ila

friday was jake’s favorite day of the week. monday through thursday were filled with back-to-back, grueling practices and monotonous meetings; however fridays only had one schedule for jake: his time on campus. he doesn’t go to campus everyday because of his busy schedule, but fridays were the one day a week he got to escape the idol life and attend some of his in-person classes in a silly disguise.

he also loved fridays because he got to see you. 

you–the person who always let him sit next to you during your shared lectures.

he met you during his first week of class. he was already so nervous about starting school, unsure of his academic abilities after being away from it for so long. when he walked in to his first class, he had no idea where to sit. the front seats near the professor felt too daunting, while the back seats seemed like a guaranteed way to lose focus. in the end, he chose a seat in one of the middle rows, two seats away from you. the seat directly next to you was occupied by your bag, placed there to save a seat for a friend.

the class went on smoothly as the professor briefly went over the syllabus and explained the weekly assignments. each week, students were required to write a summary report on an engineering research topic. the catch was that it had to be written with a partner. since it was jake’s first class, he didn’t know anyone yet, so once class ended, he asked the professor if he could be assigned a partner.

he hadn’t noticed you when you were sitting a few seats away from him, but he definitely noticed you when you walked over to speak with the professor. he watched as you tried reasoning with her, asking to allow you and your absent friend to be partners. she didn’t allow it. you were mentioning something about how your friend was on the waitlist for the class and was almost sure they would get in. he felt a bit awkward standing there honestly, wondering if maybe you simply did not want to be his partner or maybe you hadn’t noticed him standing there just a few feet away. 

it wasn’t until he overheard the professor suggest that the two of you work together that he realized you finally noticed him standing there.

your eyes met for a brief moment for a quick moment and he noticed you looked away almost immediately. for a second, he wondered if you had recognized him, but then thought he should be more humble.

you definitely humbled him when you turned back to the professor and asked, “are you sure?”

jake mentally facepalmed. did you really not want to be his partner that badly? jake thought he looked somewhat smart, he even wore his black frame glasses today! those paired with his jacket layered over a flannel and some baggy jeans, he could’ve totally passed as a smart university student. 

your professor rolled her eyes and walked away to talk to the next student. jake watched as you slumped over a little bit, readjusted your tote bag as if bracing yourself, and walked over to him.

you gave a weak smile and a quick wave, “hi, i’m (y/n).”

he thought you were just a bit shy. “hi, i’m jake.”

he flashed you a smile.

he didn’t know it then, but you were enchanted. and you were trying your best to hide it in hopes of not embarrassing yourself. you were a simple woman, and jake was a handsome guy.

jake, on the other hand, was kind of hopeless.

because every friday afternoon after that, he walked into the massive lecture hall and his eyes searched for you. always you. he’d grown accustomed to this routine. he thought over the past few weeks he’s gotten quite close to you over cups of ramen, coffee shop hangout, and late night of procrastinating homework over video call.

he’d grown fond of you without meaning to. in other words, he liked you. simple as that.

it as an inconvenient, quiet kind of liking. it was the opposite of what he felt from fans, which was usually loud and grand. his liking towards you was calm and private, like his own secret to everyone but himself.

he liked listening to you explain physics concepts so fluidly. he liked how you styled your hair, clipping your bangs back so you could study without your hair in your face. he liked how you only listened to western artists, so being in an idol group felt like his little secret. he liked how you talked about missing your family during your year-long study abroad stay because it reminded him about how he missed his family as well.

jake liked you for a lot reasons, but there was one that mattered a lot more to him than it should’ve. he especially liked that you spoke to him as if he were just jake. not the untouchable idol jake from enhypen. just jake.

there was a particular conversation from a week ago that kept replaying in his head.

“jake, what are your goals for after graduation? do you want to go back to school, or go straight to work?” you asked, oblivious of his idol -life and that fact he was already a full-time worker while being in school.

he laughed a bit to himself, knowing you didn’t know the truth. he wanted to tell you someday, but a part of him though that maybe you'd figure it out soon by yourself. “i think i want to become an idol.”

you made a face that showed your amusement and confusion at his answer. “really? can you dance and sing and all of that?”

"oh you'd be surprised," he smirked, yawning a bit at the end of his sentence. he wanted to seem cool with his answer, but it came out cornier than he expected.

you rolled your eyes and asked him to demonstrate these skills he claimed he has. he dismissed your requests, but you continued to ask for the remaining duration of your late night study session together.

like how he withheld the truth about his idol life, he refrained from telling you something else that was very important. he liked you, but he did not plan on telling you this any time soon. you were his classmate after all, and he’s an idol. you were leaving in three months at the end of the semester, so what good could come from a confession?