Kim Mingyu wholeheartedly acknowledged the fact he was a freaking mess. He reeked of alcohol and stumbled through the streets on the way home from the club singing current pop songs in an off-key, shrill voice. Although he heard remarks shouted from the windows of passing houses, he paid no heed. His life was already pretty ed up, he didn’t need to worry about people he’d (hopefully) never see again. 

When he reached the entrance of his apartment complex, he gripped the nearest wall and threw up all over it. He wiped the remainders on his face with the back of his hand and messily wiped that on the shirt he wore. He stood back and examined his mess; meh, the rain would wash it off and there weren’t any (working) security cameras here, so one would assume some random drunkard passing by would have thrown up. 

At this point, he didn’t even know what time it was. All he knew was that his throat burned up and he needed to get home as soon as possible and quench his thirst. 

As he climbed the stairs to his floor, he gripped the railing too tight and almost tripped on his face because he missed a step. He rushed to the first door on his left and attempted to push open it.

That was weird, didn’t he usually leave his door open whenever he went out? There was nothing valuable there, and it was just more convenient for him.

He was getting frustrated. His throat killed and he needed some water- fast. “Open up,” he groaned, not really knowing himself who that was intended for. 

Through his messy field of vision he could barely make out the numbers, wait, 2301? Wasn’t he 2300? Did he pass by his door while stumbling through?  He turned around and pushed open his real door, and flung himself onto his mattress, not giving two s about his parched throat. 

——
His head throbbed at the feeling of the sun leaking through the blinds. Letting out a groan, he sat up in his bed and ruffled his tousled hair. , what time was it now? What was the date? Did he have a part time job today? 

As he scrolled through his phone, recollections of last night rushed to his head. He probably scared the living daylights out of the next door neighbor. Come to think of it, didn’t the landlady say that the new tenant was moving in yesterday? Yikes, he probably ruined their impression of Grey Apartments forever. Deciding he’d try to apologize later today, he staggered towards the bathroom, still clutching his head. 

Not to brag, but when he saw his reflection in the mirror, he smirked. Although the rings around his eyes were deep, his looks were undeniably sharp. His jawline was sharp and his almond-shaped eyes were accentuated with kohl whenever he went out. His bronze skin was known as a killer attribute of his as he went through high school and now, college. He didn’t want to come off as conceited, but if he was a girl, he would definitely smash himself. 

But of course, college, being the ty of stage as it was, came along with an excess amount of stress. He had no idea what he was doing, at his second year of a photography major. He didn’t even know of any jobs in this major, like what, working at National Geographic? Was that even in Korea?

Maybe he could be like those freelance photographers who just roamed around and took pictures of random people on the streets and sold them at ridiculous prices. No, no, no. Who even attended those?

It wasn’t like he was talented enough to switch into another major. Photography was his interest, and he could either make it or break it. 

Groaning, he finished brushing his teeth and hopped into the shower. While the lukewarm (the water system here majorly ), beat down his back, he contemplated some more. 

Interestingly enough, he never took out his frustration in common ways other peers would (drugs, attempting suicide). He found satisfaction in the club. Every shot he took represented each one of his problems. Every sway of his hips was a way he let go of life and lived to his fullest. He seduced girls on the dance floor, but never did anything more with them. They were all reckless decisions which had a harmful aftermath. But he couldn’t stop. Alcohol was constantly in his system that he even joked that if he ever needed a blood transfusion, they could just pour some vodka through his IV. 

Was he planning on changing his habits anytime soon? He’d like to, but it’s gotten so accustomed in his life, if there wasn’t a weekly visit to the club his life would, essentially, feel incomplete. Besides, the habit wasn’t THAT bad. 

He stepped out of the shower and dabbed at his body with his towel. After pulling on some shorts and a tank top, appropriate attire in this ridiculous heat, he sat on his bed and checked his schedule again. 

School was starting in a few weeks, but his department would most likely shoot an email to everyone next week or so for a quick orientation for everyone. Great. He wasn’t looking forward to going back and dealing with everyone. He needed more vacation, as if 4 months weren’t enough. 

Sighing, he walked up to his kitchen cabinet and pulled out a box of granola bars. Fishing through it, he pulled out his favorite flavor- chocolate blueberry. Hey, no matter how menacing someone seems, they still gotta eat. 

After finishing his “breakfast”, he glanced at the clock ticking overhead. Its hands pointed 9 AM, which meant the garbage truck was coming around in 45 minutes. He made himself a mental plan of his schedule today: first, he’d take out the trash and head to the park for a quick jog at noon, then, he would (hopefully) stumble upon the next door neighbor and apologize for what happened last night. He hope he didn’t cause an uproar or something like that. 

____ 

Wonwoo did not have a great start to his day. He slept through his blaring alarms, so he couldn’t go out on a walk to explore the neighborhood like he intended to. The stupid birds outside wouldn’t shut up with their shrill squeaks and the teens roaming outside were just unnecessarily loud with their screaming. Were all city folk like this? Unnecessarily loud and obnoxious? Not to mention the creep banging on his door. 

It was times like this when he felt extremely homesick. While denying to his friends that he’d never miss their asses, he missed his family and the overall serene atmosphere of the countryside. The animals on the farm weren’t annoyingly loud as the birds here, and there was almost always nothing to do in the countryside. He hated doing anything that involved exerting physical force. 

It was now 10:46 and he was just groggily getting up. After finally sleeping at 5 AM (he checked prior, so it was a rough estimate, really), he hadn’t had the energy to get up and eventually his phone shut up.

To start off, he needed to check how much money he brought along with him. He saved up money as a kid to pursue his dream of studying in the city. Surprisingly, he saved over $400. This could afford him some groceries and take out food, just until he got a part-time job. 

That reminded him- he should start looking soon. With the school year approaching, a lot of vacant spots would be taken up by students. No way was he letting easy opportunities slip through his fingers like that. 

He freshened up and put on a shirt and skinny jeans. Jeonghan and Jihoon (not so much the latter) dragged him into the store a few days before he left and made him get a revamped wardrobe. 

“Firstly, try not to use your country accent. It makes you look like a dork.” Jeonghan had said from the wheel of his second-hand van. He managed to convince his parents to buy one so he could drive to college. He left out the details of this being a great make-out spot. 

“Why? It’s part of my culture. I shouldn’t be afraid of expressing myself.” Wonwoo knit his eyebrows from the passenger seat next to his friend. He pulled on his seatbelt and pouted. 

“,” Jeonghan said as he switched lanes. “What is this? Some acceptance campaign? I mean, at least maybe try to become a part of the city life. This is an opportunity of a lifetime, and you, you, you’ll just stick out like a sore thumb there.”

“Thanks, Han.” He grumbled under his breath. 

“He’s right,” a meek voice said from the back. Wonwoo turned and saw Jihoon, eyes never once leaving the phone in his tiny hands. He was pressing all over the screen quickly, and there was a victorious glint in his eyes every few seconds. 

“Shut up, Hoon. You clearly don’t give a about your friend. All you’re doing is playing games,” Wonwoo pettily sniffed as he whipped his head to face forward. 

Said boy leaned forward so he rested his chin on the seat of Wonwoo. The latter flinched when he felt his warm breath on his nape.

“Jesus Christ!” Wonwoo screamed as he inched away from Jihoon. Jeonghan smirked, one hand on the wheel and the other one on his lap. 

When they finally reached the store, Wonwoo felt sweat bead onto his forehead. “Guys, you know my fashion . Besides, this is all too expensive. Let’s go somewhere else, huh?”

Jihoon, in the middle of the three, clicked his tongue. “Frugal as always huh? Anyway, Jeonghan and I knew you’d be like this, so we pooled our money together. Think of this as.... a goodbye gift.” 

The three of them fell silent after that. They couldn’t believe their group would be splitting up. It all felt too surreal. 

Wonwoo hugged both of them. He would really miss them. 

After that, they entered the store and Wonwoo was hit with strong fragrances and the smell of soap. He wrinkled his nose. This place was the epitome of high-class. 

Jeonghan initiated everything. From the sections they visited to all the clothes he tried on. Jihoon spent majority of his time sitting on a bench outside the changing rooms and grunting whenever Wonwoo stepped out to see his friends’ opinions. 

Jeonghan, on the other hand, snickered whenever he saw Wonwoon come out. There were various choruses of “Gross!” “Country bumpkin” and “Ugly!”, all of which made Wonwoo frown. 

“Han,” he said after trying on some shorts and a shirt, to which he received a mixed reaction of giggles and silent nodding. “I don’t understand where you’re going with this. It’s clearly humiliating me because I don’t known anything about fashion.”

Dusting his pants, said boy got up from his chair. “Jesus Christ, I was waiting for you to acknowledge my distinct being in the fashion department,” he called dramatically. 
“Stop being a smartass. We all know you failed language arts class back in high school.” Jihoon called out, shifting his position from hunching his back over his phone to lying on it. 

Dismissing his thought, Jeonghan led Wonwoo to find an associate. This one looked like a high schooler-young and naive, just how Jeonghan liked his girls. 

“Hey cutie,” Jeonghan whistled. The said associate looked up with eyes resembling giant, brown orbs. She pouted her lips, then returned back to sorting clothes onto their hangers.

“Yes?” She said, not paying any attention to him. Wonwoo watched carefully from the side, studying his friend’s tactics which may or may not come useful in the city. 

Jeonghan leaned on the clothing stand, trying to have create y aura. Unfortunately for him, it had wheels and the sudden weight he forced onto it caused it to wheel away. The girl looked up at him with annoyed eyes, then followed it to prevent it from crashing into something. So much for being a flirt. 

Jeonghan turned and exchanged a nervous glance with Wonwoo, then was hot on the associate’s heel. 

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said, running alongside the stand. They were now on opposite sides of it, and the associate turned to him. 

“Hm?”

“I’m sorry for causing this commotion. Maybe I could get your number and make it up with a dinner?” 

Wonwoo facepalmed. He was betting $5 on the associate rejecting his advances. That was too straightforward for anyone’s liking. Realizing the pair were halfway around the store, he chased after them, begging to see more of this escalating situation. 

As expected, she did the typical shy-girl move and tucked a strand of her brown hair behind her ear. She grabbed the cart before it crashed into a display of women’s lingerie. Jeonghan, being the sly ert he was, smirked, causing his eyes to turn into tiny crescents. 

The poor associate bowed profusely and apologized, a slight blush creeping onto her face for the inappropriate place they were in. 

Jeonghan, on the other hand, took advantage of the setting. “Geez, things really escalated huh? Maybe we were destined to be together...?” His eyebrows were bouncing up and down, adding more dynamic to the situation at hand. 

The association chewed her lip nervously. “L-listen, customer, I’m really not interested..” her voice died down as he inched towards her. 

“Oh yeah?” He whispered in a dangerously low tone. “Are you sure about that?” 

“Yeah,” her shy aura disappearing. She walked up to him and put her lips close to his ear and whispered something to him. Wonwoo couldn’t hear because he was too far, but whatever it was, it made Jeonghan snap back. 

This time, Jeonghan was the one to back away and bow profusely, his face flushing a crimson red. Avoiding Wonwoo, he zoomed straight to all the clothes he tried on in the dressing room and gathered them all up i his arms hastily. 

“Jihoon, a little help here!” He called impatiently to the now-sleeping boy beside him. Fluttering his eyes open immediately, he lessened the load on his friend’s arms. 

“Guys,” Wonwoo called out of breath when he finally caught up with Jeonghan. “Han, what happened? No way, did she reject you?” He laughed. 

Jihoon’s eyes became as big as saucers. “Rejected? You? That’s unheard of. Maybe she just noticed your ugly face.”

Jeonghan rolled his eyes and carried the load and dismissed Jihoon’s thought. Though, his face flushed every time the two made a remark. 

“Wait, didn’t you say I looked bad in those?” Wonwoo pointed his chin in the direction of the bundle in Jeonghan and Jihoon’s embrace. 

“I was lying,” he responded coolly. 

“You aren’t doing this to me purposely to me up, right?” 

Jeonghan turned to his friend. “Shut up. I may be mean but I want the best for our Won. Besides, I only wanted to talk to, uh, her.” 

Jihoon was puzzled because he wasn’t there to witness the horrifying rejection, but he quickly caught on. 

As the trio loaded the clothes onto the belt, it just so happened it was time for the cashiers to switch their shifts. The current cashier sighed a sigh of relief as her replacement came. Lo and behold, it was the girl who rejected Jeonghan who came. 

She bid the 3 of them a good afternoon and asked if everyone found everything they were looking for. She got 2 answers in response, Jeonghan on the other hand tried to avoid any possible interaction with her. Whether she was just completely oblivious or pretend in order to , if she wanted to make Jeonghan feel as uncomfortable as possible, she was successful. 

While covering his face, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, tossing it to Jihoon. “H-here, take out my card. I, uh, need to check on the car or something.” Muttering words under his breath, he sped off outside into the parking lot. 

Shrugging, Jihoon took several packs of gum off the counter and put it on the conveyer belt. 

“Why?” 
“Han made me in charge of his card. Figured he’d need some of this as he drove,” Jihoon continued as he pulled out a card and signed it instead of his friend. After the purchases were finalized, the cashier bowed to the both of them and the two of them carried two bulky bags of clothing in their arms. 

“,” Wonwoo groaned as he dragged it to the parking lot. “This would’ve been so much more efficient with 3 people.”

“Too bad Jeonghan was a wuss and ran away,” Jihoon grumbled equally as annoyed as Wonwoo. When they finally reached the car, they loaded the back and Jihoon threw the pack of gum onto Jeonghan’s head when they climbed in. 

“,” Jeonghan moaned as he rubbed his head. “What was that for?”

“For abandoning us back there. My arms are going to be sore thanks to someone.” Wonwoo answered, rubbing his throbbing arms. 

There was a silence as Jeonghan drove. He was chewing the gum and concentrating on the road. Wonwoo pulled out the mirror designated for his seat and made eye contact with Jihoon, who, surprisingly, wasn’t on his phone. 

They both sent each other telepathy and nodded. “So, Jeonghan, why exactly did she reject you?” 

Jeonghan sighed behind the wheel. “Well, uh, she said she wasn’t straight. And wasn’t interested in guys like me even if she weren’t gay.” 

Wonwoo and Jihoon both burst out in fits of laughter. “No way! No ing way!” Jihoon yelled from the backseat. 

“I know, right? I’m dead. Mr. Womanizer finally met his match!” Wonwoo howled from the seat next to Jeonghan, who faced him and glared. 

Deciding to even more, Jihoon lay his cards. “Holy Jeonghan! Look front!”, widening his eyes to dramatize the event. 

“!” Jeonghan roared, only to see the car on the right side of the road. “You guys are es.” He muttered when Jihoon and Wonwoo started exploding into more fits of laughter. 

Wonwoo smiled as he recalled the happy events. He was looking even more forward to his friends’ visit. They’d probably stay the night, and God knows what kind of mess they’d end up in. 

Interrupting his thoughts was a voice from the door. “Hey, unit 2301? You home? I-it’s the guy from last night.” 

Oh my ing God.