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It was the first day back to school after summer break and Doyoung was ready to make the most out of his junior year. He had made sure to stock up on colored pens, sticky notes, and highlighters, to keep his notes organized and easy to digest. He looked at his timetable—Introduction to Business Law, Room 203—it read. Doyoung groaned as he realized his first class of the week was not going to be forgiving.
Now, don’t get him wrong, Doyoung actually finds a lot of interest in business law and other law-related classes. However, law-related classes always had a downside—graded oral recitation. Doyoung absolutely hated being put on the spot, especially when he wasn’t well-versed in the topic. Unfortunately for him, he had to take this class as part of his major requirements so, there was no avoiding it.
Doyoung walked into class, fifteen minutes early, which he did so on purpose to find a good seat. Once he found a spot, he took out the necessary materials and spent the rest of his time browsing his phone. Soon enough, the professor walked in and class immediately begun. “Before we discuss the syllabus, I would like everyone to take out the index cards with your name, year-level, major, and 1x1 picture on the top right corner that I asked you to prepare before coming in today. These will be your recitation cards. I will use them to call on people to answer questions and to tally points. Please pass them to the front.”
Once the stack got to him, Doyoung was surprised to see the most handsome face he has ever seen staring right back at him. He was in shock—how was it possible that he had never seen this boy on campus before? He was a junior too, and in the same major as he was! It seemed they already had so many reasons to run into each other, yet they never did, and Doyoung knew because there was no way he wouldn’t have noticed this guy even in passing. It wasn’t anyone sitting near him either—people had randomly stuck their index cards in random parts of the pile, hoping they wouldn’t get called on first. But who was he?
Doyoung snapped back to reality, he realized he had been staring at this guy’s picture for an amount of time that can only be deemed socially unacceptable. In his embarrassment, he rushed to add his to the pile, passing it on, only to realize he had forgotten to read the boy’s name. Unfortunately for him, class resumed as usual yet Doyoung couldn’t get his mind off of the boy in the picture. Time flew by and eventually, class ended. Everyone immediately rushed out to wherever they needed to be next. Doyoung on the other hand, took his sweet time. He had an hour-long break before his next class so he was only heading towards the café his friends frequented.
“I don’t know, Doyoung hyung, aren’t you being a little overdramatic?” Donghyuck said, as Doyoung recounted the whole story about picture boy. “You don’t understand, Hyuckie! How is it possible that I’ve never seen this guy? We’re in the same year , we have the same major—it seems impossible!” Doyoung countered. “Well, Hyuck has a point, hyung—I don’t know everyone in my year and major…” his other friend, Mark, added hesitantly. He saw Johnny nod in agreement as well. Doyoung sighed, “Look, you guys don’t understand. His face was out of this world. Like, I can’t believe a human being could have such a face. Honestly, since I’ve never seen him aside from that picture, I don’t know if he’s actually real.”
They all gave each other a look as Doyoung went on and on about how unreal this guy’s face was, finding it amusing as they had never really seen him like this. “Maybe you’ll see him in one of your other classes. You know, sometimes when I start noticing someone, I suddenly see them everywhere so…” Johnny trailed off, the implication was clear though—he might suddenly see picture boy everywhere. “I sure do hope so, I gotta find him now that I know he exists” Doyoung said as he got up, grabbing his stuff. “Bye hyung! Good luck!” Donghyuck adds with a teasing tone. Doyoung walks away, flipping them off in his wake.
Doyoung really couldn’t believe that someone like picture boy exists somewhere on this earth, on this campus, in fact. But, maybe his friends were right. Maybe he was overreacting—this was just another random guy at the end of the day, no matter how beautiful his face may be. He sighed in disappointment. Was he really giving up on something he hadn’t even started on? Honestly, where was he even going to start? Sure, there university wasn’t necessarily huge but, there were still thousands of students there. Plus, if he hadn’t seen him before then picture boy must not frequent Doyoung’s regular hangout spots. He was so absorbed in his thoughts that he didn’t realize he was already in front of the classroom’s door. As he reached out for the handle, another hand did too. As soon as their hands touched, Doyoung’s eyes shot up, greeted by a shy, dimpled smile. “It’s you! Picture boy—”
“It’s Jaehyun, actually.”