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Chapter 07

Mina had been waiting for this time to come, at last, he was alone on the desk. She almost gave up altogether, since it was kind of hard to find him alone, except when he went to the library. Like now, it was the best chance she could get, or she needed to wait for another library session, and that would be uncertain.

She learned her lesson, never talk to the seniors when they were together, the humiliation was tenfold. She stood up from her desk that was two rows behind him.  With a swift motion, she grabbed her backpack and approached him before someone else noticed.

"Namjoon sunbaenim, sorry for disturbing you. May-I-talk to you for a moment?" Mina said, after she quickly bowed to him.

Namjoon looked up from the thick book on the desk, and smiled.

"Well, I guess, it's an urgent matter?" he asked.

"Oh, sorry, it can be done a bit later, if you're busy now."

He is clearly busy, what do you expect?

"Alright, how about we meet again at five? I guess you have no more classes after five?" he said.

"Yes, that would be perfect,"

"For...how long do you need to talk?"

Mina gazed at the book shelf across the room as she scrunched up her nose. "Uhm, if it's later...maybe an hour?"

"An hour, booked then. Meet me at the cafeteria, pick the corner seat if you happen to come first, and don't be late."

She nodded. "Thank you!"

"Don't thank me yet, I haven't helped you with anything,"

"Thank you for agreeing, at least,"

"Fine, see you later..."

She bowed one last time before she left her senior. Namjoon looked at her back with an arched eyebrow, the corner of his lips upturned slightly.

***

Mina peered at her wristwatch as she ran a little to the creative learning building, where she took her Fluid Mechanics class. She passed through the hall and headed to the elevator, since her class was on the sixth floor. She stopped in her tracks when she saw Mingyu stood in front of the elevator. He was reading a pile of papers in his left hand and clutching a few books on the other hand. Why he did something so ineffective like that was beyond her.

The elevator door opened with a satisfying sound, but she winced as soon as she saw someone come out of the elevator and bump into Mingyu. The delivery man who bumped into him was clearly in a hurry and flustered when he saw the pile of papers fly and drop to the floor. He started to stutter and bend to help Mingyu, but the tall boy refused as he laughed, "It's okay, sir, I can handle it, you seem to be in a hurry, please continue your way."

Why is he so clumsy? He shouldn't have to stand there in the first place.

The middle-aged man scratched his head while bowed and said sorry to him once more before wobbled his way to the hall. Mingyu missed the elevator, so did Mina as she watched everything unfolded before her. Many people had already entered the elevator without minding Mingyu who squatted down to grab his scattered books and papers.

Mina gingerly walked toward him, crouched down, and picked up a paper that he didn't realize flew a little too far. She took a quick glance at it, 'hydrostatics vector'. He must have been studying until the last minute for the quiz. As she finished picked up some other papers, she kneeled in front of him who was in the middle of shoving his books into his backpack.