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People don’t get Kim Sunoo.
It is known that the boy seemed to never follow a trend, rather creating his own, amongst college students in his university. He sticks out like a sore thumb every single time he steps on campus.
If one was observant, they’d see how people grimace whenever they see him wearing those purple fuzzy sweaters of his or his oversized tees with painfully large prints of patterns. Matching with his outfit would always be his backpack that hugs his back with a familiar shape of a rock, because of how full it always seems to be. It is filled with various keychains and a photocard holder with his favourite Hobi photocard. The final touch to this would be his mint green tumbler with cute stickers on it.
The cherry on top would be his pink hair. It explains why he sticks out like a sore thumb amongst brunettes and blondes.
“Sunoo, you’re looking again” Jungwon informed the whole table, not just Sunoo, with a tone between a groan filled with disappointment and a murmur flowing with exhaustion. Everyone around the table seemed to stop their chewing—or whatever they were doing, just to look at the boy daunting a neon green hoodie and his trail of vision.
Of course, it leads to him again. Riki almost rolled his eyes but chose not to, giving their food enough respect.
Now this was another thing people don’t get about Kim Sunoo. Far beyond his outstanding fashion taste was his unbelievable taste in men.
The boy blushed at his exposure before grabbing his chopsticks once again and picking up a piece of the sweet and sour pork dish on his plate. “I wasn’t…” he tried to claim, yet never really reasoning himself out.
“We have eyes, Noo” Heeseung stared straight ahead, looking at Sunoo with a gaze known to many. “Besides, you weren’t even hiding it.” Heeseung smirked, looking at Sunoo’s muse’s direction this time.
Sunoo pursed his lips. “That obvious?” He asked while gritting his teeth, accepting defeat with furrowed brows. “Yes.” Jay replied fast.
“It is so obvious, Sunoo. You so have a crush on Sunghoon.” What Jungwon said earned a gasp from Sunoo, paired with widened eyes.
“Tone it down! He might hear you!” Sunoo hastily shushed Jungwon, who only raised both hands in compliance. “Remember his code name. Glasses. Okay?” Sunoo whispered to the whole table. As if this code name hasn’t been a thing for a long time now.
“Well, glasses..” Jungwon correcting himself earned a bright smile from Sunoo. “is your crush.” The full grin smile immediately reached a cliff as it fell down.
“He is not my crush!” Everyone at the table wasn’t even paying attention to the conversation anymore. They were tired of the repeated words coming from Sunoo’s mouth. (It consists of glasses, he is, not, and my crush. The bell would ring soon after that.)
Jungwon rolled his eyes. “Why do you even like him? Yeah he's good at calculus and biology, but he doesn’t even talk to any of us.”
“Well mind you, Yang. He is also good at physics and language! I’ve even seen him do well in photography, but it’s a wonder to me why he didn’t apply to the photography club…or I don’t know? Share the pictures on the school page? Oh! and his speaking voice sounds really nice. I once heard him talk with his friend once when I was passing by their table at the library.” Sunoo suddenly grew quiet. “And his glasses make him look hot.” He whispered. Sunoo slumped further down his chair like a kid who wasn’t allowed to get milkshake. A child embarrassed when their parents are narrating their hilarious mistake, better.
“That’s not a crush?“ Riki asked, knowing damn well what the answer was. His baffled face was comedy.
“Damn, Sunoo. You have the hots for that guy. A bit weird ‘cause he looks like he doesn’t have time to date because he either reads or slumps on his computer and plays games with those glasses of his but it’s fine since you fit with each other. Both of you are weird.”
“Wow, thanks!” Sunoo replied sarcastically. “I am not weird, nor is he. We’re just people who live uniquely.”
“Still a common factor. Congratulations, you are a perfect pair with Park Sunghoon!” Jungwon exclaimed. This earned a look from the man himself who cleared his throat and looked up while separating his bangs with a fingertip.
“I..” Sunghoon, in the flesh, started. Sunoo looked terrified at this. He wasn’t ready at all to face the man who continuous to fill his jar of thoughts. He woke up today certain that he won’t get any interaction with the pretty boy and now he’s sitting at the table interacting with the said boy. Sunoo can’t breathe at the thought.
Maybe it’s not a good thing to talk about a crush on the table when said crush was beside their table. Sunoo kept that in mind as if he has a pen and a notepad in the pocket of his tuxedo.
Sunghoon closed his mouth, pursing it into a thin line. “I just heard my name?” Sunghoon let out an awkward chuckle. Sunoo wanted to squeal at this. (He squirmed without a sound, thankfully.)
Jungwon jumped as an effect to the interaction, knowing he was the suspect of mentioning the boy’s name. “Oh! Uhm.. we were saying how good you were on calculus and biology…” Jungwon replied with another awkward chuckle. The fact that what he said wasn’t the whole truth was not necessary to be known by Sunghoon, afterall.
“..Physics and language as well.” These are the first words Kim Sunoo ever uttered to his admired person and all he wanted to do at that moment was go to his room and squeal on his pillows. Pink bloomed as pigment on his cheeks, while his heart started beating faster. He tried to hide it by subtly hollowing his cheeks and looking at another direction. Sunoo thought he was going to die by this mere talk. Why did he even say that?
Jungwon was about to laugh, but chose to hold it in by sipping on his diet coke. He guessed that’s another portion of the truth told to Sunghoon by Sunoo himself.
Sunghoon licked his lips at this. He looked down to the ground at the comment, an action that indicated he was rather shy at this interaction. Because of this, his glasses were pulled forward to his nose bridge, making him push it back to its original position once he looked up once again with his teeth settled on a grin. Sunoo wanted to curse because of it.
“Oh.. thank you.” Although Jungwon was the one who replied, Sunghoon only looked at Sunoo while adoring his thanks. This did not go unnoticed by the people around them, including Jaeyun who was Sunghoon’s friend. Various eye contacts were formed by the people that surrounded them, hinting the same idea forming inside their heads.
“N..no problem.” Sunoo smiled, accepting the reality that this was the end of the conversation and no other thing was left to say. Their life would go on and Sunghoon would forget that this interaction even happened between the two of them, and Sunoo knows that. (Deep inside, Sunoo was begging for anything else to happen because this could possibly be the first and last interaction he would get with the man.)
“I like your sweater, by the way.” By the grace of the heavens above, something did happen. Sunoo felt like he was about to jump off a cliff or enter the stadium of his favourite artist with how fast his heart pounded at the complement.
“Really? People say I look weird because of this sweater. That’s a first.” Sunoo replied, now fully facing Sunghoon who also abrupbtly manoeuvred his body to face Sunoo. Park Sunghoon never fails to charm Sunoo, that’s a fact.
“Who said that?” Sunghoon furrowed his brows, leaning more forward and decreasing the gap between them. His tone hinted a bit of anger, obviously not towards Sunoo. Perhaps the rage was for the unknown people who directed unkind words to Sunoo, which sparked another rhythm on Sunoo’s fast heartbeat.
“Um..well, they don’t really say it. But I see how people look at me.” Sunoo replied. It was quite a surprise how they got into a topic like this with an accelerated pace. Yesterday, Sunghoon probably didn’t even know Sunoo, at least that’s what Sunoo assumes.
“They don’t matter, I think you look good anyway.” Sunghoon smiled, genuine.
This takes Sunoo back to the times he used to lay his eyes on Sunghoon, and when he thought that this guy was a shy one. The chance that Sunghoon was a boy who feigned bashfulness was at high percentage when Sunoo observed him. However, one conversation proved him wrong, because Park Sunghoon wasn’t shy at all. Maybe he was at first, but his confidence seemed to grow while conversing with Sunoo.
“Oh..Thank you” Sunoo blushed, choosing not to hide his flustered face this time. Now that he was facing the boy, Sunoo started thinking of the possibility that—indeed. Indeed, this was a crush. And the percentage of Park Sunghoon reciprocating this crush of his wasn’t zero.
Sunghoon patted his head gently, “You’re too cute, Sunoo.” The awkward chuckle from earlier was gone. There blooms a melody of Sunghoon’s genuine laugh with a carefree glee.
Sunoo doesn’t remember if he returned the smile or if he was left there staring at Sunghoon’s well thought face. Eitherway, he wanted to melt that afternoon. (And kiss Sunghoon on his lips.)
Maybe Jungwon was right all along, and Sunoo doesn’t mind having Park Sunghoon as his crush.