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He's so tall that he blocks your view of the hallway entirely. Broad shoulders that seem to fill the corridor from side to side, soft hair that bounces just slightly with every step, and a white tee that's just a bit too thick for your liking.
Lee Juyeon.
Football star, Dean's honour list student, and probably a part-time model. He's basically the male lead of every girl's K-drama dreams, the one that producers shine a light on whenever he walks down the hall, where classmates immediately break out in whispers and maybe even faint when they make eye contact with him.
Half your grade is probably in love with him, while the other half wants to be him.
Today isn't the first time you've walked in his wake, but other than it providing you with the perfect opportunity to stare at that lovely back profile of his, it's also so that his bulldozer-like shoulders could clear a path for you through the crowd. Not only are you safe from getting trampled by all the students in the hall, but you also get ten more minutes of time to stare at your crush before your next class—
Omph.
He suddenly stops.
Now normally it wouldn't have been too big of a deal because it's not like he would know that you just accidentally kissed his back by accidentally walking a little too closely to him. But today just happens to be one of the days where you decided to wear that new lipstick you bought recently. That vibrant red that Sunwoo said belonged on a clown, yet still somehow looked super cute on you. Fine, maybe you had wanted to look extra nice today because of your shared organic chemistry lecture with Juyeon. It's not like you guys sat anywhere near each other, but it was just in case he ever turns around and looks your way.
But now the same vibrant red is on the back of Lee Juyeon's white t-shirt, in the shape of your lips. If you'd worried about getting foundation on clothing before, this was a problem on a whole other level.
"Oh, sorry. Are you alright?" The most gorgeous man you've ever seen turns around and you only had half the mind to cover your lips with one hand so that if he decides to kill someone, it wouldn't be you.
At this point you had three things on your mind. The first was to make sure he doesn't realize that it's you, his very own lab partner in the organic chemistry lab. He's never seen you without the crazy lab gear on so it's a possibility he wouldn't recognize you. The second thing was to make sure that he doesn't realize that the out-of-lab-you is the one who just ruined his shirt. The third thing? To make sure he doesn't make the connection between lab-you, out-of-lab-you, and this lipstick stain.
"I...uh," comes out muffled beneath your hand. You hope that it covers your entire face. "Um, yeah. I'm fine. Thanks. I, uh, have to get to class."
You're able to wipe the lipstick off your lips as soon as you could, but Juyeon's shirt will probably be wearing that lipstick for the rest of its life.
"The worst possible thing happened today," you sigh into the phone to Changmin, the one friend in your squad who's least likely to make fun of the incident you're about to rant about. He probably would anyways, but you'd rather have him react to your story instead of the reaction you could already picture Sunwoo making. He would clown you so hard and never let it go.
Just like how your own mind wasn't letting it go. You've already spent too many hours doing assignments for your stats class and then having the typical ramen for dinner, yet what happened today was still on your mind. Unsurprisingly.
Changmin chuckles. "It's okay. I don't think anything could be worse than what happened to your crush today."
"He's not my crush," you mutter under your breath. "Wait what?"
"Your crush had an unfortunate event occur on the back of his shirt."
His words make you freeze dead in your steps amidst pacing around, and it takes about three replays of the sentence just to process the words. To make sure that you were hearing correctly.
To make sure that you're not crazy for thinking it sounds like Changmin knows exactly what happened.
"Wait, how do you even know him? Are you guys friends or something?"
He simply laughs. Non-stop. For a good amount of time. So much for thinking that Changmin would be the understanding one! You definitely should've called Chanhee instead; at least he might've told you that the lipstick was a nice shade whether it was on your lips or on Juyeon's crisp white tee, or he might've even said that it made the tee a little more artistic and less plain looking.
"How are you friends with him?" you ask in disbelief. You're not sure if Changmin heard your underlying implications of 'how is a loser like you friends with such an unattainable person like him?' but it only seems to amuse him even more.
"What can I say? Hot people have hot friends."
"...did you just call Juyeon ugly?"
"No, I called him—" He suddenly stops. "Excuse you? Actually, I'm not even insulted because we're friends too, so if you're going to call me ugly then you know what they say—"
"Anyways," you cut him off, "what happened today?"
"Right, so the unfortunate event. He got a stain on his white tee. And yes, it's just a stain, but here's the thing—it's not from food or coffee or anything. It's from someone's lipstick, and it's not any kind of stain either. It's a whole lip imprint."
Oh. Okay. On the bright side, that probably means that Juyeon has no idea it's your lip imprint.
"And to top it all off, this lip imprint is on his back."
...or maybe he does.
Changmin finally notices your silence. "What? Don't tell me that lipstick stain was yours or something," he snorts.
"Uh, did he tell you about that? The stain, I mean."
"Well, it was pretty obvious. If he had a girlfriend then maybe it would've made more sense, but he doesn't so we have no idea how it got there—"
He pauses so suddenly that it almost makes you think the line went dead.
"You mean it's actually yours? Y/N! How did that even...?"
You let out a long sigh. "It's a long story. But point is, what do I do now? See, I should've have listened to Sunwoo and not gotten the lipstick if it comes off that easily!"
"Oh my goodness—" there's high pitched laughter on the other end, "Y/N! I can't believe—" more laughter. "You didn't seriously—" and still more laughter that you decide to hold the phone as far from your ear as possible. "Never thought Sunwoo would be—so good—at predicting stuff like this."
"Are you done yet?"
"This is too good," he breathes, still a mess of laughs.
Then a sudden revelation occurs to you. "Oh my goodness. Changmin."
"What?" That seems to sober him up.
"That lipstick is making me boy-proof. If it comes off that easily, no one's ever going to kiss me when I'm wearing it."
"Um, Y/N? Don't flatter yourself too much because no one would kiss you even if you weren't wearing it."
On second thought, maybe calling him was the worst possible thing.
"Ji Changmin, you better watch out because I'm going to ruin all of your white t-shirts!"
It turns out that hot people really do have hot friends.
You've never spent much time in the cafeteria on campus because usually your squad would be grabbing a quick snack in between classes and then proceeding to eat during lectures. Chanhee claims that it's the only thing that would keep him awake while Sunwoo just seemed perpetually hungry.
But this time, Changmin dragged you over to the cafeteria immediately after class and you die a little inside when you see the amount of hot people sitting there. You recognized a few guys as football players also on the team—Hyunjae and Eric, if you recalled correctly—but they all looked like they could've easily been from the same modelling agency. And luckily for you, Juyeon was not there. Had he been anywhere near the vicinity, you probably would have just turned right around and left before he could realize the connection between that stain and your non-lipsticked lips today.
"Hey, this is Y/N, the friend that we were talking about," Changmin introduces you to the guys at the table. It took all your effort to not run as far as possible but put on a smile instead as they introduced themselves. Other than Hyunjae and Eric, there was also Younghoon and Haknyeon who waved and nodded before making some space for you.
And right there in front of you was the rest of your squad sitting at the table as if they belonged, yet never once have they mentioned being friends with Juyeon's crowd. "Sunwoo? Chanhee?" you ask, incredulous.
"Shocked that you're actually seeing two pretty best friends, right?" Sunwoo nods at you. "Hot people have hot friends; I don't make the rules."
You roll your eyes at him but internally brace yourself for what's to come because surely Changmin has told them everything by now.
"Why aren't you wearing lipstick today, Y/N? That colour looked so nice on you yesterday." Sunwoo smacks his lips at you then the three of them burst into a fit of loud, table hitting, back bending laughs. Fortunately, he didn't say that very loudly and the other guys at the table weren't paying attention because you really would not be able to live if anyone in Juyeon's crew found out about this.
"You really should've gotten the matte one," Chanhee comments.
You groan, sliding down your chair so that the ground can just swallow you up and get you away from the mess you got yourself into. "At least it wasn't gloss! Give me some credit here."
"Yeah, can you imagine that? The shirt would've just been stuck to your lips," Sunwoo snickers and they all start giggling at you again.
"Can't you guys be serious for a minute? I'm having a life crisis here."
"What were you doing so close to him anyways?" Chanhee asks, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
You heave a sigh, getting ready to answer all the questions that would surely follow. "I usually walk behind him after class so I don't get trampled by the crowd," you mutter.
Dead silence.
"What?" you retort. "People clear the way for him because he's tall and popular, and I'm just here trying to make it across campus so I'm not late again for the next class."
Sunwoo snorts. "Sure, but what do you like about him anyways?"
"It's a long story but don't laugh, okay?"
It wasn't because he was hot. In fact, the first time you'd ever seen him, he was in a lab coat and giant bug-eyed goggles, bending over in awkward positions just to reach under the fume hood.
That's what the first day of your organic chemistry lab was like.
You hadn't thought much of it when he became your assigned lab partner other than noticing how he had a nice voice and praying that he was smart enough to carry the team because who in their right mind would be good at organic chem? And to your luck, he was cooperative and came prepared with all the structures neatly drawn in his lab notebook and all the pre-lab questions answered.
But just as the lab session was going well, there was a moment that changed everything.
"Can you pass the solution?" he'd asked, waiting on it for the next step in the experiment.
"Yeah, right here—" Maybe you had turned a little too quickly because before you could get the test tube to him, it slipped right out of your hand and ended up shattering across the floor.
The sound of it had drawn everybody's attention to your lab bench, jaws dropping and eyes widening in the fear that your TA, Sangyeon, would be angry and dock all of your lab performance marks.
And just when you were about to brace yourself for possibly failing this lab, failing out of this course, or failing out of your college entirely, that's when you heard, "Sorry, that was my fault." There was your lab partner, coolly stepping in as if it weren't a big deal at all, and even proceeding to clean up the pieces of glass on the floor afterwards.
"Are you okay?"
"I—yeah, I'm fine. Thanks." Then you'd continued to stand there, stupefied, as he cleaned up the mess. "Wait, I should help you with this."
He'd smiled back and that's when you feel the first thud of your heart. "Oh this will be fine, really. But you should maybe try to save the rest of our experiment."
In the end, you both still get an A on that lab with no performance marks docked at all, surprisingly.
The next few labs you had went much smoother than that, with your amazing teamwork drawing in wandering gazes from other girls around your lab bench. Sometimes Juyeon would be setting up your equipment for you, other times you'd be helping him calculate the yield. It got to the point where Sangyeon would tell you to just use your partner's equipment when your own wasn't working. Basically, you guys were the unofficial ship of your lab section.
"Ah, that's why you were asking about him after that lab." Changmin nods. "Sunwoo, pay up. I knew it wasn't just a fangirl crush."
"It's not a crush! He's just...nice." Then you see Sunwoo actually handing over a crisp bill from his wallet. "You guys actually had a bet on this?"
Sunwoo shrugs at you innocently.
"So, you don't find him hot?" Chanhee nudges you.
"I—what, of course he's hot! But that's not why—"
"Who's hot?" a new voice joins in. A soft, smooth sounding voice that you were acquainted with all too well for you've heard it reading lab instructions too many times.
And there he is, Lee Juyeon standing there in his hoodie, a hand running through his hair, the ceiling lights looking like his personal spotlight. Seeing this side of him is always so different from seeing him all decked out in the lab that it takes you by surprise every time.
But before you could panic about what to say or do next, the innocent look on Juyeon's face makes it clear that he didn't hear anything, and you almost sigh in relief. Until you realize that you still have to hide your face just in case he does recognize you from that incident.
"Hyunjae!" you say a little too loudly, quickly attempting to cover your face with your hair. When everyone seems to go dead silent and stare at you, including Hyunjae himself, that's when you slowly pull out a finger heart and shoot it at him.
"Oh." The corner of Juyeon's lips curl up the slightest as he goes to the guy you accidentally made your victim. "Ooh Hyunjae..."
That's when everyone turns to look at the poor boy. He doesn't say anything as he hides his face with his hands, but you could see the tips of his ears turn redder than a tomato.
Then it was the day you simultaneously dreaded and looked forward to: lab day.
"The first part of today's lab is done individually. Each of you will need to report the reaction with all the structures, the catalyst, your percentage yield, as well as melting point of the product," Sangyeon announces after everyone arrives.
"Shouldn't be too bad," Juyeon whispers to you then opens his lab notebook just a tad for you to see the structures all drawn already. "I got you, lab partner."
You open your own notebook to show him that you not only had the structures drawn but even included all the equations in your neat writing. "Right back at you, lab partner."
"Aw, I really got the best lab partner," he says with a soft smile before it suddenly turns into a pout. "But wow, I can't even impress you now."
"You're already impressive enough." You roll your eyes at him, ignoring the constant thudding of your heart after hearing his words. "But if you really want to, then feel free to send me some old midterms."
A flash of a blinding smile. "Done. You got it."
"Alright, let's get started," Sangyeon says and you realize you missed the rest of his instructions because of the distraction that is Juyeon.
It's almost strange how easy it was to interact with Juyeon in the lab, yet so difficult in any other setting. Despite how you never really liked doing labs, you find yourself enjoying the time spent with him—setting up equipment with him so closely pressed against your side, being comfortable with performing all the tasks when he's there to reassure you, coordinating everything without even needing to speak.
"I'll go get 4ml of the solution." The sound of Juyeon's voice pulls you from your thoughts.
"Wait, don't we only need 2ml?"
"Oh, it's so we could just share it from the same cylinder."
"Right," you chuckle awkwardly. "And here I was thinking we only needed 2ml between the both of us."
He laughs. "Honestly, same. Sucks that it's not done in partners this time; I liked those labs much better."
What did he just say? What does he mean by that?
"Hey, don't let me stop you from working together," Sangyeon says casually as he walks by. "I mean, you'll be doing that anyways."
And what is that supposed to mean?
You give Juyeon a tiny smile, which he mirrors, before you both quickly move on to the next step in the experiment.
"Do you remember how to find the melting point?" Juyeon asks as he looks at the machine on the counter. It's a strange looking machine that doesn't seem very intuitive, but then again nothing in this lab ever does.
"Um, I think you just put a bit of the product in the machine and watch it as it heats up? And see when it melts."
"Thanks," he says, proceeding to follow what you said. "I vaguely remember doing this in first year but barely paid attention in labs back then."
"What? No way," you shake your head. "Juyeon the slacker? I find that hard to imagine."
"What do you mean? I wasn't always this motivated for labs. Or class for that matter."
"So what changed?"
His eyes meet yours and linger for just a second longer than you thought he would, and you force yourself not to look away. "Just been feeling very inspired these days."
"Yeah, me too."
The preparation you did in your notebook was evidence of it all—the drawings, the equations, the pre-lab questions. They might have come from a place of not wanting to seem dumb in front of a top student like him, but the effort you put into it did actually raise your lab mark by a lot. It's not just a dumb crush when he motivates you to do better, to constantly improve yourself, to slow down and enjoy life and try to understand the world.
Juyeon smiles at you before putting the product in the machine and starting it. Then he's bending down until he's eye level with the small window of the machine, looking through it intently.
"Hmm, it's hard to tell if it melted or not," he frowns. "You want to take a look?"
"Yeah, sure."
But as you bend down to look, you realize too late that he hasn't moved over to make room for you. Not only has he not budged from his spot at all, but he turns to face you right at that exact moment and it makes your faces so close together that the rest of the world seems to still. From this distance, you could see clearly see the beauty marks on his skin, on his eyelid, the edge of his cheek, and even on his neck like a tiny constellation of stars that map the entire universe. There was the curve of his nose, a slope that flows so gently until it doesn't, a sharpness that balances his softer features. Then it was his beautiful eyes that suddenly aren't the same innocent, smiling eyes that you'd gotten used to. There was a kind of intensity that you find yourself drowning in, a magnetic attraction drawing you in closer and closer even as his lids lower slowly, so slowly, even as the gap between you closes breath by breath, second by second—
"Ow."
His goggles collide with yours.
"Sorry," you mutter, jumping away instantly and then proceeding to move the machine instead of getting anywhere near him again. Why hadn't you thought of just moving it before?
Whoever's idea it was to almost kiss with lab goggles on—it's the worst idea ever. Could you even call it a kiss? You were probably hallucinating from all the sleep deprivation that has accumulated this week, or maybe it was the fumes from someone's experiment floating in the air. Or maybe it was just the Juyeon effect.
What makes things worse is that your product had completely melted already and you totally missed out on getting its melting point.
The rest of the lab is spent in silence, at least between the two of you. Girls from nearby lab benches come up to Juyeon to ask about his yield, while you spend the rest of the session joking around with Jacob from the bench opposite yours. He's a nice guy and quite smart too, and you especially thank him for slipping you the answer to the melting point question. Maybe you'll talk to him more next time if things between you and Juyeon remain this awkward.
At the end of the lab, you pack up your stuff extra slowly so that Juyeon would leave first and you could avoid him forever. That earns you a few questioning glances from Sangyeon but he seems to know that there's something going on between his favourite pair of students. You just hope that he didn't get to witness the most embarrassing moment of your life.
But what you don't expect is for Juyeon to wait for you the entire time.
"Hey, Y/N," he says hesitantly. You'd never seen him appear anything less than confident, so the shy demeanour surprises you.
"Hmm?"
"If you don't have a class or anything after this, do you want to um... grab lunch together or something?"
"No!" you say instantaneously without even thinking about it. It was a knee-jerk reaction because the plan was to just avoid him forever so neither of you would have to address what happened in the lab today.
Yet deep down, you wanted to go with it. To just say yes, spend some time with him, go on a cute date, and live happily ever after. But surely that was an impossible fantasy because of all the awkwardness between you today. He probably just wanted to talk to you in order to address that moment. On top of that, if he finds out that you were the one who was being such a creep behind him that day and left the disgusting stain on his shirt, that would entirely squash whatever miniscule chance you had.
"I mean—uh, I have to get to my English class!" You shoot a quick smile, hoping it's convincing.
His face doesn't fall like what you were afraid of. Instead, he seems puzzled, a slight frown and brows furrowed. "Oh, you're in English too? I've never seen you in class before."
"Um—oh I'm in the other section but uh, can't make it to that one so..." you trail off when you see his eyes narrowing at you.
"But there's only one section."
"Oh! Did I say English? I meant philosophy."
"Philosophy? That's not until tomorrow."
Crap, is this guy seriously in every class you mention? Not that it would be too surprising for someone who's probably in the top percentile of this entire college, but clearly it's screwing up your excuse.
"Sorry, I—have to run," you duck away quickly and leave before you embarrass yourself any more than you already have. "See you next week, Juyeon."
"You did what?" Changmin sputters, eyes wide, jaw to the floor.
"Please tell me you did not do what I think you just said," Chanhee stares at you, equally in shock.
Sunwoo, however, has a blank face on as he lets out the biggest sigh you've heard. "Y/N. You. Are. So. Dumb."
"I was afraid he would find out!" you wail and collapse on the table. You hadn't told them about the almost-kiss and embarrassing knocking of goggles since that seemed much too private and embarrassing to share, so you used the excuse that he would know you're the lipstick culprit. Which isn't much of an excuse because there's a still a fear of him finding out. What has your life become?
"How does hanging out with him have anything to do with him finding out who left a lipstick stain on his shirt?" Sunwoo shoots right back.
"He might have seen my face that day! And without all the lab gear we wear, it would be so obvious that it was me." You pout. Then sigh. "What am I going to do?"
Sunwoo rolls his eyes. "Do you really think he's so dumb that he couldn't recognize you by your voice already?"
"Well..." It was a valid point. "But I didn't exactly say much to him that day nor in the cafeteria when he came by."
"But still! How could you just pass up on the opportunity so easily?" Chanhee asks in disbelief.
Changmin shakes his head and puts on a somber expression. "Goodbye to Y/N's love life."
"Yup." Chanhee nods. "Juyeon's too."
"Can't be too worried about Juyeon's when he has so many options out there," Sunwoo shrugs. "Even today I saw a group of girls trying to talk to him."
You smack him on the arm. "Can you not? I'm right here, you know."
"Y/N on the other hand..." Sunwoo shakes his head. "Imagine being the one and only Juyeon: smart, popular, hot, and basically perfect in every aspect. Then imagine being rejected by Y/N over here."
Chanhee has a solemn look on his face. "Poor guy. I would be in disbelief."
"Let's go see how he's doing and console him," Changmin says with a smirk.
You don't think that's a serious statement until the three of them stand up. And then you proceed to question yourself about why you were even friends with them.
"Are you serious? We can't go!" you groan. "Guys, you don't get it. I really can't face him like this."
"Don't worry, he probably won't even be there with his busy schedule and all. The dude's even busier than the first years in engineering." Changmin helps you up and doesn't let go of your hand as you begrudgingly make the trek across campus to the cafeteria, another spot that you've begun to dread.
But when you reach the student center, even before you even had the chance to start freaking out over whether Juyeon might suddenly appear at every corner you turn, that's when you suddenly run into him. And then he's in front of you, close enough that the same incident could've occurred if Changmin hadn't pulled you back just in time.
"Oh, hey Juyeon," Changmin greets as if it's no big deal, as if you aren't trying to hide behind him with everything you've got.
"Hey, haven't seen you in a while," Juyeon says back with a smile and then they do that bro hug thing that you never quite understood, especially since you didn't think the two of them were even close. "Let's catch up another time; I'm off to class now but the others are still there."
"Alright, see you around." Changmin waves and then Juyeon walks off seemingly without the slightest glance in your direction the entire time. Not that you could even look at him anymore without replaying moments from the almost-kiss.
"Wow, didn't know you guys were so buddy-buddy," you comment, hearing the bitterness drip from your own words.
"Why, you jealous?" Changmin gives you a side eye. "I'm not the one who rejected him."
"I didn't reject him! But anyways, I don't think he even recognizes me, thankfully," you whisper just in case the person in question was still within earshot. "He's seen me twice outside of lab now but there's no spark of recognition in his eyes whatsoever. Am I that ugly with lab gear on that he can't tell at all?"
Your best friend looks you up and down slowly before whispering back, "I feel like the lab gear is what's hiding the ugly."
"You literally suck."
You forcibly drop his hand that you were still holding onto, and that's what makes you realize Juyeon probably witnessed the hand holding. First Hyunjae, and now Changmin. Your heart hurt at the thought that Juyeon might actually think you rejected him, even if there was only a small chance that he would realize you are his lab partner, and an even smaller chance that he'd be interested in you.
"He definitely likes Y/N, but—" you hear a voice say right before your group reaches the table, and it suddenly piques your interest.
"Who likes Y/N?" you ask, doing a little hair flip dramatically.
"Hyunjae!" Eric and Haknyeon say at the same time.
When you look at him, this time Hyunjae is sliding right down his chair but not before you see his cheeks blushing furiously.
You were so going to kill Sunwoo.
This weekend was supposed to be your time to recuperate from yet another hard week of the college life, where you would be staying in bed the entire time watching your favourite K-dramas on Netflix. Maybe you would have even pulled out a nice scented candle and all to go with this self care theme that's been so trendy these days, or maybe it would've been wine and a bubble bath. Out of all of the options you had thought about, going to a party was not one of them.
"Don't you have anything prettier to wear?" Sunwoo frowns after you do a little spin in your outfit right in front of your squad currently sitting in your room. "You're not going to score anyone with this."
A party hadn't been in the plans at all for any of you until Sunwoo and his spontaneity heard from probably a friend's ex's sibling's boyfriend's third cousin twice removed about some house party. You hadn't thought much of it when he first mentioned it since the party would literally be taking place the same night, but knowing Sunwoo, he'd definitely be dragging all of you there.
"What's wrong with this? And please, it's not like I'm trying to dress to impress anyone." You roll your eyes, flattening out the wrinkles in your shirt. It didn't look terrible at all in your opinion but was definitely on the more casual side. "Juyeon's not even going to be there."
It's true. As popular as he was, you've heard that parties were not his thing. He's probably putting his time to better use and that's why he was so good at everything, and maybe you should also be staying home and studying amino acid structures.
"Girl, if you have a meal in front of you does that mean you can't still read the menu? How are we ever supposed to get you off our hands if you don't go out and meet people?" Chanhee adds as he starts going through your closet. "Let's see if you have anything sexier."
"Why do I need anyone?" You frown, crossing your arms. This whole thing was just a terrible idea.
"So that you won't be always stuck in your room being lonely and moping around every day," Sunwoo retorts.
"But I don't want anyone else. Why can't I just date Changmin," you huff and then collapse dramatically on your bed. "You've liked me at some point and everyone thinks we're a couple anyways."
"Sure. Anything for you, my dear."
"Wait, really?"
"No, of course not." Changmin makes a disgusted face.
"Get a grip, Y/N. No one here is going to date you and no, you and Changmin would make a terrible couple." Sunwoo pretends to gag and barf. "Seriously, you can do much better than him."
"Oh yeah? Come here, you little shit."
"You can do so much better than any of us, okay?" Sunwoo continues, ignoring Changmin's comment entirely. "And besides, we made a pact that none of us would date you."
"You—what?"
"To ensure that we'd all be just friends, you know?" Chanhee peeks his head out of the closet with a dress that you'd buried at the very back of it. The reason you hid it in the first place was that you knew he'd be commenting on this forever if he'd found it. "This! Is the perfect dress!"
"Wow, hello. That's more like it," Changmin comments.
You muffle your groan, giving up at trying to put a stop to this terrible fate.
It turns out that the house was no ordinary house. In your mind you had pictured typical beaten down student house off campus but this was definitely not that. The first thing you notice when you pull up to the driveway was just how lovely the house is—it looks fairly modern and new with stylish windows and warm light lighting it up from inside. The distant thud of loud music floats to your Uber as you pull up in the driveway.
"Stop sulking," Chanhee nudges you, "it'll be fun."
"Sunwoo, you better get me all the drinks. You owe me."
"Oh honey, I totally would but I can think of a few other people who would be first in line for that."
"Wait! I forgot to wear lipstick." You suddenly remembered after seeing your reflection in the rear-view mirror where your lips look so pale against the rest of your glam makeup. Luckily, you always had a few in your purse for touch ups. But while searching your purse and practically turning it inside out, it seems like the only one you could find was the culprit that left the stain on your crush's shirt.
"What are you looking for?" Chanhee asks.
"Something that is not this boy-proof lipstick of doom, ugh." But even as you poured out all the rest of the contents in your bag, there is not a trace of a single lipstick. "Where did they go? I swear I had other lipsticks in this bag."
"Don't worry. This one looks great on you, okay?" Chanhee pries the lipstick of doom out of your hands and gently dabs it on your lips for you. "There! You look perfect. Let's go have some fun."
The distant thud of music becomes a full blast when the four of you walk in. What you find in the house is everything you expected from a house party except more spacious, better lighting, and less of a mess so far. It's a sea of unfamiliar faces as you explore the house until you see Juyeon's crew in the living room, and when Eric calls you guys over, that's when you meet eyes with him.
Lee Juyeon, hair gelled up instead of having his bangs down like he normally does, dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up, black skinny jeans. The smoulder in his eyes making you freeze like a deer in headlights.
What was he doing here?
"You can thank me later," Chanhee whispers.
"For telling me that he's going to be here? And encouraging me to wear the lipstick of doom again? I don't think so."
He only shrugs at you innocently before joining the rest of them on the floor where they were playing cards. You follow him dumbly and then carefully place yourself in a safe spot with Changmin on one side of you and Chanhee on the other. It gives you an unobstructed view of Juyeon who's on the opposite side of the circle, but you weren't planning on looking his way anytime soon.
"Okay, they're here so let's move on!" Eric shouts before throwing his cards down in the middle of the circle.
"Hey, you could've at least given me a chance to finally win." Younghoon rolls his eyes but ends up putting his cards down too.
"You can win at truth or dare."
Hyunjae snorts. "Who even plays that anymore? Are we still in high school?"
"It's not your regular truth or dare! We'll include spin the bottle too. Trust me, it'll be fun," Eric says excitedly before grabbing an empty beer bottle from nearby.
"Spin the bottle too? I sure as hell don't want to be kissing any of you," Hyunjae retorts, but immediately goes quiet when someone shouts an "except one person here".
Eric goes on to explain the game, which is just using the bottle as a way of choosing the next player of truth or dare, and the person who spins the bottle is the one who gets to ask the question. Thankfully, no kissing involved.
Sunwoo comes back with drinks for your squad just in time because you had a feeling you would need a lot of alcohol to get through this game.
"Alright, I'll start now," Eric says and spins the bottle.
The first few rounds go by without much delay: Changmin is dared to give a lap dance, Haknyeon is asked about his first kiss, Younghoon is asked about a past relationship, and Sunwoo is dared to do three shots in a row.
Then the bottle lands on Juyeon.
"So, Juyeon." Sunwoo pauses dramatically. "Truth or dare?"
"Truth."
A snort. "Wow, that's lame. I thought you would've gone with dare."
"I might've picked dare if you weren't the one asking."
"Rude," Sunwoo pretends to be offended, then ponders for just a second before asking, "Do you like anyone in this circle right now?"
To your surprise, Juyeon nods without any hesitation. "Yes."
"Oh?" Sunwoo continues, eyes narrowing in suspicion as everyone else's attention is also caught by the answer. "Who?"
Juyeon shrugs innocently. "That's another question, you know. You don't get to ask me that now."
"Tell us!" Eric shouts, with a few other voices soon joining in.
"Hyunjae," Juyeon finally mutters with a roll of his eyes though there's a hint of a smile at his lips.
"Wow, really?" Sunwoo gives him a dull look.
"Why is it always me?" Hyunjae asks with a pout.
Eric shrugs at him. "I guess you're really popular?"
When that finally dies down, Juyeon spins the bottle and you pray with all your might that it doesn't land on you.
But of course it does.
When Juyeon's dark eyes finally turn to you, any hope you had that he wouldn't recognize you is eliminated instantly. The way he watches you carefully, seemingly able to see right through you and all of your disguises and excuses. At this point you could only hope that he doesn't call you out for being creepy or gross because you don't know how you could possibly handle seeing him during the next lab.
"Y/N? Truth or dare?" he asks without once leaving your gaze. At this moment, you half wish it had been the normal spin the bottle after all; you'd be kissing your crush and not having to explain anything at all.
"Pick truth," Chanhee whispers.
"Okay, sure. Truth it is," slips out of your mouth far too easily since there's no point in thinking too hard at whether a truth or a dare would be the lesser evil. But immediately after picking, your stomach churns at the thought that he might ask you about the stain right then and there. Though from what you know about him, surely he's not that type of person, right? He's kind and considerate and would never humiliate you in front of all of these people.
Another swig of your drink as you wait for your fate to be handed to you.
But before Juyeon could even say anything, there's a loud voice—probably Eric—blurting out, "Do you like Hyunjae?"
That causes everyone to freeze and for a second the room almost seems to go quiet despite the bustle of people and the noise of the music in the background.
"W-what?" Hyunjae mutters.
"Shut up, Eric. It's not your turn to ask," Sunwoo shouts back.
Haknyeon snickers. "I would love to see this being answered."
"Right?" Eric gives him a high five.
"Guess it's up to Juyeon if he wants to accept this as the question to ask," Younghoon says with a shrug.
Eric turns to the person in question. "What do you think, Juyeon?"
When Juyeon's eyes meet yours again, they're unreadable. You're almost afraid of what he's going to say, but his voice is calm and quiet when he finally answers. "Sure, let's go with it."
"So Y/N, do you like Hyunjae?" Eric asks again excitedly.
Then everyone's staring at you, even Hyunjae himself who's peaking through the hands covering his face.
"Um—how do I even answer?" you mumble to yourself. "I—don't exactly know him well enough to answer this."
"Lame! That's such a cop out answer," Eric bellows.
"But it's true! How can I answer something like that when I barely know him?"
"Excuses, excuses," Haknyeon chuckles.
"Well... I would love to get to know him better first."
Eric does a double take. "Wait, what?"
You nod at your answer, already feeling the heat in your cheeks that's not from your drink but the way everyone stares at you with that suggestive smirk on their lips.
"Yo, you guys should exchange numbers right now!"
Eric makes Hyunjae hand over his phone, then passes it over to you with the new contact page on screen. You add your name and number then pass it back to Hyunjae directly, which causes your hands to brush the slightest.
When you settle down in your spot again, Sunwoo's shooting you a questioning look and mouthing the words "What are you doing?"
You shake you head a little and shrug.
"Are you cheating on your crush now?" Chanhee whispers to you.
"No, I just want to be friends with him! I want to make new friends, you know."
Changmin snorts then dramatically says, "Wow, I'm kind of offended. Do we mean nothing to you?"
"Hey! You guys were the ones who told me to go meet new people." You roll your eyes.
The game soon continues and people quickly move on from shipping you and Hyunjae. But even as you down more drinks and play more rounds of the game, you still remember the feeling of Juyeon's sharp gaze on you.
When the game finally ends and the circle disperses in the crowd, you end up following your squad to the dance floor. It's quite the mess with plenty of bodies against bodies, spilt drinks, empty bottles and wrappers lying all over the place. It makes you wonder whose house this is because it would take much effort cleaning this up tomorrow.
As you jump and sway with the heavy beats of the music, your squad eventually gets lost in the crowd but you find yourself next to Hyunjae instead.
"Oh, hey," he greets.
You smile. "Hi."
How you end up playing pool with him is a mystery.
The two of you hog the pool table for much of the night, taking forever to complete each round because of how bad your coordination was after too many drinks. Sometimes you'd end up hitting the wrong balls, but more frequently your hits would miss entirely.
"I thought you said you were good at pool?" Hyunjae asks, eyes twinkling and a grin on his lips. You could tell that he was also not doing much better than you were with the way he struggles to grip the stick before shooting each time. And all those easy smiles he throws you where his whole face lights up; it almost made you feel some type of way.
"I usually am!" You nudge him teasingly. "Play me again later when we're not this drunk and maybe I'll beat you."
"Can you guys hurry up already?" a big guy says, his friends looking equally as intimidating behind him as they approach you. "Or we can play against you and finish this round."
Maybe it should've been scary to encounter a group of intimidating looking guys but at that moment you simply found it funny.
"Sorry! We'll be done soon." You flash a smile and get back to shooting your shot on the table. Which obviously misses the ball that you had intended to hit.
"If they come back again, let's just hold hands and pretend we're dating and get out of here," Hyunjae whispers in your ear.
His plan seems out of the blue but your rational mind wasn't working, so it ends up sounding so hilarious that the two of you both burst into giggles. "Okay, good plan."
The big guys don't end up coming back so the game finishes in peace without having to use any kind of fake dating plan.
"That was fun!" Hyunjae says, still with the same bright smile on his face. "We should do this again sometime."
"Yeah, definitely," you nod. "I'll text you."
"Awesome."
"Let's get back to the others? I'm going to grab a snack first," you gesture to the kitchen where you pray there are still snacks.
"Sure, see you in a bit," Hyunjae gives a little wave before heading back into the crowd in the living room.
The tipsy feeling from earlier has dissipated a lot already as you make your way to the kitchen. Your time with Hyunjae really has been enjoyable, regardless of the alcohol in your system possibly swaying your thoughts and feelings. He's a nice guy and it'd be great if you guys could become better friends.
The kitchen is empty to your surprise, probably since there was too much going on for people to actually think about food. And luckily for you, there's still some pizza on the counter with various bags of chips lying around which was perfect for your salt craving—
"Hey, look who it is!" a boisterous voice shouts from nearby.
The voice belongs to a guy you don't recognize, though he's not bad looking. It's still fairly noisy from the blasting of the music so you don't pay much attention and simply go back to getting your fill of snacks.
"I'm talking to you," the guy continues. There's no one else in the vicinity so you finally turn to look at him and he's staring right at you.
"Sorry, but do I know you?" you ultimately respond. He has the type of face that seems somewhat familiar, but you couldn't pinpoint it. Was he in one of your classes? Maybe a neighbour in your residence building?
The man smiles as he steps a little closer. "Of course."
"You're going to have to remind me then. Are you in chem too?"
"Babe, quit playing around." He wiggles his eyebrows and that's when the alarms in your head start to go off. "We can do plenty of that later."
"Um, I think you're confusing me with someone else," you say without bothering to mask the tension in your voice.
"No, I think I know my girl well enough," he slurs, taking another step towards you. "You know, I've been thinking about you."
Just how drunk is this guy? The alarms are ringing in your head now; even while partly inebriated, you're glad your fight or flight response still works—heart pounding, muscles stiffening, looking for a way out of this situation. But your spot in the corner of the kitchen traps you with countertops on two sides, leaving you with no room to step back.
"I've missed you," he says with an innocent tilt of his head then takes another step forward.
You stay silent, voice stuck in your throat and mind frozen on the spot.
"Didn't you miss me?" Another step forward. "Why don't we pick up from where we left off?"
Where was your squad when you needed them? Where was everyone else?
"Y/N, there you are!" a voice calls, as if right on cue. "Baby, I've been looking all over for you."
Juyeon. Despite his soft voice and sweet words, he's wearing such a stoic expression full of cold anger in his eyes.
When the strange man turns to look at the source of the voice, you use that opportunity to escape from your corner and run straight to Juyeon. But before you could hide behind him or clutch his arm or do anything that you may regret later, he scoops you right into a tight hug. Arms wrapping around you, firm but gentle, and you could feel the tension in your body slowly melt away as his scent and the warmth of his body surround you. He holds you, grounds you.
"Are you okay?" Juyeon murmurs in your ear.
"Mhm."
He doesn't pull away until after you hear the strange man scoff then leave the room. When the coast is finally clear and Juyeon gingerly lets go of you, there's concern in his eyes, his touch light as if afraid you'd shatter like glass.
"Are you really okay? He didn't do anything did he?"
"I'm fine, really," you smile weakly. "Juyeon, thank you."
Baby. It would definitely keep replaying in your head whether it was real or not.
"Let's go get some air?" he asks and there's uncertainty in his voice, almost as if he's reluctant to let go of you.
"Sure, that'd be nice."
It's so quiet when you step out on the balcony that the deafening silence washes over the ringing in your ears. The cool air gently slowly calms you, yet it doesn't feel cold with the alcohol still in your veins. It's peaceful. Stars twinkle, airplanes fly, the lights from the distant city flicker as the sound of cars and music in the background blend together. The concept of time disappears as you gaze at the world, stretching to infinite bounds that it makes you feel so insignificant, that it doesn't matter how things play out.
"It's quite nice out here." Juyeon's familiar voice soothes you. He's a calming presence to have beside you; a reminder of the little bit of happiness you experience in the lab each week.
"Yeah, definitely needed some peace and quiet."
A silence falls over the two of you as he joins you by the railing, gazing out at the open skies.
"I have to ask but," he slowly trails off and when you turn to him, he's running a hand through his hair while looking at the ground, looking behind you, looking everywhere except for at you. Avoiding your gaze. "Do you really like Hyunjae?"
Definitely not the words you were expecting.
"Hyunjae?"
Juyeon turns back to gaze at the city with a soft sigh. "What you've said before... what you said tonight during the game, and the stuff that happened after that."
"Oh."
It had occurred to you at some point that from the outside, it really might seem like you have a crush on Hyunjae. The way you used him as an excuse, the way everyone seemed to ship you even if it was jokingly, and then there were the events from this party. He really was a nice guy though and you were glad to have spent some time with him tonight. But it's also true that you could maybe see yourself falling for him if your heart hadn't already been stubbornly fixated on someone else.
"Juyeon, I don't like him that way."
He makes no indication of having heard your words, so you continue.
"Hyunjae's a great guy and I really would like to be friends with him. But, uh, the thing about him and me only started after I said I was talking about him that first time." Your voice gets quieter and quieter with each sentence you speak as you feel more and more inclined to sink into the earth and hide yourself forever. "It was so that you wouldn't know who I was actually talking about."
Still silence. You search his face for a reaction but all you can see is the way light from the city, stars, and moon dance in his eyes.
"So who were you talking about?" he asks softly.
"I think you already know the answer."
Maybe it's the bubbling feeling of lightness inside you, maybe it's the brilliance of the night sky out in the open air. But for an instant, you feel a surge of courage.
"But what about you? What you said during the game?" you ask him.
"About liking Hyunjae?" Juyeon finally turns to you, the corners of his lips just slightly upturned, a twinkle in his eyes. Then there's his dishevelled hair ruffled by the wind, his shirt unbuttoned to reveal just enough, the flush dusting his cheeks that seem to make him glow. "I only copied what you said."
"No. About liking someone within the circle."
"Mhm, I didn't lie about that."
"Who is it?"
"I think you already know the answer," he repeats, taking a step forward and closing the distance between you until you were mere inches apart. Being so close to him elicits such a familiar yet new feeling with the way his eyes carry the same intensity as you'd seen before though mixed with a fondness so soft and so fierce.
"But how? Why?" comes out in barely a whisper.
"Must there be a reason?"
"You're Juyeon," you say as if that explained everything. "And I'm just... me."
"You're Y/N," he murmurs back while gently reaching to tuck a strand of hair behind your ear. "Someone who is always kind to everyone, who works hard and radiates positivity, who sees the world so vibrantly."
A step forward.
"Someone who inspires and motivates me."
Another step, until one ends where another begins.
"Someone who finally makes me feel like myself."
Just as the distance between you closes, that's when your last viable thought makes you stop right where you are.
"Wait!"
"You okay?" He gives you a worried look. "Was I reading this wrong?"
"No, of course not. It's just that I—this lipstick is going to get all over you. Ugh, I shouldn't have worn it."
"Y/N," his frown instantly melts into a dazzling smile. "It's fine; I don't mind."
"But—"
"It's okay. You know... I knew it was you that time," his thumb gently glides across your bottom lip. "The lipstick stain on my shirt. But it's not a big deal, really. Every time I see the mark, it just reminds me of you. Y/N, you can leave as many marks as you want. It's all yours."
He traces the line of your jaw and cups your cheek tenderly.
"You've already left your mark on my heart."
Then the distance finally closes until lips meet and skin brushes and it's everything and nothing that you could've imagined as you taste sweetness lingering on his lips and feel the heat of his body pressed to yours. Everything else in the universe fades into the background as if it were all leading up to this moment. It's a cold blaze that's delicate, tiptoeing with the fear of a fragile moment shattering at any second, and simultaneously so intense a force that it burns through your veins. Soft moans and thudding of hearts and the world spinning beneath you were enough. Enough to tell you that he wanted this just as much as you, that you hadn't been reading the signs wrong. That sometimes stars fall across the sky and people fall in love and there doesn't need to be a reason.
Juyeon pulls back first, just slightly as he catches his breath. Foreheads pressed together, lips smiling against lips, and the beating of hearts together that makes it feel like everything's going to be just fine.
"Wow, they're actually showing up together."
"Look at the two of them."
"It's about time!"
When you walk into the cafeteria a few days later with Juyeon by your side, the reactions you get from the crowd at your usual table don't surprise you in the least. Everyone's there and it makes your heart feel so full that your friends and Juyeon's friends have become so close.
"You better pay up," Sunwoo says, a hand outstretched in front of Changmin's face. "I told you it would work."
"You guys had another bet on this?" you ask dully.
They exchange a glance that seems to say more than they let on.
"And what exactly did you think would work?" you ask Sunwoo suspiciously.
He shrugs, quickly tucking away the bill that Changmin had reluctantly given him. "We kind of had a plan for getting the two of you together."
"It was so that you could stop being dumb and avoiding him," Chanhee says, rolling his eyes. "I mean, this," he gestures at the two of you, "was going to happen regardless of the plan, but we just wanted to give you a little push."
"So, what exactly was this plan?"
It turns out that basically everything was part of the cleverly crafted plan. The spontaneous party, the missing lipsticks from your purse, the truth or dare questions, even that one random guy who was bothering you at the party (Kevin, you later find out when he shows up at the table with an explanation and apology). And when you go to apologize to Hyunjae, you find out that he was also in on the plan and played along the whole time; he was ecstatic about just being friends though. All of it had been meticulously planned by your friends and Juyeon's friends in order to finally get you guys together, and you didn't know if that was simply creepy or whether you should be thankful that everything worked out in the end.
"So... you were avoiding me?" Juyeon asks you after they finish explaining everything.
"I—kind of?" comes out in a squeak. "Ugh, this is so embarrassing."
"It was the lipstick stain," Chanhee whispers loudly to him.
Maybe Juyeon ends up wearing the white tee with the red stain the next day.
When it's time for the weekly lab, you're no longer walking behind Juyeon but rather by his side, hand in hand. There are some surprised looks from the other students, but Sangyeon merely gives you a smile and a knowing look. And with your lab partner—now boyfriend—by your side, the two of you end up acing the lab, of course.