apartment block 17

[ 044 ]

pledis performing arts high school

"welcome back to school everyone. i hope you all remembered your books, because our first lesson is english," the teacher drawled.

"the best subject," hansol said in english, leaning back in his chair relaxedly. seungkwan, who sat in the seat behind hansol, flicked the back of his head.

"sir, is there time to go to the toilet?" a student asked.

"yeah, sure," the teacher said dismissively. out of all the subject teachers, seungkwan had to admit that the english teacher was the most chill. maybe a little bit too chill.

"oh, i'll go as well," hansol stood up and followed the student out the door.

left alone, seungkwan involuntarily eavesdropped the girls' conversation behind him. they were squealing about something, as usual, but the mention of hansol's name caught seungkwan's attention.

"...hansol's got a girlfriend!" one girl announced proudly. what?

"no way," another girl said.

"a junior told me that he asked out a girl in her class!"

"who? is she pretty?"

"wait, that's her!" the group silenced and seungkwan looked out into the hallway, seeing a girl in a rush, holding a precarious stack of papers. with her short, light brown hair, petite and innocent features, he couldn't help but stare as she rushed past. her beauty was that of a girl that he would never talk to, or even think of associating with. he was far too shy and awkward around girls; whether it be classmates, or fans, he could never talk to a girl without clamming up and sweating all over. well, not counting people like his sister or cousins.

"no way! isn't that chaeyoung?"

"she's an idol trainee in jyp, isn't she?"

"are you sure they're dating? well, i mean, who wouldn't want to date her..."

"i don't know... a junior heard it from other girls, not chaeyoung herself. but don't you think they would look cute together?"

seungkwan spotted hansol walking back from the toilet just as the girl - chaeyoung - disappeared down the hallway, and he could've sworn he saw hansol gulp nervously.

"hansol... are you dating anyone?" seungkwan prodded him the moment he sat back down in his chair.

"what?" hansol spluttered.

"it's not a difficult question," seungkwan said curtly.

"uh... no," hansol replied confusedly.

"oh, ok," seungkwan sighed. he would've felt slightly annoyed if his roommate and best friend didn't tell him about something as important as getting a girlfriend.

"but there's someone i wanna ask out," hansol continued.

"... who?" seungkwan asked as he felt his heart drop to his stomach. he wasn't sure why the idea of hansol dating someone bothered him so much. probably because his apartment would no longer just be his and hansol's.

"this girl called chaeyoung," he said. looks like those girls were right... how do girls find out these things so accurately? even i'm not that good.

"she's in the year below us," he continued.

"oh, that girl that just walked past?" seungkwan narrowed his eyes.

"yeah, that was her! i didn't know you knew who she was," hansol said.

"yeah, well, i know people," seungkwan muttered.

the bell rang, signalling the start of classes and their teacher called for attention to the front, forcing hansol to turn around and cease their conversation.

english class ended an hour later, giving them a short break whilst their next subject teacher came to their classroom. seungkwan couldn't concentrate at all because of what happened before class. he tapped hansol's shoulder a little too urgently.

"when are you going to ask her out?" he asked.

"i don't know, but i heard some guy in her class wants to ask her out too," hansol said sadly.

"oh, that's a shame," seungkwan said, in a tone that sounded a little too happy.

"how are you supposed to ask a girl out?" hansol muttered.

"you don't," seungkwan smirked.

hansol pursed his lips and gave seungkwan a look. seungkwan put his hands up jokingly.

"you're just jealous that i'm about to get a girlfriend," hansol smirked back. "before you do."

"since when was this a competition?" seungkwan narrowed his eyes. "how are you so sure she'll actually go out with you?"

"because i'm choi hansol," he said triumphantly, before turning back to the front as their next teacher entered the room.

biology was never seungkwan's favourite subject, but their new teacher, who insisted to be called 'mr. bang', taught in such a way that seungkwan didn't feel like throwing himself out of the window whilst learning about enzymes. it made the rest of the hour less agonising.

several periods of needless subjects and endless writing passed, and it was finally time for after school club activities. seungkwan had been looking forward to them even before school started.

"hansol, coming to the theatre?" seungkwan stuffed his books into his bag in a hurry, afraid that his roommate would leave as soon as he could.

"theatre?" hansol cocked an eyebrow, playing dumb. "don't you have choir practice or something?"

"don't tell me you've already forgotten," seungkwan tutted, referring to the promise hansol made, saying he would try out the drama club with him.

hansol sighed. "do i really have to?"

"just come watch. it'll be fun!" seungkwan insisted.

"fine."

they made their way hastily to the school's theatre, arriving just in time as the club's apparent leader was about to start talking.

"so.. welcome back to semester 2!" the boy said. he was incredibly tall, with fluffy dark hair and an inviting eye-smile. everything about his visual and aura screamed 'manga boy'.

"for all the newcomers here, welcome! my name is cha eunwoo, and i'm the drama club's unofficial leader," the boy said with a smile. "today, we won't actually be doing anything here, since the dance students have booked it out for an upcoming performance. so instead, pledis university has kindly let us sit in on their auditions for today."

"we're going over to pledis?" seungkwan asked, drawing the attention of all twenty or so club members.

"yes, looks like it. are you two new?" eunwoo looked over at hansol.

"we're just trying it out," hansol said uncertainly.

"everyone's welcome! this isn't a club for anyone in the drama scholarship program, but more for people who just want to have fun on stage. so don't feel pressured to do anything you don't want to," eunwoo said reassuringly. seungkwan smiled.

"we'll do introductions and whatnot next time, okay?" seungkwan and hansol nodded.

following eunwoo out just as the dance students began assembling in the theatre, the group headed towards the prestigious fronting theatre, located in pledis university.