Ateez Roommates - Seongjoong

Hongjoong was on a mission

With the new information he had gotten from Seonghwa, Hongjoong was on a mission.

Now that he knew his mom had gone to this university, he knew her name was probably here somewhere. And the place to start would be the place she spent most of her time—at least where he assumed she spent most of her time: the music department. His area of expertise.

He knew the head of the department quite well and also knew that she had been there for a pretty long time so it was likely she'd taught Seonghwa's mom as a student. Of course, he wasn't sure how he'd describe her in enough detail for her to remember, but it was a start.

He left two hours early for class so that he could try to meet with her and get a bit more information.

As he arrived at her office he took a deep breath. Was he crazy? How likely was she to remember one face from a decade ago? And who knew if she had even been a music major?

He shook his head and knocked anyways. This was his best bet at the moment.

She opened the door and smiled.

"Hongjoong! What brings you to my office so early today?"

"Good morning, Mrs. Ahn," he smiled with a bow. "I actually wanted to ask you about a former student of yours. Well actually—I'm not even sure if she was a student but I think she was. Anyways, I was hoping you could help me out."

"Of course! I don't have the best memory these days but I'll try to help you as much as I can. What's her name?"

Hongjoong laughed awkwardly.

"I—uh, I actually don't know."

"That makes things rather difficult," she laughed.

"Yes. Yes it does. She would have been a student about 10-20 years ago. Ummm..." Hongjoong was quickly realizing how little he had to go off of.

"Do you perhaps know what she looks like?"

"Yes! Well—not necessarily. Um—I have a picture of her son."

Hongjoong took out his phone to look for a photo of Seonghwa but realized he only had one. It was the first day that they'd moved in together and Hongjoong paused a moment, reflecting on it.

"Hongjoong?"

"Ah—sorry. Here he is."

He held up the photo, zooming in a bit on Seonghwa's face.

This was a long shot at best.

"You know what? I think I might remember her!"

Hongjoong looked up at her, shocked. Was this actually going to work!?

"I can't remember her name! Wow, she looks just like him!"

Hongjoong smiled softly, feeling happy to learn more about the woman who raised his boyfriend.

"Hold on, I might be able to find it in our Show Room!" she cried excitedly, taking off. Hongjoong stumbled along behind her.

"Wow, I haven't thought about her in ages! I don't know why I can't remember her name! She was such a sweet girl. Incredibly talented! She was one of my best students. That boy of hers, is he into music as well?"

Hongjoong wanted to laugh but remembered that Seonghwa did like music, even if he couldn't wrap his head around it.

"He sings from time to time but he's going to be a business major," Hongjoong responded, and she stopped shaking her head.

"Ohh, I remember now. She must have married that scoundrel."

Hongjoong was taken aback, shocked at her sudden change in demeanor.

"Scoundrel?"

"I can't remember his name either. Park something. She always complained to me that he didn't take her seriously. I don't know what she saw in him. He was a nice boy but he never put her first. I hope she's doing alright."

Hongjoong didn't have the heart to tell her the whole story so he just nodded and they continued walking.

They entered the Show Room, the place Hongjoong always wanted to see his name someday. It was where every single trophy, award, and achievement of any of the music majors was displayed. He had yet to win anything big enough to be recognized here but he hoped that one day he would be able to.

Mrs. Ahn looked around for a bit, muttering to herself and Hongjoong followed quietly.

"Now where did I put it?"

She finally gasped, moving towards a large plaque on the far side of the room. Hongjoong followed, his heart pounding. Was he finally going to figure out her name?

The plaque was a list of the highest scoring final performances of all time at the college. Hongjoong was amazed to see some of the numbers. The final performance project was the last hurdle for music majors and doing well was very difficult.

"There she is. Jee Haewon."

Hongjoong looked around the list unable to find her until he brought his eyes all the way to the top.

She had a perfect score!

He gasped, covering his mouth as he stepped back in amazement. She must be really talented.

"Jee Haewon," he sighed to himself.

"You don't see a lot of students like her come through here. She was a pretty special young woman."

"I bet."

He turned back and thanked her many times before finally heading to the library. He still had an hour to kill before class so he wanted to do some digging in school records to see what he could find. If he could at least find a photo of her, he would be that much closer to tracking her down.

He searched her name in the school resources and a few photos popped up. He looked at each one closely, eliminating anyone who didn't share any resemblance to Seonghwa. When he reached the fifth photo, he stopped.

She could almost pass as his twin.

Hongjoong felt his heart soar, having found both her name and photo, feeling confident he would be able to find her. He printed her yearbook photo and quickly made his way to class.