𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐧𝐞 & 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 | jungwon

5 | to be popular

As they continue to make their way across the campus, Harin notices that it begins to grow more crowded as more people make way to their morning lectures. But what catches her attention even more, is the crowd of girls huddled outside on the green lawn, squealing and giggling as three boys casually walk past them with their hands in their pockets.

"What are they all screaming at?" Harin asks Maya, and Maya looks at her in surprise.

"Girl, you don't know? Look more closely."

Harin tip-toes slightly to look over the crowd of girls, only to see that the boy in the centre is in fact Jungwon, with two other boys at either side of him. She can't help but admit to herself that the three of them as a whole look like they came straight out of a magazine, but surely that isn't enough for people to be crowding around them like that?

"Yeah... what about them?" Harin asks.

"Those boys right there, Jake, Jay and Jungwon? There's a rumour going around that they're idol trainees at the company Hybe." Maya explains, her face lighting up in excitement as she realises that the boys are gaining closer towards them. "Oh my god, they're coming this way."

Harin stays in her place frozen, in shock at the information just given to her regarding Jungwon possibly working for Hybe, as well as the fact they're headed right in her direction. Her cheeks burn red, as she attempts to look elsewhere, but as the three boys walk past the two girls in the corridor, Harin and Jungwon lock eyes for a second too long.

However, Jungwon's face remains straight as he strolls right past her with his hands in his pockets, acting as if he's never met her before. Harin didn't expect him to stop and have a chat with her, but she can't help but now see him in a different light after finding out he's possibly a trainee at Hybe, and after seeing all the attention he gained from all the girls.

He already seemed cool before, but right now, he's like a celebrity.

***

A couple of hours pass by on Harin's first day at university, and throughout, she realises that Jungwon is indeed a lot more popular than she expected. People would always gravitate towards him and try to speak to him, but he just goes about his day, with a smile on his face as he spends time with his two friends Jake and Jay.

Never once though did Harin try to even inch a step closer to the boy, or intentionally look at him. However, there'd always be moments where they'd catch eyes for a split second, before going on with whatever they were doing.

Harin felt horrible though.

She felt embarrassed and stupid for getting a little happy when she had interactions with Jungwon at the business dinner or when they met at the lift, because she now feels that he's way out of her league. He was only trying to be nice, yet she feels as if she took it the wrong way somehow.

She criticises herself for even assuming she can interpret why Jungwon paid a little ounce of attention towards her, when she's had no experience with this sort of stuff before.

What makes her day worse though, is the fact that out of all of the lectures she's attended, she found each and every single one of them as boring as watching paint dry. Not only did the content seem difficult, but she had zero interest in the subject of Law.

It's always been something that her parents have pushed her to do, and now that she's finally doing it, of course she's going to hate it - because she never had a choice.

She decides to push all of these negative thoughts to the side, and get on with her last lecture of the day. It was only the first day at university, so she felt as if that as the weeks go on, everything will be fine and everything will fall into place... hopefully.

***

Harin sluggishly makes her way to her apartment, exiting the lift and dragging her feet to her door - 103. The long hours she spent at university made her exhausted, and all she wants to do now is get into her comfy bed and take a long nap. What's annoyingly preventing her though, is the fact that she cannot find her key card in her bag to unlock the door.

"Looking for something?" A familiar voice asks, and Harin looks up to find Jungwon stood in front of her, holding out her keycard with a soft smile on his face. She takes it off of him and gives him a nervous smile, as she looks around at anything else but him.

"Thank you." She says quietly, before fumbling to open the door.

"Harin-"

The sound of her name being spoken from Jungwon is enough to make her heart skip a beat, but she takes a deep breath before turning back around to look up at him.

"Jungwon."

It's the same for him. The sound of her sweet, quiet voice speaking his name was enough for him to feel butterflies in his stomach, but the feeling is something he is unfamiliar with, and cannot explain to himself.

"You didn't say hi to me."

Harin is taken aback slightly with his statement, wondering why he's saying this.

"You wanted me to?" She asks and he instantly nods in response.

"Of course. We're not strangers." He laughs a little and Harin's cheeks burn red.