.・゜゜・

"So, he seems nice," Felix said with a laugh as the door shut behind them.

Jisung groaned. "Yeah, right? That's only the second time I've met him. He was the same the first time. Basically dropped it on me that he didn't want be friends."

"Yikes. Cold."

Jisung nodded.

"Anyway, I just need to get my laptop. Where do you wanna go? We could stay here, I guess, since he's gone..." Jisung grabbed his laptop from where he'd left it the night before.

"Are you hungry? I could eat. I have ramen in my dorm, or we could go get food somewhere?" Felix posed the question as Jisung shoved the laptop into his bag and flung the bag back over one arm.

"Sure! I don't have any food here yet so that works. My parents cooked a lot of Korean meals, but I don't really know which places do good food here..."

Jisung remembered those nights before he left England with a pang, when he would spend hours with his older brother wrapped up in blankets in front of their family computer, googling all the different things that Jisung needed to know about life in South Korea.

"We can go to the dorm cafeteria. My roommate said the food is good and also cheap, which I think is what I need right now." Felix patted his empty pockets and Jisung grinned.

"Ramen would probably fix the majority of my problems ," Jisung said over his shoulder as he led Felix out of the room and locked the door behind them.

The dorm room had a cafeteria right in the heart of the building, on the other side, closer to Felix's room. Both of the boys were nervous about ordering and unsure of what exactly to expect from the Korean cafeteria. They were pleasantly surprised; both managed to find a few things they liked, so they pooled their money together and ordered a feast to enjoy.

"Let's sit in the corner?" Felix said, nodding in the direction of an empty table in the corner of the room. Jisung was happy to oblige and he followed Felix to the table.

"You're Korean is really good, by the way," Jisung said as they sat down. "Did you speak it a lot in Australia?"

Felix seemed to blush, looking down shyly at the food on the table. He didn't seem like he was used to being complimented. Jisung was surprised.

"Thanks. I'm really self-conscious of it... We speak English at home, so I've kind of just picked it up from listening to my parents talk to their family. And then I started teaching myself online, too."

"That's cool! Your tone is really good, you sound like you grew up speaking it. I get stressed, too. People here speak really fast so it's hard to keep up." Jisung replied.

The timing couldn't have been any better. Right after Jisung finished his sentence, a tall boy with tussled brown hair and glittering crescent eyes hovered by the table and started to speak.

"HeywereyouguysinmyintroductoryclassesthismorningI'msureyouweresatbehindmeandIdon'treallyknowanyoneelseheresowouldIbeabletositwithyou?"

Jisung and Felix just gazed at him. Their faces seemed to be mirrored. Their mouths had dropped slightly, lips gaping and eyes blinking slowly. The other boy glanced nervously between them.

"I'm so sorry, this is really embarrassing. We're both international students and you kind of... speak too fast?" Jisung tried to explain.

The other boy groaned and fidgeted with the collar of his shirt, pretty eyes now apologetic.

"Yeah, I do that. Sorry. I'm Kim Seungmin. I think we were in classes together, and I was wondering if I could sit here?" His effort to speak slower was noticed and appreciated.

"Please do! I'm Lee Felix, I'm from Australia."

"Han Jisung. I'm from England."

Seungmin smiled at them both and perched awkwardly on a seat next to Felix. He pulled a battered lunchbox from his bag. There was rice and kimchi inside. The mountain of food between Jisung and Felix seemed glaringly obvious.

"Oh, you can eat with us!" Felix said with a frown, pushing a bowl of ramen and a plate full of grilled meat towards Seungmin. "It's dinnertime, the queue is ridiculous right now. Eat this."

Seungmin smiled shyly, and Jisung thought for a minute that he was going to turn them down. Instead he pulled a surprisingly ornate pair of chopsticks from a pouch in his bag and started to eat.

"Woah, they're so cool," Jisung exhaled, mesmerised by the intricate carvings and beautiful paintwork that decorated Seungmin's chopsticks.

"Thanks," Seungmin smiled proudly. "My dad worked super hard so he could send me to college with a few really good things, and these were one of them."

"That's really sweet. Are you from Seoul? Do you live in the dorms?" Felix asked.

"I'm from Bucheon, but I decided to move into the dorms. My grandparents left me some money so I could move out and get the real college experience, and it's nice having my family still close by. Dorm life is kind of weird. My roommate seems... Odd."

"Oh, tell me about it," Jisung scoffed, remembering his few awkward encounters with Minho.

"Yeah? Is your roommate bad, too?" Seungmin smiled sympathetically.

"You've probably heard of him. The Lee Minho." Felix seemed to be bragging. Jisung felt something twinge in his stomach - jealousy? Surely not.

"Oh, yeah! I know of him. He went to my school but he was in the year above. He's a dancer, right?" Seungmin's eyes had widened when he heard Minho's name.

"Yep. An amazing dancer too, if I've heard right. My roommate said he used to dance with him." Again, Felix seemed far too proud for someone who had spoken to Minho one time.

Only one less time than I've spoken to him, Jisung thought to himself sullenly.

"Who's your roommate? He might've gone to my school too," asked Seungmin.

"Hwang Hyunjin?"

"No way! Yeah, he went to my school too. I don't know him that well, though. He spent most his time with the older kids. Actually, him and Minho were friends, I think? Or they spent a lot of time together at least." Seungmin spoke casually as he twirled a lump of noodles around his chopsticks.

"Wait, what?" Jisung asked with a frown. He distinctly remembered Minho saying he didn't recognise the name. But why would he lie?

"We saw Minho in their dorm just earlier, and he said he didn't know Hyunjin," Felix explained to a confused looking Seungmin.

"No, I've definitely seen them together a bunch of times. That's weird. Minho was always a bit different, though. He was pretty much famous at school but he barely let anyone near him. Just these other two boys, Bang Chan and Seo Changbin, and then sometimes Hyunjin. But then again, I didn't see Hyunjin hang around with them until Minho's last year there."

"Living with him is hard," Jisung said suddenly. His voice was low and he sounded depressed. "Mainly because I don't live with him. I moved all the way here and specifically requested a room with a roommate so that I would have someone to talk to. But he's never there."

Felix's face crumpled and he lifted a hand to pat Jisung's shoulder gently.

"That sounds like him," Seungmin said with a pout. "But if it helps, he's pretty much always been like that. With everyone. I wouldn't take it personally."

Jisung smiled a short thanks at Seungmin and then went back to staring sadly into the rempty bowl in front of him. Felix chewed anxiously at his lower lip.

"Maybe I can talk to Hyunjin in the dorm. I could ask him if there's anyway you can try and get through to Minho, maybe see what stuff he's into so you can strike up a conversation?" Felix asked consolingly. Jisung just shrugged.

"No, it's okay. There must be a reason why he said he didn't know Hyunjin so I don't wanna invade his privacy." Jisung sounded dejected for a moment before he brightened up. "But what does that matter? I have you guys. And Seungmin, if your roommate's bad too, you can stay with me sometimes."

Seungmin grinned and Jisung noticed a pout on Felix's face. He rolled his eyes, already fond of his two friends.

"And you too, obviously. I need all the company I can get."

Felix's face broke into a smile that caused a small crease to form above the tip of his nose.

"What are you both doing now? I don't have anymore classes, but I need to go and buy some food for in the dorm. Snacks, drinks, things like that..." Jisung purposefully left out the part where he was scared to go to the supermarket for the first time alone.

"What, and you need a tour guide?" Seungmin teased.

Jisung and Felix laughed, and Jisung reached over to push Seungmin's shoulder with one hand.

"Respect your elders," Jisung said, pulling a face.

They cleaned up the last of their food and left together, Seungmin leading the way and Jisung and Felix following him.

.・゜゜・

i want snacks drinks and things like that from the supermarket NOW