𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕐𝕠𝕦 - 𝕁𝕚𝕟𝕣𝕖𝕟𝕖

Chapter 17 - Get to Know You

He pushes the overweight man away but before he can get out to help me up, the doors close and I am stuck on the ground with scratches all over my arms. I carry myself up and drag my body to an empty bench along the walls. I scream in pain as I move myself to a comfortable position. I take my phone out as it dings and see that someone DM'd me. I open the message up and see that Jin is the one who messaged me. I assume that he got off the subway at the next stop because my screen pops up a facetime request from Jin on Snapstagram and I quickly accept the call.

"Hey Irene, are you okay? Don't worry, I'm trying to find a way back to that station. But do you know by any chance what station you're at?" he asks.

"Um, I have a few scratches on my arm and I think this is Sadang Station." I say, looking at the signs across the station.

"Ok. I'll be there as soon as possible." Jin quickly says.

"Uh, it's fine. You're already at the station; I can just Ober over there." I reply, not wanting to cause him too much trouble. "And plus, you'll have to go in a whole cycle to make your way back over at Sadang Station. Just wait there for 10 minutes. What did you say the place was again?" I ask.

"But--never mind. The place is called Meet Fresh." he replies reluctantly.

"Great! See you in a bit." I say, ending the call.

I order an Ober and quickly stand up from the bench and all my scratches and bruises shoot pain throughout my body.

"AHH!" I screech out of pain.

I slowly make my way to the stairs and walk out as my Ober arrives. I get in the car and give the woman the address. We're sitting in silence and around 15 minutes later, we finally arrive and I see that Jin had already been seated at a table and was looking at the menu. I pay the woman for the ride and get out of the car. I enter the café and Jin looks up from the menu and smiles. I don't know why, but I smile back. I walk over to the table and he shows me the menu.

"This place is really popular for their shaved ice and winter melon teas. What do you want?" Jin says gently, explaining everything.

"Do you want to share two bowls?" I ask.

"If you want to. You can choose though. They're all pretty delicious." he replies.

"What about the Icy Grass Jelly Signature and the Icy Taro Ball #2?" I ask, looking up from the menu.

"Sure." he smiles.

"Oh! Also, can I get a cup of the winter melon tea with taro balls?" I ask, smiling, but kind of acting greedy.

"Yeah. I'm going to go order it at the cashier, okay? Just wait here." he instructs, while getting up from the table.

He heads back and we're sitting around for ten minutes in complete silence.

"So...is there anything I can know to get to know you better?" Jin asks.

"Well, my birth name is Bae Joo Hyun, I was born in Daegu, and I like listening to BoA. What about you?" I say simply.

"My birth name is Kim Seok Jin, I was born in Anyang, Gyeonggi-do, and I am really good at all types of sports." he replies.

"How about this. We play 21 questions to get to know each other even more?" I suggest as the food comes out.

"I'm fine with that." he takes one of the spoons. "Let's rotate turns when asking the questions."

"Okay. Me first." I start. "What is one of your hobbies?"

"I like to cook." he mumbles through the large spoonful he took of the shaved ice.

"Really?! You?" I shout in surprise. "Anyways, your turn to ask a question."

"Ok. What are two things you don't like?" he asks back.

"Easy. Chicken and coffee." I say through my full mouth.

"Same! I don't like coffee either!" he says loudly.

We asked questions back and back for so long that I am sure that we had surpassed the 21 questions. We got to know each other a lot better and I enjoyed his company with me. We're laughing together as we finish the last of the food we ordered. We ordered even more food and though we started eating at around 10:30 a.m., it was already 5:30 p.m.

"I had a lot of fun today, but it's getting late. Do you want to start heading back to the dorm?" I ask.

"Yeah. But only if you say that we can hang out again soon." he states.

"Sure." I chuckle.

Before we went back to our dorms, we stopped by the nearby convenience store to pick up some cream for the scratches and bruises that were still across my arms. As we're getting closer to the campus grounds, the silence fills up the air with a sickening feel.

"Thanks again for today." I say in a whisper, as the wind wraps a blanket of cool air around us.

"No problem." he replies.

We arrive at the dormitory, head up the stairs, say our goodbyes, and go our separate ways. It was only around 6:30 p.m., but I expected to see that all my roommates were partying or whatever, but when I entered my room, however, I saw two of my roommates just talking across beds.

"So where have you been all day?" Chaeyoung asks.

"What do you mean? It's not even 7:00 yet." I say, unpacking my backpack.

"Yeah, but you don't just leave early in the morning and come back hours later without an explanation." Dahyun smiles.

"Well, I went downtown today with someone." I explain. "Not a friend, but more just like an acquaintance."

"Ooh, juicy. Do go on." Dahyun interrupts.

"Nothing even happened. We just bumped into each other at the library and he offered to get some shaved ice." I reply, confused at their interest in my day.

"Well are you going to tell us who it is?" Chaeyoung adds on.

"What?" I say, puzzled.

"Who you bumped into. Are you going to tell us?" I could tell she was getting frustrated.

"It's no big deal. I just bumped into Jin." I mumble that last line.

"JIN?! AS IN KIM SEOK JIN?! AS IN THE ONE THAT YOU WERE RUMOURED TO BE DATING, KIM SEOK JIN?!" Dahyun screams.

"Yeah," I say slowly. "why?"

"You do know it will just cause more rumors, right?" Chaeyoung calmly says. "Even if you hate him now, as you guys get closer, you'll start to have feelings for him. Trust me, I would know from past experience. You can't just be friends with a guy without one or the other catching feelings."

"I don't fully hate him." I whisper under my breath.

"(gasp) What?! Really?! Oh my gosh. Chaeyoung! It's already starting." Dahyun shouts.

"See? But honestly, Irene. Don't really listen to anything Dahyun says right now. She drank a lot today and she can't handle her alcohol all that well. She doesn't drink like this all the time, I promise." Chaeyoung explains.

"Hah. Ok. But I'm pretty sure that that won't happen. Plus, according to what Wendy texted me today, Jisoo is back in town anyways." I reply.

"Who's Jisoo?" Dahyun confusedly asks.

"Um, she used to go to my school but then in middle school she moved to Busan. She and Jin both said they liked each other before she left though." I answer.

"Wait. Kim Jisoo?" they both ask. I nod. "That's Vernon's new girlfriend, you know, Dahyun's ex."

A/N: when i first wrote this chapter, it didn't have a name so i just wrote a random name and it lowkey sucks but just ignore that. also, while proofreading this chapter, i was so confused with my writing because vernon's character was originally taehyung i think (he comes back into the story later) but then it switched to jimin but then the last line said taehyung and it didn't make any sense in the story line so i spent like ten minutes trying to figure out my own story.