BALANCE || Hyunlix

Chapter 3 - Eerily similiar schedule

When Han Jisung walked back to the dorm in the evening, he felt that it was getting quite cold. He covered himself more with his oversize jacket and hurried inside. In front of the entry to his room, he looked through his pockets for his keys and took off his headphones. Before he could unlock the door, he was startled by strange noises coming from inside. Stomping and loud breathing. Jisung's eyes widened when the noises didn't stop. If he didn't know Hyunjin so well, he would think that he brought someone to their room for the night.

But knowing what Hyunjin was like, Jisung normally walked in. He caught a sight of a sweaty Hyunjin with headphones in his ears. He was completely focused on his dance moves and by the way he was breathing he could tell he had been doing it for at least an hour straight. Jisung kept looking at him in confusion as he took off his jacket, waiting for his roommate to notice him, which happened on Hyunjin's next turn. He stopped with a start, put his hand on his chest and took out one of the headphones.

"Did they offer you an early graduation? Or why are you fooling around like this?" Jisung laughed. He knew that Hyunjin is the hardest worker, that's why he's where he is, but this is the first time he's doing this stuff with such vigor on a Monday night.

"I haven't been trying hard lately, I have to do something about it." Hyunjin caught his breath and reached for the water bottle. Jisung narrowed his eyes and pursed his lips tightly as if condemning Hyunjin's answer. Trying to guess Hyunjin's mood, he finally decided to mind his own business.

Hyunjin looked at the time and admitted to himself that he might as well finish, tomorrow is also a day. He grabbed some clean clothes and went straight to the shower. As quick hot drops of water began to fall on him, he was finally able to take a breather after the whole day. As he washed off the sweat, he thought back to the events of the day, especially his last class at school and Lee Felix.

When Felix started dancing, it was as if he didn't have to try at all. As if he didn't even think about what step was next. He did it with such confidence and assurance and had the perfect expression on his face. Hyunjin knew about himself that he worked hard for his position, but when he first started dancing, he couldn't even really feel the rhythm. Whereas Felix looked like he was born with it. Hyunjin shook his head to stop thinking about it and got out of the shower to dry off and brush his teeth.

When he returned to the room, it was already dark and the only light source was Jisung's laptop, on which he was currently watching some series. Hyunjin laid down on his bed without saying a word, his wet hair dampening his pillow but he didn't care because the only thing on his mind was comparing himself to Felix. He was afraid. All he really cared about could be lost thanks to this guy from Australia. He needs himself to be in charge of organizing the end of school celebration like last year. Together with Minho. They have to create something unprecedented to get noticed. He remembered how he had been left standing alone in the dance studio after class today and no one was interested in him, while almost the entire class saw Felix off with nothing but praise. Felix was the one getting the attention, not Hyunjin. So how can he attract the attention of a major company if he doesn't even impress his classmates?

"No it won't be like this." Hyunjin thought, closing his eyelids tightly and frowning at that. He knew that he had something that Felix lacked and he was going to use it. Hard work and precision. From tomorrow everything will be different. With his new conviction, Hyunjin fell asleep a little better.

***

Jisung woke up to his last alarm as usual. With his eyes closed, he turned off the alarm, anticipating another rough morning when he'd have to wake Hyunjin up and both of them would rush to class. He was surprised to hear no swear words. In fact, there was complete silence. He rubbed his eyes with his hands and looked at Hyunjin's bed, which was empty. His shoes weren't by the door and his school bag was gone too. Jisung looked at the clock again to see if he had overslept this time, but everything was fine. He just shrugged his shoulders and started preparing to go to school himself.

***

It was cloudy outside. It looked like a rainy day, autumn was here in all its glory. Felix would normally be enjoying how beautiful the campus is with all the colored leaves, but instead his head was buried in the map he had received yesterday in the principal's office and he was trying to get to his first class - dance analysis. He left for a class early in case he got lost, so he hadn't met many people along the way yet. Until he turned a corner and saw the back of a tall, slim boy from yesterday's dance class who wasn't exactly in a good mood if Felix remembered correctly. But he decided to give it another chance and greeted him cheerfully.

"Good morning," Felix said and smiled warmly, it was already an instinct for him, "Hyunjin, right?" He pointed at the young man's face, which was alternating with various expressions – surprise, annoyance and surrender. As Felix watched his face, he was once again surprised by how handsome Hyunjin was. It's almost as if he advertises expensive skin care products in his spare time.

"Um, yeah, good morning..." Hyunjin muttered tiredly, quickly looking away from the shorter guy. He hoped it was just a greeting, because he couldn't believe that the one day he decided to get up early and immerse himself fully in his studies to get the upper hand over Felix, he would run into him.

"Can I ask you? Am I going the right way to the dance analysis class?" Felix asked him, showing him his schedule and a map. Hyunjin reluctantly looked at it and... weren't his eyes fooling him?

"You're from second year too?" Hyunjin asked when he saw the eerily familiar schedule.

"Mhm."

He is in the second year like Hyunjin. His class schedule overlaps with Hyunjin's except for a few subjects. Maybe this is a bad dream. He hoped that Felix was at least a freshman. When Hyunjin paused for longer, he felt Felix's gaze on him again and knew he had to react.

"We have this class together." Hyunjin said curtly.