Chapter 1: The boy no one understood

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Kim Taehyung had always been someone people noticed—just not in the way he wanted.

There was something about him that drew attention effortlessly. Maybe it was the way he carried himself, straight-backed and unbending, or the sharpness in his eyes that made people hesitate before approaching. He wasn’t loud, nor overly expressive, yet he stood out in every room he entered.

And that, ironically, made him lonely.

Final year of university was supposed to be memorable—filled with friendships, celebrations, and the bittersweet ache of endings. For most people, it was. For Taehyung, it felt like just another phase he had to get through.

He preferred being alone.

Not because he couldn’t connect—but because connections rarely stayed.

Sitting at the far end of the lecture hall, Taehyung flipped through his notes, his handwriting neat and precise. Around him, students whispered, laughed, leaned into each other. He didn’t join. He never did.

“Hey, is this seat taken?”

The voice was unfamiliar.

Taehyung didn’t look up immediately. He finished the line he was writing, capped his pen, and only then raised his gaze.

A boy stood beside him—tall, composed, with a face that blended into the crowd yet somehow held a quiet charm. There was nothing overly striking about him, but there was something… steady.

Min Eunwoo.

Taehyung didn’t know his name yet.

“No,” Taehyung replied simply.

The boy nodded and sat down without another word.

That was their first interaction.

Simple. Forgettable.

Yet somehow, it wasn’t.

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Days passed, and the quiet presence beside Taehyung became… consistent.

Eunwoo didn’t try too hard. He didn’t force conversations or invade Taehyung’s space like others sometimes did out of curiosity. Instead, he existed beside him—occasionally asking for notes, sometimes sharing small observations about lectures.

It was… easy.

And that was rare.

“You always sit here?” Eunwoo asked one afternoon, his tone casual.

Taehyung shrugged. “It’s quiet.”

Eunwoo hummed in agreement. “I like it too.”

That was it.

No dramatic conversation. No forced bonding.

But something had begun.

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Taehyung wasn’t unaware of how people saw him.

He heard the whispers.

“Too proud.”

“Hard to approach.”

“Kind of rude, isn’t he?”

He never corrected them.

Because explaining yourself to people who already decided who you are… was exhausting.

But Eunwoo didn’t seem to have those assumptions.

Or maybe he just didn’t care.

And that, slowly, made a difference.

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One evening, as the sun dipped low, casting long shadows across campus, Taehyung found himself walking beside Eunwoo without realizing how it had happened.

“You’re from here?” Eunwoo asked.

“No.”

“Same.”

Silence followed, but it wasn’t uncomfortable.

Taehyung noticed something then—Eunwoo wasn’t trying to impress him. He wasn’t overly expressive, nor particularly deep. He was… normal.

Steady.

Grounded.

For someone like Taehyung, who had spent most of his life standing alone, that normalcy felt strangely comforting.

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It didn’t happen all at once.

Nothing with Taehyung ever did.

But slowly, piece by piece, Eunwoo became part of his routine.

Sitting together.

Walking together.

Occasionally sharing meals.

And eventually… waiting for each other.

Taehyung didn’t notice when it shifted.

When Eunwoo’s presence went from optional to expected.

When silence between them stopped being emptiness and started feeling like understanding.

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For the first time in a long time, Taehyung didn’t feel entirely alone.

And that scared him.

Because he knew one thing very well—

Things that felt good… never stayed.

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But still, he didn’t step back.

Didn’t distance himself.

Didn’t build the walls higher like he usually did.

Instead, for reasons he couldn’t fully explain, Kim Taehyung let Min Eunwoo stay.

And that—

That was where everything began.

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