Slow Down - Jaywon

5: 'Stole him'

"Let's go see, Sunoo," Sunghoon suggested, taking a sip of his (read: Jake's) vanilla latte. He glanced up at Jay from his phone to see what he would react in response to his proposal.

"He's in a completely different county."

"Which is why we should see him," Sunghoon added, trying to persuade Jay to agree with him. They weren't doing anything other than sitting around in Jake's dorm anyway.

"And Riki, too," Jake said, arriving back from his room and Sunghoon pulls the straw from his mouth and pushes the cup an inch away from him to hide the fact that he was drinking from it.

"I think they got to be roommates. Sunoo said he negotiated with the dean," Sunghoon murmured, looking over at Jake as he spoke.

Jay sucked his teeth, how fortunate for them. When Jay and Jake asked about the possibility of rooming together, the Dean just shook his head, and they were set in separate rooms (Sunghoon had already moved in with his roommate at the time.

"I think we should go," Jake answered, and because Sunghoon was already on the same page, Jay was more or less forced to agree with them.

And that was how they had gotten there, in a dorm room from ceiling to floor in shades of cream. The comely interior characterized by fluffy rugs and abstract paintings hung on the unmarked walls. The temperature was like that of a kiss of sun, faintly warm like a fall day.

They could tell that Sunoo was the only one behind the layout and how it was adorned, it didn't feel like Riki at all (that and when they checked their rooms, Sunoo's looked exactly like the rest of the house and Riki's room was swarmed with LED lights wherever you looked).

"You didn't bring anything? You just come into our dorm unannounced without any food?" Riki complained, sitting dramatically on the couch with a noise of complaint. "No food," he whined, flailing his arms like a child. "No food," he said again.

"Be glad we came over, kid. When classes start up, we won't make any trips over," Sunghoon chimed, sauntering over to the living room to take a seat on the sofa as well, already making himself at home.

"I'd rather you not come over then," Riki remarked, as a joke, of course. Sunoo sighed at their banter, sharing a glance with Jay then sitting right beside Riki.

"If you guys want something, Jay has an interesting story with his roommate that he can share." Jake grinned and clapped his hands in amusement, giving Jay an expectant gaze for him to tell his story yet again and the distress on Jay's face was so entertaining. He dropped to the seat beside Sunghoon and pressed his elbows on his thighs, leaning forward. "Go ahead and tell them."

Sunoo looked at Jake then Jay, his eyes bright with unfeigned curiosity. "What is it?" He asked, his hands grabbing at the armrest, his body turned to Jay's side and the look on his face told Jay that he wouldn't stop talking until Jay told him about it.

Riki leaned forward, looking past Sunoo and sipping from the juice box he had brought out with him from inside his room. His eyes were slightly wide with interest, pressuring Jay to admit without moving his mouth to say anything.

Jay was outnumbered on this. He sat at the vacant couch, his arms propped on the armrests and his body relaxed into the cushions, legs slightly parted. "It seems like I can't avoid it until I tell the entire world, is that so?" He tilted his head to the side, resting his knuckles against the side of his face. "Exchange student. He moved in with me yesterday unannounced. He's a real brat."

"He's not that bad," Sunghoon said, towards Jay to get him give the boy another chance, but towards the others so that they wouldn't judge him too fast.