Chapter 5

Freezing

A short while later and they were headed over to Seungyoon’s apartment to enjoy the dinner Jinwoo had promised. Seunghoon greeted them happily before turning his attention back to Jinwoo.

    "I think I smell something burning for real this time" he said making a serious face. 

    "I smell it too, I smell it too" Jinwoo complained with a stressed expression on his face and quickly pulled something out of the oven. 

The tray of bacon was sizzling away on the metallic foil and despite having some charred edges did it look pretty good. 

    "What are you making?" Seungyoon asked peering over Jinwoo’s shoulder to see two frying pans with something that looked like crêpes. 

     "It’s dinner pancakes, a colleague at work gave me the recipe after seeing it on a cooking show" Jinwoo explained, while fishing the hot bacon into a bowl with a fork.

    "I didn’t know you could make bacon in an oven" Mino mused before snatching a piece out of the bowl Jinwoo just put on the table. 

They ate happily and it weren’t bad at all, he asked Seunghoon about his participation at the student festival which he happily elaborated about even though it was still in the really early stages of planning.

After dinner had they all hung out for a while chatting before Jinwoo asked if it was fine if he a football game, the rest weren’t that keen on tuning in and so they split up. 

He still got some reading to do for school and so he told Mino good evening after agreeing to going to campus together the next morning after breakfast. 

Once he was alone in his bedroom did it feel almost impossible to focus on the reading material. His mind kept going to the next day and also the way Mino had acted around him today. 

The way he kept touching him while speaking, the way their eyes kept meeting at random times. He might just be imagining things, because Zico did much of the same things to him too, so it might just be habits the group of friends had developed over time without becoming aware of it. To him it felt special though. 

    "Special" he said out loud before starting to read at the top of the same page for the third time. 

If he was to be completely honest with him self was there only thing to conclude with, and that was that yet again had his feelings gone and done it big time. There was no denying it, he was smitten.

He dropped his book on the bed and picked up his pillow. He was part embarrassed, part elated and part frustrated. 

Embarrassed on his own behalf for falling for someone within the first month of starting school, elated because despite everything didn’t it seem like all hope yet was lost and frustrated because, how the hell was he supposed to handle all of this while making music and doing well at school? 

Come bedtime and he had done zero reading and a lot of soul searching. Deciding how to handle this realization was more difficult than expected, but in the end was there only one thing to do: be true to his feelings, but cautious because there was a lot at stake. 

Laying on his back in the darkness repeating the word "cautious" to himself he had already concluded by the time he fell asleep that this probably was the beginning of another heartbreak. 

After all, Seunghoon had seen Mino with another woman. He was a man, why in the world would Mino ever think of him in such a way, when there were so many gorgeous women out there. 

The last thing he did before falling asleep was to let out a huge sigh, he always did this; made things difficult for himself.

That night he had the weirdest of dreams, one where he was chasing something half of the time and being chased the other half. Once he finally woke up was he more exhausted than he had been going to bed the night before. 

Having awoken before his alarm was there no surprise that the other two were still fast asleep in their bedrooms. The door to Jinwoo’s room were slightly open and a light snore could be heard while a pair of angry eyes peered over at him, judging him for some unknown reason. 

It was still another hour until he would be meeting with Mino to leave for school and so he opted for a long hot shower before breakfast. 

When he returned from the shower were Jinwoo up, sitting on the sofa petting his cat with one hand and looking at his phone with the other. 

    "Morning" Jinwoo greeted him without looking up. 

    "Morning" he replied while starting to make himself breakfast. 

There was a lot on his mind that morning and when Jinwoo said something were he so deep in thought that he didn’t catch it. It was only when Jinwoo got up and poked him on the shoulder asking if he was okay that he realized someone had been speaking to him. 

    "Sorry, what?" he asked before taking a big bite of his breakfast. 

    "I just asked if you are okay" Jinwoo assured him, giving him a small pat on the shoulder. 

    "I just didn’t sleep too well, nightmare" he admitted gulping down his coffee. 

He went on explaining his nightmare in short before waiting for Jinwoo’s opinion. He too was making himself breakfast now and looked over to Seungyoon once he stopped speaking: 

    "It’s probably just your mind working in overdrive to process all these new things in your life. New town, new home, new people, new school, lots to learn.." Jinwoo finally replied after giving it some thought. 

Having it explained that simply he felt better, Seungyoon weren’t someone who usually let dreams get to him, but with his realization the night before he felt it might be in relation to his feelings. That he couldn’t tell Jinwoo however. 

    "Thank you for listening to me" he said feeling grateful that he was living with someone as understanding as Jinwoo. 

    "Anytime" Jinwoo said and held up his coffee mug as if to toast him. He held up his too and they both smiled at each other. 

He waited in the hall with his beanie and scarf already tightly wrapped around his face when Mino showed up. 

    "It’s that cold eh?" Mino said and made a 180 going back to the apartment. A minute later and he too was wrapping himself in a scarf and some mittens. 

    "Bus, or scooter?" Mino asked peering out through the glass onto the windy street outside. 

    "It’s Sunday so we might have to wait a while for the bus" he said causally. 

    "Right right, scooter then?" Mino said, tying his scarf in an odd knot probably to make sure it didn’t come loose as they drove. 

    "Sure" he replied and they stepped outside. 

He ran into trouble while putting on the helmet because he had kept his beanie on underneath it. Fumbling with the strap under his chin he soon gave up and was about to take the helmet off again when Mino offered to help. 

Feeling Mino’s cool touch as his hand brushed several times over his chin and once past his cheek he struggled to keep a straight face. 

There was no denying the butterflies who had been laying dormant making the occasional flutter at the thought of the scooter ride had now burst into full samba having his faces accidentally caressed this early in the morning. 

    "Don’t freeze to ice while we ride there" Mino warned him and poked his cheek. "Your face is already turning red from the cold" he added before turning to pull the scooter out onto the road. 

It’s not the cold he thought to himself hoping he would get better at controlling his feelings with time or else could things get embarrassing fast. 

It was only as they started on the drive to campus he started wondering if how Zico would get up there. He had forgotten for a moment that he would be meeting them there. 

Keeping a tight grip on Mino’s waist he ducked down behind his back more than necessary to hide from the cold wind. At first he had attempted to keep a distance between their bodies, but the colder he got the less he cared. In the end he was almost resting his face on Mino’s back feeling terribly conflicted about the entire situation as he loved the closeness but despised the cold. 

When they arrived at campus was he surprised at how many people there were actually to be seen around this early on a Sunday. Mino explained that several of the clubs used to meet at this time and that there was a sports tournament happening down on the field which the school was responsible for organizing. 

They made their way to their faculty on campus and since Mino already got his student ID was there no trouble getting inside to the music room. Seungyoon had yet to receive his and he was kinda dreading it because he had sneezed when his picture was taken. 

The only other people there was a group of girls who was dressed in dancing gear, one tying up a pair of ballerina shoes as they walked by. They were all silent as they passed, but he caught them whispering between them once they were a bit further down the hall. Mino paid them no attention and kept looking at his phone. 

When they finally arrived at the studio Zico had booked was there no Zico to be seen. Still feeling pretty cold he blew warm breath onto his bright red hands hoping to regain some feeling in them before Zico arrived. He would be no good on the guitar if his hands were stiff as twigs. 

    "I’ll get us something hot to drink while we wait for Mr. Slow- to get here" Mino said and left him standing by the door to wait for Zico. 

To his surprise was it Zico who showed up before Mino did. He was accompanied by the dancer girls chatting in animated way before coming to a halt before him. 

    "Where is Mino?" Zico asked looking around. "I brought along one of his fans" he added and one of the girls laughed a little before telling him not to say it like that. 

    "Fetching coffee" Seungyoon replied simply watching the girl who was a fan, but not a fan giggle and turn to look down the hall. She was beautiful, with long brown hair and tiny feminine features, there was no denying that. One of the other girls started asking what they were doing at school this early on a Sunday. 

    "Recording a new song, it’s for school, but also if it turns out well for the concert at the festival" Zico explained and the way he spoke about it made it sound like it was something they did all the time. For Mino and Zico that might just be the case, but for him it was something new and exciting