Sebastian’s POV: 

“Jae Park! My main man!”

“Seb Lee! It’s been too long!”

I could hardly believe my eyes.  Jae and I went way back. We had been good friends in Singapore for as long as I remember, until his family had moved back to Korea because of his dad’s work. I didn’t think I would ever see him again, as we had lost contact a long time ago.

“Damn dude! You look so different!” I exclaimed, reverting to English.

“ You too bro! Have you been working out?” Jae replied, embracing me in a tight self professed “bro-hug”.

I smirked. “ Who said different meant for the better?”

He just shook his head and lightly punched my shoulder. “ Good to know your impeccable sense of humour hasn’t faded away yet.” He then proceeded to ask, “So what’s the deal here? What are you studying here at Dongguk?”

“Theatre Studies, following my dreams man. What about you?”

“That’s cool, you always liked to act anyway.” He looked at his watch. “Hey dude, I’m really sorry, but I got a class in like 5 minutes, catch up later?”

“ Sure thing, um, cos I don’t know how to get home.”

“Where do you stay?”

I told him the address, and he grinned. “That’s wack, I live quite near. I’ll see you at the gate at around 4?”

I nodded. “ Ok, have fun in your lessons!” He raised a hand in thanks as he raced towards his class.

As I walked towards the canteen, I thought how coincidental meeting Jae was, but at the same time I was thankful for someone I knew.

My thoughts were interrupted by my eyes viewing the sheer size of the canteen. , how was I supposed to find Naeun, let alone a seat?

I was panicking inside, until I heard a voice to the right call out “ Sebastian!” I turned, and saw Naeun and a few girls waving at me to join them.

I breathed a sigh of relief, as I made my way towards them. “ I’m really sorry, I met an old friend of mine, and I had to catch up with him.”

She smiled. “Oh that’s really cool! At least he can converse in English with you right?”

My expression turned into a frown “Is my Korean that bad?”

“ Oh no no no, please don’t take my comment the wrong way! It’s just that you would be more proficient in English right? I didn’t mean to insult you.”

I chuckled. “No worries, I know what you meant.”

“Great! I’d like to introduce you to my friends here. “ She then started introducing their names

“ This is Lizzy”. She pointed to a baby-faced girl with long black hair.

“ Her name is Minyee.” A short girl wearing glasses waved at me.

“And finally this is Hyesoo.” A tall brunette flashed a smile.

“Guys, this is Sebastian, a new student from Singapore, and he sits next to me in class.”

“Oh! Naeun-ah, was he the one who saved you yesterday night?” Minyee asked.

“Yah, he’s the one.”

“ Omo! That’s so brave of you!” all three of them squealed.

I blushed in embarrassment and bowed my head. Originally I was going to play it cool, but I was not expecting that reaction. What’s more, other tables near us heard their outburst and were silently judging us.

“Guys stop, you’re embarrassing him.” Naeun joked.

I gave her a thankful look. She just smiled.

God, she looked cute when smiling. It was one of those smiles that seemed to erase all the problems in one’s life and just be happy.

I should probably stop staring at her.

Too bad I find out too late most of the time.

“Naeun-ah, he’s staring at you!!” I heard someone whisper, causing me to snap out of my trance-like state.

“What? No I was most certainly not.” I adamantly denied.

Naeun’s friends giggled, as Naeun shook her head, hopefully in disapproval at her friend’s childishness. Phew, maybe she didn’t notice.

“ So Sebastian, would you like to see our campus?” Lizzy asked.

I nodded my head. “ This place is huge, compared to campuses back home in Singapore.”

Hyesoo stood up excitedly. “Yay! Let’s go guys”. And with that, all three of them started walking out of the canteen. Naeun flashed an apologetic look towards me.

“ I think your friends are pretty cool.”

She raised an eyebrow at me.

“ But a bit eccentric.”

“ They’ll grow on you. Eventually.”

 

3rd Person POV:

 

As Sebastian, Naeun and her friends walked around school, introducing the former to all the various facilities and buildings, Minyee could not help but notice that Sebastian particularly stuck to Naeun throughout the “tour.”

“Perhaps he’s just another typical lovestruck fanboy,” she thought.

Later, whilst they were on the way to the gymnasium, she pulled her two friends back and called out to Naeun, “ Naeun-ah! We’re going to the toilet! You and Sebastian go first, we’ll catch up later.”

Naeun gave her a thumbs up back and continued talking to Sebastian.

“Right girls, I think Sebastian over here is infatuated with our Naeun.” Minyee began.

“But how do you know?” questioned Hyesoo.

“ Look how close he stands with her and how often they talk to each other.” Minyee explained.

“ Sebastian talks to us too.” Lizzy reasoned, and Hyesoo nodded in agreement.

“ Have you seen how he responds to her when she laughs or smiles? His face just lights up in delight. I think he’s just another fanboy.” Minyee shook her head.

“Ohhhh! Min, are you jealous of Naeun? Do you want Sebastian’s attention?” Lizzy and Hyesoo responded in unison, in a questioning tone.

“What! No! It’s just that I’m worried for Naeun because don’t want her to get manipulated by obsessed fanboys.” Minyee tried to tell them.

“ Aish! Don’t worry about our Naeun, I’m sure she can take care of herself. Also, if need be, she just won’t talk to him anymore. What’s more, you just met the guy! You shouldn’t judge him so quickly. Don’t be so worried.” With that, both of them skipped off to catch up with Naeun and Sebastian.

Minyee was left shaking her head in dismay. “The others might not believe me,” she thought, “but I don’t have a good feeling about this.” Still shaking her head, she ran to join the others.

 

Sebastian’s POV:

Wow. Dongguk was really big. Had I not accepted Naeun’s offer of a tour, I would have been lost by the second day.

 

“So? How do you like it Seb?”

By the first day, she was already calling me Seb. Do I take that as a sign that she’s a friend?

Don’t be silly. You barely know her.

I’m so desperate it hurts.

Right.

I decide to go with“ I’m impressed!” as a response. And I honestly was.

“I know, it’s really quite amazing, isn’t it?” I nodded in agreement.

Just then, the school bell rang, signaling the start of afternoon lessons.

We collectively sighed, then looked at each other, suppressing a grin as we hurried back to class.

Maybe this year wasn’t going to be too bad after all.

 

3 hours later

 

I take back my last statement.

I’m almost dead after one day in uni. Not to mention the fact that I’m sitting next to a very pretty girl. I mean, how’s that supposed to help my concentration!

As I was packing up my bags, I felt a tap on my shoulder. I turned to see Naeun.

“Hey Sebastian, I’m really sorry, but I need to leave now for group rehearsals. I wish I could stay and hang out with you more..”

Wait. She wants to hang out with me? Hell yeah!

“ more, but duty calls. I hope you understand?” She looked at me with a sad, somewhat desperate look.

“Umm, yeah, of course, you gotta do what ya gotta do right?” I managed to blurt out.

She lit up. “Thank you so much for understanding! I’ll make it up somehow to you!” And she dashed out of the classroom, leaving me to my own thoughts.

Why was I so awkward now with the opposite ? Sigh, being a young adult was hard.

Oh no! I was supposed to meet Jae at the gate! Damn it.

I grabbed my bag and quickly moved to the entrance to the campus. Jae was leaning against the wall, scrolling through his phone.

“Seb!” He almost shouted, running over to me and giving me a fist pump. “How was your first day?”

I made a dragging motion with my hand across my throat.

“That bad? In theatre studies? Ouch.”

I just shook my head. “ Let’s go man.”

As we started catching up with each other, since we hadn’t seen the other in a long time, I overheard more whispers directed my way.

“Isn’t he the guy who was with Naeun and her friends at lunch?”

“ How does he know her?”

“ I’m so jealous.”

Jae could see I was clearly quite affected by this, and reading my thoughts, he said to me, “ Ignore them Seb. They’re just envious of you because of your friendship with Naeun.”

“I’m not even sure if we’re friends.” I muttered inaudibly.

I perked up. “So Jae, what’s the real deal with Naeun?”

He stopped to look at me. “ Well, with the rising popularity of Apink, people around our age are becoming increasing obsessed with the members. In particular, Naeun is the most well liked by guys and girls alike because of her especially cute and innocent image. That’s why when people found out she was gonna study here, they went crazy with excitement.”

I pondered this. I mean, it made sense that any K-pop idol would be well liked in school, but considering her image in the industry, I now could see why she was even more popular.

Jae continued. “In all honesty, even I was a bit envious of you and how you could start talking to Naeun just like that. All the guys I know either have a crush on her, or have spent too much time trying to talk to her or get her to notice them.”

I shrugged my shoulders. “I don’t want trouble with anyone. I just want to complete my studies here and just move on. I’m not looking for excitement or anything.”

Granted, that was a half truth, but I at least I was honest about not wanting to get enemies and all that.

“Gotta be a likeable person to be popular around here.” Jae said, stating the universal truth in any situation.

At last we reached my apartment block, which I found out from Jae, was near where the popular music show SBS Inkigayo was held, in Gayang.

“Hey Jae, thanks a lot for bringing me home. Appreciate it.”

“No problem man, anytime. Give me a call if ya need anything.”

“Will do man, catch up soon.” I raised a hand in farewell as I went into the block.

Later that night, as I stood on the balcony of my apartment, gazing over the the skyline of Seoul, I looked back on my first day.

The good? I met an old friend, the guys in class seemed cool, and I met an extremely famous K-Pop idol in the process.

The bad? Lessons were so goddamn dry.

So not a bad day after all, relatively normal.

Sigh. I just hope the rest of my year will be better.

I kinda hope tomorrow brings new friendships.

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Hi guys, thanks for reading.

This chapter revealed a few new characters, namely Jae and Naeun’s friends in school, Lizzy, Minyee and Hyesoo.

Did anyone notice the sneaky addition of an Apink song lyric? It’s relatively well known. Keep looking haha.

I apologise if it seems like I’m dragging the story, I feel that description is key for first impressions of new characters. I hope that it doesn’t deter you from reading the story and that you put with my antics for longer. And to be honest, I want my story to be longer haha.  I’ll try to make things more interesting as the story progresses.

Next chapter will have a new character, who is quite well-known, so stay tuned for that!

As always, feedback and comments are appreciated so please do drop me a message if need be :-

Thanks, and peace out :)