Too Close ✷ Sim Jaeyun

02. I Hate It Here

The right side of the hall led to an empty bedroom, which Arielle assumed would soon be hers. Parallel to the entryway was a bathroom with a sliding door (who the hell thought putting it right across from the front door was a good idea?). When she turned to her left, she found a kitchenette combined with a tiny living area in the right corner; against the other wall was another bedroom, the door left slightly ajar.

The second thing Arielle noticed was that the dorm was strangely quiet for one that supposedly housed a guy. In fact, it was practically silent save for the hum of the air conditioning unit. There was a keycard inserted in the slot that powered the lights, and she'd spotted two pairs of shoes on the rack by the door, so someone had to live here, right?

"Hello?" Arielle called out hesitantly. "Is anyone here?"

No response.

She was about to give up and ask Haewon to help her bring her luggage into the room when someone turned the corner —

And there he was.

Tall, broad-shouldered, and ridiculously handsome, with slightly messy dark hair that looked far too fluffy to be real and thick black-framed glasses perched on the ridge of his nose. He was wearing a gray sweater over a light blue button-up shirt, the sleeves casually rolled up to his elbows, and even with a confused expression on his face, he still managed to look infuriatingly hot.

She didn't know why, but just looking at him pissed her off.

Haewon gasped from the doorway. "Jake?"

Arielle spun around. "Do you know him?"

Before Haewon could answer, the guy — Jake — spoke. "Oi, Heeseung! What are you doing here, man? And Haewon, too."

He paused, seemingly just noticing the girl standing right in front of him. "Oh. And you are...?"

"Arielle."

He raised an eyebrow. "Like the Disney princess?"

Yeah, she was going to hate him.

Haewon grabbed Arielle's wrist, dragging her out of the room with a scoff. "Excuse us, Jake, we'll be back in just a minute."

She reeled on her brother as soon as the door clicked shut behind them.

"LEE HEESEUNG!" she nearly shouted, furious. "What the fuck? I thought you were rooming with Jake!"

Heeseung held up his hands in surrender. "Hey, Soobin just moved out of his apartment and offered to rent it to me for dirt cheap. I wasn't gonna pass that up!"

"And you didn't think to, oh, I don't know, TELL US?!"

Haewon looked like she was about to slap him. Knowing her, she probably would.

Arielle, on the other hand, was simply confused. "Can someone please tell me what the hell is going on?"

Haewon sighed, placing her hands on her hips. "Ugh. I never thought I'd have to explain this to you, but... this dumbass is a junior, right?" She jerked a thumb towards Heeseung. "Jake — or Jaeyun, if that's what you want to call him — is his best friend, but he's a year younger."

She continued, "Basically, at Decelis, you're allowed to move out and get your own place after your freshman year, but most sophomores stay in the dorms because it's cheaper. So last year, Heeseung stayed here, and Jake moved in with him as a freshman. They were supposed to be rooming together again this year, but, y'know, someone decided to change their living arrangements last minute and not tell me!"

She emphasized the last three words, glaring at her brother as she spoke.

"Look, I'm sorry, okay?" Heeseung said, even though he didn't look all that sorry. "I didn't know they'd put Arielle in Jake's room! I thought he'd ask for a single. Or room with Sunghoon!"