99% || ENHYPEN

vi. beginning of everything

Aeri was never one to like going out, she enjoyed staying in the comfort of her home and didn't have the need to get out and discover new things. For that reason, it was rare for her to make new friends, especially since she was never the one to go towards people first.

Back when she was a trainee she started walking around the company building whenever she had free time. And this didn't change after she had her official debut with ENHYPEN, the only thing that differed from before was that now, people bowed to her when they crossed passed with her.

And today was no different. She had been sitting in one of the third floor's break room, peacefully working on her computer. When the door opened, she didn't pay attention to the person that had just walked in. The third floor's break room was vacant most of the times but it wasn't private nor was it hers to claim, someone was bound to come in.

However, her peace was broken when the man that had just come in decided to sit opposite to her. She tried to ignore him and continued to type on her computer but she could feel his gaze on her. Eventually, she looked up to see that he was indeed staring at her.

"Can I help you?" she asked, moving her headphones a little bit in order to hear whatever the man had to say.

"Oh, hello. My name is Kim Soe-Joon," he bowed on his seat, looking as if he hadn't expected for her to talk to him.

"I'm Shin Aeri, what can I help you with?" she asked again, this time telling him her name. Aeri was always quite known, even back when she was a trainee, everyone knew her name the moment she walked into a room. But she still assumed that no one knew who she was and that she needed to introduce herself with her full name.

"I know. I'm new here," he said, a smile appearing on his face.

"Great," she nodded with a tight smile, feeling awkward with the interaction.

She looked at him for a few more seconds, waiting for him to speak to her but he stayed silent, only watching her with the same smile on his face. She looked back down to her computer and put her headphones back on, doing her best to focus and to ignore how she still felt his eyes on her.

After a few more minutes of her trying to concentrate, she closed her laptop and got up to leave but was quickly stopped when he got up at the same time she did.

"Can I help you," she asked him for the third time, still hoping that he'd give her an answer.

"Can I have your number?" he flat out asked, making her panic internally while she did her best to stay composed on the outside. "It's just that since I'm new here, I don't have any friends yet. And you look like you know your way around here," he explained after seeing her reluctance.

"I'm sorry but I don't come here often and I think it'll just be a waste of your time," she lied, bowing to him before leaving the room.

As she walked back to her dorms, her laptop in her hands, she wondered if she had made the right decision by refusing to give out her number. He didn't look mean or like he had bad intentions, so why did she felt so reluctant about starting a friendship with him?

For the next two weeks or so, she kept crossing path with Soe-Joon. At first, she did her best to ignore him and pretended like she hadn't seen him, but unfortunately for her, he always noticed her presence and came up to her to make small talk. At first, it only consisted of him talking to her while she gave occasional comments to stay polite but after a while, she started to warm up to him and began talking with him more. At times, she even was the one to come up to him.

She didn't know why it took her an abnormal time to warm up to him because he seemed genuinely nice and acted like a good friend towards her, even when she avoided him at all cost in the beginning. She had even told her members about him, happy to finally have a friend other than them.