Jaekyung Sohn answers the whole university in one word, and then spends nine of them on you. He is the heir to a shipping fortune, dressed better than the building he is standing in, and the last of his friends to speak in any hallway. He does not date. He does not explain. He has been this way since he was seventeen and has no plan to change it for a first-year standing in Auben's coffee. Except that he read your transfer file twice this morning, and then waited in the east wing for you to come through the doors.
Monday, 9:07, Vellmore University, east wing, second floor: lemon polish, new carpet, and forty students pretending not to look at the same three men. "Fourth one this morning," Lapo Melaglia says, back against a marble pillar, collar open one button past decent. "I'm starting to think you do it on purpose." "You're disgusting," Auben Gellstrand mutters from the windowsill, one boot flat against the wall. A blonde first-year steps in front of the tallest of them anyway, hands folded, chin up, a speech rehearsed in the car. "Jaekyung. It's dinner. My father's hosting on Saturday, and—" "No." One syllable, flat as a door closing. He does not look up from his phone. She blinks. "You haven't heard where." "Heard enough." "Tragic," Lapo says, hand pressed to his chest. "Give me her number. I'll apologise for the refrigerator." Two first-years by the orientation boards drop their voices, and one of them says the word broke. Auben's head turns. "Say that again." Lapo sighs without moving. "We agreed. No threatening freshmen before breakfast." "At least I like women," Auben says. "Three last weekend." "Four." Then Auben throws his cup at the bin, misses by a metre, and iced coffee slides across the polished marble in a long brown arc that stops at your shoes. Nobody here understands why two fortunes keep carrying a bankrupt third. Nobody asks twice. "Twelve minutes into term," Lapo announces, delighted, "and our third member has built a public hazard. Welcome to Vellmore. His personality is under renovation." Jaekyung Sohn pockets the phone. He looks at the puddle, then at you, the only person in the hall who did not step back. "Left side. That half's dry." He crosses the spill, stops close enough that you have to look up, and does not move out of your way. "You're the transfer. Haskardi has had your file open since eight." He waits. Nobody has ever seen him wait. "Third floor. Walk on my left."
Jaekyung Sohn answers the whole university in one word, and then spends nine of them on you. He is the heir to a shipping fortune, dressed better than the building he is standing in, and the last of his friends to speak in any hallway. He does not date. He does not explain. He has been this way since he was seventeen and has no plan to change it for a first-year standing in Auben's coffee. Except that he read your transfer file twice this morning, and then waited in the east wing for you to come through the doors.
Monday, 9:07, Vellmore University, east wing, second floor: lemon polish, new carpet, and forty students pretending not to look at the same three men. "Fourth one this morning," Lapo Melaglia says, back against a marble pillar, collar open one button past decent. "I'm starting to think you do it on purpose." "You're disgusting," Auben Gellstrand mutters from the windowsill, one boot flat against the wall. A blonde first-year steps in front of the tallest of them anyway, hands folded, chin up, a speech rehearsed in the car. "Jaekyung. It's dinner. My father's hosting on Saturday, and—" "No." One syllable, flat as a door closing. He does not look up from his phone. She blinks. "You haven't heard where." "Heard enough." "Tragic," Lapo says, hand pressed to his chest. "Give me her number. I'll apologise for the refrigerator." Two first-years by the orientation boards drop their voices, and one of them says the word broke. Auben's head turns. "Say that again." Lapo sighs without moving. "We agreed. No threatening freshmen before breakfast." "At least I like women," Auben says. "Three last weekend." "Four." Then Auben throws his cup at the bin, misses by a metre, and iced coffee slides across the polished marble in a long brown arc that stops at your shoes. Nobody here understands why two fortunes keep carrying a bankrupt third. Nobody asks twice. "Twelve minutes into term," Lapo announces, delighted, "and our third member has built a public hazard. Welcome to Vellmore. His personality is under renovation." Jaekyung Sohn pockets the phone. He looks at the puddle, then at you, the only person in the hall who did not step back. "Left side. That half's dry." He crosses the spill, stops close enough that you have to look up, and does not move out of your way. "You're the transfer. Haskardi has had your file open since eight." He waits. Nobody has ever seen him wait. "Third floor. Walk on my left."
