part 1

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"Yeah, mum, I'm literally walking through the front door now..." murmured Han Jisung into the phone that was pressed tightly between his ear and his shoulder.

He used his other shoulder to shove against the door to his new bedroom, a small double room in the Korean National University of Arts dormitory. The weak light from the corridor behind him spilled in first and cast shadows along the walls. It barely illuminated two beds pushed up against opposite walls.

"It seems nice. Cosy. I think I'll be okay here. Maybe I can unpack and then video call you?" he continued.

A tinny voice on the other end of the phone call seemed to agree and then said goodbye, and Jisung let the phone drop onto the bed closest to him. There didn't seem to be any signs of anyone else moving into the room, even though he'd been told when he checked in that he would be sharing. He was excited to meet his roommate, but even more excited at having his pick of the beds.

The one next to the window was calling his name - conveniently, the same one he'd thrown his phone and rucksack onto when he walked in. Jisung let himself fall backwards too until his head hit the pillow on the surprisingly comfortable bed.

It was his first time in South Korea in a while. His family had emigrated to England when he was really young, and he'd only been back to his home country a few times since - he'd visited his grandparents, but when they passed away, he had no reason to come back. Not until he learned about the Korean Arts Uni, and he'd been sold. Jisung's parents weren't sure about him moving there alone. It would be difficult, and a massive culture shock, but they had no choice but to support him. Thankfully, they'd raised him learning Korean and English.

Jisung had always been ridiculously talented musically. He could rap, sing, and even dance if he applied himself to it, and all his music teachers in England had identified his perfect pitch. His dream was to move to Seoul and start making music there. The University offered him a great opportunity on the course, so he'd taken the leap and decided to move alone.

It had all seemed so exciting. Until he got to the 'alone' part, at least. South Korea had seemed so loud at first but his tiny bedroom was so empty that the silence seemed to echo around him. Jisung glanced nervously at his watch; he'd been late moving in, so it was already 7pm. He was starting to get anxious that his roommate would ever come.

Still, Jisung only let himself wallow for a few minutes before he forced himself to get up. He thought about his new roommate as he started to unpack the few things he'd managed to squeeze into the small suitcase that he was allowed to fly with. Would his roommate be the same age as him? Would he be on the same course? Would he maybe be international, too? Jisung didn't care what he was like. He was good at making friends when he needed to.

This didn't seem to matter. No one is good at making friends when there is no one to make friends with. When the clock struck 11pm, Jisung had already finished unpacking, called his parents to show them his room, and eaten a small meal of instant ramen that he'd bought from the airport. He'd ran out of things to do.

There didn't seem to many other options for the rest of the night, other than returning to his pit of despair in the bed as he waited for a roommate who didn't seem to be coming. A sharp pain laced it's fingers around his ribs as Jisung realised how much he missed home.

He knew he wouldn't sleep for a while - insomnia had stolen thousands of nights from him, and the jet lag didn't help. In fact, Jisung had completely resigned himself to counting the tiles in the ceiling as music played through his headphones until he could finally sleep into a restless sleep. That's when he heard a key in the door and the lock turn slowly.

There seemed to be a parallel to when Jisung had first entered. He'd turned off all the lights and got into bed, so the opening door allowed that patch of dim fluorescent lighting to light up the room again. This time, a dark haired boy bowed his head around the door.

"Oh. Hello," said the figure at the door before he stepped inside. "Can I turn on the light?"

Jisung nodded quickly as he hopped out of his bed. He was embarrassed to be meeting his new roommate in his pyjamas, and even more embarrassed when he realised he'd gone to bed in a big t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts. The new roommate averted his eyes as he flicked on the lights and shut the door behind him. Jisung glanced down at his own bare thighs and jumped back into bed.

The light cast harsh shadows in the room, but even the bad lighting couldn't draw Jisung's attention away from the boy stood in the doorway. He was beautiful. Narrowed eyes, long lashes, a straight nose that could probably slice through metal. Almost black hair, shoulder length, the same colour as dark brows. Equally dark clothes and high cheekbones. Jisung's roommate could almost have been sculpted from marble, and Jisung wasn't sure why he was struggling to draw his eyes away. The other boy looked slightly sheepish. Jisung realised he must get this a lot: evident admiration.

"Erm... I'm Jisung. Sorry, Han Jisung." Jisung introduced himself after a brief silence. The roommate had walked in without saying anything and thrown a couple of things onto the free bed.

He was still getting used to the Korean naming system, and felt awkward for almost introducing himself as Jisung Han.

"Cool," was the only response that he got. Jisung peered anxiously at the other boy.

"What's your name?" he asked finally.

'Lee Minho," answered Lee Minho.

"Cool! Are you a first year? I am. I've just moved to Seoul from England, so I'm finding this all a bit... strange," pushed Jisung , desperate to force a conversation.

"No, I'm a second year." Jisung could practically hear the full stop at the end of the sentence.

"What do you study?" Jisung pried. "Are you... Do you do music?"

He stumbled over his words, hesitant at how reluctant the other boy seemed to be to talk. Minho had his back turned to him, busy doing something on his side of the room. When he finally looked up he seemed distracted.

"Sorry. Just so you know, I won't be here much. I'm not really here for the roommate experience, so please don't expect anything from me. But I'll probably see you around?" Minho maintained eye contact as he spoke. This made Jisung nervous.

Jisung hadn't noticed, but Minho had left all his stuff on the bed, apart from a leather jacket and a small waist bag. These were both hanging on the crook of his arm. Jisung realised as Minho turned towards the door that he was about to leave.

"Wait-" Jisung started as Minho placed a hand on the door handle.

He turned back to look at him, his face completely blank apart from one slightly raised eyebrow. There was something cold about the way Minho looked at the younger boy. Jisung faltered.

"See you around," Jisung finished weakly. Minho's face didn't change. He switched off the light and left.

Jisung felt the darkness close back in around him. His eyes returned to the repetition of tiles on the ceiling.

This is a bad start to a good year, he thought to himself. That's all.

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woah !  this is my first minsung book and only my second kpop based book so please let me know what u think ! ahaha as u can probs tell this is going to get angsty

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