Youth Vol. 1 | Hwang Hyunjin

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The sun blinded her. She moved her book up higher to cover the sun.

"I should've brought sunglasses," Hyunjin said, bringing his free hand up to cover his eyes from the sun.

"You should've but you didn't so there's nothing you can do now." Hwayoung set down her book on her face while Hyunjin dropped his hand that was holding his book to his side.

The couple was laying on a blanket in a park near their school. Hyunjin sat with his legs stretched in front of him. Hwayoung lay with her head on his lap. The trees were mostly naked now. They had very few leaves left on them. They didn't help much with blocking the sun.

"Maybe we should go inside." Hwayoung sat up and twisted her body so she would be facing him.

"No, no, it's fine." He grabbed her hand. She looked at him. "Stop with the poker face. I can't tell what you're thinking."

She smiled. "I think we should go back home. The idea was nice but I think it would be better if we didn't come in the middle of the day when the sun is right above our heads."

"Let's go back to my dorm," Hyunjin said.

"Let's." Hwayoung got up and started folding the blanket after Hyunjin stood up. She handed him her book. He held onto their books and her bag.

They slowly made their way back to his dorm. Hand in hand.

"You can give me back my bag and book." Hwayoung held her free hand out.

"No, it's fine. I'll carry it."

They reached his dorm. Hyunjin opened the door and let Hwayoung walk in first. She put her hand on the wall for support as she took off her shoes and put on her slippers. Hyunjin thought she might be coming over more often so he thought of buying her her own slippers. She took a few steps in and could already tell seven boys were living in this dorm. She already knew this but the last time she was here it wasn't this bad. Clothes were everywhere. She guessed their curtain had fallen because of the way it was put up. It looked like it was holding on for dear life. She ignored it and stood in the middle of the living room while she waited for Hyunjin to put on his slippers. She also noticed three new paintings that were hung on the wall behind the couch.

"I need to go to my parent's house tomorrow." Her mom had called her yesterday saying her sister's birthday present had arrived.

"For what?" He walked over to her. In the corner of his eye, he could see how much of a mess his place was and that he probably should've cleaned before leaving this morning. But how was he to know they would be going back to his place afterward? He moved past her and started taking off a couple of shirts on the couch so they could sit down. "Maybe we should go to my room." He said before Hwayoung could respond to his question.

"Sure." She wasn't sure if it was okay. They hadn't been in a relationship for that long. She only had one other relationship and she had already been inside his room before they started dating. "My sister sent me a birthday present and it finally arrived so I need to go pick it up."

He stopped with his hand on the doorknob. "Birthday present?" He looked at her with shock in his eyes.

"Yeah." She looked at him with concern.

"When was your birthday?" He let go of the doorknob and turned to be fully facing her.

She thought back to how long ago. "Two weeks ago. It was on the twenty-ninth."

His mouth formed an o shape. "Why didn't you tell me?" He reached for her hands. He held on as if she would disappear if he didn't hold on this tightly.