Myeong Jaehyeon stared at the message that had come in from Taesan for a long time.
Taesan: I want to talk again about what I said yesterday.
His heart started racing for no reason.
'What is he going to say?'
What he had heard yesterday was clear.
Friend.
Just that one word made his feelings all tangled, so he made an excuse not to go home and decided to spend time with his grandmother instead.
But now Taesan said he wanted to talk again.
After thinking for a long time, Myeong Jaehyeon sent a reply.
Jaehyeon: Yeah. Let's talk tomorrow.
The next afternoon.
When Myeong Jaehyeon opened the dorm room door, Taesan was sitting in front of the desk.
"You're here."
"Yeah."
It was an ordinary greeting, but an awkward silence hung between them.
Myeong Jaehyeon set down his bag and sat on the bed.
"What were you going to say yesterday?"
Taesan couldn't speak for a moment.
It was something he'd thought about dozens of times in his head, but when he actually faced Jaehyeon, the words wouldn't come easily.
"Yesterday I told you that you were a friend, right?"
"Yeah."
"That..."
Taesan slowly lifted his head.
"It wasn't wrong, but that wasn't all of it."
Myeong Jaehyeon's eyes widened a little.
Taesan clenched his hands tightly.
"At first I just thought you were my roommate, someone I happened to share a room with after coming up to Seoul, and someone loud and exhausting who made me tired, but at some point, when you were late, I kept waiting for you, I started caring about who you were with, and I didn't like other people getting close to you either."
Myeong Jaehyeon couldn't say anything.
Taesan took a breath and went on.
"And when you said you might move to another dorm, the first thing I thought was that I didn't want you disappearing from beside me. That's when I knew."
Taesan looked straight at Jaehyeon.
"That I don't like you just because you're my friend."
The room went quiet.
Myeong Jaehyeon fiddled with his fingertips before asking carefully,
"So?"
"I like you."
It was a short sentence.
But it had taken Taesan quite a long time to say those words.
"It wasn't like that from the start, so for a while I didn't know what this feeling was either, but now I'm sure. I don't like you because you're my roommate. I just like you because you're Myeong Jaehyeon."
The corners of Myeong Jaehyeon's eyes turned a little red.
And he let out a small laugh.
"You're really not fair."
"Why?"
"I've been thinking all day since yesterday that you hated me, and then you go and say that all of a sudden?"
Taesan's expression stiffened a little.
"Why would I hate you?"
"Then why did you say friend yesterday?"
"Because I was scared."
"You?"
"Yeah."
Taesan answered honestly.
"I was scared you'd only see me as a friend, and that if I said something for no reason I'd end up ruining even what we had up until now."
Myeong Jaehyeon looked at Taesan for a moment, then smiled.
"I was scared too, actually."
"Of what."
"That I might like you."
Taesan's eyes widened.
Myeong Jaehyeon continued slowly.
"At first I thought it was just because you were the roommate I met for the first time in Seoul, so I felt comfortable, but when you're not here the room gets way too quiet, and when you're with someone else I end up worrying for no reason, and I like it when you're waiting for me, and I keep thinking about that time we shared one umbrella."
Myeong Jaehyeon gave a small laugh.
"Before I knew it, at some point you stopped being just a roommate to me too."
Taesan said nothing.
Myeong Jaehyeon asked first,
"Then I don't have to move dorms?"
Taesan looked at him for a moment, then answered.
"I'd rather you didn't leave."
"Why?"
"Because I want to be with you."
Myeong Jaehyeon smiled and nodded.
"Then I won't go."
That evening.
The two of them walked together near the school for the first time in a while.
It was the same road as the day they first came up to Seoul.
Myeong Jaehyeon looked around and said,
"Do you remember when we first met?"
"Yeah."
"You were really scary then."
"Me?"
"Yeah, no words, no expression."
"You were noisy."
"Still?"
"Yeah."
Myeong Jaehyeon burst out laughing.
"But now it'd be weirder if you didn't talk."
Taesan smiled a little too.
A moment later, Myeong Jaehyeon took one more step closer to Taesan's side.
The backs of their hands brushed.
Taesan hesitated for a moment, then let his hand fall.
And naturally, he took Myeong Jaehyeon's hand.
Myeong Jaehyeon looked at Taesan like he'd been surprised, but he didn't pull away.
Instead, he lightly intertwined their fingers.
"Taesan."
"Yeah."
"What are we now?"
Taesan thought for a moment and said,
"Roommates."
Myeong Jaehyeon laughed as if it was ridiculous.
"That part's true, but."
"And."
Taesan squeezed the hand he was holding a little tighter.
"People who like each other."
Myeong Jaehyeon smiled and leaned lightly against Taesan's shoulder.
"I like that."
A few days later.
Dorm room.
Myeong Jaehyeon was lying on the bed looking at his phone, and Taesan was doing homework at the desk.
It was the same scene as before.
But there was one thing that had changed.
"Taesan."
"Yeah."
"I'm gonna go eat with people from my major today."
"What time are you coming back?"
"Probably around 9?"
"Got it."
After a moment, Myeong Jaehyeon said,
"Aren't you jealous?"
Taesan looked up.
"No."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
Myeong Jaehyeon smiled.
"Why?"
Taesan smiled back too.
"Because wherever you come back to is here anyway."
Myeong Jaehyeon looked at Taesan for a moment, then got up from the bed.
And he briefly kissed Taesan on the cheek.
"Right."
Taesan's face stiffened.
"What are you doing all of a sudden?"
"Because I wanted to."
"I have to study."
"Okay."
Myeong Jaehyeon smiled and lay back down on the bed.
The Seoul night was spreading outside the window.
A city that had felt unfamiliar at first.
A roommate who had been the most awkward at first.
But now, for Myeong Jaehyeon, the most familiar place in Seoul was this small dorm room, and the person Taesan most looked forward to was always Myeong Jaehyeon.
And the two of them knew it.
The roommate they had first met after coming to Seoul had, before they knew it, become each other's most special person.
And just like that, their college life was only just beginning.
