✯ Language Center

@Watanabe Mayu I want to learn japanese
/looks down/
my name is Yoshida Riko but My korean is much better than japanese

@Lee Jieun Jongdae nearly jumped out of his skin (and his seat) as he heard the voice next to him. The touch on his shoulder felt weightless, like a passing breeze. He definitely wasn’t expecting anyone to be in the room, but clearly he was proven wrong. The girl sounded quiet, almost like a ghost. For a second, he was afraid she really /was/ a spirit, but the question she posed him seemed neither menacing nor haunting.

He squinted in her direction. The delicate frame of a dark-haired girl came into his blurred field of vision. Even though he was only able to make out her general features, it was apparent that this girl was extremely nervous. For what, Jongdae had no idea. But he did what he was best at whenever people were anxious, and that was smile.

“Yes, how did you know?” The soft sound of his laughter dissolved the tension that trailed after her words. Jongdae gave the air a whiff, probably resembling a dog in the process. “Do I smell food?” He narrowed his eyes, trying to force the girl’s image into focus. “Sorry, I don’t have my glasses on me. I swear I’m not trying to be weird.” The magician gave his hair a sheepish little tousle.

The last thing he needed was for the girl to think he was some sort of creep. It was already strange enough showing up to an empty classroom. Then again, what was /she/ doing here? “Are you in this class? You came here pretty early,” he began curiously. “I mean, that makes two of us, but. . .” Jongdae scratched his chin thoughtfully. “What’s your name? Are we in the same class?” With a smile, he extended his hand in a friendly gesture. “Either way, Kim Jongdae, nice to meet you. Call me Chen if you like.”

@Kim Jongdae The screeching of door makes Jieun turn from her sweet bread to stare at who was walking in. And there he is - speaking of the devil - and Jieun slightly chokes on her food before staring back down and picking her fingers, hoping he doesn't notice her.

But the sound of tumbling and cursing has her peeking at the boy walking carefully and taking a seat at the front of the class and Jieun can't help but stare as he takes his seat, calmly. The girl looks down at her sweet bread, and when she looks back up she hears the sound of stomach grumbling, and at that she bites on her tongue to suppress a soft laugh.

How cute, Jieun muses in her thoughts, her eyes on the boy sitting patiently.

She wasn't one to walk up to people and initiate conversations, but she remembers one time he went up to her and showed her his magic tricks and made her laugh when she was border-line depressed. His smile helped her feel better and his name is something she'll never forget: Kim Jongdae.

Jieun squeezes the remaining sweet bread in her hand, banana milk in her other hand, and makes her way to him. Just a few more steps and you can speak up, she tells herself, and then stops, begins to walk away and then stops again, eyes squeezed shut in annoyance with herself. And then she's walking back up to the boy, squeezing the sweet bread that probably doesn't even look like a piece of bread anymore, but that's okay.

She just needs to say hi, maybe ask if he wants a piece of her lunch since she just heard his stomach grumbling and then hope he doesn't find it weird. In theory, it sounds simple, but as she nears him and slightly taps on his shoulder, cheeks flaring an angry red, she realizes that in action it's much more complicated.

"Um... Uh... Are you... hungry...?"

@Lee Jieun Another apology tumbled from Jongdae’s mouth as he bumped into what felt like the hundredth person today. He blamed his current dilemma on Oh Hayoung. If she hadn’t made him stay up trying out her latest concoction, the magician wouldn’t have overslept. He would have had the time to put on his contacts before leaving the dorm and could’ve avoided this disaster altogether. Though a nagging voice at the back of his head reminded him that it wasn’t Hayoung’s fault he broke his spare set of glasses. No, Jongdae blamed his roommate for that. But he was well aware that Myungsoo would just as likely tell him it was his own fault. (To be fair, Jongdae had a bad habit of leaving his belongings in the photographer’s space.)

“Ouch! Are you blind?” The sudden contact derailed Jongdae’s line of thought, reminding him that he was still navigating the halls.

His lips twitched in response to the voice’s irritated owner. “Well. . . kind of right now, yeah. Do you know where the Language Center is?”

“You’re standing in front of it, genius.” That said, Jongdae’s unwilling helper his heel and sauntered down the hall, leaving the magician to his own devices.

Hiking his bag further up his shoulder, Jongdae opened the door carefully to avoid the dreaded creaking of its hinges. He blew a gust of hot air from his inflated cheeks before making his way towards a seat at the front half of the room. It wasn’t surprising to find the Language Center empty at this hour, considering most people were preoccupied with lunch. Normally, he would’ve been with the majority, but he couldn’t afford another fifteen minute trek across the grounds. There was no way he was going to be on time to his English lesson. So here he was, blind, hungry, and not looking forward to the remainder of the afternoon.

Jieun has made it a habit of hers to eat alone ever since she can remember.

It probably started some time before high school, when children became more spiteful and cleverer at being spiteful, thereof. But she welcomed the silence, welcomed the feeling of solitude even if she didn’t really have anyone to talk to. Then again, all she needed to do was eat, so what was there to worry about when it came to talking to anyone?

She holds onto the sweet bread and banana milk in her hand as she makes her way down a corridor of school campus until she bumps into a door that should be foreign to her, but has become more and more familiar as the semester has passed. She nimbly opens the door with a loud shriek that makes her wince, look down the corridor to make sure there was no one else and with a soft sigh she walks into the class.

Truly, the girl enjoyed this – sitting down on any chair and eating alone. The classroom empty was completely different from when it was full, and she enjoyed spotting the differences as well as what she couldn’t take notice in while in class. Like how there are these small posters in one corner of the room and a bookshelf inside the English office as well as more desks than students enrolled in the actual English course.

Most importantly, being alone like this in the classroom was the first time she could ever concentrate, since her one and only distraction in college wasn’t present – Kim Jongdae. A cute, sensible guy with a personality (she thinks) to match his good lucks.

Jieun bites the sweet bread, pushes away the thought of the boy before her cheeks keep turning redder at the thought of him.

/looks at my registration card and realizes I have a language elective
Ahh right! I chose Japanese Language as my elective~
/walks in here as soon as I arrive by the front door
/looks around, seeing nobody but me; sighs in relieved
I thought I was late~ where is everybody though~
/chooses to seat on the chair by the front row, near the window