Blooming Pt. 1
Pairings: Jisung x Reader, ft. nct dream, lucas (honorary member of dream)
Words: 7.5K
Warnings: Language (there is almost always language in my writings), angst, fluff
Synopsis:
Love isn’t as easy as it seems, Park Jisung is an advocate of that. A blooming relationship that has prematurely ceased can be re-sparked years later, or can it? Will Jisung be able to overcome his fears in order to succeed in what he deems love?
Part 1 | Part 2
Freshman Yr.
Hey Jisung,
I know that this is kinda random and I only have the guts to do this now because I probably won’t see you again but here goes. I think you are a really sweet and cool guy and I wish I had gotten to know you better, probably because I had a big crush on you... I just thought I would send this to you because I know it’s nice to know and it’s probably a little bit of a confidence booster. (I also kinda wanted to get this off my chest). Sorry for the essay and you don’t have to respond to this if it’s awkward … I hope you stay safe especially with what’s going on right now
You held your breath, panicking at the loading sign on your phone. Welp, it was too late now.
You were pacing back and forth in your living room, nail very much in your mouth as you bit them anxiously.
“I just sent it.” You breathed out, “Oh my god, I just sent it.” At this point you were nearly in tears you were so nervous.
“That’s good. It’s like one a.m. though, so don’t be too worried if he doesn’t answer right away.” You nodded into the receiver, and although your best friend couldn’t see you, she still understood your silence.
You had called your best friend earlier to ask for her advice about the guy you had told her about months ago. It was the last quarter of school for this year and you finally had the courage to confess to him.
Your best friend Megan was a little bit more experienced than you and she laughed when you had told her you wrote drafts, and you promptly sent it to her.
“He’s not writing back.” You told her, staring intently at the screen, refreshing it every few seconds as if that would make him answer.
“Well of course not, you literally sent it ten seconds ago. Besides I told you, it’s late, he might just reply in the morning.” She sighed at your panicked state.
“Oh my god! He read it.” You bit your lip, staring at the numbers below your text.
“Oh.” She giggled, “Cute, he has read receipts on like you.”
You barely had time to comprehend what she had said when you gasped out, “Oh my god. He’s typing, he’s typing! There’s bubbles.”
She laughed, “Wow, that was fast.”
You weren’t exactly paying attention to her, focused very much on the bubbles that were still there. Then suddenly they stopped.
“They stopped.” You felt the need to relay everything to her.
“That’s fine, he’s probably just reading over it.” You nodded, trying to convince yourself. But you couldn’t because nothing ever came. It was almost 25 minutes later that you heard the familiar ding of your phone.
Hey Y/N! thanks for letting me know, it really is not easy but rip coronavirus really is kinda messing with everything. i think you’re a really nice person and if circumstances would have allowed, i would have wanted to get to know you more too. everything is kinda hectic rn and i wish you the besttt and stay safe too!!
Immediately you called Megan again. “It doesn’t look good…Listen to what he said.” You read the text, heart dropping with every word you read.
“What are you talking about? That’s a good thing. Y/N he said he wants to get to know you better too. That’s sweet. I think he’s just keeping it open though, cause there’s not much you guys can do anyways.”
“Yeah.” You tried to not let out how dejected you were, but it was clear to her.
“Hey don’t worry about it. If he doesn’t like you then he’s not worth worrying over.”
“Right.” You pouted despite what she said making sense. “Look I’ll call you later, I’ve got to go now.”
“Okay, Y/N, don’t stress too much about it, okay?”
You hummed back, mumbling out your goodbyes.
The moment you hung up, you threw your phone on the bed, falling next to it. You sighed, trying not to overthink everything.
That’s why you confessed now, so that if you were so badly rejected, you wouldn’t have to see him again. Right?
You groaned, closing your eyes, hoping that sleep would make you feel better. Or perhaps you would wake up and find that this was all a dream.
You woke up and of course with habit, the first thing you did was look over at your phone. You rubbed the sleep out of your eyes, grinning at the screen.
You weren’t thrilled that it was in reality a dream, but on the other hand things had become very real very fast.
NOTIFICATION
Park Jisung 5:18 a.m.
oh, are you still going back to school next year?
You smiled at the text, heart immediately choosing to beat faster than you would’ve liked. With a glance at the clock you realized it was 8:07 a.m. and you couldn’t stop yourself from replying the moment you saw it.
yeah, i’m planning on living off campus tho… are you gonna live off campus too?
You panicked, staring at the screen, knowing damn well that he wasn’t about to reply at 8 in the morning. You had to restrain yourself from calling your best friend that very moment, you were in a happy mood and waking her up would not keep that.
The entire day you were buzzing, constantly checking your phone for new notifications. For the first time you understood what phantom texts felt like. Every couple of minutes you were sure that you felt a text, but alas it was your imagination.
It wasn’t until 4 p.m. when a real text came through, ringing loud and clear. You had turned your ringer on and off, making sure that it was working just in case.
yup! I’ll be living by the shopping complex in downtown. how about you?
Restraint was not easy for you, and you replied after a few moments passed. Megan had constantly told you to let at least a few minutes pass, but you couldn’t help it. Besides, read receipts were not in your favor.
Conversation seemed to come really easy to you, and after an hour of texting non stop he said he had one more final to take.
You understood and immediately felt bad, realizing that you had taken up precious study time for him. You wished him good luck and spent the rest of the night relaying every detail to Megan over the phone.
Little did you know that that conversation would be the last for a long time.
3 months later
It was time for a break. And what better way was there than a small kickback with your best friends after midterms?
“I brought the good stuff.” You were startled, laying on the daybed of your other friend, Camille’s room. It was the perfect spot for a kickback. A couple hundred feet from the main house, and completely stocked with all that you needed.
You sat up glancing at the armfuls of alcohol Megan had snagged, don’t ask how she got it.
You giggled at the thought, watching as Camille helped unload. “Let the games begin.”
“Truth or Dare Y/N?” You groaned, turning away from the both of them.
“You know I hate this game.”
Megan didn’t let up. “Camille has a pond.”
That was enough information for you. You took a glance out the window, noting that it was freezing outside. You were not taking a chance on her intentions. “Truth.”
“Boring.” She sang, but nevertheless had a question set. “Have you talked to that boy since the last time you called me about him?”
You grumbled to yourself, taking a shot and grimacing. “No.”
“Why not?” Camille asked, reaching for the bottle still in your hand.
You rolled your eyes. “I don’t know, I’m too much of a coward to text him now. But he could text me first too you know. Especially cause I took the first jump. It’s probably because he doesn’t like me.”
You sighed, staring at the bottle again, tempted to take another shot.
“I’m sure that’s not the case.” You missed the look Megan shot Camille, already coming up with a new idea.
In the end you caved, choosing that perhaps another shot could bring you happiness. But it just burned your throat.
“Megan truth or dare?”
“Dare, duh.” You watched the proud look on her face.
“I dare you to… snapchat that dude that sent dick pics to fuck off.” Camille said, watching Megan’s face contort into delight.
“Hell yeah! It would be my pleasure.” She giggled, and you noticed that she was feeling the alcohol as well.
You felt the need to roll your eyes again.
“Done. And blocked.” She tossed her phone in the middle of the group with satisfaction.
“I don’t know why you just didn’t block him right after he sent them.” You commented, chewing on a gummy worm.
She just shrugged, “I don’t know, it was kind of fun I guess. Anyways. Camille, truth or dare?”
“Truth.”
“Do you really only see Carson as a friend?” Camille sputtered at the question, spitting out a bit of juice.
“No, I see him as a brother. That’s disgusting, besides he’s dating Bailee.” She shook her head, working to clean up the mess.
“Doesn’t mean you can’t like him.” Megan muttered, before dropping it and turning back to you.
“Y/N truth or dare?”
“Truth.” You mumbled out, not really paying attention.
“Come on, do at least one dare. It’s not fun if you only answer truth.” She whined, pushing another cup of jungle juice towards you.
You hesitantly sniffed the cup before taking a sip. A moment of silence passed as they waited for you. You let out a deep sigh, “Fine, dare. What do you want?”
“I dare you to text him.”
You froze, you knew that’s what she was going to say, but you were so out of it that you let it slide.
“You know I can’t do that.” You answered, wide eyed.
“It’s a dare.” Megan nodded at the window, insinuating the punishment.
“No, I really can’t. I’ll give you my phone though, but I can’t do it.” You dug the phone out of your backpack and tossed it next to hers, which she grabbed immediately typing in your password that she had memorized.
“Deal. I’ll just start it, then you can keep the conversation going.” You waved her off, choosing to drown yourself in as much alcohol as you could in hopes of forgetting that this happened tomorrow morning.
“Done. I just sent hey, with like three y’s and a smiley face. Not the emoji though.” Your mouth dropped at her.
“That’s so not me though. You know I use emojis, and I don’t do the all, heyyyy thing. He’s gonna know.” She just shrugged, sliding the phone back to you.
You sighed, staring at the empty screen, the other two returning to the game.
But it was three minutes later when your phone dinged, a text from Jisung lighting up your screen.
“Is that him?” Camille asked, peeking over at the screen.
“Yeah. I don’t wanna read it though, you do it.” You pushed it away, pulling your knees into your chest.
“I got you.” Megan paused. “See. Guys like the hey thing. He did it back, I don’t know what you were talking about, he’s totally into you.”
You grinned, crawling forward to see for yourself. The phone dinged again seconds later.
“Ooh, that’s hot. I like it when a guy texts in multiple bubbles, it shows they just text you what they think. They’re not planning it out or anything.” Megan commented, already typing in a response for you.
You watched over her shoulder, glancing at Camille who was doing the same.
“Is this good?” You just nodded back, sitting back on your heels to take a break.
“Oh, wow. That was fast. He texted back.” Although she sounded impressed, she frowned at the text.
“What? What is it?” You asked, panicking at her expression.
“Nothing. He’s just… dry. Was he always a dry texter?” She asked, handing the phone back to you.
“No? I don’t know, I didn’t think he was dry, we texted for like an hour straight that one time.” You mumbled, looking at the phone disappointed.
“Well he seems pretty dry to me. Maybe you should text him, maybe you were right, my texting was too different from yours.” You bit your lip and nodded, trying to come up with a response to him.
You didn’t know if it was because you were drunk, or that he could tell you were drunk, but while the conversation did get slightly better, he seemed dry to you as well. It was after twenty minutes of texting that you couldn’t keep the conversation any longer. You became frustrated at the dwindling conversation.
You had chosen to contact him again after three months of ghosting each other, and now he was making it difficult to carry a conversation. Maybe he really doesn’t like you. You felt your face heat up in embarrassment. Fine, you thought, you weren’t reaching out anymore. You didn’t want to be seen as pathetic, you could catch a hint. He just didn’t like you and was being nice. If he did actually like you, he could reach out to you.
This didn’t stop you from thinking about him for the month following the drunken incident.
2 years later
Junior Yr.
“I swear if you’re late for this one too, I’m not setting you up on anymore blind dates!” You winced at the sound of your roommate cursing at you.
“I’m going!” You yelled back, slipping out the front door before she had a chance to attack you again.
You managed to close door without hearing what ever else she had in store for you.
Your keys jangled as you quickly tried to lock the bright red door, giving it one last tug of reassurance when you turned on your heel to find your car.
“Oof!” A body collided with yours, you were partially, well mostly at fault.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so sorry. I should’ve paid more attention. It’s just, I was in a bit of a rush…” You trailed off, finally getting a good look at the other person’s face. “Jisung?”
He simply stared back with a blank look on his face, mouth hung slightly open. “Y/N?”
You hated how your heart quickened at the sound of your name from his lips.
“I-I… wow…” You stuttered out, not quite able to act as natural as you had hoped. “Do you live here?”
“Uh… yeah, I live next door.” He pointed to your left, and when you followed his finger sure enough it was right next to your apartment. You missed the way that he looked you up and down, gulping at the sight of you in years.
“Oh. Wow, what a coincidence, I guess.” You laughed out nervously, hands playing with your lanyard.
“Yeah.” He nodded back, not really making eye contact. Not that you were trying either.
“Well…”
“Yeah.”
There was an awkward silence between you two, and you cleared your throat to break some tension.
“I was actually on my way out, so… I’ve got to get going. But I’ll see you around.” You put on a fake smile that didn’t really reach your eyes, and shot him a wave before rushing off to your car. Once under the safety of your car, you sighed and tried to discreetly glance at the boy you hadn’t seen or thought of in years.
You shook your head, starting the ignition. It’s time to forget him, you told yourself, besides I’ve got a date waiting for me right now.
It wasn’t until Jisung was positive you could no longer see him, having driven off minutes ago, that he threw his head back and let out the deep breath he didn’t know he was holding. The blush he had been so desperately holding out finally came over his face, as he felt the heat burn his ears.
He had just begun to forget about you, from time to time, pausing over your conversation stream. Although it was torture, every once in a while he would read back all the texts, hating the way that they abruptly stopped. On occasion, mostly when he was drunk, but there were times when he was sober, he would even type out a text but fail to send it.
Jisung was never the outgoing type, he envied those who were. Those that could just strike up a conversation and carry on like it was second nature. But it was hard for Jisung. It took work and energy, and sometimes he didn’t have that. It was stressful and scary to Jisung.
It was a godsend when you reached out to him years ago, claiming so boldly your feelings for him. He wasn’t going to admit it, but then he had asked for his friends help in responding. It was Mark’s wishy-washy personality that had unbeknowingly sent your mind in circles that night.
It was Haechan’s straight-forward nature that had forced him to text you at 5 a.m. the next morning. He was tired of hearing about Jisung’s concerns as to why you didn’t reply earlier, complaining that if he was that worried just text her.
So he did.
And it worked.
It worked so well. That hour he had spent texting you had butterflies dancing in his belly. He had never felt happier or more connected than at that moment. It wasn’t until his alarm rang, notifying him that he had five minutes until his last final did he stop smiling.
He was more than disappointed when nothing came out of the conversation. Of course he knew that it wasn’t just your fault, after all he had a phone, he could text you too.
And he tried, he really did. Multiple times. But every text he drafted was soon deleted and so the conversation ran dry. That was until three months later, May 16th.
But you always seemed to catch him at a bad time. It was Saturday, but his professor had given him an extension on his paper and it was due at midnight.
Your first text came at 10:58 p.m.
It took all he had not to answer the text, and eventually he did cave. But as much as he wanted to focus on you he couldn’t, after all he had begged his professor to extend his deadline, he had to finish this.
Maybe that’s why this time you didn’t seem so responsive. Maybe that’s why this time it only took twenty minutes for the conversation to end.
Maybe that’s why, after it took him forty-five minutes to respond to your last text, you left him on read.
“What’s with the long face dude?” His best friend, and housemate asked, slapping his back passive-aggressively.
“Nothing. And I don’t have a long face.” He pushed back, shoving him softly out of the way.
“Who was that? At the front door?” Jaemin asked, shoving a cookie into his mouth.
“No one, just someone I knew.” Jisung muttered back, reaching out to steal one from the jar.
“Just someone I knew.” Chenle mocked back, leaning against the wall of the kitchen. “Right. We all could see the look on your face, that’s not just someone you knew.”
Jisung shrugged. “She was a girl I was texting.” He tried to pull it off nonchalantly, but it was evident to his housemates that it wasn’t nothing.
“Shit. Was that that girl you were talking to freshman year? The one you were head over heels for?” Jeno asked, grabbing a seat on a barstool, his laptop tightly in his grip. It was obvious he was working on something.
“Y/N?”Jaemin asked around the crumbs that filled his mouth.
“Ew. Gross. Have some manners dude.” Renjun said shoving Jaemin off the counter where he was perched, “And how many times do I have to tell you not to sit on the counter, that’s not sanitary. We have chairs for a reason.”
Jaemin made a face, but still moved to take a seat next to Jeno.
“Yeah.” Jisung frowned at the rest of the guys. “Did I make it that obvious?”
Renjun laughed, pulling a plate out of the cabinet. “You just talked about her everyday for a month. But no, not that obvious.”
“You should talk to her again, does she live close by?” Jeno asked, typing away at his computer.
“Yeah, she’s… uh… she’s our neighbor.” He rushed the last bit out, knowing that they would take advantage of the situation.
“Ooh! Our Jisung’s little girlfriend lives next door guys!” Chenle cackled out, “Guys, this is fate. And it’s our job to help out.”
Jisung scowled at him, knowing that Chenle meant what he said, “No. Guys leave her alone. Don’t make things weird. We’re going to be neighbors for the rest of the year, I don’t want to have to avoid her.”
“Avoid who?”
“Haechan, how many times did I tell you to give me that key back?” Renjun asked, narrowing his eyes at the boy.
“Too many.” Haechan shrugged, letting Mark close the door behind him. “You can have this one back though, I’ve got two more copies at my apartment.”
Renjun threw his hands in the air, “I give up.” He picked up his plate of leftovers, opting to sit at the bar next to Jaemin.
“Who are we avoiding though?” Mark asked, settling against the wall next to Chenle.
“Y/N.” Chenle said, giving Mark a knowing grin.
“Y/N? Wait isn’t that...?” Mark furrowed his eyebrows, sporting his signature confused face.
“Uh-huh.”
“Why are we avoiding her?” He asked, turning to Jisung, who had been awfully quiet.
“We’re not.” Jeno spoke up, finally shutting his laptop. “We just found out she’s our neighbor and Jisung doesn’t want us to do anything about it, cause he doesn’t want to avoid her.”
Haechan grinned, pulling out a glass and filling it up with water from the fridge. “So you still like her?”
“No.” There was an empty silence. “Yes.”
Jisung sighed at the commotion his confession caused.
“Well, don’t you think it’s our duty, as your friend, to help you out? After all, I feel like I am very invested in this budding relationship. I did help send the text that set things in motion.” Haechan boasted animatedly, accidently spilling some of his water, which he wiped up with this sock.
“No. I don’t think that it’s your duty. And please stay out of it?” He all but begged the rest of the boys. Much to his dismay, none of them looked like they were swayed.
Jaemin clapped his hands together standing up, “Okay, how about some neighborly cookies? Everyone likes cookies.”
Jeno rolled his eyes with a smile, but stood up anyways. “Sure I’m down, but no more of those peanut butter ones, those are shitty. Can’t we just do chocolate chip?”
Jaemin frowned, digging through the pantry cabinet. “You’re lucky we’re out of those. Chocolate chip it is.”
Haechan strolled towards Jisung, wrapping an arm around his shoulder, “How about we get drafting then?” He snorted, “I think a nice love letter should do it.”
Jisung shoved him away with more force than necessary, “Get off me. And no. Stop it with the love letter thing, I was drunk and sad okay?”
Mark butted in before the two of them would really start fighting, “Actually I don’t think that’s a bad idea. I think she’d like that, like, slip it in with the cookies or something. Just say you’d like to see her again, and hang out.”
Renjun stood up, placing his dishes in the sink, “Dude this is why Jisung sent mixed signals in the first place, ‘i’d like to see you again’, ‘let’s hang out’. Can you get any more confusing than that?”
Mark frowned and cocked his head, opening his mouth to retort, but Haechan beat him to it. “Then what would you say Renjun? ‘Oh how beautiful your eyes compare to a midsummer’s eve. May I court you this evening?’”
Renjun glared at him. “You’re not funny. And no. I was going to say, just tell her it was a missed opportunity. That you’d like to take her out on a date now that you can.”
Jisung shook his head violently at the sound of that. “How am I supposed to do that? That’s way too straight forward, what if she says no?”
“Dude, she likes you. Remember? She sent you that text. And if her feelings aren’t there anymore then… well… I don’t know. But the chances are low.” Jeno tried to reassure him, not doing a very good job of it.
Jisung sucked a breath in, ultimately letting out a hissing noise.
“Trust me on this one Jisung. I make a mean cookie, we’ll just head over there later today and rekindle whatever you two have.” Jaemin cooed at the boy with a big smile.
“Right. Like I can trust all of you.” He muttered to himself, choosing to escape to the confines of his room.
“So… how was it?” Your roommate asked expectantly, a far change from the way she was speaking to you earlier.
You shrugged, “I dunno, he was nice I guess.” You shook your head. “I don’t know why you guys are all pushy on this stuff. Like I get it, but it’s weird trying to date someone that I’ve just met you know?”
Your roommate Alex just shook her head, waving you off. “Whatever, so did you like him or not? Is there gonna be a second date?”
You laughed at her, she was way too invested in your non-existent love life. “I don’t know, I think so. He was sweet and stuff, but like I said it’s weird.”
“Well, that’s the furthest you’ve gotten so far.” You sent her a glare. “I’m just saying. You always either end up leaving the date, or never seeing them again.”
“Shut up, I don’t-”
You were cut off by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Alex and you exchanged glances, you weren’t expecting anybody.
She stood up, grabbing the bat next to the door, that your mother insisted you bring, ‘just in case’.
You huffed, moving past her, “You know, you could just look through the peephole.” You leaned forward squinting into the door, only to find a group of boys that seemed your age.
“Who is it?”
You pulled back, tilting your head, “I don’t know, just a group of guys.”
You unlocked the door, peeking out through the crack slightly, and you were greeted very enthusiastically by the boy in front.
“Hi!” He grinned, showing off a perfect set of pearly whites. He was waving very aggressively with his free hand, the other seemed to be holding a plate of cookies. “I’m Jaemin! We’re neighbors.”
After his quick introduction he shoved the plate towards you, never letting the smile leave his face.
“Uh… hi?” You weren’t quite sure what to say.
Luckily Alex did, “Hi, I’m Alex and this is Y/N. That’s so sweet of you.” She smiled back, taking the plate from you. “Do you guys want to come in? We can crack them open right now.”
You stepped back, watching the trail of six- no seven guys just stroll into your apartment.
“What the hell?” You muttered to yourself, closing the door softly behind the last boy.
“Hi Y/N.”
You looked up to see Jisung again, and you took a slight step back, startled at the sight.
“Jisung. Oh.” You barely let out.
“Sorry, we didn’t mean to overstep or anything. The guys just wanted to meet you… all. They wanted to meet all of you… cause you’re our neighbors, and all…”
You blushed realizing that he had heard you comment, completely ignoring the way that Jisung was stumbling all over his words.
Haechan took no time in introducing himself, and taking the honor of introducing everyone else as well.
“I’m Haechan, this is Mark, Jeno, Chenle, and Renjun. You already know Jaemin, and I’m aware that you already know Jisung.” He grinned proudly after gesturing to each of the respective boys.
“Jisung?” Alex asked, eyebrows raised. You hadn’t told her about him. For one, it never came up, and secondly, it’s not like it was anything important now. That was years ago, you didn’t feel the need to inform her of every detail of your life, like him.
Haechan cocked his head, “Yeah. You didn’t know they knew each other?”
You furrowed your brows at him. “And how do you know that?”
Jisung shyly raised his hand next to you, embarrassed that he was outed for spilling the details to his friends. “Sorry, that would be my fault.”
You turned slightly, mouth dropping at his face, “Oh. I didn’t mean it like that. I..I- That came out wrong. I’m not mad or anything, I was just shocked.”
You bit your lip feeling guilty about the way he responded.
“Anyways.” Jaemin interrupted the awkward silence. “We just wanted to say hi and stop by. Maybe we can all hang out and stuff and be neighborly.”
He grinned, looking around at the group.
“Right.” You nodded slowly, “Thanks for the cookies, and it was nice meeting you all.” There was a forced smile on your face, but none of the boys seemed to notice or care.
Eventually the boys filtered out one by one, and you closed the door, sighing against it.
“They were nice.” Alex said, taking a bite in a cookie. “Oooh, and these are hella good.”
“Yeah.” You mumbled, moving to sit on the couch.
“Why do you look like that? You don’t like them?” She asked, grabbing a glass for milk. “You and Jisung already know each other though. By the way, how do you know him?”
You rubbed your hand over his face. “It’s a long story.”
“Well, I have the rest of the day.” She sang back, taking a seat on the cushion next to you.
And so, now that Jisung was back in your life, you were left no choice to fill her in.
“Damn! That’s awkward as hell.” Her eyes were widened to the max.
“Yeah, I know. But I didn’t want them to feel super weird, cause you know, neighbors right? I just can’t believe my luck though.” You sighed leaning back, slouching down.
“Yeah, but do you like him though?” She asked, to which you whipped your head towards her.
“What?”
“Do you like him? I mean this could be really good for you. Actually it’s a win-win for everyone here. I can stop forcing you on blind dates and you can date the boy you’ve been pining after for years.” She shrugged like it was obvious.
“Okay, I have not been pining after him for years, and we’re not going to date just because I liked him two years ago. I mean, didn’t you get it from what I told you? He doesn’t like me.” You tried to shut her down.
“What are you talking about? Did you see him today? He couldn’t tear his eyes away from you.” You frowned at her observation. You didn’t remember it the way she did, every time you looked at him, which wasn’t that often, he was desperately trying to avoid eye contact.
“No he wasn’t.” You nevertheless blushed at the idea.
“Ooh, you’re blushing! Someone has a cru-ush!” She raised her voice, and you slapper her.
“Shut up, they’re right next door remember? They’re our neighbors.” She simply winked at you.
“And no I don’t.” You added as an afterthought.
The small restaurant was bustling with energy, something the boys loved.
“Dude, why haven’t we been here before?” Mark asked, eyes wide with excitement, smacking Haechan’s shoulder unnecessarily hard.
Haechan tried to move away from him, but to no avail.
“I told you, Jeno always said this place was pricey.” He muttered back, giving in when he realised Mark’s habit wasn’t disappearing anytime soon.
“We shouldn’t have trusted Jeno’s cheap ass.” Renjun snorted, “The prices here look decent.”
“Hey!” Jeno tried to defend himself. “I’m a college student, everything is expensive.”
Jaemin threw an arm over Jeno’s shoulder, trying to comfort him. “Let’s just grab a booth.”
As they trudged down the busy pathway, Jeno spotted a familiar face.
“Hey isn’t that Y/N?” Jeno asked, elbowing Jisung in the side. But Jisung was already aware of your presence, he had been the moment they stepped into the restaurant.
“Don’t point.” Renjun slapped the boy’s hand down.
“I wasn’t-”
“Shut up.”
“Wait… who’s that with her?” Jaemin asked the obvious, slurring his words at the end, as if just understanding the situation.
It seemed as if you were on a date, and Jisung’s heart dropped. It felt like his entire world came crashing down, like any and all hope he had in you went out the window.
Of course you would have a boyfriend, it’s been two years since you last talked, and it’s not like you were even an item. You texted for an hour.
Jisung closed his eyes for a second, but the picture was still searing in his brain. Hell, he wasn’t even sure if he told you that he liked you.
“I guess we didn’t think about that. That she could have a boyfriend.”
“Yeah, I mean it has been two years.” Mark nodded, agreeing with Jaemin.
“Guys, not helping.” Renjun said between gritted teeth.
Jisung bit his lip, silently running over the image of you.
Is that your boyfriend? How long had you been dating? Was it after he ran into you? If he asked you out then, would that be him?
He had so many questions he wanted answered, but he would never get them.
Chenle pulled his arm roughly, trying to drag him into the booth. “Jisung you’re staring. Try not to make it so obvious.” He teased.
Jisung quickly averted his eyes, choosing to sit where he could watch you from his seat. His stomach felt queasy, maybe that was a bad idea. Suddenly he lost his appetite at the sight of you smiling so widely at something funny your date had said.
Mark glanced up from his menu, staring at Jisung who was now downing his water. He elbowed Haechan who was concentrating on the menu.
“Dude, say something.” He hissed at him, trying to get Haechan to lift the mood. But for some reason, today of all days, he wasn’t having it.
Haechan just shrugged, shaking his head, “What do you want me to do?” Then he went back to his menu.
Mark bit his lip nervously, feeling uncomfortable at the sight of Jisung so anxious. He shot a look at Renjun who understood and at least tried to spark up conversation.
“So Jeno, who’d you come here with again?” He asked, an attempt at diverting attention from the elephant in the room.
“Uhh… some girl…” Jeno mumbled back, blushing furiously.
“Jeno’s blushing!” Chenle shouted out, his loud voice carrying across the restaurant.
This had Jisung cracking a smile.
“Dude, not so loud.” Jeno groaned out, sinking into his seat. He turned to glare at Renjun, “Did you have to bring that up?”
Renjun shrugged, but sent a small apologetic smile. ‘Sorry’ he mouthed at the embarrassed boy.
You had Chenle to thank for alerting you of the group’s presence. You pulled away from your conversation with Lucas and craned your head to get a glimpse of your neighbors.
“Do you know them?” Lucas asked, following your gaze.
“Oh, yeah, they’re my neighbors.” You said back, tearing your eyes from their booth.
“Yikes, they’re kind of loud.” He chuckled, “That must be rough on you.”
You gave him a smile, accompanied by your own giggle. “Lucas, in case you didn’t notice, you’re loud.”
He let out a fake gasp, holding his hand against his chest, “Me?”
You laughed, “Lucas, on our first date you thought we had so many complaints about the ‘loud dude in the booth’ that they asked us to leave.”
He frowned, “It’s not my fault my voice carries. And I have a very pleasant laugh, they should’ve been happy to hear it.” He pouted, “But we got ice cream to make up for it.”
You bit your lip, holding back your grin at the memory. “Yeah and it was freezing out.” You paused watching his expression, “But it’s never too cold for ice cream, besides, I wouldn’t have gotten your jacket out of it. And by the way, I’m keeping it. It’s soft.”
He smiled widely, immediately agreeing with you. “I’m just gonna use that excuse to see you again.”
You returned his sentiment, it wouldn’t be all that bad to meet Lucas again. You seemed to enjoy yourself every time you met.
“Oh. Jisung, hey.” You let out surprised.
“Hi.” He smiled at you shyly, staring back at you.
“Hi.” You blushed at the awkward tension between the two of you.
You turned and locked the door quietly before facing your neighbor again. “I was just heading out.”
“Right.” He mumbled, retreating back towards his apartment.
“I was going to the bookstore to pick up some things…” You trailed off, watching his expression, “If you’d like to come…?”
You immediately regretted your offer, ducking your head to hide your embarrassment. “You don’t have to, that was-”
“Sure.”
You froze, quickly snapping your head to meet his gaze.
“I uhh… have some things to take care of too.” He stumbled over his words to accept your offer.
“Oh, okay.” You smiled shyly at your feet, a strange feeling in your stomach turning.
You nodded in the direction of campus, trudging forward slowly at first to let him catch up. Soon enough the two of you were keeping pace.
A few minutes passed before Jisung cleared his throat, “So what are you getting from the bookstore?”
You nodded to yourself, “I have a textbook I ordered. It’s ridiculous isn’t it? How insanely overpriced it is, and it’s not like it’s even possible to pass the class without it. I mean I’m paying enough for college, now I have to pay on top of that.” You took a breath and chuckled nervously, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to rant on you.”
Jisung grinned at the way you were so worked up, “No not at all. I totally agree. It’s a rip off, I mean why not just make it part of tuition, we’re paying enough as it is.”
You nodded, “Right? It’s not right to make it required, like I could totally pirate it online, but if the professors make our homework using the online site to turn it in, that’s not even an option.”
You sighed exasperated, and missed the look on Jisung’s face. He seemed to enjoy the way you raved on about something as simple as a textbook.
You paused at the sound of his laughter from beside you, and you turned to look at him with a smile, enjoying the sound.
It was a fifteen minute walk to campus, and another five to the bookstore. And before you knew it the building was looming over your heads.
Jisung jogged a few paces before you, reaching for the door. You paused, watching as he stood aside, holding the door for you.
You blushed, perhaps, as they say, chivalry isn’t dead. “Thank you.”
You reached your hand up, pressing your cold fingers against your burning cheeks, an attempt to chase away the color.
“So which class is it for?” He asked, looking around, and thankfully not noticing your heated face.
“Economics.” You replied, lifting your head in search of your department.
The two of you wandered around for a few more moments, not searching particularly hard for the book in question.
“Look, introduction to Korean Pop Music.” He laughed, pointing at the textbook. “Can you believe there’s a whole course on that?”
You smiled, looking. “I dunno, it seems interesting. Besides, there’s classes for classical music, and pop music, why not K-pop?”
He nodded back, giving you a glance.
“Here, economics.” You mumbled out, walking down the long corridor. You ran your fingers along the spines of all the books, stopping at the familiar title. “Jesus, 98 dollars.”
He frowned, sidling up next to you.
Sighing you reluctantly pulled the book off the shelf. “Ready?”
Jisung looked at you under heavy brows.
“You’re going to get it?”
“It comes with the online version. I mean I have to get the online portion, might as well get the hardcopy for free with it.” You nodded towards the check out, stepping towards the staircase.
He followed in suit, stuffing his hands in his pocket. He ran into your back after you stopped abruptly, suddenly remembering something.
“Oh, didn’t you have to get a book?”
Jisung’s eyes widened, “Oh yeah.” At that moment he reached out and grabbed what seemed to be a random book from the closest table, but you chose to ignore it.
He raised the book, and gave you a smile.
Your eyebrows shot up, “Introduction to the female reproductive system?”
Jisung suddenly turned very pale, as he tried to play it off. “Yeah, ummm… for my biology class.”
You grinned, nodding like you believed him. But you chose to continue up the stairs, unable to watch as his face contorted. While you weren’t looking he quickly flipped over the cover, gulping at the sight of the price.
“80 dollars?” But he shook it off, trudging after you.
“Anything else for you?” A boy around the same age as you was checking you out.
“Nope, that should be it.” You smiled, fumbling around with your purse to find your wallet.
“Economics huh? Are you a ManEcon major?” He asked, leaning towards you slightly, ignoring Jisung who had arrived nearby.
You looked up from your bag, “Huh? Oh, yeah ManEcon. You?”
Your hand was still deep in your back when he replied. “Same, I’m a Junior, I managed to switch in last year.”
“Really?” You raised your eyebrows, “Was it difficult?”
“No, I mean I knew I wanted to switch early on, so I already was taking the classes I needed.”
You nodded back, “That makes sense. Have you taken macro yet? I’m signed up this quarter but I’m a little nervous.”
“I had Zeggert last quarter, she was pretty good.” He smiled, nodding, “She likes it when people go into office hours, really tries to help.”
You cracked a smile of your own, “No way, I have Zeggert. Thank goodness, I’m definitely going to use her office hours a lot then.”
You took a moment to successfully dig out your wallet, sliding him your card.
“That’s good, well, I’m here basically all the time. So if you ever need help, you know where to find me.” He winked at you, returning the card.
You murmured out a quick thanks, and stepped aside to let Jisung pay for his books.
Jisung didn’t take long, and you noticed that he was particularly cold with the cashier, who in turn wasn’t nearly as friendly with him as he was with you.
“He was kind of flirting with you.” Jisung mumbled out, picking at the brand new spine of his unneeded textbook.
You glanced at him, stepping through the door that he once again held open, not knowing how to respond to him.
“Don’t you have a boyfriend?” He asked under his breath as you caught up beside him.
“What?” You shot him a puzzled look.
Jisung raised his eyebrows, “Your boy...friend?” He slowed his words, questioning them himself.
“I don’t have a boyfriend.” You let out, not pausing in your steps. The same couldn’t be said for Jisung.
He jogged slightly to catch up. “But your date…?”
“My date?” You asked, now choosing to stop and face him. You shook your head, confused, “What date?”
“The- the guy you were with at the restaurant Wednesday.” He studied the sidewalk intently, flustered at his confession.
“You saw me?” You leaned down slightly, trying to catch his gaze.
“I-uh… I mean I didn’t mean to watch you. But we just happened to go to that restaurant.” He mumbled, choosing to walk forward and escape the situation, but you quickly caught up.
“He’s not my boyfriend, I mean, we were on a date, but he’s not my boyfriend.” You felt the need to defend yourself, or at least clear things up. Although you didn’t know why you felt the need.
“Oh. A date.” He mumbled. He was overjoyed at the fact that you weren’t dating anyone, but couldn’t help but be disappointed at the mention of a date. From what he remembered, you seemed to be enjoying yourself then.
The silence grew until you reached your doorstep. It had taken Jisung fifteen minutes to decide, fifteen minutes to pluck up the courage he needed.
“How about a date with me?” Although he refused to meet your eyes, you felt the genuinity.
Part 2
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