the in between // taejun

prologue

in the beginning, there was no such thing as letters that appear from nowhere. all there was were stolen glances and silent wishes that taehyun would do the same—but that never happens.

kang taehyun was everyone's favorite. his unmistakable face and unfailing intelligence wins all the people he encounters over. however, he likes to keep his circle small: it starts with a second year student named choi beomgyu and ends with a first year student named huening kai. all, unsurprisingly, very handsome and very smart.

they study physics in the library, and study pre-calculus in the campus garden. if one would only look without being careful, they would fail to observe the fact that taehyun deliberately chooses places with the least people.

so, maybe taehyun was not a people person. he plays basketball in sundays to avoid crowds, and shoves his airpods in his ear to justify the people he ignores—and? yeonjun liked him anyway.

which... is the problem.

yeonjun is also everyone's favorite for completely different reasons. he's undeniably handsome, check; but his iq is good for a goldfish outside his comfort subjects (which are the ones in-line with literature and politics), definitely an x mark on the 'unfailing intelligence' part.

however, he keeps his shine in extracurricular activities like the student council, peer-facilitator, arts society, and the literary club—yeonjun is just everywhere. he even takes his adopted introverted best friend, choi soobin, with him. everybody is yeonjun's friend!

unfortunately, he's the only person taehyun seems to despise to the depths of hell.

the question "why do i keep seeing him?" would have been so cute in the context of soulmates, but not with taehyun's annoyed eye-roll and frustrated groan.

maybe it's because of that one time yeonjun ruined his project with all the wires and a lightbulb after "accidentally" bumping into him, or that time yeonjun and taehyun got paired up in an english project then he got late for the presentation, or that one time yeonjun confessed his undying love for taehyun in front of everybody at lunch.

needless to say, taehyun can enumerate the reasons why he hates every cell in yeonjun's body—but a goldfish can't read the room, can they?

if yeonjun was like everyone, and knew the annoyed face on taehyun's face whenever they share air, why is he still desperately chasing the boy like it's mandatory?