[infinite, lovelyz] It's a Love Story 1/?
It's a Love Story [1/?]
Pairing: Sunggyu/Woohyun, Baby Soul/Mijoo
Rating: PG
Summary: Woohyun’s stopped believing in happy endings when his relationship with Sunggyu ended. As he writes the story of Mijoo and Soojung, Sunggyu comes back with the promise to prove that forever still exists. | Based on the novel Para Sa Hopeless Romantic by Marcelo Santos III and its movie counterpart.
It’s at night when Woohyun’s the most productive. Tonight, he finds himself alone in his dormitory room, having passed his roommate’s invitation to dinner because “he needs to do something.” So here he is, with only his laptop and two cups of coffee for company. As soon as he’s taken a sip of coffee, he opens his latest draft, and starts to type away.
He’s writing a love story… if you could call it that. Woohyun has been a regular contributor to Entrust, the university’s literary magazine. They called for graduating seniors to submit their entries, and of course, Woohyun wanted to write something for one last time.
The theme for the senior folio is “Reality,” and Woohyun thinks his idea is perfect. After all, their third year theology classes have taught him that love is more about struggle and sacrifice than rainbows and butterflies. That was the reality most romance writers failed to acknowledge. The plot for his story came to him months ago and he decided that he’d write about unrequited love-the unrequited love story of Lee Mijoo and Lee Soojung.
Time
Nam Woohyun
IV AB Communication
Mijoo and Soojung have been friends since they were assigned to the same cluster in their volunteer group back in Mijoo’s freshman year two years ago. And even though Soojung was a year above Mijoo, they hit it off well. They took up the same major and had a common love for performing. Pretty soon, Mijoo found herself hanging out with Soojung more than anyone else, and began spending more time with each other than with their respective classmates.
They were friends, but Mijoo wanted something more.
“Mijoo, do you like anyone?” Soojung had suddenly asked her. Back then, Mijoo was aware of her feelings but was not yet brave enough to confess. She was still waiting for the perfect moment.
“Like anyone? Hmm…” Mijoo felt her heart throb. ‘It’s you,’ she wanted to say, but the fear was strong. She feared how confessing could affect their friendship. After all, Soojung was graduating this year, and Mijoo didn’t want to bother the older girl with her “feelings” when she should be focusing on her thesis.
“Come on, who is it?” Soojung gave her that puppy dog look, a look that always got to Mijoo. It was infuriating to realize that Soojung could ask for anything and Mijoo would do it, with or without the puppy dog look.
“Well…” She took a deep breath. “You.”
There was a long pause as Soojung stared at her blankly. There was an awkward feeling in the air, and Mijoo panicked inside.
“Me?”
Woohyun taps his fingers on the mahogany table, wondering what to write next. The confession seems to have come too soon. After all, his protagonists were just sitting casually by the cafeteria, studying. Poor Mijoo is not prepared for what’s yet to come; she has to diffuse the tension.
“Yeah, you. I mean, who do you like?”
She tapped her fingers against the table and chewed the insides of her cheek, as Soojung blinked at her. Every second of non-reply made Mijoo more nervous than ever.
Finally, a smile crept to Soojung’s face. “Me?”
Mijoo let out a loud breath, all nervousness dissipating and her heartbeat finally steadying.
“Promise me you won’t tell anyone, okay?”
Mijoo nodded. “I promise. Now who is it?”
Soojung looked around her, making sure no one was going to overhear. Finally, she leaned in and whispered in Mijoo’s ear.
It was not her name.
Woohyun finishes the scene and decides he’s had enough for the night. He still has to read the handouts for tomorrow’s recitation, and God forbid he’s caught unprepared and gets sent out of class again. He wonders if people will submit stories with happy endings, or if they’re like him, going the path of unrequited love. There wouldn’t be a hashtag dedicated to all school-related heartbreaks on social media if happy endings really happened.
Woohyun shows his first draft to Kibum the next day over breakfast at the dorm. Kibum, his roommate, is one of the editors of the school magazine. He was the person to encourage Woohyun to actually try channeling his feelings into writing. It’s been a success, as Woohyun’s stories have been getting positive reviews from the editors and the teachers in the literature department.
There’s a long stretch of silence as Woohyun watches Kibum’s eyes dart to and fro the paragraphs. When he finishes, Woohyun sits up straighter, but is surprised to hear a groan come out of Kibum’s mouth. “Woohyun, do you have any idea how many tragedies the seniors’ folio’s already gotten?”
This is the first time in the history of their friendship-which dates back to pre-school-that Kibum has ever complained about Woohyun’s writing.
Woohyun sighs. “I don’t write for other people, Key,” he says, using his friend’s childhood nickname. “I write what’s true. Happy endings only exist in fairy tales, which I say are full of shit.”
“Woohyun, I know why you don’t believe in happy endings and painful stories are your forte, but would it kill you to actually let your characters have a chance for once?” Kibum groans as he rubs his forehead. He obviously hasn’t had his coffee fix yet.
“The other entries in the seniors’ folio already talk about depressing topics-like quarter-life crisis, depression, and suicide. As your best friend, I’m begging you, give us some happiness for once in your life. If not for my sanity, just… for the sake of broadening your literary horizons.”
Kibum rarely begs unless it’s for free food, but they both know why Woohyun’s stance on love is the way it is. He can tell that the “broadening his literary horizons” bit is something Kibum made up on the spot. Woohyun doesn’t say anything for a second.
“I’m not changing it,” is all he says as he walks out of their dorm.
Woohyun’s mood doesn’t improve as the day goes by. In fact, it gets even worse despite answering his graded recitation question perfectly and the fact that his digital film project was the only one the teacher had nice things to say about didn’t help either. It always frustrates him to see all these couples looking so happy and in love. There's one making moon eyes at each other instead of actually studying at the study hall.
Ten bucks says they break at the end of the year he thinks as he walks on.
The study hall is full, which is no surprise as it’s a couple more months left before the end of the school year. Woohyun resists the urge to tap his feet as he waits for anyone to get off one of the tables. He can't help himself as he glares at the couple sharing a table once they finally get out. Woohyun shrugs when he doesn’t find his thesis partner anywhere in the hall. He brings out the books and published papers that he got from the library earlier and waits.
Groans and expletives ring in his ears as another group of students enter the study hall. Another class must have just finished a nightmarish exam. He glares at a one of them for kicking his chair when they pass by and catches the eye of his tall thesis partner trudging along behind. Woohyun waves at him, and points to the seat across him. He watches as the the other one says goodbye to the rest of the group and walks over to Woohyun’s table. Woohyun raises an eyebrow as the newcomer sprawls all over what remaining space hasn’t been occupied by Woohyun’s laptop and the books.
Sungyeol, his thesis partner, looks at Woohyun with drooping bloodshot eyes, and Woohyun notices the dark circles underneath. Upon closer inspection, his friend’s eyes are a bit puffy too. Sungyeol’s usually well-maintained red hair has gone rather curly, and he doesn’t seem to care. His long, usually flaily limbs have gone limp hanging off the table. Woohyun pokes his friend just to make sure the other one is still able to function properly.
“Don’t talk to me,” Sungyeol whines as he swats Woohyun’s finger away from his face.
“You look like shit,” Woohyun says as Sungyeol doesn’t move. “Forgot your coffee?”
Sungyeol looks up at Woohyun, his eyes looking glazed over, and blinks. “Have you taken Miss Im’s media law exam yet?”
Woohyun shakes his head. “It’s a pairs exam, right? It’s supposed to be easy?”
“Easy my ass,” Sungyeol snorts, finally showing some sign of life. “The media law long test was the exam from hell. I swear, it’s like half the stuff in there wasn’t even discussed, or in the readings. Irene and I were about to lose our minds trying to solve the case studies!”
Media law isn’t one of Woohyun’s strongest subjects. If even the duo of Sungyeol and Irene-two candidates for valedictorian-had a hard time with the exam, then it’s going to be a nightmare for him.
“Is that why I saw Jinyoung and Hara looking like they wanted to hang themselves when you guys came in?” Woohyun sighs, gesturing at the aforementioned classmates two tables away. “And why Chorong kicked my chair?”
“Yeah. Pretty much,” Sungyeol groans, his nose twitching as he opens the first book on the pile Woohyun pushes his way.
“Guess I better tell Nicole we’re doomed on Thursday,” Woohyun mutters as Sungyeol nods, marking the pages they’ll need to photocopy.
Woohyun has known Sungyeol since their freshman orientation seminar, almost four years ago. Their name tags were next to each other, and they were the only guys in their block who actually liked watching ‘artsy fartsy’ films. They’ve been inseparable since then, sitting next to each other in class, partnering for projects, hanging out on Fridays or weekends after a long week of nothing but academic requirements. He has been Sungyeol’s wingman whenever he tried to pull pranks on their friends or make a move on someone cute, and Sungyeol has dragged him on one too many blind dates, which never materialized into something more.
"Speaking of love stories, I heard Kibum begged you to change your story?" Sungyeol whispers as they take a break from looking up the evolution of onscreen tandems and their rise to success, together and individually. “What the hell did you write?”
Woohyun opens the tab to the Google Document where he saved his story. "I was going to share it with you once we finished the stuff for our thesis," he says. "You think you could do art for it?"
Sungyeol says nothing, and Woohyun guesses that his friend is "in the zone", his brain sprouting ideas. He knows better than to try to make the latter reply when he gets in this mood. As he waits for Sungyeol to finish, Woohyun tries to reread his story to come up with something that will satisfy Kibum, but still stay true to what he believes in.
As far as Lee Howon was concerned, the only question people asked was: “Who doesn’t have a crush on him?” He’s hot, not to mention, top of Soojung’s year, a member of the dance team, and the president of their volunteer organization. Which was why it shouldn’t be a surprise that Soojung had a crush on their club president.
Surprise or not, though, Mijoo’s heart couldn’t avoid being crushed. After all, her heart had been carrying feelings for her best friend for so long that it was ready to explode. Hers was a love that would never be returned because Soojung carried feelings for someone who was not her.
But Mijoo kept mum; she had been an expert at it for the past three years anyway. She had planned on confessing to Soojung after the older girl graduated, but Soojung liking someone else complicated things. Soojung may not share her feelings, but at least they were still friends. Mijoo would rather choose friendship and unrequited love rather than a confession that would later end up in awkward encounters.
It was difficult after learning that Soojung liked someone else. Even more when Mijoo learned that Soojung got partnered with Howon for their thesis work. So much worse when their time together lessened in favor of accomplishing final requirements. And for every day not spent with Soojung, Mijoo’s feelings grew stronger.
As they said, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
The next time Mijoo saw Soojung in the club room was during one of their common breaks. It had been difficult to get a chance to talk to the older girl, since Soojung and the other seniors took their final exams one month before the rest of the student body in order to give the teachers enough time to compute their grades, and to make room for several graduation rituals before the actual commencement.
Besides, Soojung was also the head of the committee in charge of the upcoming seniors’ send-off party, which lacked volunteers. Mijoo may have laughed as Soojung lamented about how none of those who applied to be her deputy just wanted to get the credit and do none of the work.
“Shit. I might consider asking you to be my deputy if no one shows up! Please, Mijoo?” Soojung begged. “We need all the volunteers we can get. Not many of the seniors are willing to help out, since, well… They’d rather get drunk. So, please?”
“But unni,” Mijoo groaned, the thought of juggling her studies with yet another club activity suddenly made her tired. She waved her Philosophy notes at Soojung’s face, hoping the older girl would get a clue. “I don’t know if I even have TIME to commit to the event.”
“There’s free food, I promise.” Soojung pouted at Mijoo.
Usually, the promise of free food was enough to get Mijoo to agree, but there was no way Mijoo was going to volunteer for a project when she had exams to study for.
“As much as I’d like to help, my roommates already invited me to go out for dinner on the last day of school,” Mijoo said, sighing as she went back to the printout she was reading.
“Lee Mijoo,” Soojung hissed. Shit. It was that “Listen-to-your-sunbae” tone Soojung used back in Mijoo’s freshman year whenever the younger girl planned to pull a prank on any of the area supervisors in their volunteer community. “I am desperate, so please?”
Mijoo sighed as Soojung started making that kicked puppy face. She opted to focus on the material she was studying. She couldn’t afford to be embarrassed in front of the whole class again. As much as Mijoo tried ignoring her friend, Soojung simply wasn’t going to stop talking.
“It’s the last thing I’ll ever be running here, and I want everything to be perfect-for me, for my classmates, for everyone,” Soojung whispered, trying to sound like she was about to cry.
Mijoo frowned as she attempted to get back to what she was reading earlier. She groaned as she thought of all the implications in Soojung’s statement.
“I don’t wanna be around all those seniors I don’t really know or care about and see them get wasted and clean up their mess,” Mijoo muttered as she highlighted a sentence she hoped she wouldn’t forget lest she got called in class.
Mijoo frowned and shouted “Hey” as Soojung snatched the papers out of Mijoo’s hands. She snatched them back from her shorter friend and would have returned to reading them, if not for the steely glint in Soojung’s eyes.
“What?” Mijoo asked, trying not to sound rude. It’s not that she didn’t care about Soojung’s last project, but the idea of having to volunteer for something on her last day of school didn’t really appeal to her.
“I’m really desperate, and I wouldn’t beg for volunteers if we weren’t so short on people. I know volunteering at a party where you only know, like, five or ten percent of the crowd isn’t your idea of spending your last day in school, but…” Soojung said, pouting at Mijoo. “I guess you can think of it as your last chance to hang out with me before I graduate?”
Mijoo pursed her lips at Soojung’s direction. “You’re going to be hanging out with all your senior friends,” Mijoo said as she raised an eyebrow. “How would you have time for me?”
Soojung snorted. “Are you kidding? I’ll probably be too busy running the show to have time to hang out with them. I’ll most likely be at the volunteer booth, like the former head was last year. So I guess I’ll be stuck with you if you decide to sign up.”
Mijoo blinked at Soojung, trying not to let her suspicion show on her face. Her eyes darted from Soojung’s puppy face to her now-crumpled papers. She’d worked with Soojung many times, so she was confident in Soojung’s ability to pull off the project. She had also been Soojung’s deputy in their club long enough to know how the older girl operated. If Soojung would be in the booth most of the time, maybe Mijoo could try and confess… Hmm…
Mijoo sighed as she looked into Soojung’s expectant eyes. She mentally crossed her fingers as she said, “Fine. I’ll apply to be your deputy. I’ll try getting other people in my year to volunteer if I can.”
“Really?” Soojung asked, relief evident in her eyes. Mijoo decided not to add that the only reason she offered to get other people to join was so she could have Soojung to herself.
Mijoo nodded, hoping her grimace came across as a tired, resigned smile.
“Lee Mijoo! You’re the best!” Soojung squealed as Mijoo suddenly found herself in a tight embrace. “I love you~”
Mijoo let out a tight-lipped smile as she wrapped her arms around her oblivious friend. Those words would never mean the way she wanted them to.
Sungyeol shifts slightly away from Woohyun’s laptop as soon as he’s done reading, blinking and eyebrows furrowing. “Woohyun, what the fuck?! I think I know where this is heading… Time is gonna be fucking depressing-AGAIN!” he exclaims, causing the person sitting at the nearby table to shush at them. “This is the last time you’re submitting something to the magazine; maybe you should try a happy ending for once.”
They were kicked out of the study hall hours ago, so now they’ve set up camp at the Starbucks across campus. It’s a bit louder than their previous spot, but at least there’s no snooty lowerclassmen trying to kick them out of their seats or guards telling them that the study hall will be closing every five minutes.
“You too?” Woohyun groans as he bites on a cookie. “That’s exactly what Key told me this morning at the dorm.”
Sungyeol sighs as he pats Woohyun’s head from across the table. “There, there… we both know that Kibum just wants what’s best for the seniors’ folio, which is pretty much his baby, besides his thesis,” he says as he offers Woohyun another cookie. “But he also wants to push you to your limits as a writer, because he knows you can do it.”
Woohyun sighs, giving up all hope of getting Sungyeol to take his side. He pushes the pile of reference material he sees toward his friend and urges him to start focusing. They continue working on their thesis, sneaking in snack breaks in between drafts. Just as Woohyun thinks he’s finally out of the woods, Sungyeol suddenly decides to drop a bomb.
“But seriously, what in the world happened to you that turned you bitter?” Sungyeol asks, seemingly not caring that Woohyun’s doing all he can to not strangle him. “What died up your ass to make you give up on happy endings?”
“Do you really want to know?” Woohyun asks, raising an eyebrow at Sungyeol.
“Duh,” Sungyeol says, putting down his coffee cup. “I mean, Kibum and the rest of your high school crew know, so why can’t I?”
Woohyun rolls his eyes as Sungyeol pokes him. He thinks about it for a moment before taking a deep breath.
To be continued
Notes:
-This was supposed to be a Mizuru fanfic, to be co-written with yurishika, but there are a lot more prompts that gave us feelings. Converted to an Infinite fic with her permission.
- Beta by darkyulate
Pairing: Sunggyu/Woohyun, Baby Soul/Mijoo
Rating: PG
Summary: Woohyun’s stopped believing in happy endings when his relationship with Sunggyu ended. As he writes the story of Mijoo and Soojung, Sunggyu comes back with the promise to prove that forever still exists. | Based on the novel Para Sa Hopeless Romantic by Marcelo Santos III and its movie counterpart.
It’s at night when Woohyun’s the most productive. Tonight, he finds himself alone in his dormitory room, having passed his roommate’s invitation to dinner because “he needs to do something.” So here he is, with only his laptop and two cups of coffee for company. As soon as he’s taken a sip of coffee, he opens his latest draft, and starts to type away.
He’s writing a love story… if you could call it that. Woohyun has been a regular contributor to Entrust, the university’s literary magazine. They called for graduating seniors to submit their entries, and of course, Woohyun wanted to write something for one last time.
The theme for the senior folio is “Reality,” and Woohyun thinks his idea is perfect. After all, their third year theology classes have taught him that love is more about struggle and sacrifice than rainbows and butterflies. That was the reality most romance writers failed to acknowledge. The plot for his story came to him months ago and he decided that he’d write about unrequited love-the unrequited love story of Lee Mijoo and Lee Soojung.
Time
Nam Woohyun
IV AB Communication
Mijoo and Soojung have been friends since they were assigned to the same cluster in their volunteer group back in Mijoo’s freshman year two years ago. And even though Soojung was a year above Mijoo, they hit it off well. They took up the same major and had a common love for performing. Pretty soon, Mijoo found herself hanging out with Soojung more than anyone else, and began spending more time with each other than with their respective classmates.
They were friends, but Mijoo wanted something more.
“Mijoo, do you like anyone?” Soojung had suddenly asked her. Back then, Mijoo was aware of her feelings but was not yet brave enough to confess. She was still waiting for the perfect moment.
“Like anyone? Hmm…” Mijoo felt her heart throb. ‘It’s you,’ she wanted to say, but the fear was strong. She feared how confessing could affect their friendship. After all, Soojung was graduating this year, and Mijoo didn’t want to bother the older girl with her “feelings” when she should be focusing on her thesis.
“Come on, who is it?” Soojung gave her that puppy dog look, a look that always got to Mijoo. It was infuriating to realize that Soojung could ask for anything and Mijoo would do it, with or without the puppy dog look.
“Well…” She took a deep breath. “You.”
There was a long pause as Soojung stared at her blankly. There was an awkward feeling in the air, and Mijoo panicked inside.
“Me?”
Woohyun taps his fingers on the mahogany table, wondering what to write next. The confession seems to have come too soon. After all, his protagonists were just sitting casually by the cafeteria, studying. Poor Mijoo is not prepared for what’s yet to come; she has to diffuse the tension.
“Yeah, you. I mean, who do you like?”
She tapped her fingers against the table and chewed the insides of her cheek, as Soojung blinked at her. Every second of non-reply made Mijoo more nervous than ever.
Finally, a smile crept to Soojung’s face. “Me?”
Mijoo let out a loud breath, all nervousness dissipating and her heartbeat finally steadying.
“Promise me you won’t tell anyone, okay?”
Mijoo nodded. “I promise. Now who is it?”
Soojung looked around her, making sure no one was going to overhear. Finally, she leaned in and whispered in Mijoo’s ear.
It was not her name.
Woohyun finishes the scene and decides he’s had enough for the night. He still has to read the handouts for tomorrow’s recitation, and God forbid he’s caught unprepared and gets sent out of class again. He wonders if people will submit stories with happy endings, or if they’re like him, going the path of unrequited love. There wouldn’t be a hashtag dedicated to all school-related heartbreaks on social media if happy endings really happened.
Woohyun shows his first draft to Kibum the next day over breakfast at the dorm. Kibum, his roommate, is one of the editors of the school magazine. He was the person to encourage Woohyun to actually try channeling his feelings into writing. It’s been a success, as Woohyun’s stories have been getting positive reviews from the editors and the teachers in the literature department.
There’s a long stretch of silence as Woohyun watches Kibum’s eyes dart to and fro the paragraphs. When he finishes, Woohyun sits up straighter, but is surprised to hear a groan come out of Kibum’s mouth. “Woohyun, do you have any idea how many tragedies the seniors’ folio’s already gotten?”
This is the first time in the history of their friendship-which dates back to pre-school-that Kibum has ever complained about Woohyun’s writing.
Woohyun sighs. “I don’t write for other people, Key,” he says, using his friend’s childhood nickname. “I write what’s true. Happy endings only exist in fairy tales, which I say are full of shit.”
“Woohyun, I know why you don’t believe in happy endings and painful stories are your forte, but would it kill you to actually let your characters have a chance for once?” Kibum groans as he rubs his forehead. He obviously hasn’t had his coffee fix yet.
“The other entries in the seniors’ folio already talk about depressing topics-like quarter-life crisis, depression, and suicide. As your best friend, I’m begging you, give us some happiness for once in your life. If not for my sanity, just… for the sake of broadening your literary horizons.”
Kibum rarely begs unless it’s for free food, but they both know why Woohyun’s stance on love is the way it is. He can tell that the “broadening his literary horizons” bit is something Kibum made up on the spot. Woohyun doesn’t say anything for a second.
“I’m not changing it,” is all he says as he walks out of their dorm.
Woohyun’s mood doesn’t improve as the day goes by. In fact, it gets even worse despite answering his graded recitation question perfectly and the fact that his digital film project was the only one the teacher had nice things to say about didn’t help either. It always frustrates him to see all these couples looking so happy and in love. There's one making moon eyes at each other instead of actually studying at the study hall.
Ten bucks says they break at the end of the year he thinks as he walks on.
The study hall is full, which is no surprise as it’s a couple more months left before the end of the school year. Woohyun resists the urge to tap his feet as he waits for anyone to get off one of the tables. He can't help himself as he glares at the couple sharing a table once they finally get out. Woohyun shrugs when he doesn’t find his thesis partner anywhere in the hall. He brings out the books and published papers that he got from the library earlier and waits.
Groans and expletives ring in his ears as another group of students enter the study hall. Another class must have just finished a nightmarish exam. He glares at a one of them for kicking his chair when they pass by and catches the eye of his tall thesis partner trudging along behind. Woohyun waves at him, and points to the seat across him. He watches as the the other one says goodbye to the rest of the group and walks over to Woohyun’s table. Woohyun raises an eyebrow as the newcomer sprawls all over what remaining space hasn’t been occupied by Woohyun’s laptop and the books.
Sungyeol, his thesis partner, looks at Woohyun with drooping bloodshot eyes, and Woohyun notices the dark circles underneath. Upon closer inspection, his friend’s eyes are a bit puffy too. Sungyeol’s usually well-maintained red hair has gone rather curly, and he doesn’t seem to care. His long, usually flaily limbs have gone limp hanging off the table. Woohyun pokes his friend just to make sure the other one is still able to function properly.
“Don’t talk to me,” Sungyeol whines as he swats Woohyun’s finger away from his face.
“You look like shit,” Woohyun says as Sungyeol doesn’t move. “Forgot your coffee?”
Sungyeol looks up at Woohyun, his eyes looking glazed over, and blinks. “Have you taken Miss Im’s media law exam yet?”
Woohyun shakes his head. “It’s a pairs exam, right? It’s supposed to be easy?”
“Easy my ass,” Sungyeol snorts, finally showing some sign of life. “The media law long test was the exam from hell. I swear, it’s like half the stuff in there wasn’t even discussed, or in the readings. Irene and I were about to lose our minds trying to solve the case studies!”
Media law isn’t one of Woohyun’s strongest subjects. If even the duo of Sungyeol and Irene-two candidates for valedictorian-had a hard time with the exam, then it’s going to be a nightmare for him.
“Is that why I saw Jinyoung and Hara looking like they wanted to hang themselves when you guys came in?” Woohyun sighs, gesturing at the aforementioned classmates two tables away. “And why Chorong kicked my chair?”
“Yeah. Pretty much,” Sungyeol groans, his nose twitching as he opens the first book on the pile Woohyun pushes his way.
“Guess I better tell Nicole we’re doomed on Thursday,” Woohyun mutters as Sungyeol nods, marking the pages they’ll need to photocopy.
Woohyun has known Sungyeol since their freshman orientation seminar, almost four years ago. Their name tags were next to each other, and they were the only guys in their block who actually liked watching ‘artsy fartsy’ films. They’ve been inseparable since then, sitting next to each other in class, partnering for projects, hanging out on Fridays or weekends after a long week of nothing but academic requirements. He has been Sungyeol’s wingman whenever he tried to pull pranks on their friends or make a move on someone cute, and Sungyeol has dragged him on one too many blind dates, which never materialized into something more.
"Speaking of love stories, I heard Kibum begged you to change your story?" Sungyeol whispers as they take a break from looking up the evolution of onscreen tandems and their rise to success, together and individually. “What the hell did you write?”
Woohyun opens the tab to the Google Document where he saved his story. "I was going to share it with you once we finished the stuff for our thesis," he says. "You think you could do art for it?"
Sungyeol says nothing, and Woohyun guesses that his friend is "in the zone", his brain sprouting ideas. He knows better than to try to make the latter reply when he gets in this mood. As he waits for Sungyeol to finish, Woohyun tries to reread his story to come up with something that will satisfy Kibum, but still stay true to what he believes in.
As far as Lee Howon was concerned, the only question people asked was: “Who doesn’t have a crush on him?” He’s hot, not to mention, top of Soojung’s year, a member of the dance team, and the president of their volunteer organization. Which was why it shouldn’t be a surprise that Soojung had a crush on their club president.
Surprise or not, though, Mijoo’s heart couldn’t avoid being crushed. After all, her heart had been carrying feelings for her best friend for so long that it was ready to explode. Hers was a love that would never be returned because Soojung carried feelings for someone who was not her.
But Mijoo kept mum; she had been an expert at it for the past three years anyway. She had planned on confessing to Soojung after the older girl graduated, but Soojung liking someone else complicated things. Soojung may not share her feelings, but at least they were still friends. Mijoo would rather choose friendship and unrequited love rather than a confession that would later end up in awkward encounters.
It was difficult after learning that Soojung liked someone else. Even more when Mijoo learned that Soojung got partnered with Howon for their thesis work. So much worse when their time together lessened in favor of accomplishing final requirements. And for every day not spent with Soojung, Mijoo’s feelings grew stronger.
As they said, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder.”
The next time Mijoo saw Soojung in the club room was during one of their common breaks. It had been difficult to get a chance to talk to the older girl, since Soojung and the other seniors took their final exams one month before the rest of the student body in order to give the teachers enough time to compute their grades, and to make room for several graduation rituals before the actual commencement.
Besides, Soojung was also the head of the committee in charge of the upcoming seniors’ send-off party, which lacked volunteers. Mijoo may have laughed as Soojung lamented about how none of those who applied to be her deputy just wanted to get the credit and do none of the work.
“Shit. I might consider asking you to be my deputy if no one shows up! Please, Mijoo?” Soojung begged. “We need all the volunteers we can get. Not many of the seniors are willing to help out, since, well… They’d rather get drunk. So, please?”
“But unni,” Mijoo groaned, the thought of juggling her studies with yet another club activity suddenly made her tired. She waved her Philosophy notes at Soojung’s face, hoping the older girl would get a clue. “I don’t know if I even have TIME to commit to the event.”
“There’s free food, I promise.” Soojung pouted at Mijoo.
Usually, the promise of free food was enough to get Mijoo to agree, but there was no way Mijoo was going to volunteer for a project when she had exams to study for.
“As much as I’d like to help, my roommates already invited me to go out for dinner on the last day of school,” Mijoo said, sighing as she went back to the printout she was reading.
“Lee Mijoo,” Soojung hissed. Shit. It was that “Listen-to-your-sunbae” tone Soojung used back in Mijoo’s freshman year whenever the younger girl planned to pull a prank on any of the area supervisors in their volunteer community. “I am desperate, so please?”
Mijoo sighed as Soojung started making that kicked puppy face. She opted to focus on the material she was studying. She couldn’t afford to be embarrassed in front of the whole class again. As much as Mijoo tried ignoring her friend, Soojung simply wasn’t going to stop talking.
“It’s the last thing I’ll ever be running here, and I want everything to be perfect-for me, for my classmates, for everyone,” Soojung whispered, trying to sound like she was about to cry.
Mijoo frowned as she attempted to get back to what she was reading earlier. She groaned as she thought of all the implications in Soojung’s statement.
“I don’t wanna be around all those seniors I don’t really know or care about and see them get wasted and clean up their mess,” Mijoo muttered as she highlighted a sentence she hoped she wouldn’t forget lest she got called in class.
Mijoo frowned and shouted “Hey” as Soojung snatched the papers out of Mijoo’s hands. She snatched them back from her shorter friend and would have returned to reading them, if not for the steely glint in Soojung’s eyes.
“What?” Mijoo asked, trying not to sound rude. It’s not that she didn’t care about Soojung’s last project, but the idea of having to volunteer for something on her last day of school didn’t really appeal to her.
“I’m really desperate, and I wouldn’t beg for volunteers if we weren’t so short on people. I know volunteering at a party where you only know, like, five or ten percent of the crowd isn’t your idea of spending your last day in school, but…” Soojung said, pouting at Mijoo. “I guess you can think of it as your last chance to hang out with me before I graduate?”
Mijoo pursed her lips at Soojung’s direction. “You’re going to be hanging out with all your senior friends,” Mijoo said as she raised an eyebrow. “How would you have time for me?”
Soojung snorted. “Are you kidding? I’ll probably be too busy running the show to have time to hang out with them. I’ll most likely be at the volunteer booth, like the former head was last year. So I guess I’ll be stuck with you if you decide to sign up.”
Mijoo blinked at Soojung, trying not to let her suspicion show on her face. Her eyes darted from Soojung’s puppy face to her now-crumpled papers. She’d worked with Soojung many times, so she was confident in Soojung’s ability to pull off the project. She had also been Soojung’s deputy in their club long enough to know how the older girl operated. If Soojung would be in the booth most of the time, maybe Mijoo could try and confess… Hmm…
Mijoo sighed as she looked into Soojung’s expectant eyes. She mentally crossed her fingers as she said, “Fine. I’ll apply to be your deputy. I’ll try getting other people in my year to volunteer if I can.”
“Really?” Soojung asked, relief evident in her eyes. Mijoo decided not to add that the only reason she offered to get other people to join was so she could have Soojung to herself.
Mijoo nodded, hoping her grimace came across as a tired, resigned smile.
“Lee Mijoo! You’re the best!” Soojung squealed as Mijoo suddenly found herself in a tight embrace. “I love you~”
Mijoo let out a tight-lipped smile as she wrapped her arms around her oblivious friend. Those words would never mean the way she wanted them to.
Sungyeol shifts slightly away from Woohyun’s laptop as soon as he’s done reading, blinking and eyebrows furrowing. “Woohyun, what the fuck?! I think I know where this is heading… Time is gonna be fucking depressing-AGAIN!” he exclaims, causing the person sitting at the nearby table to shush at them. “This is the last time you’re submitting something to the magazine; maybe you should try a happy ending for once.”
They were kicked out of the study hall hours ago, so now they’ve set up camp at the Starbucks across campus. It’s a bit louder than their previous spot, but at least there’s no snooty lowerclassmen trying to kick them out of their seats or guards telling them that the study hall will be closing every five minutes.
“You too?” Woohyun groans as he bites on a cookie. “That’s exactly what Key told me this morning at the dorm.”
Sungyeol sighs as he pats Woohyun’s head from across the table. “There, there… we both know that Kibum just wants what’s best for the seniors’ folio, which is pretty much his baby, besides his thesis,” he says as he offers Woohyun another cookie. “But he also wants to push you to your limits as a writer, because he knows you can do it.”
Woohyun sighs, giving up all hope of getting Sungyeol to take his side. He pushes the pile of reference material he sees toward his friend and urges him to start focusing. They continue working on their thesis, sneaking in snack breaks in between drafts. Just as Woohyun thinks he’s finally out of the woods, Sungyeol suddenly decides to drop a bomb.
“But seriously, what in the world happened to you that turned you bitter?” Sungyeol asks, seemingly not caring that Woohyun’s doing all he can to not strangle him. “What died up your ass to make you give up on happy endings?”
“Do you really want to know?” Woohyun asks, raising an eyebrow at Sungyeol.
“Duh,” Sungyeol says, putting down his coffee cup. “I mean, Kibum and the rest of your high school crew know, so why can’t I?”
Woohyun rolls his eyes as Sungyeol pokes him. He thinks about it for a moment before taking a deep breath.
To be continued
Notes:
-This was supposed to be a Mizuru fanfic, to be co-written with yurishika, but there are a lot more prompts that gave us feelings. Converted to an Infinite fic with her permission.
- Beta by darkyulate