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“No. Absolutely not.”
Kevin’s voice brings Sunwoo back to reality. The elder burns holes into the younger with his eyes, a perfectly shaped eyebrow raised to further solidify the disapproval.
“What?” Sunwoo asks in utter confusion.
“Don’t even think about it.”
“Don’t think about what ?" Sunwoo laughs, “I wasn’t doing anything!”
“Don’t think about talking to her!” Kevin crosses his arms.
“Kevin, what are you talking about?” Changmin asks, glancing up from his laptop momentarily.
“Yeah what are you talking about?” Sunwoo smirks.
“You were looking at my friend, don’t play dumb,” Kevin points an accusatory finger at Sunwoo.
“That was your friend? You mean the friend you won’t introduce to any of us?” Sunwoo’s eyes go wide.
“Wait what?” Changmin looks up at Kevin. Kevin sighs and rubs his face in defeat.
“Yeah, you didn’t know about Kevin’s gorgeous friend? Apparently, he doesn’t want any of us to talk to her. How do you even know her?” Sunwoo tells Changmin before turning to Kevin.
Kevin deadpans at his friends. It was true; Kevin most certainly had a beautiful lady-friend that he didn’t want any of his 10 great friends to know personally: you. It wasn’t because he liked you. You and Kevin had something like a sibling relationship, that’s all it was. Kevin simply wanted to protect you from the wolves in sheep’s clothing, especially the flirtiest of the bunch, Sunwoo. His friends were quite a lot, and you tended to keep something of a low profile.
However, it was only a matter of time before you ended up on their radar. It wasn’t easy to hide you when you were stunning. Up until this moment, Sunwoo thought Kevin had been lying about your existence.
“Kevin, if you have pretty lady friends, why can’t you introduce us to them?” Changmin pouts.
“I only have the one lady friend. And I know her from high school,” he tells the two boys. Sunwoo goes to open his mouth, but Kevin cuts him off.
“Before you ask, she didn’t go to our high school. She was at another school,” Kevin puts his hands on his hips.
“You’re being unreasonable. I’m not going to do anything to her, I just want to talk,” Sunwoo says, and Kevin and Changmin start laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Sunwoo asks in frustration.
“That’s a great joke, Sunwoo,” Kevin wipes fake tears from his eyes.
“I was being serious!” Sunwoo scowls.
“Look, just don’t talk to her. Period. Otherwise, I will kick your ass,” Kevin threatens.
“I’d like to see you try,” Sunwoo challenges his senior. Kevin scoffs before doing the “ I’m watching you ” hand gesture to his junior. He picks up his bag from the table and leaves Sunwoo and Changmin at their respective library table.
“So are you going to talk to her?” Changmin asks Sunwoo once he’s out of earshot.
“I mean, probably,” Sunwoo answers, and Changmin gives him a strange look.
“What do you mean ‘probably’?” He asks.
“I mean I might have to because I have a class with her, Intro to Film 101,” He explains. Changmin’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise.
“Does Kevin—?”
“Nope. Which is why I need you to keep quiet about this until I get to talk to her,” Sunwoo says.
“What’s in it for me?” Changmin crosses his arms.
“Hm…I’ll buy you tteokbokki anytime you want it for a month,” Sunwoo offers.
“Add kimchi jjigae and you have a deal,” Changmin alters the offer. Sunwoo nods and the two shake hands.
Poor Kevin had no idea what was coming.
↠↠
“Can I sit here?”
You look up from your notebook to find none other than Kevin Moon standing near the edge of your blanket. You were sitting by yourself on the campus green space, doing homework in the hazy, late afternoon sun when the boy spotted you and decided to say hi.
“Kevin! Yeah, go ahead,” you smile at him. Kevin sits down across from you on your blanket, setting his bag next to him.
“So what’s up, how have you been, senior?” You ask, setting your notebook aside to pay attention to your friend.
“Please don’t remind me I’m a senior…the stress is real,” Kevin nervously laughed.
“Oh come on you can do it! You’re so close, just power through!” You nudge him. Kevin nods and turns his attention back to you.
“Thanks, but how are you doing? Haven’t gotten in any trouble?” He asks.
“Kevin, I’m fine I swear. You worry too much about me,” you shake your head, but there’s a smile on your lips, indicating that you’re not mad at him.
“Have you met yourself? I feel like it’s reasonable to be worried!” Kevin sits back on his hands.
“What? I’m not some kind of delinquent , what do you mean?” you give him a puzzled look.
“No, I mean you’re like...a target for the delinquents,” Kevin says and begins to list off a slew of positive traits about you, which leaves you amazed.
“Alright I get it; it feels like you’re kissing up to me,” you stop him.
“I’m just saying, that’s why I tend to be worried about you,” Kevin shrugs.
“Well, you don’t need to be worried. I can take care of myself,” you tell him softly. Kevin blinks at you, not sure how to respond.
“Okay. I’ll back off,” he tells you.
“Thank you.”
“....no relationships or people you’re interested in or anything?”
“Kevin!”
“I’m just curious, okay!”
“Sure you are. Pick a side bro, do you want me to stay away from men or not?”
“I am! And only the bad men.”
“Well for your information... no, no relationships or anybody I’m interested in. I haven’t met anyone that’s caught my attention.”
“Hm. Okay.”
“But—”
“Oh no.”
“You could introduce me to that friend group of yours that you talk about a lot. I’m sure there are some really nice guys there,” you give your friend a big grin.
“Absolutely not. Never going to happen.” Kevin shakes his head.
“Why not! Are you friends with assholes?” you ask him.
“No! They’re nice! They just...don’t really know how to act around pretty girls,” He comes up with a lame excuse.
“No straight or bisexual man knows how to act around pretty girls. Why won’t you introduce me?” You tell him.
“Ugh,” he sighs, “it’s complicated.”
“Oh you’re hitting me with the ‘it’s complicated’ now? The reason must really be stupid then huh?” you roll your eyes.
“It is complicated. Look, you’re better off not knowing them. There are plenty of other nice guys I can introduce you to. Not fake nice guys, real nice guys,” Kevin says and you frown.
“Fine, whatever.” you look down at your notebook. You can’t help but feel frustrated at Kevin for not introducing you to his friends, and it’s not because you want to go out with them. You would explain that to him, however, he seems pretty set about not allowing his two worlds to collide. Maybe you would bump into them or something. Then Kevin wouldn’t be able to get mad, because no one sought each other out; it would have been purely a coincidence.
“Don’t take it personally; I swear you are not the problem, they are. I mean… specifically one of them but that’s not important,” he says.
“So one friend out of all of them is the reason you won’t introduce me to your little friend group,” you frown.
“Hmm…yeah pretty much,” Kevin nods.
“Kevin, that's so unfair!”
“Don’t complain at me! If he weren’t the way he was, I would most likely introduce you to the rest of them,” Kevin exclaims.
“‘Most likely’ please. If you really want, you can just introduce me to everyone but him, it’s that simple,” you lay back on your blanket.
“With these guys, nothing is ever simple,” you hear Kevin say.
“Great. Can you at least tell me the name of the one whose fault it is so I can curse him later?” You ask, attempting to make a joke.
Kevin hesitates. He’s afraid if he tells you the name, you’ll go and search him and that would lead you to seek him and the rest of the guys out.
“You have to promise not to look him up or search for him on campus,” Kevin raises an eyebrow. You stick your pinky up in silence, and Kevin wraps his pinky around yours.
“The one you’re cursing is named Kim Sunwoo .”
↠↠
You stare at the name “Kim Sunwoo” in the GroupMe members list, question after question floating through your head. Was it possible that he was the one Kevin was friends with? How many Kim Sunwoo’s could there be in the school? It didn’t help that his profile picture for GroupMe was not a clear shot of his face. It was a side profile shot, wherein he wore a baseball cap. The sunlight shone so that a shadow was cast on his face and the angle of the camera was pointing slightly downward, so all you could really see was the faint outline of his lips, neck, and shoulders. The fact that you hadn’t paid attention to attendance on the first day of the class didn’t help either because you literally had no idea who anyone was if their GroupMe photo was not a clear shot of their face. You didn’t have much room to speak though, because you had a photo of yourself where you were turned away from the camera and you had been wearing a floppy beach hat (so no one could really tell who you were either).
Nonetheless, you were perturbed that you had no idea who this Kim Sunwoo was. All you knew was that he might be in your film class. You decide to try to take a subtle glance around the room to see if you can match the shape of the lips and shoulders to anyone you see, but to no avail.
What you do get, is one classmate, in particular, staring straight at you from his seat further up in the lecture hall. You barely take a second to see what he looks like before you whip around to face the front again, your heart beating in your chest.
“Dude… you might wanna lay off the staring, it’s kind of creepy,” Eric leans over and whispers in Sunwoo’s ear. The latter shushes the former while he goes from intense stare to soft glance.
“Who even is that?” Eric asks.
“Ask Kevin,” Sunwoo responds.
“Kevin has a girlfriend?” Eric’s jaw drops and Sunwoo covers his face with his hand.
“Never mind.”
Your professor arrives not long after that and class begins. Everything goes smoothly during the lecture, however, at the end of class, things take a turn.
“Alright everyone, so as you know, you do not have a ‘midterm’ exam. Your ‘midterm’ is a presentation on the basic elements of film. This presentation is a partner presentation, and before you start getting all excited: no you do not get to choose your partner. I have chosen for you,” your professor announces. Everyone in the class groans at the last part of the announcement while you sit and process what your professor has said. Sunwoo scowls but waits to see what happens next.
“I'm going to call out the partners’ names, but it is ultimately up to you to link up and begin the presentation on your own. Okay…” Your professor says before beginning to call out the names of students that are in a group together.
Then he gets to your name, and the name he says after yours makes you sit up straight in your seat.
“…and Sunwoo.”
Beside him, Eric is groaning, but Sunwoo raises his eyebrows in confusion. It isn’t until he catches you stiffening in your seat at the sound of his name that he realizes that you’re his project partner. So that was your name. Finally, he would get to work with you, talk to you, and get to know you without Kevin breathing down his neck. Sunwoo smirks at this realization, leaning back in his seat in satisfaction.
Both you and Sunwoo tune out the rest of the names being called out, thinking about what you would do upon meeting each other. Once your professor dismisses class, students stand up and look for their partners. You remain seated, not even sure who to look for. Instead, you pack up your bag and hope for Sunwoo to approach you.
“Hey,” you hear a voice from in front of you. You look up from your bag and standing there with the most nonchalant, careless expression one could have, was the guy staring at you earlier. Was this—?
“I’m Sunwoo, your partner for the project. It’s nice to meet you,” he sticks his hand out for you to shake. You hesitate for a moment before you shake his hand and introduce yourself. For a second, you debate on asking him if he knew Kevin, but he is already speaking, so you figure you’d ask him another time.
“I guess since we’ll be working together, it would be best if we exchanged numbers,” he takes out his phone and hands it to you with the messages app pulled up. You raise an eyebrow at him and take his phone.
“You know, we could’ve just communicated via GroupMe since we clearly both have accounts on the app,” you say as you type your number in and send a message to yourself on his phone.
“Then why are you putting your number into my phone?” Sunwoo asks with a smirk.
“Who says it’s my number?” You return his smirk. Sunwoo’s facial expression shifts to a serious one and you can’t help but let out a small laugh.
“I’m just kidding, it is my number. I guess it would be better if you have it since I don’t really check my GroupMe dm’s often, so…” you trail off. Sunwoo’s heart skips a beat at the sound of your laugh, not expecting you to laugh at him so early into your acquaintance-ship. You hand his phone back to him, then put your hands in your cardigan pockets.
“I was worried for a moment there,” he nervously chuckles, and you give him a soft smile.
“Worried you wouldn’t get my number?” You ask, but the underlying tone is all too familiar with Sunwoo.
“Can you blame me?” He smirks down at you. You feel your face grow warm at his comment, so you look down at the ground.
“Am I going to have to separate you two?” You hear your professor ask from beside you. You and Sunwoo shake your heads “no” and your professor gives you both a suspicious glance before turning back to his computer.
“I should probably get going to my next class, but let’s set up a time to begin our project later today,” you say as calmly as possible.
“Sounds good to me. Have a nice day,” Sunwoo gives you a small smile.
“You too,” you grab your bag and wave goodbye as you leave the classroom.
Sunwoo is the only one left in the classroom aside from the professor.
“Don’t make me regret pairing you two together.”
Sunwoo looks up at the professor standing at his desk, arms crossed.
“I won’t sir. Promise.”
↠↠
You wander through the bookshelves on the 4th floor of the library to the location that you and Sunwoo agreed upon for your first project planning session. He was the one who brought up the location, and while you had agreed, you actually had no clue where you were going. You had been to the library many times before, but you had never seen the specific location that Sunwoo suggested.
Fortunately, the 4th floor of the library is practically deserted. Not to mention, it was Friday afternoon, and most people would be out or finishing up classes by now. This means that no one can really watch you confusedly make your way through the labyrinth of bookshelves.
You take your phone out of your pocket out of frustration and open your message thread to Suwnoo, clicking on the phone icon to call him.
“Hello?” he greets you, “where are you?”
“I’m on the fourth floor, but I can’t find you.”
“I thought you said you knew where I’d be.”
“Well, I lied. I have no idea where you are. I don’t go to the fourth floor very often,” you say as you continue to walk.
“It’s not like this place is that much hidden. But if you need me to come and get you, I can.”
“What if you lose the spot?” you ask, “Then we won’t have a place to go over the project.”
“Nah no one will find my spot,” Sunwoo tells you with confidence.
“So it’s supposed to be conspicuous enough for me to be able to find it, but inconspicuous to others...sure…”
“Just tell me where you are and I’ll come get you,” Sunwoo says. You give your location to him and remain standing between the bookshelves awkwardly while you wait for him to find you.
“Hey,” you hear his voice at the end of the aisle, his head peeking around the corner. You quickly make your way over to him and he beams at you.
“Glad you could finally make it,” he grins at you.
“Me too,” you sigh with a small laugh.
Sunwoo grabs your hand and wordlessly tugs you to where you were supposed to meet him. It was a small nook hidden behind the mechanical engineering section.
“You expected me to know where this was?” You whisper with a grin tugging at your lips.
“In my defense, I thought soulmates knew what the other was thinking, so…” he tells you. It takes you a second to understand what he was getting at and you laugh.
“You’re terrible,” you giggle as you take the seat across from him.
“What?” Sunwoo is also smiling as he takes out his laptop.
“You know what you said! Don’t play coy!” You swat at him jokingly.
“Just wait, it gets better,” Sunwoo tells you while he logs in.
“ What gets better?” You ask.
“You’ll see,” he smirks, and your heartbeat speeds up in your chest. You don’t say anything in response, trying to gather your thoughts about the implications of his flirting with you. It’s not like he’s being subtle either; he’s making it clear that he likes you. Even while you had been texting prior to the meeting, he was dishing out flirty comments like it was his job. However, you didn’t mind. It felt nice to be wanted.
In no time, the two of you begin to discuss your project and what to do for the presentation. You distribute tasks and set up future times to meet up, and since that goes by pretty quickly, you decide to do the homework together.
It’s quite obvious that there’s chemistry between the two of you. So obvious that as you and Sunwoo leave the library together, Chanhee’s eyes widen as he catches the two of you standing side by side at the exit. Sunwoo doesn’t notice his older friend from across the courtyard, as he looks down at you with what can only be described as affection.
“Don’t make me have to check up on you for our project. I have enough going on, I don’t want to have to—” you begin.
“I’ll do my part, I promise,” Sunwoo cuts you off.
“Okay good.” You nod.
“I wouldn’t mind if you checked up on me, though,” he grins.
“God, you are relentless! Is this what you meant by ‘it gets better’? I don’t think it’s gotten that much better,” you tease him.
“Is that a challenge?” Sunwoo asks and you wave your hands while shaking your head.
“No, please. You’re doing a great enough job, I promise,” you laugh. “I truly admire the tenacity.”
“If you say I need to improve, then I need to. Besides, I want to give you my best,” Sunwoo tells you and you feel your face heat up again. You don’t have butterflies in your stomach, you have a stampede of elephants.
“Okay,” is all you can say for a moment, “I-I should go back to my dorm. I’ll see you around, Sunwoo.”
“See you around,” Sunwoo waves as he watches you turn and leave, going down the staircase to the east of the library.
“Kevin’s not going to be happy when he finds out.” Chanhee’s voice snaps Sunwoo out of his reverie. Sunwoo jumps at Chanhee’s sudden presence, disgruntled at coming back from having his head in the clouds.
“Kevin doesn’t have to know.” Sunwoo turns to his friend. After a beat, Sunwoo realizes something. “Wait…how did you know—”
“I tutor her in pre-calculus. I figured it out when she started talking about Kevin and how annoying he can get. She doesn’t know I’m also friends with him, and he doesn’t know I know her yet. I feel like I’m a spy,” Chanhee crosses his arms, smirking at the end of his explanation.
“Well he’s not going to be happy with you either then,” Sunwoo gestures toward Chanhee.
“I’m not constantly hitting on her while I tutor her, there’s a difference,” Chanhee rolls his eyes.
“Okay, well, who says Kevin has to find out?” Sunwoo asks. Chanhee turns on his heel and starts walking away from Sunwoo. Sunwoo follows Chanhee to get an answer to his question.
“He will eventually. I know you’re not going to tell him, and I know I won’t, but he somehow will find out,” Chanhee says with a level of calm that scares Sunwoo.
“Jesus, I don’t understand what the problem is and why we’re not allowed to talk to her,” Sunwoo groans.
“You know Kevin has weird reasons for things. All we can do is either do as he asks or break his rules and suffer the consequences,” Chanhee says.
“Well, are you going to stop tutoring her? What if she wants to be your friend?” Sunwoo asks.
“Oh absolutely not. If she wants to be my friend, that's not my problem. Kevin is just going to have to suck it up,” Chanhee turns to Sunwoo. At that moment, Sunwoo feels his phone buzz in his pocket. He pauses to take it from his pocket and see what it was.
You: hey today was rlly nice…maybe next meeting could be like over coffee or smth??
Sunwoo stares at the message from you for a few seconds before responding.
“Yeah…Kevin’s going to have to suck it up.”
↠↠
You sit in bed, still thinking about Sunwoo even though it had been about 3 hours since you’d seen him. The movie playing in front of you was not even being registered as you had been repeating every flirty comment towards you in your head.
The only problem was that you had no idea if this was Kevin’s Sunwoo. If it was, you were in trouble. If not, you could definitely pursue this. You turn your head to your phone and grab it off your nightstand, furiously unlocking it and opening Instagram.
You break your promise to Kevin right then and there, looking up Sunwoo and quickly finding his account. You scroll through his feed, taking in all of the photos he had posted barely managing to not freak out at how handsome he is.
However, all the good feelings you have are replaced with panic as you find one photo of him with some other guys. There, standing about 3 guys away from Sunwoo is your best friend Kevin. That was about a week ago. You go through more of his photos and find Kevin in several more pictures with some of the same guys in that one photo (and your pre-calc tutor!). This must be the friend group you couldn’t meet. They all looked friendly enough.
So many thoughts swirled through your head, but instead of feeling guilty for breaking your promise to Kevin, you feel that frustration that always comes up when you think about how unfair he’s being about his friends. After having met Sunwoo, you just couldn’t understand why he was the problem. Sunwoo was kind to you, maybe a little too kind, but there was nothing wrong with him.
Now you’re faced with a choice: continue to interact with Sunwoo behind Kevin’s back or tell Kevin the truth and give up any chance of having any kind of relationship with Sunwoo outside of the classroom.
You bite your lip and stare at your phone, Sunwoo’s Instagram feed staring right back at you.
Without missing a beat, you press the blue follow button on Sunwoo’s account.
↠↠
The next two weeks you manage to hang out with Sunwoo and work without Kevin knowing. You had told Chanhee you knew about his connection to Kevin at the next tutoring session you had with him. Chanhee was surprised you figured it out already, but he expressed that he was glad you could possibly turn your tutor-student relationship into a solid friendship because of your mutual friendship with Kevin.
Not long after that, you told Sunwoo the same thing. After a lengthy discussion, the two of you agreed that Kevin could not know. You both would try to be careful about appearing together in public spaces and limit your interactions to your spot in the library, the coffee shop, and your classroom. You weren’t even dating, but you felt the thrill of hiding a secret relationship as though it were some kind of forbidden romance.
Of course, Kevin had no idea. Every time he’d seen you, though, he noticed you were a little more chipper. Maybe you were talking to someone and you weren’t ready to tell him. Whatever it was, Kevin was happy you were happy and didn’t think too much about it.
Your presentation went remarkably well, and while Sunwoo assumed that after the presentation, you would simply part ways, you surprised him by asking him to continue to study together.
The flirty banter continued as well—to the point where you wondered when Sunwoo would actually ask you out. Maybe you had misread the flirting; what if he was just a flirty guy and he didn’t truly want anything with you? What if he was just trying to get into your pants? Perhaps that’s why Kevin didn’t want you to mess with Sunwoo.
You wanted to give Sunwoo the benefit of the doubt. He had consistently texted you since you began talking, he didn’t flirt with you the whole time, didn’t send unsolicited dick pics (phew), and he never touched you unless you were okay with it. Overall, you didn’t really have a reason to be suspicious of him. But the fact that he hadn’t made a move yet was worrying you.
Chanhee had tried to ease your nerves at a tutoring session, “He definitely likes you. He talks about you a lot to everyone except for Kevin. Don’t worry about it, he’ll probably say something soon.”
But that conversation was nearly 2 weeks ago. Now it was almost Halloween, and Sunwoo hadn’t said anything to you yet.
Now, the two of you sit together in your nook in the library. You’re uncharacteristically quiet as you do your homework, trying to focus on the material in front of you instead of the boy next to you. It’s not easy, that’s for sure. Still, you try your best to read the passage of text in front of you and take notes.
Sunwoo had noticed your change in demeanor once you began studying. You hadn’t said much to him, and he wondered if you were mad at him. Or perhaps you were having a bad day? He wants to say something but he isn’t sure what to say. It’s bothering him so much he can barely focus on his own studies.
After about 15 more minutes of silent studying, you close your book and sigh. Sunwoo looks up at you, closing his own textbook.
“I need a break,” you whisper, resting your chin in your hand. You glance over at him and find him looking at you with wide eyes.
“What?” You ask.
“Are you okay? You’ve been quiet this whole time,” Sunwoo says.
“We’re in a library, of course, I’m going to be quiet,” you give him an amused expression.
“I just mean you haven’t…said much to me,” he scratches his head.
“Oh,” you look down at the table, “I just have a lot on my mind, that’s all.”
“You wanna talk about it?” Sunwoo asks softly, and you have to stop yourself from smiling.
“It’s not like…bad. Don’t worry, Sunwoo,” you wave your hand as though to dismiss the topic at hand.
“Y’know I care about you, right? If something is wrong, you can tell me. I’d be more than willing to listen to you rant,” Sunwoo says. You feel your face heat up but still turn toward him anyway. Normally, you’d hide your face in an instance like this, but now you manage to maintain eye contact with him. Sunwoo also turns to face you, sort of leaning forward so he can hear every word you say.
“You care about me?” You ask him. The question takes Sunwoo by surprise but he nods at you.
“In what way?” You ask, your stomach flips at the anticipation of his answer. Sunwoo raises his eyebrows and straightens up in his chair.
“I thought I was making it obvious…” he trails off.
You lightly smack his upper arm, “You have, but I figured by now you would’ve asked me out or something. Since you haven’t, I'm obviously questioning what your intentions are.”
Sunwoo stares at you, not sure how to respond. For the first time, the smooth-talker had nothing to say.
“Uh…”
“Oh my—okay what do you want right now?”
“To kiss you,” Sunwoo answers quickly.
“Then just kiss—” you don’t even finish your sentence before Sunwoo closes the gap between the two of you and presses a feverish kiss on your lips. It’s better than you thought, and you kiss back with just as much passion as Sunwoo.
Unfortunately, a few minutes prior, Kevin had been wandering through the mechanical engineering section to find a book for his friend Jungwoo, since Jungwoo was 1. In the engineering program at the school and 2. Not able to come to the library at the moment due to being in the middle of a major presentation for one of his classes. Since Jungwoo needed the book ASAP, Kevin had offered to pick the book up for him.
Which leads Kevin to the mechanical engineering section of the library. Which is right next to Sunwoo’s special nook. Kevin retrieves the book fairly quickly, but in his attempt to escape the engineering section, he stumbles across you and Sunwoo sharing a kiss at your table.
Kevin’s jaw drops as he tries to process what he’s seeing. He thinks after one kiss, you and Sunwoo would stop, but you don’t . You keep going, to the point where it’s obvious you’re making out. Kevin doesn’t step in until Sunwoo pulls you into his lap, having you straddle his thighs and pulling you flush against him.
Kevin drops the book in his hand and rushes toward the two of you, yelling your name. His voice startles you so much that you jump and attempt to get off Sunwoo all in one go, which ends up with you falling onto the carpeted library floor. Sunwoo whips around and winces at the sight of Kevin, knowing he’s in serious trouble. Several shushes sound off from not too far, and Kevin realizes that he needs to keep quiet.
“What the hell are you doing?!” he viciously whispers at you while helping you up.
“Kevin, I can expla—” Sunwoo begins, Kevin cuts him off with an icy glare.
“I’ll deal with you in a minute,” Kevin says, before turning to you. You rub your arm to soothe the pain, but you match Kevin’s terribly pissed-off glower.
“I don’t have to explain myself to you,” you tell him.
“I’m sorry, what?” Kevin asks, taken aback by your answer. Sunwoo stands behind Kevin, mildly impressed.
You sigh and apologize to Sunwoo before taking Kevin and dragging him to an empty study room nearby so you could at least fight with some sense of privacy. Once you shut the door, you turn to Kevin, who has his arms crossed.
Sunwoo waits at his table anxiously, feeling guilty. Usually, he wouldn’t feel as bad about this, but since Kevin and someone special to Kevin were involved, he couldn’t help it. Yet, at the same time, he can’t help but feel some kind of resentment towards his older friend for being stubborn and not allowing Sunwoo and the rest of the guys to meet you. Sunwoo thinks about this amongst many other things regarding the situation until he looks up and finds you coming towards him.
Sunwoo perks up in his seat as you approach him. You look upset and disappointed, not saying a word to him as you begin to pack up your bag. Sunwoo doesn’t want to make things worse by asking what happened, and besides, judging by your expression, it did not go well with Kevin.
“Let’s go,” is all you say to him once your bag is packed. Sunwoo scrambles to his feet, packing his backpack in record time.
“You wanna talk about it?” he asks and you shake your head ‘no’.
“Later...let’s just finish studying at my place,” your voice sounds strained, like you’re trying not to cry. Sunwoo nods and starts walking next to you when you grab his hand and intertwine your fingers with his. He smiles to himself while you practically drag him out of the library, trying not to make a big deal of it considering you were upset.
The rest of the day is spent studying and talking about the situation. Sunwoo apologizes for causing problems between you and Kevin, which you accept only because you know that you and Kevin would’ve fought about it eventually regardless of Sunwoo being a part of your life.
While Sunwoo does a marvelous job at distracting you from your best friend, there’s still this lingering feeling of despair. You’d never fought with Kevin this badly before; you don’t even know if he’s willing to talk to you anymore. After some of the things you said to him, you wouldn’t put it past him.
“What are you thinking about?” Sunwoo’s voice cuts through the silence. You look over at him, noticing how comfortable he is sprawled out on your bed. Meanwhile, you have your arms hugging your legs to your chest.
You furrow your eyebrows, “I feel bad.”
“About Kevin?” Sunwoo frowns.
“Yeah…I said some things that I didn’t mean. But I was just so angry at the moment, and now that I’m replaying it in my head…I feel terrible about it,” you hide your face in your legs.
“Maybe just give each other some space to cool off, a few days, and then see if you can talk to him about it. I’m not sure you need to get into it with him all over again today,” Sunwoo says as he brings his hand up and rubs your back gently.
You lift your head and rest it on your knees, facing Sunwoo. He gives you such a soft expression, and you study his face, trying to figure out why Kevin was so adamant that you stay away from him.
“What?” Sunwoo asks.
“I don’t understand why he warned me about you. You’re so…nice and…not an asshole,” you say.
“Oh,” Sunwoo nervously chuckles, “umm…I might have a bit of a reputation with my friends.”
“Really? What kind of reputation?” You sit up while smirking. Sunwoo scratches the back of his head.
“Yeah um…let’s just say I uh…” Sunwoo struggles to get out.
“You’re a player, huh?” You grin at him. Sunwoo’s eyes widen at your words.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” you laugh.
“Not with you though, I swear!” He exclaims.
“Is that so?”
“I promise.”
“Look, Sunwoo. I like you a lot. Like ‘I’d let you take me out on multiple dates’ a lot. Like… ‘I’d make out with you again’ a lot. But I need to know that you’re not going to just flirt your way into my pants and dip. Then it would make sense why Kevin wanted me to stay away from you…and I don’t want Kevin to be right,” you tell him. Sunwoo doesn’t want Kevin to be right either. He cleaned up his act after the last girl, realizing that breaking hearts wasn’t as fun as he thought it would be. Sunwoo wanted something stable , with love and connection. He wanted a home, a soft place to land.
And then you came along and showed him that he could have that. It was just a shame that Kevin didn’t believe that Sunwoo changed.
“You have every right to be cautious, but I’m not gonna play you. I wanna stay with you for as long as you let me,” he tells you. Something about the way Sunwoo says it makes you believe he’s being sincere. Plus, there’s the fact that Chanhee said he’d been talking about you to their friends. Still…you want to play with him a little more.
“Hmmm…you might have to prove it,” you say, trying remarkably hard not to smile.
“Whatever you need me to do, I’ll do it,” Sunwoo says with determination in his eyes. That makes your insides feel fuzzy and warm, not expecting his sudden act of commitment. You beckon him closer with your finger and he leans in.
“I need you to kiss me again,” you whisper with a small smile. Sunwoo stares at you for a minute, not sure if you’re fucking with him before throws all caution to the wind and kisses you. You naturally kiss him right back, letting yourself get lost in his kiss.
You don’t think about Kevin for the rest of the evening, Sunwoo’s company being more than enough to keep you occupied.
↠↠
You don’t see Kevin again until Halloween, 6 days later. You’d reached out to him and asked to speak with him in person, but didn’t receive a response. Sunwoo told you not to worry about it, that Kevin needed time to think and calm down. You tried not to worry too much, but your best friend was mad at you and you wanted to fix things.
Now you’re at a Halloween party on campus (one of many)—specifically one at the NCT frat house. NCT’s parties were usually the best parties on campus, and Sunwoo said that all of his friends would be there, making it the perfect time for you to meet everyone.
“Where are your friends?!” You yell over the music.
“They said they’re outside, near the pool!” Sunwoo leans down to tell you.
“Then let’s go outside!” You say and Sunwoo nods, grabbing your hand. He leads you through a crowd of bodies to the sliding glass doors, then opens them and lets you out onto the patio. Everything is decorated amazingly, perfectly in the spirit of the spooky season. Sunwoo tugs you in the direction of the fire pit, where 9 other boys sit, all in costume and chatting away. Kevin is nowhere to be seen.
“Hey! You guys made it!” A guy dressed in punk rock clothing and make-up greets you and Sunwoo. The rest of the boys look up and suddenly you feel very intimidated. You reach over and take Sunwoo’s hand in yours. All of the boys notice, but don’t say a word.
“Everyone, this is Kevin’s friend and my…” Sunwoo trails off, looking down at you, unsure if he can say the golden word.
“Girlfriend,” you finish for him, looking at him in his eyes before turning back to the guys with a smile and a wave. All the guys make various noises, some gasp, some mutter something to each other, and some cheer.
“Oh this is the girl you said you were—and I quote— ‘utterly head over heels for’ and you ‘couldn’t get her out of your head’ and ‘she smells so goo—’” a young man dressed as a pirate began.
“OKAY, that’s enough of that!” Sunwoo interrupts him and you giggle, thinking of how Sunwoo must’ve looked while telling his friends about you.
“Guys, why don’t you introduce yourselves?” Sunwoo suggests and they quiet down to say hi to you. Everyone is pretty formal, except Chanhee, but you enjoy the vast difference in all of their personalities (the one dressed as a pirate was named Sangyeon). All of them seem very enthusiastic to meet you, which helps you feel less intimidated.
“Come sit down!” The one named Eric beckons you over. Sunwoo allows you to go first, following you. Once you’re all settled in, one of them pipes up.
“So are you guys doing a couples costume or…?” Hyunjae, you believe, asks. You and Sunwoo give each other a look before you turn back to Hyunjae.
“No, since we literally just started dating like 6 days ago. Plus, I already had my costume picked out so…” you answer.
“Well, I guess that makes sense. You look great, by the way,” Hyunjae says and sits back. You crack a smile at his compliment, and Sunwoo gives Hyunjae a hard glare.
“Thank you, that’s very sweet,” you say to Hyunjae. All Hyunjae does is give you a polite nod after being stared down by Sunwoo.
And after that, you fall into a natural conversation with all the boys. Sunwoo watches as you mingle effortlessly with his friends; you’re remarkably comfortable conversing with them. He only wishes that Kevin could be here with the rest of you, lighting up a conversation as usually does.
“Hey. I’m gonna go get us some drinks, I’ll be right back, okay?” Your voice draws his attention back to you. Sunwoo looks down at you and his lips curl up into a small smile as he nods.
“Do you want me to go with you?” He asks.
“Nah, I’ll be fine. It’ll just be two seconds,” you play with the strings of his 19th-century, billowy, ivory shirt. Sunwoo had come as one of the Three Musketeers (Chanhee and Younghoon were the other musketeers), and you have to admit, he looks damn good.
“Okay, beautiful,” he smiles and you can’t control the instantaneous smile that breaks out on your face because of the compliment. You quickly give Sunwoo a chaste kiss on his cheek before you head back inside the NCT house. He watches as you slip past the sliding glass door, then turns back to all of his friends looking at him.
“Bro… you’re so whipped,” Juyeon grins widely.
“What?!”
“HE’S WHIPPED!” Eric shouts and Sunwoo sits up.
“I’ve never seen you like this before, it’s kind of weird,” Chanhee comments.
“I think it’s cute,” Jacob pipes up. Suddenly all of the guys are chattering about Sunwoo and his “whipped-ness” for you. Sunwoo covers his face and considers going inside to look for you.
However, you are preoccupied with another man. Namely, Kevin Moon.
You spot him across the room as you’re getting drinks, wearing a handmade NASA jumpsuit, drink in hand, and looking lost. Your heart leaps in your chest but you recall that he’s still mad at you . At that moment, you make a decision that, at the moment, seems like a terrible idea. It’s Halloween, and you’re here with your new boyfriend and his friends and you should just catch Kevin tomorrow and go back to your boyfriend.
But he’s here. And he just made eye contact with you from across the room. He looks…sad almost when he looks at you. No…he’s looking at you with the same expression he gave you after your argument: heartbroken and dejected. You put yours and Sunwoo’s cups down and make your way over to Kevin before he runs and you lose him.
Kevin doesn’t realize you’re coming towards him until you’re right in front of him.
“Hey.” He says blankly.
“Hey. Can we talk? Please?” You ask. Kevin blinks at you, studying your expression carefully before giving his answer. You look desperate and grief-ridden and Kevin knows that you wouldn’t have come over to him unless you felt like you needed to.
“Sure,” is all he says. He watches as you exhale in relief and then you tell him that you should probably find a quieter place to talk. After searching for a place, you settle on the side of the house outside.
The two of you stand a few feet apart, staring at each other because you’re unsure how to start the conversation.
“I’ve been trying to get in touch with you,” you finally say.
“I know,” Kevin responds.
“Kevin, I’ve been trying to reach out so we can talk about this and so I can apologize! I’d really appreciate it if you could give me a chance and hear me out!” You exclaim.
“Okay, go ahead then. The floor is yours,” he says. Kevin is curious to hear what you have to say and whether or not you’re going to admit that he was right.
“Kev…I’m so sorry. I was upset, and I said things to you that I don’t mean and are not how I feel about you at all. Being upset doesn’t justify what I said, but I know it was wrong. You deserve better than that. I miss you and I hope you can accept my apology and forgive me,” you look up at him with hopeful eyes.
Kevin waits a few beats for you to continue until he realizes that you’re done and are waiting for him to respond.
“I forgive you…”
“Oh phew.”
“…but I’m surprised you haven’t admitted I’m right yet.”
“Right? About what?” You cross your arms.
“About Sunwoo,” he says.
“Oh my god, you’ve got to be kidding me,” you cover your face.
“He’s going to break your heart, I’m tell—”
“He’s not, Kevin. I mean maybe, later down the road… but not right now. And so what if he does? What Sunwoo and I do in our relationship doesn’t concern you and should something happen, I’m sure we’d at least have the decency not to put you in the middle of it,” you tell your best friend. Kevin stares at you, not sure how to respond.
“Kev…I don’t think you realize that Sunwoo isn’t the same. I think you should talk to him, but it genuinely seems like he’s cleaned his act up. Whether or not you believe him is up to you. But I trust him… and you know I don’t trust others so easily,” you tell him. Kevin is still silent, reflecting on your words. Maybe you’re right; maybe Sunwoo changed and he didn’t notice it. Looking back, he realized that after the last girl Sunwoo messed with, he hadn’t done anything with anyone since. That was until you came along.
“You really like him?” Kevin finally asks. The question slightly catches you off guard, but you nod at Kevin.
“I do…I—I like him a lot,” you say, trying to hide a smile from your best friend. Kevin is able to catch the corners of your lips quirk up, and he sighs.
“Okay…I guess I could get used to you and Sunwoo being a thing. So long as you’re happy,” Kevin sticks his hands in his pockets. You beam at your best friend, glad he was able to come around.
“I—”
“I’m sorry.”
You blink at Kevin, “Why are you sorry?”
“I…I didn’t intend to make you feel like…I was smothering you or holding you back. I also didn’t mean to make you feel left out with my friends or anything. I should’ve known better,” Kevin says, scratching the back of his head, and your previous smile falls.
“Oh, Kev, it’s not your fault. I didn’t tell you how I was really feeling—I left you in the dark. I shouldn’t have snuck around with Sunwoo behind your back either. I’m sorry for how this all played out,” You grab his hands in yours. Kev looks up at you with a hopeful smile.
“I forgive you…really I do,” he says.
“I forgive you too,” you nod. The two of you envelope one another in a tight hug, having missed one another. Once you break away, Kevin sighs.
“So I’m assuming you’ve met my friends now,” he says.
“I have, and I must say, they’re really…special,” you cock your head to the side. The two of you begin walking to the backyard, side by side.
“Special is an understatement, they’re straight-up wack. But I love ‘em,” Kevin laughs.
You hum in amusement, and silence ensues for a few seconds before Kevin pipes up again.
“You’re really happy with Sunwoo?” He asks. You look up at Kevin and find him giving you a tiny smile.
“Yeah…I mean. So far I am. It’s only been 6 days since we made it official…but I am happy,” you return the smile. As you reach the backyard, you turn toward the fire pit on the other side of the patio and find Sunwoo frantically waving his hands in front of the boys. You and Kevin both look at him in confusion before you slowly approach the fire pit together, and hear what he’s saying.
“I looked everywhere and I couldn't find her, and she left her phone here so now I can’t reach her! What am I gonna do?” He exclaims.
“Okay, okay, relax. We’ll go help you look for her, I’m sure she just went down to the basement and got lost in the haunted maze or something,” Jacob tells Sunwoo.
“I lost my girlfriend within 6 days of dating her, I think my panicking is justified,” Sunwoo says.
“Uh, what’s going on?” You suddenly materialize next to Sunwoo, and he jumps at your sudden appearance.
“Babe! Where were you?! You said you were going to go get drinks, and then you were gone for 10 minutes!” He grabs your face and checks if you’re alright.
“I ran into a friend,” you tell him as Kevin comes up next to you. Sunwoo lets go of your face as his gaze turns to Kevin, who gives him an apologetic smile. The other guys begin to cheer for and welcome Kevin back.
Once you all sit down, the rest of the night goes by without a hitch. Everyone tells Kevin how whipped Sunwoo is for you, which causes chaos and laughter, you exchange stories, and ultimately, everything falls back into place.