“Did you unpack everything already? Don’t be lazy Kim Jongin.”

Jongin let out a sigh, taking a book from the box on the floor and setting it on his bookshelf. He loved his brother, but it was at moments like this when he appreciated the distance between them. His brother almost felt like a father, and at the lack of one maybe that’s what he tried to be for him during all those years. However, Sungwoon had to understand that he wasn’t a child anymore. That he didn’t need to be protected anymore.

“I did most of the unpacking, yeah, I only have a few boxes left, but I have class, so I’ll do them once I come back,” He replied. Jongin had to run if he wanted to be there on time, starting college at a new place was never easy and he still didn’t have the route figured out, so he wanted to leave earlier.

“Ok, keep your phone on at all times so I can call you,”

“You know I can’t answer while in class,” Jongin was tired already. “How about I call you when I get back?” He heard the sigh on his brother’s end too. He was worried and Jongin could understand it, but he had to relax.

“I guess that will work. How’s your birthday going so far?”

Ah, his birthday, the one day Jongin wished was like every other. He wasn’t used to celebrating his birthday, so having classes and getting to just do normal stuff in a place where nobody knew it was his birthday sounded like a great deal to him.

“It’s going, I don’t have any plans other than coming back home and watch The Witcher for the fourth time.” Jongin shrugged, it wasn’t like he did much on his birthdays either. His brother tried, always buying a cake for him, and singing happy birthday but Jongin honestly wished he didn’t.

Well, it’s your eighteenth birthday, you should have fun but not too much,”

Jongin chuckled, he was only going to class, there was only so much fun he could have.

“Will do, talk to you later hyung.”

They finally disconnected the call, and with a relieved sigh Jongin placed his phone back in his pocket, grabbing his stuff, putting on his shoes, and exiting the apartment he was renting. The area was relatively good, and it was near the campus, however that meant it was a little more expensive than other places. He closed the door, making sure it was locked and ran towards the stairs to go down. Seoul’s cold air surrounded him the moment he made it to the lobby. The year was just starting so that meant it would be cold for a while longer.

He couldn’t help the smile that took over his face when he was out of the building, greeting a couple of neighbors politely on his way out. It was quite a nice day, in his opinion, a little cold but a good day regardless.

And he was free.

Jongin pulled out his phone, tapping on the Google maps app, looking for the best route to get to college faster. He navigated the streets easily, following instructions as they came, and soon, he was able to see the large university of Seoul in the distance.

Jongin finally made it to the campus a few minutes later, there was sweat forming on his forehead due to the walk, despite the cold weather, but he was there on his first day. Pulling out his classes schedule, he walked around campus, asking for directions until he finally reached the appropriate classroom. The teacher wasn’t there yet because it was early still. He sat down next to a dark-haired guy who barely noticed Jongin’s entrance, he was focused on reading a book that he had carefully placed on his lap.

As a habit, Jongin tried to see the cover and see if he could recognize the book but due to the position, he couldn’t see. Jongin let it go with a sigh, pulling his phone out and scrolling down his social media to kill time before the teacher and the rest of the students arrived.

“Hi,” he suddenly heard, lifting his gaze he saw the other kid smiling at him, looked like he had finally noticed Jongin was there.

“Hey,” he nodded at him politely also with a smile. The guy had dark brown hair and big hazel eyes. His smile was easy and contagious in some way.

“My name is Minjoon. First year?” he asked, Jongin nodded and the guy seemed pleased with this information, although Jongin was sure everyone taking the class were in their first year. “Me too, what are you majoring in?”

“Literature,” Jongin responded, Minjoon gasped, a finger pointing at himself.

“Me too!” that was nice, at least he would know someone going around in his classes. “I was so afraid of everybody being mean. You know what people say about college, but you look nice.”

“Thanks?” his voice came out rather questioning, Minjoon also seemed nice, he guessed. Not all people would make such statements after knowing someone for less than five minutes. The class soon started to fill with other people, Minjoon still talking to Jongin about his experience coming from another town to Seoul to study. Jongin had a similar experience, although for him some things didn’t feel the same. He missed his brother a lot, but he felt like he was running away from something and trying to find something at the same time.

Another guy sitting behind them suddenly joined their conversation. His name was Jongwoon and he was from Seoul, he did give that city vibe Jongin expected the people from around to have. They talked for a while until the teacher finally made it into the classroom.

As expected, introducing himself and his class was the first thing the teacher did, spending one of the two hours talking about the importance of the class and why they should all pass with good grades, as if it wasn’t scary enough for a whole bunch of first-year students to adapt to a new study system, seeing so many new faces and keep up with school work and their regular life. Halfway through the speech, Jongin allowed his eyes to wander around the class, watching as the rest of the students paid attention or pretended to pay attention to what the teacher was saying. His stare landing on a guy who was looking back at him.

Usually, when catching someone staring, the other person would have the decency to look away or seem ashamed. Not this guy. He kept staring at Jongin, dark eyes and black hair, smirk hanging from his lips, and a vibe that gave Jongin goosebumps. He felt the heat rushing to his cheeks for a reason he couldn’t comprehend, not able to hold this guy’s stare any longer.

He tried to focus back on the teacher, however, the knowledge of having a guy staring at him just didn’t allow his brain to focus. His eyes kept traveling back just to see if he was still staring and he was every time. A shiver ran down Jongin’s spine and there was an odd sensation of his skin heating up. He cleared his throat uncomfortable.

“Hey, do you guys want to go grab something to eat after this?” Minjoon asked, Jongin nodded and so did Jongwoon, he wasn’t really hungry, but he appreciated the distraction of staring dude for at least a moment.

During the second hour, the teacher finally began to talk about what he was supposed to teach during that class, giving them an assignment right off the bat, on their first class. Jongin sighed as he copied the information from the slideshow presentation. When the class was finally over, they all hurried outside of the classroom. Jongwoon stretched as soon as he was outside.

“I think this will be the longest class of the semester and it’s only two hours,” he threw his bag over his shoulder, turning to the other two.

“It can’t be worse than orientation, that’s just a whole hour of class for nothing,” Minjoon mentioned. Jongin laughed.

“So… food?” maybe something to eat would lift their spirits. The other two nodded, the three of them embark on a journey outside of campus to a place nearby for something to eat. Jongin didn’t think he would find people to hang with this quickly, but he guessed it was for the better, he was a little lonely during high school, so he hoped to change that during college. Pushing the door open to a nice café, Minjoon leads them to the far end, right next to the window. They settle on that table as a waitress walks over to take their order.

“I just want black coffee,” Jongin said. Meanwhile, Minjoon gave a very detailed explanation of what needed to happen to his coffee and what needed to be in it for him to be able to drink it, Jongwoon gave her an easy order, barely looking at the menu board.

They engaged in an animated chat, Minjoon telling stories of his hometown that Jongin didn’t think were trying to be funny but unintentionally were. On the other hand, Jongwoon was that cool handsome guy next door, with an easy smile and charm to give away. It was difficult not to be immersed in whatever he was saying.

Their orders soon arrived, and they kept talking over their coffees, Jongin liked that feeling of easily making something close to friends and talk to them like normal. However, for some reason, he couldn’t shake that feeling of being watched. A quick scan around the café made him aware that nobody there was looking in their direction or seemed the slightest interested in what they were talking about.

It felt weird, and the more time passed the more he could feel it.

“Jongin?” he heard Minjoon calling his name, snapping from that trance. “Everything okay?”

“Yeah,” he quickly assured, smiling like he always had, like everything was fine. “Everything is okay.” The other two looked at him for a second before going back to Minjoon’s story. Jongin tried his best to ignore this feeling and be present in the conversation.

In any case, it was probably nothing and he was unsettled for no reason.

That’s what he hoped it was at least.

Nothing.