Chapter Text
Chapter One: What a Strange Night
You set down your laptop on the dining table and let out a big sigh. You’ve finally returned to your apartment after a 7 pm lecture and you were exhausted.
‘Organic chemistry’
That was the class you (regrettably) had chosen to take at night. You shouldn’t have felt so stressed so early in the semester, yet here you were creating a playlist of chemistry videos to watch on YouTube for you to study later. Taking you out of your thoughts was a disturbance from the left side. Coming out of the bathroom was your best friend, Mia, who shared the apartment with you. She was already all dressed up in her pajamas and appeared ready to go to bed.
“Hey, you’re finally home,” Mia said as she plopped down on the sofa.
You gave her a smile and returned your attention to your laptop screen.
“Yup. You look like you’re ready for bed. It’s a little early isn’t it?” Your eyes moved to the bottom of your laptop screen. 9 pm. It was unusual for either of you to sleep before 10.
“I have my first exam for sociology tomorrow remember?” She replied.
“Already? It’s only been 2 weeks since the semester started.” You said.
Mia laughed. “Well, you know how it is.”
“By the looks of it, you look prepared. You’re not even panicking.”
Mia was now fully laid out on the sofa, her feet propped up against the armrest. If you were in her position, you would probably be at the table with notes sprawled everywhere.
She laughed once again and turned to look at you. “Well unlike you, I actually like to have a good night’s rest before a test.”
Damn. You gave out a sarcastic laugh and continued your business on your laptop. She and everyone knew that you probably cared about your grades way too much. You made sure to maintain your 4.0 GPA. You knew you didn’t really have to push yourself too hard, but your grades were something you’ve always been proud of. So, you’ve definitely had your fair share of all-nighters.
It was silent for a while as you continued to work on your laptop and Mia scrolled through her Instagram feed.
The silence was suddenly interrupted as Mia got up from the couch. The next thing you knew, you were no longer staring at molecules, but at a picture of Mia and a group of people. Mia had stood next to where you sat and stuck her phone right in front of your face. “Hey, you remember who this is right?” pointing at a boy who stood on the far left of the group.
You grabbed the phone from her hand annoyed she had shoved it so close to your face. Looking to who she had pointed to, you saw a tall boy with over-sized clothes and messy hair smiling brightly. Remembering Mia’s question, you gave it some thought. “Hmmmm…was he the dancer friend of yours I met at that tailgate you forced me into going to?”
She nodded with a bit of enthusiasm and pulled a chair next to you. You had no idea where she was going with this, but her sudden enthusiasm scared you a bit.
“Yes, he was! His name is Jung Hoseok. Super nice guy right?”
You furrowed your eyebrows together in suspicion. “Uhh yeah, I guess so.”
She smiled. “Okay, so I know this is going to sound weird, but he actually asked for you earlier today. He wanted me to ask you if you could do him a solid favor.”
You stopped looking at your laptop screen to face your friend. Confusion was etched on your face and Mia couldn’t help but laugh at your expression.
“Favor? What kind of favor? And why me?”
Mia grabbed an apple that was on the table and stood up to go wash it.
“Well, it’s a bit of an odd one. Honestly, I think it’s just best if you ask him yourself.”
She bit into her apple and looked at me expectantly.
You groaned. “What the hell am I supposed to make out of that? Just tell me.”
She returned next to you. “Trust me, if I told you, you would probably say no. But my dumbass friend seems like he’s desperate for help. So, if he wants that help, he’s going to explain it to you. Not me.”
“Based on what you just said I just know I’m going to say no.”
Mia sighed. “Please just text him.” She scrolled through her phone and grabbed yours. She began inputting his number and you made a desperate grab for your phone. You failed miserably however because she had stuck her hand on your face. “Mia what are you doing?!”
“No, Y/N just trust me. I promise you it isn’t anything bad. It’s nothing illegal if that’s what you're worried about.”
She finished typing his number into your phone and handed it back to you.
“Okay, I’m going to go to bed, and you’re going to text him. I’m just trying to be a good friend and help him out. Trust me when I say it’s nothing bad. You don’t have to say yes to whatever he’s asking. I just want you to give him a response so he won’t bother me about it for the next week.”
She then stood up and had her arm outstretched. “You want the rest of this apple? Kinda don’t want it anymore.”
With an annoyed sigh, you grabbed the apple from her hand. You were hoping that she would leave so you could just delete the number and focus on organizing your notes. But she stood there and waited for you to give her an answer.
“Okay.” You said. “I don’t see why YOU couldn’t have just told me what the favor is, but I’ll text him.”
“Awesome! Listen I’m sorry for not telling you. But he was being kind of vague. So he’ll flesh out the details with you. Anyway, I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight!”
“Goodnight.”
You waited for Mia to go to her room. When you heard the door shut close, you looked at the contact now on your phone.
Jung Hoseok
You’ve only met him once. It was at the tailgate from last semester. Mia had brought you with her because she wanted to take you out more. She also wanted to introduce you to some of her other friends, and one of them was Hoseok. You talked with him a bit. You know, small talk. Eventually, Mia came to your rescue and pulled you out to the side. It was just you and her, eating some hamburgers in a more secluded part of the frat house. That was one thing you loved about Mia. After hours of meeting a bunch of her friends, Mia made sure to pull you out to the side and relax. You were more of an introvert and she knew that. She could sense when you were getting drained from socializing so she would pull you out to the side whenever she noticed you were feeling tired or uncomfortable.
This was the complete opposite of Hoseok. What you do remember about him from the tailgate was how energetic he was. Everyone loved to be around him. I mean, after all, he was funny and a great dancer.
You bit your lip nervously. What exactly does this guy need?
You began typing.
Hey! This is Y/N, Mia’s friend <<
You thought for a while and then continued typing.
Hey! This is Y/N, Mia’s friend. She told me you asked for me? For a favor or something? <<
You reviewed the message before sending it. You just wanted to make sure you didn’t sound rude, even if you were kind of annoyed by the whole situation.
You decided to delete the last sentence because you didn’t want him to misinterpret it as you sounding harsh.
Finally, you hit send and set your phone to the side.
Feeling a bit anxious, you returned to your laptop to try and distract yourself.
‘Identifying Enantiomers and Diastereomers’. You clicked on the video and clicked through it. It seemed like a useful video, so you added it onto your chemistry playlist to watch later.
You became focused on your mission. You were not going to let Organic Chemistry ruin your GPA. It wouldn’t take too long to be taken out of your focus however, as a sudden vibration came from your phone. You looked to see that Hoseok had responded.
>> Hey thanks for texting me!
>> I’m not sure how much Mia told you, but I need some help
Yeah she told me that you needed help but she didn’t tell me what for<<
A few minutes passed, making you more anxious by the second.
>> Well…it’s going to sound ridiculous
>> I was wondering if you would like to act as my fake girlfriend for a while…
You couldn’t believe what you were reading. You let out a light scoff at the request. A fake girlfriend? For what exactly? And why me?
You didn’t know how to respond because you had so many questions. But, Hoseok beat you to it and another text popped up on your screen.
>> I’m guessing that you’re probably skeptical or shocked rn haha
Well, if I’m being honest…I am <<
I mean, why?? <<
>> I appreciate your honesty, and I guess I should be too
>> I just need to make my ex jealous. Sounds petty, but I’m really just trying to win her back. Guess I still have feelings for her
So, this dude wants to win her ex back? You let out another scoff. You would think that this guy is still stuck in high school. I mean, fake girlfriend? Weren’t we too grown to be doing these kinds of things?
For the next few minutes, you just stared into space, thinking of the strange request. You still had so many questions, but it was late and you were growing tired. You could either keep asking questions or just simply end this and say no. You decided to stick with the latter.
Oh…I’m sorry to hear things didn’t work out between you and your ex <<
Unfortunately, I don’t know if I’d be much help<<
For a split second, you felt a little bad. You remembered Mia saying he was super desperate. But you quickly reminded yourself that you barely knew the dude and you didn’t owe him anything.
>> I understand. It was a weird request.
Satisfied that he seemed to accept your rejection, you got up to cut the apple Mia hadn’t finished and began to snack on it.
You were going to end the conversation by wishing him luck with his ex when he sent you another text.
>> But if you change your mind, I’ll be in the coffee shop at the library tomorrow at 11:30. We could talk more about it there if you’d like.
Wow…this guy really is desperate.
Wanting to end the conversation and head to bed, you replied saying you would think about it. Even though you said you would think about it, you knew you really weren’t going to.
Hoseok responded with an ‘Ok’ and a smiley face and it was a cue that the conversation had ended.
You finished up the rest of the apple and closed your laptop. It was late and you were tired from everything that had just unraveled. You were going to have a long talk with Mia in the morning.
The night ended with you brushing your teeth and changing into your pajamas.
You turned off the lights and crawled into the warmth of your bed. You began to think about Hoseok and the texts he sent.
What a strange night, you thought before drifting off.