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That afternoon, nothing special was happening—except that Juwang came to campus earlier than usual. The reason was simple. He just wanted to go to class without getting caught in the rain, because his class started at 1 p.m., and around that time the sky was usually already dark from heavy clouds.
That afternoon, nothing special was happening—except Donghwa out of the blue asked Juwang to join the UNO game before class started. Juwang was actually fine with that. He had tried it a few times before with Maru, a friend from the class next door, back when they used to live in the same boarding house during freshman year. What made him a little nervous was that Minje was there too. He was worried that if Minje tried talking to him, he might end up doing something stupid out of sheer nervousness. The two of them rarely had one-on-one conversations. Most of the time they talked through chat, and even that usually happened after Juwang struggled to come up with a topic first.
Minje dressed the same as always today. A plain white T-shirt, a gray shirt worn completely unbuttoned, army green cargo pants; his hair slightly messy after running from the parking lot to the building lobby. Well, nothing different from the usual days. Minje still looked very handsome with that signature blank expression on his face.
The UNO game that afternoon was nothing special. But for some reason Juwang’s hands were cold and slightly trembling. Probably it was because of the classroom air-conditioner, he thought. Or maybe because Minje was playing UNO there too?
Perhaps that was the real reason, as during the game Juwang’s focus was completely split. First, because UNO itself was already a tense game. Second, because of where he and Minje were sitting. They played UNO on the floor at the front side of the classroom, sitting in a circle. On Juwang’s right sat Donghwa, and Minje was next to him. Not exactly close, since the circle was pretty loose. But since Donghwa finished his cards early and left the circle, Juwang’s turn ended up coming either before or after Minje’s, which meant more chances for interaction. On top of that, Juwang could now secretly glance at Minje more easily, thanks to Donghwa who had left the formation. Just like now, Juwang was staring at Minje while waiting for his turn, which would come soon. It was currently Minje’s.
“What color was it again?” Minje asked Iju, who had played right before him.
“Red-four, Nje. You have one?”
Minje didn’t answer immediately. He was still weighing which card to pull out. A few seconds later, he quickly threw down three reverse cards.
“Fuck…” Juwang muttered at the same time as Donghyeon, who sat on Juwang’s left.
“Sorry guys, hehe,” Minje said with a proud grin on his face. Then he suddenly turned toward Juwang, “Sorry, Juw.” managed to apologize to the victim he’s targeting in his move, previously.
Juwang just shrugged it off. It was only a game after all. There had to be winners and losers.
Even though he felt a little sad that Minje had the heart to do that to him… well, whatever. Fate was unpredictable.
And yeah, after two rounds Juwang managed to get rid of the last two cards in his hand and
pay Minje back for earlier. Now it was Minje’s turn to suffer because he got skipped.
“You— hahahaha. You’re holding a grudge against me, aren’t you?” Minje complained. Juwang didn’t respond at all. He had already finished his cards anyway.
So now he sat a little farther from the group, watching the rest of the game. Once or twice he helped Donghyeon choosing which card to throw. Every now and then he also stole glances at Minje, quietly laughing at the boy’s frustration while thinking about how lucky he was today to be playing UNO with his crush. This kind of agenda had never even appeared on Juwang’s mental bingo list. And the fact that he could see Minje this clearly—handsome as hell even though he looked a little messy—made him absurdly happy.
The game eventually ended with Donghyeon losing, several cards still left in his hand. Donghwa, being the mischievous person he was, immediately teased him for being bad at the game even though he had already been taught how to play.
Before Donghyeon could scold Donghwa, Iju told them to stop and return to their seats. Without them realizing it, the classroom had already filled up, and just a few moments later their lecturer walked in carrying a laptop and a tumbler.
Ah. Juwang suddenly remembered something else. There was another thing that made that afternoon a little more special compared to the previous ones. Juwang managed to get a strategic seat—specifically, the one right behind Minje. Normally they sat pretty far apart: Minje near the lecturer’s desk and Juwang near the classroom door. But thanks to arriving early, Juwang got lucky.
He thought his luck ended there. But apparently not.
While the lecturer was preparing some things at the desk, the students still had a bit of time to talk or get ready themselves. Minje, who was rummaging through the bag beside his chair, suddenly spoke.
“Here. I got you something.”
He pulled something small out of the bag. Juwang couldn’t see it clearly because it was tiny and his eyes were bad, so he leaned forward slightly asking what Minje was holding.
Minje handed out the object onto Juwang’s hand so the boy could see it better.
It wasn’t anything special. But it made Juwang freeze completely. His heart beat fast.
“Huh?” Juwang blurted out without realizing it. His face showed clear confusion. Quickly, he regained composure and reached out to take the object from Minje’s hand.
It was a fish-shaped keyring charm. A very small and simple thing, roughly the size of Minje’s thumb. Honestly, it wasn’t anything remarkable, but considering it was given by Minje– I repeated, MINJE, his crush for nearly a year– Juwang decided to ignore the thought and let his ego win, enjoying the moment instead.
“Why is it so cute?” Juwang commented casually. “Where’d you buy it?”
“I didn’t actually plan to buy it,” Minje explained. “But my shopping total was so close to getting a discount yesterday, so I just added this.” He clarified. Yet, to Juwang, that explanation didn’t really answer his question at all. It was more like oversharing.
Still, as a good friend, Juwang responded anyway, appreciating the effort Minje made to explain. Minje simply grinned like he always did.
In spite of that, their other friend, Kyehoon, who sat beside Juwang, suddenly chimed in.
“Wait, you went out somewhere, Nje?”
“Yeah. With my sister.”
“Ohhh, I thought it was with your Tinder match.” Kyehoon deliberately teased him, successfully provoking Minje.
“What are you talking about? I don’t do that kind of stuff. Better watch your mouth.”
“Come on, last week you told me you have been close with someone—”
“Stop making up stories, you idiot.” Minje was genuinely getting annoyed now, even pointing a finger at Kyehoon, which gave a sign that he seriously got annoyed by that person.
But thank God, the lecturer, who finished preparing, immediately gave them a small warning gesture before beginning the attendance check, forcing the two of them to stop. Back to serious mode.
“Just you wait, Lee Kyehoon,” Minje muttered with his fist ready to give him a punch, before turning briefly to Juwang. “You better stay away from that devil, Juw. You might catch whatever he’s got.”
Kyehoon laughed his words off, clearly pleased he had managed to annoy Minje.
Juwang, who was sitting between them, could only watch. Once or twice he laughed at their chaotic interaction, which looked very best-friend coded to him.
After that, the class went on as usual. The lecturer delivered some material, followed by presentations and a few questions from students. Throughout the class, Juwang tried very hard not to act weird after that simple but meaningful moment.
Maybe it sounded cheesy or whatever, but Juwang was genuinely that happy to receive something from his crush—someone he once thought he’d only ever interact with through chat. Though, the keyring itself wasn’t anything to his preference. But it became precious because it came from Minje.
And do you know what made it worse?
Class had just ended. Everyone slowly left the room to continue their day. Juwang wasn’t sure what everyone else planned to do, but his close friends—like Iju, Donghwa, Donghyeon, and of course Minje—usually went straight back to their houses or dorms. Juwang planned to do the same.
“Heading home right away, huh?”
Juwang nearly jumped out of his skin when Minje suddenly appeared beside him as he walked toward the building’s elevator.
“Damn it, Nje, you scared me!” Juwang lightly smacked Minje. The guy only showed his bright smile. “Yeah, I’m going home. Why?”
“I’ll drive you.”
Juwang’s eyes widened in shock. Minje had been acting strangely all day. For a second Juwang even wondered if Minje had been possessed by some love-struck spirit, because there was no way he’d suddenly act this sweet otherwise.
Honestly, Juwang wanted to refuse the ride. Just imagine what his heart would go through. But opportunities like this didn’t come twice, bruh. Moreover, this was his crush. There was no way Juwang was going to waste it.
So that evening went by like that.
Juwang went home on Minje’s motorbike. He asked Minje to drop him off at the entrance of the alley leading to his boarding house. During the ride they barely spoke at all. The awkwardness was painfully obvious.
Juwang actually hated that kind of silence. He was usually pretty talkative. But if he tried to start a conversation with Minje, he was afraid the topic would turn dry. They weren’t exactly on the same wavelength, and Minje was driving, which would make the conversation even more awkward, plus inconvenient. So Juwang chose silence.
Only when they reached the alley entrance did they start talking again, initiated by Minje.
“You sure you don’t want me to drop you off right in front?”
“Are you my boyfriend or what?”
Juwang’s random response made Minje burst out laughing, though he tried to hold it back since his laugh was usually loud.
“I’m serious, Juwang.”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. It’s totally fine, Nje. I just have to take a short walk.”
“You sure?”
“Ask again and I’ll punch you,” Juwang joked, raising a clenched fist. Minje pretended to dodge it, playing along with the short drama.
“Just go home already. The sky looks really cloudy, you know. You’ll get caught in the rain.”
“Wow, look at you, Juw, being caring about me huh?.”
Juwang rolled his eyes, pretending to look disgusted even though he was actually embarrassed saying that kind of stuff.
“Idiot. You’re worse. Now go home.”
Minje laughed again, his deep voice making his laugh sound oddly like some neighborhood dad. But Juwang liked it anyway.
“Alright, I’m going now. Don’t forget to use that keyring, okay? I worked hard picking it out—”
“—What?”
Gotcha, Choi Minje.
“Nothing. Just kidding, Juw. Haha.”
At that point Juwang’s heart was pounding wildly. It felt like everyone walking past the alley could hear it, including Minje.
What ..did Minje mean by that just now?
Juwang desperately wanted to ask, but Minje was earlier, he had already said goodbye, as the sky had grown darker with thick nimbostratus clouds, and a few raindrops had begun falling.
“Alright, I’m heading off. Bye-bye.” Minje waved quickly and sped off on his bike, riding straight onto the main road.
Juwang, still in shock, didn’t even manage to say back before Minje disappeared down the road. Once Minje was completely out of sight, Juwang slowly started walking toward his boarding house. He slipped a hand into his pants pocket and took out the fish keyring. He stared at it quietly, wondering why Minje had suddenly given it to him in class earlier.
Out of all the people there… why him?
“If it hadn’t been me sitting there… would you still have given this to whoever sat there, Nje?”
So many questions filled his mind that Juwang found himself hard to focus on anything else for quite a while. All because of that damn tiny fish keyring.
.end