'Sleep? What's sleep?'
To Jinyoung, sleep was like a poisonous feverish dream, something he hated and then secretly wish for under his breath, like a snake who kept chasing his tale, killing himself in one tail bite.
It was hard to ignore the hard knocks banging on his door, snatching him from his two hours' sleep full of torture. His feet touched the floor, and a drumbeat echoed in his head from the night before.
While taking a deep breath, he held his heavy head with his left hand and rubbed his eyes with the other. The harsher knocks and his best friend's yelling behind the door didn't give him a chance to wake up, yet he couldn't wait for a second longer without opening the door.
"Good morning to you too, Jaebum," Jinyoung said sarcastically as he went back into his room, ignoring his friend's burning glare.
"What the hell, Jinyoung? You party every night and did you drink all of this?!" Jaebum fumed with panic, pointing at the empty bottles on the floor. Jinyoung rolled his eyes, taking a sip of water with the belief it would wake him up.
"How many times should I tell you that doing this won't solve your shit? You can't run away from your problems forever." Jaebum scolded in frustration but was ignored by his friend again.
Taking a moment to pick up the trash off the floor, he sighed, overwhelmed by the messy room. "I hope your roommate makes you suffer because no one will accept to share a room reeking of alcohol with you."
"My future roommate is welcome to join me," Jinyoung said sarcastically, gaining a hit on the shoulder from Jaebum.
"I'm serious, Jinyoung."
Jinyoung closed his eyes to recollect himself, done with Jaebum's nagging. "Look Jaebum, I don't care, and I can do as I please, and whoever gets annoyed with my behavior can leave. I'm not stopping anyone," Jinyoung replied.
"What you are doing is dangerous and disgusting! Can't you at least stop for my sake?" Jaebum pleaded and Jinyoung sighed again. He put his hands on Jaebum's shoulder, then their eyes met.
"Okay, Jaebum I'm sorry. I will try, but I can't promise you." Jinyoung faked a smile, hoping it would end the conversation.
"I hope to live a normal college student life without parties or dinks. Wouldn't it be nice if you could enjoy doing sports or something like that? How about finding a girlfriend to have a lovely relationship with?
Jinyoung laughed in disbelief. "You and your fantasies. Leave me alone." He grabbed his towel thrown on the messy bed, left to the bathroom, and ran away from his pal.
Jinyoung took a long shower, trying to relax a little under the warm drops. Unable to sleep, as he had had in the past weeks, his headaches became unbearable.
'Another day with painkillers,'
He avoided the mirror stares, going back to his clean room thanks to Jaebum. "Thank you for cleaning my room, Jaebum! "He cooed, passing him to the wardrobe.
"Like you appreciate the action, brat." Jaebum snorted, making his friend's bed.
Jinyoung opened his small closet, his mind choosing leather and half-wet hair. The black leather jacket matched his tight jeans along with an orange T-shirt for contrast.
"It's 9 AM and we are going to college," his friend sighed for the millionth time, judging by his flashy outfit. "And I'm going to a party after," Jinyoung's reason made Jaebum speechless.
"You really can't even think about keeping your promise for a second. I'm done with you," Jaebum fumed, leaving him alone after.
Jinyoung tried to catch his friend but was hit by a door slam on his face. In his defense, Jaebum was making a fuss over nothing.
Jinyoung had nothing else to do besides partying and tricking girls into doing his work. He was smart but lazy enough to submit assignments, presentations, and reports. It wasn't his thing. And why bother when he could get his things done with a wink, flirtatious killing smile, little dance, or a light touch?
Parties were his savior, the perfect distraction full of crowded people, all trying to forget how life sucked while getting drunk enjoying the blurry world with incoherent music till the sun came back to hit them with the ugly reality.
The sun was burning his soul directly above him as he made his way to college. It was their second week of junior year, yet it felt like the thousands. At that early hour, he was bewildered by people's energy and hope, how they could smile cheerfully at each other, especially when all he wanted was to graduate in a flash.
Before entering the main gate for his building, loud laughs hammered his head, making him grunt. Upon looking up with squinted eyes, he saw three unfamiliar faces; a silver-haired guy who was not BamBam, an otter in a yellow blazer with an annoying smile, and a girl almost matching his outfit.
'Who are these people?' He passed by them, taking quick steps to the hall.
"Hey, Jinyoung! Here..." He was welcomed by Yugyeom, pointing at the empty seat next to him.
"Hey!" He waved going up. "Oh, BamBam, I almost didn't recognize you. What's up with the normal hair?" He teased his friend next to Yugyeom.
"Don't even talk when you come to a university like this," He brushed off his friend's comment and judgmental look with a laugh. "I miss your pink hair. It made us popular... Oh right, I saw a crazy guy like you earlier with silver hair," he said, earning a slap on his shoulder from his friend.
"I will make sure to befriend him and block you, idiot."
"Jinyoung hyung to you,"
Before Bambam struck a protest, the class became quiet, full of unheard whispers, while staring in the same direction. He realized the reason when his eyes met hers.
He might have said 'Wow' out loud, eyeing the girl from head to toe. Dark brown long hair with bangs covering half of her pretty face, wide leather pants, black leather coat with a white shirt underneath. Her taste in fashion and beauty made her top his 'to-trick list.'
His appreciation turned to feel bitter the moment his Playboy face card was rejected by a disgusted look from her.
'How dare she look at me like that?' he frowned, crossing his arms.
"Hyung, Calm down. You are burning her with your eyes," Yugyeom's voice broke Jinyoung's thoughts, he turned to him smirking "Well, she asked for it,"
The professor, who started the lecture right away, cut his friend's response off. To add salt to his wound, the boring lecture turned into his least favorite, full of things they previously reviewed. His pen tumbled off his hand and onto the plain white paper, and he glanced at the new, curious girl who was intently listening to the professor, unlike him, and noting down every word.
"Anyone knows the answer to this question?" The 35-year-old professor pointed at the board. Receiving no response, to have some sort of engagement, he offered with his magic words. "Bonus marks,"
In response to the questions on demand, Jinyoung turned his attention back to the board, hurriedly reviewing the explanations provided on the board. His brain clicked with the answer, raising his hand.
"Yes, the new kid?"
The girl took it as a cue and answered the question perfectly, making everyone surprised and the professor was beyond impressed by her detailed answer. These trick questions used to be only Jinyoung's, but here she was, stealing his spot.
"Wow. That's a perfect answer with an interesting accent. What's your name?" The young professor asked.
"Sorry for the broken Korean. I'm Jisoo Kim from L.A. It's an honor to be taught here." The girl introduced herself with a humble bow as Jinyoung memorized her name with an evil smirk on his face.
'So... she is a nerd too? What a nerd's beauty.'
After two weeks in Seoul, Jisoo had an epiphany that perhaps she shouldn't have moved there. Her upbringing in Los Angeles was vastly different from the lifestyle she observed during her brief stay in Seoul, making her realize how much she took for granted at home.
Koreans were strict, sticking to everything in their culture. The naive thought that everyone knew English by heart blew out the window when she forgot her passport and money. She had to spend two hours convincing anyone to take her to the police station with her broken Korean.
Despite knowing that the police officers wouldn't be able to communicate in English, she still insisted on going there, wanting to be independent and heroic. As a result, she ended up having to contact Mark and Youngjae anyway, sticking with her best friends and Youngjae's family to survive.
It made sense why Mark was worried about her safety, as they were in front of the engineering campus having different classes. Youngjae had left them as soon as they alighted from the bus, rushing to the IT campus.
"Don't worry! I'm not a kid." Jisoo's masked confidence didn't convince Mark.
"The police station proved that," he said in a teasing tone.
"Let it slide already..." Her lips turned to a pout that made Mark chuckle.
Mark gave her instructions to call him in case of any emergency and informed her that he had to adjust his classes to match hers. He bid his goodbyes and dismissed her protests about being mature enough, without paying attention. "See you soon, don't get lost!"
Jisoo thought it would be simple to locate her class, not remembering how limited she was in Korean reading. She had no idea how to navigate the map, so she ended up asking around some of her colleagues. To be familiar with the campus, they gave her a tour, which included the sites of her classes, her locker, and all other essentials.
After the brief tour was over, she thanked her hosts and made her way to her class. Everything seemed alright until she felt a weird guy ogling her, making her feel extremely uncomfortable. That's when she knew that something wasn't right.
Jisoo felt relieved after her initial lecture was satisfactory and the bonus marks given made it easier for her to keep up with everyone else. The worries of her being two weeks behind everyone faded and turned into a hope that she might be okay.
As soon as her professor exited the room, she quickly grabbed her AirPods and set off to the lockers. She texted Mark her whereabouts, then started playing some music while she walked.
'Maybe everything will be alright,' her hopeful thought lasted for barely minutes before it was ruined. She was just placing her books inside her locker while humming to the song playing when a sudden splash startled her.
Jisoo was taken aback as icy water drowned her from top to toe with her AirPods unexpectedly stopped working. Turning around, she saw a tall figure dodging the water thrown by the same obnoxious boy having an empty bottle in his hands.
Jisoo was fuming as she removed her jacket, taking out a tissue from her pocket to dry her face before harshly looking at him. "What have you done?" she exclaimed.
"Oh, my god. We are so sorry-" The tall guy was cut by the Jerk as he stepped closer to Jisoo, too close for Jisoo's comfort until she had her back pressed against the locker. "Sorry, Princess," he whispered, smirking as he nearly brushed her wet bangs from her eyes. "We were lucky enough to see you looking so beautiful."
Jisoo reacted mockingly to his smirk before swatting his hand away and tripping him up. His wallet and headphones tumbled out of his pocket as he fell to the floor. She ignored the people's gasps and the boy's expression, which was mixed with surprise and anger. She bent down close to him, grabbing his headphones.
"You think you could seduce anyone like that? I don't need your half-pathetic apology and the second time you pull something like that, you would have your ribs and hands broken, so mind your own business and leave me alone." She spun the headphone around her finger. "I would take this for ruining mine. Have a hell day."
"Jisoo?" When Mark spoke, she turned to face him, giving a faint smile to conceal her trembling body. On seeing her drenched state and the water dripping from her hands, he shrieked.
"What happened to you?!" Mark took off his coat, wrapping it around her, still surprised.
"Nothing."
"What do you mean by nothing?!" Mark was about to respond when someone tapped on his shoulder. Her friend turned around in agitation, only to find the tall guy from before apologizing for his friend's rudeness. He bowed and politely apologized. "I'm sorry for my friend's inappropriate behavior. It wasn't intentional."
"What the hell did your friend do to make her like that?!" Mark grabbed the other guy's collar, as Jisoo quickly stepped in and forced him back. She clung to Mark, pushing him away from the tall individual.
Jisoo begged Mark, insisting, "I'm telling you nothing happened. I took care of it. Let's go, please! I'm freezing. "Her voice was low but had Mark's attention looking at her and his expression softened.
As he was about to leave, he saw a man, bottle in hand, looking at him. His tall friend was standing beside him. He stepped closer and gave them a stern look before pointing his finger at them both. "Next time you go near her, I'm going to end you," Mark said coldly and sternly.
The dark-haired individual with the bottle gave Mark a challenging look, muttering "We shall see about that" under his breath, holding an unwavering gaze with Mark as he uttered the words.
. . . . .
Hello hello! Eid Mubarak and Happy weekends 🤍 Hope you are feeling okay 🤍🌷 I can't wait to hear your opinion about this 🤍🤍