HABIT. banginho

DALAWAMPU'T TATLO.

| PRESENT TIME |

     TWIST AND TURN movement in every corner is what Minho have been doing for the past hours as he searched for a familiar redhead boy in the massive crowd of overpopulated students who are taking up various courses in college. He couldn't find the latter ever since he entered the university and it will take a huge amount of time to hunt for his friend in the gigantic campus.

It's been exactly a month when the commotion happened and Minho felt like a coward for not facing Felix a long time ago. His hidden pride ruled his heart, in that sense of way he felt he was naive to think he was the only one who got hurt in the process but in reality, both of them are.

And now he is determined to bring his best friend back and to amend their friendship as soon as possible. Minho could not take the risk of ruining it for the second time again after what he had been through together with the latter. He doesn't want to lose Felix ever again.

"H-hey Hyunjin," He approached awkwardly the tall guy whom he spotted in front of his locker, "Have you seen Felix?" He cleared his throat.

In all honesty, the brown haired guy wasn't that close to Hyunjin compared to Felix. But close enough to be comfortable around him since they are both members of the university's streetdance club. And luckily, Hyunjin was still kind for the older's liking to talk with him despite what had happened during the last time.

He scratched the back of his neck, "Felix? I haven't seen him today..." He sheepishly answered and turned to face the locker to fix his things, "Actually, I didn't see him during our classes nor even during the dance practice for the nearing competition since the other day."

"Is there something wrong?"

Minho heaved a deep sigh, Hyunjin was taking the same course with Felix yet the latter already told him he was absent. Is he perhaps sick?

"Alright thanks, buddy. No need to worry about it," He hummed as his eyes roamed around him before realizing something, "Where's Seungmin? Fancy seeing you alone without him by your side." He snickered when he saw the taller's face went red.

Minho is aware he has a slight complicated relationship with Seungmin. He had been observing them together most of the time so, he wasn't sure why they never established their relationship status yet. They seemed to be good for each other.

"Oh...he was busy with some groupworks. You know, Engineering courses are tough too eh no?" He shrugged which led Minho to release a small laugh at the blonde's awkwardness.

"Alright, see you again later. I have to go back." He patted Hyunjin's shoulder softly as the taller nodded in response.

The brunette needed to work in an experiment on his ongoing project again in the lab as their professor tackled about scrutinizing some DNA imprints in a crime scene. And the guy somehow managed to retain his little knowledge back then on applying what he had learned in the present time.

He decided that he can still look for Seungmin to ask if he know Felix's whereabouts later, thinking maybe he has an idea about him before concluding he was just sick. And maybe Jeongin could be aware of it too.

Speaking of which, Minho had never seen the freshmen since the day before he stayed at the hospital. He assumed the young boy was stressed with his college life for awhile as he is somewhere under a Science related program, basing on the materials he saw when they first met.

The brunette suddenly had to stop on what he was doing. This kind of thoughts have been bugging him for quite a while and he doesn't even know why he had to feel a little disturbed upon reminiscing the first time he encountered Jeongin. Or should he rather ask, is it even the right thing to call it as their first meeting?

The more he thinks of their situation, the more his head was pounding. He couldn't pinpoint why the younger's presence himself would make him feel nervous rather than the feeling of easiness with Jeongin. It's like his mind and body were having a silent battle on what he should do or feel towards him, creating a clash of various scenarios on where he could possibly saw him until it rings the bell.

He pursed his lips upon hearing the loud ting in his head. There's only one clear picture that popped into his mind which he found somewhat absurd for it already happened three years ago. As far as he know the boy was—

His own cyclone of thoughts was distrupted when he felt the vibration of his phone in his pocket. His mood brightened upon seeing the younger's name on his screen.

Jisung calling...

It was no suprised for him to be called by the squirrel boy during school days and he didn't mind being disturbed either. Minho excused himself from the class and went to a quiet area.

"Hello?" He greeted upon answering the call. However, he was greeted by whispers that could only be heard on the other line, sounding like a mantra from its repetitive inaudible words. He kept saying hello until he shivered upon sending a clear message through his ear,

"I'll kill you..."

"Jisung, stop scaring me." He forced out a chuckle, shaking his head that he might misheard what the younger had said.

"Wait what- sorry my bad, Minho. I was just memorizing something."  The other laughed, "I was about to ask you whether you want to go out in a date with me?"

The brunette guy was pretty stunned to speak. His boldness never failed to flutter him as much as possible but he doesn't want to be fazed by it. He's sure that Jisung understood they will have to take things slowly between them because he was still going through the moment of grieving.

"I would love to! I'm available on the weekends," Minho chirped.

"Great! I'll talk to you again soon, babe." He ended their call quickly which left Minho with dismay which followed by mentally rolling his eyes. Silly boy.

He slided his phone on his pocket and went back to the laboratory, majority of his blockmates left since it was already dismissal time. As he went back on his seat, he spotted a folded paper underneath the microscope.

The small note looked like it was tore from a binder written in a messy signature font with heavy black ink inside as he pulled the paper.

He looked to his sides to see if anyone was acting suspicious but failed to do so when he saw everyone was too immersed on their own work. It is impossible for him to identify who put it on his desk earlier. He sighed as he unfolded the paper and read it silently.

Perplexion was obviously painted on his face upon reading the riddles he couldn't comprehend. But he knew at the moment that the next thing would happen is meant to be the turning point of his story.

¹ I convey sense of history,
Timelessness is for the Roman
Letter had risen upon its grave
And at last! The King lived long.

² Dimitri is the father,
For I was given a name
As my heart built in steel
I can longer survive.

Hint: I am in the late middle old age, either metallic or sickly-sweet of reek.

| YOU KNOW WHERE TO FIND ME.

—
hello! i know this has been overdue for too long because i've been losing the motivation to continue on this book furthermore. i've been very busy the moment i entered the college life hence, i took a step back from writing and become inactive for a while. but i decided to come back because the book was actually finished, i just have to revise the raw unpublished chapters i made beforehand (and possibly would change the initial plan for the remaining chapters). so, i'm hoping for your patience for the next chapters. it might take me a while to publish everything.

i've also seen the increasing amount of reads for this story. and i didn't expect that some people would anticipate this ugly book i had published when i was a little bit younger than i am today. and yes, i can see your comments and you guys had motivated me to continue working on this one. thank you for the 7.4k reads and 600+ votes, i truly appreciated it. if you're still here, tysm for waiting! these chapters are dedicated to all of you <3

see you all again next year! xx