jake still remembers the first time he laid his eyes on heeseung.

it was their club orientation day, and jake was supposed to not come because he's not really a fan of social gatherings, however- attendance is mandatory.

yonsei sucks. i should've went to hanyang instead.

jay even accompanied him through the registration, but the guy is in a different program so he just joined him for a couple of minutes.

"i'll pick you up right after my class, okay? just text me when your orientation is done. enjoy!" jake nods while jay gives him a light hug before leaving.

he sighed. he has no choice but to attend alone. what am i supposed to do now?

he tried walking around the lobby of the building, looking at the stalls at the side. there's a lot of banners and students who are giving flyers.

"hey freshie! here's a free drink for you," a random girl handed him a lemonade, to which he accepted with slight hesitation.

is this safe to drink? last time i check, there are students who like to mix booze on literally any liquid that exist.

he smiled at the girl before secretly sniffing the lemonade. hmm, it seems okay.

jake walks around, now getting a bit entertained by the seniors who look friendly and talkative. some even asked for his name, which he politely answered.

he was watching a new game created by one of the comsci students, when the noise from the crowd got a little louder.

"i didn't know heeseung's taking up computer science."

"is that one of our seniors? so handsome."

"i saw him with sunoo earlier, i didn't know they were friends."

jake raised an eyebrow at the whispers that he could clearly hear. these people act like they're worshipping him just because he's good-looking. i bet he's not even that handsome.

he rolled his eyes and looked over to where the other students were looking. he then caught a glimpse of a raven-haired tall guy with sharp features.

and call it cliché or whatever, but he swears to all living things that exist- that he felt like everything was in slow motion the moment he saw heeseung.

holy smoking hell.

heeseung was gone before jake's brain could even process what he just saw.

-----------

[ bff jongseongie 💕 ]

jake:
JAT
JAY
OMYGOD

bff jongseongie 💕:
why what happened?
u ok?

jake:
HWJSJSKS
I JUST SAW SHWJZKWTF

bff jongseongie 💕:
yeah i know so true

jake:
what?

bff jongseongie 💕:
oh sorry i couldn't understand what u were saying so i just pretend that i did
what was that?

jake:
I SAW A MODEL
NO
AN ACTOR
WAIT
HE'S OUR SENIOR AND HE COULD PASS AS A SUPERMODEL

bff jongseongie 💕:
uhuh
you don't sound ok
did u go crazy bc u couldn't talk to anyone

jake:
bitch i'm serious 👹
oh gosh i knew choosing comsci was a great idea
now i can see that eye candy 😇

bff jongseongie 💕:
you're a lying rat
you were literally crying last month bc there's no slot left in fashion design
so you had no choice but to pick computer science 🤷

jake:
bitch who is crying
that wasn't me
it was patricia

bff jongseongie 💕:
ok then
bye

jake:
wait don't leave
i don't have anyone to talk to here
nO
COME BACK
JAAAAY
DON'T GOOOOOO
/screams/

--------

after that encounter, jake would always attend their department's exhibits just so he can see if heeseung is there.

it's been almost three years since he liked him, and now it feels unreal that he's having dinners and hanging out with him.

it's all thanks to his best friend's social skills. who would've thought that jay would be friends with my crush?

"what the hell are you daydreaming about?" jay interrupts jake's internal monologue.

he grinned at him. "nothing much."

jake watched as jay packed his things. they just finished their morning practice, and it's already 10 am.

"why are you in a hurry? you don't have a class after this." he states while wiping the sweat off his neck.

"i'm meeting sunoo right now," jay mumbles.

"ah, sunoo?" he knows sunoo of course. jay's roommate, and the pretty guy who's always with heeseung.

"yeah, we need to buy groceries for next week."

"okay, that's great." jake takes his phone, "then i should text heeseung to join me for lunch instead."

jay nods without hesitation. "sure, text him so you won't be alone." he then grabs his backpack, readying to leave.

"enjoy your lunch with heeseung," he pats jake's head lightly. "i'll see you tomorrow."

---------

jay park @cornjay tweeted.

finally finished doing the chores 😮‍💨😮‍💨

874 likes | 102 retweets

replies:

@sunscript ??? i did all the work??? stop acting like you did manual labor
↪@cornjay you literally made me carry 4 bags of groceries? 😐😐
↪@sunscript you volunteered u shitass
@parkwrites my domestic parents ☺️🫶
↪@cornjay i don't remember giving birth to an ugly child

---------

"jay, your phone keeps on ringing." sunoo yelled from the kitchen.

"i'm busy! can you answer it for me?" jay yelled back, his voice echoing through the living room.

"busy my ass," he rolled his eyes and proceeded to answer the phone. "hello?"

"uhm, hi?"

"jake? sorry, jay's doing something right now. is there anything you want me to tell him?"

there was silence on the other line, before jake spoke again. "uh, no it's okay... i'll just call again later."

sunoo nods mindlessly while cleaning his coffee maker. "sure, sure. i'll tell jay to call you back. have a great day!"

"thanks, sunoo. you too."

---------

jake ends the call before putting his phone back inside the pocket of his jeans. he's sitting on the bleachers because he hasn't texted heeseung yet.

it was easier when jay's the one bridging him towards heeseung, and now he can't even ask him out on lunch because he's used to jay being the wingman. damn it.

he looked back when feels someone tapped his shoulder, only to see heeseung behind him.

"hey," the guy gave him a small smile. "let's go?"

jake stared at him with confusion. "heeseung? what are you doing here?"

"you haven't eaten yet right? let's go have lunch," heeseung carries jake's duffel bag before grabbing his hand.

"uhm... what?"

"come on, i rarely ask people to eat with me so you better accept my offer."

heeseung watched as jake's face light up with a smile. he chuckled, looking amused.

"i'll never do that. where should we eat?"

----------

inactive @cyberlee tweeted.

"what's this? i don't remember ordering grass from our front yard" 😅😂

582 likes | 63 retweets

replies:

@simjake you should learn how to tag people next time 😤
↪@cyberlee right lol i forgot, @simjake there hahaha
↪@simjake 🤦🤦

-----------

[ jongseong ]

jongseong:
are you guys eating lunch now?

heeseung:
yeah

jongseong:
good good
thanks for accompanying him
and pls don't tell him i texted you

heeseung:
no worries
i don't mind having lunch with jake if he wants to
he could've just asked me directly

jongseong:
nah he's not that straightforward
he's still walking on eggshells around you so he's not that comfortable yet

heeseung:
really? but we're friends
it's not that big of a deal

jongseong:
but it is a big deal to him
he likes you
not that you haven't noticed alr

heeseung:
i'll pretend i didn't read that
anw we're going to the mall if you want to join us

jongseong:
no thanks
you two enjoy 😇
and btw his fave ice cream shop is the one right beside the fountain outside the mall

heeseung:
okay noted on that
you sure you don't want to join?

jongseong:
nope
have a great day :D

----------

hi hi!

we'll be jumping throughout the timeline (and this book has a tangled timeline) so it's gonna be somewhat confusing 😅 but don't worry, i'll let y'all know if it's flashbacks/memories or who's pov is who ^^