A PLAN FOR LOVE ✓

eight : beomgyu

A biology class at 8:30 a.m. on a Monday would not have been my first pick, but when Taehyun posted his class schedule on Facebook last month, it was the only one I could find with open seats left. So, I guess I’m interested in living organisms now.

I take a deep breath and adjust my hair before pulling the heavy door open and heading into the lecture hall.

I scan the rows. There are a few quiet-looking kids sitting alone in the front, groups of friends talking about their summers in the middle, and a crew of university athletes in the back of the room with their legs hanging over the tiered tables.

There’s not a single person who doesn’t look bleary-eyed from a presemester party. It’s a look I recognize all too well from after prom weekend and ski club Sundays.

But for the first time, I actually understand how they feel.

I’m exhausted too. I feel a pang thinking of the short story class I gave up for this. But despite biology being mostly a premed weed-out class at this school, it also covers one of my science gen eds. It’s saving me a science class on my schedule in a future semester. So I’m not just here for Taehyun,I tell myself yet again.

I make my way into the room and finally catch sight of her blue hair. He’s talking to Huening Kainand wearing a smile that warms me all the way down to my bones. I think he’s the only person in here smiling.

I grab on to the straps of my backpack and walk up to the third row, where he’s sitting a few chairs in. Huening Kai is now tapping away on his phone, and I take half a step closer until I could wrap my hands around the back of the empty swivel chair beside Taehyun if I wanted to. We hung out last night. Sitting together is totally normal.

“Anyone sitting here?” I ask from behind, trying to sound… I don’t know… flirty or something? But it comes out as basically a stage whisper. Between that and the jocks goofing around in the back, he doesn’t hear me. I look over my shoulder at the girl sitting in the next row back as she flips her fiery-red mane of hair and throws me a glare like, Just fucking sit down or move.

I clear my throat, about to ask him again, but simultaneously, Huening Kai says, “Taehyun, look at this!” And Taehyun turns his chair away as Huening Kai holds up his phone to show him something on Instagram. I turn the other way and hesitate, meeting eyes with the salty redhead, then ultimately decide to just slip out into the aisle and find a seat in the back before either of them can notice me just standing there.

Great job, Beomgyu. Way to follow through.

I release my death grip on the straps and let my backpack slip onto the floor as I plunk down into my seat, trying my best to brush it off and instead focus on class. I pull out my binder and mechanical pencils, getting everything set up in front of me.

Everything is so fresh and new and ready.

It’s exactly the way I like it to be, but still, I can’t shake the uneasy feeling in my stomach every time my eyes flick down to Taehyun and the empty seat that could have been mine.

Just as the professor is adjusting the microphone on the podium to his height, the door swings open, and in walks none other than Choi Yeonjun. Late. No backpack. Just a book tucked under his arm and a half-eaten 7-Eleven sandwich in his hand.

I duck my head and pretend I’m really interested in the syllabus clipped into my binder, praying he doesn’t see me. I watch him out of the corner of my eye as he stops to say hi to Taehyun and Huening Kai, who actually see and hear him, of course, but then he skips right up the steps and squeezes behind five people to plop down in the empty chair… right next to me.