Work Text:
"- Wait, hold on." Jake states, holding up a hand. "- Tell me that again?"
And from his grin alone, Jongseong could tell that he had attentively followed the story, and was just teasing him.
"- Oh come on Jake! You're not gonna make him tell it again, are you?" Sunghoon smiles, and Jongseong sees perfectly how he is trying to hold back his laugh.
He cannot blame them.
This was probably the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to him.
And believe him, he experienced a lot of EMBARASSING (capitalized!) moments.
20:16.
This was bad. Jongseong was so immersed in his assignment that he did not see time passing. Now, it was pretty late. In another day, it would have been okay, he would have stayed in the big library until almost midnight, revising. However, today was different.
Today, he had dinner plans with his parents and his aunt who lives in Germany and came to visit them in Korea this week. He was not particularly fond of her; he did not know her that much, but his parents were. So, he was obliged to join the boring fancy dinner scheduled this night.
The dinner starts at 20:45 until 21:00, even though coming at 21:00 would be considered rude. The restaurant was 20 minutes far from the library.
He would have had time to arrive early if he was not wearing his casual clothes, definitely not presentable. He had planned to come back home, change, then go directly to the restaurant.
He cannot make it, if he does so now, he will arrive at the restaurant 20 minutes late. He cannot afford such a thing to happen; his parents will get angry.
Fortunately, knowing himself very well, he envisaged this possibility, i.e., forgetting about himself and spending more time than planned studying. Consequently, he brought his clothes with him, neatly folded and hidden in a big paper bag tucked in his bag.
Jongseong tosses his pens inside his blue indigo case before throwing everything inside his backpack.
He does not want to get up from his chair at all. He was not tired, not at all, these chairs were just too comfortable. Plus, sitting for hours in this chair warmed up the seat.
Without further ado, Jongseong gets up from his dear chair and slings the strap of his messenger bag on his shoulder. He picks up his phone and Bluetooth headphones from the desk and he checks if he forgot something before walking out of the room.
The local library was a place where you could find literally every student you see in the university. It was very huge, with multiple floors and numerous and various rooms. It provided everything that a student needed and was very comfortable. Jongseong loved studying here, he focused easily and could i.e., go on his revisions for hours without being distracted. In addition, despite being very crowded, it was very silent; even flies shied away and kept quiet.
Now, with the exams approaching, it was even more crowded.
"- Pardon me young man, all bathrooms are locked for now, you have to wait at least one hour." The janitor states as soon as he sees Jongseong holding out his hand to grasp the doorknob.
"- Um... What happened?" Jongseong frowns.
This was bad.
"- I don't know, the manager said something about soap being replaced by a toxic product."
That was bullshit.
"- Anyways, you can't enter right now."
Jongseong purses his lips, holding back a groan. It would be impolite.
The janitor is staring at him expectantly, waiting for him to back off and surrender.
Honestly, Jongseong would have insisted if he was not in such a hurry.
He starts thinking as he walks down the hallway, his feet automatically leading him to the elevator.
Should he just change in his car? His car was nice and spacious but not enough.
Plus, the major problem was the mirror.
He needed a mirror to see himself. And the only place which contained mirrors here were the bathrooms.
Jongseong checks the time again. His phone displaying 20:30 already, in bold. He bites his lip; he is definitely going to be late.
After walking inside the elevator, his index hovers over the 0 for a moment before he makes his mind and presses 5 instead.
The fifth floor, also known as the haunted floor. Students did not go there, it was always dimly lit, cold and very eerie. Jongseong was not an exception, he visited the place one time and it was enough to convince him not to come back again... Until today.
The gates of the elevator slide open and Jongseong shudders. It felt like opening the door leading outside.
Desperate situations call for desperate measures. That is what we say, right?
It was not a big deal. It was not like all those stories about the fifth floor were true, right?
Right?
Jongseong tried not to think about it too much, but it was useless. As he walks through the silent hallway, he thinks about the calcinated student roaming around rooms 45 to 55, or the phantom of the poor disfigured girl who died because she ran into the glass doors of the meeting room.
Jongseong's blood runs cold as he stops in the middle of the hallway. He is reaching rooms 70 to 76, the last ones, the ones located in the end of the hallway. He heard so much stories about those rooms. How students never dared to open one of the doors, how they would hear noises inside at 4 am. Scratching, flipping papers, the sound of the printer working, the light was never open inside yet they always heard suspicious sounds of someone locked there.
Jongseong did not believe in ghosts. Ghosts did not exist. He cannot believe in ghosts since they do not exist.
Collecting some kind of courage, Jongseong starts opening the doors one by one.
45, no lights.
46, no lights.
47, no lights.
Until 66, there were no lights at all, and the rooms were dusty as hell, he did not want his suit to get dirty.
Jongseong closes the door of room 69 and walks to the following one. Before opening the door, however, something shiny catches his attention.
A mirror.
A long rectangular mirror framed in the wall of the hallway, between the doors of room 70 and room 71. Jongseong does not question it, he rushes in front of said mirror and drops his bag on the floor.
Quickly, he takes off his black sweater and opens his bag to tuck it inside. He then pulls out the paper bag which protected his perfect white shirt, checking if everything was inside before proceeding to pull his black tank top above his head, shuddering lightly at the sudden coldness hitting his exposed skin.
He ruffles his hair a little bit before unfolding his suit's shirt and putting it on. Jongseong leans over the mirror to do the buttons, leaving only the two first undone. He adjusts the collar of his shirts and slides his palms over the fabric to smoothen it.
The jacket will be last, so he moved to his pants, starting to unbuckle his belt. Once fully unbuckled, he is sliding it from around his waist when he hears something.
He freezes.
Are there people here? No, it is impossible, no one ever comes here.
A knock. Two. Three. Four. Successively.
They came from the... Wall?
Jongseong frowns, stepping away from the mirror, trying to figure out from where the sounds came.
Lastly, the door of room 70 opens.
The fifth floor was haunted.
Yang Jungwon snorts. That was the joke of the year, really.
The only ghost it had was Jungwon, if so.
Jungwon feels very alive. Sure, he has quite a pale skin, but if he were to compare himself to something he would rather choose Snow White than Peeves.
"- It's really cold here!"
Jungwon rolls his eyes, pulling out the chair to hang his bag pack on its back.
"- Stop complaining Riki-ah, your problem is not the cold but studying, admit it." Jungwon sighs, making himself comfortable and turning around to start taking out all what he needs.
"- Why are we even here, why can't we just do that in one of the study rooms of the other floors?" Riki asks. He drags loudly the chair in front of Jungwon’s. Sunoo winces at the sound, sitting on the chair adjacent to Riki’s.
“- Let’s kick him out of the group.” Sunoo smiles, referring to Riki. The latter glares at him, bumping their shoulders playfully.
“- We can’t, we don’t have much time, he’ll be helpful…” Jungwon mumbles, opening his laptop to start it. He takes out his pencil case as well as the handouts they will work from, checking each paper one more time to be sure he did not take the wrong ones and that everything was there.
“- I hope he will, he’s never helpful. We could have asked Youngbin or Yoonwon.” Sunoo scoffs, crossing his arms over his chest.
“- Yah!” Riki exclaims, looking offended. Sunoo raises one brow, features hardening lightly. “- Why are you so mean to me…” He adds calmly, shying away from the elder’s sharp gaze.
“- Okay.” Jungwon claps his hands once to get the pair’s attention.
The thing is, Riki likes Sunoo. A lot.
But Sunoo does not like Riki. At all.
He is annoying, I can’t stand him, please when he’s joining us or if he’s with you, warn me before. Sunoo had told him two weeks ago, three days after he had introduced his best friend to his other best friend… Who would probably never see each other as friends for two complete opposite reasons.
Jungwon was honestly tired of Riki’s one-sided, sadly but truly hopeless pinning and Sunoo’s pitiful behavior. Sunoo was not making any effort to get along with Riki; he had a stubborn idea about Riki which was clearly false and he did not want to give him his chance, for whatever reason. It riled Jungwon up because he liked both of them but he could not spend time with the two of them at the same time because of the constant electric atmosphere hanging above their heads. Jungwon was even surprised Sunoo decided to sit beside Riki today. Was he trying to tell Jungwon something? The younger made it clear that he did not approve nor like the way he treated Riki. He had talked seriously about it to his best friend, he told him that he did not expect Sunoo to approve all his relationships, but at least, he had to behave and to try. Sunoo was picky when it came to choosing people, he looked to be the extrovert type of people. However, he was not. Sure, you would see him at parties and popular events, yet when it concerned tying serious bonds and engaging in relationships, whatever their nature, he became very selective. It was a good thing, but it also meant he refused half Jungwon’s acquaintances.
It always happened this way: Jungwon meets someone new, he enjoys their company, they become friends, he presents them to Kim Sunoo, Sunoo disapproves them, pointing out their flaws, judging them. It ends up with Jungwon sacrificing his new relationship to save the one he has with his best friend.
Nevertheless, this needed to stop. Jungwon decided that Nishimura Riki would be the one to end it. Riki was as important for Jungwon as Sunoo. He could not afford to ruin one of these two relationships.
“- And to answer your question Riki, we’re going to work here because you wouldn’t be able to focus if there were other people around, I know you. Last time I worked with you on an assignment you started making paper airplanes and threw them around.” Jungwon says.
“- That was funny!” Riki chuckles at the memory.
“- The librarian kicked us out!” Jungwon whines, feeling shameful just by remembering how the old man scolded them.
“- But it was worth it!” Riki defends and Jungwon catches Sunoo rolling his eyes.
“- Your planes did not even fly! They crashed on the floor!”
Riki gasps dramatically.
Jungwon does not say it but the main reason of why they were going to work on their project here was because he believed that room 70 was a sacred place. Whenever Jungwon studied here, he got excellent results in his tests, exams or assignments. Jungwon had taken care of cleaning the room and he claimed it his. No one came here, no one knew that room 70 was the only decent one in the fifth floor. Jungwon liked how it was like his secret lair.
“- Can we just start? It’s almost eight.” Sunoo huffs, cutting off his “conversation” with the youngest.
“- Right, let’s agree on the outline first.” Jungwon nods, browsing on his desktop to look open the articles they would use. “- Riki-ah, can you open your wi-fi?”
“- Yeah.” He answers, grabbing his phone.
Jungwon looks for the right network. He squints his eyes, dragging the cursor through the list of networks.
“- Is it… Oh my god, why is it so complicated? Why is it called ‘DFIZRHGIR’?”
Riki shrugs.
“- My little sister named it.”
“- Are you sure it isn’t rather Nutella?” Sunoo chuckles, he was on his phone, typing a message, probably.
Riki looks at him, and the hopeful look painting his features, shinning eyes and slightly parted lips, is enough to break Jungwon a little bit.
Nutella was Riki’s cat, a very fluffy cat with a fur that looked like chocolate powder. Riki talked about him a lot, he often showed photos of said cat to Jungwon. He had talked about Nutella when Sunoo was with them only once, but it seems that the oldest remembered.
Jungwon can tell that Riki was about to say something, but he does not. He looks down at his phone, typing something.
A minute passes where no one talks. Jungwon was opening a word file to work on and Sunoo and Riki were both on their devices, until the blonde breaks the silence.
“- What the- why is there a network called “Sunoo would you go out with me this Friday!” he asks, very much outraged. Jungwon smirks when he sees him blushing.
“- There are lots of Sunoos in this world you know, especially in Korea.” Riki mumbles, clearly trying to fight back a smug smile. His answer was ridiculous, since everyone knew that Nishimura Riki was the one to whom the network belonged. Needless to point out: It did not take a genius to guess who the Sunoo of the network was.
Sunoo glares at Niki, and Jungwon could not even bring himself to blame him at this point.
“- Delete it! Or change it back to ‘DFIEZJGIO’!” Sunoo seethes, his face growing even redder. Jungwon does not even know if it is from embarrassment or anger; he guesses it must be a little bit of both.
“- It’s ‘DFIZRHGIR’”
“- For I care! Just drop it already! I will never go out with you! Not now, not Friday, not this week, this month or this year, not ever! I’m not even into boys for god’s sake! Stop being a delulu!” And then he is aggressively turning around to pull out his own laptop. Riki is speechless, and it is just so funny.
“- Ouch.” Jungwon winces. Riki leans over the table to whisper to Jungwon.
“- What does a ‘delulu’ mean?”
“- Delusional, I think.” Jungwon whispers back, as if Sunoo cannot hear him.
“- Well that hurts.”
“- I know right.”
In the end, Riki does change his network’s name.
But into “Kim Sunoo would you be my boyfriend?”, which results in Sunoo sulking more than ever.
After agreeing on the outline of their project, which was a research paper about Foreign Language Acquisition, they could start collecting relevant information.
Jungwon chose the topic, and the two others did not complain or disagree. He supposed Sunoo approved the topic because he found it interesting, and Riki did not care that much.
They were actually all working on their respective laptops, collecting information about their assigned titles.
“- What referencing style are we using again?” Jungwon asks absently, frowning at all the articles that unfolded in front of him. There were a lot, he did not know from where to start.
“- APA.”
“- MLA.”
Sunoo and Riki answer at the same time. Unfortunately, not the same answer, though. They blink at each other.
“- We’re using MLA.” Sunoo repeats.
“- No, we’re using APA, we’re discussing psychology.”
“- Our main topic is still language, so we should use MLA!”
They both fall silence, staring at each other. Jungwon huffs in annoyance. He definitely should not have asked.
“- APA.”
“- MLA!”
“- For god’s sake!” Jungwon groans, throwing away the pencil he was taking notes with. “- Let’s just use Chicago then!”
Sunoo gasps.
“- We can’t, that’s for history.” Riki deadpans.
“- I knowk, Riki, I was being ironic!” He basically yells. It was just the beginning and they were already disagreeing. He was doubting his decisions right now. Maybe, he really should have asked someone else instead of Riki.
“- Nevermind, use your MLA if you want.” Riki mutters, turning his head to the side and resting his cheek on his palm.
“- HAH.” Sunoo laughs humourlessly. “- Unbelievable!” he scoffs, crossing one leg on the other. “– Go ahead! Use APA! But don’t come begging for my pardon once we get a bad score because of it!” He adds, folding his arms on his chest.
Riki rolls his eyes, shaking his head, before going back to taking notes.
“- Enough Sunoo-hyung.” Jungwon huffs, massaging his temples with both forefingers, closing his eyes for a brief moment.
He was actually regretting his life choices.
Fortunately, Sunoo complies, although reluctantly.
They go back to work easily with the silence that envelops them after the light argument. The atmosphere is cold and tense in the beginning but it soon turns into a calm and focused one when each one is deeply immersed in what he is doing.
However, it does not last long, for Sunoo and Riki’s attention is soon caught by something else. When Jungwon looks up, he sees the two gawking at something on his left. He frowns and turns his head as well.
You see, that moment when you do not notice something until someone points it out? When, even if this something is quite huge, you do not pay it great, if not any, attention until something related to it happens?
That was what Yang Jungwon was experiencing right now.
He never noticed the long rectangular window that sits in the wall on his right, one meter from the door of the room. He never noticed the other similar window five steps away from the first one, on Riki's left.
If it did not happen that way, Jungwon would have thought of it as a very useless object. Why would they put a glass window which sees through the hallway? That was stupid.
The three of them fell silent, they were staring, too stunned to speak.
A boy, a tall one, was standing in front of the window. He was looking at himself in the window, Jungwon could tell.
He was surprised; no one except for him came in the fifth floor, why would someone venture here with all the rumors and ghost stories spreading like wild fire among students? He either was curious, or the situation called for it.
Either way, Jungwon would have been upset if someone intruded his secret garden. Except this guy was not here to study or use one of the rooms; he was standing in front of the long window Jungwon never noticed. And right now, he was shuffling in what seems to be his bag laying on the floor.
Jungwon's alarms start shining red when the boy takes off his sweater.
"- What the heck!" Riki stutters.
Jungwon does not spare him a glance, too caught on what was happening before his innocent eyes. If anything, they only grow wider.
Sunoo is gawking at the scene; his face was the perfect definition of shocked.
All his life, Jungwon thought that if someone started undressing in front of him, he would look away.
Yet, this situation happened to prove him wrong.
He did not even blink when the stranger took off his tank top as well, revealing honeyed skin, sharp lines and defined muscles.
"- Don't look!" Riki flinches. Jungwon catches him covering Sunoo's eyes.
"- Lemme see!" Sunoo whines, aggressively removing Riki's hand.
"- Perv!" Riki gasps.
"- Mirror! You're looking too!" Sunoo yells back.
Jungwon gets on his feet, he sways his hand in front of the boy’s eyes. The boy is now closing his shirt.
"- I... Don't think he can see us..." He whispers in disbelief, cutting off his best friends' argument.
"- Do you think he can hear us, though?" Riki asks.
"- You mean talking? It doesn't look like he can." Jungwon answers.
The boy is ruffling his hair, leaning over the window. He also seems to be checking his face, turning it from all angles, maybe looking for an imperfection.
Jungwon found it ridiculous. He was so handsome and his face did not bear any imperfection.
In fact, he was really really really handsome.
Jungwon was jealous.
For a moment, a very brief moment, maybe less than a second, he felt as if they locked eyes. He knew that the other one was not seeing him at all, yet the moment his eyes unintentionally found his own, he felt his breath halting in his throat as if meeting a red light, never making it through his nose nor his mouth. And as if being breath taken was not already enough his heart skipped a beat before starting to race madly.
The eye contact did not last more than a second, yet it left him a mess.
Fortunately (or is it?), what happens next brings him out of his unexpected daze.
Jungwon decides it is time to stop this when the boy reaches for his belt.
No fucking way.
He decides to try and knock on the window.
"- Either that, or he really doesn't care we can see him." Sunoo snorts. "- He's pretty hot, after all."
"- Hyung!" Riki gasps again.
"- Oh come on, if I had a body like that, I wouldn't hide it." Sunoo smirks.
"- Okay Mr. Iam-not-into-boys." Riki mocks, imitating Sunoo's previous words with a ridiculously acute voice.
After four knocks or so, the boy seems to fully understand that there is something wrong going on. He is now checking the hallway. Jungwon heaves a deep sigh, stepping back from the window.
"- You're right, I retract it. I'm not into losers." Sunoo grins.
"- Well, you see, I'm not the short one with a weak health here."
"- Fuck you Riki!"
Jungwon turns to them, he pins the youngest with a serious look. Riki lowers his head.
"- That was a low blow, Riki-ah." He huffs.
A heavy silence passes between them where Jungwon looks at them, Riki stares at the keyboard of his laptop, and Sunoo refuses to meet anyone's eyes.
Jungwon sighs.
"- Anyways, I think this dummy thinks this window is a mirror." He explains, pointing at the window with his thumb.
At that, the two look at him.
"- I'm gonna bring him." He announces at last before walking towards the door and opening it slowly.
The boy startles at his appearance, looking frightened as hell.
"- Come in." He tells him.
"- Um..." The boy speaks up, he blinks, probably realizing Jungwon is not a ghost.
Jungwon does not wait for him, he goes back inside, throwing the door wide open for the other as an invitation to enter as well.
Jungwon does not sit back on his chair, he folds his arms over his chest and stands beside his seat.
The boy comes in, stepping hesitantly, and Jungwon is even more annoyed when he does so. He was better looking up there under the bright light of the room.
"- Hello?" He says.
Really? He has a nice voice which matches perfectly his looks too?
Jungwon forces out what he hopes is a reassuring smile, looking at the stranger.
"- Hi, I am Yang Jungwon." He starts, bowing slightly.
The boy nods, bowing as well but still looking very lost and confused. But still handsome.
"- And these two are my friends." He continues, gesturing at Sunoo and Riki with his hand.
Sunoo waves a little bit, offering his usual sunshine smile while Riki bows feebly as well.
The boy nods at them, but this time he is frowning, clearly getting even more confused. Jungwon bites his lip, trying to hide his smile.
"- And this." He finishes, catching the boy's attention again. He points at the glass window with both forefingers. "Is not a mirror."
The stranger's gaze follows what he is pointing at, and he eventually freezes. Jungwon guesses he is understanding the situation.
God, Jungwon really does not want to be in his place right now.
Under the spell of Medusa, the boy does not say anything for easily more than a whole minute, and Jungwon does not push him, he gives him time. He does not fully understand how the other is feeling right now, yet he can imagine. So, he waits.
When he turns to look at his friends, the two are hardly holding their laugher. Sunoo covering his mouth and Riki covering his face with both hands. Jungwon jutts out his lips, pressing his index to them to hush them.
He mouths a 'behave' which seems to amuse Sunoo even more.
"- I..."
The three immediately turn heads to look at the boy. He is scratching at his nape, not looking at any of them.
"- I thought it was a mirror... It looked like it from the hallway." He whispers. Jungwon swears he sees his whole-body flushing beet red, even with his tanned skin.
"- But for us it's a window!" Sunoo chirps, smiling widely.
"- Um... Yeah... I-I..." He exhales than finally turns around to face them fully. He bows. "- I'm sincerely sorry you had to see this."
"- Not complaining, though~" Sunoo sing-songs shamelessly.
Jungwon glares at him and Riki nudges him with an elbow in the rib.
The boy is visibly taken aback, for he stares at Sunoo with wide eyes.
"- Ignore him, he's crazy." Jungwon states simply, smirking when Sunoo shoots him a very offended "Yah!".
"- I'm leaving now, sorry for... Disturbing your study session, I didn't know there would be students here." The boy says at last, pursing his lips before walking out of the room, a little bit too quickly, as if fleeing the scene.
Jungwon cannot find it in himself to blame him.
The boy was mortified.
"- He's so my type." Sunoo sighs dreamily.
"- I'm going to pretend I didn't hear that." Jungwon winces, looking at the window through which the boy was grabbing back his clothes to tuck them inside his bag.
"- I really don't see what you're seeing in him." Riki mumbles, going back to work on his laptop. However, a look at his hands tells Jungwon he is playing Minecraft.
Jungwon watches the boy hanging his bag on his shoulder, and when his silhouette passes by the still open door of their study room, Jungwon does not think twice before rushing outside.
"- Hey wait!" He calls.
The boy turns around immediately, frowning.
"- Yeah?"
Jungwon stops two steps afar from him.
"- Why were you undressing in an empty hallway?" He asks.
The boy startles a little bit, blushing right away and averting his eyes from Jungwon.
"- Yah... Don't say it like that... I wasn't undressing in an empty hallway; I was changing in front of a mirror." He whispers.
Jungwon smiles at his flustered state.
It's cute.
"- Okay, but why?"
The boy huffs, sliding a hand through his dark hair.
"- They locked all the bathrooms and I needed to change; I have an appointment in like..." He brings up his wrist, looking at the very expensive looking watch wrapped around it before turning it for Jungwon to check the time as well. "- Barely ten minutes, so I need to hurry." He adds before turning on his heels to continue walking. Although his steps are faster this time.
"- Waiiiiiit!" Jungwon runs after him until he is walking by his side.
The boy is stubbornly looking in front of him.
"- They didn't lock the fifth floor's bathrooms, you know."
As expected, the boy stops in his tracks. Jungwon grins when he looks down at him.
"- Yeah but... Aren't those like very dirty and dusty?" He asks warily.
"- Only one is decent enough to be used." Jungwon explains.
The dark-haired raises one brow, and Jungwon absently notices the cut in its edge.
"- How?"
"- I took care of it myself!" Jungwon says proudly.
The boy smiles. And Jungwon cannot help but smile back.
"- Well, let me see, then I’ll score it." The boy laughs, and Jungwon is glad his embarrassment is gradually dissipating.
"- Just shut up and follow me." Jungwon says, walking past him.
"- Alright."
The bathroom was neither too far from room 70 nor from the second elevator. Jungwon chose it purposely because of its location. If he needed to go before starting to work, as soon as he arrives at the floor, he would go to the washroom first than continue directly to room 70. Furthermore, if he wanted to go while studying, it would not take him too much time since it was not too far from the room either.
"- Here you go." He says, opening the main door for the boy to check it.
"- It's very neat." He hums after walking inside.
Of course, it was. Jungwon was a perfectionist. People often told him that, and he had started to believe it.
"- Well?"
"- I'll give it an 8.25/10."
Jungwon pouts.
"- You're so weird... Why 0.25?"
"- It was initially 8/10 but I added 0.25 because you helped me." The boy explains, exploring the quite small place. Jungwon can easily make out the playful tone in his voice.
"- That's mean, I basically saved you. My help deserves at least 10 points." He jokes.
The boy chuckles.
"- Right, then 21 outta 10."
"- 21? What's the 1 for, now?" Jungwon raises one brow, stepping inside the washroom as well, walking lazily toward the row of washbowls.
"- Your cuteness."
Jungwon snorts.
"- Smooth."
"- It's quite different from the washrooms of the other floors." The boy hums, checking the cabins.
"- How so?"
"- You don't know?" The boy asks in disbelief, he looks at Jungwon, eye brows shooting to his hairline.
"- No, I've never been to the other washrooms." Jungwon admits, turning around, back to the sinks, leaning on one of them, palms pressed again the marble of it from either side of his body.
"- It's just smaller, maybe the colors are also darker... Or is it just me?" The boy tells him, thoughtful. He is looking at the cream earthenware covering the walls.
Jungwon smiles.
"- You can hang your bag and clothes here as well, if you didn't see it." He points at the brackets piercing the wall.
The boy walks towards the hangers and Jungwon follows behind him.
"- Yeah, it's perfect." He mumbles, hanging his back as told.
He then turns to face Jungwon.
"- I should get going now." Jungwon announces, walking backwards.
"- Yeah, um... Thanks, I owe you." The boy smiles sheepishly.
"- No, it's okay, really." Jungwon chuckles.
He waves awkwardly before exiting the washroom.
While walking in the hallway, suddenly remembering he left Kim Sunoo and Nishimura Riki alone and together. He speeds up to the room.
"- Did you kill each other yet?" Is the first thing he says while entering.
They both raise look at him as he plops down on his seat.
"- Did you get me his number?" Sunoo asks.
And Jungwon ignores him, sliding his index on the mouse of his laptop so that the black screen lights up again.
Riki rolls his eyes at Sunoo before turning to Jungwon to ask:
"- What's his name though?"
Jungwon's fingers freeze, still hovering above the keyboard, about to enter his password.
"- I... Didn't ask." He realizes himself.
"- As expected of you." Sunoo scoffs.
"- It's not like I'm seeing him again either way."
"- Well, at least you met a cute boy." Jake comments, and Jongseong wants to choke him with his lollipop.
“- Hi guys!” Heeseung greets them with his usual white-teethed smile before joining them on the floor, he sits cross-legged beside Jake. He rests his head on Jake’s shoulder.
They were at the skating park, having a little break.
“- You look tired.” The latter observes.
Heeseung shrugs.
“- What are you talking about?”
“- How Jay-
“- Don’t.” Jongseong warns, glaring at Jake and Sunghoon.
The two exchange that knowing look which does not mean anything good.
“- How Jay embarrassed himself.” Jake smiles.
“- The never-ending saga.” Sunghoon adds. Jay leans over to raise the bottom of the apple juice bottle Sunghoon is drinking and some of the content spills on his shirt.
“- Yah!” He stands up, looking down at the drained spot.
“- Deserved.” Heeseung mumbles.
Sunghoon points down at Jongseong.
“- He embarrassed himself in front of some juniors!” He shouts before fleeing, probably to go clean his tee, and save his life. Jongseong does not go after him; he is too lazy and Sunghoon is wearing his rollerblades so he is way too fast.
“- Ohhhh now I’m interested!” Heeseung exclaims, straightening up again, eyes sparkling with interest.
“- We’re not talking about it EVER again.” Jongseong shakes his head.
Hell, he wanted to erase this moment from both his memory and his life.
“- Jake.” Heeseung turns to the youngest, offering his best smile. The one that Jake cannot resist, not that Jake would restrain himself from telling the story again.
“- What do I get in exchange though?”
“- Dinner.”
“- Deal.”
They shake each other’s hands and Jongseong wants to disappear.
Jake clears his throat.
“- It all started with a certain Park Jongseong studying late at the local library…”
Jongseong groans, slumping back on the ground and covering his eyes with his arms.
Why did he tell them again?