Chapter 3

A Dinner Party And Afterwards

 "What's up with you?"

As promised, Chunji had been attending all classes regularly with Niel for the past two weeks. Even though he sat through them with his hands in his pockets and only participated actively when they were actually singing, Niel thought it was good enough.

They were returning from their classes when Chunji asked the question to Niel.

Niel hadn't spoken to Chunji about his second meeting with C.A.P. There was no way he was going to talk about it to anyone. After all, C.A.P.-hyung would not want to have anything more to do with him after the way he had run away. It had been weird and rude of him.

‘It is better than being hated by hyung because I have fallen for him,’ thought Niel. ‘I can bear it if he is angry with me. But I would die if he hated me. All along I have been waiting to fall in love and it's such a sad thing when it does happen.’

But Chunji had apparently noticed something was wrong with him.

"What are you talking about? I am fine." I'm sorry, Chunji, but I just cannot talk about it.

"You seemed down. You don't have a fever or anything, do you?" asked Chunji, feeling his forehead with the back of his hand.

"I'm okay, Chunji. Really."

But his friend was persistent. "I know what's wrong with you. You have been working too hard. Why don't you come with me to the dinner Arts department is hosting to welcome its juniors? It’s on Saturday, so you don’t need to worry about classes."

Niel froze at the mention of Arts.

"No, I am okay. Why would you be going to something at Arts, anyway?"

"Because I'm Chunji and I make the world go round?" Chunji smiled sweetly at him.

Niel laughed and closed his eyes pretending it was too bright. "Stop smiling. I might go blind."

"Actually, I was going to ask you about it, anyway. And there's a secret I have been keeping from you because I thought it would be a good surprise when you finally met him." Chunji was grinning broadly from ear to ear.

"No, wait," Niel stopped him. "Let me guess. You finally made progress with your intern!"

"Correction, mortal! The intern finally made progress with me!"

"Really? He asked you out?" Niel couldn't keep the awe out of his voice. Chunji could really get anyone he wanted, couldn't he?

"Well, it's not that dramatic. We just happened to meet when I was returning on Sunday. He stopped me and introduced himself. Then he asked if I would be interested in coming to the dinner. I said I might. He said I can invite any friend if I wanted." Chunji winked.

"But you'll definitely go, huh?"

"Of course! But you have to come with me, okay? Since he mentioned I can bring along someone, it’ll be sad if I show up alone. And I don't want to take along a girl or some guy who would stop me from pursuing him later, you know. Because they'll definitely go drinking afterwards, and that is when I’ll get my chance."

"So that's your agenda!"

"You'll help me, won't you? It's free food. You can hook up with someone or just return if you don't like it. The girls in Arts are much cuter, you know. Please? Please? Pretty please?"

Niel turned Chunji's face away from him. "I'll come. I'll come. Don't make those puppy eyes at me. Aish! You'll kill me!"

"Aww, Niel-ah! You are definitely my best friend! Bang Minsoo, be ready for me on Saturday!"

"Bang Minsoo, huh?"

"Yep, that's his name."

-----

Niel picked nervously at the cuff of his sleeves as they entered the hotel where Arts was hosting the dinner. He was uneasy about meeting C.A.P.-hyung here. Moreover, Chunji was flashily dressed in a pair of black skinny jeans, a yellow shirt with abstract print and a deep violet sleeveless blazer. It was enough to draw anyone’s attention to the pair of them, if his long blonde hair wasn’t already distinctive enough.

He had made friends with a couple of Arts students, and he now kept an eye out for them. Maybe if he stayed quietly in the background with nondescript guys, C.A.P.-hyung won’t notice him at all.

“So you are here. Thanks for coming!”

‘I have such bad luck sometimes,’ crossed Niel’s mind as he heard the deep voice he had fallen in love with.

Chunji locked arms with him, as they turned to face the guy who had spoken to them.

For a brief moment, Niel was in heaven. C.A.P.-hyung was dressed in an ivory shirt with see-through sleeves. He had left open the top few buttons and it accentuated his slim, long throat. He was wearing a black