Chapter 3

Yoori made a face and rolled her eyes, while Taeyong just laughed.

“Hope you don’t choke there, man.” Jaehyun had come back with a cup of ramen noodles and a can of grape soda.

“Hey, Jaehyun.” Yuta said as he chewed. “Heard some of the girls are already talking about you.”

“It’s the God damn height, I tell you.” Taeyong eyes Jaehyun. “What do you think, Yoori?”

Yoori was caught off guard because he secretly did find Jaehyun a little attractive, “Uhh, his skin? I mean it’s really clear.” She shrugged.

Jaehyun smiled.

“What, I’ve got clear skin too!” Yuta interjected.

“Yeah, but you’re horrible with schoolwork. Girls can’t even ask you for help because you need it yourself.” Taeyong laughed at the last part.

The bell once again rang and the 4 of them had to part ways.

Yoori sat down at her next class with an empty seat next to her. She sighed. It was a research subject and she hoped it would do with self-work and self-research. Just then, she felt the chair next to her shift a little. She looked right next to her to see a rather tall-looking guy with brown hair. He smiled shyly, “Sorry, all the other seats were taken. I hope you don’t mind.”

She looked around to see that the classroom had filled up in the short amount of time she was in contemplation. “N-no, it’s okay. No one was sitting there anyway.” She also replied with a smile.

“I’m Youngho.” He held out his hand.

Yoori took a moment to respond now that she saw his face up front, “I-I’m Yoori.” She slowly shook his hand and quickly let go before he felt that her hand quivered a little.

“Nice to meet you! You’re actually the first person I’ve talked to all day.” Youngho’s tone sounded sad.

Yoori’s eyes widen as she thought to look at her watch, it was 2:30 in the afternoon since school began and this man had no one to talk to since this morning?

“That can’t be true? The day’s nearly over. Could it be you didn’t try until now?” she tried her best to be friendly and hide the fact that her voice could crack at any moment.

“No, nobody’s just been all that interested in talking to me I guess.” He scratched his head.

Yoori studied him for a quick second to see that he seemed so clean and she could also get a whiff of a perfume she liked.

Not long after, a school monitor came in and told the class that their professor was in a meeting and would not be able to meet them today. Half the class hooted in celebration while the others just exited the room automatically. Yoori looked at Johnny to see how he’d react but he actually seemed a little worried.

“Aren’t you glad we get an early dismissal?” she nudged at him.

“What? Oh, no. It’s just I don’t know anyone yet and I have my last class in an hour. I kinda don’t know how to fill up that time.” He answered coyly, almost innocently.

“What’s your next class by the way?” Yoori rested her chin on the palm of her hand, she was becoming more comfortable with this guy way quicker than she’d expect.

“I’ve got Advanced English. It’s my last class for the day.”

Yoori beamed, “We’re in the same class then!”

“Really?”

The girl nodded and slung her bag on her shoulder, “Do you wanna get a soda or something since we’ve got time to kill?” she asked.

“Sure!” Youngho answered happily.

The two of them made their way to the soda vending machine by the school’s quad outside which was shaded by a bunch of trees and lined with more of those round tables similar to the ones at the cafeteria.

“This one’s on me.” Youngho quickly inserted his bill into the machine, “Choose your drink; my treat since you’ve been so nice to me.”

Yoori didn’t say another word and just pressed on a button she wanted for her drink. “Thank you!”

The two of them sat a table across from each other and drank their soda. The air felt warm but the trees swayed with a slight breeze. Other students were huddled on the other tables while others were busily trying to get to their next classes or catching up with their friends. The buzz of noise around them was somehow comforting.

“What are you majoring in?” Yoori broke the silence.

Youngho swallowed and answered, “I major in human resources, so my subjects have this wide variation.”

“I see, maybe that’s why our paths met today! I’m a language major.”

“That sounds cool!”

Just then, Yoori saw Jaehyun about to walk past them so she called out to him, “Hey, Jaehyun!”

Jaehyun turned his head and walked towards that two of them now. “Hey, Yoori.”

“This is Youngho.” Yoori motioned towards the former, “We’ve got some classes together. I knew I’d make a friend.” She smiled proudly.

Jaehyun just smiled and shook Youngho’s hand almost too firmly as if testing strength. “You’re definitely a one up on your cousin.” He added. “Our last class was cancelled. The professor was in a meeting or something. I’ll be heading home, I guess. I’ll see you there later!” Jaehyun said audibly, “Nice to meet you, Youngho!” and walked on ahead.

Youngho also smiled politely.

“Do you live with him?” Youngho asked out of the blue once Jaehyun was out of earshot.

“Hm? Oh, yeah I do. I live with my cousin and his 2 friends. It’s an odd arrangement, but I’m really okay with it though.” Yoori just shrugged it off and she took a big swig of her soda.

Youngho was a little taken aback at all the information and barely managed to re-compose himself, “It does sound fun.” Was all he could surmise.

After their last class, Yoori was about to make her way back to the apartment when Youngho spoke, “Uh, hey can I get your number? It’s for when I need to ask about school stuff, I swear. I just-just don’t know anyone and I still kinda need some help. But it’s okay if you don’t want to.” It was a mouthful, but all Yoori did was blink at all the words.

“Yeah, sure!” she smiled as she took out a small notepad, wrote her number, and handed it to Youngho.

“Thank you so much. Thanks for today, Yoori.” His lips formed a thin line, smiling.

“No problem.”