Rebirth; A New Age || seongjoong || ATEEZ

Chapter 18 : A New Sunrise (Special Chapter)

The smell of coffee always smelled like home to Seonghwa.

There was something so sweet and rich about the smell of crushed coffee beans in the university's coffee shop right next to the library that made Seonghwa's worries melt away. Didn't matter if he had exams coming up, which he always did, the iced latte he held in his hand as he walked up the stairs to the top floor of the library gave him a sense of comfort. Even in the ground was covered in light, fluffy snow, the drink always remained the same.

An iced latte.

He figured it was his need for everything to remain the same. Seonghwa hated change with a passion and that's why he still drank iced coffee when it was a blizzard outside and his fingers were blue and numb trying to hold the drink. But at least he dressed warm, a long, thick, wool coat his mother had gifted him before he drove off to university and never looked back. That coat was the only reason he'd survive days like these- when the sun was hidden behind heavy snow clouds and the temperature was far below what any human or creature desired. He had a checkered scarf he tied very quickly around his face so his nose at least wouldn't freeze off, and he didn't care how many weird looks he'd get from other students in the coffee shop or on the side of the road, he just wanted to stay somewhat warm.

But the library was always warm. Unlike his apartment where his roommate thought that the colder the better, something about stimulating the brain cells or whatever, which is why he found himself at the library more times than not during the winter months.

His backpack was heavy, terribly so even though his professors said they'd be moving to electronic-based lectures but still told them to buy books that cost more than any university student could afford. He probably had three books for his astronomy class alone in there- and when he finally sat his bag down on his favorite table in the corner and slumped into a swivel chair with a heavy sigh, he decided that the cause of his back problems originated from his heavy backpack.

He closed his eyes for a moment while blindly trying to find the straw to his drink to take a quick sip before going even limper in his chair. It was seven in the morning, way before any human person should ever have to be awake, but there he was sitting in the almost vacant library with a freezing cold drink on a freezing cold day at exactly seven in the morning.

"Already falling asleep? Didn't you go to bed early last night?"

Seonghwa didn't even have to open his eyes to know who that was.

"Just because I say I'm going to bed doesn't mean I'm going to fall asleep just as my head hits the pillow," Seonghwa grumbled, peeking an eye open to see Hyun-Woo setting down his own things on the other side of the table and sitting across from Seonghwa and pulling out his computer that was covered in anime stickers.

"Oh right- insomnia?"

"It's a real thing you know," Seonghwa sighed and mirrored his friend's actions and pulled out his painfully bare computer. "And if it wasn't for your insane need to study for this test at the ass crack of dawn, I wouldn't be so tired."

"The exam is in two weeks and you know the kind of exams our professor gives us," Hyun-Woo gave Seonghwa a little bit of a side-eye. "Remember how your last exam went? You're in no position to complain since I offered to help- being your senior and all."

"Yeah, two weeks- right when the big basketball game with our rivals is supposed to happen. Doesn't our professor know that's a terrible idea? Half of the students are going to show up wasted and hungover," Seonghwa reached in his backpack and pulled out his glasses, something he found out he needed to start wearing when his eyes grew sore. "Not to mention it's cold as fuck, I don't want to walk all the way to the other side of campus in a storm like this."