The Red of the Rose | Taeyong

02 | Jang Miah

The college was washed in the beauty of the rain. Students were pouring in for their morning classes, some were rushing on foot, some on bikes, the others on cycles. But no matter their hurry, when they heard the familiar sound of the horn of a black car, they all jumped out of its way. They knew better than to block its way.

The car zoomed through the entrance, right in front of the main college building, making its way to a reserved parking spot.

Taeyong hurriedly emerged from the car, checking his hair in the car's window once before running off to the steps. The steps were these set of stairs behind the second academic block, which were rarely used by people, given that only three classes were scheduled in this block at a time. But the stairs had its advantage. It provided the maximum view of the college grounds and the people who sat on these stairs, were practically worshipped.

Ever since Taeyong stepped foot in college, the steps belonged to him and his friends. Freshmen class had to compulsorily live on the campus. Taeyong and Doyoung were roommates. Doyoung had brought with him a whole library of books. Taeyong had brought with him his black denim jacket and some posters. It was 3 am when Doyoung was done arranging the books on the shelf after which he sat on the bed opposite to Taeyong and took out a pack of cigarettes from his bag.

'Smoke?' Doyoung had offered. Taeyong produced a lighter from his pocket and since then they have been best friends.

Johnny and Yuta were roommates and they sat next to Doyoung one day when he was eating alone in the college cafeteria. Soon, Taeyong joined them and that's how they became friends.

Jaehyun was Johnny's classmate from their school and they used to play basketball together between their classes. Eventually Johnny introduced Jaehyun to the others and they would occasionally join them in their game.

There was a final member to their group as well. The boys however liked to call her an unofficial member. Ahn Serin.

Serin and Taeyong were in the same course. The first time Taeyong saw Serin, he could not stop staring. That's how it was with most guys. She was breath-taking. Taeyong tried multiple times, but Serin always refused. He started inviting her to their hangouts and the boys didn't mind. First, because Taeyong liked her and second because she was sort of fun to be around. Even though they remained a bit sceptical of her, they let things be for Taeyong's sake and this is how she became an unofficial member of the group.

Taeyong hadn't stopped trying on her though. He was desperate. A date, a walk, a night, anything would do but Serin liked playing around and Taeyong's desperation was fuel to the fire. She enjoyed this attention too much to give in.

Clutching the pack of tablets, he had purchased earlier from the store this morning, Taeyong ran towards the steps. He saw Yuta lying, horizontally on one of the steps with a book covering his face from the light drizzle. Jaehyun was sitting in front of him fiddling on his phone and Serin stood beside them, leaning against the railing, looking at the grounds.

On the top most step was Doyoung with his nose in a thick book and a notebook with colourful tabs opened beside him. His leg was fidgety. He read from the book first and then turned pages from the notebook, looking away in between to recall what he had just read.

'How long has he been like this?' Taeyong asked Jaehyun.

'Since morning.'

'I thought so,' Taeyong sighed.

Taeyong climbed the steps two at a time to reach the top. 'Here, take this.' Taeyong extended the pack of tablets to Doyoung.

Doyoung glanced at Taeyong's hand and stopped at once. 'How did you...'

'You have been studying since last night, of course you have a headache.' Taeyong placed the pack in his hand. 'Please don't get emotional,' Taeyong teased when he saw Doyoung almost do a fake cry.

Taeyong sat beside Doyoung on the steps and called out to Serin, 'What time do you get free this evening?'

'Not free for what you have in mind.' Serin was still scrolling on her phone. Taeyong flirting with her was nothing new to her.

'And what do you think I have in mind?' Taeong leaned forward on his arms with a smirk on his face.

Serin rolled her eyes. 'I am leaving.' She clicked her phone off. Picking her bag up from the railing she climbed down the stairs.

'See you later, love,' Taeyong called out. Serin waved her hand behind her before disappearing into the crowd.

'Is he still studying?' Johnny's voice woke Yuta up. He was walking towards the steps with a blue umbrella to match his outfit.

'We tried our best,' Yuta replied, looking at the sky, yawning.

Behind Johnny, Haechan and Jungwoo were walking while having a serious discussion on what seemed to be their semester timetable. Haechan was Johnny's younger brother who had just started college here and Jungwoo was Haechan's friend. However, they were actually a trio and the third in this trio was Mark.

As though on cue, Jungwoo spotted Mark standing near the bell statue in the middle of the campus ground.

'Mark!' yelled Jungwoo, catching his attention.

Jungwoo, Mark and Haechan were in the same course and almost had an identical class schedule. They would sometimes hang around the guys whenever Haechan was with Johnny.

'Oh! He is with a girl,' Jungwoo exclaimed and everyone turned to look.

Jaehyun smiled, knowing he could tease Mark about this girl, whoever she was. Doyoung was completely unbothered by this. He only took a single glance out of curiosity before burying his head in his books again. Yuta and Johnny exchanged a look and smiled, nodding their heads.

Taeyong narrowed his eyes when he saw the girl who Mark was standing with. He recognized her from before. She was standing at the entrance of the store with a smile on her face, looking outside like it was her first time seeing the world.

'So, Mark's got a girlfriend then?' Haechan stood at the steps, feeling betrayed. He saw Mark say something to the girl and she nodding her head in reply, what seemed like her asking Mark to go to his friends. Haechan waited for Mark with his arms folded across his chest.

'How could you do this to me?' Haechan didn't even let Mark say a Hi.

'What?' Mark was utterly confused.

Johnny burst out laughing.

'You got a girlfriend?' Haechan pointed in the direction from where Mark had come.

'What? No.' Mark looked back and with the most disgusting look on his face he added, 'Oh god no. Ew. She is my sister.'

'Aha! I knew it!' Jungwoo clapped his hands together.

'You never told us you had a sister,' Haechan said in his defence.

Mark ran his hand through his hair, unsure of how to explain. He simply said, 'Yeah well, she had moved out of the country to study but now she is back.' He leaned his hand on the railing. 'She is older than me. She is actually in your year.' Mark turned to the guys.

'I knew you would never betray me.' Haechan walked up to Mark dramatically and hugged him wiping fake tears off his face.

While everyone was laughing seeing this cute exchange, Taeyong looked over towards the bell statue to find the girl walking away from it tentatively. She was clutching the same transparent umbrella he saw before, occasionally tilting it backwards to look around at the buildings, trying to find her way.

'What's her name?' Taeyong heard Johnny ask.

'Miah.' He heard Mark reply.