like never before | beomkai

09 | college

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Time ran faster than ever. Without Kai even noticing, he already found himself with Taehyun in the hallways of their university.

"Yeonjun hyung and the others are in the field. Let's go. Let's go!" Taehyun was a little too excited to be here and finally wearing the clothes he's been planning to wear after fully grasping the dress code now, black leather jacket on top of a plain white shirt and a pair of denim pants with black ankle cut boots. ("Why are you even wearing a jacket when it's humid, Tyun?" "It's called fashion, Hyuka. You wouldn't understand. "What does that supposed to mean?!")

A tight hug met them when Yeonjun was in view. Kai made a small giggling sound when Taehyun struggled to get free. Did he mention that he got comfortable with the older one for quite some time now? He even went as far as sitting with Taehyun and Yeonjun for breakfast every weekend.

It was a few weeks of warming up and bonding. Kai was now a frequent face in Yeonjun and Soobin's social media accounts while Beomgyu found comfort in sending Kai direct messages every now and then. And in all honesty, Kai thought that it wasn't too bad. He even found happiness in his love for mint chocolate ice cream with Yeonjun and in fun baking sessions with Soobin.

Although, it took him a lot to not flush whenever he thought about the drawing Beomgyu left him, sitting on his desk.

"I missed you," Yeonjun cried like it's been years, Kai noticed that this was his thing to miss people easily.

Taehyun frowned. "We had breakfast together yesterday, hyung."

"It doesn't matter!—Anyway, Soobin and Beomgyu are waiting in the cafeteria. I left them there because they were eating too slow. I wanted to see the game," Yeonjun points at the ongoing basketball match in the corner part of the area, where the rings were.

"Why is there a game one week after school officially began?" Kai's lips playfully moved to the side as a gesture of curiosity. He felt Yeonjun's fingers pinching his cheek.

"Probably varsity players. You know how it is in here, there's something for everyone: music, arts, sports.. absolutely everything."

That's the University of Yeonseo for you. Everything you need is here. It's one of South Korea's most prestigious schools, and Kai distinctly remembers now ecstatic his parents were when he and Taehyun got in together—not that they have ever doubted his GPA.

The game was long forgotten when Taehyun started dragging the two to the Student Union. Kai knew they were heading to the cafeteria to meet the other two in their friend group, but much to their dismay, they only saw a cute Soobin munching on donuts. Beomgyu is nowhere to be seen.

"You guys gotta try the food here. It's so good!" Soobin managed to say despite his food cheeks.

Taehyun leaned closer to sneak a bite and Soobin offered kindly. "Beomgyu hyung?"

"Well, the usual. He's out to mingle with everyone."

Mingle with everyone. Kai thought it's a funny way to say about Beomgyu making friends.

"Typical Beomgyu. He still gets lost around here but I'm sure he'll find his way around campus on his own," Yeonjun said with an intent to head straight to the department of engineering on his own.

Soobin quickly finished his meal and placed the tray back to the counter. Taehyun was clinging to his side but Kai knew that all of them would have to part ways whether they liked it or not.

Having a huge campus like the one Yeonseo University has can be a bit troublesome, especially with their courses almost being across each other or in the opposite wing. Soobin, who was vocal about being indecisive before, took Business Management and it didn't surprise anyone at all—still, Kai was cheering for him when he broke the news in the group chat—but their department is a few buildings away from Kai. Taehyun, too, who took Legal Management and being the closest to Soobin.

Their journey to class was lonely and their schedules barely match up. Kai still had an hour to spare, so he took his time exploring the library he's been eyeing since he first visited Yeonseo's website.

"It's huge," He gaped at the intimidating height and the ridiculously pretty elevators that don't even move up but forward and back.

Kai found a break room with vending machines and he couldn't contain the excitement of picking out drinks. "Taehyun would have loved this," He whispered when he noticed the absence of coke, his best friend's most disliked drink.

Unbeknownst to him, a figure was standing behind him with a small smile and a soft expression. "Taehyun would have asked you to buy him Sprite after reading a book or two."

"That's right. He would- Hyung!" Kai slapped his hand against his lips when he spoke a bit too loud. It wasn't his fault that Beomgyu almost gave him a heart attack for appearing out of nowhere!

"Hey- you have free time?"

"I do, but I think you don't."

Kai was pretty sure that Yeonjun was rushing to his class a few minutes ago.

"I got lost but someone's helping me out. Oh, you dyed your hair black again?" Beomgyu was bold enough to reach and touch the strands that rested on Kai's forehead.

"Yeah. I thought it would be great since college is starting," Kai explained, pretending like he's not affected by the feeling of Beomgyu's fingers grazing his forehead. "But you really need to work on your observation skills, hyung. I had it dyed a few weeks ago and you just noticed now."

Beomgyu snorts. "If it was someone else, I wouldn't have noticed at all," He mumbled. "I'm glad I did, though. It looks so good on you."

The simple compliment almost took all the air out of Kai's system. He's getting deja vu from the first time he sees Beomgyu in the cafe.

"Thank you," He uttered. "You should go now unless you want to be late."

They said no farewell before Beomgyu turned to leave. Kai was left with his grape juice and a lingering feeling of Beomgyu's fingers tousling his hair.

His eyes follow the older a little longer until he sees him walking side-by-side with someone he's never seen before. A girl, smaller than they are, and is beaming with the brightest smile imaginable. She was probably the 'someone' Beomgyu said earlier about helping him around campus.