Work Text:
Italicized - in English
The thudding sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway as a figure entered through a semi-crowded hallway. Scattered groups of people can be seen chatting close to the wall of the hallway and making casual conversation just like any other day that Seungkwan has been attending this class. “ English for Media Communication” might be one of the distressing classes he has to attend as a 2nd-year media and communication major at Pledis University. The reason was not that the class bores him, but rather his surprisingly low English skills despite his talent for language skills in communication. Seungkwan picked up his speed as he approached a tall, muscular figure who was surprisingly well dressed even in the current early hour, leaning on the brown door frame. Walked pass more groups of people as he got closer to the door, he can’t help but noticed a particularly odd boy who's always seen wearing a colorful tie-dyed shirt with a bright colored beanie next to the drinking fountain next to his class. For some reason, Seungkwan seemed to notice this particular boy all the time. But since he didn’t know his name, the boy was probably from another major.
“Finally, you are here! Took you long enough today,” the tall boy pushed himself off the wall and stood straight while booming his voice out loud.
“What do you mean? It’s the usual time I come. Don’t blame me because you have to wait for me longer since your roommate woke you up early, Mingyu,” Seungkwan replied back while rolling his eyes and entered into the room without waiting for the other boy.
They both walked to their usual seats next to the window where plenty of morning sunlight can shine through to wake them up. Seungkwan sat down on the chair and started to take out his laptop to set up all of the materials he will need for the day. Though he probably would not be needing much material since today is likely to be the day that professor Joshua and his assistant, Seokmin, to assign the dreadful final project as the class is proceeding to the final.
Mingyu quickly spread all the needed materials on the table before swiftly turned to Seungkwan and continued the initial conversation with a flashing, bright smile, “Hey! You cannot blame me for getting up early. I mean, when you have a roommate nice enough to have breakfast with you every morning it is worth it, okay?”
“You can keep telling yourself that, Mingyu,” Seungkwan replied back while looking at the brightly lit screen as he pulled up some tabs on his laptop, “even best friends don’t have breakfast together every morning.”
“Are you saying that Wonwoo Hyung wants to be more than friends with me?” Mingyu squealed out as his mouth formed into a big ‘O’ with a gasped slipped out.
Seungkwan snapped back, “Are you that dumb to not-,” his voice came to a stop when he was cut short due to new the incoming figures who are their professor and his assistant.
“Alright class, how is everyone doing? , the feline-liked eye professor greeted his students with his gentle voice and continued, “ I hope you are doing well since you will receive the final assignment for this course. ”
Different groans and comments can be heard throughout the room as the reaction of the statement. Seungkwan can feel his nervousness creeping up his body and starts to fidget around waiting for the professor to continue.
“Pleasue quietu down ,” this time a more high-pitched, piercing clear voice state up with a thick Korean accent. The assistance kept his facial feature straight in contrast to the nearby professor who is slightly slipping out soft giggles.
“Please quiet down ,” the professor states the same statement again with a perfect American accent and turned around to give a mischievous smile to his assistant. The room started to quiet down after the instruction was given. The assistance looked away swiftly as his ears are starting to turn red and softly whimpering out the exact same phrase with his best attempt of the accent. Assistant Seokmin has been helping Professor Joshua for a while now and they are both known as one of the funniest instructor duos in the university. Each and every one of their classes construct of slight bickering among the two and the constant teasing and correct English pronunciation of assistant Seokmin by professor Joshua. All of the students and faculties adored the duo and constantly struggled to set them up together.
“As I was saying before, you will be receiving your final assignment for this course. This assignment will let you showcase all of the skills that you have learned for the past semester, ” the professor paused shortly before continuing, “ I want you all to write an article in English about an ongoing activity in the universe. It can be about a certain sports event, competition or introducing a club. It can be about anything that you are interested in.”
Thoughts were running wild in Seungkwan’s mind. What should he be writing about? He heard that there are a few sports competitions coming up in the current week but none of them are up on his interest list.
“The article mustu be ritten well since it will be published with the university's monthly magazine, ” the assistant continues to give more detail while the tips of his ears are still tinted with a light shade of red. ” The final dead-tu-line for this assignmentu is the next week when we will meetu each other again .”
“Right, I hope you guys will do your best on this task. I will give you a head start today and end this class early. So, you are free to go find inspiration and start writing on them, ” the professor finished up giving the last detail.
“I’ll see you guys later next week! Good luck, everyone, ” he flashed a soft smile that turned his eyes into a cat-like shape to the class. Professor took this turn to leave the lecture room and softly whispered to his assistance to take his leaves as well. It took a couple of seconds for the assistant to snatch back his attention before quickly leaving the room, following the professor out.
“Do you have any ideas of what you want to write about, Gyu?” Seungkwan stated up and turned to look at Mingyu who was busily typing on his laptop keyboard with an enthusiastic spark in his eyes.
“Hmm? What did you say again?” He spoke up while his eyes were still glued to the screen. Seungkwan leaned in closer to Mingyu side and peak over to the screen to catch a glimpse of what his attention was on. A tab of the application was open whose name of ‘Wonwoo Hyung’ seems to be the contact he is busy with.
“Ah… I see you probably have found one. How convenient to have a ‘caring roommate’ who happens to be the head of the debate committee. The committee who is having a debate night today, ” Seungkwan bitterly stated out as he teasingly stomped on Mingyu’s foot.
“Ouch! Don't be jealous just because I have found a topic,” he cheekily grinned back.
“Speaking of, I need to go catch up with Hyung right now. I’ll see you soon! Don't let your English skills discourage you this time, ” he said quickly while throwing all of his belongings into his backpack and rushed out of the room within seconds.
“Ya! What do you mean, my English is the best quality!” Seungkwan called out then quickly shoved his laptop into his bag and followed the tall figure out of the room.
When he walked out, the hall was rather empty since most of the classes were still ongoing and the tall figure was now nowhere to be seen. He found himself walking around the campus for inspiration. It was a sunny day out and the smell of fresh, blooming flowers still lingers in the air in the time of late spring. He could see several activities going around the campus. There was a group of people who were surrounding a chess table in the corner, a group of skateboarders close to the staircase of the building and a few people reading on the picnic table. Even though there are many ongoing activities around him, he still cannot find interest in any of them.
It has been a few hours since he took a walk around the campus and he has found himself sitting on a bench near the college of performing arts’ building. After a few minutes of silence with himself, he heard loud music blasting from the front of the building with four figures starting to dance along with some heavy beats. Slowly, a crowd of the audience started to form into a semi-circle around the performers and that was enough to make Seungkwan walk toward the crowd.
There were four figures who were furiously dancing their hearts out in the middle of the circle. Their bodies flow to the rhythm of the music and passion can be seen from their expressions. Even coming from a guy himself, he can say that these guys are crazy good looking and are very cool. The one who was at the front seems to be the leader of the team, he has small slanted eyes and heavily bleached blond hair that sticks all over his face due to the insane amount of sweat he was producing. The guy kept interacting cutely with the audiences and charmed them immediately. To the right, he saw another fellow who dressed fashionably with a spectacle placing at the tip of his nose. His brown lock is neatly styled into a messy mullet that surprisingly goes well with his facial structure. Another figure next to the previous was a smaller build man who was giving his all to the performance. His body moves swiftly and strongly to the music it was very mesmerizing to watch. Lastly, the one left had a great body proportion that no matter how he moves, he still looked graceful. Seungkean slipped some amount of money into a small hat that was on the floor in front of him. He finally found the topic for this writing assignment.
Seungkwan waited for a few moments before the crowd started to disappear and are now left with the group of boys who were breathless from their performance. He found the right moment before walking up to the guy he assumed as the leader.
“Excuse me, can I have a moment with you, ” Seungkwan slipped out as he was trying to get the attention of the taller person.
“I am a media major and I need to write an article about an ongoing activity at our university. Would you mind if I write about you guys?” he asked the person in front of him. The taller seemed to be at a surprise for a few seconds before quickly answering back to him.
“Oh, it is fine with me,” he answered back, then turned around to the rest of his teammates, “ Are you guys okay with this?” His fellow teammates gave small, reassuring nods back. That was enough for Seungkwan to feel relieved.
“Actually, it would be a great offer for us! We are in need of public promotion right now. We are usually known to be a dance cover club, but now we want to get words out that we will be doing an original soon,” he continued and gave a bright smile that almost made his eyes disappear away.
“I’m Soonyoung by the way, but people also call me Hoshi. I’m the leader of our club. Those guys over there are the other members,” he pointed his thumb back to the group of people behind his back, “ this is Minghao, Jun and our Maknae, Chan.” Each of the figures waved back to Seungkwan when their names were called out. So, he was right, this guy is the leader.
“Thank you very, very much! I will do my best for you guys and gets the words out. I still need to get to know some more information about your club. Are you free anytime this week?” Seungkwn asked back, his hands clapped together.
“Jun Hyung and I are busy during the evening of the whole next week. Apparently, someone booked the wrong shift for us,” the person who Seungkwan remembered as Minghao spoke up. He silently gave Jun, the person who is shamefully looking away from the group, a death stare.
“That means that we can’t attend any evening rehearsals for next week,” he continued.
“That’s alright. We can have short practices in the morning. It can also count as your morning workout as well!” Soonyoung suggested enthusiastically while the rest of the members are whining. Despite any complaints that the other might have slipped out, they agreed to their leader nevertheless.
“Are you fine coming next Tuesday morning?” He asked back to Seungkwan. If the interview is on Tuesday, that means he only has one and a half days to write the article only. Seungkwan was not the best writer, yet the best English speaker. How will he be able to find it on time? He can feel his anxiety rising up little by little.
“Sorry, it couldn’t be sooner. I need to work with our producer who will be producing the song for us.” Soonyoung continued. He slowly waved his hands in front of the younger to catch his attention.
“Right! Right, I totally understand and fine with that.” Seungkwan smiled back. He will be fine. He can do this. He will have enough time to write them well and enough time to check all of the grammar and spelling. He will be alright.
“Let me know where you want me to meet you, here is my number.” He ripped out a small piece of paper from his notebook and then quickly wrote his phone number down and handed it back to the elder.
“Will do that! See you soon!” Soonyoung and the rest of his teammates waved back at Seungkwan before turning to clean up all of their materials on the floor.
Seungkwan slowly turned his heels away from the spot and started walking back to his dorm. He can feel that this is going to be an interesting project to write already, there really is nothing to be worried about.
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Several days have passed and the interview day has arrived. Soonyoung had sent him the location a few hours after their meeting, it seemed like they will be rehearsing in the performing arts building’s studio. The elder also seemed to be excited about this project as well. He has been sending various information about the team beforehand as well, like, how long they have been a group for, their origin, their passion and dreams that they share and the new milestone that they are hoping for.
When he arrived, the whole building was rather still quiet, after all, it was only 7:30 am. There were not many people to be seen, only a janitor who was doing their job on the first floor and some staff walking passed by. He went up the elevator to his destined room, PA404. Stepping out of the elevator, he faintly heard unrecognizable music coming from a brightly lit studio at the end of the hall. This sound was rather interesting, it was a mixture of future bass and electric guitar. He can look forward to this already. This must be the original music that Soonyoung has told him about, he thought. He followed the sound to the front of the studio and knocked on the door before opening it.
“Good Morning, Soonyoung Hyung! I came for the interview that I asked earlier about, ” Seungkwan brightly said to the leader who has turned around to face him. Next to him, there was a body who he had not seen before. The person was rather small, very small actually. His head was only about the height of Soonyoung's nose. He had fluffy hair that seemed to just recently been dyed with the color grey.
“Right on time, Seungkwan! I Would like to introduce you to an important honorary member of our team as well. This is Jihoon, also known as Woozi if you want to call him that. That's usually what other people know him as. He is the producer for our team,” Soonyoung introduced the mysterious person to him, there is a fondness expression that spreads on the elders face when he mentions the latter.
“Oh, really!? So you are the infamous composer on our university's radio station. I love all of your songs, the meanings are very comforting when I was in a bad place, ” now that he thought back about it, no wonder why the name is familiar. This guy is practically an idol on their campus. Subtle red blush can be seen to creep up on the little person’s ears.
“That’s what you can expect from the cutest top student of his class,” Soonyoung said while giggle looking down at Jihoon who in contrast gave him a death glare. His hand slowly wrapped around the shorter’s shoulder before getting flickered away by the owner. The shorter quietly mumbled out something that caused the taller to slipped out another giggle.
“Thanks,” Jihoon mutters out and gives back a soft smile to Seungkwan.
“Let's start, shall we?” Soonyoung said before calling everyone to gather around.
The whole interview took a few hours in total. They went over several details about their upcoming projects and their motifs. Recently, the team had been feeling the need for a change. They need to keep their creative juices running and they have realized that covering other idols only would not do it. That's why they have turned to the infamous composer of the campus, who happened to be a friend of the leader himself. The song they are working on is about lovers who can only see each other on the 13th month. The choreography is integrated with creating the details of contemporary style which means this creates an abstract feeling just like the 13the month that does not exist in real life. The complex details of the routine were mesmerizing, even an unprofessional like Seungkwan know that they worked very hard on the piece. After saying all of their farewells, Seungkwan left the studio and let them continue practicing. He returned back to his dorm room after grabbing a cup of coffee, it was nice to just grab a coffee and relax. After all, he finally got all the needed information about his work, next is only the writing part, it should be easy right?
Well, he was wrong. Seungkwan has been staring blankly at his laptop screen for the last 3 hours. On his opened windows there is the interview material he needed to include, and another is a window of document lit up on the screen. This time, the screen is only filled with long paragraphs written in Korean, none of them is written in English at all. As much as Seungkwan is a brilliant, young student who worked hard for all of his writings, composing anything in English is not his forte. It can take him so much time just to jot down a simple sentence. It will likely take him much longer to complete the whole piece. After having a mental crisis on not knowing what to do with this dilemma, he ended up writing the whole assignment in his native language instead, then worry about actually getting the content in English later. One might say this is a useless move to be done, but at least it is better than not getting anything done, right?
By the time he finished his work, it was already dark outside of his dormitory window, by the slight sunlight seeping through the horizon signaling him that it is already dusk. That would be roughly 5 hours that he had spent working tirelessly in this room. Seungkwan got up from his table and took a stretch to freshen up before walking out of the door to grab some food in celebration of his hard work. Many students walked past him in the opposite direction to return back to their dorm in contrast to Seungkwan who is walking toward the front door. However, he came to a stop one he passed a slightly opened wooden office door which has a golden plate attached to the front that says ‘Resident Hall Director.’ He opened the wooden door to greet the figure inside.
“Good evening, Jeonghanie Hyung!” Seungkwan beamed at the slightly long-haired blonde man sitting down in his office hair who was busily talking, or must he say, flirting, to a buffer figure who was wearing the janitor uniform.
“Ah! Seungkwanie, nice to see you. How was your day?” the thin figure turned his attention to the young one who poked his head into the office. Jeonghan Hyung, also known as the angel resident hall director of the dormitory. Due to his gentle, motherly personality, he is very well known among the students to be the motherly figure to all of the students who are having an early onset mid-life crisis. He always does his best in order to comfort them and give them as much advice as possible which leads to him receiving a lot of love from his colleagues, students and maybe this specific janitor sitting right in front of him. No one really knows the exact relationship between the two. It could simply be just pure friendship, colleagues or something more. But, Seungkwan really hopes he finds happiness, he deserves everything in the world.
“It was alright, Hyung. I just worked on my final project for the whole day. Ugh, I'm ready to just die. How can an assignment give me so much stress!?” Seungkwan replied back to the lean figure who now has a hand under his chin while listening. His voice slowly rising up and became more frantic as he approaches the end, his hands moving around trying to express his frustration.
“In which, I didn't even finish it because it can’t write a single thing in English. So yes, I finished my English assignment in Korean.” He finally let out all of his frustration and slowly took a deep breath to calm him down. Expression of disappointment seeped up his face
“Hmm… let me get this straight. So you already finished all of the work, but it's just not in the right language, right?” Jeonghan asked back and Seungkwan quickly nodded his head.
“Well, that's not hard to fix at all. All you have to do now is to translate it!”
“But Hyung that's the point, I can't translate anything to English,” Seungkwan whined back.
“No worries Seungkwanie, I know just the right person to help you.” Jeonghan excitedly answered back while grabbing a piece of paper from his somewhat clean desk and quickly scribbled down an address on the paper
“Go to this address and call for this person at the place. He can help you, he's a kid who lives on a floor lower than yours. I'm sure he would be glad to help you,” Jeonghan grinned, but somehow there is a hit of….slyness to it and he handed the paper to him.
‘Chī fàn, Chwe Hansol’
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Seungkwan ended up in front of a rather old Chinese restaurant located on the outskirts of the campus. It was decorated with simple black and red embroidery details at the outside door with a giant black wooden board with two Chinese characters embedded in it. The smells of the food from the inside that flowed out were very alluring to the point it almost made him forgot about his main goal after leaving his resident hall. His stomach let out a low grumbling sound. A stop to get some food from this place might be nice. He pushed the door open with a small ‘ding’ from a bell that is placed at the top of the door and revealed many customers who are sitting at the tables. Some came as a couple, a group of friends who seem to be celebrating together and some single customers as well. He walked up toward the front counter where the waiter was working with his back turned against him, busily washing up his hands.
“How many people?” The figure turned around to reveal a familiar face, the face Seungkwan just saw in the morning to be exact.
“Oh? Jun Hyung? I didn’t expect to see you here,” Seungkwan babbled, to the senior in front of him, “Well, that is not the point. I want to find this person named…… Chwe Hansol,” he looked down to his paper to check the name before mentioning it.
“You mean Vernon?” he asked back before turning around to shouting into the opened kitchen door, “Minghao! Is Vernon back there? Seungkwan came here looking for him.”
Another family face came out of the door, “Nope, he’s not back here. Maybe he’s in the staff room. Didn’t you just send him to check some stocks?” Minghao retorted back to Jun with a displeased expression as he was carrying a few plates out to serve customers.
As if it was cued, another figure walked out of the staff room. He was wearing a colorful tie-dye hoodie with a yellow beanie and a black apron tieing to his waist. But his most distinct feature was not what he said before, rather his sharp foreigner face and light brown eyes.
“Jun Hyung, I’ve checked all of the stocks. I think we need to order some more cabbages and onions,” the new deep-voiced entered to the back of the counter.
“Okay, will do that,” Jun quickly answered back to the newly showed up staff and turned his attention back to Seungkwan, “back to you, this here is Vernon as known as Chwe Hansol. The person you are looking for.”
The new figure named Vernon shows a perplexed expression on his face before turning to the senior staff, “ he’s looking for me?” he asked out loud, but before Jun could answer Seungkwan disturbed him first.
“Yes! I was looking for you. Let me introduce myself, my name is Boo Seungkwan. I’m a sophomore majoring in media and communications,” he eagerly introduced himself, “I was having a crisis with my English assignment ……... and Jeonghanie Hyung told me that you can help me with that,” he explained his whole dilemma that he was facing. He could feel the air around him tense for a moment due to the silence, only the sound of light clatter and hushing sounds swirl around the restaurant. Of course, who would help a mere stranger who just came running to your workplace asking to translate your work?
Before he could continue his thought, Vernon quickly looked up and down on Seungkwan and gave him a small, warm smile.
“I can help you with that. Let me just clean up a bit and I will be right back with you. I was about to clock out of my shift anyways,” with that being said, Vernon went back to the staff room. A weight can be felt lifting off Seungkwan’s shoulder letting out a breath he did not know he was holding before.
“You are in good hands, Seungkwan. He may seem to be quiet at first but don’t worry, it’s just him,” Minghao reassured as he walked past him again before entering into the kitchen. Jun who was still in front of him gave him a slow nod and followed Minghao back into the same room.
A few minutes later, Vernon came back wearing an over jacket with a chunky backpack over his shoulders.
“Are you ready to go?” he asked. Seungkwan only ended up answering with a delaying nod and followed the taller out of the place.
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After a short walk, both of them ended up in front of Vernon's dorm room. The layout of the floor is the exact same as his except for the colors of all of the different doors that are different shades of green rather than different shades of blues like his. During their entire walk back was mostly filled with silence and occasionally with Seungkwan exchanging words to get to know his savior better. Apparently, both Jun and Minghao, along with Vernon, work as a part-timer together in the restaurant. It was not that Vernon was a broke college student that he needs to work part-time. But he just felt that having a part-time job would let him improve his time management, plus it is better to just stay in his dorm room.
“I just have to warn you, the inside might be a tiny bit messy,” he turned to face Seungkwan while unlocking into his room before continuing, “I wasn't expecting such a visitor today, or else I would have cleaned up a bit.”
Vernon pushed the door open enough to let Seungkwan step inside the room first and closed the door behind him. To his surprise, the inside was a very lowly lit room and not as messy as the owner had been told to be. It was a lot cleaner than his room to be exact. There are two different beds placed on two opposite sides of the room, the colors of the bed sheets are in the Pantone of dark brown, a scatter of instruments around the room and…...is that …… two dark shadows on the keyboard at the corner of the room? Seungkwan flinched at the sight and took a step back accidentally bumping into the taller figure behind him.
The taller let out a small chuckle before reassuringly grabbed on to the smaller one's shoulders. “Don't worry Seungkwan, that Jihoon Hyung. He liked working in a dark workspace. It's more relaxing he said,” he muttered lowly into Seungkwan's ear before he spoke up louder into the room.
“I'm back Hyung, I brought along a friend today. I hope you don't mind.”
The two figures on the keyboard finally turned their attention to them. Realized that there are other humans in the room than them, they stopped playing the beautiful melody on the keyboard. The shorter pulled his hands from underneath of the taller one’s hand who is currently next to him.
“Hey, Vernon,” the smaller figure calmly greeted his roommate, “Of course...um….I wouldn't mind. Soonyoung and I were about to finish anyway. We have to get a few things from my studio, so I don’t think I’ll come back.” Jihoon stood up from the bench and walked over to his desk to push a few buttons on his laptop before going to switch on the light. Even though the light caused the room to be brightly lit up, he can definitely feel that there is something wrong in the atmosphere. As if it was filled with strained?
Seungkwan observed the situation from a distance and couldn't help but question the dynamic among the two. What was going on?
“You can take a seat on the bed. I don't mind. Make yourself comfortable. Vernon instructed Seungkwan as he plopped down into his chair at the desk.
“Do you have your work with you?”
“Yep! I saved it on my drive. But, can I borrow your laptop? I didn't know we were going to do this,” said Seungkwan who was now comfortably on his bed. He leaned over his arms to get a better look at the person across him.
“Sure, come lock-in,” Vernon replied back getting up from his chair to make space for the incoming person. Seungkwan slid down the chair and looked for the browser, but to his luck, the cursor was nowhere to be found. Slight frustration slowly rushed through him every passed by seconds as he frantically tried to shake the mouse in his hand to find.
“Are you alright?”
“No, no I'm fine. It's just that I'm not used to your laptop. I don't really know what went wrong, I don't see any cursor around.”
“It's alright, let me help,” with that being said, the taller placed a hand on the table and leaned over Seungkwan to get a closer look at the problem. Seungkwan can feel a warm heat against his back, a slight scent of cologne along with some sent of fried rice filled his mind. He can feel his heart pick up a little speed when a warm hand lightly hover over his hand.
“Um, sorry, if you would excuse me,” Seungkwan quickly nodded his head in agreement.
The taller moved the mouse around before turning it upside down to check the underneath. It turned out, the power button was not on, answered the question as to why the cursor does not show up. Slight heat went up Seungkwan cheeks after his mishaps, he really should have checked it first. Vernon handed back the object, letting Seungkwan continue locking into his account.
“And…..we’re in,” Seungkwan state after up pulled up the right document from his drive. He went back to sit on the bed while Vernon went back to his chair.
“Mind to tell me a little bit about the assignment?”
“We have to write an article about one ongoing activity at our university. I accidentally came across Soonyoung Hyung’s outdoor performance one day and I became interested. So, he became my topic for this article,” Seungkwan began telling his story to the other person.
“But the reason why I need your help is that the article has to be written in English. Like, entirely in English. But, as you can see,” Seungkwan pointed his finger to the lighted up screen in front of Vernon, “it is not. And my English is like a kindergarten level. So, I really need your help with the translation from Korean to English. Please help me…. Pleasuuuu, ” he finally finished with his explanation with a pout at the end after thinking about how hopeless he was at this time.
The person on the chair placed one of his elbows forward on top of the table and leaned over to get a closer at the person on his bed. He let out a small chuckle and grin warmingly back.
“Why do you think I won’t help you? I already brought you back to my room.”
“But isn’t it weird that you are helping out a complete stranger?”
“If Jeonghan Hyung specifically recommended me, he probably has his reasons,” Vernon answered knowingly before starting to scroll and quickly read through the whole document to get an idea of what he will be working with.
Seungkwan hummed slightly in response to the other’s answer. Jeonghanie Hyung is a level-headed man and is able to react to any emergencies that he might face. However, he seems to have too many schemes hidden in his head. You never know when his advice or suggestion will have any hidden intention behind it. From the viral gossips that were going around the dorm, the lastest advice he gave can certainly be a highlight lifetime event in someone’s lifetime.
“This article is very well written, Seungkwan. I love your writing style,” Vernon complimented the author of the piece.
“I’ll do my best to keep your style and tone, okay?
“That would be great, thank you!”
The figure at the table began typing into his opened laptop, sounds of tapping were audible throughout the room. There are some pauses when the taller went back to check at his previous writing. The lighting in the room was now soft after being recently closed by the other two figures who left the room minutes ago with a soft click of the door. The only light source left in the room came from a lamp that is on the desk. It lit lightly around the area and highlighted parts of the working person's face. Showing all of his is strong jawline and his noticeably long eyelashes. They are so pretty. Seungkwan took this time to look at all of the little details on his Savior’s face. He had never seen such a face before. The mixture of eastern features and western features is perfect.
“Seungkwan? Seungkwan!?”
“Ah, sorry I wasn't paying attention,” Seungkwan’s attention snapped back to him after being called out, feeling slightly embarrassed after getting caught.
“I don’t mind. If you’re the one who's looking at me. I don't mind at all,” Vernon sincerely replied back to a blushed face across from him. Seungkwan felt his heart pick up some speed, loud thudding ringing through his ears. His hands fidgeted with the hem of his sweaters to his track himself, trying to distract himself.
“Anyways, I wanted to ask you about this passage. I just want to make sure it sounds right to you,” Vernon asked out then read the passage he was working on out loud.
“I can't say much. I don't really know what to change. But from an outsider like me, it sounds super professional. Just like an actual English article,” Seungkwan excitedly replied back, impressed with his translated work. It is not often to hear your translated work in such a version.
“I'm glad you think so,” Vernon lightly thanked the opposing figure. He read out a few more sentences out loud to check the toning.
“Wow, you’re great at this. And fast too! You've done this for many people haven't you,” he asked, feeling a slight disappointment after the thought of Vernon helping other people with their work as well, how the others might get to spend time in this room as well.
“Nope, you’re actually my first.”
“Is that so? Then you’re great at this! You're like a dictionary!” It took Seungkwan by a total surprise after what he had heard, “It really does look like they've translated a lot of work for others before.”
“Thank you,” Vernon softy shrugged out.
A few hours have gone by since Vernon has started translating the assignment. It was mostly filled in silence, Seungkwan looking at Vernon working and occasionally being asked for opinions. As the time was getting late, the person sprawled out on the bed felt his eyelids becoming heavier and heavier, all of the activities he had done during the day had really taken a toll on his body. His breathing became even after a short while, finally falling into slumber.
“I’m done, Seungkwan. Would you mind listening to it?” The person on the chair turned to his guest and noticed that he had fallen asleep. The taller walked over to the side of his bed, carefully sat down beside the slumbered figure.
“Seungkwan?” Vernon called out and lightly tapped on the asleep Seungkwan. The sprawled out body stirred for a moment before shuffling around trying to grab a blanket. Realizing that the other was doing, he leaned over to pick up the blanket located at the end of the bed and brought over to cover Seungkwan’s body, giving him warmth. The asleep body sighed out in content before further snuggled into the warmth.
“Goodnight,” he whispered out and reached over to swipe the bangs that are covering Seungkwan's face. Vernon quickly stepped into his bathroom to clean his body and turned off the lit lamp at his table. He walked over to the opposite bed of the room, Jihoon Hyung probably does not mind him sleeping in his bed. Not that he would come back anytime soon anyway. The latter mostly spent his time with his childhood friend. Vernon laid down sideways on Jihoon’s bed, turned to face Seungkwan. Working through an entire assignment for so many hours should have tired him out, though, it was not the case. Working with Seungkwan gave a new light to him, an adorable bubbliness that he has not seen in quite some time. Vernon smiled to himself and dozed off to sleep.
By the time Seungkwan began stirring around the forgiven bed was already around late morning. The sun shined through the opened curtain. Over the window and hit him right in the face. He slowly opened his eyes and blinked his sleepiness away, though he wanted to go back to sleep again. When his eyes became clear and his mind became clear, that's when he realized that's he's not in his room. But in Vernon’s room. A rush of guilt rushed through his system, realizing that he left Vernon working on ‘HIS’ assignment alone. He got up and walked over to the desk, opening the laptop up. But only the lock-in screen can only be seen, of course, a laptop would have a password. His class is about to start in a few hours, he needs to quickly find Vernon. At the corner of his vision, a pile of the blanket is placed on an empty bed. Vernon is nowhere to be seen. A sound of running water came through his ears. So he's in the bathroom, he thought. Seungkwan hastily shuffled over to the bathroom door and knocked on it.
“Vernon!! Can I have the password for your laptop? I need to look into it.”
“Vernon!!” Before he could knock on the door again, a very wet Vernon poked his head out of the bathroom to meet him.
“Good morning, Seungkwan,” the wet figure greeted him with a gummy smile.
“Hey, Vernon. I need your laptop password, please. My class is about to start in a few hours and I still need to work on my format of the assignment.”
“It's Mola218,” he calmly answered back to the panicked face.
“Thank you,” Seungkwan quickly stuttered out and a slight hue of pink rushed to the tops of his ears.
“Actually, I kinda did the formatting for you. I took a similar class last semester. I hope it helped you a bit, ” Vernon shouted back to another body, now crossed the room.
To his surprise, the assignment in front of him was flawless. Everything is written in English and all of the texts are arranged into the columns, pictures are sprawled around the article in the right places. Even the head title of the piece was perfect. His mouth gaped open, his head swished turned to an empty spaced where Vernon just poked his head out. The sound of running water filled the room again, signaling that he went to finish his shower. Seungkwan picked up a post-it note and scribbled down some message, promptly read through it before sticking it on top of the laptop. After grabbing all of his stuff and composing himself, he left the room.
To Vernon,
Thank you so, so much for helping last night. I didn't expect you to help with the formatting as well. That was very helpful. Again, thank you so much. I didn't get the chance to properly thank you. How about I treat you to a meal?
Here is my number 0xx-xxx-xxxx, contact me when you can!
Thank you,
Seungkwan.
📖📖📖📖📖📖📖
Seungkwan swiftly walked out of his class. Finally, it is over. He handed in his work to his professors and the course is over. They did spend some time in class going through and sharing their pieces with the others. To his effort, Seungkwan managed to smoothly present his article with a bit of hiccup here and there. But overall, it might be his best work yet. A little bit of guilt still lingered at the back of his mind due to the fact that he did not really do the whole work by himself. In the middle of his class, he received a text from a certain someone he was looking forward to since he left their room this morning. The reply was short and sweet. Vernon, of course, agreed to let him treat a meal and told Seungkwan to come over to ‘Chī fàn’ for the evening. The thought of going to the place excited him, he remembered from yesterday that all of the food smelt amazing. The thought made his mouth waters a bit. It took him a few minutes of walking before he found himself standing in front of the old, wooden door again, just like deja vu, he thought. He wasted no time and pushed through the door. He saw a familiar face greeting him again.
“Good evening, Seungkwanie! Are you looking for our Vernon again? Looks like something went well yesterday,” Jun Hyung greeted him with his signature smirked looking smile before shouting back into the kitchen. “Vernon! Seungkwan is here to meet you!”
With that being said out loud, a familiar figure who he had spent time with yesterday showed up. He was dressed in his usual colorful hoodie but with an apron tied around his waist.
“Hey, Seungkwan. I'm glad you could make it. What do you want to have for tonight?”
“Any recommendations?”
“Are you asking for a waiter's choice? I would gladly make it.” He beamed.
“That would be great, thank you.”
The taller strolled back into the kitchen again to place an order for his food. He returned back later with two cups of hot tea for both of them. He swiftly placed the cups on the table and poured down the tea. The aroma of boiled tea leaves swirls in the air around them, providing a sense of relaxation to the smaller one.
“So, I really just want to thank you for your help last night. I would have probably panicked the entire night if you weren't there to help. Again, thank you so so much. I don't even know if this meal is enough to pay back what you've done,” Seungkwan sincerely thanked the taller person.
Vernon smiled and nodded along the entire time Seungkwan was making his speech. He cannot help but feel incredibly fond of others. Not that he was not interested in him way long before last night.
“No, Seungkwan, it really was my pleasure to help you. It's a chance for me to practice my English as well. Really, it's nothing.”
“Are you sure? I still feel bad that you did so much for my assignment.”
“Really, Seungkwan,” Vernon replied back with a sweet smile, “I can even be your dictionary anytime.”
“Since I work here, it's on the house for this meal,” Vernon further suggested to the person opposite from him. Seungkwan's eyes immediately blew wide open, panicking about the direction this will head.
“But…..I promise that I will treat you! If I…,” Seungkwan tried to convince Vernon, but before he could finish his sentence, he was cut off.
“Then I guess that would be for our next time then?”
Seungkwan can feel the tension in the air after it was said out, anticipation came from the opposing side of him. His heart picked up in speed, a warm smile glowed upon his face, finally realizing the intention of the other. He was not going to deny that the other made his heart flutter, just from last night alone. He's going to give this a shot.
“Sure”
“Vernon, please…...no flirting in front of me,” another familiar waiter, Minghao, finally walked out of the kitchen with their plates of food, “and you cannot just randomly say ‘it's on the house’ or else we can kill! I heard that! You IMMA!”
📖📖📖📖📖📖
[ 20 hours earlier ]
A panicked Seungkwan clutched onto the piece of paper before pushing the door to leave the elder’s office.
”Thank you, Hyung!!” The younger shouted back from a distance, rushing to his destined place.
Jeonghan contently sighed before snatching back his pen from the head janitor in front of him.
“Go back to work, Cheolie! I'm sure there are more places to be cleaned. I need to work,” Jeonghan brushed off the person opposite of him. He has been distracted by the other hours and he's short of time right now. Instead of leaving as the others told him to, Seungheol did the opposite.
“Why did you send him to Vernon? You know that kids do not work well with strangers.”
“Well, maybe Seungkwan is not a stranger to him, maybe he’s been looking at him all along” Jeonghan looked up from his laid out sheets of paper and spoke through his smirk with a knowing tone.
“Oh….”
Jeonghan’s scheme #16: initiated