Chapter Text
Junmyeon and Chanyeol are sitting in the library, anxiously awaiting the results of their applications to SMT University. Although he would never let Chanyeol know, Junmyeon doesn’t want to look. If he looks that means he’ll know whether or not he’ll be going to SMT University—or any university, to be exact.
He bites the bullet and clicks the “Check Application Status” button.
“Accepted.” He does a double take before turning back to Chanyeol.
“Oh my god. I’m in. I’m in!” he cries, and Chanyeol grins at first, until Junmyeon grabs him by the neck and bounces up and down in his seat.
“Are you happy?” Chanyeol asks after Junmyeon releases his hold on Chanyeol’s neck.
“Of course I am,” Junmyeon replies. His cheekbones seem to be stuck permanently up. SMT University is one of the highest-ranking universities in the country. Chanyeol is already guaranteed a place due to the bridging program their high school has with SMT University. Junmyeon, however, despite being decently good in academics, was not actually excellent in any subjects. He had good reason to be nervous about being accepted, but it seems fate wanted to reward him for some past good deed.
“You’re going to the same uni as me!” exclaims Chanyeol. Junmyeon nods his head enthusiastically. “And him,” Chanyeol says with a drop in his tone, leaning in. The smile on Junmyeon’s face drops too.
Junmyeon pretends not to know what Chanyeol’s talking about. “Him who?”
“Don’t tell me you forgot about Wu Yifan already,” Chanyeol teases.
“You mean the man who broke my heart into pieces with minimal effort? Yeah, I wish I could forget about him.” Back in second year of high school, Junmyeon was one of many who fell hard for a high school senior named Wu Yifan. But things happened. And for Junmyeon, they were not good things. But life must go on; Junmyeon chooses not to run away. This time, he’s going to face it head on.
“How long has it been?” Chanyeol asks. Junmyeon reckons Chanyeol is still talking about Wu Yifan.
“I don’t know, a year?” A year...It’s been a whole year since he last saw Yifan.
“No, how many years have you been pining over him?” Junmyeon glares at his best friend. Yes, he has been harbouring romantic feelings for Yifan for a long time. If a baby was born the moment Junmyeon fell for Yifan, that baby would already be in kindergarten by now. “Long enough for me to have like, twelve? Thirteen girlfriends? I can’t remember. I thought you’d end up being a monk for keeping your chastity for so long.” Junmyeon’s glare intensifies. Chanyeol is used to that, though. “But anyway!” Chanyeol takes a sip of his cold drink before he continues, “now that you’ve gotten to this point, it’s time for you to finally be in his spotlight. And I, your eternal wingman, promise to help you in whatever way I can.”
Junmyeon tuts while he shakes his index finger at Chanyeol. “Get this straight, okay? I’m not going there to chase after him. I’m completely, one hundred percent, over him.” Junmyeon points at his best friend, who looks back skeptically.
“You say that, and yet I get the feeling that you’re not over him at all,” Chanyeol replies with much confidence. “Just wait, you two will definitely get together."
Junmyeon gives a hard, questioning look at his best friend. “I don’t get why are you so supportive of us getting together. Have you forgotten what happened to me before?”
Chanyeol clicks his tongue. “Of course I remember. But don’t you think it’s a sign for you to do something, now that you’re going to the same school as him? Maybe God is giving you a second chance to start over.”
Junmyeon scoffs at Chanyeol’s ridiculous remark. “There’s no such thing, Chanyeol. As a matter of fact, this is the chance for me to start fresh. Plenty of fish in the sea, you know?” Junmyeon gives a smug look at his best friend, “I just need to reel some in.”
“Oho,” Chanyeol comments sarcastically, “and what if the one that takes the bite is Wu Yifan?”
“Easy,” Junmyeon swiftly answers, “That will never happen if I don’t cast the bait towards him in the first place.”
Chanyeol oohs as a reply, which is honestly very grating to hear. “Look at this little boy getting all confident. See, I know you, my friend. Even if you don’t cast the line, fishes are going to flock at you. Get it? You are the bait. And when a big fish like Yifan comes at you, I am pretty sure you’ll be pulled right into the water."
Junmyeon gives Chanyeol a piercing glare and then mutters through his gritted teeth, “Fuck you, Park Chanyeol. Fuck. You.” Chanyeol makes a dismissive gesture with a wave of his giant hand. “Nah, I’m not that desperate.”
For people who don’t know how far back Junmyeon and Chanyeol have been friends, they might think that the two classmates hate each other. But they have been together since middle school, and these kinds of words are merely proof of their close relationship.
“Though,” Chanyeol adds, and Junmyeon is conditioned to pay attention to his best friend even though he really wants to ignore him right now. “I wonder if you’re going to end up in the same dorm block with him…Wouldn’t that be fun?” Chanyeol wonders aloud.
Junmyeon suddenly gives an eerily sweet smile which alarms his best friend; it’s never good when Junmyeon smiles like that. “Chanyeol-ah,” says Junmyeon, voice as sugary as his smile, while he calmly closes the laptop. “Just shut your mouth.” Chanyeol shifts his gaze somewhere as he taps his legs faster.
Little does Junmyeon knows that destiny really likes to fuck him over.
~*~
Junmyeon surveys the truck, looking to see if there’s anything he may have left behind. “I think that’s it,” he tells Jaesuk, his family’s longtime assistant. Smiling at the crew gratefully, he grabs the last of his things that he can carry to his dorm room himself.
“Young master, don’t forget to call the boss once in a while, okay?” Jaesuk reminds Junmyeon of his filial duty. His dad owns a large car dealership and Junmyeon is his only son.
“Yes uncle, I’ll remember.” Despite the staff being formal to him, Junmyeon considers them his family.
Junmyeon watches as the truck becomes smaller and smaller in his line of sight. Urgh, I’m so hungry, Junmyeon thinks. His throat and stomach never agree with each other whenever he has to take long rides on big vehicles (not that it happens often), so he decided not to eat beforehand. Despite successfully completing the ride just now, his stomach is currently begging to be filled. Junmyeon tries to spot a snack vending machine but he finds none. He groans to himself, then makes up his mind to find the cafeteria after he gets the last of his things into his new room.
“Oh,” comes a chattering of voices behind him, “look at that hotshot with his moving company.” Junmyeon slouches a bit, hoping that the laughter coming from them is not directed at him. He’s not really in the mood to be taunted today—his stomach is empty and it’s making him cranky. “Ah, young master,” they jeer, “he has the moving company help him move two bags, what a high-born son.”
Junmyeon waits for them to walk away, knowing that the best thing is not to fight back. But he can’t help but be annoyed by the teasing. “Fuck off,” Junmyeon mutters in a voice he thought was too quiet for anyone to hear. But the next thing he knows, there’s a tap on his shoulder.
“Excuse me,” comes a terse voice, “do you have something to say?” Junmyeon whips around and is about to tell the stranger off when he realizes it’s not a stranger. That’s Yifan. Suddenly Junmyeon is absolutely tongue tied as he looks up—way up—at this familiar face. A high-and-mighty smirk blooms on Yifan’s mouth. “Ah, so silent now,” he tuts, “I guess you don’t have the balls to say it to my face, hm?”
Junmyeon knows that Yifan was sometimes a bit of a jerk back in high school. Despite that, Junmyeon still fell for him. But today is not the day for Junmyeon to just shut up. He is hungry and cranky. His mind can’t think straight.
“So what if I hired a moving company? Is there something wrong with that?” Finally Junmyeon’s voice returns to him, and it’s not a pleasant homecoming.
Yifan seems to be surprised by the reply for a few moments before he shrugs disdainfully. “I don’t think there’s anything wrong with your arms though? Can’t use your own hands like a man?”
Junmyeon furrows his brow in frustration. Why is this upperclassman being so belligerent to someone he clearly doesn’t recognize—someone he sees as a stranger? Is this what they call ‘hazing?’
“My dad already paid for the service! To refuse it would be wasteful and disrespectful.”
“Seems like young master can’t do anything on his own,” he says, looking down on Junmyeon. “You know, daddy isn’t going to be here to help you do things from now on. Here, young master, you’re on your own.”
Junmyeon doesn’t know if he’s about to cry or scream but he does what he can to collect himself before gritting his teeth. “In that case, sunbaenim,” he growls, “allow me to excuse myself to collect the rest of my things. Thank you so much for your concern.” He hoists the last of his bags up in his arms and walks past Yifan as fast as he can.
From the day he received admission at this university, Junmyeon knew he would get to see Yifan again in one way or another. But that was not the reunion he’d anticipated, and he doesn’t know how he’s going to face Yifan after this. What a jerk! What a brat! Junmyeon wants to hate him, he wishes he could forget about him.
But for some reason, he can’t.
~*~
“Well well well, what do you know? You really ended up in the same dorm as him.” Junmyeon rolls his eyes at Chanyeol’s mocking tone. “Come on now,” adds Chanyeol, “can’t you see that this is The Sign?”
“Ah yes, I can see it very clearly. It’s a big ass sign that says ‘FUCK YOU’ in huge, lit up letters.” Junmyeon stabs the piece of fried tofu in front of him. “Did I destroy a country or something in my past life?”
“Maybe, maybe not.” Chanyeol replies. “Though, I can’t believe that your Yifan said that to you.”
Junmyeon looks at Chanyeol is disbelief. “What do you mean my Yifan? You wanna die?”
Chanyeol grins at Junmyeon. Junmyeon realizes that Chanyeol does that to rile him up, and it’s working. Junmyeon then huffs, contenting himself to take a big bite of his tofu.
“Maybe he doesn't recognize you. I mean, you didn't even talk to him back in high school. And remember how you used to be back then? You were so skinny, I thought I could break you with just my bare hands. But look at you now. You got rid of your nerdy glasses, got your braces off, gained these cute—” Chanyeol reaches out to pinch Junmyeon’s cheeks, an action Junmyeon swiftly evades, “—cheeks. You have never looked better, Junmyeon. And I can see why he doesn’t recognize you.”
“Stop it…” Junmyeon tells his best friend. To hear those compliments coming from a brash person like Chanyeol is still an awkward thing for Junmyeon. But Junmyeon agrees that this version of himself is the best he has ever been. Seems like gaining weight and self-respect after getting heartbroken is not all that bad.
“So…what are you going to do about this?” Chanyeol asks, emphasizing the last word by drawing a lopsided circle in the air with the fry he is holding.
“About what?” Junmyeon furrows his eyebrows, not getting the question.
“About him not recognizing you.” Chanyeol finally eats the fries.
“Isn’t that better? I’d prefer he not remember me.”
Chanyeol hums. “I see. So you want him not to remember the ‘before,’ you want to appeal with the ‘after.’”
Junmyeon takes one of Chanyeol’s last few fries wordlessly before throwing it towards his best friend’s face (“Hey!” Chanyeol shouts, “My fries!”) “Talk nonsense again and I’m going to throw something more solid next time.” Chanyeol bends down and bemoans the tragic death of the fallen fry on the floor.
Somehow Junmyeon’s eyes manage to catch a sight of a group of three guys sitting at the opposite table. All of them are wearing sports uniforms; one of them, the one that is right in the line of Junmyeon’s vision, is wearing a white jersey.
And then, his mind travels.
The plain white jersey now has red piping, ‘CHEONGUK’ written on the chest with number 11 below it. The face of the stranger now changes into a face that he knows; Wu Yifan.
Junmyeon stares at ‘Yifan’ who now has his hair plastered on a damp forehead and sweat dripping down the side of his face. ‘Yifan’ is smiling as he listens to his friends talking, and Junmyeon unconsciously wishes that ‘Yifan would smile the same way at him. Like on cue, ‘Yifan’ turns towards Junmyeon and smiles. So handsome, Junmyeon thinks to himself.
Junmyeon remembers the fluttering in his chest he used to get whenever he saw Yifan like that, hanging out with his friends after a game. Girls would crowd around Yifan and his clique, and skinny Junmyeon would easily get drowned amongst those hormonal teenage girls. Junmyeon etched the image of Yifan in his most attractive state so when Junmyeon would come back home, he could daydream about his crush.
Junmyeon doesn’t know why the memory is suddenly coming back to him now. (Or maybe he does.)
“—myeon.” Chanyeol calls for him. Junmyeon snaps out of his reverie.
“Why do you keep staring at them?” Chanyeol whisper shouts at him.
“Was I?” he asks, and Chanyeol nods. Junmyeon looks over at the group of guys, noting that all of them now are looking back at him.
Chanyeol turns towards them to apologize on Junmyeon’s behalf. “Sorry, my friend spaces out a lot.” Junmyeon takes the cue and gives a slight bow towards them as he apologizes loud enough for the group to hear. “Yah,” Chanyeol says after the group of three remove themselves from the table. “What the hell were you dreaming about, huh? You had your mouth hanging open just now.”
“Really? I did?” Junmyeon goes wide-eyed at Chanyeol’s comment.
“Yeah! You looked like when you were drooling over your crush back in high school. Did you fall for one of them? No way…”
Junmyeon suddenly finds that he’s very hungry for the unfinished tofu in front of him and stuffs his face with it, pretending not to hear his best friend’s scarily accurate observation.
~*~
“So who do you have as your microbio professor?” asks a chemistry major who’s sitting behind him. Junmyeon is now separated from his best friend; Chanyeol is currently with his engineering major classmates somewhere else in the university while Junmyeon is here with the rest of science majors.
“Ah, I have Cho-sunsaengnim,” Junmyeon replies. The freshmen are chattering among themselves as they wait for the program coordinator to tell them why they’ve been gathered here.
“Okay, everyone!” the program coordinator calls to attract their attention. “My name is Kibum and I’m your freshman program coordinator. So, ah, we’ve got a bit of a problem. Your faculty hasn’t chosen your Moons and Stars yet and the practice for the the Campus Moon and Star competition starts tomorrow. So we’re going to give you ten minutes to choose the faculty’s representatives. Until this thing is finished, there will be no lunch.”
The chattering intensifies; some voicing their disagreement at the sudden announcement and some already picking out candidates among each other. Amidst it all, Seungwan, who is also a biology major, asks him about the Moon and Star Competition. Junmyeon realizes he also doesn’t know what the competition is about.
“Oh, the legend of Moon and Star?” Sunyoung, who is also in the same class, butts in. Junmyeon and Seungwan look at her, since she seems ready to explain. “The legend says that once there was a couple of heavenly beings who loved being on Earth so much that they abandoned their position in the Heavens. The Emperor of Heaven was so mad at them; he wanted to make it so that these two would never again walk on Earth. The man turned into the Moon, the woman became the Star.”
I think I have heard of this before, Junmyeon thinks. Being turned into rocks or balls of gas floating in space is indeed quite a cruel punishment.
“What does that have to do with this competition?” Seungwan presses for more information.
Sunyoung shrugs, “Oh, it’s just like a beauty pageant; just a cultural activity for the students.”
Beauty pageant, Junmyeon scoffs. I definitely can’t be in it.
“Speaking of that, Junmyeon-ah,” Junmyeon turns to Seungwan as she calls his name, “you seem to be a good candidate for our major.”
Junmyeon looks at her in disbelief. “Me? Are you kidding?”
The other classmates suddenly pop their heads up like meerkats in the Serengeti and turn to look at Junmyeon, relaying words of agreement with Seungwan’s suggestion.
The chattering noise dies down suddenly; instead there is a collective sound of people gasping in awe. Junmyeon wonders what is happening right now.
“Kids! We have a special person here with us.”
Junmyeon diverts back his attention towards Kibum. Standing beside the program coordinator is a very special person indeed.
“Introducing our Medical and also Campus Moon from last year, Wu Yifan!”
The girls in the faculty scream and squeal, but Junmyeon’s breath hitches in his throat. He’s honestly not ready to see Yifan again, not after what happened last time. But in he comes, taking Junmyeon’s breath away like he always does. His combed jet black hair is shining under the sun. He’s wearing an untucked white shirt with his sleeves folded up to his elbows, and his sleek black slacks and leather shoes give him a dashing look. He looks gorgeous and tall as ever, and Junmyeon just can’t hate him. He can’t.
“Yifan, do you have any advice you’d like to give our science freshmen?” Kibum says.
“Ah…” Yifan hesitates, looking bored, as if this is the last place he wants to be right now. “Do your best.”
“That’s it? That’s all you want to say?”
Yifan gives a nonchalant nod.
“Well…Thank you so much, Dr. Yifan!”
The aforementioned ‘Dr. Yifan’ gives a pointed look towards the program coordinator. Kibum is somehow not affected by it.
Yifan then turns to leave. He looks back over his shoulder, surveying the crowd for a moment. The girls scream again, ferociously chattering between themselves about how hot Yifan is and whether or not they have a chance with him. Kibum, too, is beaming with pride. But Junmyeon’s heart is just battering in his chest, hoping that Yifan won’t see him in the crowd. Fortunately—or perhaps unfortunately—Yifan doesn’t seem to notice Junmyeon and he leaves as quickly as he’d arrived.
“Okay, with that inspiration complete, it’s time to figure out who it’s going to be! You can nominate someone or yourself, okay? And then we’ll have a bit of a Q&A to decide who your Moon and Star will be. Go!” Kibum announces excitedly.
The girl next to Seungwan grins at Junmyeon. “I really think it should be you,” she says, and the students around them nod in enthusiastic agreement.
“That’s ridiculous...” Junmyeon protests, but the others nudge him excitedly.
“Why not? You’re very good looking,” one of the girls says. “I think you’ll make a great Moon.”
“I agree,” another girl says. “People will like you!”
“I really don’t want to, though!” Junmyeon huffs. That somehow makes some girls in his class coo at him; Junmyeon doesn’t understand why.
“Hey, besides,” Seungwan adds, “there’s no guarantee that you’ll get picked. Just go there for our sake, ok?” (“We need to eat,” add some others in front. “We get lunch after this.”)
Junmyeon’s habitual pout makes its way onto his face. Now even Sunyoung is cooing at him.
“Biology! Where’s biol—oh here you are. Only Star?” Kibum looks at the pretty girl who’s gone up to be the Biology Star rep. “Where’s the Moon rep for biology?” Kibum’s high-pitched voice pierces the air.
“We nominate Junmyeon!” Seungwan shouts before Junmyeon can stop her.
“Great!” Kibum smiles. “Come up here then!” Junmyeon reluctantly joins the other nominees at the front and surveys the crowd. The students around him smile at him reassuringly, while his meerkat classmates back in their seats give him multiple thumbs up.
“We’re going to choose by asking you all a question, and who ever answers the best wins!”
Junmyeon stands up and down on his toes, a habit he developed that acts up whenever he is nervous. He just wants to go back to his seat...
“And the question is….”
~*~
“You’re Science Moon? Our Junjun is Science Moon?”
Junmyeon rolls his eyes as the sound of his best friend’s laughter booming through the phone’s speaker. Yes, unbelievable as it sounds, Junmyeon has been picked as the Moon for the Science Faculty. His classmates were eating heartily while he couldn’t even swallow his lunch, trying to process the fact that he’d be competing in a freaking beauty pageant.
The sound of Chanyeol choking from laughing so hard tones down the annoyance Junmyeon is currently experiencing for his best friend. “Serves you right.”
“I’m dying,” Chanyeol continues, still gasping for air.
“Just die then,” comes Junmyeon’s nonchalant reply. No pity for that big oaf.
“Congratulations though, you are one step closer to your future husband!”
Junmyeon clicks his tongue. “You’re lucky that you’re not in front of me or I would throw this phone at your face.” The other end of the phone is booming with boisterous laughter.
“Really, though. You do know that Yifan is the Campus Moon from last year, right? And you know about what previous years’ Moons and Stars have to do.”
Junmyeon had heard about that in passing from Kibum. Apparently the Stars and Moons from the previous year have to be the mentors for the candidates of the current year. Since Junmyeon is the representative for the Science Faculty, Hyungsik, who was last year’s Science Moon, should be the one in charge for Junmyeon. However, Kibum told Junmyeon that Hyungsik is studying abroad this semester, so Kibum is unofficially his mentor.
“So what? He’s not in my major.”
“Of course I know he’s not in your major, but since he’s the Campus Moon, he has to take care of everyone.”
Junmyeon bites his lower lip. After that first day, Junmyeon hoped not to cross paths with Yifan again, but it seems like the universe just wants to make them to bump into each other more often. A smile unknowingly creeps onto his face, a small tinge of something akin to excitement now budding in his heart. Wait, Junmyeon stops himself, why am I smiling? Am I actually happy about getting to see him more often? The one that broke my heart? Junmyeon, get your act together!
Junmyeon moans in despair, his brain now having a one on one pep talk with his erratic heart. “Why me…”
“Yeah, why you?” Chanyeol agrees with Junmyeon, and Junmyeon doesn’t know whether to get offended or not. “How did you get picked again?”
Junmyeon releases a sigh. “They just asked us a question and I just answered.”
“What was the question then?” asks Chanyeol. Junmyeon hums as he thinks, reluctant to tell even his best friend about it. Chanyeol seems to be getting the hint of Junmyeon’s reluctance. “Is it something you can’t tell?”
“Well…” Junmyeon drags on. From his bed, he scans his new room. The room came furnished with a bed, a side table, a desk, a chair, and a bookshelf. It’s a rather plain room with plain furniture, but Junmyeon did his best to make it home. He filled the bookshelf with his favorite books and manhwa volumes and set up a lamp with a soft light to help him read when it’s dark out. His gaze falls towards the vanity desk that came with the room at the corner. Junmyeon decorated the top of the desk with frames of pictures of him with significant people in his life; Chanyeol included.
The reflection of the mirror reveals something that he wants to hide. From this angle, Junmyeon can clearly see a collage of pictures of Yifan from high school attached to the back of one of the frames. Junmyeon remembers spending his time admiring the person in the collage, etching Yifan’s features onto the back of his brain, hoping that his crush would appear in his dreams.
“They asked me, ‘what is love?’” Junmyeon’s gaze fixed to the reflection of the collage in the mirror. All of them, also, are shots of Yifan not looking at the camera. Just like Yifan who never looked at Junmyeon back then. Not even once. “I just answered honestly,” he concludes, and the laughter he expected from Chanyeol never comes. Chanyeol understands, and Junmyeon’s heart throbs.
~*~
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Junmyeon groans into his pillow. The knocking isn’t coming from his door, but it is so loud it proves to be more effective at waking him up than his alarm clock.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
“Oh my god just get the fucking doooooor.” Junmyeon grabs the pillow between his knees and puts it on his exposed ear to block the noise. The pillow fails to be a barrier because Junmyeon can hear each and every word of what the girl outside is saying (either because he has supernatural hearing or the walls are really thin).
“Oh, Yifan! Nice to see you early in the morning.”
Yifan?
That Yifan?
Yifan is here?
“Hey, Tiff. Sorry for waking you up this early. I need to borrow your neuro notes.”
“Oh…I thought you wanted to ask me out for breakfast.” Her tone is teasing but Junmyeon knows that she is disappointed.
“Next time I’ll treat you, ok?” This ‘Yifan’ who is talking sounds so gentle and kind. A small part of his heart stings with pain upon realizing that he would never hear that tone directed at him.
“I’ll hold you to that promise.” She is clearly flirting with Yifan.
Junmyeon hears the sound of the door closing. Assuming that they’ve now parted ways, Junmyeon gets out of his bed, tiptoeing to his door and carefully opening it. Through the small opening he manages to get a glimpse of a tall person leaning against the wall of his front neighbour’s room. Without his glasses he has to squint hard to make out the details of the tall guy, but it’s no doubt that it is the same Wu Yifan that constantly plaguing his mind lately.
Yifan seems to sense that someone is watching him and he looks around, conveniently noticing Junmyeon’s head peeking through the door. It takes a moment for Junmyeon to realize that Yifan is looking back at him.
“Fuck,” Junmyeon curses, swiftly disappearing back into his room and locking his door shut. His legs are losing strength; he drops down on the floor the moment he locks himself in.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Junmyeon’s thumping heart is already about to leap out of his chest; the loud knocking from the other side of his own door only makes his impending heart attack more likely.
“Young master,” Junmyeon hears. “I saw you just now. Come out and greet your sunbae properly.”
Junmyeon hears the rattle of his door handle. What the hell? Is he crazy or what?
“You better come out now or I’ll break the door.”
No way, Junmyeon screams in his head. I just woke up and you tell me to go out and see you like this? Over my dead body!
The knocking is not going away. At this point the whole floor is going to wake up from the noise. Go. Away. Please.
“Hey, Yifan,” comes Tiffany’s voice again, and finally the banging stops. “What are you doing?”
“Just wanted to say ‘Hi’ to a dear dongsaeng,” he says nonchalantly. “Ah, the notes. Thanks.”
“Any time,” she says in a sweet voice. “Bye, Yifan. Don’t forget to treat me to breakfast next time. You promised, right?”
“Right,” Yifan says, the tone of his voice making it clear that he’s smiling. “Bye, Tiff.” Junmyeon sighs as he listens. Her voice is so girly and seems like exactly the type of girl Yifan would like. He’s so nice to her.
There’s the sound of the door closing again, this time with the lock turning. Junmyeon cups his ear against the door, trying to listen to the footsteps. He hopes that the footsteps are fading. Instead, though, they’re getting louder and they stop in front of his door (Junmyeon can even see the shadow from the bottom of his door).
“If you show your face in front of me next time, you’ll know what I’ll do to you.”
Yifan’s low tone sends a shiver down Junmyeon’s spine. It sounds so cold, but for some reason he feels happy at the mention of ‘next time.’ His brain must have gone haywire from the oversupply of oxygen due to his heart pumping so fast just now.
KNOCK KNOCK KNOCK
Junmyeon is sure he’s just had an arrhythmia.
“Junjun!” comes a voice that is definitely not Yifan’s.
“Chanyeol?” Junmyeon stutters, finally opening his door. “What are you doing here?” His best friend is not only wide awake, he also looks pretty well dressed and Junmyeon is somewhat baffled.
“The profile photoshoot for the Stars and Moons is in half an hour; why are you still in your pajamas? And why didn't you pick up your phone?” Chanyeol scolds, looking Junmyeon up and down.
“What? When did you—” Junmyeon walks to his bed and searches for his phone only to find it under the blanket. Eleven missed calls? Seven from Kibum-sunbae? “Shit!”
“No shit,” Chanyeol says, pushing Junmyeon towards the bathroom.
Junmyeon doesn’t move. He’s confused.
“Wait, how do you know about the photoshoot? You’re not a—” he asks, waiting for some answer to dawn on him. Chanyeol starts to grin and Junmyeon’s jaw drops a bit. “You’re Engineering Moon?”
Chanyeol’s grin grows as he nods, rocking back and forth on his feet. “I’m your eternal wingman, remember? I have to be there for you,” he says. “Anyway, hurry up! It already takes fifteen minutes to get to the hall and your short legs will only make us slower! Get dressed and let’s go!”
Junmyeon smiles, happy that his best friend will be going through this with him. He scrambles around to find clothes he can wear for a photoshoot, and any thought of his near-miss with Yifan this morning is out of his mind.
For now.
~*~
“And noona, you know what’s funny though?” Chanyeol tries to talk through his giggle. He is currently telling their story back in high school about a girl in their elective Hanja characters class. The Stars and Moons’ main makeup artist, Jaekyung-noona, who is working on Junmyeon’s face, only smiles at the talkative oversized hoobae. “That girl that called him ‘Junjun’ actually had a crush on him. It was so obvious! But he never noticed because he was busy ogling someone else.”
“Really?” asks Jaekyung. Junmyeon gives a weak smile.
“Chanyeol-ah,” Junmyeon grits his teeth. “How about you stop talking?”
“Ey, you’re no fun. It’s all in the past!” Chanyeol teases him.
“Obviously you are more fun than me, that’s how you managed to score your tenth girlfriend, who happened to be her best friend.” (Jaekyung gasps, “Such a player!” Junmyeon adds, “I know, right?”)
Chanyeol generally knows when to shut up, and after Junmyeon’s obvious dig, he knows now is the time.
Jaekyung taps a bit of moisturizer onto Junmyeon’s face. “I rarely say this but Junjun—” (Great. Now he’s stuck with this nickname again.) “—your skin is amazing,” she says, practically cooing at him. “So smooth and even...I’m jealous and I already use eleven products twice every day.”
“Thank you,” Junmyeon replies awkwardly. He’s not used to people complimenting his skin—in high school he had near-constant pimples and dry patches on his cheeks. It took a lot of healthy eating, skin cleansing, and self loving to get it this way.
“Now for your li—oh. The lip kit isn’t here. I’ll be right back.” Jaekyung walks away to find the missing piece of her makeup set.
“Junjun,” whispers Chanyeol. He nudges Junmyeon. “Where’s Yifan?” Chanyeol’s looking around like a hunting dog trying to locate prey and Junmyeon pouts.
“How the hell should I know,” comes Junmyeon’s curt reply. Chanyeol laughs.
“Aren’t the senior Moons from the other faculties supposed to come mentor us through the photoshoot? I thought Campus Moon would surely be the first one here, but I don’t see him.” Chanyeol continues to swivel his head every which way.
“He’s a medical student. Why would he waste his time here when he could be studying?” Junmyeon says, thinking back to Yifan asking Tiffany for the neuro notes. Chanyeol replies with a monotone hum, then turns to a melodic hum. And then the humming comes to sudden halt.
“Wow,” Chanyeol exclaims all of a sudden. Junmyeon looks to his side where Chanyeol is sitting and follows his best friend’s line of sight.
As if fate wants to prove it loves teasing Junmyeon, there’s Yifan.
Yifan goes straight to the sofa on the other side of the studio and settles himself down before he takes out his phone. It seems like he really doesn’t want to be there.
They both spend a few more seconds to observe the Campus Moon when Chanyeol finally says, “He’s handsomer than I remember him being, and that’s saying something.”
“Exactly…” Junmyeon mutters under his breath before stopping himself from ogling his crush further. Chanyeol notices how Junmyeon starts to fiddle with the bottle of banana milk on the vanity table to distract himself.
“It’s only been a year…how can anyone improve their looks from high-class to god-level in only a year?” Chanyeol continues, but now Junmyeon knows Chanyeol is teasing him because Chanyeol’s nose is wrinkling up like it does when he’s being mischievous. Junmyeon frowns, turning back to where Yifan was standing. Except now Yifan is coming right towards him, and Junmyeon blanches.
“Young master, so nice to see you here,” he says, and Junmyeon’s heart sinks as he hears that taunting tone in Yifan’s voice. “Why didn’t you open your door this morning? I wanted to have a chat.”
Junmyeon looks down at his feet, willing himself to think up some witty remark or good excuse but he can’t think of anything that would give him the upper hand.
Chanyeol looks at Junmyeon in surprise. Junmyeon fully expects Chanyeol to demand all the details after this exchange is over, but he has bigger things on his mind right now, namely—
“I assume you remember what I told you this morning.”
Chanyeol gives a raised eyebrow at Junmyeon. Definitely going to have to fill Chanyeol in. He’s so not looking forward to explaining how mean his crush is being to him.
“What’s your major?” Yifan asks. Junmyeon thinks of all the ways Yifan can make his life harder once Yifan knows his major. Surely he won’t do all those things to me, right? I mean he’s mean but not that mean.
Chanyeol elbows him again, and he finally looks up at Yifan. “Biology!” he says a bit louder than he expected to. Yifan looks amused.
“Name?”
Junmyeon gives a not-so-subtle look to his side, sending a distress signal towards his best friend. Chanyeol doesn’t do anything; instead, he clearly averts his eyes to look everywhere but at Junmyeon.
“Junjun,” comes Jaekyung with a pink pouch in her hand. Junmyeon takes a sharp breath at her impeccable timing. “I have my lip kit with me now. Oh, hi Yifan-sunbae. Doing your Campus Moon duty, I see.”
“Of course,” answers Yifan. “I have to take care of our…Junjun,” Yifan stifles a chuckle (I’m never gonna get away from this name, am I? Junmyeon concludes in his head), “and…” Yifan looks straight at Chanyeol.
“I’m Chanyeol, Engineering Moon.” Chanyeol is about to stand up to shake Yifan’s hand, but Junmyeon’s hand moves faster than his brain, and he holds Chanyeol down by grabbing his best friend’s arm.
“Ooh, possessive,” Chanyeol whispers. Junmyeon hisses at Chanyeol again.
“Well, thanks for checking in, sunbae! Now, Junjun, let’s put some lip balm on you.” Jaekyung takes her previous seat in front of Junmyeon with a tube of lip balm in her hand and uncaps it. With Yifan standing nearby, staring down at him, Junmyeon feels more self-conscious than necessary.
“It’s okay noona, I can put it on myself.” Junmyeon’s takes the tube from Jaekyung’s hand. He turns away from Yifan, focusing to put on the lip balm by looking at his reflection in the vanity mirror near him while Jaekyung moves on to Chanyeol.
Junmyeon’s throat feels parched for some reason definitely totally unrelated to the fact that Yifan is still standing within arm’s reach. There’s a bit more banana milk that he put on the table prior to his makeup session, so he grabs it and sips until there’s none left. Realizing that the lip balm has already transferred onto the straw (What kind of cheap lip balm is this? he complains silently), Junmyeon reapplies it.
“You’ll never win.” Yifan throws an offhand remark at Junmyeon.
Junmyeon turns to face Yifan, suddenly feeling a bit brave. “And how would you know, sunbaenim?”
Yifan scans him up and down. “Short legs, unmanly face—” Yifan glances at the drink on the table, “—childish drink. You are far from being a Campus Moon.”
Junmyeon laughs in disbelief. Seems like nothing about him is appealing in Yifan’s eyes. “You can’t know for sure. Maybe I will get to be the Campus Moon this year.”
Yifan smirks at him. “No way. Because I’m a jury for this year.”
“Wow,” Junmyeon exclaims, “already biased? Now that’s not a very competent jury, right sunbaenim? Think about what people would say about a biased Campus Moon.”
The smirk on Yifan’s face remains. “We’ll see about that, Shortie.”
~*~
Junmyeon stuffs his face with rice as angrily as he can. Chanyeol’s been watching him silently and furiously eat for the past five minutes.
“How did I ever fall for that jerk back then?” he mutters, finally looking up at Chanyeol to complain. “He’s so rude.”
“Because just like every girl in our high school, you fell for that handsome face,” Chanyeol replies bluntly, and Junmyeon wants to throw his chopsticks at his best friend.
“You think I was that shallow? Of course it wasn’t just because of his face,” retorts Junmyeon.
“Why’d you fall for him then?” Chanyeol asks nonchalantly as he scoops up a spoonful of kimchi-jjigae into his mouth. Junmyeon opens his mouth to retaliate, only to remember that Yifan’s physical appearance was the real reason Junmyeon fell for Yifan in the first place. Ever since he saw Yifan passing by with his friends at the school entrance ceremony in middle school, Junmyeon’s eyes had been fixed onto Yifan ever since.
“Doesn’t matter now, does it?” Junmyeon ends the argument with a childish comeback before shoving another spoonful of rice into his mouth, ignoring the way Chanyeol chuckles at him.
“But I think he really doesn’t remember us. He asked for our names just now!” exclaims Chanyeol. “I mean, I’d understand if people from our school couldn’t recognize you, but me? I’m special! I am not easy to forget!”
Junmyeon looks at his best friend in disbelief. “You and your narcissistic ass.”
“It’s not narcissistic, it’s self-love.” Chanyeol remarks, before putting a piece of kimchi in his mouth and puts on his ‘charming’ face. Junmyeon makes a disgusted face in response.
Deciding that he’s eaten plenty, Junmyeon puts down the spoon looks around the cafeteria, only to see that other students keep glancing at them. Some girls pass them and smile, so Chanyeol returns the gesture. Only then does Junmyeon realize that they are both in full makeup and smart hair-dos for the shooting. Junmyeon suddenly feels like a deer in the headlights.
“Y-Yeol-ah,” Junmyeon stutters, “I need to get something to drink.”
“Oh? You want me to buy it for you?” Chanyeol asks him. Somewhere in the corner of his vision he can see some girls staring towards their table.
“It’s okay, I’ll get it myself.”
“Oh. Then buy me something too.” Chanyeol smiles at him as he rises from his chair. The girls are practically squealing now. Okay, girls, now you can have all of him to yourself.
Once Junmyeon arrives at the fridge, the first thing he searches for is banana milk. Yes, he had that just a few hours ago but he’s thirsty again and banana milk will do the trick. Banana milk always does the trick.
“Bababa, babanana,” sings Junmyeon as his eyes scan the rows in the fridge, looking for a yellow bottle with a green cover. As Junmyeon finishes scanning the first fridge, he thinks about which drink he should choose for Chanyeol. He thinks of buying the same thing as him, but that giant doesn’t need any more milk, else his bones continue to grow. Pocari Sweat then, he decides.
Pocari Sweat is an easy find but somehow he can’t seem to locate his prized drink even by the third fridge he searches. “Banana milk, where are you?” he sings to himself.
Junmyeon doesn’t realize the presence of another person; only the sound of another fridge being opened manages to stop Junmyeon in the middle of his epic banana milk search.
When Junmyeon turns to look to his side, he feels like the heavenly beings really are set on playing with him. The person next to him turns out to be none other than Yifan.
Junmyeon pretends not to see his crush; he’s afraid of starting another fight with Yifan. Ever since he stepped foot inside this university, not once has an interaction with Yifan ended on a good note. Instead, he tries to continue his search. “No banana milk I guess,” he mumbles to himself. He’s about to settle on a vitamin drink when he looks over at Yifan.
That jerk is holding a damn banana milk! It was a childish drink when Junmyeon was drinking it earlier but now that Yifan wants it it’s mature? What a hypocrite. (And where did he find it, anyway?)
“As if he doesn't drink it,” Junmyeon mumbles. He frowns, and then sulkily turns to continue searching the fridge when Yifan takes the banana milk and a can of milk tea to the counter.
“These too,” Yifan tells the uncle at the counter.
Meanwhile, Junmyeon moves to the fridge where Yifan found the banana milk, only to see rows of pink bottles instead of yellow. He doesn't want strawberry milk! This is too much, Junmyeon complains in his head.
“Hey,” comes a low voice. Junmyeon turns around to see the banana milk thief standing right in front of him with the prized item in Yifan’s large hand.
“Catch,” Yifan says, and Junmyeon barely has time to react before Yifan throws something at him. Junmyeon’s hands go up reflexively and he catches… the bottle of banana milk. He looks up at Yifan, eyes wide in confusion. “That one’s yours,” Yifan continues. “This is mine.” He waves the can of milk tea at Junmyeon and smirks as he walks off.
Suddenly every bad encounter he’s had with Yifan is erased from Junmyeon’s mind.
Junmyeon doesn’t know what to say, and he’s left standing there, totally speechless.
~*~
Junmyeon heads back to the hall after realizing Chanyeol and the others have gone—he’s not sure how long he stood there, completely starstruck. Junmyeon heads back to where he had left Chanyeol only to stop midway and find Chanyeol standing outside, waiting for him,
“Why are you out here?” asks Junmyeon as they both fall into step and head towards the hall where the shooting is held.
“Some girls tried to talk to me,” Chanyeol says. “As soon as you left, they came to our table.”
Junmyeon scoffs. “I thought you liked attention.”
“I do,” Chanyeol agrees, “but not when we have some more shooting to do.” Junmyeon hums in agreement. Who knew that getting involved with this ‘beauty pageant’ would be so time consuming? Kibum-sunbae already briefed them about their schedule for the whole week and it is jam packed with performance practice and some more shooting sessions.
“Oooh banana milk!” Chanyeol’s long arm stretches out to reach the banana milk in Junmyeon’s hand, but Junmyeon quickly repositions his hand so Chanyeol gets the Pocari Sweat instead of the banana milk.
“Yours is this one,” says Junmyeon. Chanyeol frowns for a brief second, then nods before taking the bottle.
“Straw?” Chanyeol asks. Junmyeon gives an apologetic face, clearly having forgotten about the straw. “Nah I’m just kidding,” Chanyeol unscrews the cap and stops his walking to take a gulp of his drink. Somewhere behind him, Junmyeon picks up some subtly audible gasps coming from some girls passing by.
“Are you shooting a drink CF right now?” Junmyeon deadpans.
Chanyeol winks at him (the girls are squealing rather loud) and then says, “Fanservice.” Junmyeon clicks his tongue and then starts walking, Chanyeol trailing him from behind. Chanyeol’s long legs catch up with Junmyeon in just a few steps.
“Though, why did you get yourself banana milk again? You drank one this morning already,” Chanyeol points out as they reach the staircase that leads up to the back door of the hall.
Junmyeon replies, “I can never get tired of banana milk. And…I didn’t buy it. Someone gave it to me.”
“Oh! Kim Junmyeon...Got an admirer already?” Chanyeol coos. Junmyeon tries to shrug off the teasing but a smile unconsciously presents itself on Junmyeon’s face. “Oh? Look at that smile. Who was it?” Chanyeol teases more.
“Just a sunbae that I know. It’s not a big deal.” Junmyeon responds as vaguely as possible.
“Sunbae? Which sunbae? Was it someone that I know?” Chanyeol blocks Junmyeon from getting into the makeup room. Junmyeon makes a face that says “I’m not telling” at his best friend before pushing Chanyeol’s arm away from the door frame.
Junmyeon notices that some of the Moons and Stars are not here; they either haven’t come back or they have moved to the studio in the next room. Junmyeon jumps when Chanyeol snakes his arm around Junmyeon’s shoulders.
“You better tell me who gave it to you or I’ll tickle you,” Chanyeol warns him in a joking manner. Junmyeon tries to wriggle out of Chanyeol’s grasp when one of the female staff members comes to them.
“Don’t play too hard, kids. Can’t get your pretty faces scratched up.”
Chanyeol rubs Junmyeon’s head playfully before releasing his grip. Junmyeon whines about how his styled hair is going to get ruined. “No problem with that,” Chanyeol comments, “noona can fix it up with her mighty skill.”
“Sweet talker,” says the noona. Junmyeon wonders how Chanyeol managed to be that smooth. “You two came back at the right time! We got a special sponsor for refreshments today. Yifan-sunbae bought drinks for everyone just now.”
Hearing that, Junmyeon looks around. Sure enough, each and every person in the room has some type of bottled beverage in their hands. On one table in a corner of the room, there are plenty more bottles of all sorts of drinks.
“He really takes good care of us. As expected from the Campus Moon,” she says before she goes away to join another group of Stars.
Junmyeon replays the last sentence that the noona said in his head more than once. Junmyeon recalls when Yifan was paying at the drink section counter. No wonder the amount sounded like too much for just two drinks; Junmyeon thought he just misheard it. Now it all makes sense. What was Junmyeon thinking? Of course he isn’t special.
“Hey, are you okay?” Chanyeol has his hand on Junmyeon again, this time out of concern. Junmyeon realizes that he must have let his feelings show on his face.
Junmyeon needs to get out of here fast. “Um, I think I-I need to use the bathroom. Here,” Junmyeon offers the unopened banana milk to his best friend. “You can have it.” Junmyeon doesn’t look back when he goes out out of the room and up the stairs, not caring where they will lead him.
~*~
The stairs bring him to upper level with a layout just like the lower level but with significantly fewer students than where Junmyeon came from. Junmyeon walks across the corridor, not realizing he was frowning and clenching his fists at the same time. By the time he reaches bathroom at the end of the corridor, no students are in sight. Junmyeon doesn’t think twice when he pushes down the door handle and enters the seemingly deserted bathroom.
The enamel sink feels cold under his palms. Junmyeon leans towards the mirror, putting the weight of his upper body onto his arms. He looks at his face closely, observing how much he has changed in a year. Physically, he has changed so much and is now in the best condition he has ever been, but somehow he is still the same inside. How come his fragile heart hasn’t grown callous from all the pain it once felt? How come Junmyeon never learns?
“You can’t,” Junmyeon speaks to his reflection in the mirror. “Don’t do this to yourself. Once is enough.” He nods, taking in his words and lets his brain process them. A year before, he chose to run to the bathroom too, and then cried his eyes out as he let the sound of the running tap water drown his sobs. But he won’t do the same thing now. He is not going to give in.
Junmyeon hears some shuffling outside the door. Thinking that someone will walk on his pep talk, Junmyeon gets into a stall and locks it from inside. He picks up the sound of the door swinging open then shutting close. He gently put the cover of the toilet down and sits on the cover, remembering to put his phone on silent mode before sending a text to Chanyeol about his current location and a promise to be in the studio in a few minutes.
There is a faint click. Junmyeon wonders what is the person outside his stall is doing because he hears no sorts of activities involving water. But a whiff of smoke later gives him the answer. The person outside is smoking and Junmyeon hates that smell the most.
Being trapped in the stall, there is only so much Junmyeon can do to try not to breathe in the polluted air. Junmyeon makes a mistake of inhaling once and his lungs automatically tries to expel the pollution out, making Junmyeon to cough uncontrollably. By the time Junmyeon stops coughing, he notices a shadow of a pair of feet under the slit of the stall’s door.
He has been caught.
Knock knock knock
“Whoever is in there, come out now.”
The voice sounds higher pitched than Junmyeon expected from someone who smokes; however there is still a clear hostility in the tone. Junmyeon curses himself for being at the wrong place at a wrong time. He had Yifan knocking on his door this morning for peeping; now he has a potential bully telling him to step out from the stall.
If something happens to me, come find me here. Junmyeon sends the message to Chanyeol, hoping that he will not beaten up by a fierce looking bully before he unlocks the door. Once he gets out however, his expectation flies out the window.
Standing before him is a tall student, not much older than Junmyeon (he assumes), looking less fierce than expected. In fact, he looks more like a heart-throb rather than a bully.
Junmyeon can’t help but stare.
“Are you a freshman?” asks the handsome guy, still appearing somewhat hostile. Junmyeon nods as an answer. The guy continues, “Don’t you know this place is off limits for freshmen?” Obviously Junmyeon has never heard about that rule even existing, so he shakes his head vehemently to prove his innocence. “I’m just kidding.” The handsome guy with furrowed eyebrows and piercing eyes now smiles for the first time and wow, he looks much more approachable like that. Maybe the sunbaes here just like to tease the hoobaes.
Junmyeon watches as the sunbae walks to the sink and washes his hands, cigarette nowhere to be seen—though he can still smell a waft of the smoke in the air. Maybe he threw it away already, knowing that there was someone who couldn’t stand cigarette smoke in the same area. Junmyeon ticks the ‘considerate’ box on the checklist in his mind.
“What were you doing in there, though?”
Junmyeon looks up to see the sunbae now looking at him in the reflection of the mirror. “Uh…I…just needed some time to reflect. Away from people.” Junmyeon reasons it’s better to be honest than to make up lies.
The guy deadpans. “Here? In this haunted bathroom?”
Junmyeon’s eyes widen. “Haunted?” Junmyeon gulps hard, scolding himself for still going in here (despite knowing how desolated and creepy this bathroom is) when he catches a glimpse of the guy smirking through the mirror. Junmyeon bites his lips tight to stop his whine from coming out—no matter what the sunbae does, he just has to accept it. For a moment he wonders why he can’t act the same way with Yifan.
“Sorry, you just seem fun to tease.” Junmyeon tries not to let his guard down but he can’t help but pout when being teased like that. The guy then walks over to the hand towel dispenser and takes a few sheets out to dry his hands. “If you need someone to talk to, I can listen for a while.” Junmyeon looks up to see the smirk gone; only a neutral, unreadable face looking back at him. Junmyeon watches as the guy walks over to the corner, then throws the used hand towel into the bin.
Junmyeon shakes his head softly. “It’s okay, sunbaenim. It’s not that big of deal. I…I think I can handle it.”
The guy nods slightly, a faint smile ghosting at the corner of his lips for a moment before he says, “Sorry for—you know, just now. I didn’t know you were in there.”
Junmyeon is genuinely surprised by the thoughtfulness the guy is showing him. The guy seems intimidating at first—cold voice, stern face (like Yifan, in a sense)—but now Junmyeon feels some presence of warmth in his voice. It is nice to hear, but at the same time a small part of him wishes that it was Yifan whose voice sounded so tender when speaking to Junmyeon.
Junmyeon tries to shake off the thought. “It’s okay,” he replies. “You didn’t see me just now so that’s—that’s fine.” Junmyeon gives a curt smile, hoping to end the interaction. It feels awkward now, being in a bathroom and talking a stranger. Worse still that the stranger reminds him of crush. “I guess I’ll be going now,” Junmyeon announces. Chanyeol must be waiting for him by now.
“Wait,” the guy says. “I don’t even know your name. I’m Taekwoon, second year in engineering.” The guy extends his hand for a handshake. Junmyeon takes his hand, supporting his right wrist with his left hand as a sign of respect.
“I’m a freshman in the science major,” Junmyeon tells him.
Junmyeon looks up at Taekwoon when he realizes the upperclassman still hasn’t let go of his hand. “Your name?” Taekwoon asks. Junmyeon’s lips are forming the first syllable of his name when suddenly he hears the creak of the door handle.
And there stands the last person Junmyeon wants to see.
Yifan.