"Hi, uh, so." Wooyoung desperately tries to shake off the blankness that washed over him as soon as the pretty receptionist looked up from his laptop and smiled at him. "Do you have a phone?"
A moment passes. Wooyoung wants to facepalm.
~~~
Growing...
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Yunho will leave soon-in exactly fifteen minutes, San notes, when he makes the mistake of glancing at the digital clock on the laptop in Mingi's lap. It's a quarter past twelve and he, Mingi and Yunho are sitting on Mingi's bed shoulder to shoulder. Next to San is Mingi, and on Mingi's other side sits Yunho, looking glum.
Despite looking forward to spending time with Mingi alone, San also finds disappointment brewing in him. Time really passes too fast sometimes. Besides his disappointment, he also tries to fight the yawn that threatens to climb up his throat-because his two resting days of the week are over: this morning, he got up at 6 a.m. to mop the hotel's gleaming floors and wipe the bathrooms of two suites whose guests would arrive later in the afternoon.
Blearily, San blinks at the laptop display where Mingi has just finished entering his personal information in the application form for Chugyeong University Dormitory.
"'Further comments'," Mingi reads out loud before he starts typing, reading along the words, "I - want - to - share - a - room - with - Jeong - Yun - ho - and - Choi - San."
Yunho gives a thumbs up. San grins and lets his head fall sideways onto Mingi's shoulder. It still seems surreal to feel this content about university.
"Sent," Mingi announces after clicking on the button to submit the form. He slings an arm around Yunho to pull him closer to him as well. San watches how Yunho sighs before he leans against Mingi, a small, fond smile on his lips. Almost everything they could prepare for university is done now. All that's missing is going back to their respective hometowns to pack up their stuff, sign up for classes-which is due in about three weeks-and... move to Seoul. And, in San's case, finding a part-time job on or near campus.
"I don't want to go back already," Yunho admits.
San can agree on that in several aspects: he doesn't want Yunho to leave-but he also doesn't want to leave Mingi's room in general, which he will have to do for sure when Yunho's taxi comes to pick him up, because Mingi will want to accompany him outside. San wants that, too, but that doesn't mean he afterwards wants to go back to his own room or one of his other work tasks for the day.
Mingi's room is so much more comfortable than San's-as comfortable as ten square meters with a bed, desk, wardrobe and bathroom crammed in can be. It should come as a surprise to San that Mingi who has lived on the island for less than a month has managed to make his room warm and inviting with posters, an analogue radio on his desk playing hip hop and a warm white lamp by his bed, because that is more than San can say about his own room. But then again, San only has one week on Mingi in that regard, and designing such a comfort space just... fits what San knows of Mingi.
Although, having stepped into Mingi's room for the first time half an hour ago, San realized that he doesn't actually know a lot about Mingi. He was surprised to spot a photo among a little collage on Mingi's desk that showed Mingi with his older brother and a puppy that, as Mingi offered when he caught San staring at the picture, was now three and a half years old. On the other hand, it was less of a surprise for San when he noticed a Post Malone poster stuck to Mingi's wardrobe that Mingi must have taken it with him from his hometown. San remembers one of Mingi's raps on SoundCloud that was supposed to fit after the second chorus of an older Post Malone song.
