It was easier ignoring Hyunjin when there were other people around, but that came with a lot of self control on Jeongin’s part. Being in Minho’s room with Changbin around as well, he was able to at least keep himself occupied in a conversation with the latter rather than keeping his eyes on his soulmate. Granted, the red string was still distracting, but there were a lot of other colours in the room that made the bright red almost blend into their surroundings.

“You had milk tea without us?” Minho asked, feigning a look of hurt.

“You guys had class,” came Hyunjin’s immediate answer. “Jeongin was lucky that he had free time.”

For once, the younger boy was glad Seungmin wasn’t around, otherwise his cover would have been blown. None of the other boys knew his schedule. So he nodded along to what Hyunjin said, smiling whenever the upperclassmen complained some more, and laughing whenever someone cracked a joke. It was weird to think that he had met them only the day before, since he was feeling more comfortable as time passed.

They met up with Seungmin in the cafeteria when lunch came around, who clearly looked surprised to find Jeongin already with his friends.

While Hyunjin bickered with Changbin about which food stall was best, Seungmin stared at his best friend with a pointed look.

“Did you see them on your way here or something?”

“Well,” Jeongin started, his eyes darting around nervously. “I went to this milk tea place.”

“With?”

“Hyunjin.”

“But your cla—“

His class should have ended just before lunch. Jeongin knew that was what Seungmin was about to say, if it weren’t for the way the younger immediately pulled up his best puppy dog eyed look with a silent plea to drop the topic. It was dropped, thankfully, for now. At least the younger boy can argue that he actually chose his soulmate instead of classes this time around, which meant he shouldn’t be called a nerd.

“Let’s make Jeongin judge,” Hyunjin said, loud enough for the others to hear him.

“What am I judging?” The freshman asked, noting the way Changbin immediately agreed, before disappearing with Hyunjin toward the food stalls, neither of them answering. Jeongin turned towards Minho, who was the only one actually listening to the two earlier, but even he looked lost. The brunette shrugged apologetically at Jeongin’s confused look.

A few minutes later, both boys returned with a tray of food.

“This is my favourite stall here,” Changbin said, sitting across the younger boy and placing a tray of what looked like tteokbokki in front of them. “So far, anyway.”

“It’s only his favourite because he hasn’t tried anything else,” Hyunjin said teasingly, taking his seat next to Jeongin again. He placed his own tray on the table, where a plate with a heaping bunch of fries drizzled with cheese lay. It also looked like it had bacon bits, beef bits, and some other kind of sauce. With the way smoke tendrils floated from the warm dish, it looked extremely tempting.

The older boy must have noticed the way Jeongin was staring and grinned smugly.

“Looks like I win already, Binnie.”

“Who chooses rice cakes over everything else in this cafeteria, anyway?” Seungmin added. “Plus, it’s so overpriced here. I could get a bigger serving on the streets outside.”

“You’re being biased because you don’t even like tteokbokki that much!” Changbin complained, but didn’t say anything else as he accepted his immediate defeat, much to Hyunjin’s delight. The latter laughed, an almost childish giggle that didn’t completely match his usual cool aura. It looked like his natural state, though; that was how Jeongin saw it as his eyes glanced towards the older boy, once again finding it hard to look away.

When their eyes met, Jeongin tried to think of something to say.

“Uhm, which stall is this from?”

“Second from the right,” Hyunjin answered.

Just when the younger boy nodded and stood up, he was stopped by a fingers curling around his wrist, pulling him back down. Yang Jeongin nearly fell over in his attempt to sit down quickly, his mind processing the way Hyunjin’s left hand—red string and all—was still holding onto him even when he had sat back down. It may have just been his imagination though, the way things felt like Hyunjin was holding for much longer than he should have, pulling back a few seconds too late.

“You can have this one,” the older boy said, pushing the tray towards Jeongin. “Take it as a welcome to university treat from an upperclassman.”

The younger boy was about to decline, after taking a few more seconds to process what was happening, but Hyunjin was already standing up from his seat.

“Also, I’ve got somewhere I have to be, so I don’t think I can eat anyway,” he said simply, flashing the rest a quick smile before walking off before anybody could ask.

Jeongin watched him leave without much thought, his eyes trained on the red string that grew thinner as the older boy disappeared from the area until it vanished from his sight as well. When he finally turned back to the rest of the guys he was with, he was surprised to find that none of them seemed confused. He suddenly remembered something along the lines of Changbin wondering whether Hyunjin would even eat lunch with them yesterday, which meant it must have been a common occurrence by now.

As if to help answer his silent questions, Seungmin sighed loudly.

“Does anybody know where he’s off to now?”

“Oh, he got a note in his locker earlier,” Minho said noncommittally, taking a bite from his burger, which he must have gotten up to buy during Jeongin’s dazed moments because the younger boy doesn’t remembering seeing Minho get up from his seat. Actually, he tended to miss most of the older boy’s actions, now that he thought about it. However, with the current topic at hand, the junior had Jeongin’s full attention.

Changbin grunted, “already? It’s just the second day.”

“You know how they are with him.”

Immediately, Jeongin turned towards Seungmin, waiting for his best friend to e