xdinary heroes // oneshots

In Between the Lines of Forever (O.DE)

Characters:

  ☆ Oh Seungmin

  ☆ Cho Jian

Trope:

 ☆ Opposites Attract

  ☆ Love Overcoming Personal Trauma

   ☆ College Romance

Title: In Between the Lines of Forever

I.

Oh Seungmin was one of those students everyone knew on campus. He had a knack for bringing people together, whether it was through a spontaneous poetry slam at the student center or a surprise outdoor concert during lunch hour. His charm was infectious; he had a way of making everyone feel welcome, like they'd known him for years. Seungmin thrived on the energy of others, always ready with a quick joke or an encouraging word. But behind his easy smile and friendly demeanor, there was a heart that longed for something deeper.

"Sometimes I feel like I'm just floating through life, you know?" he confided to his friend, Park Hyun, one evening. "Like there's got to be something more, someone more, but I just haven't found it yet." Hyun chuckled, giving him a light punch on the shoulder. "Dude, you're like the king of this campus. If there's anyone who can find love, it's you. Just keep doing your thing."

Though Seungmin took comfort in his friend's words, he couldn't help but feel a sense of yearning every time he read a new book or watched a romantic film. The stories always ended with the characters finding each other against all odds, and he wanted that too. He believed in the magic of love, in the serendipity that brought two people together.

"Maybe I've been looking in the wrong places," he mused aloud one day while sitting in the library, his fingers idly tracing the cover of a classic romance novel. "Maybe I'm supposed to find someone who isn't in the spotlight, someone who's just... real." His musings were interrupted by a group of students inviting him to a karaoke night, and he couldn't resist the urge to join them. But as he sang and laughed with his friends, the thought of finding his own story of love remained firmly lodged in his mind.

Cho Jian, by contrast, was a master of disappearing into the background. She preferred the quiet corners of the campus, the ones where people only went when they needed solitude. Her nose was always in a book, her fingers flying across the keys of her laptop as she delved into another research paper. To her, the study of human relationships was fascinating—analyzing the why and how of people's interactions. It was also a way to understand her own life, particularly the mess her parents had made of their marriage.

"They were like two puzzle pieces that never fit," she once explained to her best friend, Lee Naeun, over coffee. "No matter how much they tried to force it, it just didn't work." Naeun sighed, stirring her cappuccino. "But that doesn't mean love is doomed, Jian. Maybe they just weren't meant for each other." Jian shook her head. "Or maybe love is just an illusion, a story people tell themselves to make life seem less lonely."

Despite Naeun's best efforts to draw her into the campus social scene, Jian remained steadfast in her preference for solitude. She'd attend a party now and then, but she often left early, finding the noise and chaos overwhelming. "It's not that I don't like people," she explained to Naeun one day as they walked across campus. "I just... I don't know. It feels like everyone is pretending to be someone they're not. It's exhausting."

Naeun rolled her eyes. "You're such a cynic, Jian. You need to give people a chance. Not everyone is like your parents." Jian smiled faintly. "Maybe you're right, but I'd rather be alone than risk getting hurt." And so, while the campus buzzed with excitement and social activity, Jian kept to her books, content with the world of ideas and theories where emotions were something to be studied, not experienced.