That Guy
Title: That Guy
Pairing: Haehyuk
Genre: Romance
Disclaimer: It is my regret and sorrow that I cannot own these funny, cute, HOT, and awesome boys.
Summary: An ordinary guy. Plus a fish. Equals great chemistry.
I walked around the campus. Looks clean enough, nice kids, wonder where my next class is . . . I stopped in the middle of my tracks and stared at the bulletin board. Calling all dance fans! Free night classes for a limited time only! Should I join?? I walked on, feeling the cool September air on my face.
“YO MAN! What took you so long?” I stared in the direction of the voice. Curious.
“Aish, traffic was late, so the bus got stuck in jam.” A man, possibly the same age as me, was speaking to another guy. I looked on, amused.
“Whatever. You wanna go and check out the hot chicks?” I felt an urge to go and yell that none of them are high-quality, only flirty females that had undergone plastic surgery.
“Nah. I don’t really want to. They probably went to a plastic surgeon all summer.” What was he? A mind reader?
On cue, the brunette turned, around and met my eyes. I blushed, seeing that I had been caught staring at him. I turned around, getting ready to flee, and just then, he yelled.
“HEY! What’s your homeroom?”
* * *
I left my class. Apparently the brunette was in the same homeroom as I was. And the whole classroom knew, too, for he had yelled, “HEY! You were the guy from this morning! WE’RE HOMEROOM BUDDIES!” Never, in my whole life, have I heard, seen, or said the term “homeroom buddies”. I sighed. At least he didn’t say that I looked at him like a high school girl staring at her crush. I walked quietly, invisible to the other students. Amazing.
Someone poked me from behind. I turned around to face Eeteuk hyung. He was grinning. “How’s your first day, Hyuk? Any luck? No one beat you up, right?” I really hope he was just joking.
“Yeah, it was ok. My day was . . . interesting.”
“Have any homework? It’ll be your lucky day if you don’t, freshmen get TONS of homework from their teachers as a ‘Hello, welcome to your first day of college’ gift. At least from this school.”
“No . . . no homework so far.”
“Lucky bird. I got a three page essay on the importance of conduct in a classroom as soon as I finished my first lesson.”
“. . .”
“Anyways, Hyuk . . . want to meet my other friends? They’re good people, and besides, you should be more social!”
“O-ok.” We walked to the lunch line and got our food. From a distance, I could see that my hyung’s friends are a noisy group. I sipped my strawberry milk quietly as Eeteuk introduced everyone to me. As I got to know them, I enjoyed myself more, although I wouldn’t admit that I had a good time. It was just a part of me that was natural; my close friends knew better than to argue with me, since I never, (repeat) NEVER, admit defeat.
Stubbornness.
After the day ended, I had all of the following info memorized: Kangin hyung looks dangerous, but is actually as gentle as one can be (unless provoked), Sungmin hyung LOVES his pink stuff (and knows martial arts), so it was wise to tell him if you have borrowed something from him, Shindong hyung is fun to be around with and “likes samgyupsal”, Yesung hyung has a turtle named Ddangkoma, and Ryeowook, my only dongsaeng in the whole group, composes music (like a genius). We all went home together after school, saying what a great day it had been. Soon, the others parted ways, calling to each other until they couldn’t see each other anymore. I walked alone to my house, deep in thought. To tell the truth, I had not been paying any attention at all on the way home.
VERY typical of a college freshman who had met a very . . . unusual person.
* * *
I walked in the hallways. This was my third month in college; yeah, I went home and visited my family for the holidays and had one-on-one soccer matches with my best friend, Junsu. My group had become famous and very popular at school, and others looked to us in admiration. I never had anybody look up to me before, so it was kind of an honor. I was adjusting well to university life, but one thing still bugged me at the back of my mind.
It seemed like the heavens had finally known how I was feeling, and just then, chaos broke out. A student had fallen and dropped her books, and I, who had NOT been paying attention to where I was walking, tripped over a big book. BIG. Possibly a literature book. People gasped, and the girl looked like she might faint. Everyone began whispering.
“What’ll she do?”
“It’s that guy who rarely talks.”
“Oh, she is SO dead.”
“What’s he gonna do to her?”
What did they think I was, a cocky bastard who beats up people weaker than him?
I stood up and brushed myself. I pretended not to notice that the girl was practically white as a sheet, and I smiled gently at her. Her tension and fear went away. I helped her up and bent down to pick up the fallen books. People murmured and soon walked away, and I sighed in relief. I was the type of person who can’t stand it when people stare at him. As I helped her pick up her books, a hand brushed past mine.
It was that guy.
The brunette, who had been helping the girl a long time ago, felt my gaze. The brunette looked up and grinned.
“Oh! HI! We meet again, huh?” Yeah, for exactly 3 months and 2 weeks.
* * *
I sat quietly under the tree, sipping my favorite drink. I listened to the other talk animatedly about aliens, fishes, his hometown, Mokpo, and other random subjects. The story about aliens in UFOs coming to kidnap the people of Earth greatly interested me though, for I hadn’t heard such things before.
“And to kidnap you, they carve a hole in the roof, beam a light on you, and suddenly, like magic, you float up into their spaceship. Then they take you to who-knows-where and perform surgeries on you, to see what a human body is like. Then they -”
“But doesn’t it hurt?” The brunette looked at me curiously and grinned.
“Nah, it doesn’t hurt Eunhyuk, since you’ll be asleep and everything. Besides, they’ll already have given you . . . uh, what is it called? . . . AH! Laughing gas!”
“Huh??”
“It’s this gas that when you inhale it, it’ll make you sleepy and stuff like that. If you take it in too much, you’ll start laughing. At least that’s what my book said.” He began searching in his backpack for the alien handbook he always carried around and flipped through its pages.
“But what if they can’t operate on you because you’re laughing too much?”
“They try to be careful to give you the right amount, Eunhyuk,” he said, reading from the book. The brunette closed the book and shut his eyes. I knew he was thinking and thought it was best not to disturb him. A thought just occurred to me, and horror struck. I interrupted the other’s peaceful moment.
“Hey -”
“What?”
“I don’t know your name! We’ve been talking for hours now, and I didn’t even bother to ask your name! But you know mine . . . aish, this is so stupid . . .” I bowed down in embarrassment. The brunette stared at me and laughed. I looked up in surprise.
“Really?? You don’t know my name? Wow . . .” He scratched his head. “Usually when people meet me, they already know my name. I used to think they’d stalk me and know everything about me. It was kind of strange at first, but I got used to it. You’re the first normal person I’ve met then, huh?” He laughed. I rolled my eyes. He looked at me in the eyes as if he could see everything about me, my deepest thoughts, my deepest secrets, my deepest fears. I stared back. Something suddenly happened right then, really quickly, but I knew it happened. I wasn’t dreaming.
A spark flickered between us. I don’t know if it was a coincidence or not, but right at that time, he told me his name.
“My name’s Donghae. Lee Donghae.”
* * *
The bell rang. I quickly got my things and was the first one to come out of the classroom since I didn’t have anyone to wait for. To my surprise, Donghae was waiting for me. In front of the classroom. Naturally, I crashed into him, and we fell down to the floor. He helped me up and grinned.
“Where are you going, Eunhyuk? It was like you wanted to escape from the classroom. I wanted to take you somewhere.” He pouted and ruffled my hair affectionately. Really.
“Uh, I’m going home.” I grinned my usual gummy smile.
“REALLY? CAN I COME WITH YOU??!!!” People stared at us as they walked past.
“Uh huh.” I was speechless. You would think I just said that I had free tickets to Super Junior’s concert.
“YEAH! LET’S GO, HYUKKIE!!” He raced down the hall. Yeah. I wouldn’t be surprised if there weren’t any smoke coming from his shoes.
“YAH! HOW WOULD YOU KNOW WHERE MY HOUSE IS?? WAIT UP!” I ran after him, catching others’ attention.
And what do you know? He called me “Hyukkie”.
* * *
The days are getting shorter and nights longer. I often wake up in the middle of the night because of lack of heat. The mornings, which used to be so warm and cheerful, are now gray and cold. The trees are bare, and one wouldn’t be able to walk without stepping on twigs and dead leaves. My classes often seem to fly past quickly. Minnie and I like to go to arcades to “play some pinball”, but I know the real reason is that he wants to see a certain game addict. He won’t admit it, and I don’t try to force it out of him, although my hyungs tease him mercilessly. Yesung hyung and Wookie have “officially” become a couple, and sometimes I would feel envy when I see them together.
Teukie hyung asks me “When are you going to get a girlfriend?” but I feel that I don’t need girls in my life. Sora noona and Mom is enough, and besides, I like to have freedom instead of having a clingy girl by my side.
I don’t see much of Donghae anymore. I miss him.
* * *
My fingers trailed across the spines of the encyclopedias, M to K. I wandered aimlessly in the library, lingering in random aisles with no interest. I wonder why I am here in the first place. Finally, for a long time, Minnie had the courage to ask “game-addict” out. Actually, the guy was planning to ask Minnie out, too, and it seems like they had both their eye on each other. Kyuhyun was a snarky person, and I soon found out that he gave no respect to his hyungs. But he was likeable and cute enough, and was willing to play video games with me, although he usually wins every single time.
I found myself in the adult fiction area and took a random book off the shelf. I flipped the pages, scanning the words. Too much kissing. I put it back and grabbed another book. WAY too much violence. I got a different book. VERY, VERY rated . . . activities in there. I picked up a book from one of the tables instead, hoping for anything that was not soap-opera, vicious, or embarrassing to read. It was actually a good book, and very intense, too. I was practically on the edge of my seat when suddenly, someone yelled, “SHUT UP, BUMMIE!!”
Donghae???
I threw the book back on the table and ran in the direction of his voice. I found Donghae in the biology section, looking furious and shocked. He was panting heavily and glaring at another guy, whom I assumed was his friend. People were staring at them and the librarian, who would kill you if you broke any of her rules, was not even saying a word. I guess she was shocked that Donghae, her favorite student, was breaking a rule, or maybe it was just the fact that he actually said “shut up” in earshot.
Donghae grabbed his backpack and walked away, his face red. The other man didn’t even seem affected in any way. As he walked away, Donghae met my eyes. He blushed, a deep shade of red. I was shocked that this person, who was usually so confident and would tease me nonstop, was blushing. In my presence. Why was he blushing? I started to say hi to him, to tell him that I missed him, to tell him that you weren’t supposed to yell in the library, and to ask him if he was ok, when suddenly, he lunged at me.
My brain started imagining things. Is he a backstabber? A criminal in disguise? What if he’s an alien in human form????? I knew it. This was the end of me. I would die early, all because of Donghae. My friend. I was even considering about taking Junsu’s title of “Eunhyuk’s Best Friend” to give it to Donghae. I am so dead. . .
Donghae kissed me.
It wasn’t the stick-your-tongue-in-someone’s-mouth-and-fight-for-dominance kiss. It wasn’t the full-of-pure-innocence-and-passion kiss. It wasn’t the super-smexy-and-hot kiss. It was the kind where you roughly put your lips on the other’s and just put it there. Waiting for the other’s reaction.
Waiting for him to reject you.
I didn’t do anything. I. WAS. SHOCKED. You think you wouldn’t be if Donghae suddenly kisses you? FULL ON THE LIPS?! Donghae finally pulled away, his face an indescribable red. I think it’ll make Donghae look lame if I said he ran away, so I’ll just say that he walked away. Calmly. I myself was blushing, too, and who wouldn’t be if your friend just kissed you in public? IN FRONT OF THE LIBRARIAN WITH THE BIG MOLE??
I hurried out of the library, and unbeknownst to me, the guy named “Bummie” was smiling smugly.
A/N: I think I’ll make this a two-shot. Art of Stalking is on hiatus, since I have a BIG writer’s block. FOR. THE. FIRST. TIME D:
Criticism and comments are loved. Silent readers are welcomed, but I’ll appreciate it if you comment ^^ I think this is ok, right??