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“Somebody is definitely making a move.” Johnny grinned wide at you.

“What nonsense are you talking about?”

“You and Hong Jisoo. That boy is looking at you like you’re the universe. At this point you should need a sunglasses, because, geez his eyes were full of sparkles even I am blinded.”

“I knew it. I’m not the only one who realize that,” Suhyun added excitedly. Apparently she had been holding it in, not sure to share it with anyone just in case she was wrong. Now that Johnny had blurted out his thoughts, she just got ecstatic as well. Suhyun was never that of gossipy girls. Only for you, she would make an exception.

“Babe, not only our project is making a progress, you and Joshua too. That Hong dude always sits next to you now. And the after class study dates? Suhyun and I can’t relate. We do everything online.” Johnny talked with his face. Suhyun nodded in agreement beside him.

Joshua Hong and his obvious attempts to get closer to you had become a hot topic among your close friends. Starting from him now being your constant chairmate. Him bringing you some snack or coffee when it was a whole day of long lecture sessions. Him asking you to get lunch together—which you only accepted when either Soonyoung, Seokmin or Mingyu was there with you, otherwise you would certainly declined and make up some excuses. And up to the point when he got to introduce you to his circle of friends (of course, he owed it to Mingyu and Seokmin), which got you overwhelmed to see a bunch of guys whose name you can’t remember right away.

You sighed, slightly annoyed that your friends teased you although you understood perfectly that they never meant harm. “FYI, it’s literally studying. Working on the group project. No dates or whatsoever,” you said, rolling your eyes.

Is it really just studying though?

But why did you find yourself arrived at Joshua’s house to work on your project presentation on a fine Sunday afternoon?

He was the one suggesting this idea. You originally proposed to do this on Monday after class along with Johnny and Suhyun. Rather than opposing you, he kind of convinced you that finishing prior to discuss with Johnny and Suhyun would save much more time. Moreover, you were experienced in group discussion that remained unfinished on after class session.

“Is it okay if I make a call before getting started? But I think it’s gonna be taking around 30 minutes. Is that okay?” you asked Joshua who was setting his dining table with his laptop and some books.

“Yeah, of course.”

So, there you were now, roaming around Joshua’s living room while talking on the phone with your family. And, no, Johnny cannot know about this.

Joshua decided to prepare some snack while you were on the phone. He was humming cheerful random melody as he poured milk, ice cream and some frozen berry fruit mix to the blender. Just in time, he turned off the blender when he saw you walking towards the kitchen, still having your phone stuck on your ears. That was when he heard you talking with such a sweet, affectionate tone. What surprised him more was that you kept calling the exactly same name of his throughout the phone call. He was so not gonna lie how it made his heart flutter and suddenly butterflies joined to tickle his stomach.

“You did a great job, Jisoo. I know, I miss Jisoo lots too. I promise I will visit soon. Until then, Jisoo has to be nice and don’t fight with Jihee, okay? I love you too, Jisoo. Bye.”

As soon as you hung up, your eyes met Joshua’s. You immediately realized his blushing face and you knew perfectly why. “My niece’s name is also Jisoo,” you told him with a nervous chuckle. “Strange, huh? I’ve got so many Jisoos around me.”

He smiled at you while offering the freshly made berry shake. “Sometimes I forget that Jisoo is my name. Everyone calls me Josh, Joshua, Shua, even Joshi or Jo-sshi. Only few people, excluding my family, call me Jisoo. I unconsciously always introduce myself as Joshua too.”

Sipping your berry shake, you just nodded, simply because you didn’t know how to carry on this conversation. Just before it got awkward again, he continued speaking.

“You can call me Jisoo too if you want.”

Well, this is another level of awkward, you thought. A confused, full of uncertainty smile was slowly curved on your lips. Your brain just lost its function to arrange good words to respond to him.

Does he want me to call him Jisoo? What even am I to him? Even I wouldn’t consider him as a friend yet. I would probably call him Joshua-nim or Joshua-sshi for the rest of my life if I never found out that we’re classmates.

“Just to officially add more Jisoos in your life,” he said. A chuckle managed to disguise him being nervous.

The biggest wish you had during work group in Joshua’s house was to leave as early as possible. You ignored your stomach growling since it was already dinner time. But the house owner insisted you to stay since he already prepared meal for two. Never had you been in such a dilemma when you were hungry, the smell of his cooking was quite appetizing, and at the same time you just wanted to go home. And at this random time, Johnny always popped up, now in a form of phone call which you picked up without bothering to walk away from Joshua’s sight.

“Girly, did you forget I invited you to the party at Nakamoto’s?”
“Oh, , I totally forgot.” You checked the clock. “Sorry, John, I lost track of time.”
“What exactly are you doing? Studying?”
“Uh..” You stole a glance at Joshua, hoping that Johnny’s voice on the phone was not that loud.
“You definitely are.”
“Uh.. yeah..” A teenie tiny interruption from Joshua sneezing and a loud 'bless you’ he said to himself were something you never knew you would be immediately clowned at by sincerely yours, John Suh.
“Wait. Where are you? Did I just hear Josh—”
“No, you didn’t.”
“Yes, I absolutely did. You’re studying with the Hong dude!”
“I’m not!”
“Yes, you are. Babe, he’s at your place? Wait, no, you wouldn’t do that. You’re at his place?”
‘Why does this guy always get to guess anything right? Ugh why am I friends with him?’ you screamed internally.
“You still in his house right now?”
“That’s because we’re not finished yet.”
“Well, good luck and happy studying, I guess?”
“Just hang up, Suh.”
“Yeah, sure. Better not make Hong dude feel neglected.”
“Johnny, I swear to God, stop.”
“Have fun. Take a breather because it’s weekend. And don’t forget to use protection.”
“I will murder you one day.”
“Love you too.”

What a funny lie. You and Joshua had completed the presentation and ended it with a thank you page since 20 minutes ago. Now he basically just kept talking about finding more references when you thought it was not mandatory. You just had to convince him that what you both had done was more than enough.

“Is it Johnny?”

“Yeah.”

Joshua nodded his head, somewhat understandingly. “There’s nothing much left, I guess?”

“Yeah.” Now going home early really sounded great, but how do you tell that politely to the house owner? But, isn’t it normal to go home once you finish everything? Like, saying ’hey it’s past 7 PM, you and I definitely deserve a good nap so I’ll get going now, see you tomorrow’ sounds pretty casual, right?

“Do you want to hang out for a while?” he asked even before you finished your thoughts.

You shrugged in confusion.

“Look, we’ve been hanging out but all we do is studying and getting this project done. So why not trying to do something else, like normal friends would? I mean, you know my friends, and you’re pretty close with them. Isn’t it weird that I’m the only one who is like a stranger?” He tried to read your face, which was still looking puzzled. “That’s if you think of me as your friend. Because, I do.. and I want to get to know you more..” He sounded unsure as his voice faded away.

“Oh, yeah.. yeah, yeah, of course,” you blabbered without thinking. You were so going to be the weird one if you blurted out that you saw him only as a project partner. The future of having awkward relationship between him and the other guys seemed crystal clear if you rejected him befriending you.

He smiled, feeling relieved. “Do you like watching movies?”

“Yeah, sure.” At this point you had no idea how many yeahs you have said.

“Do you want to pick a movie?”

“Anything would be fine.”

“Okay. I hope you’re fine with horror movies.”

You smiled, wondering if you looked panic when he said horror movies. You were so bad at horror movies. Mingyu was one of your victims as he became your personal punching bag whenever the jumpscares were about to pop out. Johnny also hated you for screaming hysterically on every jumpscare scene. Now, should you fake something and just run away to go home, or ask him nicely to pick another movie?

Joshua started setting up a folded mattress, some pillows and a blanket on the floor. His act just distracted you from your escaping plan. You stared at him, question marks were running around in your head, internally rambling 'what’s with the mattress and why not sit on the couch?’.

“Oh, this is what I usually do when watching movies, either alone or with the guys,” he said, as if he could read your mind. “Come sit here. I promise it’s super comfy.”

You were practically hypnotized by his sweet voice. All thoughts of running away or asking him to change the movie just magically disappeared as you slowly adjusted your position on the mattress. Joshua naturally shifted to sit closer next to you. To share popcorn, in his defense.

You had been telling yourself to be brave once the opening started. But somehow you just kept shrinking while hugging a pillow throughout the first 10 minutes. Joshua noticed how tense you looked now that your head was on the level of his shoulder, even lower, and the back of your head resting against the folded foot rest of the sofa. You were almost completely lying down with your knees bent to partially cover your sight towards the TV screen.

He chuckled quietly. “Are you okay?”

“Oh, yeah. I am perfectly fine,” you quickly answered.

“You sure?”

“Yeah. I’m comfortable.” You hugged the pillow tighter, slightly burying half of your face against it. And finally that moment that you’d been expecting came. Yes, the jumpscares. Followed with one of the biggest reaction Joshua had ever seen, after Seokmin and Mingyu, which made him laugh although he had to be your next punching bag. You practically shoved yourself towards him, quite with force he would say, and ended up hiding behind his shoulder. At this point it didn’t matter anymore that Joshua Hong was not more than a project partner and you wouldn’t even talk to him outside the project activities. You just desperately needed something to hold on. And to hit while screaming.

Joshua’s masculine yet sweet scent sometimes distracted you. The way he laughed at you also started to get in your head. But you can’t really focus on that because horror movies always got the best of you. Even you unconsciously wouldn’t let go of his arm. Your sanity was split as you cursed yourself for being weak.

“Hey, are you okay?” he asked, still chuckling. To your surprise, his hand reached yours and gripped your fingers, still resting on his other arm. You immediately pulled away once you got your yourself together, realizing how physically close you were.

“Yeah. I may not look like it but I do like horror movies.” Okay. You didn’t know why you just talked gibberish. But then your act showed otherwise because you just almost jumped before finally going back to your hiding spot: behind his broad shoulder. He giggled again.

You could feel Joshua adjusting his sitting position with you on his backside. His head was slightly leaning towards yours, effectively making your heart flutter due to the sudden escalation of physical interaction. Eventually he tilted, making contact to your head for a few seconds before he turned to look at you.

“Should I just turn it off or change…” He half whispered while his eyes were searching yours. His eyes moved quickly from your eyes, to your lips, then back to your eyes again. You were sharp to catch his movement when he started leaning in and slowly decreasing the distance between your face.

Your loud ringtone just saved the day so you could release yourself from the awkward scene with him. Scooting a bit away from Joshua, you loudly picked up the phone. “Oh, Mingyu sunbaenim. With Soonyoung and Wonwoo? Okay, sure..”

Joshua silently kept his eyes fixated on you. He rubbed the back of his neck while waiting for you to finish the call.

“Is that Mingyu?” He began speaking to break the silence when you were occupied to your phone after hanging up.

“Yeah.” You pretended to look at the time on the clock and be surprised. “It’s getting late. I think I should go home.”

“Y/n, I’m sorry about earlier.. I wasn’t think-”

“What about earlier?” you quickly interrupted. Talking about what just happened during the movie was the last thing you wanted to do. You simply didn’t want everything to be even more awkward than it already was.

Joshua opened his mouth, and quickly shut it. “Nothing. It was nothing..” He tried not to look flustered. “I’ll take you home?”

“No, no need to. I can catch the bus.”

“Okay then. Anyway, it’s fun today. Do you think.. we can do this again.. next time?”

“Yeah, sure.” You faked an excited tone. “I’ll tell Soonyoung and the others, I think they can manage to arrange it.”

Joshua almost choked himself, slightly gasping in disbelief. “That… would be great.”