Through The Blinds | Skz

Chapter 2 - Changbin

No TW again~ you can read safely! There is a mention of stalking though, but if that bothers you they why are you reading this?
We meet our love interest! Hooray! This chapter is pretty short...but I felt like I should have at least some build up!
<><><>

On my way to class I finally got to see the college culture I would be spending my next four years in. It was definitely cliquey, the science students, music students, and art students were all split up into little groups. I mean what can you expect from a college this small in the literal woods.

Having to walk so far to get to my criminal justice class gave me a good opportunity to exercise and understand the campus more. It seemed like our dorm village was only a short stride away from the village where most of the frat and sorority houses were. The houses looked pretty old, eight houses in all, split evenly female and male. I had to walk right through the common area of their village to reach my first class.

I tended to wake up early, usually to run and shower before my day started, but that was in high school. Now my first class started at eight so I could easily get everything done in the mornings waking up at six. By the time I was on my way to class the campus was buzzing.

I finally reached my lecture hall with a decent amount of time to reach my class. The hall was historic and old, definitely giving the mysterious feeling of a college in the woods. I got into my class and sat down towards the middle of the room, pulling up my laptop. The room was calm and sleepy, but moderately populated.

My phone buzzed in my pocket while I waited for class to end.

Felix
How's the first day???? :)

Me
Has barely started lol, my roommate is chill, don't have a lot to report

Felix
Lol I'm wishing you good luck 🤞🍀 ;)

I smiled at the message, my best friend lives in one of the dorm villages by the English wing, so we wouldn't cross paths much. We'd been friends since elementary, but Felix moved away in middle school and only came back with enough time to go through the end of senior year with me. We decided to go to the same small college since the cost was low and neither of us grew up with money. He's loves his major and makes friends easily so I'm not too worried about how far we are from each other.

Before I could respond, a group of guys burst into the lecture hall talking loudly. They were wearing outfits that screamed athletics students, with letter jackets and college themed hats. Everyone was clean cut and looked expensive. They embodied the kind of guys you would expect to see in the frat houses. There were four guys talking excitedly, they were all attractive, but one in particular immediately caught my eye.

He was at the center of the group, with short black hair and pushed back bangs, he was wearing a green and maroon letter jacket. I could tell he was very fit through his fitted white t-shirt and black skinny jeans. He also had multiple piercings on his ears and light tattoos that I couldn't quite make out peeking from underneath his sleeves. It was odd how long I looked at him, I'd never been that interested in a stranger's appearance before.

I was too far to hear their conversation, but one of the boys with a short purple haircut and high cheekbones said something that made the guy I was staring at smile. His smile was wide and full of laughter, his eyes dissapeared and dimples showed themselves. He glanced my way and we made eye contact for one incredible moment before I quickly turned my head away. I had a weird, foreign feeling in my chest that tightened around my heart, threatening to make me say something.

I nervously drew little doodles in the margins of my page, trying to get this feeling out by moving. My leg bounced up and down frantically and I could feel myself getting hot. The weather outside was brisk, it was early autumn, so I couldn't figure out why I was suddenly sweating.

I heard the guys behind me slowly stop talking and footsteps walked out of the hall. I assumed they didn't have an eight a.m. class and were just accompanying their friends. I couldn't be sure weather it was the guy I was looking at who stayed or one of his friends. I was too uncomfortable to turn around and check.

I heard footsteps in the row and someone sit down in the chair directly behind mine. I felt a poke in my back.

"Hey, are you a freshman? I don't recognize you." A male voice asked me from behind, he had a slight accent but I couldn't quite place where it was from. His voice was clear and bell-like, it rang out strongly over the low background noise of the lecture hall.

I hesitated for a second before pulling myself together and turning around to face the same guy I had made eye contact with in the frat group. He was so close I could see his tongue piercing twinkling between his teeth. He had kind eyes, but something about them made me nervous. He had his head resting casually on his arm, he looked confident and natural in his pose. I always felt like I had a confident air as well, but this guy was on a different level. It was like he oozed strength.

"Yeah I'm a freshman." My words were a bit awkward but I recovered quickly from the nervous feeling I'd had once I was actually talking to him. "You seem older than me, are you a sophomore?"

"Nope, senior." He shook his head, and adjusted his hands to rest on the table, leaning forward, "Are you a criminal justice major? Trying to be a police officer or something?"

It was nice to meet someone with a bit more conversation skills than Seungmin after our awkward get-to-know-you day yesterday. And I was happy to be able to talk to someone with some experience on campus. "Close, try detective."

"Really? Any special reason?" He asked.

"I guess, my dad was the police chief in my hometown so I felt like I had to follow in his footsteps at first, but as I continued to work towards college I fell in love with the job." I was surprised how easy this guy was to talk to, "I couldn't imagine doing anything else now."

"That's really inspiring man, I'm here cause' I'm trying to be a forensic scientist." He replied, I really hadn't expected this frat guy to be in such an advanced field, but I guess appearances can be deceiving.

"Not sure how realistic that is though." He chuckled, sending a little chill through my body that made me blink slightly more rapidly than usual. "I wish I had all the time you do sometimes, I can't believe I'll be out in the workforce so soon...only one year left is kinda hard to believe."

"Yeah, that's gotta be rough, at least you've got a lot of friends to enjoy the year with?" I gestured towards the back of the room where his group had been chatting with my head.

"Oh man we were probably pretty loud weren't we, sorry about that." He looked at the spot I'd motioned to and smiled apologetically. "Football season is coming up, since most of the guys are either on the team or into athletics they get pretty excited."

"Speaking of, you seem like you do sports too.." he trailed off in an unspoken question, looking very obviously at my arms.

"Not really, I just lift pretty often and run regularly." I'd always liked watching other people do sports, especially when it was someone I knew, personally though I was more focused on studying than extracurriculars. "I also try and practice for the physical aspects of being in the police force, I like being prepared."

"Wow that's pretty different from me, I feel like I'm always the most impulsive. I get good grades though." He winked at me when he said that, for him it was probably a 'don't worry I won't drag you down' wink. But for me, it shot a little burst of adrenaline through my body and I picked up the pace of my leg bouncing.

"That's impressive, I know forensics is a hard field." I replied almost instinctively, while inside I was feeling more and more anxious. I felt my ears turn a bit red, I really hoped he couldn't notice. "By the way, what is your name?"

He blinked once and smiled, standing up and leaning forward to pull out the chair next to me. In a flash he jumped the table behind landing in the chair he had just pulled out. It was definitely clumsy, he almost fell out onto the floor, tangling his leg in the chair on his way down. After settling and looking at me again he replied, "You can call me Bangchan."

<><><>

Thank you for reading so far! I really prefer when authors of ff like this include stage names in some way~ it really makes me happy to read~