Chanyeol had gotten to bed at almost 11 p.m., after cleaning up and helping to close the store while his father drove Sun Hee eomonie home.

As Chanyeol bowed to Sun Hee eomonie in farewell, Mr. Park patted his son on the shoulder and told him “not to wait up,” which made Chanyeol blush as the adults laughed as if sharing some secret joke between them.

He still didn’t really know how he felt about this, if it did turn out that his father was dating again. He supposed it was just fine. His father was single and so was Sun Hee eomonie.  Mostly, he was simply bothered that his father wasn’t telling him anything. Should he ask his dad about it? Was that okay?

He decided to give his father until the weekend before initiating to ask. Matters of the heart were rather awkward and... he could be wrong. Maybe his Appa and Sun Hee eomonie simply remained close friends and had gotten more comfortable being around each other that it would seem as if romantic feelings would be involved.

But then, what did Chanyeol know?

To make himself fall asleep, he usually did some light reading (a few classical Chinese literature) or researched about something of interest. He switched on his trusty 4-year-old laptop, thinking to read up more extensively on gram stains and other related microbes so he could add some more on his notes to be submitted to his mentors the next morning.

As he was venturing into protozoans and algae—already a bit far off from gram strains—but they quickly caught his attention because of their diverse and various green color... which strangely reminded him of...

Mint chocolate chip ice cream.

Chanyeol suddenly was having a craving for it, when he hadn’t like that particular ice cream flavor before.

He exited out of the protozoans pdf and went over to Instagram, the website version, and searched for Kyungsoo’s account once again.

A smile bloomed on his face when he saw a brand new post, uploaded by Kyungsoo a couple of hours ago.

Welcome to my double life: Conducting a meeting

while doing schoolwork. >.<

It really was his student reading one of his modules, which Chanyeol guessed was the Chemistry one. And this latest post of Kyungsoo’s had already received half a million hearts, with so many positive comments below such as Kyungsoo being a good role model, and being studious...

He grimaced at some lewd comments of Kyungsoo looking y while he was studying, and being serious, etc., although the commenters didn’t lie. His student did look rather charming whenever he was focused on something, and, to him, Kyungsoo was looking especially attractive since he was reading a book...

How to “heart” a post anyway?

He quickly checked Google and was dismayed to discover that he had to have his own Instagram account in order to interact with Kyungsoo... or, at least on social media.

He was still contemplating when he lay on his bed and pulled on the covers, fetching his phone to check Kyungsoo’s Instagram once more. There were no more updates, just the people giving “hearts” to the Double Life post rising to almost 700,000 in a matter of minutes.

He clucked his tongue and decided to finally make an account.

After filling in his details, he was asked for a username.

His real name?

His first choice was cypark and there were several people using that already, in all forms and variations.

His next thought was to put something scientific, but then... he didn’t want to seem boring.

He wanted a username that Kyungsoo would recognize immediately, should he come across it. Chanyeol didn’t see even the most remote of possibilities, since his comment or “heart” would be buried under millions of others. Still, something was compelling him to try.

He typed in pcy_sunbae

And it was accepted, as no one had claimed or thought of this username before.

Would Kyungsoo-ssi instantly identify this as him?

It was slightly turning midnight and he was still not done with making his Instagram account. The page was very bare, though, and Chanyeol felt that something was missing, especially the profile picture.

Eotteoke?

He didn’t have any pictures of himself, let alone take selcas (at least that was what he heard his classmates refer to those pictures taken by oneself as). All he had in his photo gallery were screenshots of passages from books that he needed to refer to, since it was way faster than if he were to write them down.

And the only picture in his camera roll was... that screenshot of Kyungsoo.

Should... he make... that his profile photo in the mean time?

Was that... okay?

Chanyeol cringed as he assigned it as such, mixed feelings washing over him. At one end, he didn’t feel right about it, as if he was stealing Kyungsoo’s identity of sorts. Yet at the same time, there was something frivolous and fun about it... having someone as pretty as Kyungsoo as his avatar...

It was very odd, but it also put him in a state of high spirits, for some reason.

Anyway, it was for tonight and he just wanted to leave words of encouragement for his student.

Good thing that he didn’t necessarily have to follow Kyungsoo’s Instagram account (since he had already over 21 million) to be able to comment and “heart” his latest post.

  pcy_sunbae Hwaiting! I know you’re going to do great and will be able to catch up with the rest of your schoolwork soon.

And then he pressed POST.

And as predicted, an avalanche of comments and hearts engulfed his, by other accounts also using pictures of Kyungsoo, some of which he hadn’t even seen before.

Those couldn’t all be Kyungsoo, right? Why would Kyungsoo comment on his own post and call himself cuddly baby? (That particular comment almost made Chanyeol regurgitate his dinner).

Chanyeol fell asleep scrolling through Kyungsoo’s Instagram page once more, letting that beautiful, squishy face lull him to slumber.

He might or might not have dreamed of himself, featuring in one—or few—of Kyungsoo’s instagram posts in the future...

************

Chanyeol submitted his notes on the study of gram stains to Dr. Shim and Dr. Jung before lunch, which surprised and delighted his mentors at the same time. He also received an email from Dr. Do, thanking Chanyeol for the progress report of Kyungsoo’s school work and that the director was looking forward to more positive feedback from Kyungsoo’s principal for this week’s lessons.

He made sure to eat a hefty lunch this time, choosing roasted chicken, while discussing the newest Do Laboratories projects with his mentors. And ten minutes before the clock struck 1 p.m., he headed for the lockers to deposit his lab coat and ID and waited for Shin Shindong-ssi in the lobby.

The chauffeur smiled immediately when he saw the new intern waiting for him. “Glad that you’re on time today, Chanyeol-ssi.”

Chanyeol bowed at the chauffeur, even smiling a little, finally able to catch up with the motions of his new daily routine.

Traffic that Wednesday also cooperated, as he had arrived at the Gravity office by 1:45 p.m. He greeted Yeri upon reaching the 6th floor, and sat in the waiting area before Heechul-ssi exited his office to meet him.

“Kyungsoo-ssi said he had finished his Psychology, Chemistry and Economics modules last night so you will be checking those today,” Heechul-ssi updated him as they walked towards room 612.

The secretary opened the door and found that the room was empty.

“Now where did he go?” Heechul muttered, clucking his tongue as he walked into the office.

Chanyeol fidgeted with his fingers. He could already foresee another study session with only him as the sole attendee. Perhaps, yesterday, Kyungsoo-ssi’s compliance was merely a fluke.

Just then, the drapes covering the picture window moved as wind from outside entered the air-conditioned office. Heechul then pulled the heavy drapes aside to reveal sliding doors towards a grand balcony, where a small greenhouse was situated in the middle, completely hidden from its urban infrastructure.

And they saw Kyungsoo