Kyungsoo stirred as she heard a repetitive tapping on the car window.  Her eyes blinked open as she realized in a daze that she had slept on Chanyeol’s chest with him holding her in the front seat.  Chanyeol was jolted awake when the tapping grew even more insistent.  Chanyeol’s eyes grew wide, immediately rolling down the pane because the parking lot security was asking him to do so.  “Annyeong-haseayo, ahjussi.”

Kyungsoo straightened up her clothes, relieved that everything was buttoned up as they should be, and bowed to the officers in greeting.

“Don’t you kids have classes later?” One of the guards asked, shaking his head in disappointment.

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol checked the clock on the car and it said 6:12 a.m. 

“Yes, we do.” Chanyeol answered and started his car.  “We’re sorry we stayed the night.”  He then started the car and slowly pulled out of the parking slot he had occupied to drive Kyungsoo to her dorm.

When they arrived, Chanyeol turned to her and smiled gently. They had talked about everything and anything last night, from their families to childhood memories, to their favorite music and other relatable experiences; something that Chanyeol didn’t think would happen in this lifetime. Kyungsoo fondly smiled back as she alighted. Chanyeol continued to watch her as she disappeared into the front doors.

Then he drove on, the pleased smile still on his face. He could hardly wait to see her tomorrow in Lit class.

That afternoon, everyone’s conversations halted as he walked into the paper office. He had been noticing all day that people he didn’t know would stop what they were doing to stare at him. And when he would meet their eyes, they would look away and resume their tasks, and then eventually would whisper secretively to each other that Chanyeol would feel extremely sensitive that it was about him—although he couldn’t imagine what the hell for.

Chanyeol carefully approached his station, feeling as though he had walked into some kind of twilight zone...

Baekhyun and Jongin decided collectively to ask their best friend. They weren’t sure if someone already had the guts to let Chanyeol know what was circulating at the campus—especially on SNS, X, IG and Tiktok since this morning...

Chanyeol unfortunately wasn’t actively using social media so he probably didn’t know.

“H-Hi, bro,” Jongin greeted tentatively, smiling in a peculiar way.  

Chanyeol grinned in relief. Finally, people he could count on treating him no differently. He was beginning to wonder if he had suddenly grown two heads without his knowledge. “Hi, Nini, Hi, Baek.” Then he eyed them suspiciously. “What’s up?”

Baekhyun and Jongin exchanged uncomfortable glances. “Uh... Chanyeol?” Baekhyun began, swallowing. “H-How did your day go, specifically?”

He shook his head dismissively and switched on his computer. “It was the usual.” Then he turned to them again, crossing his arms on his chest. “Why are you acting so strange?”

Baekhyun bit her lip. Jongin pulled out two other chairs so they could all sit down. “Yeol...” Jongin initiated in a low voice as soon as he and Baekhyun were seated in front of him. “Did you or did you not spend the night with Kyungsoo?”

Chanyeol’s eyes widened. He wasn’t sure how news spread that fast, or how contorted it was, but he didn’t have anything to hide. “I did, but how did you find out?”

Jongin was sweating. “The guard saw you leaving the office late last night with Kyungsoo.”

“SO?!” Chanyeol yelled out in anger.

Several of the staff members turned to their direction. Baekhyun and Jongin tried to hide Chanyeol from their view as they huddled closer together, their heads bowed low in intimacy.

“Not only that... Woo Bin and other frat members attested to seeing you two together last night too...” Baekhyun fidgeted with her hands. “Her dorm mates also confirmed that she didn’t sleep in the dorm and that she didn’t tell anyone where she was... Then there were witnesses when you dropped her off early this morning, even giving the exact description of your Camaro, including the plate number... It’s all over school, Chanyeol! People have been talking about you two the whole day...”

Chanyeol groaned and covered his eyes with his hands. He then met his friends’ gazes seriously. “It suddenly rained and we decided to just stay in my car until it stopped, but it didn’t.”

Baekhyun’s and Jongin’s jaws dropped at the same time.

“And we just talked,” Chanyeol added in emphasis, “and nothing happened. If something did, I think I would know. If you want, you can even ask Kyungsoo.”

Baekhyun sighed in relief, squeezing Chanyeol’s arm. “We believe you, Chanyeol. Nini and I were just worried for you earlier, not sure how you’re taking this or if somebody made a snide remark already or...”

“We didn’t know if we should text you about it, unless it came from you first,” Jongin interjected solemnly. “You know we’d trust your word over what others would say.”

“T-Thanks, guys,” Chanyeol answered quietly. He was too distracted, too distressed, too appalled right now. “Uh... let me just do some work for now, okay? I’ll talk to you later.”

Jongin and Baekhyun hesitated at first.

Then Chanyeol nodded as a sign of assurance. His best friends reluctantly left and attempted to do their own work.

He finished a few tasks when a new email came into his inbox. It was from Professor Hwang, giving him the approval for the draft and asking if he could run it to the printing press for 200 copies.

All right, anything to get out of this stuffy environment. The gravity of judging gazes and wordless assumptions were weighing on him big time... and he hadn’t even been there for thirty minutes.

He stood up, and every person and activity went still.

Chanyeol’s face turned grim as he trailed the editor’s office, ignoring the insolent gossipers. He knocked on the editor’s opened door. “Myeonnie?”

She looked up and immediately appeared uneasy. “H-Hi, Yeol.”

Chanyeol pressed his lips together. Apparently, Junmyeon wasn’t clueless as well. “I’m just going to the auditorium, okay?”

“To see Kyungsoo?” she asked automatically, out of concern.

“I guess,” he answered, shrugging. “Professor Hwang asked me to go see her