Chapter 3. Where Am I?
A drowsy morning.
I woke up to the annoying sound of the alarm.
Maybe it was because of the alcohol I had yesterday — my stomach was churning badly, and I couldn’t even remember how I got home...
Wait a minute...
"Where... am I?"
When I opened my eyes, I found myself in a house with white wallpaper and a modern interior.
My house couldn’t be further from modern, so the moment I realized this wasn’t my home, my heart started pounding like crazy.
All kinds of strange thoughts flooded my mind, and about 770 ridiculous scenarios flashed through my head.
I quickly decided I needed to escape. Grabbing the bag that was lying nearby, I flung the door open.
As soon as I stepped outside, I spotted Park Jimin drinking water in the kitchen.
Our eyes met — me trying to flee, him calmly sipping water.
He paused mid-sip and said with a sweet smile,
"Did you sleep well?"
‘Did you sleep well’...
That simple question carried so many possible meanings, and I desperately hoped it wasn’t implying anything weird.
When I looked at him suspiciously, he quickly added, as if to prevent any misunderstanding,
"Ah, haha, I slept on the couch."
"Thank you..." - Ji-eun
I bowed my head and thanked him politely.
Not knowing what I might have done last night, I decided the best move was to run away immediately.
But just then—
"Ji-eun, have some soup before you go," said Jimin.
He was already placing bean sprout soup and rice on the dining table.
Honestly, I was starving, so I quickly sat down and thanked him once more.
As I took a spoonful of the soup, I noticed that Jimin, looking strangely tense, was watching me eat.
Feeling a bit awkward under his gaze, I smiled slightly and said,
"It’s delicious."
Only then did his tense expression finally soften.
The soup was so good that I focused entirely on eating it, but Jimin kept staring at me without touching any food himself.
I paused mid-bite and hesitantly asked,
"Aren’t you eating too, sunbae?"
He chuckled, looking genuinely happy, and replied,
"I already ate earlier."
Feeling a bit uncomfortable under his gaze, I hurriedly finished the soup, thanked him quickly, and fled from the house as fast as I could.
Chapter 4. The Seat Next to Me
I ran straight home.
The only thing on my mind was "let's not be late," but still, if I went wearing the same clothes from the freshman welcoming party last night, people would definitely look at me weird.
So I made it my goal to at least change my clothes and moved quickly.
When I arrived home, our family dog, Mong-i, greeted me.
I quickly said hello to Mong-i and rushed to wash my hair at lightning speed.
I washed it roughly with cold water, dried it just enough so it wouldn't drip, and carefully did my makeup.
I threw on a blouse and black slacks that caught my eye, put on socks, and raced to the shoe rack.
I shoved my feet into the shoes I had worn earlier and, with everything ready, left the house with about 10 minutes to spare.
Honestly, I was moving so fast that even my parents wouldn't have known.
As if nothing had happened, I headed to the university and made it to the lecture hall with two minutes left.
Phew… but I didn’t see Haejin anywhere.
I figured we must have gotten split up for this class.
As an ISFP, and a very shy one at that, I quietly made my way to an empty seat in the back where no one was sitting.
It already looked like groups had formed in this class.
Just about a minute before the class started, the guy I had bumped into yesterday opened the door and walked in.
The atmosphere in the lecture hall immediately grew restless when he entered.
I overheard people whispering next to me:
"Hey, I told you I picked this class because Taehyung sunbae was taking it, right? lol"
"Same lol"
"Honestly, I bet most of the girls here signed up because of Taehyung sunbae."
"Dude, I followed his schedule and now I’m fully booked on Tuesdays, lol."
While I was half-focused on their conversation, Taehyung sunbae started walking toward me.
Confused, I looked around—
but it seemed that the only empty seat left was the one next to mine.
Inside, I was screaming, I'm screwed, on repeat.
He kept getting closer step by step.
Then—
He casually dropped his bag onto the floor and took out his notebook and pen.
While the lecture hall buzzed because of him, the professor finally walked in, took attendance, exchanged greetings, and began the class.
I hurriedly opened my book and started taking notes, while he just listened without writing anything down.
Still feeling guilty about bumping into him yesterday, I stole a glance at him, then pulled out a dog-shaped sticky note.
I scribbled, Sorry for bumping into you yesterdayㅠ and stuck it onto his notebook.
After reading the sticky note,
he stared at me.
For a loooong time.
Embarrassed by his prolonged gaze, I quickly turned my head away.
He then wrote something on the sticky note and handed it back to me.
On it, in neat handwriting, was written:
"It’s okay."
Seeing that, I let out a soft laugh without meaning to.
Taehyung tilted his head slightly, then returned his focus to the lecture.
I also got back to taking notes.
When the lecture ended, I was packing up my bag to head to my next class, and Taehyung sunbae stood hesitating as if he had something to say.
Noticing this, I asked him:
"Is there something you want to say?" – Jieun
"Uh... your name is Lee Jieun, right?" – Taehyung
"Yes. How did you know?" – Jieun
"During roll call earlier. I'm Kim Taehyung." – Taehyung
After he introduced himself, I smiled and said:
"You have a cool name."
Then I left the lecture hall to attend my second period class.
Chapter 5. Future Driver
All my classes ended after the fourth period, and I was browsing on my phone, trying to decide what to eat for lunch.
Then I heard a familiar voice behind me say, "Going for lunch?"
I turned around quickly, and maybe because I turned so suddenly, our faces ended up way too close.
"You turn around so suddenly, it’s embarrassing," — Jimin
He acted a little shy, and I gave an awkward "ha, ha, ha" laugh.
When he asked again, "Are you going to have lunch?" I nodded.
Seeing me nod, he smiled brightly.
"Looks like we're in sync. I’m done after fourth period too."
I immediately understood what he was hinting at.
He was basically saying, 'Let's have lunch together,' just in a roundabout way.
Out of courtesy, I asked, "Would you... like to eat together?"
And he eagerly accepted.
‘Ah, f*ck.’
He said he knew a good place and told me to follow him.
Though I wasn’t sure if I should trust him, I followed anyway.
He led me to a tonkatsu restaurant.
We grabbed seats by the window and both ordered the regular set meals.
While waiting for the food, I asked him carefully:
"Um... did I do anything wrong yesterday?" — Jieun
"Wrong? Hmm... not really wrong, but..." he grinned, "you were quite the driver."
The word driver triggered a flood of memories through my mind.
“Ahjussi! You're so handsome!!”
I had hugged a life-size standee of actor Gong ○, clinging to it like a fool.
Jimin had desperately tried to pull me off.
When he finally succeeded, I started whining for him to give me a piggyback ride,
and he, having no choice, carried me on his back.
The moment he did, I grabbed his hair and started steering him around, just like the rat in Ratatouille.
I pulled his head left and right, shouting "Brake!" while yanking his hair.
The memories rushed back, and I glanced at him pitifully.
Seeing my face, Jimin smirked as if asking, You remember now?
"Good thing you have a lot of hair… hehe." — Jieun
I checked his hair worriedly and apologized.
He waved it off, saying it was fine, but I kept insisting, "Let me make it up to you somehow."
"Then... how about giving me one wish coupon?" — Jimin
"Are you really okay with just that?" — Jieun
"What, were you planning to prescribe me hair loss medicine?" — Jimin
"I could if you want..." — Jieun
"Forget it, LOL." — Jimin
Just then, the tonkatsu was served.
Jimin cut up his portion and then even cut mine for me, placing it in front of me.
"Thank you..." — Jieun
"A future driver like you needs to eat well," — Jimin teased.
I was too embarrassed from yesterday's incident to even respond.
As I kept eating, my long hair started to get in the way, so I tied it up with a hair tie from my wrist.
At that moment, I noticed him staring at me — again.
It was that same look he had during the welcome party.
But this time, his gaze was softer, almost dazed, as if he were intoxicated.
He just kept staring with that look.
When I finished tying my hair and looked back at him, he quickly snapped out of it and fixed his expression.
The atmosphere had turned a little awkward.
Thinking I needed to break the tension, I brought up the tattoos on his arm.
Luckily, it worked.
The awkwardness faded, and he enthusiastically started explaining his tattoos.
He even showed me his arm.
"Aren't they cool? Look, when I do this, it spells LOVE," — Jimin
"They’re really pretty..." — Jieun
I muttered softly.
The small tattoos scattered across his skin looked genuinely beautiful to me.
Seeing them made me want a tattoo too.
"If I were to get a tattoo, where do you think it would look nice?"
Without hesitation, he answered:
"Your collarbone," — Jimin
