• 第一章 •
-
"I swear to God Kim Namjoon, I'll march into your house this instant if you don't get your ass out here right now!"
Hana tapped her right foot angrily with her arms crossed, frustrated that her long time best friend was once again, going to cause her to be late for her lecture for the umpteenth time. When the door was finally swung open, she glared at the tall and well-built boy glancing down at her sheepishly.
"I broke my alarm yesterday. Please forgive me!" Namjoon blurted out while locking his door, and dragged the shorter girl away from his house to hop onto his bicycle.
"This is the last time I'm tolerating with you!" Hana smacked his back, causing the boy to yelp in pain before starting to cycle so they would be on the road.
The two stumbled into the lecture hall just two minutes before the class would start, rendering the whole hall to stare at them in shock, only to resume back with their activities when they realized it was the two who were always nearly late to class. Scrambling towards the empty seats at the last few rows, they sat down next to each other just in time for their lecturer to walk into the hall.
"Good morning class! How was the weekend?" Professor Lee chirped happily, way too enthusiastically for a depressing Monday morning.
The entire class groaned in response.
"Anyways, I know you're all lacking the energy but I have some exciting news to share with you guys!" He clapped his hands, and everyone stared in surprise at the doorway when the sliding door revealed a stranger standing there. "It is our greatest pleasure to have our country's youngest Korean History professor to join us starting from now onwards!"
Hana gawked at the handsome man standing next to the podium, admiring his sharp and masculine features with a dreamy look. He was dressed in a simple black dress shirt with a pair of fitting pants and shoes, his dark hair tousled loosely for a natural yet seductive look.
"Stop gaping at him you perv." Namjoon whispered, nudging Hana to stop oogling at the new professor.
"I can't help it Joonie. He's so hot." Hana whispered back, earning an eye roll from him.
"Girls." Namjoon deadpanned.
However, Hana wasn't the only one who was openly checking the man out, as the young professor really was indeed an eye candy for the piranhas seated inside the lecture hall. The man smiled politely at something Professor Lee had said, and then, he turned to face the whole class before bowing a ninety degrees.
"Nice to meet you all, my name is Jung Hoseok, and you guys can call me Professor Jung." He introduced himself with a blinding smile, and Namjoon scoffed incredulously at how dramatic Hana was behaving by shielding her eyes subtly.
"Stop being an idiot Hana." Namjoon whispered again.
"I can't help it! He reminds me of someone I know way too well." Hana grinned at the thought of the person.
"Weirdo." Namjoon sighed in defeat, and averted his gaze back to the front, only to straighten his back in shock when he saw Professor Jung glancing at the both of them with curious eyes before looking away.
The lecture went on with Professor Jung joining the class, listening to what Professor Lee was explaining about the ancient times with the PowerPoint slides since today was his first day of work. Apparently, their university had been offering him a spot to teach here for years, admiring the fact that he was practically a genius who had graduated years ago with the highest CGPA ever in the history.
Throughout the lesson, Hana couldn't help but to steal glances at him since he was way too eerily similar to one of the characters in her webtoon. Yes, she was a webtoon artist disguised as a normal university student majoring in Korean History, and only her best friend Namjoon knew about this secret of hers.
She began to trace his facial features on her notebook - sketching out the curves of his eyes and the way his nose forms a beautiful arch - and frowned when she realized that she was literally drawing out the side character in her story. Adding a hanbok, along with the high hat and the sword her Seokho wields in her story, her eyes widened in shock at the uncanny resemblance they both had.
Seokho. Hoseok.
Hana dropped her mechanical pencil with her mouth slightly agape. What were the chances for them to be the exact same person?
"Why are you drawing your character? Planning a new chapter?" Namjoon peeked at her doodle, tilting his head in curiosity.
"Y-yeah." She half-lied. "I have to draw a fighting scene for Seokho and his squad in the latest chapter by this weekend."
"Ooh, cool. But Hana, I think you should really pay attention for now because Prof Lee just mentioned that this entire topic will be coming out for our exams." Namjoon reminded her, shoving his notes slightly for her to copy before focusing on the lecture again.
After a long grueling three hours of lecture consisted of one hundred and thirteen slides, the class exhaled in relief when the last slide appeared on the screen with a huge 'Thank You!' on it. Hana was pretty sure that her brain had been fried to the max, although she had spent half of the time dozing off.
She made a mental note to steal Namjoon's notes later.
"Alright class. You're all dismissed for the day but before you leave, please remember to submit your essays due today here." Professor Lee spoke out loud.
With their bags packed, both Namjoon and Hana were the last few to reach the table in front before placing their own essays on it. The pair of friends were about to leave the hall when Professor Lee suddenly hollered Namjoon's name, making the two halt their footsteps in sync.
"Ah, Kim Namjoon, my best student in the class." He gestured for the younger to go towards him. "Can I have a word with you? I want to talk about the last assignment you've submitted and I must say, I'm once again, amazed by your work."
"Sure prof." Namjoon shot Hana an apologetic look and mouthed at her to wait for him outside.
As the professor and his student talked inside the hall, Hana waited outside while leaning on the wall, her body shifting back and forth slightly out of boredom. Her mind then began to travel back to her favourite side character Seokho, her eyebrows knitting as she tried to piece the missing puzzles together but to no avail.
"Hello there."
Jumping at the unfamiliar voice, Hana banged the back of her head onto the wall and hissed in pain. Her cheeks flushed red when she saw Professor Jung looking at her with an amused look, trying his best not to laugh at her misfortune.
"I apologize for startling you." He smiled a little when Hana shook her head frantically.
"It's alright prof. I'm just an extremely fidgety person." Hana gave him a sheepish look while rubbing the back of her head still.
Joining her by resting his back on the wall next to her, Hana tried not to feel flustered that her good-looking professor was literally next to her, even though there was a comfortable distance between them. Meekly, she glanced down at her sneakers, not knowing what to do or say.
"You weren't really paying attention in class earlier, right?" He asked, chuckling when Hana snapped her head up instantly to look at him with flushed cheeks before darting her eyes away.
"Y-you saw? I'm sorry. I won't repeat that ever again!" Hana squeaked out, and to her flummox, he laughed instead as he was charmed by her cuteness.
"Just try not to sleep in my future lectures, okay?" He joked lightly, his breathtaking smile still plastered on his face.
Hana was about to reply him when Namjoon emerged from the room, his eyebrows quirked upwards at the scene in front of him. Without any hesitation, Hana took off from her spot and ran towards Namjoon since he was like a literal walking safe house for the girl.
"Oh, Hoseok! You're still here?" Professor Lee beamed when he exited the hall, and his younger colleague nodded.
"I was waiting for you prof. Please let me treat you lunch today."
His words made the older professor laugh heartily, and after exchanging a nod with the students who were still standing there frozen like statues, they left. Namjoon and Hana glanced at each other, and shrugged before turning the other way to leave.
-
The first chapter! I'm excited for the updates ><
Please vote and comment! <3
Current situation : stuck in online class n my braincells are committing mass suicide after getting drilled by my lecturer (sobs)