Minho was rather early to orientation and was checking his phone, reading the messages being spammed by both Kibum and Jongin in their group chat, who were running terribly late.

“Why is it on a Saturday? AND WHY IS IT AT 9 AM???”

Minho sighed, chuckling. He had expected their group chat to be more or less this chaotic due to the early schedule on the weekend. The bright side was that the school had arranged a light breakfast for people who’d obviously skip it because they’d be running late. He had taken a picture of the cafeteria and posted it to the group. He was also posting other details, like how they had assigned seat numbers and couldn’t just sit anywhere, and that the event would be done by 12 PM. After hearing that, despite running late, Kibum had started to make lunch plans.

Minho’s seat number was 81, in one of the last rows, and the one next to him, in 82, was someone called Choi Sooyoung, who was also running late from the look of it. He sighed again, pocketing his phone, and watched the stage being set up by the Events Club members. 

There were barely five minutes to go and, surprisingly, only half of the auditorium was full. Minho pulled out his phone again, trying to find something on it to pass his time. 

It was right then that someone had taken seat number 82 and Minho turned to look at them, finding it to be a guy. He was wearing a black cap that had pierced loops on the side and he took it off briefly, running his fingers through his moist hair before he put it back on and rested back in the seat. His ears were pierced too and his fingers, drowning in the sleeves of his oversized sweatshirt, were clad with so many rings. He was looking at the stage with wrinkled brows and Minho found his expression a bit hilarious but suppressed his chuckle and just turned back to his phone.

“Hey, I forgot to wear glasses–” He had started and Minho furrowed his brows, a bit unsure if he was really talking to him because there really was no one else in the row. “I just told mom I wore contacts because then she would have turned around, I wouldn’t be late but she’d be late to work.” He was tugging at Minho’s sleeve, turning to him finally, “Where is–”

He had stopped abruptly, blinking as he looked at Minho for a few moments, realizing that he had got the wrong person. He meekly let go of Minho’s sleeve that had been pinched between his little fingers and his face began to redden, “,” He whispered to himself, before raising his voice slightly, “I’m so sorry. I… I thought you were my friend.” He got up immediately, looking closer at the seat number pasted on the back of the chair, “82, , I read it as 32,” He cleared his throat, his tone so flustered, “I’m so sorry!” He turned and was out of the aisle before Minho could even say a thing.

Minho just chuckled to himself, watching him head to the front rows and read the numbers extra carefully. He smiled when he finally found his friend and dropped down in his seat, beginning to talk animatedly.

“Oh!” It was Kibum’s loud exclamation and Minho turned to find him at the end of the row, “What kind of arrangement is this? Why are you in the last rows?!” Kibum had finally reached him, taking the seat beside him momentarily, “And what were you smiling about to yourself?”

Minho stuffed his phone back into his pocket, eyes still on the guy who was now laughing at something his friend said, “Just something cute.”

“Ouch,” Kibum got up, frowning, grabbing what was on the seat before sitting back, “An earring?”

Minho looked at what Kibum was scrutinizing and it was a small, snowflake-shaped ear stud. He recognized it– it was what the guy had been wearing.

“Whose seat is this–” Kibum was turning to see if the seat stickers had any more info than the number but Minho had taken the earring from him.

“I know whose it is,” He smiled a little, “I’ll return it to them.”

“Okay…” Kibum rested back, getting suspicious, but let go of it at the sound of the announcement, getting up, “Catch you after–”

Minho watched him go and his eyes found the guy amidst the filling crowd, fanning himself with the brochure, smiling as he talked.

Two days of their first week of school had already passed and Minho was sitting with his friends in the classroom after classes, having finished his club joining form but was waiting for Kibum, Jongin, and Yuri to finish. All of them were in the same class section fortunately and there were four more sections that divided the first-years into classes of 25-30 students each. 

Having so many peers was a first for all of them, and though it was discernible on the day of orientation itself, it was more evident now that classes had started. He’d barely gotten to know the students of his class and hence he knew it would be difficult getting to know almost a hundred students more. 

But what had Minho actually troubled was being able to find a certain guy in this humongous sea of people. He had been looking in other classes, in the various club rooms and sports grounds, but had no such luck on finding the guy. He even had the perfect excuse– the snowflake stud that he had dropped the other day– but despite having an excuse, he couldn’t even find an opportunity. 

“Journalism club?” Kibum read out what Minho had filled out.

“Yeah, I figured I could do some photography.” Minho smiled a bit nervously. He didn’t really want to get into anything that would be hectic, especially after having spent almost five years playing basketball. He had picked up photography somewhere along the way and had been wanting to spend more time on it than anything. 

“How about joining the events club with me?” Yuri asked, “I mean Journalism and Broadcast club are interrelated to the Events club, it seems they all work as a team for school events. You don’t have to forcefully take pictures for people’s articles or be forced to write your own to get the club credit. For the events club, you can–”

“Stop selling it to him–” Kibum laughed.

“Oh, well, I’m bought.” Minho changed his choice right away, the moment he had heard it, he realized he didn’t quite like the idea of writing articles. 

“What are you signing up for?” Kibum asked Jongin and Jongin showed his form to them.

“The soccer team.”

“You want to continue being a jock?” Kibum asked with distaste, “With all the choices you have here?”

“I like soccer, plus,” He winked, “It’s the easiest way to get popular. Since it’s the only activity that the school participates in on the district level, it’s super hyped. The soccer team members are nothing short of celebrities. And considering how jammed the school is, being on the soccer team is the easiest way to get noticed,” He lowered his voice, smirking, “Especially by the one you want to woo.”

“It’s been just two days and you already have a crush?” Yuri asked, laughing in disbelief.

“There’s no timeline for these things to happen.” Jongin shrugged, “And that’s just an added benefit, I’m sincerely trying out because I do like soccer.”

“Yeah, right.” Kibum sighed, “You’re just too quick to catch feelings.”

Minho had started staring at his form as he heard his friends talk.

And his heart squirmed because he realized even he was guilty of what they were blaming Jongin for.

His mind was captured entirely then, it was maybe something silly, something almost impulsive but he couldn’t shake it off his mind at all, no matter what.

And hence he hadn’t submitted the form that day. The form he had filled was in the trash can, replaced by the form for the soccer team application, secured between his notebooks.

Half of the soccer field was given to the s