Beside You (Law School)

Beside You

"Tuesday!"

Kang Sol took a second to realize that was her, blurting out the word, random and intelligible. She blinked her eyes open, fingers grasping and catching...grass? She lifted her head and found herself on the ground, beams of light and the night sky above her.

She wrenched herself to sit, shivering when a gust of wind sliced through her coat, eyes landing on the bodies spread out on the ground.

"Guys? Guys...hngg."

Jeon Yeseul, Kang Sol B, Seo Jiho, Jo Yebeom, Min Bokgi, Han Joonhwi. Her entire study group was splayed out on the grass, limbs in various angles of sleep and mouths gaping open, notes of snoring breaking the silence. Memories of the triumphant night they'd spent drinking came to her in chunks.

She started reaching for arms, tugging coat sleeves, being awake enough to realize law students shouldn't be sleeping outside on the school field.

"It's so cold. Wake up. Yeseul-ah wake up. Your pretty cheeks had gone cold oh no. Kang Sol B! We must protect your brain—"

"Shuddup," Jiho muttered, swatting her hand when she poked his shoulder. "The carrousel is coming."

"One shot!" Bokgi yelled into the night, and all was still again.

Sol sat back on the soil, treading between laughter and worry.

"Let them sleep," a clear voice rang out. "No one's going to die. Not tonight."

Of course he was awake.

Sol propped herself up on her knees and elbows and crawled to him, plopping down on the grass to his left.

Han Joonhwi turned his head to look at her. She didn't need to return the gaze to register his teasing face.

"Had a good nap?"

"Was I out for a while?"

He smirked softly. "You sounded like you had a good nap."

Sol crumpled her face with her palms. It didn't matter. Who cared if Joonhwi heard her snoring? It wouldn't be the first time.

"What have you guys been talking about when I was knocked out?" she asked, meeting his gaze now.

He smiled and looked back up at the sky, not fast enough that she didn't catch the water in his eyes, the tracks on his cheeks.

Sol's heart swelled. It hurt seeing Joonhwi in pain. He rarely ever showed it, and sometimes she thought she was the only one in the study group he'd allowed to see.

Was it because he knew enough about her too? More than she ever thought she'd share. If he were in his default teasing mode he'd say it's because she was his sunbae, and they have history that started with a bookstore meeting. But tonight he was obviously not in one of his lighter moods.

She nudged his cool knuckles with her own. "Are you thinking about your uncle?"

He looked at her, that sad smile imprinted on his features. "There are thoughts that won't go away."

"Are all the thoughts painful?"

"Not always." He paused, eyes heavenward again. "Sometimes I think about how we used to take long drives to nowhere and stopover for ice cream. Like I was an eight-year-old who needed a treat."

"Were you adorable as a kid? Somehow I can't imagine."

"I've been adorable all my life." He elbowed her side. "Where have you been looking, Kang Sol?"

He was sulking, then grinning. Sol considered the mission a success.

"Kang Sol A," she reminded him. "Don't forget to qualify. It might get confusing."

"It's never confusing to me."

His words were soft, like they were meant to skim over the grass and float in the air. They felt important, but Sol couldn't put her finger on why.

"I know it's not the same," she said instead, choosing to focus on what she wanted, what she felt she needed to say to him. "And it will hardly mean the same thing. But I'll be beside you. We'll be in the study group til the end."

His probing gaze locked hers, brows arching. "Only in the study group?"

Sol nodded, stretching her arms out and yawning. "I think we should lay off from murder cases and missions to take down corruption for a while. We really need to focus on graduation."

"Is that what you're focusing on?"

"Yep, that's me. I'm not Mr Second-Round Judicial Exam Passer who barely needs to study. You're brain is big and you are golden, Han Joonhwi. I, on the other hand, have a long road to suffer."

He shot her a smirk that clearly read so dramatic. Not in a way that was annoyed at her, or dismissed her. Joonhwi never seemed to make her feel small. Even in her darkest times that somehow he was always able to witness, he'd been nothing but someone who listened.

A shoulder pressed against hers, warm and strong and solid.

"Yah," Sol burst out. "Han Joonhwi."

A shift on the grass and he was facing her, the arm of his coat in line with hers, his forehead threatening to crash against the tip of her nose. Sol felt a sudden thumping in her chest, a loud bass that filled her ears she worried he heard it the way he did when her stomach grumbled.

Joonhwi turned his head back to the sky, saving Sol from the surprise struggle of having his face close enough for a kiss.

A kiss?? With Han Joonhwi?? Am I still drunk??

"Yes, you smell drunk," Joonhwi muttered. "No, I don't mind. I do too."

Which part of that did she say out loud? Or was he just reading her mind? Something he was capable of, surely.

"It's cold. As you said." Joonhwi spoke, eyes upwards. She gathered this was explanation on why his side was pressed against hers, comforting against the cold grass and the cold night. Welcome warmth that her coat alone would not give her.

"Mm," Sol managed, and if she snuggled closer against him she hadn't meant to.

"I don't want to go inside yet." Joonhwi's voice sounded deeper, too serious for the casual comment.

"Mm." She could pay attention to the same things he saw now, the blanket of dark sky, wisps of clouds and hints of stars. Her heart was still beating fast and loud but she could hear his voice over the sound. "Me, neither."

"Don't fall asleep again," he warned.

"Bossypants."

That smirk, this sound she had memorized without meaning to. She could see it even in her sleep.

"Kang Sol."

"Hmm?"

"I'll be right here beside you too."

She smiled, lips stretched out wide, eyes disappearing in half moons. She had no explanation to the feeling. Was it comfort or joy or happiness or all of the above? Was it friendship? What else could it be?

When she first met the smartest boy in their year, she never thought they would get along. But look at them now. Solving murders, taking down dirty politicians, studying to be good lawyers. It was nice. Han Joonhwi was part of her life now.

"Good," she said. "Better if you keep sharing your ramen."