Yuncha woke up the next day with a headache and a somewhat sore throat. He sat himself up against the headboard and realised Jaeyoung was holding onto his hand. He tried to pull him off but the latter just quickly grabbed on even in his sleep.
"Mm.." Jaeyoung groaned softly as he rolled onto his back. He squinted his eyes open as he yawned. "..Yun."
"Hm?"
"When did you wake up?"
"Just now," Yuncha suddenly winced as he felt his head throb, "do you have anything for hangovers?"
"Don't drink so much next time."
"I only did it because you stressed me out."
Jaeyoung got up, still half asleep as he yawned again. "Wait here, I'll get it for you…" He said as he stumbled out of the bedroom. After checking a few cupboards, he walked back in with a hangover cure and cracked it open.
Yuncha reached out, looking up at Jaeyoung with a puzzled expression as he refused to hand it over.
Jaeyoung grinned then lifted his chin with one hand as the other brought the small bottle up to Yuncha's mouth.
"… What are you doing?"
"Helping you."
"I can drink it myself."
"Come on, it's going to spill at this rate," he said, tilting the bottle so slightly there was no way it was going to. But Yuncha seemed to play along, sighing before opening his mouth and leaning his head back slightly.
A satisfied look spread over Jaeyoung's face as the sound of gulps filled the room.
A slither of the liquid dripped down Yuncha's chin as he finished the bottle. He raised his hand to wipe it but wasn't quick enough to beat Jaeyoung who had leaned in with a kiss suddenly, licking the side of his mouth before smirking.
"Hmm… it's sweet."
The astonished expression on Yuncha's face faded quickly as he sighed, as if used to Jaeyoung's antics.
Jaeyoung, who had hoped that would've got a bigger reaction out of him pouted slightly as Yuncha began to get changed. "Do you have class today?"
-
The two students walking down the open corridor of the fashion building kept a reasonable distance. Despite that, the one ahead was starting to get frustrated.
Yuncha paused his steps and turned around. "Are you really going to follow me?"
Jaeyoung who had been silently trailing behind him nodded his head.
"Don't you have a lecture to get to?"
"It got cancelled."
"Oh really? Then let me ask—"
He quickly grabbed Yuncha's phone from him and raised it out of reach, "there's no need for that, don't you trust me?"
"Not at all, hand it over."
He returned Yuncha's phone, only doing so because he knew Yuncha wouldn't actually check whether or not what he said was true. Jaeyoung smiled to himself as Yuncha began walking again.
Stopping outside a classroom, Yuncha checked if anyone was inside before pushing the door open. There was a large table in the middle of the room created by smaller individual desks and sat by it was a girl scrolling through her phone.
She looked up in surprise as she heard the door open and flashed a welcoming smile as she saw Yuncha. "Yuncha, hi! You're here early."
Yuncha gave a polite nod. "I figured it'd be better to get here early so we can start sooner."
She nodded in agreement, "definitely, but we still need to wait for the other two.." An over exaggerated sigh came from her mouth, her fake annoyed expression changing as soon as she noticed that someone else was here. "Oh hello. Sorry I should've introduced myself," she stood up and extended her hand, almost too formal for meeting classmates. "I'm Kang Eunbi, second year, fashion major."
A natural smile appeared on Jaeyoug's face as he replied in the same manner. "Cho Jaeyoung, first year, business major."
"Nice to meet you…" Eunbi furrowed her brows, looking like she was deep in thought for a few seconds before asking, "wait are you.. Cho Jaeyoung as in the Cho group's Cho Jaeyoung?"
Jaeyoung nodded.
"Oh wow—"
Her excitement was interrupted as someone peeked their head around the door. A guy with soft light brown hair strolled in, placing his bag that was slung over one shoulder onto a chair. "Are we all here?"
"Oh, Yuncha this is Lee Seohyeon, he's a second year too and Seohyeon this is Yuncha and his friend Jaeyoung." Eunbi said. Often being the only common associate between her peers and freshmen, introducing them to one another had practically became a full time job for her. "Okay," she clapped her hands together, "now we're just waiting for Mina."
Right as Eunbi was about to voice her disappointment for her junior to be late to their first group meeting, the sound of footsteps dashing towards them could be heard, followed by an out of breath pant as a hand gripped onto the doorframes.
"Ugh.. No breakfast next time…"
Yuncha's eyes widened as the girl raised her head.
Isn't she..?
He looked between her and Jaeyoung, swallowing before turning his head away.
But Yuncha was wrong about something. The look between Mina and Jaeyoung wasn't exactly that of an ex, it was more of a 'what are you doing here?' and 'we're gonna get caught' moment.
Completely oblivious to the tension, Eunbi and Seohyeon had already began to set some materials up including some light research for the movie they had been assigned.
Eunbi rummaged through her bag whilst waiting for her computer to load then gasped. "Oh no.."
"What is it?" Seohyeon asked.
"I forgot to bring glue.."
"It's fine, I'll grab some from the studio."
"Okay, we need a few more things anyway so take Yuncha with you. I'll send you the list."
"Yes Ma'am."
Hearing that, Jaeyoung's attention shifted. "Wait what?"
"Oh don't worry, you can wait here with us," Eunbi said.
Yuncha gave Jaeyoung a small nod as he looked at him. With a slightly displeased look on his face, Jaeyoung sat back down as they left the classroom.
Mina, who had been working on an initial sketch was now flashing him confused looks but he just gave a small shrug as if telling her to not worry too much.
Other than the small performance they had put on for Yuncha, they didn't really know each other. And no one other than Yuncha saw what happened so it would be easier for them to act they were strangers.
Yun wouldn't ask about it anyway.
It should be fine as long as they don't talk much.
Seeing how unbothered Jaeyoung was now, Mina's worries seemed to have faded too as she turned her attention to Eunbi. "Did you look at the sketch I sent you?"
"Nope."
"What? Why? I told you it's really good, I really liked it." Mina whined, grabbing her sketchbook immediately as Eunbi shook her head.
"We haven't even discussed the themes or the movie yet, how could you already have something? Did you even do any research?"
"…" Mina looked away quickly.
"See?"
"Oh who cares? Just take a look and if it doesn't suit what we're doing then we don't have to use it."
Eunbi groaned, "fine."
Her expectations were low but just from a quick glance, Eunbi's attention was captured immediately. Going quiet, she pulled the sketchbook closer and took a better look, the amazement on her face strengthening the more she stared at the sketch.
"Is it good? Is it? Or is it bad? Say something."
She had only seen the movie once so Eunbi knew she didn't fully understand it and her thoughts might change over the past few weeks leading up to their presentation but right now Mina's design had captured everything portrayed. Yet it still had its own uniqueness in the way that although it represented the movie, it didn't look like anything in it.
"It's.. really good. One problem though," she pointed at the sketch, "there's no way we can find a necklace like that."
"We can just make it," Mina said carelessly.
"But none of us know how to and we don't have the time to learn it. Is the necklace necessary?"
"Absolutely! It ties everything together."
Eunbi pursed her lips then an idea popped into her head. "How about this, we can use this but on one condition."
"Yes, yes, whatever you need!"
"You get a necklace like that."
"…" The excited look on Mina's face turned stern immediately as she shook her head. "No way, you just said we don't have enough time."
"And you said it's necessary. No necklace, no dress."
"Fine, but if I do manage to get it then the credit for the dress all goes to me."
"Deal."
By the time Yuncha and Seohyeon had came back, Eunbi had divided all the work between the four of them and written it on a piece of paper, going in to as much detail as to which timestamp and major event in the movie she would like who to focus on. Mina, who had spent most of the time obsessing over her own design, was now sat comfortably on the chair as she searched every label she could think of to try and find a necklace similar to what she drew.
Jaeyoung paused the show he had been watching on his phone as the red thread appeared again alongside the sounds of chatting in the corridor outside.
Yuncha and Seohyeon's conversation carried on as they set down the materials on the table.
"But it's disappointing you don't get the roommate experience though."
"Sunbae you just said your roommate was a nightmare."
"Yeah.. No roommate is definitely better than a bad one."
There was a slight frown on Jaeyoung's face as he pulled the chair besides him out, he waited for Yuncha to sit down with a clearly impatient look before grabbing his hand under the desk. Then, like clockwork, Jaeyoung felt a light tap on his hand a few seconds later, as if indicating to let go.
It was a little after noon when the meeting ended so the two stopped by somewhere to eat. Unbeknownst to Yuncha, this meant Jaeyoung not only skipped his morning lecture but his noon class too.
One good thing about them being in different majors, and no longer in high school, was that Jaeyoung can use their different schedules to his advantage whenever he wanted. At least until Yuncha finds out.
I'll deal with that when it happens..
Seeing Yuncha so preoccupied with his project, scrolling through his phone for insirpirations, Jaeyoung reached out and intertwined their fingers, and it was just as he had expected, Yuncha was letting him do what he wanted.
So it's fine if it's around strangers?
Though he still couldn't completely understand Yuncha's thought process, it was in moments like this where he would feel a deep sense of desperation as if scared Yuncha would slip away if he let go.
"Jaeyoung?"
Jaeyoung looked up, feeling the warmth of Yuncha's hand pull away immediately.
Stood a few feet away from them was a man in his 60s, dressed in a smart suit. His appearance, though definitely a lot order, resembled Jaeyoung's a lot, from the colour of their hair down to the dullness of their grey eyes.
"Grandpa, what are you doing here?"
"I'm here for a client meeting," he said as he gestured for his company to be seated first. "Long time no see," he nodded at Yuncha.
"Ah yes." Yuncha nodded back.
"I'm glad to see you two still getting along. I've got to get back to work, but kid," he said, smiling at Yuncha, "tell your grandpa to find some time for us four to have a meal together."
Before Yuncha could respond, he was already being guided to a more private area of the restaurant.
"Doesn't that assure you? Just a little?" Jaeyoung asked.
"Let's not talk about this now."
He crossed his arms as he leaned back, a stubborn look on his face. "Fine, but just so you know Yun, I'm not giving up on us. I'll tire you out if that's what I have to do."
Hearing that, Yuncha couldn't help but laugh.
Tire me out you say.