the fact that she’s almost literally having a heart attack right at that spot.
Kyungsoo laughs, then reaches his hand forward to ruffle her hair. Her head dips slightly at the sudden action, but she smiles. Then he shifts to place his hands on both her shoulders, and bends such that his face is right in front of hers.
“Anyway,” he begins again, his eyes shining. “Do you want to be my date to the dinner after the symposium? All the presenters can bring dates.”
Jooyoung’s eyes widen slightly, and she’s sure he’s caught her — his face is right in front of hers, for goodness’ sake, and there’s no escaping him now. “Date?” She asks incredulously, not exactly believing her ears.
Kyungsoo merely nods, his eyes searching hers for an answer.
She wills herself to think rational! Don’t give a stupid answer! So she tries to put on her usual jokey smile and says, “If you’re asking me out, you should be more legit.”
“Okay, so I’ll take that as a yes,” he says, looking rather satisfied with himself. But then he lets go of her shoulders and picks up Jooyoung’s bag from the floor, slinging it around his own shoulder. Jooyoung watches him as he begins to walk without even waiting for her.
“And I’m not asking you out now, dumbo,” he says casually.
parts slightly. Of course a tinge of disappointment settles in her heart (actually, more than just a tinge), but she forcefully pushes it away and begins to catch up with Kyungsoo.
Ah well.
a/n: i love prince soo so i brought him back again
I OWED SO MANY OF YOU REPLIES i’m so sorry!! just replied to everyone i hadn’t replied to aaa but i hope everyone’s having a great 2019 so far! i think it’ll take a while before my next story because of circumstances.... but i promise i’ll be back :”)
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