My Mate Is Too Shy {Jiminxreader}

4) Of Geminis and Dog Men

Date: ‪October 15th‬
Time: ‪7:55am‬
Location: University, biology lab
Mood: Anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxiety anxie-
<><><>

University. It was terrifying. People: beyond that.

School days had always been tough. The crowded rooms, the social circles, group projects and worst of all: gym. The educational portion had been the easy part. Learning and reading and taking notes didn't require that she speak or interact in any way, other than listening to the teacher. Learning was fun. Studying required full concentration, pulling all her attention in one direction and thus keeping her from having to interact with the real world.

And the real world was too large and the pressure to fit in too great. To everyone else it seemed easy. To her, one pair of eyes felt like a dozen, and a dozen felt like the entire universe.

At this point in her life, becoming invisible in a crowded room was second nature, the ability she'd come to acquire almost mystical in a way. How one could go unnoticed and remain hidden in a semi-crowded room was impressive. It was probably due to her size that she was able to achieve it so easily.

Biology was the first class of the day. She could never seem to arrive to any lesson early enough to get that seat in the back corner where she was least likely to be noticed. Not that it mattered for this class. The professor for this class decided that she hated all her students and had assigned seating.

That was how she'd come to sit in-between two very intimidating, and polar opposite people. On the right was Kim Namjoon. He was nice enough, never saying a bad word to her. Really, he barely gave her a second glance. The intimidation factor was because he was so tall. Everyone was over her head, but anyone that she had to crane her neck to get a good look at was deemed untrustworthy. That, and there was something different about him that she couldn't quite put her finger on. Although, after last week when she'd caught him smiling wistfully at a picture on his phone of a girl covered in four cats and a dog, she'd determined he was considerably less scary than before.

On the left was a girl one year her senior (as everyone else in the class was) named Kim Hyun-ah. A dyed blonde who usually opted for bright red lipstick, big hoop earrings, leather jackets, and combat boots. It was a vast difference from Y/n's over-sized sweaters and ankle length skirts. Like Namjoon, Hyuna had never uttered a mean thing her way, but her whole look was enough to give her the wrong impression. Not only that, Hyuna was simply too pretty. Sitting anywhere in her vicinity made the smaller, bashful woman feel like an ugly troll.

Obviously, the only real problem here was that she too easily intimidated, a coward, and her self confidence was on the ground, drug behind her and trampled on day by day. These truly were the best years of her life!

Now go back and read that in a sarcastic tone.

"Yo kid, what's yer name?" She would have liked to have said the reason she flinched when Hyuna spoke to her was because she hadn't expected her voice to carry a rough edge to it. That wasn't true. She flinched because that's what a cornered animal does when it's frightened. And with Hyuna's general look and fashion choices, the fact that her voice held the same edge was of no surprise to anyone.

"Y-y/n." The occasional stutter was yet another part of her personality that she wished didn't exist. Sometimes when she was at her lowest, Y/n wished that she didn't exist.

The pink bubble she'd blown with her gum was popped and sucked back into her teeth as Hyuna's eyes scrutinized her cowering figure. 'Please look away', she silently pleaded with the classmate to continue to ignore her. Her eyes looked everywhere else, fingers inching in-between one another.