NILWM - 24

“I overheard you. On the rooftop below the I Shopping Mall last week.”

“...”

“Who is that woman? What’s your relationship with her?”

Ye-seo corrected her question, looking like she wanted to bite her tongue.

“No, don’t tell me. It doesn’t matter to me what you do with anyone. It’s your private life, so it’s none of my business.”

A string of bright red lies tumbled out. In truth, she was dying to know if he had really gone to the hotel that day, if he had spent the night with that pretty, slender woman, and what exactly their relationship was.

She didn’t say a word about the fact that she had gone to the Rosemont Hotel the next day and sat there for hours. She felt she would rather die than have Han Joo-hyuk find that out.

“Really?”

He replied calmly.

“Yes, really! That’s right. So from now on, stop paying attention to me. Don’t care if I’m close with In-ha oppa or if we’re dating.”

“I never cared.”

Han Joo-hyuk muttered in a low voice. Unlike her, who was full of rage, he was incredibly composed. If someone had seen them from a distance, it would have looked like Ye-seo was needlessly picking a fight and badgering him.

“Did I ever say anything to begin with? I just happened to see you through the window, so I looked. I had no obligation to control what my eyes looked like.”

“Then don’t look at me again.”

Ye-seo said, her voice like a threat.

“Don’t look.”

Silence filled the air. The tense atmosphere made her heart pound like a drum.

“Fine. I won’t.”

“And you’ll take back and apologize for that trashy thing you said... that you like me but can’t date me.”

You like me? That’s a lie! You’re a fraud!

Filled with rage, her chest tightened and tears began to well up again. Driven by spite, she wanted to grab him by the collar and shake him until she felt satisfied. Ye-seo barely held back her hot tears and glared at him.

“I can’t take that back. And I can’t apologize.”

Han Joo-hyuk didn’t waver in the slightest.

“Because that’s exactly what I’m feeling.”

Crazy... Is he really in his right mind?

Ye-seo’s lips trembled slightly. It was at that moment, as he took a step closer with a cold expression, that a door opened with a bang, followed by a presence. It was a security guard on a routine patrol.

“Oh, there were people here? Students, you need to go down now. I’m going to lock this door.”

“Ah... yes. We’re leaving now.”

Ye-seo bowed her head to the security guard and hurried down the stairs. In her confusion, she didn’t even pay attention to Han Joo-hyuk.

She only calmed down a bit after splashing cold water on her face in the library bathroom. Ye-seo returned to her seat in the reading room only after her flushed, hot cheeks had cooled down. Chae-rin and Choi In-ha whispered to her simultaneously, as if they had been waiting.

“Hey, where were you? I kept texting you, but you didn’t answer.”

“What? You went somewhere else alone after getting some fresh air with me?”

“Oh, sorry... I left my phone. I was going to read a magazine to clear my head, but I guess I took too long.”

Ye-seo forced a laugh and made up an excuse. She tried to focus on her textbook and lecture notes again, but it was hard for her to concentrate properly. In the end, she packed her bag and went outside, using a severe headache as an excuse.

“Ye-seo! Wait up—just a minute!”

When Choi In-ha followed her to the subway station, she even felt a sense of relief. She felt like she would burst into tears if she didn’t talk to someone. She was on the verge of losing her mind.

________________________________________

He was on the verge of losing his mind.

Joo-hyuk sat in his car parked in the public parking lot near the school and pressed on his temples. He felt as if his entire body was being submerged in a wave of throbbing pain.

If the security guard hadn’t come, he would have pulled Min Ye-seo toward him and silenced her with his own lips. Min Ye-seo was so incredibly beautiful—her moist eyes, her flushed cheeks, and even the way her throat trembled. Just as beautiful as her usual calm, tidy self was the face full of seething rage and heightened emotions.

• “Who is that woman? What’s your relationship with her?”

The emotion that arose from her voice and her accusing, flashing eyes when she mentioned Park Yeon-ji was not unfamiliar to him.

• “No, don’t tell me. It doesn’t matter to me what you do with anyone. It’s your private life, so it’s none of my business.”

It was the same feeling he experienced whenever he saw Min Ye-seo and Choi In-ha together, and their image burned into his retinas. Min Ye-seo’s jealousy perfectly mirrored his own messy gaze.

The corner of his mouth, which had been clenched to endure the headache, was twisted into a sneer.

________________________________________

A few days passed. It was mid-October, and as the exams were gradually wrapping up, the tension on campus was also easing. The ripening autumn sky and the gentle breeze felt pleasant.

Even when she wasn’t feeling good, she pretended to be and forced herself to laugh louder and smile brighter. She did so even more when Han Joo-hyuk was around. She would talk cheerfully with Choi In-ha, as if to show him, and used exaggerated gestures and loud laughter as if she were having the time of her life.

After their private meeting on the rooftop garden, she had not looked at Han Joo-hyuk directly. She would quickly turn her head away even if she saw him walking from a distance. So she couldn’t know if he was watching her, or if he was also deliberately avoiding her as he had promised.

He might be pretending to ignore her, but was still conscious of her. Just as she was of him.

In any case, she sincerely hoped that her closeness with Choi In-ha would still bother him. She genuinely wanted him to be annoyed, to not want to see or hear about it. She sometimes felt bad for using Choi In-ha.

But her relationship with Choi In-ha had nothing to do with Han Joo-hyuk in the first place. Whether Han Joo-hyuk was there or not, Choi In-ha was always as comfortable with her as an older brother, and that was still true even now, as they discussed his blind date.

“So, Senior In-ha, you really decided not to go on the blind date? Aww, you never know what kind of connection you’ll have with someone, you should have at least met her.”

Chae-rin’s chiding was followed by Dong-hwan’s deep sigh as they all walked across campus together.

“I know. You should quickly accept a blind date when someone offers one. Wow, a modern dance major? She sounds like my ideal type, I wish I could go in your place!”

Choi In-ha chuckled and tilted his head back as if his neck was stiff.

“I just want to rest. Relationships are just like work. I need to take a break and have some time to myself to recharge. More than anything, these days, I prefer meeting people naturally...”

“Oh? What’s that? Is that a celebrity? It looks like someone’s here!”

At that moment, Dong-hwan pointed toward the back parking lot. Students were gathered in groups, their attention focused on something.

“Wow, is that the drama they said they were going to film on our campus? But wasn’t that supposed to be next year?”

“Anyway, let’s go check it out! Ye-seo, hurry up!”

Sae-eun and Chae-rin quickened their pace and grabbed her wrist. Ye-seo followed obediently out of curiosity, but the moment she stood behind the crowd, her face quickly stiffened.

Han Joo-hyuk was standing face to face with a woman in front of a silver car. The woman, with a glamorous appearance that would stand out anywhere, looked familiar. It was the same person from the shopping mall rooftop who had casually hugged Han Joo-hyuk, kissed his cheek, and made plans to meet at a hotel.

“Wow, she’s amazing. Is she a foreigner, maybe? Is she Senior Joo-hyuk’s girlfriend?”

“Isn’t that car a F Cayenne? It’s so cool!”

The students murmured amongst themselves, their curiosity a mix of the woman’s identity, her relationship with Han Joo-hyuk, and the supercar. The woman was standing close to Han Joo-hyuk, just as she had on the rooftop, and laughing. It wasn’t a drama shoot, but it was a scene as picturesque as one or a photoshoot.

At that moment, Han Joo-hyuk turned his head. His eyes pierced through the crowd and met Ye-seo’s directly.

She should have looked away and gone on her way, but she couldn’t. The shock of her heart dropping made her freeze from head to toe, unable to move. It felt as if she had been caught in a malicious curse.

It felt like a very long time had passed before Han Joo-hyuk finally turned his head away. Even though it was only for a split second, Ye-seo witnessed a sneer in his eyes. She wanted to dismiss it as a mistake, but she couldn’t. She had seen it clearly and distinctly.

The two of them, seemingly conscious of the gazes surrounding them, immediately got into the car. The woman whispered something to Han Joo-hyuk in the passenger seat while starting the engine. It must have been something funny, because he, who was usually so composed, smiled faintly.

“Wow, what a picture. They really do look good together. Are they really dating?”

“If it’s like that, aren’t they dating? I don’t know who she is, but she’s not a student and looks like a golden spoon... I’m so jealous of Han Joo-hyuk!”

“I’m jealous of her! If I had a car like that and my partner was Han Joo-hyuk, I’d drive him to and from school every day!”

Ye-seo just stared blankly at the back entrance where the Porsche had disappeared. Her ears were flushed red, and her breathing was ragged. Han Joo-hyuk’s last look, which had dismissed her with a glance, was looming over her mind like a dark cloud.