Summer had been almost over as Jinhwan crushed some dried leaves randomly piled up all over the path going to Annex Building B. The clock hanging in the lobby indicated that he was an hour early for his seven in the morning class. As expected, there were only few students roaming around in this kind of time, mostly were lost like him. Slowly, he traversed the hallway and looked for directory.
He found himself standing in an empty huge class room, the course where he belonged. It was huge enough that he took a grasp on his opened mouth, he was amazed with the hundred capacity elevated room and a grand glass board in front. The windows were high, double glazed glass from floor to ceiling, seeing the cityscape with collective brown hues of trees. He never witnessed something this grand. Growing in the province made him amazed in everything that he saw in his first week here in Seoul.
It was the first day of his college freshman year, he felt thrilled and worried all together as he inhaled deep and screamed loud to release his tension, his high voice echoing and bouncing within the walls.
"Yah! What the fck?" A voice from the corner, at the last row of seats startled Jinhwan. He didn't realize there was someone in the dark.
"Oh... S- sorry." He apologized, bowing ninety degrees. However, the other guy just rolled his eyes and put his headset back to his ears and buried his face again against his crossed arms over his desk.
What a bummer. Jinhwan thought.
He somehow felt embarrassed. Nonetheless, instead of looking away and pretending nothing happened, he took handful of seconds studying the other student, drawing a small curve from his lips. He moved closer but he stopped his tracks and hit the side of his head lightly. What am I even doing? He went back in front and sat to the spot nearest to the door.
The class was filled with different new faces, glowing with hope and passion individually. Jinhwan was able to make few friends and laughed comfortably as if they've been like that for years. At his peripheral vision, he couldn't ignore but see the guy still sleeping and not minding the world.
Maybe, just maybe, he was astonished with the fact that he looked like one of the characters he usually read in the webtoon. Maybe the attractive face was stuck in his head, though he wasn't able to clearly remember his features. He's interestingly presented in monochrome. Hoodie, ripped jeans, Chuck Taylor and a notebook. All in shades of black. Oh, and he didn't even missed to notice the old chipped skateboard on his side.
With the smile plastered on his facade, his seatmate who was a transferee, Lalisa from Thailand nudged him. "Who are you looking up there? Is there someone you know? Someone you're interested in?" She's already fluent in Korean for a foreigner that made Jinhwan a bit impressed.
"You're imagination is too wild. I'm just looking around so I'll be familiar with the faces." He lied, eyes took another swift glance. "But... do you have a girlfriend?" Her light brown brows begun moving like waves of thousand curiosity, her mouth were grinning big.
"My mom will kill me if I do." He flatly answered that made Lisa shocked with fear in her eyes. "Just kidding." He giggled with how gullible she was. "I just don't want to have one. I want to focus more in studying so I won't lose my scholarship and I want to graduate with flying colors. I want to give a long speech on the day of our graduation." He proudly claimed.
"Ughhh. I just wanna pass. That's all." She scratched her head and felt the pressure in her shoulders as a non Korean student. Just then, the instructor came in and started the course by stating the descriptive summary and what to expect in class. She begun asking names and a short introduction about oneself just for her to remember us. God knew what Jinhwan's motive was as he tried to hide his smile. "Junhoe, I'm Koo Junhoe. Nothing's special about me."
Junhoe... Interesting.
Two hour lecture gained few yawns mostly from the back of the class. But everyone noticed how active Jinhwan was in participation over the class discourse, he was definitely focused on not losing his scholarship. However, every now and then, he turned his head to see the sleeping man who was really lost in his dreams. He actually envy of how care free he really was.
While listening to the lecture, his fingers had begun dancing against the paper. Sketching a silhouette of sleeping figure, the graphite was lightly leaving lines on the paper. He turned his head once more to observe him as reference only to see the guy already looking at him intently.
He conceitedly smirked.
He cocked his head for catching Jinhwan taking a peek of him as he blushed with the sight. Suddenly, he felt the embarrassment piercing trough his bones as he awkwardly faced in front. His already fuming red face felt like hell, all the heat of summer seemed to come back as sweat popped on every corner of his face.
"Where is your next class? I have an hour break before my Speech Communication 2." Lisa mumbled as he showed his jam packed morning schedule. He tried his best to hide his face and finally he was saved by the hourly loud bell that sounded more of a gong. While fixing things and putting all his stuff in his bag, the students slowly disappeared as one of them stopped in front of him. The long pair of muddy black Chuck Taylor shoes made him stopped whatever he was doing as he slowly lifted his head. It was... him.
They had a little staring contest as he felt being drawn to him more. Before Jinhwan could even ask him what he wants, he disappeared right before his eyes together with his skateboard. "That guy is weird." She snorted and rolled her eyes. "Do you know him?" She asked as she got more irritated when she got the answer 'no.'
*
Half of the semester was almost over as well as the autumn season. The dried leaves were all gone, trees were nothing but empty branches. Junhoe was running late as he bypassed Lisa who was also late. Instead of holding the door for her, he did otherwise and proceeded immediately to his seat. Luckily, the professor was not yet in class.
"We all know people in this class except for that weirdo." She moved closer to Jinhwan's face as he moved away. Her voice sounded more of a bitter tone just because of the dying chivalry of men. "I saw him hanging with thugs after school." Her face was once more only inch away from his ear. He just nodded and acted as if he was listening to her as he low key looked back only to catch him already staring at him just like the first day.
Instead of seeing his smirk again, he just ignored him and looked away, ogled the lonely scenery outside the huge window. His palm was supporting his chin, looking so bored as he tapped his ball point pen on his desk. Probably, it was in the rhythm of whatever he was listening with his headphones.
Since that day, Jinhwan decided to disregard him as if he wasn't existing at all.
Days passed without anyone talking to Junhoe and he was more than happy with that set up. He hated people anyway. He hated the unnecessary interaction and shallow conversation. Well, it was the set up since day one. Nobody really cared about him as he seemed to be invisible. Even the professor did not even call him once during recitation nor scolded him for not listening to the lecture and sleeping instead.
Nevertheless, Junhoe somehow found the small guy in front slightly amusing, different from anyone else. He did not wish to speak to him though, he was just amazed by how a boy can have such feminine soft features. Stretching his long legs and arms had the student beside him a sour face. Serendipity was getting drunk with the songs in his ears while silently watching his back. "His hair is growing long." He noticed.
