First Period

Seokjin sat upright in class, his posture perfect, gaze locked on the whiteboard as the professor spoke with steady rhythm. His pen moved swiftly across his notebook, transcribing key phrases like muscle memory.

"Supply chain decentralization... risk management models... international market volatility..."

He repeated them silently in his mind, trying to let the logic drown out everything else.

And yet, Taehyung's words from earlier pushed in. 

You just looked like you needed a bit of chaos in your routine.

Seokjin's pen faltered for half a second.

"Hah! I need chaos? he needs to mind his own business."

Seokjin thought the idea was ridiculous. Taehyung had been following him around since morning, and it was nothing short of annoying. Irritating, even. A part of him wondered if he regretted confronting Taehyung and his loud group the day before, maybe that had something to do with why Taehyung was suddenly trying to talk to him now.

Seokjin cleared his mind and tried to get Taehyung out of his head, because he hate to admit it but Taehyung has been getting to him, he cracked something, not shattered but a nudged that made a big impact and Seokjin didn't like that.

Because Seokjin had routines and priorities that were laid out for him.

He had been raised in a world of high expectations, rules, and discipline. Everything from his handwriting to his future career had been shaped by rigid structure. His parents believed in excellence — not emotion, that is why Seokjin never had a normal childhood, he was different, and his parents wants him to be aware of that.

So Seokjin learned to be excellent; polished, precise, and stoic.

His kindness, which did exist, was something he carefully hidden away, tucked somewhere private beneath the surface of his heart.

Until a certain chaos-bringer decided to bark into his schedule.

He blinked and focused again, pushing the distraction away. Taehyung wasn't important. He was just noise.

But somewhere, deep down, a part of him whispered:

Then why are you still listening?

 "Mr. Kim, would you care to explain the primary risk involved in a centralized supply chain?"

Seokjin's eyes snapped up, his professor noticed that Seokjin was lost in his thoughts, very unlikely for him. There was a slight pause, a millisecond too long before he answered.

"Uh... if a single supplier fails, the entire chain collapses. There's no buffer."

The professor nodded, satisfied, and moved on. But Seokjin felt the burn of it, that hesitation. That slip.

He never slipped and Seokjin hated himself for it.

"You okay? That's not like you." 

Min Yoongi, his seatmate whispered, his eyes showed concerned.

Seokjin gave a short nod, eyes back on his notes. "Didn't sleep well," he lied.

The truth was worse. He couldn't stop thinking about a boy name Kim Taehyung that refused to be ignored.

After Class

The lecture finally ended, and the students shuffled out into the hall, hungry for lunch and a break from business theories.

Min Yoongi, Seokjin's seatmate, nudged him lightly with his elbow. "You eating?"

"Yeah, I'm really hungry. I didn't have breakfast before I left home... I just didn't want to eat with my mom, that's all," Seokjin replied, stretching his arms over his head and letting out a quiet yawn.

"Dude, that's tough," Yoongi said, glancing at him. "Still, I win the mommy issues award, my mom forgot to cook me breakfast again. Her reason? She forgot she had a child."

Seokjin blinked, taken aback, then let out a surprised laugh at Yoongi's deadpan delivery. Yoongi just smiled, proud of his own tragic punchline.

"This is why we're friends," Seokjin said, shaking his head with a small grin. "We're both emotionally undercooked."

"That's why, as emotionally undercooked friends, let's go somewhere off-campus," Yoongi said, standing up and pulling out a pack of cigarettes. "I need air—and when I say air, I mean cigarette air."

Seokjin gave the pack a look of pure disgust. "You know that stuff can give you lung cancer, right?"

It was a valid concern, but the two were already heading for the exit. Yoongi chuckled and shrugged, completely unfazed.

"Fuck it. You only live once, so I'm gonna huff and puff this shit till I'm old and wrinkly," he said with a wide grin.

Seokjin let out a laugh and slung an arm over Yoongi's shoulders. "That's messed up," he said, still smiling then turned to look at him, suddenly serious. "But I mean it. Lung cancer's no joke. I'm telling you."

Yoongi rolled his eyes dramatically. "And I don't give a fuck~"

They stepped outside the university gates and headed toward a quiet sandwich café a few blocks away. It was breezy, warm, and smelled faintly of grilled meat and toasted bread.

For a second, Seokjin felt a sliver of peace begin to settle, but as fate would have it, his moment of calm didn't last.

Just as he opened the café door, a loud laugh rang out from the inside of the café.

Kim Taehyung.

Surrounded by a few friends, animatedly retelling something with wild hand gestures and too much charisma for one person. He hadn't noticed Seokjin yet.

Seokjin paused mid-step, the door half-open in his grip.

His stomach dipped. Not from nerves, exactly, more like the jolt of recognition you get from a dream you didn't expect to remember.

Yoongi noticed the change instantly. "You okay?"

"Yeah," Seokjin said quickly, stepping fully inside and letting the door swing shut behind him. "Just... déjà vu."

But his eyes betrayed him. They flicked once more to the group outside, lingering on silver hoops, a tilt of the head, a laugh that rang louder than the rest.

It was becoming a pattern.

And Seokjin hated patterns he couldn't control.