stardust | park seonghwa ✓

26

long chapter ahead !

WOOYOUNG looks a little frozen and it's definitely not from the weather. He stiffens up next to me and it's a good thing we picked a spot closer to the back of the lecture hall. I have a feeling Wooyoung wouldn't stay quiet about what I'm going to confront him with but that doesn't explain why he's already so stiff about it.

So as the professor explains about metaphors and similes on the board, I nudge Wooyoung's foot with my own.

"Woo," I call in a whisper.

"What?" he replies, eyes straight ahead.

My lips jut out in a pout, frowning when Wooyoung doesn't turn his head like he always does.

I nudge him slightly with my knee but his attention (or at least, pretend attention) is still focused on the board. Seriously, he's usually crafting another weirdly engineered paper plane, can't he just pay me his attention for one small second?

"Wooyoung listen to me!" I whine, shaking his leg with my hand.

"Why are you even paying attention to the professor anyway, you never do that."

Wooyoung glances at me through his peripheral vision. "You can always talk after class," he reasons.

"But I need to go to the studio to continue my painting," I say.

"Tomorrow?"

"Sir, I don't have all week free, you know?" my hand carefully takes the arm Wooyoung's head was rested on so that he wont bang it on the table. The silver haired huffs, crossing his arms across his chest and tilts his head at me.

"Okay," he looks at me through the tops of his eyes.

I smile him, tight lipped. "Thank you."

With one last glance at the professor, I turn my body slightly to face him. Wooyoung looks like he'd rather be anywhere but here. Maybe he knows what I'm going to ask him? But I haven't really told anyone that so there was no way Wooyoung could know from somebody else.

That or maybe he has like, super telepathic powers or something.

"Okay," I swallow a bit of my saliva as I construct the sentences in my head.

I know I can always be straightforward with him and say 'hey Yeji came up to me sort your problems with her, coward-ass potato' or something but he seems a little out of it today. It's better to stay safe than sorry, right?

Then I give up on trying to approach this carefully. "Okay, to be honest, I don't really know how to start but..." I grit my teeth, "a few days ago—"

"—it's about Yeji, isn't it?" an exhale slips past Wooyoung's lips as he stares at me with an almost bored look.

When I don't say anything in reply, the boy rolls his eyes. "San told me you two had a talk but had no idea what it was all about," he tells me, "I knew she'd go to you."

I lick my lips, nodding slowly. So he knows.

"You should talk to her," I say.

"Why should I?"

"Why should you not?" I question him back, "Woo, what did she do? You two were getting along just fine."

Wooyoung looks at me with an 'are-you-for-real?' look.

Okay, maybe I wasn't expecting that and I swear it's not even my business, but I'm curious. Very curious to know what's up with him and why he's not giving her a chance to talk.