The city didn’t feel real to Jungkook yet.

It was all sharp edges and unfamiliar noise—cars that never seemed to stop, buildings that stretched too high, and people who walked like they had somewhere important to be. Back home, everything had felt slower, softer. Here, even the air seemed impatient.

Standing at the entrance of his new college, Jungkook exhaled quietly, adjusting the strap of his bag. This is it, he told himself. A fresh start. No one knew him here. No expectations. No past trailing behind him.

And yet, as he stepped inside, he felt smaller than ever.

The campus buzzed with energy—groups laughing, friends calling out to each other, the kind of easy familiarity that made Jungkook feel like he had arrived late to something that had already begun. He kept his head down, trying to follow the map on his phone, but the directions only made less sense the further he walked.

“Okay… this can’t be right,” he muttered under his breath.

“You’re going in the opposite direction.”

Jungkook froze.

He looked up to see her standing a few steps away, watching him with a mix of amusement and curiosity. She didn’t look lost. She didn’t look rushed. She looked like she belonged.

“I—uh…” He scratched the back of his neck, embarrassed. “First day.”

“I guessed,” she said, smiling slightly. “You’re heading to the science building, right?”

He blinked. “Yeah. How did you—”

“Lucky guess,” she shrugged. “Come on.”

He hesitated for half a second before falling into step beside her. She walked with quiet confidence, greeting people here and there, though never stopping for long. Jungkook noticed how easily she fit into everything around her, like she was part of the rhythm of the place.

“You’ll get used to it,” she said suddenly, glancing at him. “It feels overwhelming at first.”

“Is it that obvious?”

“A little,” she admitted, but there was no judgment in her voice.

For a moment, Jungkook forgot he was nervous.

Then they turned a corner—and everything changed.

A group of students gathered nearby, their attention fixed on someone leaning casually against a railing. He was laughing, completely at ease, like the world naturally revolved around him. People gravitated toward him without effort, drawn in by something Jungkook couldn’t quite define.

The girl beside him slowed down.

“Oh—there he is.”

Jungkook followed her gaze.

The guy looked up, and the second he saw her, his entire expression shifted—sharper, warmer, like she was the only person that mattered in that moment. He walked over, slipping effortlessly into her space.

“Where’ve you been?” he asked, his voice low but familiar.

“Helping a lost freshman,” she said lightly, nodding toward Jungkook.

For a split second, the guy’s eyes landed on him—cool, measuring, not unfriendly but not entirely welcoming either.

Jungkook felt it immediately.

“Oh,” the guy said. “Good luck surviving your first week.”

There was a hint of humor in his tone, but something underneath it made Jungkook straighten instinctively.

Then, just like that, the moment shifted again. The girl smiled, the guy’s arm found its place around her, and the world seemed to close in around them—like they existed at the center of something Jungkook wasn’t part of.

“Anyway,” she said, turning back to him briefly, “your building’s right there.”

Jungkook nodded, managing a quiet, “Thanks.”

As he walked away, he couldn’t shake the feeling lingering in his chest.

Out of all the people he could have met on his first day, he had somehow crossed paths with her—someone kind, someone easy to talk to, someone who made this new place feel less intimidating.

And of course… she wasn’t available.

Jungkook glanced back once, just for a second.

They were already surrounded by people again.

He looked forward, exhaling softly.

A new city. A new life.

And somehow, things were already complicated.