You were met with a pair of brown eyes that seemed to look deep within you. Not once has anyone's gaze made you feel so vulnerable before, and considering what you were going through, that was the last thing you wanted to feel. It was scary too how a stranger made you feel completely exposed and feel like you couldn't hide.
As you continued to study his features, you saw how his nose was long and widened a bit in the end to lead directly to his lips, where you saw a small little mole on the top of his plump heart shaped lips. With the smile he had on earlier, you didn't expect him to have such small plump lips. That smile was too big and wide to only be a pair of small and plump lips when they are resting. As you continue to admire the features that made his face, you couldn't help but notice how strong his jawline game was. The boy could cut someone with his jawline if he wanted to.
"Yah! Are you even listening to me?!"
You were too busy admiring his features that you didn't realize he was talking to you. But then again, the loud music wasn't helping either.
"Huh?"
"Aigoo...look, just don't tell anyone you saw me struggling. I can't go around campus and be known as someone who is easily defeated, I've got a reputation to maintain"
After those last few words, he gives you his blinding smile.
Of course...when it comes to guys their reputation is everything. I mean how else is a guy supposed to build his ego?
"Alright. I promise not to tell. Just as long as you promise not tell anyone how hard I was laughing."
"Why not? It was cute."
Cute? Did he just call your laugh cute? You never really liked your laugh the moment you heard it. It had gone through some significant changes throughout your life. In elementary school you were always teased with having such an annoying laugh that you sounded like a hyenah. By the time you got to middle school, your laugh was too loud, and in high school, well...luckily you only had to worry about not snorting. But needless to say, your laugh was anything but cute.
"Are you kidding me? It's everything but cute. It's the pandora's box of laughter. The only good thing about is that I am able to laugh."
"With what I saw it your laugh looked to be filled with joy, happiness, and well...laughter."
At the last word you giggled because you couldn't help how lame and cheesy that statement was.
"See? It's cute"
By this point you couldn't help but smile. How is it that this one stranger, this one guy that you have never met was able to make you laugh? How is it that he was able to get rid of all the negative thoughts in your head? You almost felt as though you were floating on a cloud. It had been months since the last time you felt naturally happy.
--
1 month ago:
It was 5 pm. The usual coming home traffic was passing by. While twenty, forty, sixty cars passed by each minute, you and your family had stood on the side of the road in the shoulder lane. Your car was on fire. The flames grew each moment as it devoured your car in its selfish need to feed itself-to grow stronger to fully engulf into the giant monster that it was. You heard 4 pops, each pop numbering the times your car exploded. Luckily you and your family got out of the car mere seconds before it caught on fire. But the red flame had no mercy, and what was left was the metal skeleton and the echo of a car. The seats that you were once sitting in was reduced to cold, burnt metal. What was fifteen minutes of losing your sense of security and innocence, felt like an eternity. It felt as though someone had pushed the slow motion button to further accentuate the feeling of being lost. The sun was starting to set, and the cold winds were starting to blow. The sky was revealing its dark shadows.
There was not one person who pulled out a phone to call for help. Out of the many cars that passed by, only one person stopped to help you. Not only did she stop to help, but she also called the fire department. In that time of need, your mother and father had called different relatives to see if they could help you, if they were willing to drive and pick you up. Everyone refused, abandoning you and your family in their most desperate time of need.
After the incident, you were diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Every pop, every bang, every loud noise brought you back to the sense of helplessness and loss. You struggled day and night in trying to make sense of the accident. It impacted the way you thought, your safety, your view of the world around you, and how you performed in school. You worked hard to overcome all of the struggles and take back your life. However, you still felt as though the accident crippled your hope for the future.
Never in your life you will you try and be happy. It's all going to disappear in the matter of minutes.
--
Having someone right in front of you making you laugh and smile only made you realize how precious this moment was. It was going to disappear in the matter of minutes and you decided to make it last as much as you can before you pushed back into reality.
"You ok?"
Apparently you had been silent for quite some time.
"Hmm?...Oh yeah. I'm fine."
"You sure? This is the second time you blank out on me."
"Yeah. I'm just thinking about some things."
"Well, don't think too hard. You're at a party. Not in class."
You smiled.
"I'm Hoseok by the way."
"Y/N."
The two of you exchange handshakes. While handshakes seem to be a bit formal when meeting someone new in college, it didn't matter. The setting wasn't formal and the conversation was most definitely not formal and didn't have an undertone of awkwardness as most conversations you had held did. There was something different about this guy.
You continue to spend the majority of the time with Hoseok until another familiar face showed up. He was the one who had Hoseok in a headlock earlier and made him flail his arms in despair. He looked more muscular than what you could see from far away. More muscular than Jungkook too.
"Hey Y/N, this is my best friend Jimin."
"Annyeonghaseyo Y/N."
"Annyeonghaseyo Jimin. Nice to meet you."
Whenever you meet new people, you were always very shy. You always expressed how nice it was to meet them and paired your hello's with the most polite smile you could give.
"I see you've been talking to Hoseok for a while."
"Uhh...yeah. I suppose so." You chuckled.
"Well we go waaay back..along with our group. He's one of the most charismatic, energetic, happiest, loudest, biggest fanboy..."
"Yah yah stop stop."
"You know it's true hyung...you just don't want to be embarrassed in front of a pretty girl"
Ummm...pretty? Last time you checked you had virtually no makeup on, your hair...well, I guess you hair looked ok, just not to your satisfaction. You were never happy with yourself. While your family always gave you support and always told you how beautiful you were, it didn't help when boys always seemed to ignore you. Only once did a guy ever like you, but you had to refrain from liking him back since your best friend Karen liked him also; and well, friendship was more important than a relationship with a boy. On top of all the boys ignoring you, you always felt bad about your weight. You weren't big, but somehow your friends made you feel huge.
--
"Look how fat I am! How am I supposed to get rid of all this extra weight?"
"But Jennifer, you're like 30 pounds lighter than me! You're what?...120 pounds?"
"Ughh...you don't get. I'm fat."
So what am I? Obese?, you thought.
--
Ever since then you struggled more with your weight than you ever had. So whenever someone gave you a compliment or called you pretty, you were the first to argue against the point.
"Anyways...like I was saying. Hoseok is a good guy in general. He'll make you feel like the sun is shining down on you. He's like our own personal sunshine."
"Rain or shine I'm always fine." Hoseok said with a smile.
The fact that Hoseok was able to make everything cringe-worthy cheesy made you think how it was possible to do such a thing in the first place.
"So...what made you come to this party Y/N?" Jimin asked.
"Uhh...well, my friend's boyfriend is actually the host of the party so I just came with her."
"JUNGKOOKIE HAS A GIRLFRIEND?!!!!" They both exclaimed.
You automatically assumed that Jungkookie was another name for Jungkook.
"But the boy is shy! He's quiet!..HE RUNS AWAY FROM GIRLS FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!" yelled Jimin.
"Well, he seems to be dating my friend."
The boys were in complete shock. As if they just found out that the Benedict Cumberbatch was no longer going to reprise his role in Sherlock...well at least that's how you would react.
"WE HAVE TO GO MEET HER!" Hoseok yelled. "It's a must."
"Wait hyung. Shouldn't we tell the others first and then go surprise him?"
"I like the way you think."
And the three of you were off to go find the other members of their group.
--
A/N: So I decided to continue it as you can tell. Thank you people for reading and those of you whom I spoke to. You guys boosted my confidence in writing it. I hope this will gain more attention. Thank you so much.