collision | jay | enhypen

2. daddy issues

YUNHEE

"One more word of corporate law and I will kill myself," Lily says, banging her head over her textbook. It's only been a week, but they really weren't lying when they said we had to run with our work.

"Why don't we head for some cake and relax after we leave?" Ningning suggests and we eagerly jump aboard on the idea. I could use some sugar.

Suddenly, I feel a flick on my forehead. I instantly roll my eyes as if it was wired to automatically do that, because who else would it be other than Jay?

"My phone, please?" He says demandingly while sticking his hand out, but with a false sense of sweetness to his words. The rest of his group was behind him, sniggering and possibly making fun of him for something.

"Ask sincerely," I say, holding my head up high and folding my arms. They snicker at my response. By the natural order of things, a group of tall and handsome boys meant all the eyes were where they were. Which was our table, precisely. A little bit of public humiliation won't hurt, right?

"Hey, how could you speak to him like that?" A girl, whose name I think is Haneul, yells from across the room. All of us whip our heads in her direction. Out of the group, Jay had pretty much all the crazy fan girls. It made sense because he himself was crazy.

"And you are?" He asks.

"I'm-"

"Don't know. Don't care. Don't tell me or others what to do," he says, sweeping his hair back in his usual annoying manner. I guess the public humiliation went to someone else today, though I was reluctant to admit to myself that I was touched he stood up for me. 

I sigh. "Here you go. Now, if I ever catch you with that thing again in-" I start, only to be cut off by Heeseung.

"Okay, time out guys. That's enough fighting for today," he says, creating a cutting action with his hand.

"Hey Yun, mall date tomorrow?" Jake asks from the side.

"Mall date? You guys are a thing and you didn't tell me?" Jay asks, holding his hand to his chest with a look of betrayal in his eyes.

"You'd know what we really are if you ever bothered to come here the last two years."

"Sure, Jake. 4 in the evening tomorrow?" I suggest. Jake and I became study buddies last year and we started doing this thing where we'd take a trip to the mall to destress when college got too hectic. It's pretty therapeutic, to be honest. He's a really nice guy.

"Girls, don't we have some caffeine to load on?" Ryujin reminds. "I can't dance anymore with my eyes closing every few seconds."

"I'm dying for some cold coffee right now, but I don't think it's the best idea for my vocal cords. Fuck my life," Ningning groans.

"Why don't we get some together? Jay's treat,"  Sunghoon suggests.

"Hey when did I agree-"

"Of course, we don't mind. Jay is so generous, isn't he?" I say with an overly sweet smile, eyeing Jay whose eyes were shooting daggers at him.

"I'm going to kill you."

JAY

"What'll you get, miss?" The waitress asks Yunhee as she brings out a notepad from her pocket.

"Hmm," she thinks out loud, a mischievous smile creeping up her face as she eyes me. "The most expensive thing you have."

"You're really getting back at me, aren't you?"

"Oh please, Park. I know this drink won't make a dent in your wallet." I don't say anything. Was I silent, or was I silenced? Who knows, I'm not cut out for such deep philosophical thoughts.

"And Giselle was going crazy about that hideous hair clip. Like girl, I'm doing you a favour by throwing it out," Niki narrates some story with exaggerated gestures, earning a few chuckles from the others.

"Your cousins sure are a different breed," Ryujin says, taking a huge bite of her croissant. "Want some?" She offers to Yunhee.

"No thanks. Croissants have been ruined for me thanks to someone," she replies, and I swear I'm not being delusional when I say she side eyed me like she was talking about me. I've never even been around her with a croissant before, though?

"Guys, let's make a toast for the freshmans! To a great first year to Niki, Jungwon and Sunoo!" Heeseung says, raising up his unicorn Frappuccino like it was a glass of scotch. Everyone joins in with their drinks.

YUNHEE

"Okay students, here's your first big project of the year. The performance majors will be having their annual festival in three months and you kids are in charge of the costumes. You'll be pairing up and you must coordinate with your assigned performance teams for what kind of outfits they want. You'll be modeling the clothes once they're done, so I expect some proper effort from you guys. Any further questions?" Mrs. Lee announces as she enters the class. Great, more work.

We gather around her as she picks out partners for us. I leave in between to use the restroom, only to return to horrifying news.

"Miss Choi, you will be designing the outfits for the dance team led by Shin Ryujin along with Mr. Park," the professor says, gesturing her hand towards Jay who sends me a wink. I swear this lady hates me. I look over to Heeseung excitedly showing me an action of sipping tea elegantly. That was his weird way of literally saying "I've got tea." Jay raises an eyebrow in confusion at what he's doing.

"What is it?" I finally get to ask him as we move up the line in the lunch hall during our break.

"So...guess who I got paired up with?" Heeseung says, building anticipation. "It's the cutest boy in our class!"

"Hee, you say that about every single guy you see."

"This is different."

"What's different?" I suddenly feel a hand lean over my shoulders to grab my apple juice box. "Thanks for the juice, by the way," Jay says, walking away with it.

"He literally has one in his tray. How are you friends with such a child?" I question.

"I don't know. That was a close call," Heeseung says, holding his hand to his chest. He wasn't out to anyone yet. I accidentally found out last year when I saw him making out with a boy and somehow we just became best friends after that.

"Anyways, who is it?" I ask.

"It's Yang Jeongin. He's literally the prettiest soul I've ever met. Beautiful and kind? That's really rare, you know?" He starts, rambling on about the guy for the rest of the break.

JAY

"Okay, I'll see you there then. No drinks for Niki," I say into the phone, hearing a "hey!" before I hang up when I see my dad. We didn't have the best of father-son relationships.

"Where are you going?"

"I don't think you'd be interested to know," I reply coldly.

"Are you going to speak to your father like that?" He says, shaking his head and pouring some alcohol into a small glass.

"Are you going to drive me away too with that?" I answer back, pointing at the cigar he held in his hands. Thanks to his excessive drinking and smoking, my mother left us for her mom's place last year, leaving me all alone with this jerk of a father. You'd think a husband would be considerate enough to give up smoking for his wife suffering from lung complications.

"Watch that tongue of yours, boy!" He raises his voice at me, and I feel the impact of his palm hit my face before he could finish his own sentence.

"Maybe we'd have a better relationship if you could just accept and learn from your mistakes," I say, storming out of the house.

Two wrongs don't make a right, does it?