You were exhausted. You got hardly any sleep the previous night as your mind refused to shut off. A million thoughts constantly zoomed through your head at the mere idea of the guys. Your consciousness told you that it was a natural reaction to be furious but you couldn’t stop worrying about Sanghyuk. ‘Sure he’s a total butthole and he needs to learn some manners but I probably hurt him really badly.’ You could only imagine the pain of being thrown at a wall.

You decided not to visit them today, cowardly as it may be. You had an entire day of classes anyway so you lazily got ready and met Eunseo outside your dorm. You tried to keep up with her conversations but you couldn’t force a smile on your face for long.

“Y’know, you’ve been really…despondent lately.”

“Have I?” You kinda weren’t in the mood for emotional talk.

“Yeah, are you sure you’re all right?” Eunseo stopped walking and stared at you.

“I’m fine, you don’t have to worry.”

“Sometimes I wish you would trust me enough to help you through things.” She walked past you quickly and disappeared into the lecture theatre. You sighed and walked in after her, ‘The last thing I need right now is friend issues.’

The professor was yet to arrive and Eunseo didn’t want to talk to you so you opted for a seat near the back wall. You scribbled mindlessly in the back of your notebook before someone sat next to you.

“Hi.” You didn’t look up from your notebook but you could tell the voice was male, and one you hadn’t heard before.

“Hey.” You mumbled back but doubted he heard you.

“I just changed my major from law so I don’t know anyone here.” ‘Why would you change your major half way through the year, and I thought you couldn’t even do that.’ You wondered. “Could you help me out?”

“Uh, sorry, I’m kinda busy.” You lied, but you really didn’t want to deal with people right now.

“Oh, that’s okay. But I hope we can be friends or something.” He sounded a little dejected but it was replaced with light humour quickly. “I’m Seo Inguk, by the way.” He held his hand out to shake so you had no choice but to look up and grasp his hand half heartedly.

“Ahn Seulgi.” You muttered as you looked up and shook his hand. Immediately you stopped and stared at him. Were you eyes fooling you? This guy looked like Hakyeon but that’s impossible because Hakyeon can’t escape. ‘Are they related? No, their last names are different, but still, this is weird.’

“Pretty name.” ‘He even acts like Hakyeon.’ You thought with a sigh.

“Thanks.” You had this weird feeling bubbling in your chest, almost like worry.

You couldn’t believe it, you were actually concerned about those six. Not the kind of concern you had before where you just wondered about whether they were comfortable or not; now you worried that they were sad or lonely. You would wanted to see them, you were just to prideful to admit it.

“Hey,” You sat up straight and looked at Inguk, “Actually, I can help you out. I can photocopy all the work we’ve been given so far.” You were never so bold with people you’d just met but you didn’t want to think about the guys right now, especially Sanghyuk, and Eunseo wasn’t happy with you so you needed a new friend while you worked out everything else.

“Really? Thanks a lot!” Inguk smiled charmingly and you couldn’t help but smile back. The lecture was a lot more bearable with Inguk; he was pretty smart and his impressions of your professor were so amusing you both received a death glare from him for snickering. The hours flew by and you soon found yourself sitting next to him in the library while going over worksheets.

“So, this would mean that a wooden structure wouldn’t be suitable.” You pointed at an equation as you explained it. Inguk nodded and made a note quickly.

“It’s already six-thirty. I guess we should go, huh?” Inguk leaned back in his chair and flipped his book closed.

“Yeah. Wait a second, I should copy this for you.” You grabbed a sheet and walked over to the photocopier. You admired the view from the large window in front of the table you had been sitting at. The sun had begun to set, casting an orange glow over the table causing Inguk to become a black silhouette. The woodland was visible and if you looked close enough you could see the roof of the old house.

‘I wonder…’ You began to think but stopped yourself and grabbed the copied sheet of paper. You walked back to the table and placed the sheet in front of Inguk who was staring intently out the window.

“Uh, Inguk?” He had insisted that formalities weren’t necessary. He seemed to snap out of his daze and smiled at you.

“Oh, thanks. I should go now but I’ll see you next week, okay?” He rushed to stuff his things into his bag before waving goodbye and disappearing through the automatic doors. You stood still for a moment wondering what had fazed him; you tried to follow his line of sight out the window but all you could see were the tall pine trees; the roof of the house was obscured in the pine needles.

You brushed it off as nothing and slowly packed up your things before heading to your dorm. Tomorrow was Saturday which meant you didn’t have much to do. You would have spent the day with the guys but that was out of the question now. ‘I guess I’ll just do some extra study or something.’ You unlocked the door and dropped your bag before grabbing your laptop and attempting to distract yourself for a few hours. You didn’t feel like dinner because that would mean talking to people.

You couldn’t think of anything interesting to search for on the internet so you resigned to studying. You brought your bag over to your desk and pulled out your textbook only to see a post-it note stuck to the front cover. Numbers were written on it with Inguk’s name scrawled below them; his phone number. You felt your heart skip a beat but didn’t know why, hell, you’d only met him today! ‘Maybe I should call him and ask if he wants to do something tomorrow?’ You contemplated it for a longer time than necessary before dialling his number and waiting for him to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Inguk, it’s Seulgi.” You fiddled with a pen as you spoke.

“Oh hey! I’m glad you found the note. What’s up?”

“Um, do you want to do something tomorrow?” You asked awkwardly. He laughed a little at your tone. “Just as friends, I mean!” You quickly added, you didn’t want him to get the wrong idea.

“Yeah, sure. I’ll meet you at the front gates at nine tomorrow morning.” You said bye and hung up. You didn’t want to study anymore and the room had begun to feel a little too warm so you decided to go for a walk.

There were a few people out but most had gone to get food or went back to their dorms or apartments. You walked across the small communal garden and behind the dorms where a few benches were placed. You sat down and once again admired the picturesque view. Soon it would start snowing and the pine trees and blackberry bushes would be covered in white; winter was your favourite season after all. A rustling in the bushes alerted you and you saw the same cat that Taekwoon liked emerge. It’s green eyes looked you up and down before running back into the bushes; it stopped and looked back at you like it was beckoning you to follow it. You almost did but stopped and ran back to your dorm. You were afraid of seeing the six of them again; ‘What if they hate me now? Or none of them trust me anymore?’ You tried to go to sleep but like the night before you couldn’t get the images of their disappointed faces out of your head.

Author Note: Yeah, I had a total mind blank with this chapter... But, Seo Inguk, yay! So yeah, not much to say this time around but thanks for reading! ^^