“Egghead?!”

“What are you doing here?!” the ruby-eyed teen gasped, gaping at the equally surprised actor.

“I could be asking you the same thing! What are you doing at my school?!”

“You go here?!”

“Yeah. Are you here for freshman orientation?”Woo-jae asked, eyeing the sticker on Hyun’s shirt. Yup, he was a freshman, all right!

Hyun nodded, feeling slightly embarrassed and a little scared of being alone in such a huge place by himself. Why did he have to be the one to get lost?! Argh!

“What’re you doing over here, though?” 

“I-I lost my orientation leader and group after the assembly….” 

“How? Actually, never mind. Come on, I’ll take you back; I’m volunteering at the orientation, so you’re lucky I ran into you.”

“Oh… Um, thank you.”

“No problem.”

Leading the way back, Woo-jae tried his best to not freak out. He couldn’t believe it. After all those months of convincing himself that he’ll never see him again, the kid was literally standing next to him! Swallowing hard, he peeked at Hyun, looking around in awe. Oh, dear… Maybe this was why he got lost in the first place? 

“Ahem. So, what’s your name? I’m Woo-jae.”

“I’m Hyun. What year are you?”

“I’m a junior.”

“Oh. So, is that a second or third year?”

“Third year. You’re not from the U.S., huh?”

“...” 

Hyun pursed his lips, looking away with a slight frown. Flustered, Woo-jae awkwardly sipped his drink while his mind raced in a panic.

“Er, sorry if that offended you. I uh… I’m not from here, either.”

“I know. You’re that actor.”

“You know who I am?”

“Yup. I saw the trailers for the new drama on tv and I-Tube.”

“Ah.”

A heavy silence settled as the two continued to make their way to the orientation. While Woo-jae tried to come up with something else to talk about, Hyun hid his amused smile at how flustered the older student was. Compared to the first time they met, Woo-jae seemed a lot more down-to-earth and less arrogant. Hmm. He isn’t that much of a jerk after all…

“By the way, I saw that you still didn’t change your profile pic on Mestagram.”

“Huh? Oh– I… Do you want me to change it?” Woo-jae sheepishly scratched the back of his head. 

“Meh. It’s fine. It’s a good reminder of my shattered dreams.” Glancing at Woo-jae’s horrified face, Hyun bit his lip, smothering his giggles. “So… Do you still have the drawing?”

Not knowing what to make of Hyun’s comment, Woo-jae paused for a brief second before nervously answering, “Yeah. D-Did you want it back?”

Hyun stopped in his tracks as he quizzically stared at Woo-jae, who stumbled in his step to match Hyun’s pace. What…? He did not expect Woo-jae to still have that stupid drawing. It wasn’t like it was a good drawing, either! With his cheeks puffed up, Hyun blushed and stared at the ground in shame. 

“...Why?”

“What do you mean, why?”

“I mean, why do you still have that drawing?!”

Without missing a heartbeat, Woo-jae smiled and leaned down to meet Hyun’s surprised ruby eyes, “Because I wanted to remember you.”

Hyun felt his heart flutter for a moment before he quickly stepped away in surprise. What was wrong with him?! Why the heck was his heart pounding like crazy without permission?! Hahaha, stupid heart getting spooked! Gah! Why can't I calm down?!

“Pfft. Did that surprise you? Haha.”

“S-Shut up! Anyone would be surprised if they heard that!”

“...I probably won’t say that to just anyone, though.” Woo-jae muttered under his breath, leaving the confused teen behind as he continued to walk back to the plaza. 

“Eh? What’d you say– Wait! Hey! Wait for me!”

~~~

Yoo-jin paced near the entrance, scanning the area for his airheaded best friend. Dammit, why didn’t they just put them in the same group?! Taking a peek at the student coordinators and faculty, the incoming freshman was about to sneak away when he felt someone tap on his left shoulder. Jumping in surprise, Jin turned around to see Da-bin smiling at him. What the–? Why was he here?

“Uhhh….”

“Hey, it’s nice to see you again. Congrats on getting admitted!”

“Um. Thanks?”

“You should probably get back to your group instead of trying to sneak out early.”

“I– I’m not trying to sneak out! Okay, I am, but my friend’s missing!”

“He’s probably with his group. Go to your group, okay? We have a new game set up for you guys.” Da-bin gestured for the fuming teen to get back to the venue.

“No, dude, he’s not there! I looked everywhere! His phone is turned off and is going to voicemail! Something must have happened to him!”

“Hard to believe that anything would happen to him here. Oh, look, there he is. See? He’s fine.” 

“What?!”

Yoo-jin darted his eyes to where Da-bin was pointing, spotting his best friend bickering with someone in the distance. That idiot, honestly! Where the hell has he been for the past hour?! 

“...That kid will be the death of me, I swear. Freaking idiot always running off somewhere. Arghh…!” Jin furiously mumbled to himself while Da-bin struggled to hold back his laughter. This human was just like him– constantly babysitting a troublemaker.

“Hyun! WHY DIDN’T YOU ANSWER YOUR PHONE?! DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED– What the heck?! Why are you here?!” Jin asked, appalled to see the actor accompanying Hyun.

“Hi, to you, too,” Woo-jae dryly replied, watching as Hyun innocently skipped over to his friend, who pulled on the poor boy’s squishy cheeks in irritation and worry.

“Owww! Why’d you do that?!” Hyun whined, nursing his throbbing cheeks with a huge pout. 

“Why didn’t you answer your phone?! Why’d you get separated from your group?”

“My phone died during the assembly… Why are you yelling at me?!”

“Nevermind. Come on, let’s go.”

“Wait! Hyung, thanks for helping me out! Bye!” 

Just shoot a movie, why don’t you…  Suppressing a groan, Jin watched Hyun happily wave at Woo-jae, who smiled back at the kid’s dorky gesture. Tsking, Jin was about to haul Hyun out of there, but his guilty conscience glued his feet on the pavement. Whatever, I might as well just get it over with.

Hesitating for a brief second, Jin reluctantly nodded at Woo-jae, “Thank you for helping my idiotic friend out….” 

Surprised, the two upperclassmen watched the pair return to their groups. Huh, maybe that grouchy kid wasn’t so bad after all… Woo-jae lightly walked back to his post while Da-bin followed after him. 

“Someone looks happy for once.”

“Shut up.”

“Are you that happy to see him again?” Da-bin teased, stealing Woo-jae’s chair, relishing being in the shade after being in the sun for hours. 

A slight blush heated Woo-jae’s cheeks as he shyly gazed after Hyun, “You have no idea.”

~~~

“Hyun, are you friends with that a-hole now?”

“Eh? What a-hole?”

“Seriously?” Jin jerked his head towards the group of upperclassmen near the tent.

“Ohhhh. I dunno…?” Hyun trailed off as a slight blush crept up on his cheeks. “Ahem. By the way, you wanna get donuts before we head back to the dorms? Woo-jae hyung mentioned a place near campus.”

“Sure, I don’t mind. But you have answered my question.”

“Should we invite them?” Hyun asked, his eyes sparkling with excitement as white roses poofed behind him… again.

“Who? Those idiots over there?”

“Yeah!”

“Why?” Jin raised an eyebrow at Hyun’s excitement to spend time with the actor. Something was definitely up.

“Why not? It’s nice to know someone older than us. Then maybe we can mooch off of them, hehe.”

Struggling not to guffaw, Yoo-jin shook his head, “I can’t with you. Fine, but we should hang out with the people in our grade sometime. You need to be more sociable.”

“I am sociable!”

“Then why couldn’t you make any friends today?”

“Y-You didn’t make any either!”

“Mhm, whatever you say, pal– HYUN! Where are you going?!”

“I’m gonna go invite our hyungs! I’ll be back!”

Jin rolled his eyes as he glanced up at the sunny sky. Ugh, that kid was definitely too gullible. It was obvious that the jerk had somehow sweet-talked Hyun into being more friendly with him… But, at the same time, Jin didn’t want to deter Hyun from making friends. That kid was too sheltered for his own good, and Yoo-jin had to make sure Hyun survived in the wild after graduating college!

“Eh, I’m sure everything will work out... I think.”

**NOTE: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events, locales, and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.**