Y/n's POV

The coffee was shit just like I knew it would be. this campus café brewed everything at a temperature that could strip paint but I needed the caffeine more than I needed dignity.

I wedged myself into the corner table, my laptop open, textbook resting like a dead bird, and tried to remember why I decided to pick a biology major when I could’ve done something sane.

Just as I was drowning in my pool of thoughts , I heard the chair across from me scrape back.

I didn’t look up because I didn’t need to. I fucking knew who it was. His cologne was something expensive and the kind that whispers I have better things to do than impress you.

Then I heard the laugh, low and private, like we were already in on a joke I had not listened to.

“You’re in my light,Jeon” I said.

“You’re in my seat,Y/n” Jungkook’s voice was honey. “But I’m feeling generous today so I’ll share.”

I finally lifted my gaze. He was leaning back in the chair, his arms crossed, the dark hair falling into his eyes just enough to look effortless.

Jeon Jungkook ; campus royalty, fourth-year biology student , and the kind of beautiful that made professors forgive late assignments and made me want to commit minor things.

We had been circling each other since freshman year. Every seminar, every group discussion, every godforsaken study session ...he was there , throwing comments over my shoulder and correcting my pronunciation of scientific terms he knew damn well I pronounced correctly.

I always fired back and he always fucking leaned in. This was the thing that the whole department noticed. Last semester, Dr. Patel had jokingly referred to us as “the married couple,” and I had nearly bitten thru my pen.

“I’m studying,” I said. “alone....That’s the arrangement.”

“Unarrange it then. ” He nudged my textbook with two fingers turning it toward himself. “Neural pathways and conditioned responses. bedtime reading... Does this get you hot, Y/N??”

“More than you do,”

Something flickered in his eyes. “Liar.”

I snapped the book shut, nearly catching his fingers. “Did you want something or are you just here to be a mosquito?”

“Mosquitoes are ecologically important. They pollinate. They’re a food source.” He smiled, slow and deliberate. “I’m here because I heard a rumor.”

“Congratulations. Do you want a medal for that?”

“I heard Patel’s assigning the big project today. With partners.” The smile widened. “I’m just imagining the look on your face when she reads the pairs aloud.”

My stomach dropped instantly. I had forgotten. The semester project...worth forty percent of our final grade, a deep dive into human reproductive biology, complete with anatomical models, hormonal pathway diagrams, and a joint presentation. Partners assigned by the professor.

“She wouldn’t let us be partners” I said.

“She would and you know that. She thinks we’re entertaining.”

I hated that he was right. What I hated more was that I could see the amusement settling into the corners of his mouth like it lived there. Jungkook didn’t just enjoy needling me...he was good at it.

He had learned exactly which buttons to press, exactly how long to hold eye contact before I looked away and exactly how close to stand before my breathing shifted.

I learned things too. I Learned that he ran his tongue over his bottom lip when he was about to say something cutting. I learned that his left eye crinkled slightly more than his right when he genuinely laughed versus when he was performing. I learned that his gaze dropped to my mouth approximately three seconds into every argument.

“Fine,” I said, shoving my laptop into my bag with more force than necessary. “If we get paired, we get paired that's it . I’ll survive.”

“are you sure, though?” He stood as I stood and suddenly we were too close , the café table between us doing absolutely nothing to create distance.

“You get this little vein in your forehead when you’re annoyed. Ummm... Just right here .” His finger hovered near my temple. “It’s pulsing right now.”

“Maybe that’s your face causing an allergic reaction.”

His laugh was genuine this time and I hated how much I liked it.

Time Stamp

Lecture Hall (Biology)

The lecture hall was filling with students. I grabbed a seat in the back row, my seat, the one I claimed since the first day of sophomore year and watched the room fill up.

Jungkook walked in two minutes before class started and took his usual spot three rows ahead, dead center. Prime visibility.

He turned around and found me immediately and winked at me.

Bastard!

I mimed shooting myself in the head.

Dr. Patel walked in with her armful of folders and her reading glasses perched in her hair. She was sixty-three and the only person in the department who seemed to find our animosity genuinely delightful rather than exhausting.

“Right,” she said, slapping the folders onto the podium. “Project pairs. Before the groaning starts...yes, I assigned them. Yes, it’s final. No, you may not negotiate. Save the drama for your presentations. And I don't want to hear excuses. ”

I held my breath and waited for the partners to be announced.

“Park and Kim. Min and Chen.

Jeon and L/N.”

The air left my lungs in between a laugh and a wheeze. Three rows ahead Jungkook’s shoulders shook with silent laughter. He didn’t turn around but I saw his hand lift, index finger and thumb forming a tiny heart shape directed backward at me.

Bastard.

“I expect professionalism,” Dr. Patel continued, eyes finding me then Jungkook, with pointed precision. “This project requires significant collaboration outside class hours. I would suggest establishing a schedule immediately.”

Significant collaboration and that too outside class hours and that too with Jungkook. Absolute hell!

In my apartment or his, surrounded by diagrams of reproductive systems and hormonal cascades and all the clinical terminology for things that would sound downright filthy in his voice.

I was going to die.

Time Stamp

(after class)

After class, he cornered me by the drinking area. “Your place or mine?”

“Neither. It's better we meet in library. It's public and supervised.”

“The library closes at ten. This project is going to take weeks. Be logical.”

I crossed my arms. “We are not doing this at your apartment. I’ve heard stories about your apartment. The revolving door. The-” I gestured vaguely.

“The what?”

“The hospitality.”

Jungkook’s grin was infuriating. “Are you worried about my reputation, Y/N? I didn’t know you cared.”

“I care about not catching anything antibiotic-resistant.”

“My place is clean. Boring even but it's fine.” He tilted his head, studying me with an intensity that made my skin prickle. “Okay, I'll come over to your place on Thursday, seven o’clock. Bring coffee.”

“I haven’t agreed to coffee or whatsoever.”

“You just did.”

I opened my mouth and closed it. He had me. He always had me and we both knew it.

“I’ll bring the coffee and the diagrams. And my very, very thorough understanding of the material.” He stepped closer, and my back met the wall beside the gate. His voice dropped. “You know, this project covers a lot of… hands-on concepts. I’m happy to walk you through anything you find confusing.”

“I’m top of the class.”

“So am I.”

“We’re literally tied.”

“Exactly.” His gaze traced my face , from forehead to eyes to nose to lips and lingered there. “So imagine what we could accomplish together.”

He left me standing there, furious and flushed and already counting the hours until Thursday.

Time Stamp

(thursday)

My apartment was too small to be this clean. I scrubbed the kitchen counters twice, shoved three weeks of laundry into the closet nd arranged my textbooks on the coffee table.

The doorbell rang at 6:58.

Early.....he's early. Of course he’s early.

I opened the door to find Jungkook holding two coffees and wearing a black hoodie that made him look unfairly soft around the edges. The rain had started outside , the water drops visible on his shoulders

“You’re early,” I said.

“You’re wearing sweatpants.” His eyes dipped down and then back up, and the corner of his mouth curved. “This is already my favorite study session.”

“Get inside before I change my mind.”

He stepped over the threshold and the apartment immediately felt smaller. He was taller than he seemed in lecture halls or maybe that was just the proximity. He smelled like rain and cedar and something warm that I quite couldn't name.

“your place is cozy,” he said, surveying my living room. “The pillows really say ‘I’m emotionally stable.’”

“The pillows say ‘put your coffee on a coaster or I’ll end you.’”

We settled on opposite ends of the couch, textbooks between us like a guarded zone. I watched him pull out his notes, his laptop and a set of highlighters arranged by color.

Of course he was organized. Of course his handwriting was gorgeous.

“Alright,” he said flipping open the syllabus. “Human Reproductive Biology. Where do you want to start? Hormonal regulation? Anatomical structures? Or should we just jump straight to the part where you admit I know more about this than you do?”

The nerve....the fucking nerve of this bastard!!

“I’m not admitting anything.”

“Not yet.” He smiled and leaned back into my couch cushions like he owned them. “But the night’s young.”

I grabbed my coffee and took a scalding sip. Across the guarded zone of textbooks, Jungkook’s knee was six inches from mine. The rain was picking up outside and I realized with dawning horror that I had invited Jeon Jungkook into my home on a stormy night with nothing but biology between us.

And the textbooks didn’t stand a chance.

To be continued.