Chapter Text
Chaeyoung couldn't be more excited.
After months and months of studying her ass off, followed by a few weeks of vacation that she mainly spent in front of her laptop, preparing for her first term at university, she is finally standing in front of the infamous wide gates. Her stomach twists inside her by the sight of the intimidating building she's about to spend a lot of time at.
This is going to be an adventure.
Pulling out her schedule, that she printed out earlier this morning, from her coat pocket, she walks through the doors, checking on the crumbled piece of paper which room she has to go to.
If she figured it out correctly, the room of her first class, Introduction to Surrealism , is on the other end of the university, meaning she has to walk through the whole construction and find the room in less than ten minutes.
Why is she always late? Chaeyoung thinks to herself as she sighs in frustration by her own stupidity.
Last night was a nightmare, quite literally. It was already 3am when she finally found sleep and her body decided it had enough not even an hour later. Luckily, her roommate had already left by the time her alarm went off, it would've been really embarrassing if she had heard Chaeyoung scream at herself in the mirror “Why are you doing this to me?!”
Sighing in relief when she finds the classroom relatively quickly, Chaeyoung slips through the door leading to an already crowded room full of babbling students. Most of them seem to be just as excited as her, only a few sitting in the back have a rather gloomy expression on their faces, looking like they want to be anywhere else but here.
She has to admit, her own mood isn't at its peak, but the excitement of her first day of university is still enough to overshadow her tiredness.
Looking around for an empty seat makes her feel insecure for the first time that day. Wherever she lets her gaze wander, there are groups of friends happily chattering away, completely ignoring all those other girls and boy who just sit there on their own, waiting for the professor to arrive.
Chaeyoung is one of them.
She makes her way over to one of the empty seats in the middle row, right when the school bell rang and her professor shows up. It's almost as if the professor was only waiting to enter with the ringing in the background for a better effect.
Chaeyoung is excited. This is going to be just like she always imagined.
***
Turns out, nineteenth-century art isn't really Chaeyoung's thing. At least the professor is competent enough to convey the content in an interesting enough way for her to pay attention. There is only one problem: major distraction.
Chaeyoung isn't someone to get distracted easily, in fact, she even managed to study for her finals whilst taking care of her little siblings who are always running around in the house, screaming and drawing somewhere on the walls if you don't put a piece of paper in front of their face in time. And she aced her finals.
Her high school teacher made her change seats to sit next to the biggest troublemaker in class because she was literally the only one who could manage sitting next to him without failing her exams.
It isn't that she is a nerd, as people like to call her, she really isn't. It's just that studying and anything academic comes incredibly easy to her. In comparison to her high school friends and classmates, she doesn't sit in front of her textbook, not getting what she is reading for hours and hours on end.
People say she has it easy, and that really flips her off. She is still working hard, focusing in class and doing her homework on time. She is still making the effort.
Which is why she has always been so excited to finally start college. No matter who she asks, they always say college was the best time of their lives. The time they discovered things about themselves they never even considered, the time they made their friends for live who they still talk to, the time they met their future husbands.
If this whole year is going to be like this first class though, this is going to be a little different than she expected.
Right in front of her, there's a girl, which she can only tell by the long brown ponytail and the black nail polish gracing her fingers because the casual sweater she's wearing doesn't make her look particularly feminine. And she distracts the shit out of her. Well, technically it isn't her, but the screen of her laptop she has on full brightness, making it harder to look away.
During the whole class, this girl was watching cat videos. Not just cat videos, but cute kitten compilations . The whole time!
Now, you would think that's adorable and sweet, Chaeyoung for sure would think that in literally any other situation, but in this case, it's horrible. Why?
Because if you know Chaeyoung, you definitely know of her love for anything kittens. She herself had one when she was younger before it got sick and passed away. Back then, she cried for one week straight, even at school. Her teachers thought a family member died, and when she told them that it's the same for her, they just shrugged at her. That was the first time she ever felt like punching someone in the face.
So, needless to say, she has a thing for those little creatures, all fluffy and adorable, and seeing them right in front of her whilst the professor was trying to explain something is just not a good combination.
Chaeyoung risks a peek at the clock. The class is almost over and she stopped paying attention after the first five minutes, this is unacceptable .
Multiple times she tries to lean forward to tap the girl on the shoulder and ask her to please stop watching those videos during class, but she's too far away, almost laying down straight on her arms, her laptop hiding her face from the professor's point of view. Chaeyoung also doesn't want to stand up and possibly cause a scene on her very first day, so she just stays quite and somehow makes it to the end of the class with writing at least two more sentences of notes. She's doubtful they will be actually helpful though.
As soon as the bell rings, everyone shoots up from where they were sitting and leaves as fast as possible. Only those who decided to take notes on either their laptops or a notepad stay behind to pack up their things, the girl in front of her included.
This is my chance , Chaeyoung thinks to herself and quickly reaches forward to tap the girl's back, but right as her finger hit her body, the girl stands up, resulting in Chaeyoung's finger poking her butt.
A lot of things happen in the next few seconds. Just when a shocked Chaeyoung tries to withdraw her hand, the girl turns around, her hand wraps itself around Chaeyoung's wrist, turns it around and pushes it down on the table, full force.
Chaeyoung cries out in pain as she tries to push the girl's hand away, still pressing down. “Stop it, you're hurting me!”
Only when she looks up to meet the girl's eyes, she let go of her hand, guilt spreading on her face. “W-Why are you touching me?!”
Wow, Chaeyoung has never met a person who can sound so intimidating and stutter at the same time. Is it a skill?
“I wasn't trying to touch you in that way, I was aiming for your shoulder to get your attention!” She rubs her wrist that's still throbbing in pain.
“Oh... well, sorry,” she mutters, shifting from one foot to the other. “What do you want then?”
Before answering, Chaeyoung lets herself observe the girl's look. She's wearing a black sweater over black skinny jeans, she can't make out the shoes but she guesses they're just as black. She seems to have a thing for black.
“I just wanted to ask you if you could limit your cute kitten compilation consumption during class. It's really distracting.”
Instead of nodding and apologizing like she would've done in this situation, the girl scoffs. “Don't you think it's a little rude to peep into a stranger's laptop?”
Chaeyoung can't believe what she just heard. “Are you really calling me out for taking a glance at your laptop screen that was literally right in front of me and on full brightness the whole time?”
“If you only took one glance like you just said, why were you so distracted then? Why are you making such a big deal out of this?”
Now, Chaeyoung is standing up, her hands form into fists on both sides, her right arm hurting where that girl pushed her down. “ I'm making a huge deal out of this? You are making a huge deal out of this!”
“If that's the case, we can end this conversation right now,” she says and grabs her bag, throwing it over her shoulder. “Stay the hell out of my stuff.”
Chaeyoung has to give it her all to not yell after her and throw a chair or something. This whole situation is so frustrating, how has this become her very first class at college?
Trying to calm herself down, she packs her stuff away, making sure to not put too much pressure on her hand, and is about to leave when she notices something on the table in front of her. As she leans forward, she realizes that it's a blue pen, probably belonging to the grumpy girl.
It looks pretty pricey and had gold lettering on the side, but Chaeyoung can't read it. She recognizes the Japanese characters almost instantly.
Without thinking much of it, Chaeyoung pockets the pen, not yet sure what she is going to do with it, and grabs her stuff before making it out of the classroom without picking another ridiculous argument.
College is a wild ride, that's for sure.
***
“Are you sure it's that girl's pen?” Sana asks as she leans in closer to the mirror to apply her eyeshadow correctly. Chaeyoung couldn't make out the exact color through the screen, but it seems like something more on the dark side. She's certainly getting ready to go out tonight.
As soon as she got home later this afternoon, Chaeyoung made herself some dinner and immediately called up her best friend to tell her about the awfulness that was her first day at college. She rambles on and on about how much her wrist is still hurting and the stupid face that girl made when she almost broke her hand. Of course, Sana told her she's being overdramatic, but she simply ignores that comment.
“Yes, I'm sure,” Chaeyoung confirms, laying on her bed now that she has consumed her basic pot of ramen and plays around with the writing utensil, spinning and balancing it in her hand. “Have you looked at the picture I sent you?”
Sana sighs, “Not yet.”
“Come on, it's just one word and I want to know what it means,” she whines.
“Okay, I'll look at it.”
Chaeyoung hears the sound of Sana's makeup brush meeting her desk and a moment later, her face was all over Chaeyoung's screen. She tries to hold back a laugh at the funny expression on Sana's face as she's trying to read what's written on the pen. How does she look so cute all the damn time? Shouldn't that be humanly impossible?
“It says Mina .”
“And what does that mean?”
Sana giggles as she moves away from the screen again and continues to apply her makeup, now it's blush. “It's not a word, dummy. It's a name. I guess the grumpy girl is Japanese.”
“Or she stole it from someone who's Japanese,” Chaeyoung considers, which makes her friend laugh even more.
“What's up with you today? You're usually not that easy to piss off.”
“Well, so far no-one has tried to break my arm before.”
“What about that one friend of your brother? Didn't he sprain your left wrist when you refused to give him your phone that one time?”
Chaeyoung thinks back to that horrible incident. One thing she's the most relieved about moving out to live in a dorm is that she no longer has to babysit her siblings and their friends. They have caused her quite a few injuries in the past.
“Touché.”
They're silent for a moment, caught up in their own thoughts, until Sana speaks up again. “I really miss you, you know? I don't know how I'm going to survive my days working as a barista without my favorite person visiting me at work every single day.”
That triggers a sad smile on Chaeyoung's face. “I miss you too, and don't worry, you'll find someone else who wastes their money at Starbucks just to see you smile.”
Sana stops applying her makeup for a second to blow her friend a kiss through the screen. Chaeyoung returns it.
“I think I should go to bed soon, I didn't get much sleep last night and if tomorrow is going to be anything like today, I'll need all the energy I can get.”
“I'll pray for your insomnia to take a break for once,” Sana joked and checked her appearance one last time in the mirror before stepping away. “How do I look? Ready to attract some singles?”
“You could literally go out in a plastic bag and you'd attract not just singles but everyone else too.”
Sana takes her compliment with a huge grin and tells her one last “I love you” before hanging up.
Chaeyoung puts down her phone and draws her full attention to the pen now.
“Mina,” she whispers as she traces the lettering with her fingers. “Your butt really does feel nice.”