Fragile | Seonghwa

13

You sit quietly in the lecture hall, patiently waiting for more biology students to fill it up. The seat beside you stays temporarily vacant as Yunho is still not back from the bathroom. You tiredly drag out your laptop from your bag, already anticipating for the lecture to end before it even began. Just one more hour you think to yourself. It's Friday, meaning after this lecture you'll have the whole weekend to rest.

And you get to see Seonghwa dance again.

The sudden hands on your shoulders cause you to jump in shock. "I scared you" A grinning Yunho excitedly celebrates. You merely roll your eyes and continue setting up your laptop, pretending as if nothing happened.

"Would you stop ignoring me if I told you where Seonghwa is sitting right now?" Your ears perk at your friend's offer. "Maybe" You try your best to sound uninterested but your friend knows you too well.

He points to a head of black hair only two rows below you, and you realise that Seonghwa is much closer than you had thought. You smile, knowing that you won't be able to keep your eyes off him for the entirety of the lecture. You like to think of it as a little eye candy to finish off the week. A little reward.

You don't even realise the lecture is over until Seonghwa gets up to leave and catches you staring. You notice a small smile grow on his face and he starts walking towards you. That's when you realise how foolish you look, and you try to hide your embarrassment by turning to Yunho, hoping that he'll talk to you and make you seem busy.

However, instead of going with your unsaid plan, Yunho signals to behind you with his eyes and you come to the realisation that it's too late. You slowly turn around, silently praying that Seonghwa won't start screaming at you and attract unwanted attention.

"Hey... If you're not busy, want to go to Utopia with me?" He shyly asks. You're fully taken aback, not fully comprehending what he's trying to ask. "Are your friends coming too this time? Or will it just be like last time?" You innocently ask. Seonghwa's cheeks start to delicately tint a light pink. "No... uhm" He hesitates. "J-just us two" You can tell that he's trying to avoid eye contact, and you honestly feel the same way when Yunho nudges you from behind.

You turn to your friend quickly and he offers nothing but a wink. "Okay, let's go" You finally announce as you set off beside Seonghwa, Yunho's figure getting smaller and smaller as you get further and further away.

The both of you surprisingly have some small talk while walking to the warm cafe rather than the awkward silence you had experienced too many times. You decide to build up the courage to ask the question that's been on your mind for a while now. "Who are your friends that you live with?"

You can tell that this is something Seonghwa has been trying to avoid as he stops in his tracks. You are afraid that he will choose to not answer, but you have no choice but to respect his decision. Instead, however, he opens up. "Someone you don't know called Wooyoung, Yeosang and... San" He pauses before uttering the last name. You think back, trying to recall the faces that belonged to these men when it suddenly hit you. 

The rude boy and the creepy boy from the lab.

Although you know you shouldn't, you couldn't help but judge Seonghwa for having a bad taste in friends. He seems to read your mind when he quickly adds, "We've been friends for a very long time and they seem like bad people on the outside but as you get to know them they can be really nice". You accept that he'd have to defend his friends but a part of you wants to believe him. So you decide to ignore the warning signs that San had triggered. At least for now anyway.

You inhale the strong scents of coffee as you thoughtfully stare at the menu. You still need to familiarise yourself with most of the items but you're so afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone that it's proving to be difficult. "Why don't we order two different things and share, so that if there's something one of us doesn't like the food won't go to waste" Seonghwa proposes. You nod along and scan your eyes through the desserts once again, paying particular attention to whether it's a drink or a food. You'd prefer to avoid an awkward situation with a drink, so you put in more thought into the cakes.

"You ready to order?" Mingi's voice takes you by surprise. "You don't have class today?" You wonder, as it's still fairly early into the day. He simply shakes his head and flips the pen in his hand, eager to take down your and Seonghwa's order. "We'll have a strawberry shortcake and" You look at Seonghwa, waiting for him to complete his half of the order.

"Chocolate milkshake. With two straws" He proudly announces.

You stare at him in disbelief but he avoids your gaze, somehow knowing you'd react in this way. "We're going to share a drink?" You hiss after Mingi leaves, not originally intending to sound annoyed. "Is there a problem with that?" He carelessly shrugs off the topic, leaving you feeling small in your seat. Your heart won't seem to stay quiet as you process what's about to happen. 

You look up expecting Seonghwa to be on his phone, but to your shock his chin is resting in his hands with his eyes lingering on you. When you notice him, he doesn't even look away causing you to start glowing red fast.

"Is there s-something on my f-face?" You stutter, adding in an awkward laugh afterwards. "You just look really good. I mean you just look really good today" He smiles, causing you to internally freak out. Did he really just say that? You thought you looked worse than usual currently and you cover your face with your small hands, suddenly feeling overly shy. 

"I find it cute the way you cover your face with your hands when you're shy or embarrassed" He continues. That had to be your imagination this time. "W-what?" Still in confusion, you slightly uncover your eyes to see Seonghwa across from you lightly shaking his head.

"Nothing."

A/N

I'm sorry for not uploading for the weekend, I got so busy and had no time to write at all (╥_╥)
I hope to continue with the original daily upload thing I had going on before though, if nothing comes in the way. I hope the story isn't too bad! ('• ω •')

Also I'd like to quickly mention how grateful I am to every single reader, you guys motivate me to keep going with this (sad attempt at a) story and I never thought that this story would grow this much (°ロ°) ! So thank you all very very much, I'll try my best to keep everyone satisfied and I'm extremely thankful for each and every one of you ('｡• ᵕ •｡') ♡