red roses

prologue

rain had started pouring without any warning. no thunder, no lightning, not even a hint of a dark cloud.

"goddamnit," jeongguk hissed under his breath, gathering his things as quickly as possible. he shoved random papers and books into his bag as fast as he could as he ran. all he'd asked for was a quiet evening at the park to study for his exams.

blinking, jeongguk realized he had run to the wrong street in his haste to get out of the rain. he looked around quickly to see if there was any place he could seek shelter from. the neon sign of a coffee shop stared back at him, almost beckoning to him.

"bingo." jeongguk speedwalked his way to the shop, trying to shield as much of his notes as he could. passerbys stared at him from under their umbrellas. he probably looked pathetic, dripping from head to toe.

the chimes on the door sounded as jeongguk pushed it open. he placed his things on an empty table, heading to the counter. after getting a piping hot cup of coffee to warm himself down after the unexpected shower, he turned around only to find another man sitting at his table. the man had shifted jeongguk's papers into a much neater pile and placed his own things beside them.

"excuse me, this is my seat," jeongguk glared down at the man, "so could you please move-" he paused as the offending man, no, teen, looked up at jeongguk. he was pretty, to say the least. he looked like an angel who had come to earth with his soft cheeks and plump lips. his hair was mussed, like he'd run a hand through it. his eyebrow quirked upwards, a hint of a smile at the edge of his lips.

jeongguk gulped, quickly averting his eyes.

"you're from apgujeong high school, right?" the teenager asked, tilting his head slightly. jeongguk wondered if he knew he did that, or if it was just a subconscious thing.

"y-yeah..." jeongguk shifted his weight onto his left leg. "how did you know?"

"i've seen you. park jimin, third grade. ring a bell?"

"oh, you. you're always with the other, what's his name..."

"taehyung?" jeongguk nodded.

"i'm jeon jeongguk, by the way..."

"nice name, jeongguk, really rolls off the tongue. well, why are you still standing? you said it's your seat, after all." jimin motioned to the chair in front of him.

"oh... yeah..." jeongguk sat down awkwardly, carefully sipping from his coffee and setting it down. "if you don't mind me asking... why did you sit down here? i mean, there's a bunch of other empty spots."

"can't i get to know my dongsaeng better?" he shrugged.

jeongguk stared at jimin.

"okay, okay," jimin sighed defensively, "i just saw you around, thought you seemed like a cool kid. i was going to talk to you soon but it seems like the sky wanted to speed that process up a little bit. hopefully, we can be friends... right?"

"so you stalk your dongsaengs, sunbaenim?" jeongguk avoided jimin's question, not wanting to do anything he'd regret.

"first of all, i do not stalk people. you just caught my eye, that's all. second, don't call me sunbaenim. hyung is enough. no need to be so formal."

"alright... hyung." jeongguk shifted his gaze to his now-stacked papers. he grabbed the first of the notes, glancing at the header. that's right, he needed to revise. he had exams the next week and god help him if he didn't get good grades.

"what's that you're studying, anyways?" jimin had started leafing through the rest of jeongguk's notes.

"why bother asking if you're just going to look at them?" jeongguk facepalmed mentally, immediately regretting saying that as the upperclassman glared at him.