Chapter Text
Park Sunghoon isn’t so fond of new beginnings.
He likes, no, craves stability. It’s why he’s poured over his desk, double-checking that he’s brought every single textbook he needs for the first day of school tomorrow. It’s why his only friend, Park “Jay” Jongseong is harshly judging him from his laptop screen on a video call.
Sunghoon met Jay in his photography elective last year. They were paired for a project and boom, friendship. (Though to be fair, most of Sunghoon’s friendships are from forced partnerships. He blames it all on his introverted personality.) Sunghoon finds that Jay is nice enough. Admittedly, he has gotten Sunghoon through his first year. Sunghoon feels like he owes the Business student at least a slice of platonism.
“Dude, you worry too much,” Jay says in a relaxed tone.
Sunghoon rolls his eyes. “Worrying is a good thing for me, Jay. I’d rather worry than not worry at all.”
“Well—” Jay pauses. “You know what, that’s good logic. I can’t even argue with you with that, wow look at me.”
Sunghoon sighs, shoving his planner back into the drawer. “Shouldn’t you be packing too?”
“I already did, like, hours ago.”
Of course. Sunghoon closes his eyes. “Why do I even bother asking?“
Jay shrugs. “Hey, have you heard that we have a new kid tomorrow?”
“Why would I even care?”
“I don’t know. What if they’re hot?”
“Wow, Jay never took you for being so superficial.”
Jay nonchalantly shrugs again.
As Jay said, there’s a new boy in their batch. The second-year master first addresses it on stage that morning for a back-to-school assembly. A photo displays on the big screen of the new boy, and it’s enough to stir hundreds of half-asleep students awake.
“Oh damn, he’s hot,” Jay sputters beside Sunghoon.
Sunghoon casts a look at the screen. The boy is good looking, no one will deny it. Brown bangs, kinda soulful eyes and a jawline that could potentially cut his bare skin. To top it all off, he even has a pretty smile for such a pretty face.
“Settle down. I know you're all excited for a new friend joining us,” Ms Chung, their year master, speaks into the microphone. The noise from the crowd dies down immediately.
Sunghoon looks at the screen once again and notices the text below the picture of the new boy. Sim Jaeyun, it says.
Assembly ends with everyone keeping an eye out for the new boy. Though, it seems as if he has already blended in with the crowd for neither Sunghoon nor Jay manages to catch sight of him.
“I give up,” Jay declares after craning his neck for far too long.
“Same. See you at lunch?”
Jay nods. The two part their ways. Jay, who heads for Introduction to Business and Sunghoon, who drags his feet to PE.
—
Sunghoon isn’t popular.
No, hell no. If anyone even dared to call him that, Jay would laugh first then Sunghoon would laugh right after. Sunghoon is not popular. He’s shy and extremely introverted and can barely even hold a conversation for the life of him.
So of course when his PE teacher announces that they will be playing badminton in pairs for the next hour or so, he panics.
Oh, God why? Usually, Jay and he pair up easily. But Jay is no longer in his PE class. He’s going to need to find another poor soul like him or even, what, mingle—
“Hey, can we partner?”
Sunghoon looks up from where he sits on the floor of the court. He jumps a little in his seat when he realises the brown hair and the handsome face and oh-
“Wait, you’re the new guy aren’t you?” Sunghoon asks. “Jaeyun? Am I right?”
“People usually call me Jake,” the new boy says sheepishly.
“Jake,” Sunghoon repeats. Jake nods, smiling.
Sunghoon goes to the back of the gymnasium to grab their badminton racquets while Jake moves to the other end of the room to take a shuttlecock. They meet in the middle where they face each other on opposite ends of the net.
“Think you could beat me in a game?” Jake challenges. Sunghoon instantly rolls his eyes and gives him a sly grin.
“Oh, you’re so on.”
They play a few games or so. At one point Jake swings his racquet with literally all of his might and the shuttlecock ends up on the court next to theirs.
Min Karin isn’t happy about that, seeing how she was fuming that it cost her the loss of an epic point. Sunghoon feels kind of bad, so he apologises.
“It’s no big deal.” Karin faces Jake who stands on the other end of the court. “You should tell him he’s invited to join the badminton club at any time.”
“What’d she say?” Jake asks when Sunghoon returns to him.
“You’re invited to join the badminton team,” Sunghoon says with a shrug.
“Oh, sweet! On my first day too!”
Sunghoon hasn’t any idea how to reply to that so he resorts to facing Jake.
Bad move.
The smile on Jake’s face can not get any brighter than that. Sunghoon grimaces. He swears he’s going to get diabetes if he has to stay around this new kid any longer.
The bell rings and Sunghoon fishes out of his phone to check his schedule. The tiny box on his screen unfortunately disappoints. His next class is on the other end of the campus. Great, just his luck.
“Hey, do you think you could help direct me to my next class?”
Sunghoon turns to see a very lost and confused Jake.
“I’m sorry, is your class too far away? I can ask someone else if you’d like.”
Sunghoon looks at his schedule then back at Jake and simply smiles out of pity.
“It’s fine, I’ll help. Which block is your class at?” He asks.
Jake looks relieved to hear that. He shows Sunghoon his schedule - Block M, Room 5, Level 3. Okay, not too bad. It’s the block next to Sunghoon’s. He can probably make it on time.
They begin to walk to their classes. Jake ends up asking Sunghoon some ice breaker questions like “What course do you take?” or “Are the people here nice?” to which Sunghoon answers “Korean Literature.” and “Um, it depends.”
Sunghoon decides he’s not the best person to be answering these questions.
The questions end up as a good conversation, fortunately. Sunghoon finds out that he and Jake have a lot more in common than he thinks. Like how they both have quite similar Myers-Briggs personality types with Jake being ISFJ while Sunghoon on the other hand is ISTJ. (Sunghoon likes to admit that he is very much content with being ISTJ) and how they both have dogs for pets. Also, they both like BTS. Then again, who doesn’t like seven hot, talented and nearly perfect men?
“Well, here’s your stop,” Sunghoon says when they reach Jake’s classroom.
“Oh.” Jake blinks. “I didn’t assume we’d reach here so soon.”
“Really? We're quite far away from the gymnasium right now.” Sunghoon frowns.
“Are you usually this honest?”
“Maybe.”
Jake sighs. “I’m sorry, I don’t know if I can even open the door, to be frank.”
“It’s the nerves isn’t it?” Sunghoon deduces.
Jake nods, a little abashed.
“Look, you’re fine. Everyone’s already talking about you and it’s all the good stuff! Like how handsome you are and-” Sunghoon stops talking when he realises he hasn’t heard of much else.
Jake seems to find Sunghoon’s attempt at comforting him rather amusing judging by how he laughs.
Great, he’s doing that thing where he looks like the damn Sun again. Sunghoon grumbles in his head. Lightheartedly, of course.
“Are you good to go?” he asks once Jake stops laughing.
“A hundred per cent. Let’s get it.”
The first day of school ends in a flurry of flitting to and fro to classes, a little bit of orientation in between, catching up with old friends and making a new one — Jake.
Jake sits with Sunghoon during the lunch hour and somehow their loud shrieks of laughter don’t get them kicked out of the canteen. Well, at one point Yeojin goes over to tell them to shut up but it seems friendly. Sunghoon can never tell with Yeojin.
“You’re really nice, by the way,” Jake suddenly comments when he and Sunghoon are leaving the canteen for their next classes.
“Um, thank you?” Sunghoon responds. He narrows his eyes. Where was this even going?
“I’m just saying. You’re nice. You decided to help out the new kid. That’s a pretty nice gesture, right?”
“I guess so,” Sunghoon says quietly.
When Jake bids goodbye and rushes to his final class for the day, Sunghoon concludes that the new guy isn’t all that bad.
“So, how was your first day?” Lee Heeseung, Sunghoon’s only best friend asks when Sunghoon meets him at home. The two of them do this thing where they always meet after the first day of school at Sunghoon’s house.
“It’s just tradition,” Heeseung declares the second year he comes over to Sunghoon’s house. Sunghoon doesn’t even bother complaining because well, it’s just another lucky chance for him to see his best friend. Heeseung may make it this huge and memorable event but it’s just the two of them playing a little bit of Mario Kart on Sunghoon’s switch in his room.
“It was pretty great. I didn’t get lost. Well, I was late for my class but that was because I was helping the new kid,” Sunghoon begins. “Oh, and is it just me or did the canteen in the Humanities school get an upgrade in their food?”
“Definitely not you,” Heeseung chimes in. “The expanded ramen options?”
Heeseung kisses his index and middle finger and raises them to the sky. “God bless the new and improved ramen options.”
“God bless indeed,” Sunghoon agrees. He too kisses his fingers and raises them to the sky. “You know what? We could start a society dedicated to the ramen in that canteen.”
“We could…” Heeseung scowls. “But, alas I’m old and running out of time here. I’m in the final year, dude. The final year. Can you believe it?”
Sunghoon feels a pang in his heart. After being with Heeseung for so long, he’s completely forgotten that Heeseung is technically in the year above him. That means saying goodbye a year early. He didn’t really think it would hit him that soon. Maybe when Heeseung announces he would be leaving to embark on a quest to complete his internship at Dreamworks or something? Let alone the first day of school…
“Hey, how about we watch another round of Up? I don’t want to think about the whole ‘me growing old and eventually leaving’,” Heeseung suggests. Sunghoon looks up to meet Heeseung’s eyes. Eyes that shouldn’t be making his heart pound this much.
So, they watch the movie and it’s nice because Sunghoon gets to rest in the warmth of Heeseung’s arms and that’s always a nice thing. He never really pays attention to the movie obviously, more of the fact that he is just. There. In Heeseung’s arms.
Maybe one day it can be like that again where it’s just them against the world. Sunghoon doesn’t know. He hates emotions. And feelings. (He doesn’t seem to hate whatever he has for Heeseung though.)
Halfway into the movie, Heeseung’s phone pings and he suddenly gets up.
“Is everything okay?” Sunghoon asks. Heeseung nods.
“Yeah, I just need to leave because I’m having dinner with Jieun later.”
Oh.
Right, how could Sunghoon forget? How could he simply forget the fact that he, out of all the things that he could be having, has feelings for his best friend? The same best friend who has a doting relationship with his girlfriend.
Sunghoon grimaces. Well, ouch when you put it like that…
“It’s okay. You go. I’ll just finish the movie by myself,” Sunghoon says in a quiet voice, hoping Heeseung doesn’t hear the tremor and the slight pain.
Heesung, God bless that boy, does not notice. He quickly gives a goodbye and another one of his bright smiles. With that, he leaves Sunghoon all alone with his thoughts and the sound of a frail heart on the verge of breaking.
Park Sunghoon isn’t exactly one for a sappy romantic tale. In fact, he barely has any interest in having his best friend ditch him for his girlfriend. And yeah, maybe he does find Jake kind of attractive. So what? Does that mean he might have a crush on him? No, no way!
Once again, we establish, Park Sunghoon is anything but romantic.
But for some odd reason, after finishing a marathon of Love Alarm one night with Heeseung, his heart decided to give way. Seriously. His eyes immediately started to shed tears. He’s bawling and everything. Crying and weeping as he buries his head deeper into his best friend’s chest.
“Dude, you alright? Is it because of the caffeine?” Sweet Heeseung tries to coax the little emotional Sunghoon. “I knew I should not have made you that vanilla latte. Caffeine always gets you so… yeah.”
Sunghoon lets out another cry in response.
“Okay, okay,” Heeseung simply says in his soft voice.
Later when the clock hits midnight and Heeseung has left Sunghoon’s apartment with a warm hug, Sunghoon rushes into his room.
The caffeine courses through his veins as he tears a piece of paper from a notebook lying around and grabs a black pen from nearby. His eyes streak tears as his jittery hand moves to form words.
Feelings. Sunghoon realises seconds into writing that he was pouring all of his feelings out into every letter, every word and every phrase. Feelings for whom he desperately wants to know.
His hand is the only thing that answers as it moves to the top and fills in the name of none other than Lee Heeseung.
“Oh, fuck no,” is all Sunghoon manages to utter when realisation dawns upon him. In a quick mortified hurry to rid of it, he stashes the love letter in an envelope already addressed and then throws it into his drawer. Hidden. Away from his sight. Never to be acknowledged again.
For the next months or so, Sunghoon deals with the fact that his crush on his best friend is in fact real.
He grimaces at how his heart flutters when Heeseung gives him a tainted smile. How he forces himself to pull slightly away whenever he has to be pulled into another one of their bear hugs. Or how he has to hold in the tears when Heeseung gushes about his crush on Kwon Jieun and their date planned for the evening.
Jieun and Heeseung get together with no ease. It takes them only a few days after a bit of talking, a bit of communication, to become official. As time went by, Sunghoon slowly drifted away from the boy. With only a string of what he knows shouldn't be, but is the unrequited love that ties them together.
They still talk and hang out definitely. No, no. Heeseung, that kind soul of his, would never trade a friendship for his doting relationship with another. Heeseung still gives Sunghoon support and care. Whatever Sunghoon needs, Heeseung was always there to give.
Though what Sunghoon wanted is not something he can quite attain from the boy.
So, Sunghoon has a really huge crush on his best friend. So huge that he can barely live it down. But, alas things don’t exactly work out the way they want to don’t they?
So Sunghoon locks those feelings up, stashed away in the back of his drawer. Never, to be sent out. Never. Never. Never.
Okay so putting all those pent up feelings about Heeseung aside, Sunghoon thinks that his second year is starting off pretty well. First of all, he’s not exactly failing in any of his classes - yet. There is a little bit of a danger zone in his translation class but he should be able to handle it fairly well.
Sunghoon also has perfect attendance so far. Something he didn’t achieve the year prior due to the bad stomach flu he had gotten from Jay. He still blames Jay for it. Sunghoon feels like he should stop bullying Jay this much.
“Nah, where’s the fun in that?” Yang Jungwon pipes up as the three of them wait for Sunghoon at his locker before making their way to the campus’ main library.
Okay, so a quick background on this Jungwon kid. Jay somehow met the first year on his way to his World Issues class on the second day. Jungwon was a lost First Year in Film student and Jay, ever the considerate person, decided to help him. The two immediately hit it off, eventually leading to Jungwon also meeting Sunghoon.
Now bringing us back to the present, Jay merely chuckles at Jungwon’s words. Sunghoon raises an eyebrow at this obviously. This is Jay we are talking about right now. Jay, who will usually grab Sunghoon by the hair if Sunghoon even dares to utter any form of teasing directed at him. Now, who the hell does this bitch think he is for even thinking of playing with some double standards type of bullsh—
Sunghoon, unfortunately, doesn’t even have time to question his friend. Something bright and soothing seems to have suddenly graced his presence. He swiftly turns around and voila— there he is: Jake Sim in all of his glory.
In just a span of a week, Jake had managed to land himself a spot in none other than Kim Sunoo’s social circle. Yes, the Kim Sunoo. The boy from their year who happens to be the brother of some really rich dude. No one knows who the rich dude is. But they do know that Sunoo throws sick parties at his house every once in a while. Not only that, Sunoo has just the right enough charm to be loved by everyone. By default, the boy was born for a life of popularity.
“Hey, Sunghoon!” Jake calls out to the boy in question with a wave.
Sunghoon returns the wave with a nod. As if the bewildered stares from his two friends beside him aren’t enough, Jake decides right there and then to literally sidle up next to Sunghoon at his locker.
“Do you need something, sir?” Sunghoon asks.
Jake simply grins. “Of course. Why else would I be here?”
“I don’t know. A clad for a bit of my presence because you like me?”
Jake laughs. For the first time, Sunghoon realises that Jake is dressed in a black t-shirt and ripped denim jeans. A complete game-changer from the soft sweater Jake was wearing on his first day. Huh, that’s rather strange.
Jay suddenly clears his throat in the middle of their exchange. His mouth is sealed tight but his eyes are definitely screaming something like, Dude, what the hell?
Jake looks at Sunghoon once again. “Say, do you happen to have any of my notes from my ethics class? I may or may not have a test I did not know about.”
Sunghoon frowns and looks through his locker once again. “Wait, yup! Here you go!” He pulls out a set of papers decorated in Jake’s messy handwriting and little doodles in purple ink. He hands them to Jake. “Good luck with the test later.”
“My God! Park Sunghoon, you are a complete lifesaver. You basically complete me. Thank you. I love you.” Jake clicks his tongue and shoots Sunghoon finger guns. “See ya!”
Once Jake leaves, Sunghoon suddenly finds himself pressed against the nearest set of lockers in the hallway.
“No way. How do you even know Jake Sim? Like actually know him?” Jungwon exclaims immediately. Sunghoon nods slowly. He tries to wriggle free under the pressure of Jay and Jungwon holding his arms against the lockers. Big mistake. Their grips suddenly get tighter.
“What even, how? Why did you not tell me?” Jay’s voice is close to a high pitched squeak. “Are we not friends, Sunghoon? Answer me!”
“What? We’re friends, obviously!” Sunghoon manages to sputter.
“Then?!” Jungwon and Jay shout the word at the same time. Jeez, the two of them might as well just hold Sunghoon at gunpoint at this rate!
“Look, Jake and I are just friends! I just helped him on his first day and we’ve been friends ever since,” Sunghoon explains. “I never expected the guy to get popular, to be frank. He and I are a lot similar.”
“You? And Jake? Being similar?” Jay scoffs. “Yeah, right.”
“Believe what you want to believe, man.” Sunghoon wriggles once again but fails. “Now can you please let go of my hands?”
When Jay and Jungwon finally settle on the fact that they do not want to be held responsible for Sunghoon’s possible death, they release him. Finally, freedom!
“Sorry. I just… never took you for the type to be close to people like Jake,” Jungwon says. To which, Sunghoon looks at Jungwon questioningly. Jungwon notices though and goes on to say, “Because Jake’s like… a huge flirt.”
As if on cue, said Jake Sim seems to have found himself as the centre of attention in a crowd full of people. All gushing and screaming over the boy himself as he gives another one of his bright smiles. Well, at least the people from around here clearly have taste. Up until now, Sunghoon still has no idea how he has not passed out from even being in a 1.5-metre radius within Jake himself.
“And you’re just… Sunghoon.” Sunghoon shoots a look at Jay. “You know what I mean!”
“You’re not romantic,” Jungwon finishes off Jay’s statement. Sunghoon purses his lips. They do have a point. Kind of. If he ignores all of these… feelings he has for Heeseung, Sunghoon genuinely is a boring and plain guy… in yearning. Damn it!
As Sunghoon and his two friends continue their journey to the campus library, Sunghoon happens to find Jake again near the lockers with a lively Sunoo and a few other students. At one point, Jake looks up to see Sunghoon and gives him another one of his smiles. In an instant, Sunghoon feels a flip in his stomach. He looks away immediately, fighting the blush that creeps onto his cheeks. Maybe, if he wasn’t so whipped for another, he would find himself writing a letter to another.
When Sunghoon arrives home later in the evening, the first thing he does is whip out the letter.
Dear Heeseung,
Sunghoon instantly cringes. Somehow, even a simple word like “dear” and the name of his crush still manages to make him shrivel up in complete shame. Despite this, Sunghoon continues to read the letter and boy, does it just get worse from there.
There’s a slight mention of their moments together after school and Sunghoon feels himself slipping away from the edge of his seat. From what could be either the pain of the yearning or maybe the pain of pure mortification. Then the letter moves onto imaginary kisses and long nights. Wow, is Park Sunghoon really this much of a sap? Apparently so. The letter is a huge piece of evidence.
Deciding his little moment of shame is enough for the day, Sunghoon places the letter back in its rose gold envelope. He turns it back in his hands - just to study it a little more.
Every romantic notion he feels for the other is all sealed and tucked away into this very envelope. If anything, hell even anyone manage to get their hands on it? Sunghoon refuses to even think of the aftermath.
The next day dawns upon Sunghoon all bright and well, very bright. He deduces immediately that he has developed a strong hate for the hot weather as he weaves through the big crowd just to get to his locker. Definitely not a great event to kick off your Wednesday morning. Though if we are being completely honest here, when are Wednesday mornings ever fun?
When Sunghoon finally manages to crawl out from the massive crowd of late teens, he finds someone already at his locker. Standing just in front of it dressed in a plaid jacket and along with a white undershirt and jeans. His blank expression definitely fits the casualty of his outfit. Upon seeing the boy, Sunghoon gives a little wave.
“Yes. Can I help you?” Sunghoon asks. The boy simply stares at him.
“Tall. Awkward. Shy. Kind of a nerd. Actually, you would have been more popular if you showed off your good looks for once,” the boy remarks.
“Uh, thanks?” Sunghoon blinks. Okay, this is weird. Not only that, this kid is extremely rude. Who is he again?
“Not a compliment,” the boy adds. He shifts and shakes his head. “Say, you don’t happen to be Park Sunghoon do you?”
Sunghoon nods, slowly. “I’m afraid that’s me. Why?”
“Oh, no. Nothing much. Just, I think I have something of yours? Wait.” The strange boy pulls out his phone and begins to scroll. When he’s done, he shoves the bright screen into Sunghoon’s face.
It takes Sunghoon a few seconds — give or take. Until, he noticed the slight sparkle on the rose gold of the envelope and the address written on the front along with the addressee’s name and — wait a damn minute.
“That’s my love letter.”
“Oh, that’s what it was?” The boy takes his phone back to observe it more keenly. “I didn’t know people still wrote letters to confess their love. Oh my God, ew that’s so lame.”
“It wasn’t supposed to be sent out!” Sunghoon cries out. “How the hell did you even manage to get your hands on that?”
The boy shrugs. “Arrived in my mailbox. Heeseung used to live at mine before he moved, remember? He’s in the big city now.”
Crap, this stranger is right. Heeseung had left his childhood home a long time ago midway during his first year. His family had found a better home somewhere in a lovely apartment in the city.
“Look, I know I may seem like an asshole-”
Sunghoon scoffs.
“But really I want to help! I feel bad for you! You clearly need a love life and I can do that for you!”
“Uhh, come again?”
“You know Jake Sim, right?” Sunghoon wishes his heart could act a lot more normal every time he hears that God-forsaken name. “He needs a love life. You’re perfect for him. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”
Sunghoon narrows his eyes at this stranger. For a moment, he studies him. Like, really study him. The gears in his brain spiral tirelessly in an effort to make out who this cheeky ass lackey even is and-
“You’re the one they call Ni-ki, aren’t you?” he mumbles.
Nishimura Riki blinks. His whole egocentric facade shatters just right before Sunghoon eyes before he even knows it.
Word travels fast on campus and the news of the forgotten boy by the name of Nishimura Riki is no other.
He was one of Kim Sunoo’s best friends in his own little social circle. In fact, the two had even met before Ni-ki even stepped foot onto campus as a first-year. Thus, making their friendship way more significant.
They were inseparable, really, the two of them. Both are known for wreaking havoc in their own petty little ways. Some even suspected the two had started dating for a little while which was why Sunoo was always quoted to be ‘unavailable’. The duo had such a strong force between them everyone was sure that nothing could break it apart.
That is until Jake Sim came along.
Poor Nishimura Riki had been kicked to the curb as Sunoo fawned over Jake. The rest simply became history. Or as the rumours supposedly say.
“You just want me to date Jake so that you can be with Sunoo again, don’t you?”
“Oh my God, were you even listening?” Ni-ki rolls his eyes. “This isn’t about Sunoo. This is about my friend Jake and how I’m definitely doing both you and him a favour.”
“Right…”
Just then, beyond Sunghoon’s reach lies in the form of none other than Jake Sim. Speak of the devil, Jake Sim, who struts the hallway with a gaggle of people already blessed by his presence.
Sunghoon turns to face Ni-ki who simply grins like the son of the Cheshire Cat he was born to be.
“Go get him, tiger.”
Jake is all smiles when Sunghoon sidles up next to him with an easy “hey”. Great. Sunghoon is out of ideas. Now what? Should he painfully grit his teeth behind a really awful smile? Yup, that sounds about right. Sunghoon does exactly that.
Jake is, unfortunately… not amused. “Uh, dude? You okay?”
Sunghoon is about to reply when suddenly out of all the people that could walk in at that moment, he sees him. Lee Heeseung. Sunghoon’s best friend, the one he has super strong feelings for. Yeah, we know Captain Obvious! And in his hands, held tightly by yours truly, is the already ripped open letter written by Park Sunghoon.
Fuck, fuck, fuck, nooooo oh my God. No. This cannot be happening. What the fuck. Who asked me to write a damn love letter and write the damn address too. Like, who does that? Seriously? Please God if you’re out there just for once listen to my woes and kill me off already-
Of course, Sunghoon lamenting doesn’t slow down Heeseung’s fast pace. Before Sunghoon can even think about what’s about to happen next in a more thought-provoking way, he grabs Jake by the collar and pulls him into a kiss.
Sunghoon thinks Jake is kissing him back. He doesn’t know. His eyes are literally shut tight, too scared to open to see any sort of reaction.
Finally, he pulls away and tries to find any sight of Ni-ki with a certain he-who-shall-not-be-named. As a way to settle his worries, he sees Heeseung far away from Ni-ki. He sighs in relief and turns back to Jake.
“Well, sorry about that. I should go, yeah? See you tomorrow? Or never?”
“Wait, what? Sunghoon?”
And with that, Sunghoon dashes down the hallway away from Jake. Already planning the decor on his deathbed at his funeral. Life is all good. Nothing worrying to see here, folks. Nothing at all. Totes guaranteed or whatever.