8 ‣ strategic

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You'd agreed to meet at the food court thirty minutes after your last text with Jaehyun, so confused but still a little strangely excited, you make your way downstairs then out of your half-asleep, half-bustling dorm building and hit the graying sidewalk. It's early, but definitely not too early for this campus. There's a good amount students out and about walking just like you are.

Now, you've learned your lesson three-too-many times about scrolling through your phone while walking around these parts (you'd ran smack into your fair share of people), yet that's exactly what you wind up doing as the food court creeps up in the distance. It's just your Instagram feed, just a quick little scroll through your timeline. There's not that many people on your sidewalk anyway.


"'Is that me?" A familiar, yet unfamiliar voice says over your shoulder as you wait off to the side of the soon-to-be-opened juice stand still scrolling mindlessly

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"'Is that me?" A familiar, yet unfamiliar voice says over your shoulder as you wait off to the side of the soon-to-be-opened juice stand still scrolling mindlessly. You don't remember how long you've been here, much less how you even got to this point. You blame social media's prominent brainwashing power. Anyway, surprise. Yes. That's exactly what you're feeling right now. "I'm sorry." Jaehyun apologies with a soft chuckle.

"Oh, fuck." You breathe out after jumping and turning toward him simultaneously, eyes embarrassingly wide. "Um," you stammer, flipping your phone in your palm and turning it off, quickly denying his eyes access to the sight of his own face on your screen. "Yeah. Great timing." You reel your composure back easily enough, now fully able to take in the presence of your handsome companion. "Hi."

"Hi, friend." He smiles charmingly, acting as if he'd known you for years. "Oh," he points down at your phone as he remembers something, "a friend of mine was messing with my hair at the after party. It's not a real mullet." He refers to the post he just caught you lurking on. "Clearly." He puffs out a small laugh, quickly pointing at the back of his head. No mullet. Just his regular hair. The same one you saw last night.

"Right." You chuckle a little stupidly. "Extensions?"

"Yeah, those clip thingys." Jaehyun nods with a little smile still lighting up his features. "Anyway," he shakes his head after a little while, "speaking of that after party, I didn't see you or Jungkook there." Jaehyun looks up at you from the concrete, where his attention previously laid on a small pebble he tapped around with his foot. "I'm not gonna lie, it was a little disappointing. I was hoping to third wheel."

"Third wheel?" You raise an eyebrow, looking at him while trying to decipher the meaning behind his word choice. You can't help but laugh a little. "Um," you shake your head and start walking slowly in the direction you assume you'll be going, "sorry we disappointed. When the lights went out, we just left." You explain loosely. "It was already late, too. How you managed to go to another party after that one and wake up earlier than me is actually pretty impressive."

"Oh, no, I didn't stay long." Jaehyun walks up alongside you, knowing which coffee shop to head to now based on your lead. "I went to bed at two." He tells you as if it was early. "Only stayed at the after party long enough for my friend to unclip my hair." He adds. "Like I said, the party was disappointing."

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