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“Hey Daniel, you going to that open week thing, right?”
“Yes, yes. As you wish, Jaehwan I’m going.”
Daniel turned a page of the magazine he’s reading, lazily answering to his best friend, Kim Jaehwan’s question. Last week he had agreed to accompany him on the open week of Gonhwa University since Jaehwan was interested in the university’s major of music. After days of persuading and threats, Daniel finally agreed as long as Jaehwan treats him to lunch for a week.
“Come on man, you can look for the major you want too.”
“I’m not even sure if I want to go to university or not.”
“Well, suit yourself.” Jaehwan shoved a piece of chip into his mouth, “You might change your mind after the open week. The possibility exists.”
Daniel chuckles, “Sure.” and continued reading.
“Didn’t expect this many to come.”
Daniel looked around, he didn’t think a lot of people would be interested in this ‘open week’ thingy. He thought most teenagers would be ignorant about their future. Well shit, Dan. They actually care.
“Yeah, this university is quite popular. It’s nice and has lots of majors to choose.” Jaehwan explained happily, he’s not even a student yet, but he’s so proud of the university already.
“Huh, I guess so.”
Just when they were chatting about the university’s popularity (which according to Jaehwan was like the Super Junior of universities), a figure came running towards the group of high school students, then greeted them cheerfully with a loud voice,
“Welcome to Gonhwa University, guys! I’m Ong Seongwoo and I’ll be guiding you today! Any question before we start the tour?”
Daniel’s eyes widened, “Damn this guy’s hot.”, he thought. Those charming eyes, that nose, that lips, those unique moles on his cheek, and most importantly, that smile. That beautiful bright smile. Who wouldn’t fall for that smile? Daniel couldn’t stop staring, especially not when that guy still had his smile plastered on his face. My, my, is he in love with a stranger?
“Yeah, you there?” Seongwoo points at Jaehwan who raised his hand without Daniel realizing (Yes because his eyes were stuck looking at Seongwoo)
“Your surname is quite unique, Seongwo-ssi!”
Seongwoo sighed, then chuckled, “Yes… I know and I am proud of that. I have never met anyone with the surname as well. That was not a question, but I’ll let that one go. Should we start then?”
All the (enthusiastic) students answered, “Yes!” and followed Seongwoo into the university building.
“This is the building of music major, our university’s major of music has a long history. As one of the oldest in South Korea, it has a fairly huge popularity and also various famous alumni. One of them is…”
While Seongwoo was busy explaining things, Daniel never let his sight run from Seongwoo. All this time when Jaehwan was busy listening to Seongwoo’s explanation, the only thing Daniel did was stare at Seongwoo without even listening. Jaehwan said things to Daniel, and the only thing he got was “Yes, yes.” or “Wow, yeah cool.” without even looking at him. Jaehwan got very confused when Daniel answered “Oh, amazing.” to the question: “You know where the toilet is?”. Please forgive the poor boy in love, Jaehwan. He’s too busy to even realize you were there.
“Dan, you good?” Jaehwan shook Daniel’s shoulder, bringing him back into the bittersweet reality.
“Hm? Yeah, I’m fine. What’s wrong?”
“You think toilet is amazing?”
“The heck man? You sane?”, good question, Daniel. I should be the one asking, Jaehwan thought.
“… Never mind, forcing you to come was a bad choice.”, Jaehwan shook his head which was full of regrets.
“Don’t be like that, I’m super grateful you brought me here.”, ‘thanks to you I got to meet a hot guy’. Sure thing, Kang In Love.
“Well, I guess I’m done here. Your tour will continue to the department of science major, and to replace me you’ll have my friend, Hwang Minhyun to lead you. Thanks for joining me and I’ll see you as a student here in Gonhwa University! Have a nice day!”
Seongwoo’s part on the university tour was done and Daniel was restless upon hearing his last greeting. “Am I really just going to stand here doing nothing about him? That’s it?”, he was very nervous looking at Seongwoo walking away from the crowd, when he suddenly got an idea.
“You know, Jaehwan, don’t you want to look around the music major building a bit more? You know, since you’re going to study here and stuff. Better to be more familiar around the building, no?”, Daniel asked Jaehwan. ‘Please say yes, please say yes, please say yes.’
“Sure I do… But the tour is still on.”
“Man seriously? You wanna go see the department of science? Ain’t that stuff boring?”, Daniel was getting more and more nervous as Seongwoo was going farther and farther. What if he wasn’t able to catch up to him?
“Well… Yeah.”, oh this is a good sign.
“Then let’s jus’ stay ‘ere and look ‘round!”, as he got even more nervous, his Busan accent came out and beads of cold sweat began to form on his forehead. ‘Come on, Jaehwan it’s now or never for me.’
“Fine then. Let’s stay, you look eager to look around, too.” Jaehwan grinned, and Daniel let out a sigh of relief. He’s damn happy to be able to chase Seongwoo now.
“Great! I want to see that part of the building, so I’ll see you later, Jaehwan!”, without even giving Jaehwan the time to answer, he stormed off to chase his brand new crush.
While Jaehwan was just staring blankly at Kang Daniel’s running sight.
Seongwoo was just walking peacefully after finishing his duty on leading the high school kids. Finally, a perfect lunchtime for myself, he thought. I’m sorry, but not so fast, Mr. Ong. This time I’ll bring a cute youngster to you. Just after that thought of peaceful lunch, he heard sound of someone running behind him. “Must be one of the students who left something.”, he said in his mind. When he turned around to look at the person running, the person running suddenly stopped and froze. Seongwoo was puzzled to see the boy froze.
“Can I help you?”, he smiled kindly.
“Oh no, not that smile.”, Daniel let the words out from his mouth without even thinking.
“… sorry?”
“OH NO NO UH- UH- UHHH-”, he panicked. He didn’t even think about what to say to Seongwoo in the first place, now what is he going to do?
“Did you lose something?”
“YES! Yes, yes, I lost… uh…”, Daniel glanced around the hall, looking for an object to use as a ‘lost thing in disguise’, his eyes caught something and without thinking about his own sanity which would be questioned if he said the thing, he told Seongwoo, “MY POTTED PLANT! I lost it!”
“Your… potted plant?”, Seongwoo asked, making sure if his hearing was still fine.
That’s when our Kang Daniel realized, he fucked up. But, oh well, there’s nothing to lose now. “… Yes.”
“You brought a potted plant to a university open week..?”
“… Yes, it’s my favorite and it has always been with me since I was a baby and I want to savor every moment with it.”
“I… see… Need help searching?”
‘MAMMA MIA! Did he just offer help? For me? For Kang Daniel? Is this a sign that I have a chance? Am I dreaming? Damn yes yes YES!’ “YES PLEASE!”
Daniel’s answer shocked Seongwoo, ‘this kid loves his potted plant so much, doesn’t he..?’ Yes, only the potted plant was you, Seongwoo.
Seongwoo looked around and Daniel pretended to look around for 30 minutes, Seongwoo was starting to lose hope, Daniel then said, “Ah, you know, it’s okay… Maybe it found someone better than me. Thank you for helping.”
Seongwoo stared weirdly at the kid, then smiled and said, “You’re welcome. If that’s all… then I’ll leave now, enjoy the tour!”, Seongwoo was just about to turn around from the young boy when he stopped Seongwoo.
“Wait! I, uh… don’t know where the others are.”, of course that was just a lie.
“They’re at the science building. Should I help you to find them?”
“Hm… No, no need. Were you going somewhere, Seongwoo-ssi?”, saying his name only made Daniel’s heart flutter, ah, the scent of love.
“I was just heading to the canteen. Are you sure you don’t need help?”
“Yes. Can I just tag along with you? I’m… quite hungry.”, Daniel grinned.
Seongwoo was having a debate with himself in his head, ‘should I let this kid come along? Should I just bring him back to Minhyun? Or should I report him to the police?’ He then sighed, “Sure then. Let’s go.”
On their way to the canteen, Seongwoo realized it would be awkward if they just walked and not talk about anything. So he decided to start a conversation, “So, which high school are you from?”
Daniel was thrilled when Seongwoo started a conversation with him, it was just amazing. “Me? Uh, Dongak High School of Fine Arts.”
“Fine arts? What department are you in?”
“I’m in the contemporary dance department.”, he said proudly. Dancing had always been Daniel’s forte. If there’s anything he’s good at aside from staring at Seongwoo, then it’s dancing.
“Cool, so you’re interested in our dance major?”
Crap. He had no interests in universities before. “Uh, yes, of course.”
“Man, I’m in the dance major. You can ask me anything if you want.”
Holy cheesecake, did Seongwoo just say he was in the dance major? Now I’ve found the right university for me, Daniel thought.
“Darn, I’m so impolite. I did say my name but just in case you forgot, I’m Ong Seongwoo. What’s your name?”
‘I wouldn’t forget your name for the world.’ “I’m Kang Daniel.”
“Huh, nice name.”, Seongwoo smirked.
“Uh, yeah, thanks.”
Can life get any better than this? He got his name praised by his crush, walked side by side, talked a lot, and even had lunch with the guy. This boy is living the dream. Plain amazing, if you ask me. They were both done with lunch and Seongwoo was checking the time. It was time for him to go to practice.
“What are you going to do after lunch, Seongwoo-ssi?”, Daniel asked eagerly.
“Well, I have practice after this… Aren’t you going to go home?”
“Um… I want to stay here and check things more, can I go see the practice?”
“The practice, huh… I’ll ask my teacher.”
“Okay!”
Both of them walked to Seongwoo’s practice room where all his friends were waiting for him together with his teacher. Seongwoo told Daniel to wait outside for a minute, then went inside to tell the teacher about how Daniel was a lost high school student who was interested in the dance major and wanted to watch the practice. The teacher nodded and gave him permission to bring Daniel in. Seongwoo called Daniel to come in and gestured him to a spot for him to sit. Daniel sat on the chair and watched with a wide grin stuck on his face. The students, including Seongwoo, got into their positions and the teacher started explaining things. With full focus, Seongwoo listened to his teacher’s explanation. Then the real thing started, Daniel watched how things go in the dance major and was very amazed. Seongwoo looked exceptionally handsome when dancing, and Daniel fell even deeper.
“Great job! Let’s take a short break!”, the teacher commanded. All the students fell onto the floor, exhausted. Daniel came over to Seongwoo and clapped, “That was very cool!”, he said. “Thanks.”, Seongwoo smiled at Daniel.
“Hey, kid! You said you’re interested in our major, didn’t you?”, one of Seongwoo’s friend called out to Daniel. “Then why don’t you show us what you’ve got?”
“Leave the kid alone, Taehyun.” Seongwoo laughed. “He was just joking, don’t min-” “Can I do it?”, Daniel said cutting Seongwoo’s words off. He’s excited to hear someone wanted to see his dance. He was ready to take the challenge.
“You want to? Sure!”, the Taehyun man stood up, shoo-ed his friends away from the floor, and walked to the laptop connected to the speakers. “What kind of song do you want?”
“Any is fine.”, Daniel said confidently. He started warming up in the middle of the practice room. This is my chance to show Seongwoo my charm, he claimed in his mind.
“If you say so.”
Taehyun played a random hip-hop song. Catching the beat, Daniel bobbed his head a bit and when he’s all set, he started dancing and showed his b-boying skill, one he’s most confident of. He showed some fancy moves while secretly stealing glances at Seongwoo, checking if he’s watching or not. Imagine how delighted he was when he saw Seongwoo watching him with full excitement. It was one of the best feelings he had ever felt.
The music was stopped by Taehyun himself who clapped vigorously after witnessing Daniel’s performance, “That was great, kid! If I were the one to test you, you’re definitely accepted.”. Daniel giggled and thanked Taehyun, then of course, he came to Seongwoo.
“How was it? What do you think?”, he asked eagerly, curious about what the man would say about his skill.
“Not bad. You rocked the dance floor there.”, Seongwoo grinned which gave Daniel butterflies in his stomach. Seongwoo’s compliments were the best he could ever receive. Not even the world’s best dancer matters when it comes to Seongwoo.
“Alright, I think that was enough of an entertainment! Get back to your positions, folks!”, the teacher called the students to return and continue their task, while Daniel was once again stuck as a spectator. But, it’s not a bad thing though; he got to see Seongwoo perform anyway, that’s not one bit horrible, right?
The practice finished 2 hours later. Seongwoo walked towards his bag, placed next to Daniel. The sitting boy clapped again, and said, “Good job, Seongwoo-ssi!”
Seongwoo smiled and threw his butt beside Daniel, the boy had a mini heart attack but survived and still breathing, phew. “Thanks, I’m about to pass out.”, he let out a small chuckle. “How was the practice?”, Seongwoo turned to Daniel. “It was great! I’ll apply here for sure.”, Daniel exclaimed excitedly. “Great, I’ll see you here then?”, Daniel grinned and said, “Yes, definitely.”
Just when Daniel was getting all hyped up inside, Seongwoo’s face suddenly looked startled. He opened his bag panicked and looked for his phone. After checking the time, Seongwoo rose from his place all of a sudden, bringing his bag with him.
“I gotta go now, sorry I can’t accompany you longer, Daniel. Ask someone to bring you to the group, okay? Nice meeting you, goodbye!”, Seongwoo said quickly and went straight to greet his teacher and left in a flash.
“Seongwoo-ssi-”, Daniel was left dumbfounded.
Did his love at first sight end just like that? He didn’t even get the chance to ask Seongwoo for his contact. Now what is he going to do? He can’t even come frequently to the university. He was close to giving up when he suddenly remembered Seongwoo’s words: “I’ll see you here then?”
Daniel greeted the teacher and Seongwoo’s friends and told them he’s going to leave now. Taehyun told him to not forget to come back as a student next time, Daniel laughed and left the practice room. He then called Jaehwan to find the guy and reunite.
“WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN YOU LEFT ME ALL ALONE YOU PUNK”, Jaehwan shouted to the phone, nearly making Daniel’s ears bleed. Poor kid.
“Sorry, sorry. Where are you? I’ll see you there.”
“I’m in front of the library. Do you even know where the library is?”
“No worries I’ll ask around.”
“Okay then I’ll see you here.”
Jaehwan was just about to hang up when Daniel said, “Oh, Jaehwan?”
“What?”
“Well… I guess I’ll apply to this university with you.”
“For real? Now you see I was right. What major are you gonna take?”
“Their dance major seems dope.”
It’s Daniel’s first spring as a university student. The year he has been waiting for. As he stood in front of the front gate, he recalled the memories he had with his crush last year. Even after a year, Daniel still held the same feelings as he did for Seongwoo. He took a step and began sprinting towards the place where he last saw Seongwoo: the practice room.
He knocked the door, and a familiar voice he hadn’t forgotten answered, “Come in, door’s not locked.”
He opened the door slowly, and carefully walked in. “Ong Seongwoo-ssi?”
Seongwoo turned his head at the person who said his name, and was taken aback when he saw the face of the weird lost high school student he met last year. “Hey, you made it here”, he smiled.
It was the same smile which stole Daniel’s heart in the very beginning, and it was still as beautiful as the last time Daniel saw it. “Yeah, we really meet here.”, Daniel smiled. “It was all thanks to you that I’m here now.”
“What, because I brought you to the practice room?”, Seongwoo laughed.
“That’s one.”, Daniel chuckled. “There’s another but it’s a secret.”
Seongwoo raised one of his eyebrows, “We just met but you have a secret about me already? Weird.”, he giggled.
Then there was a calming silence between them, just sitting in the middle of the practice room next to each other without anyone aside from them in the room. Daniel really enjoyed the moment and he wanted it to last forever. The boy turned his head to Seongwoo, saying, “Seongwoo-ssi, there’s something I didn’t get to tell you last year.”
Seongwoo turned to Daniel and tilted his head a bit to the side, “Hm?”
“I was enchanted to meet you, Seongwoo-ssi.”