“We look at the same stars,
And see such different things.”
—     George R. R. Martin

PART III.

After Wonwoo had left to talk the class officially began – nothing out of what Jihoon considered normal happened: just a few warm-up exercises there, basketball and Seokmin cheering as Soonyoung, once again, stole the ball from another person. The ring sounded quickly after that, making people to grab their stuff and head to wherever they had to go, with the exception of Jihoon, who stood confused in the middle of the court without knowing what do to.

“Lee Jihoon!” A voice Jihoon didn’t want to hear at the moment yelled, making his head to turn around – Seungkwan was standing in the door frame, waving his hands excitedly at him.

Jihoon half-smiled and walked towards the brunette with heavy steps and an even heavier heart.

“Hey, Seungkwan,” Jihoon greeted him. He couldn’t look at Seungkwan in the eyes, which glistered as he told Jihoon lunch was next on their schedule.

“Sorry if I leave you alone,” Seungkwan muttered, “But I haven’t seen Soonyoung since last summer, and I really miss him…” His apology somehow sounded genuine, but Jihoon was sure everything he said was a lie.

The 18-year-old frowned. He didn’t know why Seungkwan was lying to him; he would have figured out eventually that Seokmin was Soonyoung’s real boyfriend! Jihoon now stared with unbelief at the doe-eyed boy, who seemed too bright and too happy at the moment – for a second, Jihoon felt sorry for him.

“Staring is rude.” Seungkwan said as he rolled his eyes, his smile fading away as he did so.

Jihoon raised his eyebrows, remembering how Seungkwan’s eyes seemed like they might have popped out if he didn’t stop looking at him in the morning.

Of course Seungkwan had to ruin the moment.

“Why are you so quiet, anyway?” The brunette asked, his eyes squinting as if they could see through Jihoon’s skull and figure out what was going on his head, “You’re kind of boring.”

“What? I’m not boring!” Jihoon complained, raising his voice for the first time in the day. Seungkwan giggled – surprisingly to Jihoon.

Seungkwan had a really nice laugh.

“If you like to think so…” The president of the class shrugged, and never mind– there was anything nice about Seungkwan.

“I’m sorry, honestly… but Soonyoung is probably waiting for me already…”

Jihoon shook his head, “Don’t worry about me, I’ll be okay!” Seungkwan smiled broadly while he listened to the other, and with a last nod with his head, he started walking away from him.

Keeping the smile on his face, Jihoon blinked twice when he realized he had no idea where the cafeteria was. The 18-year-old sighed, scanning the corridor with his eyes. Finding the cafeteria wouldn’t be so difficult if there was anything else in the walls besides white paint and bright, red lockers! Giving up, he slouched against the wall, but perked up when he felt something poking at his stomach, making him jump in surprise.

Someone laughed next to him.

“Joshua?” Jihoon asked, turning around to see his classmate in front of him. Jihoon looked at him questioningly, tilting his head to the smirking boy.

“You seemed lost,” Joshua said, shrugging, “Do you want to sit on my table today? You’ll like my friends.”

Jihoon smiled at him – because Joshua’s smile was really contagious – and nodded with his head, nervous to meet new people.

“Okay,” Joshua smiled even more, turning around and opening a door painted in white – and has that door been there always?! Jihoon frowned. “I hope you brought food – I’m pretty sure everything in this school is from, like, ten years ago or something.” Joshua scrunched his nose, “I had to find out about that on my own.”

“Nah, I’m not really hungry,” Jihoon cringed at the simple idea of eating, and raised his eyebrows when Joshua’s eyes opened even wider.

“How can you not?! It’s been like 3 hours since you last ate something!”

And… what?

“Oh- look there’s an empty table.” Joshua sat down, putting his backpack on the table and ping it to take out his lunch: boxes of all colors and sizes were soon on the table; and Jihoon looked curiously at Joshua as he opened a pink, small container and took out something that was probably made of chocolate.

The dark-haired boy In front of him grimaced, looking at him with raised eyebrows, “You are sure you’re not hungry?” He asked, holding his box in front of him.

Jihoon shook his head, smiling politely when all he wanted to do was puke, “Nope– my mom poisoned me with her breakfast today… she wanted me feel better about my first day here but she kind of made everything worse…” He didn’t want to sound mean to his mom; he loved her and all her efforts, but his dizziness felt like it wasn’t going away anytime soon – and Jihoon hated that.

Joshua stared at him with eyes full of surprise, and shook his head in disapproval.

“I see… If you’re hungry grab something from the table, okay?” His classmate offered. It almost sounded like he was ordering Jihoon to grab something to eat, but the small smile on his face was nothing but kind.

“Thank you, Joshua.” Jihoon smiled genuinely. Talking about food made Jihoon nauseous – the smell of frozen pizza and something sweet made him close his eyes in desperation, and he cleared his throat.

“So where are your friends?”

“Huh?”

“Your friends? Where are they?” Jihoon asked, looking at their lonely table.

Joshua laughed, sounding between uncomfortable and embarrassed.

“You see… It was a way to lure you to my table,” Joshua smiled sheepishly, leaving his pizza aside.

“I don’t have a lot of friends– well, not a single one, really…” Joshua mumbled, looking down at his hands, which rested on his lap.

“Nobody wants to talk to the foreigner who can’t speak a lot of Korean.”

Jihoon frowned – having heard that before. The words that escaped Joshua’s mouth left a bitter taste on Jihoon’s, like coffee on the morning and his mom’s cooking. The 18-year-old cleared his throat, trying to concentrate on his own words, “You’re not from here?” He asked. Joshua was staring at him intently while he munched from a chocolate bar. The dark haired made noise with his mouth that sounded close enough to a giggle and shook his head.

“I’m American,” Joshua said in perfect English, leaving his Hershey’s bar in the side to talk with Jihoon.

“I thought you knew it already! Y’know I thought my name gave it off,” Joshua laughed, “You’ve probably been here more than I have, honestly!”

Jihoon raised his eyebrows, confused.

“I’ve lived in here my whole life, though…”

“Really?! I thought you were from another city?” Joshua questioned, grabbing a piece of pizza and giving it a bite before offering some to Jihoon.

“No, thank you- and, where did you think I was from?” Jihoon wondered.

“I… don’t know? Seoul?”

“Seoul?”

“Well yeah… I don’t know!” Joshua groaned, taking his hands to his hair, “I just, I don’t know, guessed, since you’re new and all.”

“Well I’m definitely not from Seoul,” Jihoon laughed.

“Why is it your first year here, then? Like- how do you say it? I don’t get it…” Joshua questioned.

Jihoon stared at him hesitantly, thinking, before shaking his head and looking around for the first time.

“I… don’t really want to talk about it.” Jihoon admitted, watching people walk around the cafeteria. Jihoon didn’t have to look at Joshua to know he felt uncomfortable – probably nodding way too hard and blinking a few times, too. He kind of felt guilty.

Kind of.

“Ah… I get it- sorry, man,” Joshua mumbled, stuffing some cake in his mouth.

Jihoon smiled, shaking his head once again, “It’s not a problem, chill.” The 18-year-old looked back at Joshua, who raised his eyebrows funnily.

“Alright, alright… I’ll chill,” Joshua answered back in English, seeming entertained enough with the talk and his cake.

Jihoon smiled once again, looking at the cafeteria and then at Joshua and the cafeteria again, squinting as he saw Seungkwan’s figure in the distance. Next to the lanky class president was a boy with blonde hair that Jihoon had learnt to recognize in little time: Soonyoung. The blond had his arms wrapped around Seungkwan, who seemed to be enjoying it as he smiled in the same way he had been smiling to Jihoon before. Next to them was the tall one, the model – the one who had talked to Wonwoo in the gym, staring intently at his food, and then a bunch of boys he didn’t recognize, surprisingly for Jihoon; nor Wonwoo or Seokmin where there.

Things got even more complicated when Jihoon thought he had everything figured out. Seungkwan seemed to be very close with Soonyoung – he was literally close to Soonyoung at the moment. He himself had said he was his boyfriend, but Wonwoo had also said Seokmin was– where they one of those couples? Jihoon wondered.

“Hey, Joshua?” Jihoon called for Joshua, who was probably still eating, Jihoon didn’t know – turning to look at him, the 18-year-old waited for an answer.

“Mmm?”

“Why is Seungkwan holding that guy so close?” Jihoon asked, pointing at the couple.

“Who if he holfing?” Joshua questioned, curiosity taking over him and looking at the couple in front of them. After a quick look, Joshua laughed.  

“What? What’s going on?” Jihoon asked, genuinely confused and scared about the fact Joshua might spill all the food he had on his mouth in the table, Jihoon furrowed his eyebrows.

“Soonyoung… and …Seungkwan… they’re umm… dating.” Joshua cleared his throat, and looked at Jihoon as if he had to know they were dating. “Did you really not know? They’re like, probably going to win the stupid queen and king thing on prom – trust me.”

“So they are really dating?” Jihoon thought out loud.

“Well yes? They’ve been dating for a lot of time, too.” Joshua mumbled, he sounded a little jealous, “They’re so cute, honestly! I hope they break up soon.”

Jihoon laughed at Joshua’s words. He really needed to know what the hell was going on with the three of them – not that he cared, honestly – again, but he was terribly curious now that he knew both relationships where confirmed by other people. The bell rang as soon as Jihoon’s thoughts got deeper, making him startled. Joshua laughed while he placed all his toppers back to his backpack, and Jihoon searched Seungkwan with his eyes one more time, seeing him smiling widely and pecking Soonyoung on the cheek before walking towards him. Seungkwan smiled at Jihoon, and Jihoon smiled back.

What the hell was going on with Kwon Soonyoung?