business class | minsung

3 / like we just met

Jisung's phone buzzed on his nightstand for the seventh time in the last ten minutes, each notification accompanied by Hyunjin's increasingly impatient messages. He groaned, burying his face deeper into his pillow.

Jisung sighed, rubbing his eyes and throwing a glance at the clock on his phone. It was 7:15 AM.

[6:55] WAKEY WAKEY

[6:57] we're meeting at the studio before classes

[7:00] if you're not up i'm coming over there

[7:03] i will actually drag you out of bad

[7:03] *bed lol

[7:05] i'm being serious

[7:08] i'm getting the bat

[7:10] JISUNG

He considered ignoring the texts and going back to sleep, but then he thought of Hyunjin banging on his door like a lunatic. That wasn't something he wanted to deal with on the first day back.

It was nice to have someone who cared, even if they were threatening bodily harm before 9 AM.

Dragging himself out of bed, Jisung threw on the first clothes he could find—an oversized hoodie and some jeans that were definitely not going to win him any fashion awards but were comfortable enough for the first day back. He grabbed his bag and trudged out of the dorm, glancing at his phone one last time. A text from Seungmin blinked on the screen, the only person who knew the full story.

[7:29] good luck today, you'll be fine

Simple, but enough to make him feel a tiny bit better.

The last time he'd seen his friends, he had still been with Minho. They had no idea about the breakup, and the thought of explaining it to them made his stomach twist in knots. They were all blissfully unaware that Minho and Jisung had gone from being inseparable to... whatever they were now. Strangers? Enemies? Something in between? Jisung wasn't sure, and it made his head spin just trying to figure it out.

He headed toward the studio where Jeongin usually worked on his sculptures. The walk was brisk, the early September air carrying a slight chill. The holidays had ended, and the campus was slowly coming back to life, students wandering around, catching up after the break. Jisung kept his head down, not quite ready to interact with anyone just yet.

The scent of clay and paint hit him immediately when he entered the studio, a strangely comforting smell that reminded him of the countless hours they'd spent hanging out here last year, watching Jeongin work on his sculptures while Hyunjin cracked jokes and Chan tried (and often failed) to keep them on track with their assignments.

Jeongin was already there, hunched over a half-finished sculpture, his brow furrowed in concentration.

Jeongin looked up from his work, wiping a smudge of clay off his cheek. "Good to see you, Jisung. Thought maybe you decided to drop out and become a monk or something over the summer."

"Tempting," Jisung replied with a chuckle, dropping his bag on the floor. "But I figured I'd give college one more shot."

The studio was filled with the soft hum of background music—one of those lo-fi beats playlists that Jeongin seemed to favor when he was working. Jisung dumped his bag on the floor and pulled up a stool, watching as Jeongin meticulously carved out details from the marble.

"What's this one supposed to be?" Jisung asked, leaning forward a bit.

Jeongin straightened up, wiping some sweat from his brow, and stepped back to give them a better view of his work. "It's a piece called 'Severance.'" He said the title with dramatic flair, like he was unveiling a work of great importance. The sculpture was a rough, jagged form, like two figures intertwined but pulling away from each other.