02: Mirrors

“So, what’s going on with you and Ashley?” Jinhoo asked, stuffing his face with the chicken burger, wiping casually at the cheese that oozed out of the burger and slid down the corner of his mouth.

Jaesung was calmly reading a book, glasses perched on his perfectly sculpted nose, about the Science of Calm Thinking because the man couldn’t drop his intellect for two minutes.

“What? Nothing’s going—how the fuck do you even know about her?” Minhyuk asked, licking the ketchup off his right pinky and then going ahead and absolutely smothering his fries with it.

It was Friday, and so they indulged in a slightly bigger amount of junk food than they usually do the whole week, which meant an extra helping of everything.

“She’s going around campus telling everyone Minhyuk invited her to his house and showed her a good time,” Youngjae said calmly, inspecting his perfectly manicured nails on his left hand by holding it in front of his face, his plate of salad, wiped clean and now resting on the table.

Minhyuk choked on a fry, reached for a napkin, and spat the offensive food item as Jaesung looked up from his book, eyeing the action with distaste.

“What? WHAT? What the fuck. I should've known that girl was trouble,” Minhyuk sputtered and then groaned, slumping back on his seat and rubbing his face with both palms.

“Apparently your knowledge wasn’t enough to keep your haywire hormones in check,” Jaesung said, eyes trained on his book once again as he delicately turned a page.

Jinhoo was licking the crumbs of the burger off his plate, having finished that humongous thing in a matter of seconds. He wiped his cheese and sauce-smeared lips with his napkin. Then brought his hands on the table and popped a French fry to idly chew. “Yeah, Minhyuk. What’s with you and your absolute inability to think with your fully functioning brain? I mean, I’m sure you have a marvellous libido, but is it really necessary to think with your dick all the time?” Jinhoo asked earnestly.

Youngjae snorted eloquently, sipping from his diet coke while Jaesung finally placed his bookmark in a strategic place and closed his book, his attention now fully on Minhyuk.

“Okay, I don’t sleep around that much!” Minhyuk said defensively, although deep down he knew that was a lie.

Because if anyone enjoyed a good fuck, it was Gwon Minhyuk. Sex was an excellent pastime, and Minhyuk liked working out. Sue him!

“Yeah right!”

“Could’ve fooled me!”

“How many times have we saved your ass from literal sticky situations before?”

All three of his friends spoke up at the same time, with varying degrees of exasperation. And Minhyuk stared at them in incredulity.

“WOW. You guys must really think I’m a fuckboy.” Minhyuk grumbled, making abstract shapes with the very napkin he threw his chewed fry in.

“Okay, first of all, can you please throw that disgusting napkin in the trash? It’s triggering my OCD,” Jaesung said, eyeing the thing with unease.

Jinhoo consolingly patted Jaesung’s back, and Minhyuk massively rolled his eyes, getting up to get rid of the incriminating paper, wondering for the hundredth time how he ended up with the most dramatic group of friends.

While he was walking to the nearest bin, his eyes caught a gingham-patterned pair of pants encasing an impressive length of legs. His eyes traveled up to meet a handsome man with dirty blonde hair in a red shirt who was already eyeing him with mischief.

Minhyuk raised an eyebrow, lingering around the bin while turning his face towards the handsome stranger.

The man was clearly throwing flirty smiles 101 and Minhyuk was a gold medallist in catching them all. Just as he was contemplating brushing past the man’s table and maybe dropping his number or something—not really his smoothest move, but sometimes one needs to make do with whatever is plausible—a hand yanked at him and he was dragged back to his table.

“Well, OW!” Minhyuk plopped back unceremoniously on his seat as a nonchalant Youngjae, who had been the one to pull him away, also sat back down beside him.

“Seriously, Minhyuk? There’s a girl literally airing your dirty laundry as we speak and which still remains to be resolved, and you’re already eyeing Mr. Chequered Pants over there?” Jinhoo said in a tired maternal voice.

“Wh- huh… what? I didn’t do anything!” Minhyuk knew damn well he’d been caught, but obviously he wasn’t going to admit it.

Youngjae rolled his eyes like his life depended on it and Jaesung sighed, again.

“Save it, Minhyuk. We know your predatory stance all too well now,” Youngjae said, smiling extra sweetly.

“Okay, do you all even bother to wonder whether all these words are going to offend me or not?” Minhyuk said, taking his chance and enhancing his pout a little. His friends weren’t buying it, of course.

“Nope!” Jinhoo exclaimed cheerfully.

Minhyuk sighed. His friends were right. He needed to deal with Ashley first. He couldn’t allow her to go around campus and spew bullshit.

It wasn’t a big secret around college just how much Minhyuk enjoyed sex, and exploring his sexuality, so he was perfectly fine with his preceding reputation.

It got him what he wanted all the more, and Minhyuk's exceptionally good looks were always an added bonus. As long as he maintained his grades, which wasn’t monumentally difficult since his major was art with a minor in literature, he was good to lead his life however he pleased.

But that’s not to say that he’d allow any random rumors being thrown around by his one-night stands that could potentially tamper with his privacy.

He sighed some more and sat up straighter at the table, eyeing the gingham-trousered man once again, who was sipping his drink in the most charming way.

Maybe after he dealt with Ashley, he could seek the dude out. It did look like he went to their college since he was visiting their campus cafe.

He stood up and stretched his hands above his head. Even though it was only 10 in the morning, he already felt like taking a nap. But then again, that was probably his ever-present procrastinating self talking.

“Fine. I’ll go deal with her. One time. It was just ONE TIME.” Minhyuk whined, bending beside his table to pick up his huge canvas painting that was due today.

“Oh honey, we all know this won’t be the last time you are in a situation like this,” Youngjae said, and Jinhoo and Jaesung nodded.

“Yeah Minhyuk. Why don’t you ever consider finding yourself a partner?” Jinhoo asked, placing his head in his palms.

“Seriously? This conversation is as common as the sun rising every day. You guys know the answer. I’m not fucking interested. I simply can’t deal with one single person’s tantrums and demands. Never mind the fact that I get bored easily.” Minhyuk said, hiking up his bag and adjusting his grip on his canvas.

“Well, when you find the right person, you’d bite back your own words, Minhyuk-ah,” Jaesung said sagely.

“Geez, thanks a lot grandpa!” Minhyuk grinned, and Jaesung made an unsuccessful attempt at throwing a leftover fry in Minhyuk’s direction, which was quite obviously dodged by a laughing Minhyuk as he made his way out of the café.

Jaesung reminded himself for the millionth time to work on his hand-eye coordination, because seriously, his clumsiness could one day be a life hazard.

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