"this is so ugly," sunghoon says as he looked at the front page of their school paper that just got printed out.

jungwon glared at him. "i did the layout."

"oh," the older smirks as if he finds what jungwon had said funny. "no wonder it looks like this. change it again, at least make it pleasing to the eyes."

jungwon snatched the newspaper away from his hand. "fuck you," he managed to whisper under his breath while he walked out of the headquarters.

"i'd gladly do it if you want me to, yang." sunghoon lets out a laugh as he sees how jungwon's face looks so disgusted.

he waved his hand while jungwon opened the door and got out. seconds later, the door opened again— revealing jay with a constipated look on his face.

"shop's closed sir, we don't accept pets at this hour."

jay raised his middle finger and then proceeded to stop right in front of sunghoon's table. "rate my outfit from 1-10."

sunghoon gave him an 'are you fucking kidding
me?' look. "how bored are you? don't you have some balls to kick or something?"

"is this too much? should i add some scarf?" jay asked again, this time he also turned around for sunghoon to check his full outfit.

"just call sunoo and ask him. i'm not tyra banks so stop modelling in front of me." his friend tried to throw a crumpled paper in his direction but he dodged it.

jay sighed in frustration, "you're useless." then he just walked away, leaving sunghoon confused.

what the fuck?

--------

[ hoon 👿]

hoon 👿:
what drugs are u using
and where did u buy them

jay:
???
fuck off
you're useless
u didn't even rate my outfit
🙄😒

hoon 👿:
what for?
u got a date with jake or smth?

jay:
no
why would u say that

hoon 👿:

bc ur acting like ur impressing someone

jay:
ah
lol
nvm what i just said then
bye

hoon 👿:
hmm
what is going awn 🤨

------

[ heeseung 🙂 ]

heeseung 🙂:
hey
what time does your practice end?
i'll just wait for you outside the uni

jay:
i don't have practice today 😅
my class will end at 5:30

heeseung 🙂:
okay

where do you want to eat?

jay:
idkk lol
you choose
since it's your treat 😄

heeseung 🙂:
you sure?
we'll go to the steakhouse then
is that okay with you?

jay:
yeeeep
btw
are you sure you don't want to invite sunoo and hoon?

heeseung 🙂:
i'm sure
i told you i want to have dinner with you alone

jay:
hahahaha okay

heeseung 🙂:

why?
are you uncomfortable?
if you want to, we can let them join

jay:
no lmao it's fine
i'm good
and i'm not uncomfortable with you

heeseung 🙂:
if you say so
i'll see you later ^^

--------

"yo jay, do you have some fabrics left? i needed to finish my final project and i ran out of soft tulle to use." jay raised his head when his blockmate called his name.

"i don't have tulle anymore, just buy it again." he scratched his neck, tilting his head to the side as he stared at the trouser that he just finished sewing.

did i mess up the measurements? it looks a bit weird. jay sighed. the trouser should fit sunoo's size, but for some reason he thinks it's longer compared to his roommate's height.

nevermind, i'll just take sunoo's measurements again just to make sure.

he packs up his things and cleans his table. before he could leave the room, his other classmate called his name again.

"jay! i think the dean's looking for you earlier. he said you should come to his office, he wants to talk to you about something."

"wait, now?" he checks his wrist watch. it's almost 6 pm. "just tell him i'll come by tomorrow. i have to go now, bye!"

jay walked faster so he could arrive at the gate in less than five minutes. he slows down when he finally sees a familiar figure standing right beside the gate of the university.

"sorry, i had to finish up a project..." he says first, while heeseung just smiled at him. "did you just get off at work?"

the older nodded. "no worries, i didn't wait that long." heeseung then takes jay's backpack and hands him his own as an exchange. "here, carry mine instead."

jay decided to not say a word and just carried heeseung's bag. it's not like he's going to stop, might as well just let him do what he wants.

"i'm starving, let's eat before i pass out of hunger."

heeseung chuckled. "alright, let's go."

--------

inactive @cyberlee tweeted.

️☀️

2839 likes | 516 retweets

replies:

@jeong_in WORLD PAUSE.... who is that 👀
@parkwrites ah i get it lmfao this answered my confusion earlier 😌
@sunscript is that jay? hahaha it looks like him
↪@parkwrites IKR?? literal twinsies 🤪

-------

hoon 📰 @parkwrites tweeted.

what in the gay ass sht am i seeing rn

647 likes | 53 retweets

-------

jay stared at the food in front of him. he looked around, noticing that almost half of the people who were eating inside the restaurant were couples.

he's not assuming anything, but this feels a bit too much for a dinner with a friend.

"you don't like the steak?"

he quickly shakes his head to answer heeseung's question. "no, sorry. i'm just a bit preoccupied with the...uh, project."

heeseung takes a sip of his wine before speaking again. "i apologize if i forced you to have dinner with me, you should've rested instead."

"wow, that sounds like you kidnapped me or something. don't feel bad, you'll pay for the food anyway. i'm just happy to eat for free." jay grinned and started eating the steak. it tastes great, as what he expected.

the two of them ate their dinner peacefully and engaged in short conversations every once in a while. jay likes to talk to liven up the atmosphere— but with heeseung in front of him, he feels like he doesn't need to do that.

this is nice... and calming too. he needed his mind to rest, after all that has happened to him and jake.

he hasn't texted his best friend yet, and he feels conflicted about things. at least this dinner is taking his mind off the gutter. i should reach out to jake soon.

he noticed heeseung staring again, so jay clears his throat as a distraction.

"so, why am i the only one getting free steak from you? sunoo and hoon are going to be jealous if they find out about this."

heeseung chuckled. "well, you had to take care of a sick person so you deserve it."

ah... right, this is a payback for the time he got sick. jay smiled back and drank his wine.

"also i couldn't invite them because a date only consists of two people, isn't it?"

jay chokes on his drink. he coughed, wiping his mouth with the tissue.

a what?!

"date? ah, you mean a friendly date?" jay asked, trying to brush off what heeseung had just said.

heeseung's lips turned into a lopsided smile. "sure, a friendly date. whatever you want to call it, as long as it just involves you and me— no one else."

jay's mind went blank. what should he say? how does he react to that? what in the actual fuck is he even saying?!

---------

jake stares at his phone— his eyes almost piercing the screen.

heeseung's tweet... he knows it was jay. he could recognize his best friend's shadow anytime.

jealousy stirs up inside him.

he hasn't seen jay for days now, and he hasn't contacted him. i know i shouldn't wait for him to reach out first, but... it was always him who does that.

maybe i scared him away. maybe he thinks that i'm too selfish to be his best friend. maybe he's forgotten about me.

maybe... he's starting to like someone.

the mere thought of jay liking someone is like pricking needles through jake's heart. if that happens, his heart would probably stop beating.

i can't let that happen. risking is the only way out of this.

i'm sorry, jay. but as of now, i don't want to be just your friend.

----------

[ jakey ⚽ ]

jakey ⚽:
jay, are you free tomorrow?
let's have a talk.
i need to tell you something important.

---------

can't believe we're alr at chapter 40 😭 wtf did i write for this book to be that long HSJSJS

anyways idk how much longer this would be, but maybe around 55+? or 60? idk yeah we've reached more than half alr yay! 😄