EGOIST (Sang Woo x Fem!OC) [COMPLETED]

11

Friday was a slow cycle of endless coffee cups growing cold and untouched, of papers upon papers, and agendas pinned up to her dormitory wall. It had only occurred to Hae Young how fast time had passed when she decided to take her first meal of the day at 11 p.m. She curses at the clock, then stares back at her white, fluorescent screen, its blinking cursor taunting her. Her brain was squeezed dry from productivity, with everything and anything done in her agenda, there was only one task left. She must write a story.

But the emptiness of the blank document did little to help her motivation. Only, the extensive amount of possibilities given to her to write anything she wants--anything, was not much help at all. Her brain is fried, her eyes are dry and tired, and she hasn't consumed anything for the past fourteen hours but coffee and choco pies. She needed to step out.

The cold autumn air hit her first, then the toned up silence of the city, almost as if this particular night in the city was made in her favor. There were hardly any cars or people, and one could easily gaze at the stars. The whole university district is quiet, with little to no students walking back home after a long day's work. The buildings that she was used to being so bright in the daylight were now still, cold, and dark. In a way, ominous, but she basked in its silence. Almost as if the night was made in her favor, the public library was just up ahead where a familiar spectacled man exited the library doors in this hour. She approaches him.

"Good evening." She greets him, lowly as if making her voice a little louder would wake the whole city. Cho Sang-woo turns to her in surprise.

"Oh--Good evening?" Though his greeting turned out into more of a question as he stared at the woman in bewilderment. "You're out.."

"I am." She chuckles at him.

"This late? Were you locked out again?"

"What? No, I--" She sighs. "It's not like that!"

Though that man just laughs at her.

"I was just walking and I found you here..." She explained.

"Alone?"

"Yes, alone." She tells him. "I don't live that far off."

"That's not a very wise thing to do." He says looking around the empty campus.

"I can take care of myself fine, thank you very much."

"Oh? Is that so?" He raises a brow. "It's as if it was just last week when I saw you crying under a bus shed--"

"--We do not talk about that!" She waves him off.

Sang-woo scans her from head to toe, wearing only pajamas underneath her thick coat. She, too, looked exhausted after a long week. There was a certain air that surrounded her, cool, effortless, that somehow drew him back to her. He couldn't explain it, but she just felt welcome.

"Were you on your way to the station?"

He nods.

"I guess it's not that bad to walk with company." She smiles. "That is if you don't mind?"

He shakes his head with a soft smile. "Not at all."

Skidding feet on the pavement echoes throughout the empty city, and the sound of the nightlife miles was away. There was a charm to that night, or perhaps it was the fact two sleep-deprived, glorified prodigies, walk the quiet streets at a night like this.

"Tell me something." She says. "It might break my writer's block."

"What are you writing on?"

"Anything." She tells him. "It's a really broad subject, but it'll be nice to limit my mind for a while." She lightly taps on her noggin. "To bring out the creativity, you know?"

"Alright." Sang-woo clears his throat. "What should I talk about?"

Hae Young thinks for a moment.

"How about how your day went?"

He scoffs. "It wasn't that interesting."

"Just give me anything, anyway."

He sighs, "Fine. Um, I almost died on my way to school today because I had to ride on a friend's 'partially fixed' bike."

Emphasis on the 'partially fixed' part.

"What does that even mean?" She raises a brow.

Sang-woo sighs, looking ahead. "He works for a car company, my friend, I mean. So I guess he thought he could fix this broken down bike for himself...Well, anyway. I almost died today."

"That doesn't sound uninteresting at all."

"Yeah, well that's probably the most interesting thing that's ever happened today."

Sang-woo thinks a little more.

"Then... There was a lot to do today. We had a case study, we learned about investments and... I'm just boring myself talking about this." He sighs.

"I left that library to forget about my studies for the day, yet here I am..." He chuckles dryly. "I guess business follows me wherever I go."

"You sound like you hate what you study."

"I don't." He says truthfully. "It's fine. I just get tired most times." He turns to her. "And you; a writer?"

She chuckles. "Not yet." She tells him. "I couldn't even wrap my head around this last project I have to do... My brain was just squeezed dry from all the work I did."

"Oh?"

She hums in affirmation. "I'm just out here because I needed a little break."

"You and me both then." He turns to her. "What do you say about grabbing a little bit of a snack, Moon Hae Young?"

Midnight snack was not instant ramyeon in some convenience store, but it was finding herself once again in the streets of Ssangmun-dong that led back to a particularly familiar house. Oddly enough, she felt at home, stopping herself when she realized she was more excited coming over than Sang-Woo. Though he just chuckles at her eagerness, escorting her towards the front steps of his humble home.

"Eomma!" Sang-woo calls out, and his mother rises from the couch in the corner of the room.

"Thank goodness you're home and-- Oh dear, it's nice to see you again!" Mrs. Cho rises almost at the sight of Hae Young, running up to her for a quick embrace. Already, she loved it here.

"It's nice to be back." She smiles, shifting from foot to foot excitedly.

Though Mrs. Cho pulls back with a look of concern.

"Were you locked out again? Do you need a place to stay?"

"No, ma, she's just here to visit." Sang-Woo tries to explain. He tells her about how they bumped into each other while walking home.

"I've missed your cooking." Hae Young smiles softly. "Sang-woo offered a midnight snack, but I didn't know he'd take me back here."

He looked away flustered, with Mrs. Cho having a surprised, yet delighted expression.

"He did?" She asks. Hae Young nods.

"Huh." She smiles, briefly looking over at her son. "Well good timing, I've prepared some food because I know how hungry you get." She coddles Sang-woo who only whined with her cheek-pinches.

"Alright then! Have a seat!" She insisted. "Sit, sit! Tell me about your day, Hae Young!"