The Red of the Rose | Taeyong

09 | Groupmates

Seeing Miah's name not in the same group as him, Taeyong was disappointed. On top of that, for some reason what he hated even more was that Miah was in the same group as Doyoung. This is bad. No, this is the worst. Because obviously group projects always bring the groupmates closer. And not being in the same group as Miah is going to make things difficult in winning the bet. He had to do something. He can't be in a different group than Miah.

Not knowing where he was going, Taeyong just stormed off, away from that place, collecting his thoughts trying to come up with a plan.

Back at the notice board, Miah heard a faint voice call her name. She was surprised to see that it was Young-ho when she turned around.

The group that Miah was in, read as –

Group 7:

1. Kim Doyoung

2. Jang Miah

3. Choi Hye-jin

4. Nam Young-ho

When she had read Young-ho's name in the same group as her, she wasn't sure whether it was the same Young-ho that she knew. But now that he was standing in front of her, she no longer had that doubt.

'Why didn't you tell me you were in the same class as me?' Despite what had happened in their last meeting, Miah didn't feel any awkwardness. She greeted him warmly.

Young-ho's smile faltered. He was aware of the huge class size with more students than any other course in college, but he was still hurt that Miah never noticed Young-ho sitting not very far from her when all Young-ho ever did since she joined their class was stare at her.

'It can happen. We are a lot of students,' Young-ho managed, concealing his true emotions.

'Miah, I'll leave then?' Doyoung said from beside her.

Miah understood that Doyoung didn't know who Young-ho was. 'I think you two haven't met each other. This is Young-ho, our groupmate.' Miah gestured towards Young-ho.

'And this is–'

'Doyoung. I know.' Young-ho cut in before Miah could complete.

Though they greeted each other with a smile on their face, Doyoung felt weird. He noticed that there was something off about Young-ho but he could not put his finger on what it was.

'It's funny how you don't know me,' Young-ho spoke in an almost aggressive manner to Doyoung.

Taken aback by this sudden change, for a moment, Doyoung didn't know how to react. But fortunately, he was spared from answering when Hye-jin came out of nowhere and announced in a big voice, 'I am one of your groupmates!'

The three of them had to significantly lower their line of sight to look at Hye-jin. She was wearing an oversized hoodie, with her hair tied in a high ponytail and seemed immensely happy for some reason.

'Hi, I am Hye-jin.'

Miah shook her hand. 'Miah.'

'The new girl,' Hye-jin exclaimed. 'Your first project. Don't worry, we'll all help you.'

Miah chuckled. Hye-jin had seemed to not only dispense the rising tension from earlier but also eased Miah's nervousness about the project.

'Let's exchange numbers, so I can add everyone to a group chat.' Hye-jin wasted no time and took out her phone.

When they were done, Hye-jin quickly made a group chat. 'Great! We'll schedule a meeting once Professor Qian emails us the instructions.' And just how abruptly she had walked over, Hye-jin greeted them goodbye just the same way when she spotted her friend in the crowd.