It was surely not the first time you encountered people with the same name. Since your school days, there would be at least two Lee Jieuns, three Kim Jonghyuns, and many Minhos or Jaehyuns with various surnames. You just had to ask which one of them if any of your friends mentioned their names without the surname. This, of course, happened until college. One day when you were assigned for a group project, Johnny Seo, the oldest member in your group, asked you to find someone named Jisoo so all of you could gather and start working on the project. Unusually, you didn't ask which Jisoo it was. You were quite certain that at least you had met two Jisoos since the first day of college. So you thought it would be a piece of cake to find one of them.

“Hey, I've met Jisoo and she said she had taken this class. I spoke to other Jisoo, that guy who goes anywhere with Jieun. He also didn't take this class.” You looked at both Johnny and Ryujin, your other groupmate.

“I asked Choi Jisoo too. She does take this subject but not the one with Professor Choi,” added Ryujin.

“Is there another Jisoo?” you mumbled, looking unsure. Being antisocial was one of your trait that you and your close friends acknowledged. But usually you still remembered people's names.

“That would be me.”

All three of you looked up at the deep voice that came out of nowhere. The puzzled look was not only appeared on your face, but also on all your groupmates.

“Joshua?” you said his name in confusion, exchanging looks with Johnny and Ryujin.

“Wait a minute.” Johnny rushed to dig his bag, searching for a piece of paper that he got from the professor's assistant regarding the group members. Now that he remembered he might not have told you which Jisoo that should be on your group. “Hong Jisoo? Hong Jisoo is Joshua Hong?”

“That's correct,” he answered with his unfazed face.

Joshua Hong was a transferred student who came in the second year. You were 100% sure that on his first day, he introduced himself with the name Joshua. That was the one and only information you knew about him. How were you supposed to know that he officially enrolled with his Korean name? Even all the lecturers called him Joshua too. Even Johnny, the social butterfly who knows everyone, who was also a transferred student from the States had no idea that 'Hong Jisoo' existed.

“Anyway,” Ryujin broke the silence. Finally. You were too dumbfounded that you just froze still, trying to process and make sure that Johnny didn't mistake the group members. “Let's just get started because we still have a lot to do, shall we?”

You let Ryujin and Johnny divide the workload for the four of you. And somehow Johnny decided to make pairs so you can work in 2 subgroups. Being a wise man as he claimed to be, he wouldn't let you pick Ryujin to pair with you, saying that every process had to be fair and square. You gave him a judging look, since you knew he also wanted to be with Ryujin because everyone knows that she was one of the brightest in class.

“Let's draw,” Johnny initiated. He got a pouch—your pouch which he took with force—that was filled with markers and continued, “There are two pink and two black markers. So, good luck with your hands.”

The four of you took turns to pick the marker, starting from the boys. Johnny, who got a pink marker, grinned wide at you, slightly giving a victory vibe, just when Joshua picked a black one. You glared at him. When the chance was 50:50 between Johnny and Joshua, you couldn't even think of anything. First of all, you were not familiar at all with this Hong Jisoo. You had no idea what his pace was like. And you might not be able to order him around. Second, when it came to Johnny, obviously you were much closer with him. You were friends after all. But you knew his pace. You can give him orders and commands but it didn't mean that he would do it. So there were possibilities that you might have to do all the big work unless you were willing to have adrenaline rush, since Johnny was that more productive when the deadline is less than 24 hours type.

“Let's take it at the same time,” Ryujin suggested, in which you agreed immediately. You gritted your teeth, hoping it would help you to not lose the poker face you were wearing. Then the markers of fate were revealed.

Johnny almost jumped out of joy when the pink marker was in Ryujin's hand. He immediately gave Ryujin a high-five. Meanwhile you quietly turned to Joshua who had been kept his mouth shut after his official introduction as Hong Jisoo. You tried to read his expression, but you looked away, startled, when his eyes searched yours.

“Anyway, let's get along and get this work done with good marks,” Joshua initiated speaking.

You wished you getting flustered was not too obvious after hearing how soft Joshua's voice was. It was gentle, it had somewhat a soothing effect to your ears. “Yeah, sure.” You flashed him your best smile.

“Do you mind if I leave, like, now? Because I have to run some errands,” he asked, still with that gentle, calming voice. The way he spoke and his aura certainly hit differently. It made him the weird one within your group which consisted of loud people. Sometimes you thought yourself to be a calm person too. But now looking at Joshua Hong, you started thinking that you might not be as calm as you thought.

“Yeah, no problem. We've got everything covered. Johnny will manage everything, including the online worksheet so you can just look up everything there. I'll let you know when it's ready.” Wow. You just surprised yourself by how active you were.

“Okay, cool. I think Johnny has my number. So you can ask him.”

You nodded, pretending to look just a little bit excited. After Joshua left, the fake smile on your lips disappeared and you let out a heavy sigh. Your face landed on your thick textbook. “Why me?” you mumbled.

“Hey, don't be like that. You don't even know him.” Johnny pat your head.

“I'll tell you a fun fact about him if that makes you feel any better.” Ryujin unusually used her cheerful tone. You just knew it must be something unnecessary or something that you didn't want to know about. “Lately he becomes the it guy because he was spotted helping some freshmen, and suddenly he earned title of being a gentleman. Some of my friends also said that he's always well-behaved and well-mannered, even in parties. He doesn't get drunk and does stupid things, because he drinks in moderation.”

Raising your head, your brows furrowed with your eyes squinting. “And why do I want to know about this gentleman?”

“She's saying that he's a catch. Who knows you're gonna get laid.” Johnny clicked his tongue and winked at you.

Your eyes rolled as you sighed. “Not gonna happen. His first impression of me was not really good. I mistook him for an exchange student I was supposed to guide, so I dragged him here and there, causing him to be late on his first class—the evil Professor Lee's class! The next day I tripped over my own feet and basically threw my coffee at him.” You groaned as you recalled the memory of meeting Joshua Hong for the first time. He was still as calm and quiet as now. But you can't really forget his cold expression when Professor Lee scolded him, and when he silently tried to wipe off the coffee stain on his white sweater. “You have to look at his face on that two days in a row. If you were him, you must hate me too.”

"No way. He is the gentleman of the year. The one and only Joshua Hong. There is no way he hates you with that angelic face, and the way he talks? The softest way possible."

You gave a face to Johnny.

“Whatever.” You stood up to pack your things before leaving. “If you like him so much, why don't you pair up with him and let me have Ryujin?"

“It will only worsen the awkwardness between you if I say yes to switch.” Johnny winked again.

Ugh, this giant has a point. But it was not like you wanted to make up to Joshua Hong. Or eventually, you had to? At least for the sake of this group project?

Right. Like you care about his gentleman image. It was less than three months away from summer break and you needed to nail this project. What could happen anyway