[SJFF] That Someone Is You - Chapter 8
Title: That Someone Is You
Characters: Eunhyuk, OC, SJ members
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama
Word Count: 3,180
Summary: She was fully prepared to submit herself to a life that she wasn't remotely interested in living. Then she met him. Unfortunately, life has no intentions in going easy on the both of them.
~ * ~
08
She giggled softly when someone slid into the chair right opposite her, thoroughly amused by the other person’s presence. Despite the fact that the man was acting seemingly normal to the rest of the people around them, she was still able to find the humour out of it.
“What are you laughing at? Did I do something embarrassing?” the man’s genuinely curious voice spoke up when he noticed how she shook her head with a small smile on her face. She didn’t even acknowledge his existence, burying herself back into her pile of books without uttering a single word.
“Nothing in particular,” she muttered distractedly when he started prodding at her arm, her pen gliding smoothly across the pages of her notebook which was slowly getting filled up, line by line. She made sure to keep her voice down low, not wanting to risk getting thrown out of the library for the second time in a week.
The man seated across the table was of course the culprit in her previous encounter, as was he during all the other times that the cranky librarian had sent a disapproving glare in their direction for giggling too loudly.
“That doesn’t sound like ‘nothing’ to me,” he then commented, feeling slightly incensed by her blatant cover up. That was when he thought of something, and the corner of his lips pulled up into a smirk. “Of course, that is unless you were overjoyed to see me here to the point that you couldn’t hold your enthusiasm in,” he suggested, leaning forward to hold her gaze.
He grinned triumphantly when she turned scarlet at his words, indicating that he had hit the jackpot. She was too easy a target to tease, and he greatly enjoyed doing so too.
“No way, Shin-il sunbae. I’ve seen you way too frequently to remotely feel ecstatic about your presence now,” she laughed again, finally taking a break from her studying and leaned back into her very comfortable seat. She figured out that there was not much of a possibility for her to continue with her revision, now that he was around.
But of course, she wasn’t quite telling the truth. Despite the fact that Shin-il would try to disturb her on a daily basis, regardless of her location on campus, she oddly did not feel remotely annoyed at his advances and actions. Her senior was an enjoyable person to be with, and she was flattered to receive so much attention from a good-looking man like him.
However, she would often feel surprised whenever he merely engages in short conversations with girls who were a lot more attractive than her in terms of looks. It was to the point that she somehow had the suspicion that he wasn’t interested in them at all. Many girls who came in their direction - duly ignoring her presence, of which she sincerely appreciated - have tried and failed to gain his attention, something which Seohyeon enjoyed on a daily basis.
She didn’t like the scathing looks she had received after these encounters though.
“What did I tell you about the suffix, Seohyeon?” Shin-il pouted, evidently not too pleased that she was still being formal with him. But her defiance was precisely what made him so much more attracted to her. He loved girls who weren’t afraid to stand their ground. All the other girls he had chased after would willingly throw themselves at him, and quite frankly, he was getting bored.
“I told you that I’m not used to removing suffixes if I’m not close enough to someone,” she grinned apologetically.
“So should I count myself lucky since you’re at least not addressing me as ‘Shin-il-sshi’?” he therefore asked, shaking his head in a mixture of dismay and amusement when she gave him a firm nod. However, another mischievous thought crossed his mind, and he grinned again. “What do I have to do to make you lose the ‘sunbae’ suffix, then?”
Seohyeon pursed her lips in deep thought, going through her own set of rules in her head as she did so. “Haven’t I told you before that you would have to either be my family member, my best friend, or my boyfriend for me to actually call you by only your name?” she said, completely unaware about the gravity of her words.
Shin-il was fast to pick up the important point in her sentence, however, and a smirk pulled up on the corner of his lips. “Well then, maybe I should put forth my proposal just to try my luck?” he mused, completely enjoying how confused she looked at his words.
“Wait, what is this about again?” she blurted.
“About you dropping the ‘sunbae’ suffix. Since it’s impossible for me to be a part of your family, and I’m not interested in being only your best friend, so I’m asking whether I can date you instead,” the man replied coolly, watching her with deep interest in anticipation for her reactions.
As expected, Seohyeon flushed a deep shade of red at his proposition, and began chucking her stationery into her pencil case. “Don’t joke around, sunbae. This isn’t something that you should speak about lightly,” she huffed, feeling completely flustered at the turn of events. She wasn’t good at handling such circumstances, especially when Min-ae wasn’t around to help her out of it.
Shin-il observed her in amusement as she packed up everything on the table in record speed. He was already used to seeing situations like this unfolding whenever Seohyeon started to panic. He realised that it was one of the ways she subconsciously employed to escape from an unfavourable position, yet he said nothing about it.
She looked adorable doing so.
“Where exactly do you plan on going?” he asked the moment she slung her backpack over her shoulders, effectively preventing her from walking away. She whipped around with a questioning look on her face, though her cheeks were still in a deep shade of red. She was evidently still hung over the previous incident.
Such an innocent girl, he wondered to himself, a smile playing on his lips as he waited for a reply.
“I’m heading back to my dorm room. I don’t think I can stand the coldness of the library anymore. I forgot to bring my sweater along today,” she said, though her mannerisms betrayed her words. Shin-il had observed enough girls to know that she was being incredibly nervous at the moment.
He had half the mind to tease her further, but decided against it in the end. He didn’t want to risk getting into her bad books. “Then in that case, do you mind if I asked another question before you leave?”
Seohyeon quirked an eyebrow at him. “Um, sure, go ahead,” she replied hesitantly, her grip tightening around the books in her arms. The way the older man was smiling at her was deeply unsettling.
However, she swore that her mind went blank at the next sentence that left his lips.
“If you have the time, would you be so kind to allow me to bring you out on a date tonight?” he had asked.
* * * * *
Min-ae watched on in dismay as her roommate paced around the room without showing any signs of stopping. She had been at it since the moment she had returned to their shared dorm with a flustered expression, though Seohyeon said nothing about the matter that was bothering her.
The only other time that Min-ae had seen her friend in such a state of disarray was when she was trying to decide which major she would take in university. It automatically indicated that she was pondering about a hefty decision she had to make - or probably had made.
Feeling concerned about her best friend, Min-ae heaved a sigh and hopped off the bed, determined to get to the root of the problem. She quietly walked up to the still-pacing Seohyeon, and wrapped her arms around the shorter girl’s waist to halt her in her steps. It was the most effective way she could think of, having tried many other methods in the few years they had been friends.
Much to her relief, Seohyeon took note of her gesture and remained in her position, though the fretful expression was still plastered on her face.
“Breathe, Hyeon,” the blonde commanded with a gentle tone, her arms still snaked around the girl’s middle. “What’s wrong? It’s unusual for you to be so restless,” she cooed again.
For as long as she had known Seohyeon, she hardly saw the latter getting angry or does anything else excessively. Seohyeon was a rather soft-spoken girl with a kind personality and an adequate amount of self-confidence, so it really wasn’t too difficult for someone to like her. However, when she starts acting out of her norm, Min-ae knew for sure that something wasn’t quite right.
Her best friend took heed of her advice, breathing in several deep gulps in order to calm herself down before she leaned into Min-ae’s embrace. “I’m sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have freaked out so much,” she said, flashing an apologetic smile at her roommate.
“Right you are,” the blonde huffed jokingly. “Seriously though, did something happen at the library? It’s not like you to be so flustered over something that doesn’t hold a huge bearing on your life.”
Seohyeon sighed at the question. It wasn’t really a matter which she would like to discuss about with her best friend, for the sole reason that Min-ae would be less than happy whenever a certain someone’s name was mentioned. Then again, now that the query had been put forth, there wasn’t much of a possibility for her to escape from it by shrugging it off. She was nevertheless determined to test her luck.
“It’s… I don’t think it’s a big deal… I was just being silly over a date, that’s all,” Seohyeon therefore mumbled, laughing a little at her own words.
Despite having agreed to go on a date with Shin-il, Seohyeon actually did not know what had compelled her to do so. All she remembered was that she had said ‘yes’ without giving it any further thoughts, then turned scarlet and literally scampered out of the library out of his sights when she realised what had just happened.
She couldn’t believe that she was going on an actual date with the good-looking senior who had captivating brown eyes. Although Seohyeon tried desperately to convince herself that it was just another regular hangout session, some part of her was convicted that this was distinctly different from her past encounters with him.
“You have a date?!” Min-ae exclaimed in great surprise. Seohyeon thought that her friend’s grip around her waist tightened up almost painfully at the information, though a split second later, the force that was holding her in place completely dissipated. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you’re going on a date?!” the taller of the pair blurted again, evidently taken aback by the situation.
“Min, chill,” Seohyeon grounded out, turning around to face her best friend for the first time that day. “Someone just asked me out barely an hour ago. Like I’ve said before, it really isn’t something to go ballistic over.”
“Are you kidding me?” Min-ae deadpanned, looking at her as though she was out of her mind, though her expressions turned dark moments later when she caught on to the hidden agenda. “You’re going out with that Yoon Shin-il person, aren’t you?” she asked. Seohyeon was like an open book sometimes, especially in situations like this.
As Min-ae had suspected, the other girl cleared her throat sheepishly and averted her gaze at the mention of the name. The blonde couldn’t help but sigh. “Hyeon… I don’t mean to control you or something, but I’ve told you this before - you shouldn’t get too close to people like him. You’re going to end up hurt if you play with fire.”
Seohyeon snapped up to look at Min-ae, feeling rather displeased by her friend’s words. Even though Min-ae was her best friend, she still could not tolerate the fact that she was passing judgements about the other friends she chose to make, Shin-il included. “How can you say that so easily, Min? You don’t even know him that well,” she defended.
“Then do you really understand him perfectly?” the blonde shot back, upset that her best friend was actually raising her voice at her because of some man which she had barely known for less than three months.
“I’m getting there, but he doesn’t have any ill intentions. I can vouch for that,” Seohyeon insisted, staring at Min-ae defiantly. She was determined to make the taller girl understand that she was no longer a child, and could take care of herself just fine. She appreciated the concern, but this was just too much.
Min-ae glared at her with an equal intensity, though nothing left her lips until several tense moments had passed.
“It’s up to you then. Do whatever you please. I’m not going to bother about you any longer,” she concluded, before storming past Seohyeon and out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
It wasn’t until then that Seohyeon collapsed onto the floor, suddenly feeling extremely exhausted by everything she had been through on that particular day. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
* * * * *
He whistled to the tune of an unnamed song he had heard on the radio as he headed back to his dorm room, satisfied with how his day had turned out to be.
To be completely honest with himself, he had never expected that the girl who was one year his junior would agree to go out on a date with him. She seemed to be the reserved type who would approach a member of the opposite gender with caution, and her lack of reluctance when he had put forth the question came as a surprise to him.
Then again, even if she were to reject him, he would have found another way to get her to go out with him anyway.
However, he vividly remembered how confused he was when Seohyeon had said ‘yes’, mainly because his heart did a weird flip at her answer. The word ‘overjoyed’ couldn’t even describe his feelings properly, and it freaked him out slightly. Shin-il was quick to push those thoughts out of his head, though, and was determined to give her a night to remember.
It was probably the first time that he did not end with a home run at the end of the night after going out on a date with a girl. He had to admit that it was a refreshing change.
Nevertheless, he was a little worried when Seohyeon had finally appeared at their designated meeting spot. She looked gorgeous, that he couldn’t deny, but something about the smile on her face alarmed him. It seemed as though she was upset, but was just putting on a forced smile so as to not ruin the night.
Shin-il managed to pry the precise reason out of Seohyeon over dinner, however. As he had suspected, the girl’s best friend found out about their date, and blew up in her face because of it. It took him quite a lot of effort to actually be able to convince Seohyeon that Min-ae was probably just tired from doing her assignments, and was in a cranky mood because of them.
Only then did Seohyeon finally put on a sincere smile and engaged in a lively conversation with him.
A string of muffled, colourful curses rumbled from his throat when something hard hit him square in his forehead the moment he opened the door to his dorm room. He was completely prepared to tackle the offender to oblivion, only to remember that no one else was supposed to be in his room. That was when a frowning Hyukjae came into full view when he flicked on the lights, causing Shin-il to go wide-eyed.
“Took you long enough to get your ass back here, Shin,” Hyukjae growled. Judging by the messy head of hair, Shin-il deduced that his friend had probably fallen asleep in the room earlier.
“Hyuk? What the hell are you doing here? It’s almost midnight,” Shin-il frowned as he kicked the door shut behind him, before dragging himself across the room and dropped face-down onto his own bed. It was only then did he realise how exhausted he was.
“Damn right you are, Shin. It’s almost midnight, where the hell have you been?” he shot back. “I’ve been waiting for you for the entire night!”
At that, Shin-il looked genuinely surprised. Hyukjae would usually ring him up beforehand if he wanted to hang out with him, but he didn’t remember having received any calls from the idol group member at all. “Was I supposed to chill out with you tonight?” he blurted, earning a loud groan from his friend.
“You ass. I asked you to help me out with one of the subjects last week, and we promised to go through the topic today because lectures were supposed to end early. Did you seriously forget about it?”
Shin-il grinned guiltily at Hyukjae at that. “Guilty as charged. I’m sorry, man. I was just preoccupied with something else and the entire matter slipped off my mind,” he said, aiming a salute at his friend.
“More like you were busy with someone else of the opposite gender,” Hyukjae huffed, his intonation taking a sleepier tone this time. He knew he was right when Shin-il made a funny noise into his sheets. “Finally hit the home run?” he then snickered.
“Actually, no,” came the reply, and Hyukjae did a double take before springing up in his position.
“Did I hear that right?” he queried. “What, did the girl reject you at the final base or something?”
Shin-il turned to make a face at Hyukjae, before planting his face into the sheets again. “Yes, you heard that right, and no, she did not reject me. I didn’t even get it on with her.”
“Is this really Yoon Shin-il I’m talking to?” Hyukjae said, sounding extremely amazed at the situation. His friend would never leave a girl’s room without taking a single piece of clothing off - either on his part, or on the girl’s part - until today, that is.
In fact, there was only one other event where Shin-il did not jump on the girl after taking her out on a date.
“Shut up, Hyuk. Don’t you start going Donghae all over me,” he replied in a joking manner, though slightly distracted by his thoughts. “Go to sleep, you’re spending the night aren’t you?”
“That doesn’t sound right,” Hyukjae laughed sleepily, then mumbled something incoherent before he allowed the sleep to claim him. However, at the back of his mind, he thought that the girl whom his roommate had gone out on a date with wasn’t like any other girl. Shin-il would be in trouble if he doesn’t realise what was going on soon.
Characters: Eunhyuk, OC, SJ members
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama
Word Count: 3,180
Summary: She was fully prepared to submit herself to a life that she wasn't remotely interested in living. Then she met him. Unfortunately, life has no intentions in going easy on the both of them.
~ * ~
08
She giggled softly when someone slid into the chair right opposite her, thoroughly amused by the other person’s presence. Despite the fact that the man was acting seemingly normal to the rest of the people around them, she was still able to find the humour out of it.
“What are you laughing at? Did I do something embarrassing?” the man’s genuinely curious voice spoke up when he noticed how she shook her head with a small smile on her face. She didn’t even acknowledge his existence, burying herself back into her pile of books without uttering a single word.
“Nothing in particular,” she muttered distractedly when he started prodding at her arm, her pen gliding smoothly across the pages of her notebook which was slowly getting filled up, line by line. She made sure to keep her voice down low, not wanting to risk getting thrown out of the library for the second time in a week.
The man seated across the table was of course the culprit in her previous encounter, as was he during all the other times that the cranky librarian had sent a disapproving glare in their direction for giggling too loudly.
“That doesn’t sound like ‘nothing’ to me,” he then commented, feeling slightly incensed by her blatant cover up. That was when he thought of something, and the corner of his lips pulled up into a smirk. “Of course, that is unless you were overjoyed to see me here to the point that you couldn’t hold your enthusiasm in,” he suggested, leaning forward to hold her gaze.
He grinned triumphantly when she turned scarlet at his words, indicating that he had hit the jackpot. She was too easy a target to tease, and he greatly enjoyed doing so too.
“No way, Shin-il sunbae. I’ve seen you way too frequently to remotely feel ecstatic about your presence now,” she laughed again, finally taking a break from her studying and leaned back into her very comfortable seat. She figured out that there was not much of a possibility for her to continue with her revision, now that he was around.
But of course, she wasn’t quite telling the truth. Despite the fact that Shin-il would try to disturb her on a daily basis, regardless of her location on campus, she oddly did not feel remotely annoyed at his advances and actions. Her senior was an enjoyable person to be with, and she was flattered to receive so much attention from a good-looking man like him.
However, she would often feel surprised whenever he merely engages in short conversations with girls who were a lot more attractive than her in terms of looks. It was to the point that she somehow had the suspicion that he wasn’t interested in them at all. Many girls who came in their direction - duly ignoring her presence, of which she sincerely appreciated - have tried and failed to gain his attention, something which Seohyeon enjoyed on a daily basis.
She didn’t like the scathing looks she had received after these encounters though.
“What did I tell you about the suffix, Seohyeon?” Shin-il pouted, evidently not too pleased that she was still being formal with him. But her defiance was precisely what made him so much more attracted to her. He loved girls who weren’t afraid to stand their ground. All the other girls he had chased after would willingly throw themselves at him, and quite frankly, he was getting bored.
“I told you that I’m not used to removing suffixes if I’m not close enough to someone,” she grinned apologetically.
“So should I count myself lucky since you’re at least not addressing me as ‘Shin-il-sshi’?” he therefore asked, shaking his head in a mixture of dismay and amusement when she gave him a firm nod. However, another mischievous thought crossed his mind, and he grinned again. “What do I have to do to make you lose the ‘sunbae’ suffix, then?”
Seohyeon pursed her lips in deep thought, going through her own set of rules in her head as she did so. “Haven’t I told you before that you would have to either be my family member, my best friend, or my boyfriend for me to actually call you by only your name?” she said, completely unaware about the gravity of her words.
Shin-il was fast to pick up the important point in her sentence, however, and a smirk pulled up on the corner of his lips. “Well then, maybe I should put forth my proposal just to try my luck?” he mused, completely enjoying how confused she looked at his words.
“Wait, what is this about again?” she blurted.
“About you dropping the ‘sunbae’ suffix. Since it’s impossible for me to be a part of your family, and I’m not interested in being only your best friend, so I’m asking whether I can date you instead,” the man replied coolly, watching her with deep interest in anticipation for her reactions.
As expected, Seohyeon flushed a deep shade of red at his proposition, and began chucking her stationery into her pencil case. “Don’t joke around, sunbae. This isn’t something that you should speak about lightly,” she huffed, feeling completely flustered at the turn of events. She wasn’t good at handling such circumstances, especially when Min-ae wasn’t around to help her out of it.
Shin-il observed her in amusement as she packed up everything on the table in record speed. He was already used to seeing situations like this unfolding whenever Seohyeon started to panic. He realised that it was one of the ways she subconsciously employed to escape from an unfavourable position, yet he said nothing about it.
She looked adorable doing so.
“Where exactly do you plan on going?” he asked the moment she slung her backpack over her shoulders, effectively preventing her from walking away. She whipped around with a questioning look on her face, though her cheeks were still in a deep shade of red. She was evidently still hung over the previous incident.
Such an innocent girl, he wondered to himself, a smile playing on his lips as he waited for a reply.
“I’m heading back to my dorm room. I don’t think I can stand the coldness of the library anymore. I forgot to bring my sweater along today,” she said, though her mannerisms betrayed her words. Shin-il had observed enough girls to know that she was being incredibly nervous at the moment.
He had half the mind to tease her further, but decided against it in the end. He didn’t want to risk getting into her bad books. “Then in that case, do you mind if I asked another question before you leave?”
Seohyeon quirked an eyebrow at him. “Um, sure, go ahead,” she replied hesitantly, her grip tightening around the books in her arms. The way the older man was smiling at her was deeply unsettling.
However, she swore that her mind went blank at the next sentence that left his lips.
“If you have the time, would you be so kind to allow me to bring you out on a date tonight?” he had asked.
* * * * *
Min-ae watched on in dismay as her roommate paced around the room without showing any signs of stopping. She had been at it since the moment she had returned to their shared dorm with a flustered expression, though Seohyeon said nothing about the matter that was bothering her.
The only other time that Min-ae had seen her friend in such a state of disarray was when she was trying to decide which major she would take in university. It automatically indicated that she was pondering about a hefty decision she had to make - or probably had made.
Feeling concerned about her best friend, Min-ae heaved a sigh and hopped off the bed, determined to get to the root of the problem. She quietly walked up to the still-pacing Seohyeon, and wrapped her arms around the shorter girl’s waist to halt her in her steps. It was the most effective way she could think of, having tried many other methods in the few years they had been friends.
Much to her relief, Seohyeon took note of her gesture and remained in her position, though the fretful expression was still plastered on her face.
“Breathe, Hyeon,” the blonde commanded with a gentle tone, her arms still snaked around the girl’s middle. “What’s wrong? It’s unusual for you to be so restless,” she cooed again.
For as long as she had known Seohyeon, she hardly saw the latter getting angry or does anything else excessively. Seohyeon was a rather soft-spoken girl with a kind personality and an adequate amount of self-confidence, so it really wasn’t too difficult for someone to like her. However, when she starts acting out of her norm, Min-ae knew for sure that something wasn’t quite right.
Her best friend took heed of her advice, breathing in several deep gulps in order to calm herself down before she leaned into Min-ae’s embrace. “I’m sorry, I guess I shouldn’t have freaked out so much,” she said, flashing an apologetic smile at her roommate.
“Right you are,” the blonde huffed jokingly. “Seriously though, did something happen at the library? It’s not like you to be so flustered over something that doesn’t hold a huge bearing on your life.”
Seohyeon sighed at the question. It wasn’t really a matter which she would like to discuss about with her best friend, for the sole reason that Min-ae would be less than happy whenever a certain someone’s name was mentioned. Then again, now that the query had been put forth, there wasn’t much of a possibility for her to escape from it by shrugging it off. She was nevertheless determined to test her luck.
“It’s… I don’t think it’s a big deal… I was just being silly over a date, that’s all,” Seohyeon therefore mumbled, laughing a little at her own words.
Despite having agreed to go on a date with Shin-il, Seohyeon actually did not know what had compelled her to do so. All she remembered was that she had said ‘yes’ without giving it any further thoughts, then turned scarlet and literally scampered out of the library out of his sights when she realised what had just happened.
She couldn’t believe that she was going on an actual date with the good-looking senior who had captivating brown eyes. Although Seohyeon tried desperately to convince herself that it was just another regular hangout session, some part of her was convicted that this was distinctly different from her past encounters with him.
“You have a date?!” Min-ae exclaimed in great surprise. Seohyeon thought that her friend’s grip around her waist tightened up almost painfully at the information, though a split second later, the force that was holding her in place completely dissipated. “Why didn’t you tell me earlier that you’re going on a date?!” the taller of the pair blurted again, evidently taken aback by the situation.
“Min, chill,” Seohyeon grounded out, turning around to face her best friend for the first time that day. “Someone just asked me out barely an hour ago. Like I’ve said before, it really isn’t something to go ballistic over.”
“Are you kidding me?” Min-ae deadpanned, looking at her as though she was out of her mind, though her expressions turned dark moments later when she caught on to the hidden agenda. “You’re going out with that Yoon Shin-il person, aren’t you?” she asked. Seohyeon was like an open book sometimes, especially in situations like this.
As Min-ae had suspected, the other girl cleared her throat sheepishly and averted her gaze at the mention of the name. The blonde couldn’t help but sigh. “Hyeon… I don’t mean to control you or something, but I’ve told you this before - you shouldn’t get too close to people like him. You’re going to end up hurt if you play with fire.”
Seohyeon snapped up to look at Min-ae, feeling rather displeased by her friend’s words. Even though Min-ae was her best friend, she still could not tolerate the fact that she was passing judgements about the other friends she chose to make, Shin-il included. “How can you say that so easily, Min? You don’t even know him that well,” she defended.
“Then do you really understand him perfectly?” the blonde shot back, upset that her best friend was actually raising her voice at her because of some man which she had barely known for less than three months.
“I’m getting there, but he doesn’t have any ill intentions. I can vouch for that,” Seohyeon insisted, staring at Min-ae defiantly. She was determined to make the taller girl understand that she was no longer a child, and could take care of herself just fine. She appreciated the concern, but this was just too much.
Min-ae glared at her with an equal intensity, though nothing left her lips until several tense moments had passed.
“It’s up to you then. Do whatever you please. I’m not going to bother about you any longer,” she concluded, before storming past Seohyeon and out of the room, slamming the door shut behind her.
It wasn’t until then that Seohyeon collapsed onto the floor, suddenly feeling extremely exhausted by everything she had been through on that particular day. This wasn’t supposed to happen.
* * * * *
He whistled to the tune of an unnamed song he had heard on the radio as he headed back to his dorm room, satisfied with how his day had turned out to be.
To be completely honest with himself, he had never expected that the girl who was one year his junior would agree to go out on a date with him. She seemed to be the reserved type who would approach a member of the opposite gender with caution, and her lack of reluctance when he had put forth the question came as a surprise to him.
Then again, even if she were to reject him, he would have found another way to get her to go out with him anyway.
However, he vividly remembered how confused he was when Seohyeon had said ‘yes’, mainly because his heart did a weird flip at her answer. The word ‘overjoyed’ couldn’t even describe his feelings properly, and it freaked him out slightly. Shin-il was quick to push those thoughts out of his head, though, and was determined to give her a night to remember.
It was probably the first time that he did not end with a home run at the end of the night after going out on a date with a girl. He had to admit that it was a refreshing change.
Nevertheless, he was a little worried when Seohyeon had finally appeared at their designated meeting spot. She looked gorgeous, that he couldn’t deny, but something about the smile on her face alarmed him. It seemed as though she was upset, but was just putting on a forced smile so as to not ruin the night.
Shin-il managed to pry the precise reason out of Seohyeon over dinner, however. As he had suspected, the girl’s best friend found out about their date, and blew up in her face because of it. It took him quite a lot of effort to actually be able to convince Seohyeon that Min-ae was probably just tired from doing her assignments, and was in a cranky mood because of them.
Only then did Seohyeon finally put on a sincere smile and engaged in a lively conversation with him.
A string of muffled, colourful curses rumbled from his throat when something hard hit him square in his forehead the moment he opened the door to his dorm room. He was completely prepared to tackle the offender to oblivion, only to remember that no one else was supposed to be in his room. That was when a frowning Hyukjae came into full view when he flicked on the lights, causing Shin-il to go wide-eyed.
“Took you long enough to get your ass back here, Shin,” Hyukjae growled. Judging by the messy head of hair, Shin-il deduced that his friend had probably fallen asleep in the room earlier.
“Hyuk? What the hell are you doing here? It’s almost midnight,” Shin-il frowned as he kicked the door shut behind him, before dragging himself across the room and dropped face-down onto his own bed. It was only then did he realise how exhausted he was.
“Damn right you are, Shin. It’s almost midnight, where the hell have you been?” he shot back. “I’ve been waiting for you for the entire night!”
At that, Shin-il looked genuinely surprised. Hyukjae would usually ring him up beforehand if he wanted to hang out with him, but he didn’t remember having received any calls from the idol group member at all. “Was I supposed to chill out with you tonight?” he blurted, earning a loud groan from his friend.
“You ass. I asked you to help me out with one of the subjects last week, and we promised to go through the topic today because lectures were supposed to end early. Did you seriously forget about it?”
Shin-il grinned guiltily at Hyukjae at that. “Guilty as charged. I’m sorry, man. I was just preoccupied with something else and the entire matter slipped off my mind,” he said, aiming a salute at his friend.
“More like you were busy with someone else of the opposite gender,” Hyukjae huffed, his intonation taking a sleepier tone this time. He knew he was right when Shin-il made a funny noise into his sheets. “Finally hit the home run?” he then snickered.
“Actually, no,” came the reply, and Hyukjae did a double take before springing up in his position.
“Did I hear that right?” he queried. “What, did the girl reject you at the final base or something?”
Shin-il turned to make a face at Hyukjae, before planting his face into the sheets again. “Yes, you heard that right, and no, she did not reject me. I didn’t even get it on with her.”
“Is this really Yoon Shin-il I’m talking to?” Hyukjae said, sounding extremely amazed at the situation. His friend would never leave a girl’s room without taking a single piece of clothing off - either on his part, or on the girl’s part - until today, that is.
In fact, there was only one other event where Shin-il did not jump on the girl after taking her out on a date.
“Shut up, Hyuk. Don’t you start going Donghae all over me,” he replied in a joking manner, though slightly distracted by his thoughts. “Go to sleep, you’re spending the night aren’t you?”
“That doesn’t sound right,” Hyukjae laughed sleepily, then mumbled something incoherent before he allowed the sleep to claim him. However, at the back of his mind, he thought that the girl whom his roommate had gone out on a date with wasn’t like any other girl. Shin-il would be in trouble if he doesn’t realise what was going on soon.