After finishing his conversation with Hyeonwon, Habin headed to the lecture hall where Dojin’s last class was in progress. Generally, Dojin, who drove around in his car, was the one who came to pick up Habin. But occasionally on days when Habin finished first, he would go find him first.
Today was one of those days, so Habin checked once more on his phone where Dojin’s lecture hall was.
“The business college is too far…”
For a school in Seoul, it was large, so the distance between the engineering college and the business college was quite considerable. While fastening his padding and diligently moving his steps, Habin felt like attention was gathering on him as he got closer to the business college.
Feeling like something was strange, Habin stopped walking and looked around. But seeing only the usual campus scenery, he tilted his head.
Unable to find anything unusual, Habin eventually continued walking, thinking it must be his imagination. There was no time to spare—Dojin’s lecture would be ending soon.
After wandering around the business college, which he’d only been to a couple of times, Habin barely arrived in front of Dojin’s lecture hall on time. Judging by the signs, class seemed to still be in session, so he clicked his tongue inwardly.
This professor seems to fill up the class time completely. What can I do about poor Dojin.
Habin, who hadn’t met such a professor yet, felt sorry for Dojin, not knowing it was a future that would someday come to him too.
After sending Dojin a text that he’d arrived, Habin leaned against the wall and passed time vacantly. His battery was too low to use his phone, so there was nothing he could do.
Tap tap, gestures filled with boredom echoed in the quiet hallway. Habin glared at his wristwatch, praying for the second hand to move even a moment faster.
When he looked up at the ceiling for a moment because his eyes hurt from continuously staring at the small watch, he heard murmuring sounds from inside the lecture hall. Habin brightened up, sensing signs that class was ending.
Soon students began leaving the lecture hall one by one through the back door. Habin, who had been concentrating so as not to miss Dojin, spotted a face that was unmistakably Kwon Dojin and took quick steps. To think he worried he might miss that beauty—it really was a useless worry.
Dojin, who had been looking around to find Habin, also quickly spotted him and smiled.
“Did you wait long?”
“Not really. The professor must be strict, finishing right before 6.”
“It seems like it’ll always be like this. From next time, don’t wait here hurting your legs, wait in the car, okay?”
“Mm. In the car?”
“Or do you want to wait at the cafe downstairs?”
“I’ll decide depending on the situation.”
“Okay, then.”
Dojin, who wrapped his arm around Habin’s shoulders, looked around the hallway that was strangely crowded. As far as he knew, none of the lecture halls around here had classes scheduled to end at 6.
So most of them were here for other reasons. In Dojin’s mind, there was only one reason for that, so he sighed.
“To be this popular.”
Habin, who heard the small muttering, tilted his head.
“Who? You?”
Looking at Habin, who was still clueless in this area, Dojin habitually smiled.
“Just. Talking to myself.”
“Really?”
Not seeming very curious, Habin easily moved on and was busy chattering about what to do when they got home. Though it was only the second week, he thought studying would start later.
He did raise his eyebrows at the mention of starting already, but he didn’t object. It was because he’d experienced over the past three years that Habin wouldn’t back down when it came to studying.
“Oh right, Dojin.”
“Yeah?”
“Can I go to a drinking gathering the day after tomorrow?”
“…Drinking?”
Since there were no good memories from the general meeting, he thought Habin wouldn’t go to drinking gatherings for a while, but apparently not. Well, he did like drinking quite a bit, so having held back for a week might have been holding back a lot.
It meant he’d been continuously refusing all the drinking gatherings overflowing at the beginning of the semester under the pretext of being a freshman.
“You’ll come home early, right?”
“Uh… I don’t know?”
In fact, he didn’t even know exactly what time the appointment was. They’d just talked about going to a drinking gathering the day after tomorrow. Since he wouldn’t have planned to go if Dojin said he didn’t like it to begin with, there was also the fact that he deliberately didn’t hear the exact details.
“What time is the appointment?”
“Mm.”
“You don’t know.”
At Habin’s behavior of mumbling and laughing, Dojin eventually decided to let it go too.
“I’ll pick you up. Contact me when you’re done playing, you know?”
“You’ll come get me?”
“I can’t let you come alone.”
Since it was always like that, there was nothing special about saying he’d come pick him up this time too. Habin nodded, promising to come home as early as possible.
“But don’t you have any?”
“Any what?”
“Drinking gathering appointments. Isn’t this the peak time for them?”
Habin’s classmates, who seemed intent on drinking until right before midterm period approached, emphasized repeatedly that it wasn’t just them. They complained that other departments had a similar atmosphere.
The problem was that the only person he knew in other departments was Dojin, and he’d never once seen him go to drinking gatherings. In other words, he couldn’t trust his classmates’ words.
“Well, I’m not sure.”
“There are! Even just today there is! Want to go together?”
“Huh, what?”
Flustered by the voice that suddenly interjected, Habin stuck close to Dojin’s side. Dojin, who wrapped his arm firmly around Habin’s shoulders, realized the person who spoke was someone familiar.
“Of course you know this, but our business college’s greatest celebrity has no intention of participating in department events at all, so everyone’s been waiting for a chance.”
Habin’s head spun at the brazen opponent’s momentum. The relatively shy Habin didn’t have good compatibility with such friendly people.
“Always refusing with words like ‘my boyfriend is waiting,’ ‘I have prior plans with my boyfriend,’ ‘I don’t feel like it’—”
Dojin frowned at the person meticulously imitating him. Though he glanced at such a Dojin, the opponent didn’t care and resolutely targeted Habin.
“So if he’s with that famous boyfriend, won’t he come to the drinking gathering—with that thought, I’m proposing!”
“Y-yes, but who are you…?”
“Ah right. I forgot to introduce myself because I was in a hurry. I’m Kang Suyeon, the freshman class representative for business administration.”
Following Suyeon who bowed, Habin also bowed his head.
“So what do you think? Will you come to the drinking gathering with us?”
Though all the words passed like a whirlwind, he could roughly grasp the point. Habin looked up at Dojin, who had never once gone to a drinking gathering, making excuses about him.
Perhaps feeling that gaze, Dojin, who slightly relaxed his stiffened expression, bent down to meet his eyes.
“Want to go?”
“…If that’s what you want, Habin.”
At Dojin’s appearance, 180 degrees different from his attitude toward his classmates, Suyeon felt a strong premonition of success. If I’d known he was this soft with his lover, I should have tried this sooner!
But knowing this was a somewhat special situation, she swallowed her regret. Though it was the same school, because the departments were different, it was very difficult to see his face. To begin with, the very act of requesting “please help your boyfriend participate in department events” was ridiculous.
“I’m a bit concerned that there’s also a drinking appointment the day after tomorrow…”
“It’s okay if you don’t drink, just fill the seat. No one, absolutely! won’t carelessly pressure you to drink.”
Suyeon finished her words in rapid-fire to eliminate Habin’s hesitation. People who had been around Suyeon, having approached at some point, also urgently agreed.
It would feel uncomfortable to refuse when they wanted it this much. Eventually, Habin nodded very slowly, expressing his intention to attend.
“Is it okay?”
“Yeah. If I didn’t like it, I would have said so beforehand.”
Habin, who was staring at Dojin skillfully hiding his true feelings, regretted it slightly. Did I decide too impulsively?
“It’s really okay. You don’t need to worry.”
Dojin lightly brushed Habin’s eye area. Habin blinked his eyelids a couple of times and smiled.
“Then let’s go right away! It’s a pork belly restaurant at the main gate, do you know it?”
Suyeon, who sensed the decision was completely made, quickly interjected. Habin shook his head, not knowing it.
“Should we go together if you don’t know?”
“Just tell me the restaurant name. We’ll join you there.”
Dojin, who pulled Habin’s shoulder closer, drew the line. Suyeon, who was flustered and stammered for only a moment, quickly regained her pace and nodded.
“Then I’ll send the restaurant name by direct message. Join us slowly!”
Habin watched Suyeon leading the people around her as they moved away, then turned his gaze to Dojin.
“But you did exchange numbers with the class rep.”
Habin, who had secretly worried whether he was living without contacting anyone, murmured that it was fortunate. And Dojin, even though he clearly heard it, pretended not to and let it pass.
“No, I never did.”
“Huh? Then how can she send a direct message?”
“I think she got contact information from the department office.”
My goodness. Habin gasped in surprise at Dojin’s guess. He’d heard that the business department had a lot of people. So while it would be difficult for the class rep to know all the freshmen’s existence and get their phone numbers, he didn’t think that applied to Dojin.
Because Dojin’s presence wasn’t the kind that would be buried just because there were many people.
“You’re not interested in your classmates.”
“Yeah.”
Dojin, who smiled and affirmed, was quite resolute. Come to think of it, even when he was in high school, he wasn’t interested in his surroundings either. It might be stranger if such a tendency suddenly changed just because he became a college student.
“Mm, should I not have said we’d go?”
“No, actually it worked out well. I felt like I should go at least once.”
He’d been wondering whether he should at least show his face because of people who kept proposing without getting tired, even though it seemed about time to give up.
“Then should we just stay for a bit and go home quickly?”
“Yeah.”
Since Habin also had no interest in business students just the same, the two decided to only stay briefly.
