chapter 2

it's not very gentlemanlike to keep the girls waiting, but it wasn't their fault the girls arrived first. the three roommates were sitting on one side of the table. heejin was retouching her makeup, chaewon's playing a cat game phone to relieve her nervousness, and hyunjin's texting the other hyunjin to hurry up with the other guys.

the two hyunjins were like the host of this group date. all of them knew who was expected to come. kim hyunjin brought her roommates as usual. heejin was lowkey reserved for the hwang hyunjin, as he requested, so he granted kim hyunjin's request to bring lee jeno. the girls were also informed that hyunjin's bringing one of his roommates, kim seungmin.

chaewon's not familiar with all of the guys, but hyunjin reassured her that seungmin's kind and friendly. she got to talk to him once when she stormed towards their dorm to drag hyunjin's to a major class who accidentally overslept and almost didn't show up for their group presentation. heejin knew jeno but she wouldn't call them close friends, but she would fully support hyunjin taking an interest in him.

kim hyunjin gave herself a mini pep talk inside the restroom, staring at herself in the mirror and continuously chanting, 'i'm moving on from hwang hyunjin. my new crush is lee jeno,' over and over again. she had to get over him before she starts getting jealous of her own best friend dating her crush. she lightly slapped herself with both of her hands a few times and only stopped when her phone rang. it was hwang hyunjin.

she rolled her eyes before answering. "what's taking you so long? if you keep us waiting for ten more minutes, we're leaving," she yelled at him while she got out of the restroom and sat beside heejin.

"i'm sorry! there was a slight change of plans but we're here."

after he said that, the sound of the door entrance being opened got their attention and three guys entered the pub. a few customers turned to look at them because they were quite eye-catching with their tall height and handsome faces. hwang hyunjin and kim seungmin waved and smiled at the girls, but chaewon's the only one who shyly returned it. the other two girls noticed a missing face was replaced by an unexpected but familiar face, belonging to na jaemin.

hyunjin's jaw almost dropped from the surprise of seeing jaemin and she quickly turned to heejin, who was as surprised as she was, but her eyes showed a mix of emotions. she quickly nudged her to wake her up from her senses, giving her a knowing look. they turned their backs slightly to talk secretly.

"what's he doing here? i thought it was lee jeno!" heejin half-shouted and half-whispered.

hyunjin felt apologetic but still defended her side. "i'm as shocked as you are! hwangjin didn't tell me about this. just- please, let's just make it through the night, okay? we don't want to make this awkward for the others." heejin grumbled.

"what are you guys talking about?"

they followed the direction of the voice, which was from hwang hyunjin, who was already sitting in front of them with a smile on his face along with the other boys. he sat in front of heejin, seungmin to chaewon, and jaemin to hyunjin. heejin glanced at jaemin and when his eyes caught hers, she quickly looked away. she resorted to ignoring him the whole night as much as she can. hwang hyunjin nudged kim hyunjin's feet using his own when he didn't get a reply, mouthing the words 'were you talking about me?' and she snarled at him in response.

kim hyunjin cleared his throat before speaking. "we're all born on the same year so let's talk casually and start introducing ourselves. i already know all of you but i'll still introduce myself. i'm kim hyunjin, majoring in arts management."

"jeon heejin from the medicine department." she felt the weight of jaemin's stare, but she controlled the urge to turn in his direction.

"hi! i'm park chaewon. i'm a french major-"

"that's cool! it's my first time meeting someone who's taking french." everyone's eyes turned to seungmin. chaewon herself was surprised that someone showed enthusiasm to her major because it usually bores people or they didn't understand the use of it. she blushed when their eyes met. "ah- i'm sorry, chaewon, for interrupting you. i'm kim seungmin, taking vet med. nice to meet you."

"i'm hwang hyunjin, the better hyunjin- ow!" he earned a kick on his shin from the kim hyunjin below the tab