Chapter Text
“Move, move! The bell's gonna ring!”
The morning rush had begun. Students flooded through the front gates in a chaotic wave, weaving through crowded hallways with half-eaten breakfasts in hand and backpacks bouncing against their shoulders. Lockers slammed shut one after another while the chatter of hundreds of conversations echoed throughout the building.
Amidst the usual chaos, one name seemed to travel through the hallway faster than everyone else.
“Kim Mingyu's here.”
Heads instinctively turned.
“Seriously?”
“He's over there.”
The first thing students saw every morning wasn't the school building.
It was Kim Mingyu.
Whether he was walking through the front gates with a basketball tucked under one arm or laughing loud enough for the entire hallway to hear, it was impossible not to notice him. Conversations paused as he passed. Girls nudged each other with knowing smiles while freshmen whispered among themselves about Mingyu.
“He looks so good today.”
“Did you hear that Kim Mingyu scored twenty points yesterday?”
“No way.”
Since childhood, Kim Mingyu has always been surrounded by people, he had a charm that pulled others towards him. Although it is kind of universally true that popular dudes are assholes. Not only that, Mingyu was smart and handsome. He had thick eyebrows, sharp jawline, and a striking face. Mingyu was well-built, too, as a result of his hard work at the gym. His model-like features and his presence is what makes people notice him right away. He has a burning hot aura around him, attracting people to be near him.
Mingyu and his two best friends, Minghao and Seokmin, were like puzzle pieces that could only fit with each other. They had met on the first day of high school and had been together since. They were the glorious trio and the school’s heartthrob that had reigned over the high school since their freshman year, even seniors feared them!
Xu Minghao was a skinny little boy that had elegant features and was always effortlessly beautiful. He has a great sense of fashion and is the calm person of the three in the trio. Minghao moves much more gracefully than the others, giving off a prince vibe. He also loves dancing, which he does during his free time.
Meanwhile, Lee Seokmin is a very cheerful yet handsome guy. He has sharp features and a large nose, which people find as the highlight of his face. He’s like a walking ray of sunshine, spreading happiness wherever he goes. Seokmin gives off a friendly and approachable aura, making people feel comfortable right away. When he smiles (which he does often), his eyes scrunch up and his mouth curves up to the side of his ears, showing off his white teeth. People say he’s a goofball, but that just makes him more lovable. He makes people laugh effortlessing, adding to his charm.
Mingyu and his inseparable trio were at the peak of their youth, they were everything other students aspired to be. As they made their way down the hallway, students greeted them with waves and cheerful good mornings, some whispering excitedly after they passed. Mingyu acknowledged each greeting with an easy smile...
However, his smile vanished the moment he realized his breakfast was missing. His gaze landed on Seokmin. He had a shit-eating grin that Mingyu recognized. It was the same grin he'd worn after hiding Mingyu's gym shoes in freshman year, the same grin he'd worn after convincing their chemistry teacher that Mingyu had accidentally lit a worksheet on fire. Whenever Seokmin smiled like that, it meant trouble.
“...Seokmin,” whispered Mingyu, aggravated that Seokmin stole his breakfast.
“No,” refused Seokmin. He held the sandwich just out of Mingyu’s reach, teasing him with it.
“...Lee Seokmin!” growled Mingyu.
“Nope.” Then Seokmin proceeds to unfold the plastic wrap around the sandwich, slowly starting to walk away. Mingyu, of course, follows along.
“Give me my sandwich back!” demanded Mingyu, his potato fingers trying to snatch his sandwich out of Seokmin’s hands. Lee Seokmin shoved half of the sandwich into his mouth before Mingyu could snatch it away, cheeks puffed out like a squirrel preparing for winter.
“You literally ate your breakfast at home!” huffed Mingyu, frustrated and hangry. “I woke up late today!”
“Uhm mm gwoming moy (I'm a growing boy)!” Seokmin looked at him mischievously and slowly started to chew. Crumbs and tiny bits of bacon dropped onto the floor, yet he continued eating as if nothing had happened.
Mingyu looked disgusted, but didn’t comment on the pieces of bacon falling out of his mouth. “We're the same age.”
Seokmin swallowed down the chunk and said, “I'm growing emotionally.”
Minghao, who had been quietly scrolling through his phone beside them, let out a long sigh.
“I've decided,” he said without looking up, “that pretending I don't know either of you is the only way I'll survive this year.”
“You say that every week,” Seokmin grinned.
“And every week I mean it.”
Mingyu finally managed to yank what little remained of his sandwich out of Seokmin's hands.
“One day,” he muttered, inspecting the remains of his sandwich sadly, “I'm going to start charging you.”
“You wouldn't.”
“I would.”
“You love me too much.”
“I tolerate you.”
Seokmin grinned. “Close enough.”
The three continued down the hallway, bickering loudly enough that several teachers glanced over before simply shaking their heads. As they rounded the corner, a group of first-year students hurried out of the way.
“Morning, Mingyu!”
“Hey.”
A girl waved shyly from another classroom. She walked towards them with a box of chocolate in hand, looking at Mingyu timidly.
“Good morning, Mingyu,” squeaked the girl, holding out a neatly wrapped box of chocolates. Mingyu took it from her hands and flashed a flirtatious grin. Unable to look Mingyu in the eye, colour started to rise to her cheeks and she confessed, “I just wanted to let you know that I really like you!"
Mingyu flashed her the Mingyu-signature smile, the one that showed off the slight peek of his canine teeth and had earned him more confessions than he cared to count. The girl's face turned an even brighter shade of pink. Unfortunately, his egotistical ass would not be able to let this confession slide, especially when the girl is just his type. Cute, shy, long dark hair framing her face, with soft bangs that nearly hid her nervous eyes. Her makeup was soft and natural, carefully applied to enhance her features rather than draw attention to herself. She couldn't even bring herself to look at him for more than a second before glancing back down at her shoes.
Cute.
Mingyu gently tapped the lid of the chocolate box between them. “Then…” He gently tapped the box of chocolates. “How about we get to know each other first?”
Her eyes widened. “R-Really?” A hopeful sparkle lit up her face, as if she couldn't believe what she'd just heard.
“No promises, though." He shrugged. “But who knows?”
“Okay!” The poor girl who was about to get her heart broken in perhaps a few weeks looked so giddy and astonished.
“Thanks for these, by the way.” Mingyu lifted the box slightly. “They look really good.”
“I... I made them myself,” she admitted quietly.
“Seriously?” Mingyu's eyebrows lifted. “Then I definitely have to try them.”
That earned him another flustered smile. “Bye, Mingyu!”
She practically skipped back to her friends. The moment she reached them, they exploded into excited squeals.
“What did he say?”
“Tell us!”
“Did he accept?”
The girl buried her face in her hands, nodding furiously as her friends immediately crowded around her. Mingyu watched them disappear down the hallway before letting out a quiet laugh.
“Cute.”
Unfortunately for him, he only had about three seconds to appreciate his newly acquired chocolates. A familiar hand suddenly reached over his shoulder. Seokmin snatched the chocolates right out of Mingyu's hands.
“More food!” cheered Seokmin, triumphantly, already peeling back the ribbon as if it belonged to him.
“HEY!” Mingyu protested, “I never said you could have them!”
Seokmin popped a chocolate into his mouth with zero remorse. “Wow, homemade chocolate sure is different! Mingyu, here, I’ll give you one!”
Mingyu only stared at Seokmin incredulously. “Those are mine to begin with, and now you’re offering them to me?!”
Minghao sighed. “That girl spent all night making those. Mingyu, why are you giving her false hope when you know you’re just going to reject her in the end?”
Mingyu shrugged, taking the piece of chocolate Seokmin was offering. “She was cute.”
Seokmin pondered for a moment. Amazed, he said, “that's your thirty-second confession this semester.”
“Thirty-third,” Minghao corrected. “You forgot the girl from the music club.”
Mingyu groaned. “Do you guys keep a spreadsheet or something?”
Seokmin laughed as he tossed another chocolate into his mouth.
Around them, the hallway buzzed with the usual morning chaos. Students greeted Mingyu as they passed, some stopping just long enough to wave while others shyly wished him a good morning. He answered each greeting with the same easy smile, always lingering long enough to invite another confession.
It was simply how things had always been.
Kim Mingyu was the kind of person who couldn't walk five steps without someone recognizing him. At the other end of the school, however, no one spared Jeon Wonwoo a second glance.
Jeon Wonwoo cradled a paper cup of coffee in one hand while balancing three textbooks against his chest with the other. Jeon Wonwoo was just an introverted maverick who no one talks to. He had a face handsome enough that could slap Mingyu in the face twice, with black hair, soft features and glasses. Wonwoo is the mysterious type of handsome, sharp eyes and cool presence.
At the start of freshman year, everyone gossiped about what kind of person Wonwoo would be, perhaps the mysterious cool guy or the cold prince type. Several people had attempted to spark a conversation with him, but they ended up leaving because Wonwoo answered everything half-heartedly. Eventually they all left him alone, labelling him as the boring type. However, he has friends who would refuse to leave his side, such as Wen Junhui.
A pair of glasses rested low on his nose as he stared intently into the book, so engrossed in the pages that he barely noticed the students weaving around him.
“You're reading while walking again.”
Wonwoo looked up just enough to see Wen Junhui matching his pace, his hands stuffed into the pockets of his pants.
Wonwoo looked back down at his book and answered, “I'm being productive, unlike someone here.”
Junhui let out an amused snort, “Productive? More like an addiction to books.”
Wonwoo merely shrugged.
Junhui laughed. “One of these days you're going to walk into a wall.”
Junhui had been a child actor for as long as anyone could remember and continued to appear in dramas even now. After the Golden Trio, Jun is the next most popular guy in the school. He has that unreal, ethereal kind of handsome, like he walked straight out of a fantasy drama (which he did). His beautiful symmetrically sharp face makes people turn around twice to get a better look at him.
A faint smile tugged at the corner of Wonwoo's lips before disappearing just as quickly. He lifted his coffee for another sip, eyes never leaving the page. Unlike the noisy hallways surrounding the classrooms, this corridor remained pleasantly quiet. Most students avoided it during the morning rush, giving Wonwoo the peace he preferred.
Junhui, however, seemed determined to ruin that peace. “Soonyoung's looking for us. He said Jihoon insulted his dancing again.”
“He probably deserved it.”
“I said the same thing.”
Silence settled comfortably between them. It wasn't awkward; with Junhui, it never was. It lasted exactly six seconds. From somewhere down the hallway, the unmistakable sound of frantic footsteps came loudly
“SEOKMIN!”
The shout echoed loud enough to make several students turn their heads.
“GET BACK HERE!”
Junhui chuckled at the noise. “We should probably hurry up and get to class. Don’t want to be tangled up in whatever chaos the other students have planned.”
Wonwoo didn't even look up from his book.
“They're probably just playing around.” Wonwoo shrugged, still not looking up from his book. “Probably not going to bother us.”
At the same time–
“YOU THIEF!”
Mingyu lunged after Seokmin, who sprinted down the hallway holding a box of chocolates over his head like it was a championship trophy.
“You'll have to catch me first!”
“I WILL.”
Minghao slowed to a stop, watching the two idiots sprint away. He pinched the bridge of his nose before letting out a long, exhausted sigh.
"I don't know them," he muttered.
Students scrambled out of the way as the two flew past. Seokmin rounded the corner at full speed, holding a box of chocolates as if it was like his dear life. Mingyu was only a second behind him, his hair flying back, showing off his forehead.
Neither of them noticed the student coming from the opposite direction. Seokmin, a second faster, had dodged Wonwoo, Mingyu, however, was not so lucky.
BAM.
The impact sent everything flying.
Books flew from Wonwoo's arms as though they'd exploded from the force. His coffee slipped through his fingers, the paper cup bursting open on impact and splashing dark liquid across the pristine pages of his notes. A collective gasp rippled through the students nearby.
“Huh?”
Wonwoo stared at the mess in complete silence.
Coffee seeped into the edges of his notebook, the careful annotations he'd spent hours writing disappearing beneath muddy brown stains. His carefully ironed school uniform that was immaculate is now covered in dark brown stains. His navy blazer is now dripping with coffee over the white sweater vest underneath.
His grip tightened around the only book he'd managed to save.
Slowly...
Wonwoo lifted his head. His jaw tightened.
“Hey.”
Mingyu had already turned back towards Seokmin.
“Hey!” Wonwoo snapped, louder this time.
That finally got Mingyu's attention. He stopped mid-step and glanced over his shoulder, a faint crease forming between his brows.
“What?” said Mingyu, irritated.
Wonwoo stared at him in disbelief. Was this guy seriously acting as if he was the one being inconvenienced? Clutching the only dry book he'd managed to salvage, Wonwoo stood his ground and met Mingyu's gaze without so much as a flicker of hesitation.
There was something about the way Wonwoo looked at him that made Mingyu instinctively straighten his posture. Wonwoo wasn't loud, nor was he physically intimidating, but the unwavering look in his eyes made Mingyu hesitate. Mingyu had expected anger. Instead, Wonwoo's calm stare somehow unsettled him even more. It was ridiculous. Mingyu towered over Wonwoo by a few inches, yet somehow it felt like he was the one being put on the spot.
Wonwoo said coldly, “You just ran into me.”
Mingyu glanced between Wonwoo, the scattered books, and the puddle of coffee. However, he just shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Sorry.”
It was the kind of apology that sounded more like an obligation than genuine remorse. Wonwoo frowned and pressed his lips into a thin line. Seriously? That was it?
Before Wonwoo could respond, a voice from the other end of the hallway interrupted them.
“GYU!” Seokmin yelled. He waved the stolen box of chocolates triumphantly above his head. “Hurry up! Do you want your box of chocolates or not?! It’s almost class time, too!”
Mingyu instinctively glanced over his shoulder.
Seokmin was already halfway down the corridor, grinning like he'd just won the lottery. A warning bell echoed faintly through the school, reminding everyone the first period was only minutes away.
Mingyu hesitated.
He looked back at Wonwoo, then at the coffee slowly spreading across the floor. The soaked notebooks. The books scattered in every direction.
“My bad,” he said again, with an awkward smile. “Really.”
Before Wonwoo could say another word, Mingyu turned and jogged after Seokmin and Minghao.
“Hey! Wait up!” shouted Wonwoo. And Wonwoo rarely shouted, let alone raise his voice to such a degree.
“Took you long enough!” Seokmin laughed, immediately throwing an arm around Mingyu's shoulders as the two disappeared into the crowd, Minghao following behind with another weary sigh. Wonwoo remained rooted to the spot, staring at the trail of coffee dripping from the edge of his notebook onto the polished floor.
“...Did he seriously just…”
Junhui crouched beside him, picking up one of the soaked notebooks.
“...Well,” he muttered after seeing the coffee-soaked pages, “I did tell you one day you'd walk into something.”
When Wonwoo didn't respond, Junhui's teasing smile faded.
“You okay?” Junhui took a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped it on Wonwoo’s jacket. Wonwoo pushed his glasses back up the bridge of his nose, staring at the coffee slowly soaking into the pages. The apology had barely lasted a second before Mingyu disappeared down the hallway.
“...Who was that?”
Junhui looked taken aback, genuinely surprised.
“You don't know Kim Mingyu?”
Wonwoo only glanced at him, still fuming that his notebooks were soaked and his carefully ironed uniform was drenched. “Should I?”
Before Junhui could answer, a nearby student stepped in from the growing crowd that had witnessed the collision. The student let out a disbelieving laugh. “You seriously don’t know who Kim Mingyu is? Our school's golden boy!”
Another student chimed in.
“Basketball captain. Student Council President. Straight-A student. Popular with basically everyone.”
“He's been confessed to, like, thirty times already this semester.”
“Thirty-three,” someone corrected.
Junhui let out a low whistle. “Wow, that’s insane.”
Wonwoo, however, only remained silent. His gaze drifted down to his book. Coffee continued to drip from the warped pages, each drop smearing ink that had taken him hours to organize the night before. The edges curled from the heat, and his careful annotations had dissolved into muddy streaks. He tightened his grip on the notebook until his knuckles turned white.
Golden boy, huh?
He let out a slow, controlled breath.
“I already know I don't like him.”
He meant it.