EX // Minsung

11. Time for a project

"What are you talking about?" Sam asked offended. "Nevermind, I'll hear everything I need to know from Jisung."

Jisung nodded, "let's just go, I'll tell you later." So Sam dragged the both of them out there, but just before they could walk through the door Minho grabbed Jisung's other hand.

"Let me go, Minho." Jisung demanded.

"I will, you just forgot your phone." Minho said as he pressed Jisung's phone into his hands.

The next few days Jisung avoided Minho as much as possible because he didn't know what to do with the situation. Minho seemed to be leaving Jisung alone too for whatever reasons, Jisung didn't care as long as they wouldn't need to interact.
Jisung had said to Sam that he didn't want to talk about it because he was too embarrassed and confused about the situation. His friend thought it was odd, because usually Jisung tells him everything, but he let it slide because Jisung seemed very upset.

Jisung remained distracted in most of his classes, he was just staring out of the window and the teacher's voice became white noise.
That was until his teacher announced they would have a joint assignment with the history department.

"For the next three weeks the third year history students will be discussing literature. Normally they would do the project on their own, but this year we're trying something new because the third year English students will also be discussing history behind literature." Jisung's teacher smiled, but Jisung didn't feel happy at all. "We'll be discussing the material during our classes and you will have to work on the assignment together outside the classes. Every history student will be paired up with an English student, so you'll be working in groups of two."

Jisung felt a little bit more relieved, there were around twenty students in his class. He wasn't good at math, but he knew a chance of one out of twenty was relatively small.

"At the end of today's class the history majors will join us and I will tell you who you will be paired up with." The teacher continued. "Switching partners isn't possible, you're all young adults, learn to behave like it."

Great.

Sam, who always sat beside Jisung, gave Jisung a concerned look. Jisung saw it out of the corner of his eyes, but he turned away. He didn't want sympathy for something he hadn't figured out yet.

The rest of the class was pretty much a blur until the teacher said, "they are here, when I say your name please raise your hand, then the other students will be able to find you."

Jisung's stomach twisted when he saw Minho enter the room and he prayed he wouldn't be paired up with him. Though the two boys didn't want to speak to eachother, neither of them could keep their eyes away from the other.

"Alright, the first pair is Jackson and Yeoreum. Then we have Sanha and Jisung..."

THANK GOD. Jisung let out a big sigh of relief and he could tell even Sam was less tense.

"...Jacob and Kevin and that leaves Minho and Sam."

This felt... So. Much. Worse.

"Now that you've all found your partner, you can start on the outlines of your project. You can find the exact assignment online, good luck everyone!"

Jisung and Sam were sitting at a table in the back of the class and it seemed like Minho had made the conscious choice to sit in between them. Sanha politely sat on the other side of Jisung and Jisung turned to him so he was now sitting with his back towards Minho.

"I'm Sanha Yoon, I don't think we've met before." The boy politely smiled and Jisung had to admit he was quite handsome.

"I'm Jisung Han, when were you born if I may ask?" Jisung tried to start casual conversation, trying to get his mind off of the two boys sitting behind him.

"I was born in 2000, March twentyfirst to be specific."

"Oh! I was born in 2000 as well. You're also only one day younger than Sam here." Jisung beamed.

"Same age! Nice meeting you Hannie." Sanha was quite good looking and he already gave Jisung a cute nickname. "Let's be friends!"

Jisung smiled and nodded, finally something good to happen in these past days.

The two boys continued to chat throughout the rest of the class and started outlining their project. They talked about what literature works they liked most and what they thought would work best for the project. Sanha and Jisung had similar opinions and Jisung was thankful that the project was going to be easy to manage.
Jisung did feel sorry for Sam though, he and Minho hadn't really talked much during class, meaning that this was the start of them falling behind on the project. Though Sam wasn't always an A-plus student, Jisung knew Sam always worked hard on the projects so that he had a little more to spare for the written exams.

"Do you want to hang out with Sam and I? We're going to get coffee." Jisung proposed to Sanha.

"Ah, I don't drink coffee, but I'll have a hot chocolate! Let's all go, the four of us."

Jisung wanted to mention this fourth person wouldn't be able to go with them, but Minho already stood up. "Hm, let's go."

Of course Sanha doesn't know about the situation and Minho is well liked among other students, but...
Jisung really didn't want Minho to be there, but he was wondering if he should just bear it for Sanha's sake.

Sanha must have sensed the awkwardness between them after they sat down at their local coffee bar and was trying to start a conversation.

"Minho sunbaenim, I'm so honoured to finally get to know you. You seem so cool and I never dared to say hi before." Jisung couldn't help but notice that Sanha kind of looked like a big puppy.

"Why do you call him sunbaenim? Are you not in the same year and class?" Sam could make any question sound like he was annoyed.

"Ah, well Minho was held back a year. So technically he has been in this major longer than me, which makes him my sunbaenim." Sanha explained.

"Why were you held back a year?" Jisung planned on not speaking to Minho, but his curiosity once again won.

"Couldn't keep up with the work, some personal issues." Minho looked away while taking a sip of his coffee.

"Is there something troubling you this year too? You always have this confident vibe around you and I noticed it has weakened a bit." Jisung couldn't tell if Sanha was trying to kiss up to Minho that much or if he was too nosy, but whatever it was, Jisung started to like it less and less.

Minho just shot Sanha an angry glance, "I said it's personal." After he said that he seemed to realise he had made the situation even more tense. "I'm sorry, I'll just head back to my dorm. Sam, you have my number, text me when you want to work on the project." He quickly finished his drink, placed his empty cup at the counter and left.

"I imagined him to be very different, I don't know why I kinda looked up to him." Sanha pouted.

"Don't take it personally. Let's just say that Sam and I aren't on good terms with Minho at all, so inviting him was probably a bad move. But don't worry, you couldn't have known." Jisung put his hand on Sanha's shoulder, "usually he's more polite... I think."