Chapter 20 - Lake Guy 2

Haneul is leaning against the wall with his hands in his pockets. His hair is now short and pink. The sudden change of image from two weeks ago shocks Wonho whose eyes turns wide. 'Wono-yah! Let's have lunch!'

Wonho looks around, thinking real hard whether to accept the offer or not. He never spends time with the older besides his days at the hospital so he doubts they will have anything to talk about. Just because he is Sangcheol's mate doesn't mean Wonho gets along well with him.

But the past few weeks has been really hectic, mentally and emotionally, and Wonho really wants to talk to someone, or even listen to someone's voice talking to him. The isolation from the people around him is really starting to wear him. 'Sure… the canteen?'

Haneul is feeling fancy today and had the cream spaghetti set and Wonho decides to go for the fried chicken. Just having Haneul there talking non-stop about his favourite menus made Wonho hungrier than usual, and he finally bought the famous custard pudding to go with his main dish. He doesn't even like sweet food that much.

'So how's the new course? Hanging in there?'

Wonho takes a big bite off the drumstick before chewing it hastily. God he is so hungry! And the food tastes so good! 'Boring.'

He hears a loud laugh from the older and feels a bit guilty. He should have commented on each lecture or something to show that he is trying instead of speaking bad about the whole course. It is Haneul's major after all, and he just said it is not interesting. 'I know that feeling. My favourite ones are only critical thinking and creative writing class. I hate all the others.'

'You do?' Haneul nods and Wonho feels relieved that he didn't offend the only omega who is willing to keep him company. He hates to admit it, but he is really thankful for the lunch date. He never realized how much better the food taste when eaten with good company.

'I only like to write. I hate poems and stuff like that. Do you think the authors are actually talking about death when writing about a curtain? Just where the hell did that come from?' Wonho just has to laugh at that. Although he has yet to learn about the curtain of death the older is talking about, he never really gets poems himself. He doesn't realize how hard he is laughing until a tear flows out.

'Yaah! Are you mocking me? It's not even that funny.'

'I know. That's not even funny.'

'What?' Wonho laughs again when he is hit by the older. How long has it been since the last time he laughed? He misses laughing.

'Owh wait, my friend is here! Seph!' Wonho froze in his place. A foreigner? He is already bad with the locals, let alone having to speak to foreigners. Why did Haneul invite him over? He hears the footsteps coming closer and sits still, trying to act normal. The guy or lady is an omega, based on the scent.

The guy sits beside Haneul and Wonho lets a relieved sigh. He is Korean after all!

'Hey Wonho! Nice to meet you! I'm Joseph Lim.' Wonho smiles at him and introduces himself briefly.

'Joseph's taking social science and is doing research on omegas working in alpha/betas' field.' This time Haneul is doing the introduction and Wonho just nods in admiration.

That major seems complicated, but he should applaud the man for studying it. Social science is really something Wonho finds interesting, yet boring at the same time because there is never a definite conclusion towards the research topic. In the end, it only depends on how the researchers interpret the data and the conclusion is made based on his feelings and opinions.

So as much as it is interesting to read about it, Wonho always wonders why the course is offered in the first place. It is not science per say, at least in his opinion, but it is still… explorable.

Wonho notices both of the omegas' hairs, 'You both have pinks hairs! What's the occasion?'

'It's a couple look! We're making it official.' Wonho almost choke on his drink hearing that from Haneul. Official? Couple? What about Sangcheol? And omega-omega couple?

Haneul is laughing really hard at the reaction while Joseph smiles widely. The latter hits Haneul lightly, 'Yah, you shouldn't bully the guy like that. He almost choked to death.' Earning another set of laughter.

Wonho calms himself down and takes hard and deep breaths to re-control his respiration. After a few minutes he is finally able to breathe easy, 'What did Ryuu-hyung say about that?'

'Pfttt… what can he say about it? A teardrop and he's all panicky…' Haneul states bemusedly, making Wonho wonders how the ???????????????????? is okay with treating his ???????????????????? like that. They seem really close, but Haneul does not show that much of respect towards Sangcheol like he thought all omegas do their alphas. Their relationship seems more casual, like best friends, albeit them being mates. 'Okay fine. He got all jealous and possessive so he also coloured his hair.'

'Ryuu-hyung, in pink?

'No, grey. Cus he's such an ahjusshi1.' Haneul answers casually, face annoyed and Wonho laughs again at that. Sure, he always thinks Sangcheol has this fatherly aura about him, but ahjusshi? 'Okay, fine. Silver cus he thought it looks cooler than grey. It's still grey to me though.'

'I'd like to see that!' Wonho says between chuckle. He would really love to! Grey-haired Sangcheol ahjusshi!

'Well you're coming to the games next two weeks, right? I'll make sure he sticks to the colour till then!'

If Wonho was reluctant to go see the basketball match then, he is looking forward for it now. Of course, he is still a bit skeptical about being stuck in a room with all the alphas but Haneul and other omegas will be there, and Junjie and Mengyao too… so hopefully nothing bad will happen.

Hopefully.

Because he really wants to meet his friends. Although he has no clue how to act around them after that incident. But he is desperate, so he will worry about it when the time comes.

#####

Minwoo looks around the lecture hall for a good seat. He still knew no one from this major and everyone seems to already be comfortable in their own clique. Some alphas are eyeing him curiously, challenging him to join their group while the beta-only groups do not pay attention to his presence.

After a lot of consideration, he decides to sit with the guy who is staring at the window. He is sitting alone and Minwoo really cannot be bothered with making friends from this major since he will only be taking this lecture anyways.

Since he is not that busy this term as he has already taken most of the classes he had to take back at his old university, he gets some free time. And since he decided to be the hard-working Minwoo, he wants to fill his time taking other classes. Just his luck, Advanced Architecture II is right when he is free. And the lecture only requires him to write his thoughts on each session for credits.

It is perfect. He gets to learn about buildings on his free time. It is basically just free credit hours!

Minwoo takes his seat and decides to say hi. The man waves at him and awkwardly stares at the blackboard with nothing written on it. 'Hey, aren't you in the basketball team?'

The half-Korean looks at him and nods, before offering his hand to shake. Minwoo awkwardly accepts it, 'Jo Chansol. You are?'

'Kim Minwoo. I'm in medic's basketball team!'

'Really? Cool! So urm… you playing this time?'

'Yup! Guess we're rivals then!' Minwoo grins excitedly and the other nods shyly before turning his head to face the window again, leaving Minwoo by himself. The taller one is bored waiting for the appearance of the professor and wants to talk but the other seems to be in his own world. No wonder he is sitting alone. 'So, Chansol, are you mixed?'

'Yeah man. Half-Korean, half-Dutch.' He replies lazily but turns himself to face Minwoo, who got excited at the word 'Dutch'. He starts to speak in the language, hoping to break the ice, but only gets a wide eyed Chansol staring back at him. 'What language is that?'

'Hrmm? It's Dutch! You're half-Dutch right??' Minwoo returns the stare. Did he just make a fool of himself? He is sure he is speaking that language though, he had been speaking it for the last twelve years and is really fluent.

'Dude, my mom is from America though. I can't speak Dutch.' Which leaves Minwoo flabbergasted. He did just look like an idiot. 'But that's so cool! What other language can you speak? German? French?'

'Nope. Well, a little bit of those too but…' Minwoo rubs the back of his neck and avoids the twinkle on the other's eyes. This conversation is not turning the way he had expected.

'Cool man. Owh hey! You have fangs! That's so cool.' Which made Minwoo close his mouth and smiles at the man. He is very… unique. In a way. In a good way but it is kind of hard to keep up. Minwoo tries to find something more interesting to talk about. The professor seems really late and he is now stuck with this Chansol kid, who somehow manages to expertly change the conversation topic each time he speaks. He has never met anybody like this.

Minwoo looks around, trying to find something to talk about. He then remembers something he has been very curious about. Something about one particularly beautiful man he had met around the place some nights ago.

The man he met that night... they were near the Architectural and Engineering department. He didn't look like an omega, and he is definitely not a Performing Arts student based on how stiff he was, so he should be one of the other two. He didn't look like a freshman either so this Chansol kid may have seen him somewhere. He is someone that is hard to miss though. At least for Minwoo.

'So Chansol, have you ever seen a guy who's like really slim and tall, and have this really pale white skin…'

'Slenderman?' Chansol interrupts Minwoo which caught him off-guard.

'Slender who? No! I mean, yeah he's slender but his has these sharp eyes, like a fox, or something like that and very sharp jawline…'

'Something like a vampire? Are we talking about supernatural stuff? I never met any ghosts.' Minwoo gives up and almost face palm himself if not for the professor rushing inside the door and apologizing for being late.

Looks like finding the guy will be harder than he imagined.