betwixt - enhypen

𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐭𝐡𝐫𝐞𝐞: 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭

it was day three, and joori seemed to be assimilating well. she didn't feel worried as she might have believed she would about seeing jake in her lecture, and she didn't run after a jake lookalike when the class finished either.

her politics class went by relatively fast too, other than the awkward introductions that the teacher made everyone give. it was reassuring to see everyone still reluctant to talk about themselves, and it made joori feel normal for her sudden shyness when it came to her turn. clearly the professor had picked up on everyone's energy, as he handed out flyers at the end of the class, for the student union fair, where freshers like themselves could find clubs and activities to join.

joori however had different plans, as she had texted jay to go food shopping with her. sure, it might not have been fun, but she had learned during their conversations the other day that jay was also desperately in need of amenities to stock his dorm with.

the boy (dressed once again in all black) stood outside the door as students flooded out. joori was last to come out, packing away various pens, highlighters, and books. she would have walked right past him, if not thanks to jay noticing her and pulling her to the side.

"you could have cancelled if you didn't want to see me," he joked, cracking a smile her way.

joori cowered under his gaze, embarrassed that she hadn't noticed him.

"did you bring your shopping list? i have mine." she produced a small scrap of paper, with groceries scrawled over it as she remembered what she needed.

"you wrote a list? you're such a fucking nerd."

joori hid the note behind her back, before ripping it up, and putting it in the bin down the corridor they walked along.

"it doesn't matter now," she replied, "it's in the bin."

the grocery store was a large mart just outside of campus: large enough that joori surely would have gotten lost in all by herself.

"so what do you need?" jay asked her, leaning on the cart as he followed her down the fruit aisle. she reacted by putting her hand in her pocket to get her list out, before remembering that she had thrown it away. maybe adjusting to this new careless lifestyle will be hard, she thought.

"we can just go along each aisle, and i'll have you pick out what you need," jay offered, seeing her slightly panicked state.

"yeah," she took a deep breath, "we can do that. i don't need a shopping list," she tried to convince herself.

so the pair scanned each and every aisle, looking for anything that piqued their interest. by the time they reached thd checkouts, snacks were piled so high in their cart that they could barely see over it to each other, on either side of the tower.

they decided to split the cost, paying for their own items, and packing them into large fabric bags that threatened to tear under the weight. although both of them were adequate enough cooks, some nostalgia still came from eating unhealthy snacks, and it cured their homesickness.

they decided to catch the bus back to their dorms, with their arms already hurting--well, joori's arms hurting. the ride was silent, until her phone vibrated, signalling that someone was trying to ring her.

joori smiled as she read the contact name: mum and dad. she hadn't spoken to them since she had moved in, and she was especially excited to tell her dad about her job, since getting one was all that he had hounded for the previous year.

"hi mum, hi dad," she spoke excitedly, cradling the device next to her ear to hear her family since they usually weren't the best with technology.

"hi joori," she had to move the phone away from her ear, they were deafeningly loud. "how have you been settling in?" she could only laugh as a reply to hearing their voices.