He's Just a Friend

Chapter 5

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If there's a time that students hate the most, it is definitely finals week. Namjoon was no exception to this.

He walked into his morning class completely exhausted, having pulled an all nighter for 2 straight days. He knew it hadn't been a wise decision, but he was planning on getting two hours of sleep in the clubroom. Maybe even three if he skipped lunch.

Jackson pulled back the chair next to him and plopped down with a dramatic thud, looking equally dead inside. "Remind me again why we decided college was a good idea?" he muttered, dropping his backpack to the floor like it had personally betrayed him.

Namjoon didn't lift his head from his folded arms. "Because once the first button is done, all others follow suit," he replied, muttering the old Korean saying his parents always repeated to him and his sister.

Jackson let out a humorless chuckle. "You know I studied five hours and I'm starting to wonder if I should've done up that first button."

Namjoon cracked one eye open. "Well, what's done is done. We're here now, might as well make the best of it"

"Yeah, well... I took on this major because I thought it'd be easy." Jackson paused, staring at the ceiling like it held all the answers. "I was so young. So naive. I should've joined the Physical Education majors."

Namjoon actually laughed at that, a soft sound that came out more like a cough. He closed his eyes again, trying to get in a few minutes of sleep before his exam. Just as the silence settled between them again, broken only by the shuffling of notebooks and the soft drone of students dragging themselves to their seats, there was a low hiss of whispering behind them.

"Hey, you know that sunbae with the pink hair?"

"The really good looking one?"

Namjoon didn't move, but he cracked an eye open again.

"Yeah, him," came the reply from the first girl. "Heard some stuff about him. Apparently, he's the type that'll date anyone who asks him. He's dated a lot of people since his first year."

"Really? Then maybe I should go ahead and ask him out?" There were several giggles and shushing before they continued.

"Honestly, I thought about it too. Apparently, he's never turned anyone down."

Jackson caught the change in his posture and turned his head a little. "What?" he whispered. Namjoon didn't answer right away. Instead, he tilted his head ever so slightly, listening in.

There was a gasp. "Wait, so he sleeps around? But he looks so nice."

"He is, but maybe that's just for show? Like a way to reel people in? Another sunbae told me that that guy never turns down inviting his hoobae to a meal."

"Oh? Who doesn't?" Jackson asks loudly, turning around and facing the freshmen behind him.

Lifting his head, Namjoon turned around to look at the scene. The two girls flinched, their eyes widened, clearly not expecting to be confronted in their gossip. One of them—a girl with a short bob—blinked rapidly, then gave a nervous laugh.

"Uh... no one," she stammered. "Just someone we know."

"Oh, I heard," Jackson said, still half-turned in his seat, a lazy grin on his face that didn't quite reach his eyes. "But since we're all first years, a sunbae you know is also a sunbae that I know so I'm just curious as to which sunbae it is. Maybe I should also ask them to pay for my lunch too."

The girl with the bob tucked a strand of hair behind her ear, clearly scrambling for a way out.

Jackson held their gaze for another second before sighing, slumping back in his chair. "How boring," he sighs, "If you're going to gossip loud enough for everyone to hear, you might as well give everyone all the details."