The UNIQ boys next door

March Beginnings

I was drying my wet hair with a towel when I heard a knock on my door.
''Jjajan!" Yixuan presented a plate with a pile of pancakes lightly drizzled with maple syrup, topped with whipped cream and strawberries in front of me as soon as I went to greet him. I received the plate in my hands, with a look of confusion directed at him.
'It's your first day isn't it?' Yixuan reached out and ruffled my wet hair.
'Yes, my first day at university, not high school...' I snarkily replied, despite the smile on my face. Seungyoun sleepily made his way through the hallway and eventually made it to my door, quietly mumbling 'Pancakes...'. I laughed at the adorable sight that was Seungyoun wearing a peapod onesie with his hoodie up. He was literally a giant stumbling peapod. As the zombie-state Seungyoun's nose reached the plate of pancakes in my hands, I pulled the plate away whilst Yixuan pulled Seungyoun backwards.
'No, no, no, these are for Chi.' Yixuan scolded. 'I'll make you some once you wash up.' Seungyoun looked at Yixuan with soulless eyes, his eyelids half way up. Yixuan turned Seungyoun around 180 degrees and slapped his backside, pushing him back towards their place.
'I don't know what to do with that boy.' Yixuan shook his head. 'Alright, I better head back to make pancakes for the others. Enjoy them okay?' Yixuan grinned.
'Thank you, I will!' I smiled and waved as he returned to his place.

After dressing up and finishing Yixuan's delicious pancakes, I was ready to go. I was locking up my place when Sungjoo coincidentally opened his door and popped his head out.
'Ah good, I didn't miss you.' He grinned as he walked towards me and then leaned on the wall right at my door. He held up his car keys. 'Ready to go?'
'Go where?'
'To your campus, where else..?' Sungjoo gave me a confused look.
'But...it's only a few blocks away. I'll just walk it, don't worry.'
'Are you sure?'
'Yes, I'm sure. I want to make it there alive, you know?' I teased. Annoyed, Sungjoo pinched my cheek and pulled it. 'AAahhhh.'
'No really, are you sure?'
'Sungjoo...' He was hanging upon every word, 'it's literally a few blocks away. Now go...' I turned the pouting Sungjoo around by the shoulder and pushed him forward. 'Gooooo.' I cried. I couldn't help but giggle as he tried resisting by leaning backwards.
I stepped into the elevator at the end of the hall and turned around to see Sungjoo still standing in the hallway, leaning against the wall. I briefly waved to him and he immediately yelled out 'Are you sure!?', waving his car keys in the air.
'Yeeesss!' I cried out just as the elevator doors were closing. I caught myself with a big smile on my face in the reflection as the elevator headed downwards.

~

I walked along the outskirts of the park, deep in thought about what had happened in the last few months. It's already March... I was glad that I had become close friends with my neighbours and had found work at such a nice place. Everything was going better than I had thought it would. However, there was the still the issue of my family on the back of my mind. My mother called occasionally to see how I was going. I was torn between a mother who wanted me to go back to the States and a father who wanted me to stay away from my mother, but did so in a way that made me feel more distant from him. My mind was busy wandering off on its own when someone tapped my head from behind and continued riding past on a bike.
'Joowon!' I exclaimed, as I fixed my hair up. I was starting to get annoyed with people patting my head like I was a small pet. He stopped his bike and turned around with a wide smile on his face.
'Morning.' He waited for me to walk up to him. Joowon, Minny and Hyojin all attended S University as well. Sungho did mention briefly about going to another college but I had forgotten where.
'Excited for your fast day?' Joowon asked as I walked towards him.
'Yeah, I guess so.'
'Come on, hop on.' Joowon patted the small backseat of his bike. I paused to look at the seat and then shook my head.
'Oh, it's alright.'
'Why not?' Joowon sulked. I poked my tongue out and continued to walk on my own, leaving him behind.
'Fine, I guess I'll walk too then.' He sighed and just walked beside me as he pushed the bike on his other side.
As we were walking along and talking, a large black van drove past and loudly honked at us, startling us both. I knew very well whose van it belonged to.
'Geez, what was that about?' Joowon said.
'Probably some weirdo...' I smiled to myself.
Once we reached the entrance of the university, Joowon stopped in his track and started getting on his bike.
'Alright, I'll see you later then.' Joowon said as he sat down on the bike seat. He rode onto the main road and did a U-turn.
'Wait, don't you have class today?' I shouted out, confused.
'Nope.' He shouted back and rode off.

~

As Minny and I were heading towards the library, an eruption of noise came from across the main courtyard.
'What's going on over there?' I said, trying to get a glimpse of the commotion that was unfolding. A small group of people were walking and everyone within the vicinity seemed to have their attention on them.
'The prince and his posse.' Minny bluntly stated. I continued to stare at her blankly, asking for some elaboration. 'Rich people. Look, the only two people you need to know are,' she lifted her hand up and pointed, 'Kim Seokjin, the one in the middle with the broad shoulders, and the one next to him, Kim Namjoon, the tall tanned one with the silver hair slicked back.' I nodded despite thinking I would never need to talk to them. Minny then explained their extremely wealthy backgrounds and campus popularity. They were certainly dressed to match their reputation, exuding a different aura to those around them. As we drew closer to them, I took notice of the girl sitting down who they were busy talking to.
'She's gorgeous.' I uttered.
'Wow, you really do have an eye for people, don't you?' Minny said, 'That's Chorim, the so-called 'campus angel''. Minny twisted her nose with dissatisfaction. 'But she's kind of too perfect to the point it's suspicious, you know?' I continued to watch them as we walked past wondering just what kind of people they were.

During my first class, I sat down towards the back, a bit intimidated by the native Korean students who made up the majority of the class. As I was busy looking around, the girl named Chorim strutted into the class. Upon her entrance, there were quite a few greetings and murmurs being exchanged, proof of her reputation as Minny had mentioned. She scanned the room and walked towards my direction.
'Hi!' She smiled sweetly as she sat down in the seat right next to me. 'You're new around here right?'
'Um, yeah.' I held my hand out. 'I transferred here from the US. My name is Chi.'
'Oh, awesome. Welcome to Seoul then!' She giggled as she gently shook my hand. 'I'm Chorim.' She certainly did live up to her reputation as the campus angel as Minny had mentioned. She had very delicate fair skin and was actually still pretty, even up-close. Throughout the class, she kept on smiling and telling me about the university, making sure I knew where everything was including the good food spots. By the end of the class, she was keen to exchange numbers with me and we ended up adding each other on Kakaotalk as well. She left in such a hurry that I ended up just staring at my phone, still sitting down. Wow, she's really friendly...

~

Everyone had gotten into a consistent routine during the next few weeks. I went to classes and work whilst the guys were busy going to practice for their upcoming 'comeback'. Despite my interest in listening and watching it, they insisted I was 'not ready yet'. They left early in the morning and came back home really late during the night. Sometimes I would manage to see them at night and despite looking so sleep-deprived and tired, they still played around with each other with smiles on their faces. Then one night Yixuan invited me over because he was cooking up a big dinner. Tired, I just laid on their couch and watched the TV whilst Yixuan was busy cooking away in the kitchen. Everyone except Yixuan and Sungjoo were still out so we were also waiting around for them.
As I was watching whatever was on TV, Sungjoo hovered over of the couch and started watching me from above.
'What are you looking at?' I provoked him but only turned over slightly.
'You.' He continued to stare at me intently which made me strangely uncomfortable. I felt like I was stuck in a staring contest with him until Yixuan broke our concentration by shouting out 'Sungjoo, can you stir this for me whilst I check on the oven?' from the kitchen.
Sungjoo then flicked my forehead and walked away. What the hell...
A few minutes later, the door opened along with a flurry of voices, some which I didn't recognise.
'Ignore our friend Chi over there...' I heard Seungyoun say out loud.

'Yah! What do you mean ignore me?' I cried out, pretending to be angry, even though I was still laying down on the couch with my eyes glued to the screen.

'Chi?' A muffled voice called out. I turned onto my back and my eyes met with the person directly hovering over with me. I gulped. Not only was this person's voice familiar, I was sure I had seen his hair and eyes somewhere before. He then removed his facemask. I sat up so quickly we nearly smashed our foreheads together.
'Sungho!?'

Author's Note: Sorry this chapter is a bit of a lackluster Chi-oriented chapter but you know where this is heading right? March/April? EOEO Promotions, yeeeeeeesssss. Meeting Sungho will be the least of Chi's problems! Don't mind this chapter's cover hahaha, I might change it later. Also, Seokjin...Namjoon...readers who are BTS fans are probably like "Whaaaa, what's going on?". Truth is, yes, I'm going to shamelessly continue promoting my BTS fanfic (Chorim being the main female lead!) because...wait for it...it's a crossover with this one! So don't be surprised if they pop up occasionally. Anyway, that's enough from me. Will be back soon with a new chapter so stay with me! Thank you for reading as always! Love you all, thank you for your support! I may not reply back often but I read and appreciate every comment so thank you. ;__;