Within These Shadows || Park Chanyeol/Do Kyungsoo || Book 1

9

"Eomma had called," Mae said, taking a spoonful of rice into her mouth.

"And?" Jay replied, doing the same.

"She wants us to go to Changwon this weekend."

"Suddenly?"

"I don't know. She said she and appa are missing us a lot. Plus they visited your mom recently, and said that she misses you too, and it would be great if we visit them."

"It's been only three weeks since we came to Seoul, Mae!" Jay laughed, almost choking on her food.

"I know, honey. I know," Mae's face held a tired expression.

Jayline and Seung Mae were currently at the college cafeteria, having lunch. Mondays were so dull that even the news of Mae's mom wanting them to visit Changwon wasn't exciting enough to cheer them up.

"Can I join you both?" Chanyeol appeared at their table with a tray of food in hand.

"Yeah, sure!" Mae smiled at him.

Chanyeol took the chair beside Mae, as Jay was sitting opposite to her.

"Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Park Chanyeol." He offered his hand to Jay for a shake.

"Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Jay." Jay shook Chanyeol's hand, hesitantly.

"I've heard about you from Mae. It's nice to finally meet you, Jay" Chanyeol beamed.

"Really? I thought she refrained from telling anyone about her witch friend, for the fear of people not befriending her anymore." Jay chuckled.

"Jay, you're so funny that I really forget to laugh sometimes." Mae gave a sarcastic smile to her best friend, rolling her eyes hard.

"Might as well learn a thing or two from me while it's still free, Ahn Seung Mae." Jay gave the same sarcastic smile to Mae, causing her to roll her eyes, yet again.

The exchange of their sarcasm made Chanyeol laugh. He was clearly enjoying the battle of wit between the two best friends.

"So, Chanyeol, business major, eh?" Jay shifted her attention to the boy sitting before her.

"Yeah. And you're in Criminology. That is so cool." Chanyeol was full of excitement, once again.

"It is. I'm excited for the fourth year actually, when we'll have to do our thesis work. That will probably be the best part of my university life."

"You sound like a criminal yourself, with all that excitement." Mae stated, with a straight face.

"To understand a criminal, you gotta think like one, yourself." Jay gave yet another sarcastic smile.

"I think that's cool. My best friend is studying Psychology, and his courses are so cool that it makes me wonder why I chose Business in the first place." Chanyeol began digging into his food.

"Don't doubt your choices, ever. If you want to do something good in life, you've got to trust your roots and nurture them well." Jay said, pointing her chopsticks at Chanyeol. "You chose your major because you're good at it. Why go choosing something that you're bad at instead? Neither will you be able to learn anything, nor will you able to breathe freely."

"Wow, that's very motivational." Chanyeol stopped eating midway, admiring Jay's words.

"Jay is one of the current top five students of the University with an unparalleled GPA. She's got a very clear vision of her goal." Mae added.

Chanyeol's chopsticks fell from his hand, food-filled mouth agape, eyes wide while he stared at Jay in surprise.

"You're the one with the crazy GPA from Criminology!?! Waah! Daebak! (Awesome/Unbelievable!)" Chanyeol sat up straight, surprise and admiration very clear on his face.