“You mean… Eunha goes here? At my university?!” The surprise in Seokwoo’s voice was clear as day even through the phone. Of course, it did help that Youngho had a very expensive car with an exceptional speaker system.

“Yeah, how could you have been going there for four years and not seen her once?” Youngho shook his head as he drove, his grip tight on the steering wheel out of nervous excitement.

“It’s a huge school…” Seokwoo meekly retorted. It was that or the fact that Seokwoo hadn’t paid that much attention when he was walking around campus. “But if I haven’t seen her here in the past four years, what makes you think you’re going to find her in one day?”

Youngho mumbled under his breath, swearing at his best friend. Seokwoo heard this all too clearly and chuckled. “I’m just looking out for you bro, I don’t want you to get your hopes up.”
Youngho sighed. He knew Seokwoo was just being honest and realistic, as he always was. This was just a sensitive topic for Youngho. Kim Seokwoo had been his best friend since childhood, and had been the only person that Youngho stayed in touch with after he left for the States and returned. Youngho begin to doubt himself. If Seokwoo, who never left Korea had never run into Eunha once in the past years, what made Youngho think that he would after one hour of trying to find her? “Sorry, I know you’re right.” He sighed again as he reached a stoplight. Should he even go anymore? Was this even going to work? Did he even have a chance at finding-

“You should go and at least try, Youngho. It doesn’t hurt.” Although he was a realist, he didn’t want his best friend to lose hope. Okay, Seokwoo was right. It didn’t hurt to try, just don’t ge your hopes up. Youngho mustered a deep breath as his grip around the wheel grew tighter.

“Okay okay I’ll try, I’ll update you.” He hung up and pulled into the university’s parking lot, parking in a space that allowed him to oversee the grounds of the campus.

Taking a deep breath, he began scanning the campus. It was packed, with students hanging out, walking, or fooling around. There was no way he could find her from here.

He straightened his suit out as he got out of the car, feeling out of place. It made sense though, a rich CEO in training on the campus surrounded by carefree college students? What a contrast. He hesitated for a bit but shook his head. No, he was going to find her. He knew it, he just had a feeling. He stepped onto campus, ignoring the whispers around him.

Of course people knew who he was. Isn’t that Seo Youngho of SEO Broadcasting? He’s hot. What’s he doing here? Youngho kept his head up, hiding his anxiousness about finding Eunha from displaying on his face. He had been trained to keep a good public image, and his dad would especially kill him if he destroyed it after abruptly taking off work. He scanned the faces that had turned to look at him as he walked past. No. Not Eunha. Nope. He walked along the paths and scanned both sides, but no luck. Youngho had made it almost all the way across the campus and was starting to give up. Taking a seat on a nearby bench, he fidgeted with his watch. Should he search the buildings too? This was only a small part of campus. Oh my god, this was an impossible mission. He should quit… no. Youngho was quite an indecisive person, but he was sure of one thing: he was going to find Eunha no matter how long it took.

Getting up again with renewed confidence, he turned a corner towards the first building which read “Social Sciences”. A little way from the building stood a pair, a boy and a girl laughing, the girl’s back towards him and the boy’s face turned away. Youngho breezed past the pair, looking around when he heard the girl’s laugh. The girl’s very familiar laugh, one that he would never forget.

He abruptly spun around, now at a position where he stood a few feet away from the pair but he and girl were facing each other.

“Eunha.” Youngho’s heart pounded as he called her name, who seemed to be frozen. The boy she was talking to turned around as well and immediately scowled at Youngho, positioning himself in a more protective stance in front of Eunha.. Of course it was Hanbin, still attached to her as always.

Eunha’s face seemed to shift emotions, from shock, to fear, to anger, to sadness. Youngho had prepared for this, he didn’t think she would be happy to see him. When he weighed out the potential scenarios in his head, he knew the talk between them after reuniting wouldn’t be lighthearted.

But what was happening now was a scenario that Youngho didn’t foresee. Eunha still hadn’t moved and Youngho hadn’t either, and Hanbin sure as hell had not budged from his protective position. After what felt like eternity, Eunha seemed to come to her senses and took a deep breath. Youngho too took a step towards her, but then Eunha turned the opposite direction. And she ran.

 

Howon and Minjun picked pieces of napkin out of their hair as they crossed the street from their apartment complex to the campus. It was a good thing they lived so closeby. When they reached their sides of the street they parted ways and headed to their own obligations. Minjun was headed to a campus rep photoshoot thing and Howon was headed to class.

It was early in the morning but Howon liked having his classes early so he could do as he pleased the rest of the day. Usually he would have his morning workout and head straight to class but a day after drinking was an exception.

He leisurely made his way to his first class, not hesitating to blatantly check out a few girls as he walked past them and sending a few winks their way. He took a turn towards the direction of his class and that was when he saw a girl laughing with her friends. Oh no. That was his ex, the crazy one that had made him late to the party the night before. It was way too early in the day to be dealing with that type of bull, he took a few hurried steps backward and turned around abruptly. He would just have to take a different way to class.

“Oh hey, it’s you!” In his hasty attempt to escape he had bumped straight in to… Park Hyeri. Who was now looking at him with an amused, bright grin.

Great, what a way to start his morning. “Hey,” he said. God, he should have stayed in bed like Jackson and Jacob. He definitely had let his guard down a little too much at that party with her and was more vulnerable than he would have liked to be around girls. Especially only during their first conversation. It was definitely the alcohol.

He started walking back in the direction from which he came from and to his dismay Hyeri followed suit.

“Don’t you have a class to go to?” Howon avoided making eye contact with her. He was keeping his distance for now. She was fascinating yes, but that scared him. The only two real girls in his life were his mom and his sister no room for anyone else.

“Nope. Just came to campus to pick up a few textbooks,” Hyeri replied, matching his quickened pace with her long legs… Howon stopped looking at her legs and stared straight ahead. Maybe if he didn’t talk she would go away?

“Are you going to class right now?”

“Yup.”

“Ooh which class?”

“Finance.”

“Is that your major too?’

“Yes.”

“Hey, what does this tattoo on your arm represent? You mentioned last night-”

Howon stopped and glared at her, but the latter seemed unfazed. His glare didn’t waver though, she was prying too much and he was getting annoyed. “Can you mind your own ing business?”

Hyeri didn’t budge, her confident smile remaining on her face as she slightly tilted her head in amusement. Okay, he had to admit that was hot. “Nope.” Aight just kidding.

“Hey…” Hyeri suddenly leaned in, her eyes focused on his face. Howon’s eyes widened as she got closer. What was she doing? Didn’t he basically just tell her to off-

She grinned in amusement as she plucked a piece of napkin that he had missed earlier off of his head, grabbing his hand and placing the piece of napkin in it. “Recycle this.”

Howon scoffed in disbelief and continued walking at a faster pace. Hyeri had no trouble continuing to match his pace.

Howon stopped again and turned to her in exasperation. “What do you want?”

“A date.” She was looking at him with that unwavering expression of confidence again.

“What?”

“I’ll pick you up at 7. Your place.” She winked at him and strutted off, leaving him absolutely dumbfounded. What just happened?

Yijeong had arrived at the front of the school first thing in the morning and was seated on a staircase, wearing university gear and posing for the camera. She was voted the most popular campus representative and was chosen to participate in a photoshoot to advertise the university. Her male counterpart for this photoshoot? Minjun…

Her cheeks flushed at the thought of him, like the always did. She couldn’t help it. If Jinah and Hyejoo were with her now they would be endlessly teasing her as they always did, and pestering her for the millionth time to confess. Yeah, no thanks.

Her two best friends were going to meet her after the photoshoot though, they all had a finance class together. But first…

“Yijeong!” Minjun was headed towards her in university gear that matched hers. Couple clothing in her imagination. He gave her an effortless wave and flashed her a smile with the dimples that she was absolutely in love with, she almost swooned.

“Perfect, my two models are both here! Let’s get started, shall we?” The photographer exclaimed, and began posing them side by side.

The first parts of the photoshoot were easy for Yijeong. Taking photos was a second nature to her and although Minjun was close, it wasn’t enough to hinder her performance.

“Now for the couple photos,” the photographer nodded at them, expectant. Yijeong’s eyes widened.

“Couple photos?” she asked in dismay. The photographer nodded. “Of course. We want to promote that you can even find love here at Yeongi University!”

“Yes sir. Easy. Right, Yijeong?” Minjun flashed that smile at her again and all she could do was nod in agreement.

He casually slung his arm around her shoulders and pulled her closer and tilting his face towards hers. Okay, now Yijeong’s heart was pounding and it took all her power to focus on the shoot and her performance.

God, it was pounding so hard she wore Minjun could hear it. The took a few photos in that pose and Minjun then laced his fingers with hers, making direct eye contact with her and smiling and telling her to do the same.

Yijeong felt a blush creep across her cheeks as she held his eye contact and the photographer shot away, yelling compliments and praise. Okay, this photoshoot was a blessing in disguise. She never had been so close to Minjun before, and this was their first time doing something like this.

Is he feeling what I’m feeling? She couldn’t tell. But she was convinced that he couldn’t tell what she was feeling either. What’s another year to add to the past few that she has had feelings for him?

Minjun wasn’t blind, he could see Yijeong’s feelings translate across her face clear as day. Everyone saw it, and it was pretty often too. He pretended not to, though. It was kinda cute. But what could he say, he had that effect on girls.

“These pictures are going to turn out great,” he said confidently to her, positioning himself behind her in a back hug and resting his head on hers.

These poses were too easy for him, they were basically a second nature. This was so easy it was basically nothing.

Sarang pulled the sleeves of Yeolhwa’s borrowed hoodie further so they covered her hands too. She was never ever drinking again, that’s for sure. She had one headphone in her right ear blasting Day6 as she made her way to class. As her all time favorite group blessed her ears, she instantly began to feel better. Yup, Day6 was the answer to all her problems.

She was a little disappointed in herself, she missed a first day of school breakfast with her brothers, something they usually celebrated. Her grandparents were dropping her siblings off to her right after class though, so they could at least do something together then. Although some might not have tight bonds with their family, Sarang had no shame in being a family girl.

First, she had to get through her first class of her college career. She entered the classroom and took a seat closer to the back. Hopefully professors didn’t call on people in college, but you could never be too safe. This was a criminal justice class, at least it was something Sarang had interest in.

Soon class began, but Sarang was not having it as she slouched lower in her seat, beginning to doodle on her notebook.

“...will be having partners for your first project.” WAIT WHAT? Sarang sat upright as she heard the last part of her professor’s spiel. Partners? Oh god, she absolutely despised working with other people. Some people just never did the work, or couldn’t communicate… ugh. She rested her head on her palm as the professor began calling out pairs.

“Jung Sarang and Kim Seungmin.” Sarang raised her hand, and soon her partner was standing in front of where she sat.

“Hey.” She looked up to see Kim Seungmin standing over her, with a bright friendly smile and his eyes crinkled into little crescent moons. “I’m Seungmin.”

“Hi, I’m Sarang,” she scooted over so he could take the seat next to her. She stared at him. Something about him was vaguely familiar. She couldn’t place it though. Her eyes squinted at him, tilting her head slightly. Where had she seen him before?

Wait, this must’ve looked so weird to him. “Sorry, you just seem so familiar to me. Have we met before?” she asked him with a sheepish smile.

He nodded and gave her a smile. “Yeah we have, it’s nice to officially meet you.” What did he mean, officially meet her?

“I’m sorry, but where-?”

“CLASS DISMISSED. MEET WITH YOUR PARTNERS OUTSIDE OF CLASS!” the professor called, leaving the classroom. Wow, was this what university classes were always like?

Sarang and Seungmin left the classroom building together when Sarang was tackled by two tiny humans. “NOONA!!”

Laughing, she bent down and ruffled both of their hair, giving them a hug and replying with the same amount of energy. “HI!!”

She released them from their hug and that was when William the four year old noticed Seungmin.

“William and Bentley, this is my classmate-”

“GROCERY HYUNG!” William tackled Seungmin’s legs, and Seungmin lifted him in the air.

“Wait what?” Sarang asked. It was too early for this, her brain wasn’t properly functioning.

“We met at the grocery store that one time before with your brothers, remember?” Seungmin asked, picking up Bentley in his arms as well.

“Grocery… OH.” Sarang remembered the little encounter between Seungmin and her brothers, where he had helped them out in the grocery store when they had wandered from their sister.

“Noona what are you doing with grocery hyung?” Three year old Bentley asked, poking Seungmin’s face.

“Oh, well we’re partners for criminal justice class,” Sarang explained, before a look dawned on her face. “We’re partners in crime, get it?” She laughed at her own joke.

Seungmin raised an amused eyebrow at her wordplay. “Partners in crime?”

“Yeah, get it? We’re partners for a criminal justice class.. But if you shorten it… it’s crime. So we’re partners in crime.”

Seungmin laughed and shook his head in mock disbelief. “Alright, partners in crime.” Little did he know what that statement would mean for the two of them later.
 

Done with class for the day, Yeolhwa lounged on a bench at the campus’s garden and took in the views, analyzing which areas she could best take photos in.

“Yeolhwa!” a boy appeared at the garden’s entrance, his eyes bright and two cups of coffee in her hand. She greeted him with a small smile as he handed her one of the cups of coffee, the lid clear in order to show off the aesthetic foam design. She handed him her phone and stood to position herself in front of one of the areas of the garden she had previously decided was good for photos, and he automatically snapped away, capturing “candid” photos of Yeolhwa and her coffee.

As Yeolhwa looked through the photos, and gave a nod of approval. “These are nice Kyuwon, thanks!” She proceeded to take a huge swig of her coffee. He beamed at her approval and took a sip of his own coffee. This was a normal routine for the two of them. Kyuwon was one of the only people she let her guard down around. He was part of her campus fanclub (yes, she had one) and at first him following her around was weird and annoying. But his intentions were all pure, he simply worshipped the ground that she walked on and it was endearing how he doted on her. Plus, he shared similar interests as her, he wasn’t all too bad to keep around. He was kind of like her.. pet? Okay, maybe not pet. Brother. Yeah, brother. He was like a brother to her, seemingly younger although they were the same age.

“Do you have any plans today?” she asked him, resting her arm on the bench and getting comfortable.

Kyuwon nodded. “My best friend Jisun is actually on campus today, the dog shelter that he works at has an event so I’ll probably head there after.” Yeolhwa nodded, not bothering to feign interest. She wasn’t a big fan of animals. She hadn’t met any yet but… still.

Kyuwon observed her reaction before perking up with an idea. “Want to come with me?” Yeolhwa started to decline but made the mistake of looking into Kyuwon’s eager eyes. God, why was this boy so pure and innocent? She sighed. She didn’t have any plans for the rest of the day… fine.

Yeolhwa reluctantly allowed Kyuwon to drag her across campus to a fenced off area where the dog shelter was holding their event. “JISUN!” he called when they drew near, waving to a guy who seemingly was in charge. Jisun greeted Kyuwon and the two became immersed in conversation, while Yeolhwa stood a few feet away with her arms crossed, staring at the dogs in disdain.

She was in the middle of making a face at one of the dogs that barked at her when her name was called, and she found herself being dragged in front of Jisun. “Yeolhwa, this is my best friend Park Jisun!” Yeolhwa nodded at Jisun absentmindedly and greeted him with a short “hello,” her arms remaining crossed. Her gaze returned to the dogs soon after. Jisun looked Yeolhwa up and down, taking in her fancy, over the top outfit that definitely was too much for a day at school in his opinion. Like… who wears heels? He scoffed when Yeolhwa didn’t even bother to hide her lack of manners and rolled his eyes. Spoiled rich girl.

Kyuwon was oblivious in the two’s lack of interest and beamed. “Now my two favorite people have met each other!” At that moment a 4-year old gray mutt approached Yeolhwa, lightly rubbing against her leg with a small whine. Yeolhwa immediately jerked back, stepping away to hide behind Kyuwon. The mutt followed her, and soon she was speed walking in circles trying to get away from it. “MAKE IT STOP!” she said.

“It’s a she,” Jisun said as he stifled a laugh at the unbelievable scene. “Her name is Byul. Just stop running.” Yeolhwa stopped per his orders and stared at Byul, who proceeded to sit at her feet. “You can pet her, you know.”

Yeolhwa cautiously bent down and gave Byul two quick pats before straightening up again. “I don’t typically.. Associate with animals.”

Jisun scoffed in disbelief again. Who did she think she was? “You don’t associate with dogs, you treat them with kindness and show them love.” He joined Yeolhwa’s side and kneeled, rubbing Byul’s stomach which the dog clearly enjoyed.

Slowly, Yeolhwa crouched down too, getting closer to Byul. “Try it,” Jisun said. Yeolhwa reached out a cautious, perfectly manicured hand and starated to rub Byul’s stomach, copy Jisun’s gestures. Byul closed her eyes in content and began wagging her tail, which amused Yeolhwa. It surprised her that Byul was so easily satisfied. Unconsciously, a smile graced her face as she continued rubbing the dog’s belly.

Jisun who was observing this found himself staring at Yeolhwa, whose demeanor had completely changed. Pretty... he thought. Wait what? Shut up.

“So what are these dogs here for?” Yeolhwa asked. “They provide stress relief to students. Plus having events here is good publicity for getting them adopted,” Jisun replied, still trying to shake off that thought of her being pretty.

“Why don’t you just buy them homes then?” Okay, that thought was gone. This girl was dumb as . “I can help find them homes and give some donations,” she offered.

Jisun abruptly shook his head. “We’re fine, thank you.” There was no way he was going to accept help from a spoiled rich girl who probably couldn’t wait to share how she was “helping the community” on social media.

Hana lay on her bed near a pile of clothes that she had decided not to wear that day. She would clean it later… maybe. She had the room to herself for now, Hyeri had left to do who knows what. Not after forcing Hana to download tinder. Hana was reluctant to use it but she had to admit Hyeri had done a good job creating her profile, scrolling through hundreds of photos and critiquing each one for literally an hour until she narrowed down her final choices. “Your pictures each have to send a message,” Hyeri had stated earlier. “When I come home you better have some matches I swear Hana…”

Hana knew Hyeri was harmless and took no heed to her warning. She wasn’t ready to date yet, she knew that for sure. But Tinder didn’t always mean she had to date right? She could just have fun with it… but she wasn’t even sure if she wanted to have fun. Her phone was still open on the app and Hana stared at the screen. Alright, why not.

4 hours later, Hana was knee deep in matches on the apartment’s couch, clicking from one chat to the next. She still wasn’t doing it seriously, of course. Most of these conversations were all superficial. But still, the attention and flattery was nice to have. Maybe she could even meet some new friends here, she needed some of those.

Her past trainee life meant all of her old friends were still training for Pledis, or had debuted already. She missed them, especially Minggyu, whom she was close to. But his life of being an idol didn’t make him that available, and hanging out would mean hanging out with all of Seventeen and seeing Chan…

Hana shook herself from her thoughts and replied to her latest conversation notification. She had to admit, he was cute. Kim Jongin was his name. And so far, she had the most fun talking to him, it was the only conversation so far that seemed to go beyond formalities and have any substance. In the short time that they talked, she’d learned so much about him already and found a lot in common. He wasn’t in school, but worked as a dance instructor and commercial dancer instead. Dancing had been her specialty as a trainee, and she had to admit she was having fun bonding over it.

Yeolhwa came home at that moment, and Hana turned to greet her with a wave. Although the two of them had only recently met, they had grown a liking to each other.

“Whatcha up to?” Yeolhwa asked, pulling leftovers from an expensive restaurant out of the fridge and sticking them in the microwave.

“Oh… nothing…” Hana smiled sheepishly. She didn’t want to admit she was on a dating app. Yeolhwa’s eyes narrowed. She knew for sure Hana meant nothing. “Dating app?”

Hana bolted upright. “How did you know?” Yeolhwa grinned. “I didn’t, but now I do.” Hana couldn’t help but laugh, chucking one of the couch’s pillows in Yeolhwa’s direction. That girl was definitely smart.

“Find anyone cute?” Yeolhwa asked, putting her now heated food on a plate and grabbing a utensil.

“Uh… I have been talking to this one guy. I don’t really plan on meeting up with anyone though.”

“ it Hana, yolo.” Yeolhwa said, picking up the pillow that Hana had thrown and tossing it back at her, leaving and going back into her room.

Hana stared at her conversation with Jongin once more. Should she? He had hinted at going on a potential date, but she had casually avoided the question. She hugged the pillow that Yeolhwa had thrown, her fingers playing with the fringe.

Not yet. She wasn’t ready, wasn’t sure if she could move on just yet. She could talk to this guy a little more and decide what to do later.

At that moment, she got a text. She opened it, smiling in surprise. It was Minggyu. He must have finally gotten a break.

Mingyu: HANA

Hana: Mingyu!

Mingyu: It’s been awhile, hows life at uni? We just finished our photoshoot for our album and we finally get to take a break before we start promoting again LOL

Hana: It’s only been a day but i’ve been having fun! My roomies are great you would love them hehe

Mingyu: Are they cute?

Hana: shut up.

Mingyu: Chan’s right next to me. I told him I’m texting you and he hit me...but he says hi! I’m saying what i’m typing outloud...oOOH his ears are RED OK HE HIT ME AGAIN

Hana closed out of the conversation, her own cheeks feeling a little hot. She ran her hand through her hair and opened up tinder again. She had to get over this feeling, she had to. “About what you said about meeting up…” she typed.