“HakYeon.” The stranger searched upward for half a second before he returned his gaze. “Cha HakYeon.”

They met again, outside of the trio’s classroom at the end of the day. It was the only class TaekWoon, JaeHwan, and HongBin had together, so they were in the process of bumping shoulders through the doorframe when TaekWoon stopped in his tracks again. The stranger was casually leaning on the wall opposite of the door, very obviously waiting for the class to end. When he spotted TaekWoon, the smile reappeared without faltering in the slightest at HongBin’s scowl. JaeHwan looked back and forth, intrigued.

TaekWoon stepped forward, though, and approached the stranger. “Sorry for what happened earlier today. We didn’t get to properly introduce ourselves. I’m Jung TaekWoon.”

“I know.” Another scowl from HongBin deflected. “My name is HakYeon. Cha HakYeon.” His smile almost turned into a smirk. “Nice to meet you.”

Why did that sentence chill TaekWoon to his core? He tried to appear unaffected as he gestured to his two friends who had ended up flanking him on both sides. “And this is JaeHwan and HongBin.”

HongBin barely spared a grunt. JaeHwan, on the other hand, was rather enthusiastic. He extended his hand – HakYeon shook it without batting an eye. “Nice to meet you! Anyone want coffee? Dinner, maybe?”

“Do you even go here?” HongBin cut off JaeHwan’s mindless blather. “Or have you just been stalking TaekWoon-hyung and trespassing on the school’s property?”

HakYeon’s brows quirked up as he glanced quickly at the source of meaningless aggression. “Is he your overprotective boyfriend, or…?”

Snorting, TaekWoon discreetly gripped HongBin’s arm to prevent his friend from broiling too far. “No, he’s just my friend. Overprotective, yes, but I’m not his type.”

“Good to know. And yes,” HakYeon addressed HongBin, “I’ve been attending this school for two years now. You haven’t seen me around before?”

What was it that caught TaekWoon’s attention at that moment? He basically stood in the middle of JaeHwan, HongBin, and HakYeon, so his attention should’ve been somewhere in that triangle. But his mind swiftly sidetracked to a window behind HakYeon. The world outside continued as usual, cars rumbling by during rush hour in order to get home.

The cars were pressing forward through traffic. The cars slowed almost to a stop before they reversed the slightest bit. They shot forward again.

TaekWoon could feel his heart thumping harder in his chest. “What was – ”

“Ah, yeah, I’ve seen you before.”

“Eh?” TaekWoon turned to HongBin. “I thought you said you never saw him before…”

HongBin frowned, scratching his head. “Did I? I guess I was wrong. I’ve seen him a few times here and there.”

“Yeah, weren’t you in my…” JaeHwan searched upwards. “…my something math class. Last year, right?”

“I think so,” HakYeon replied. “The teacher was Park HaNa, right?”

“Right! Right! Okay, I remember now.”

TaekWoon was frazzled all over again. When he looked at HakYeon, though, the stranger simply looked back at him, a mischievous glint in his eyes.

A/N: With that, I'm caught up OTL I need to write more, but I've been watching Angry Mom nonstop. So good.