Happy Ending | Yoon Jeonghan

2

Jeonghan led me through the university with ease, not just in terms of his comfort with the navigation of the place, but also his comfort in his own character.

I could tell within minutes of us leaving the academic block that he was quite popular, seeing the sheer number of people that greeted him; whether it was older guys giving him a nod or a quick bro hug, regular and friendly hi's, or the overenthusiastic greetings that a few girls too many gave him.

Some people even extended those greetings to me, which I thought was sweet. Normally I thought I would have just been ignored, but almost everyone who greeted him greeted me as well, and many even introduced themselves to me after asking my name.

"Are you from around here?" Jeonghan asked quite suddenly. We had been walking in silence for a minute or so.

"Sorry?"

"Do you- does your family live nearby?"

"Oh- Uh, no. I mean, my parents used to live here, but they've moved back the the US now, after I've come to uni."

"Oh," is all he said, as he continued ahead. "And do you have any siblings?"

"Yeah, one older brother. Three years older."

"Does he live in the US too?"

"Yep, he does."

"So you're all alone here? Damn, I can't imagine."

"Well, yes and no. All my friends are here, and my cousins and my mom's siblings."

"Any of your friends coming here for uni?"

"Yeah, yeah, my best friend, her name's Rina, she's coming for visual arts and design. She's my roommate."

"Whoa, that's lucky. I hardly knew the kids who came here from my high school."

"Oh, we didn't go to the same high school. She transferred away when we were 14, but we still stayed in touch."

He raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "Wow, that's cool. Really."

I couldn't find any hint of false interest or sarcasm in his voice. He seemed genuinely absorbed in everything I had to say, and his total attention towards what I had to say somewhat flustered me, but also flattered me.

Since my parents had left three weeks ago, I'd found it difficult to find anyone who actually paid genuine attention to me.

I had stayed over at my moms brother's place for a while, but he was out working most of the time, and his wife, though absolutely sweet, clearly did not care to listen to whatever I said to the extent that my parents would.

I hadn't realised how much I missed the complete, undiverted attention of a person in the past few weeks, and it calmed my underlying nervousness and anxiety like nothing else.

I broke into a smile. "Yeah. We're lucky."

"Hey, um, y/n, it's a bit past twelve thirty," he said, glancing down at his watch. "The cafeteria gets super crowded by around one, so you wanna go grab some food before it gets taken?"

"Okay," I smiled.

He led me towards the cafeteria, one place I had actually bothered to look up before coming.

Once we got there, we washed our hands real quick and heaped some food onto our plates, after which he weaved through the countless tables and led me to one towards the side.

"This is where my friends and I sit, normally," he said, pulling out a chair for himself, and the one next to it for me.

I nodded numbly, turning around to get a better look of the place. It was huge, and looked super similar to the kind my brother had in his uni in the US.