Second Time Around

Chapter 5.

After work, Haewon drove both girls back to Min-Sun's apartment. Min-Sun ran upstairs to grab her computer as well as her backpack that held her textbooks. She ran back downstairs and put her stuff in the backseat before getting in the front. Haewon began driving and less than 5 minutes later they ended up in a similar housing division to Min-Suns. The house was about three streets over from her house, but instead of the slight beige color that her house was, this one was fully brick.

Haewon had already gotten out of the car and was heading to the door while Min-Sun grabbed all her materials from the back seat. When she closed the back door and looked up, Haewon was walking inside the housing unit on the first floor.  Min-Sun speed up to try and catch up to Haewon before the door closed.

The house from the inside differed from the one that Min-Sun lived in. From the entry way where the shoes are placed, it lead into the living room. To the left there was a door that lead into the kitchen and a door which Min-Sun assumed led to a bedroom. On the wall across from her in the living room was a door and then to her right was another door which if the layout was similar to her own housing layout, then one must be another bedroom and a bathroom. She placed her shoes in the entryway and looked to see that the living room floor was littered with stray kids.

She snuck a peak in the kitchen and there was Chan as well as Jeongin trying to cook something but they looked like they were struggling more than anything. Haewon was already in the kitchen trying to help them from burning down the place and her eyes were watching Chan. Not only that, but Chan's eyes were watching Haweon as well. It was like they were flirting silently and it was killing Min-Sun a little bit. She almost wanted to pull Jeongin out so that he wouldn't disturb them, but the situation was too funny to pass up.

When she turned her eyes back to the living room, everyone was sort of in their own world. Hyunjin was laying on Seungmins lap facing the ceiling staring at his phone. Seungmin was also on his phone, and judging from from the way they kept laughing and showing each other their phones, it seemed like they were on TikTok or possibly reels.

So-Hee was sitting on the couch and Changbin was sitting on the floor in front of her leaning on the couch and laying in between her legs. Changbin had his eyes closed as So-Hee was playing with his curls and rambling about something. Sometimes Changbin would open his eyes and look at her while she talked from time to time. Min-Sun could see the faintest blush on her face but nothing could match the smile she had when she stared at him.

On the floor sitting next to the coffee table a little ways from the couch were Felix and Lee Know who would pass disgusted looks over to Changbin and So-Hee whenever they did something that remotely reminded everyone there that they were hopelessly single. Min-Sun had to stifle a laugh at their reactions. Surprisingly enough they were the only ones who actually had textbooks out working on anything.

The only one who seemed to be by himself was Han. He sat next to So-Hee on the couch but was completely unbothered by the display of affection next to him and he was heavily invested in his phone. Not really wanting to disturb all the other duos in the living room, she sat on the opposite side of the coffee table from Felix and Lee Know and near Han. She could hear Han laughing from time to time and she wondered what was so funny. She wanted to know more about him, she wanted to get closer to him.

Min-Sun stopped herself from dwelling on those thoughts and decided to get to work on a project for one of her classes that was due in 3 weeks. In the middle of making her powerpoint she felt someone over her shoulder and turned to see Han's face right next to hers. He was so close she could feel the heat radiating off his body. Min-Sun jumped back in surprise as Han laughed. "Sorry! Sorry! I was just wondering what you were working on. You were really focused and I tapped your shoulder but you didn't notice." She blinked at him and tried to collect herself.

"O-oh sorry about that." She apologized turning back to her computer. She felt like her heart was going to burst and she couldn't figure out if it was from the jump scare she experienced or the fact that he was so close to her.

"So what are you working on?" He motioned towards her computer. She stared back at it shortly forgetting what she was even working on.

"Oh I was working on the project for Mr. Hwang's class. I figured I would start taking a look at it." She explained. She was the kind of person that liked to plan ahead and get her work done now rather than 3 weeks where she would have to scramble at the last second.

"Oh the one due in 3 weeks? You are already working on it? I don't even know where to begin." He complained sliding down to the floor with her. She laughed. "If you listened he told us a website to use to at least help us get started. You do know the topics are due this next Friday right?" She raised her eyebrow over to him and watched the color drain from his face.

Guess he didn't know that.

She sighed staring at him worried. "Han you know you have to pass this class to graduate right?" She heard from Haewon that Han was not doing so well in his classes and had been slacking on his work lately.

He nodded running his hand through his hair. "I know, I know." He looked extremely stressed out which tugged at Min-Suns heart a little bit.

"Do you want my help choosing a topic?" She looked back to her computer to try and pull up the website that she was referring to earlier.  She looked back over at Han who was smiling at her and she felt her heart skip a beat. She quickly turned back to face the computer screen and go through the list of topics.

"Hmm what about this? You could definitely find sources in our textbook and online textbooks to back up this topic." She pointed to one that she found online and Han pulled up beside her again and this time she could feel his breath on her neck. Her finger faltered from the screen and she felt her breathing stutter at his proximity to her. He said nothing as he glanced over Min-Sun's shoulder but when she looked up at him he was focused on the screen in front of her. He was so close to her that her nose was almost touching his cheek. She seriously felt like she couldn't breathe.

"How about another one just in case that one falls through." She spoke turning back to the screen trying to diffuse the tension that only she herself was feeling. For goodness sakes he has a girlfriend get it together, Min-Sun told herself.

They both started looking through the list of topics again until she found another one and pointed it out to him. He nodded with this one and Min-Sun could feel the movement against her hair. She didn't know how much more of this closeness she could take.

"Okay well get some paper or something and write these down so you don't forget." She looked back at him and he just blinked at her. "Han? You did bring your homework right? Isn't that the whole point of this?" She gestured around to everything around her. Felix had invited her calling this a study group so she figured everyone was going to be studying. Guess she was wrong.

"I mean yeah, but this is also just the chill spot. Ya know where we all come to chill?" She raised an eyebrow at him. She kind of figured that much from the way everyone was laying on top of each other and not studying.

She chuckled before pulling out a piece of paper from her bag and wrote down the topics they had agreed on and handed it over to him. He stared at the paper and then to her with a smile. "Thanks".

She stared at his smile and felt her heart skip a beat. Oh how she wished that she could get over these feelings for him.