“Who’s that guy over there, Kai?” Yeonjun asked.

He was in the dorms quite calm compared to other people, standing in the middle of the hallway, apparently looking for someone. He was wearing a purple shirt over a white t-shirt and black jeans. He looked building, searching for his shared room with HueningKai, his best friend. There were a lot of people around them, all searching for their room or their roommate but Yeonjun had caught someone looking unusual among all these people. A tall guy with purple hair was looking quite cute in Yeonjun’s opinion but his face was blank, expressionless. He looked cute but cold and it piqued Yeonjun’s curiosity.

“Which one?” asked HueningKai.

“Tall one, purple shirt.”

“Mmh… he looks like Choi Soobin. If it’s him, he’s a singing major, top of his class. Hyunie knows him,” Kai replied, suddenly finding their room and opening the door.

“Choi Soobin…” Yeonjun murmured before following Kai inside.

 

One week later, Yeonjun saw the same guy, in the cafeteria this time. But he’s not alone and he’s not wearing a blank expression on his face either. He’s laughing. And Yeonjun would be damned if he couldn’t recognise a pretty smile when he sees one. He elbowed Taehyun who’s beside him and nodded towards the guy.

“Is that Choi Soobin?” he asked.

“Yeah, that’s him, we share a class. How do you know him? You don’t know anyone,” Taehyun replies, earning a glare from his cousin.

“I saw him on our first day with Kai. He was looking kinda cold to be honest, it’s strange to see him laugh,” Yeonjun said. “Who’s that guy with him?”

“That’s Choi Beomgyu. He’s a photography major, everyone knows him. Just like everyone knows you.”

“Are they boyfriends?”

Taehyun looked suspiciously at him before answering “No, they’re best friends.”

Yeonjun hummed and they stayed quiet until they got a table and Kai joined them.

“Hi, Hyunie!”

“Hi, bubs,” Taehyun replied, kissing his boyfriend on the lips. “Thought you couldn’t join us?”

“Mrs Han let us go earlier. She told us it wouldn’t always be the case but I think she was tired today,” HueningKai explained, sitting next to his boyfriend and snuggling into him.

“Can you go be gross elsewhere? Some people are actually trying to eat here,” Yeonjun complained, scrunching his nose.

“Shut up, you er. I know you’re jealous because you got no one, loser,” Taehyun replied, sticking his tongue out.

They always liked to bicker and insult each other. When they were little, every time they learned a new swear word, they used it on each other. As they got older, they got a habit of insulting each other but it was all very affectionate.

“Everyone loves me, I could get anyone I want, jerk,” Yeonjun replied.

“But you don’t want anyone, Jun. You always kindly reject anyone who confesses,” Kai remarked.

“I think he finally found someone to his liking,” Taehyun said.

“Who?” Kai asked, suddenly very interested.

“Choi Soobin. But you’re up for a challenge there.”

“What do you mean?” Yeonjun asked, curious.

“Soobin is cold as hell. He never talks to anyone. He only speaks to Beomgyu and the smile you saw earlier? It’s only for Beomgyu too,” Taehyun answered, looking towards Soobin.

Yeonjun turned around to look and, indeed, now that Soobin was alone, he wasn’t laughing anymore. He was even glaring at anyone who dared walk too close to his table. Well, if that wasn’t a total 180° change in demeanour.

“That’s no biggie. I always liked a good challenge,” Yeonjun replied, Taehyun rolling his eyes.

 

Yeonjun quickly discovered that the Soobin he had seen the first time wasn’t the usual one. As days passed, there wasn’t any more purple shirts. Soobin’s favourite colour seemed to be black because he was wearing black from head-to-toe 24/7. Leather jacket, leather trousers, leather boots and chains all over… Yeonjun would be lying if he said Soobin didn’t look hot like this. He looked like a bad boy and after a little bit of research about him, he discovered that he was considered as one by half the uni. Not because he was doing bad things but because he was cold as hell. No one ever talked to him and when they did, they were royally ignored. Yeonjun had smiled the first time he had seen Soobin ignoring some girl, knowing it would be a great challenge to get him to talk to him.

So, two days later, after getting his tray full with food, and not listening to HueningKai who was telling him how bad of an idea it was, he walked towards where Soobin was sitting and sat across him.

“Hi,” he joyfully said.

Soobin looked at him for a short second before resuming on eating, acting like no one had asked.

“I hope you don’t mind me eating with you,” Yeonjun added, smiling at how predictable everything had been.

Soobin ignored him and Yeonjun was buzzing with excitement. People were noticing who he was sitting with and some of them stopped to watch. Would the popular Choi Yeonjun be able to make the cold Choi Soobin talk to him?

“You know, I was wondering why was Beomgyu not with you today.”

Soobin put his chopsticks down and looked at Yeonjun, his eyes dark.

“Who the are you?” he asked, his voice deep and Yeonjun almost shouted in victory.

“Choi Yeonjun, nice to meet you.”

“Well, Choi Yeonjun, go away,” Soobin replied, resuming on eating.

“I will kindly leave you alone, Soobin-ah. See you around!” Yeonjun excitedly said and took his tray, walking back to where Kai was sitting.

“You really got him to talk to you!” Kai exclaimed, surprised.

“I knew I’d be able to,” Yeonjun said, matter-of-factly but still looking proud of himself.

 

Soobin has known who he was, of course he did. Everyone knew Choi Yeonjun and Soobin more than anyone couldn’t say the contrary. Choi Yeonjun was everything Soobin wasn’t: extroverted, shameless, fearless. Soobin was introverted and very shy and it all became worse when he entered university. He couldn’t make many friends so he stuck with Beomgyu, his best friend since high school.

But Soobin was left with one question: why had Yeonjun talked to him? Soobin hated talking to people and having people stare at him. People were already staring at him wherever he went so having Yeonjun talk to him made more people stare even more. Soobin thought that being a bit rude to him would make him go away but he should have known better now that he thought about it. Anyway, Soobin should get over it, it will never happen again.

Except that it happened the next day. And the next. And the day after. For a whole week. Every morning, Yeonjun would greet him and ask him how he was doing. He even did it in front of Beomgyu, twice, who greeted Yeonjun back, each time, earning a glare from Soobin afterwards. The taller never replied to Yeonjun, thinking that if he ignored him, he would eventually stop. But when a new week began and he saw Yeonjun coming his way, he decided it was time to stop ignoring him.

“Hi, Soobin-ah, how are you today?” Yeonjun asked him, wearing his usual wide smile.

“Why are you doing this?” Soobin asked, annoyed, stopping in front of Yeonjun.

“I’m just trying to be friendly with you,” Yeonjun simply answered.

“But why? We don’t know each other.”

“We do. You know I’m Choi Yeonjun and I know you’re Choi Soobin. That proves that we know each other.”

Soobin stayed silent for a few seconds. He shook his head and resumed to walk to his first class.

“Hey, now that you spoke to me, I’d like an answer. How are you today?” Yeonjun asked again, following Soobin.

“I’m fine,” Soobin reluctantly muttered.

Yeonjun let out a short giggle.

“See you around, Soobin!” he exclaimed and went his own way.

Not being able to stop himself, Soobin stared at his retreating back, Yeonjun’s giggle echoing in his ears.