Six months earlier
 

“You’re doing what?”

“I’m quitting.”

Donghyuk was less than impressed at Hanbin’s news. And he demonstrated this by spilling his coffee everywhere. They were sat in their shared room on campus, about to have pizza when he told him the news.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“What do you mean?” Hanbin tilted his head to the side in a habit he’d developed that annoyed Donghyuk immensely. Perhaps that was subconsciously why he continued to do it so much.

“I mean, why would you do that?” Donghyuk replied tersely, wanting to simultaneously smack him and wring his neck.

Hanbin shrugged, smiling a little when he saw how that only irritated him more. “Uni life isn’t for me.”

“That’s utter bull and you know it! You’re perfect for uni - it was basically built for you! You’re both a genius and an alcoholic; you couldn’t be more perfect if you tried!”

Hanbin couldn’t help but laugh at his sincerity. “I’m sorry, I just can’t do it right now, bro.” His smile faltered for a moment. “My heart’s just not in it… You know?”

Donghyuk sighed and nodded, patting his roommate’s shoulder. “I get it.” I’m way too soft.

“You’re way too soft.” Hanbin said, his smile returning - swiftly pursued by Donghyuk’s irritation. Though it wouldn’t last long; he could never stay mad at Hanbin for too long. Besides, despite his frustration at the news, he did understand. Though incredibly smart and capable, Hanbin didn’t love what he was doing, anybody could see that. He wasn’t happy, and although Donghyuk wanted the best for him and his future, what he mostly wanted was for him to be happy - and that wasn’t something you could allow the future to influence. Happiness was only alive in the moment.

“Bobby’s gonna kill you, you know that right?”

“I know.” Hanbin replied, shaking his head, happily ready to monologue his issues. “But he’ll come round. He knows it’s-” At this point he paused his soliloquy when he finally noticed Donghyuk had stolen his phone. “-hey! What are you doing with my phone?”

“Ripping off the plaster.” Donghyuk answered with a grin.

“No! Don’t tell him!” Hanbin leapt up from his chair and made a grab for his phone, which was instantly thrown onto the bed, out of reach.

“Done.”

“You bastard! He’s gonna kill me!”

“I did give you a few minutes warning so that you could say your final prayers.”

Hanbin ignored his smug friend and ran over to the bed, picking up the phone, eyes widening when he saw a new message appear beneath the one Donghyuk had just sent.

Hanbin: Quitting uni

Jiwon: What???

Why??

Call me

Now

“How’d it go down?” Donghyuk called from his chair, met only with a glare. “That’s what I expected. Well, have fun!” With that he took the whole box of pizza and swiftly exited the premises, Hanbin’s shouts of abuse falling on entirely unbothered ears.

Hanbin looked down at his ringing phone, took a deep sigh and answered it.

“Yep?” He cringed a little as he said it. Probably not the best opener.

“What do you mean “yep”?” The reply confirmed this suspicion.

“I mean… Uh… Hi?”

A loud sigh. “Why, Bin?”

“It’s a greeting?”

“Not hi! Why are you quitting?”

“I’m sorry, hyung… I just can’t bring myself to do something I don’t love… I just feel like I’m wasting my life being miserable when I could be working on my music or something.”

“Bin, you’re twenty. You have one year left. Can’t you just get your degree and then have a go at music? Then you’ll at least have something to fall back on if it doesn’t work out.”

“I know, I know, I’m sorry…”

“You think ju