whenever it rains | nct

thirteen

cho eunjung stood before taeyong's seat five minutes before class started.

slowly removing an airpod from his ear, taeyong lifted his head to meet her eyes for the first time. "can i help you?" he asked, surprised by both her earliness to class and boldness for approaching him.

taeyong didn't like attention. he already got enough on his own as is, but now the whole class was staring at them unabashedly. he could only imagine what kind of rumors would begin to cultivate.

"yes, you can." eun said kindly, pink lips pulling into a smile. "i wanted to thank you for the notes you gave me the other day."

"ah," taeyong said, looking away momentarily. "you don't have to."

eun's smile intensified as she leaned over slightly. "coffee after class? my treat."

before he could utter out a response she gave him a curt wave and skipped down to a seat a few rows down.

taeyong blinked at the suddenly empty space before him, replaying the scene that had just occurred.

he couldn't focus on anything else for the remainder of class, his eyes trailing over to study the back of eun's head as she took notes during the lecture.

his stomach began to ache at the thought of eun figuring out that park taeyong didn't exist and that the person she'd been messaging had been lee taeyong all along. she'd probably feel as if her trust had been violated, and not ever want to speak to him again.

"ready?" eun's voice called and taeyong swung his bag over his shoulder before nodding. "come on, i know a great place near campus!"

she led him to a nearby café that taeyong had only been to once or twice with his friends. eun marched up to the counter and rambled off an extensive order. she turned back to look at taeyong. "what do you want?"

taeyong's eyes flickered over the screen menu before settling on a tall strawberry drink.

he watched as eun swiped her card, feeling awkward at the girl insisting to pay. once their drinks were ready he followed her to a table near the window.

"my friend," eun began, gesturing to his drink "he likes pink drinks too! and his name is also taeyong. big coincidence, huh?" she laughed to herself softly, taking a sip of her caramel iced coffee.

taeyong felt his face flush as he realized she was drawing similarities between both versions of himself.

she's going to find out, he thought.

"mhmm," he hummed, wrapping his mouth around the straw of his drink to avoid talking. the less he talked, the less material she had to make connections with.

after a while taeyong was starting to think his strategy wasn't doing much for him aside from making the atmosphere awkward. eventually the conversation died down and they sat in silence, looking around the coffee shop.

there was the sudden vibrating of a phone and eun almost looked thankful as she excused herself to answer it. when she came back she gave the boy an apologetic smile and explained that she had somewhere to be, taeyong bid her goodbye and soon enough she was out the door.