“……Is this just hanging out? Is this how you hang out with your friends?”
Do Jihoon shot back with a jab.
“Yeah. Kim Bo-jin’s friends all hang out like this. Why? Your legs hurt?”
He let out a sigh and looked at me like I was a seven-year-old kid. His gaze was fucking arrogant.
“That look is unpleasant. Move your eyeballs.”
“……I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“If your legs hurt, just say so. Let’s go to a café and rest a bit.”
With a tired-looking face, he nodded. I grabbed Do Jihoon’s arm and dragged him toward a nearby café.
“What do you want to drink? I dragged you out, so I’ll pay.”
He pondered for a moment before answering.
“Caramel Cocoa Cluster Frappuccino. With low-fat milk, whipped cream on top, and caramel syrup and java chips sprinkled over it.”
“…….”
What a fucking terrible drink preference. As I stared at him blankly, Do Jihoon tapped me lightly as if to say forget it and ordered it himself. He asked what I wanted, so I told him to get me a café mocha.
“You’re like the natural enemy of café part-timers.”
“What are you complaining about now, Yuri?”
We bickered as we sat down. When the vibration bell rang and I was about to get up to grab the drinks, Do Jihoon stood first, so I quietly sat back down.
Watching from my seat, Do Jihoon really was handsome. His hair was black like ebony, and his brow bone and nose bridge jutted out sharply, giving his face strong dimension. The corners of his eyes were actually slightly upturned, but since he smiled so often, few people seemed to notice.
He looked damn good in clothes, too. His frame was beautiful, and he was nearly 190 centimeters tall, so anything he wore suited him.
“Yuri. You’re going to drool.”
As I stared at him blankly, observing him, Do Jihoon smiled very prettily and mocked me.
“I’m just curious. You know you’re handsome too, right?”
“I’ve got eyes, so of course I know.”
He answered lightly to my meaningful question. As expected. There was no such thing as a beauty who didn’t know they were beautiful.
“You too. You know you’re pretty, don’t you.”
? Out of nowhere?
Something extremely embarrassing just popped out of Do Jihoon’s mouth.
Objectively speaking, Yeon Yuri was pretty. Light brown hair in a baby perm, almond-shaped eyes, a round yet refined nose, and red lips. A harmonious beauty.
But hearing that come out of Do Jihoon’s mouth was strange. He calmly stirred his drink with a straw.
When I didn’t say anything, Do Jihoon took a sip of his caramel-whatever Frappuccino and looked at me. My expression must’ve looked pretty stupid. He was staring at me like I was pathetic.
“What now?”
“……It’s just…….”
It felt weird knowing I looked pretty in his eyes. We had, at least nominally, gone through an engagement ceremony. I was still wearing the engagement ring on my left ring finger. And the fact that he—who never said nice things to me—had just said something like that made the psychological distance feel even more pronounced.
“Yuri. You have this habit of spacing out at least once a day. You know that, right?”
“There it is.”
Do Jihoon jabbed at me again. Only then did I manage to snap back to my senses.
“You suddenly called me pretty out of nowhere. It caught me off guard.”
“It’s a fact. Your shell is pretty.”
“Fuck. Your shell is fucking pretty too, Do Jihoon.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
What an insufferable bastard. I glared at him. He just kept sipping his drink without even looking at me.
“Hey. Is your caramel-whatever good?”
“It’s called a Caramel Cocoa Cluster Frappuccino. Goldfish Yuri.”
“Yeah, that. Let me have one sip.”
Before he could refuse, I quickly reached out and pulled his drink toward me. I sucked on the straw, and a sweet aroma spread through my mouth.
“Wow, it’s good!”
There was chocolate, and some kind of coffee scent too—it tasted different from a café mocha. Like how nobles in the old days had longer names the higher their status was, I wondered if the longer the name, the better the coffee tasted.
When I looked at him with a bright smile, Do Jihoon was staring at me with his face scrunched up.
“Why are you looking at me so scary?”
He didn’t say anything. Carefully reading the mood, I pushed my café mocha toward him.
“Here. You drink it too. That makes us even, right?”
“……I shouldn’t even bother.”
Do Jihoon looked at me the way one would look at an ant crawling on the roadside.
“Oh, right.”
I lightly tapped his shoulder and spoke.
“I’ve got something to tell you.”
“Go ahead.”
“We’re entering university now, right?”
There wasn’t much time left until university entrance. Which meant there wasn’t much time left until the original novel began, either.
“You don’t want people at school finding out I’m your fiancé, do you?”
“……What?”
He shrugged.
“So let’s pretend we’re just close friends. Everyone knows your name, but they don’t know mine. I want a peaceful and quiet college life.”
“That’s a big dream.”
“Whatever. So? Let’s do that.”
I thought he’d agree right away, but Do Jihoon was unexpectedly quiet. With that sharp brain of his, he was probably calculating what would benefit him more.
“I’m not saying we should act like we don’t know each other at all. Just that we’re close friends. It’s not like there are any romantic feelings between us anyway.”
I stirred my drink with the straw as I continued.
“We’ll only wear the rings when we go see our parents. Otherwise, let’s take them off. We’re not married, it’s just an engagement. And while we’re at it, we can both date whoever we want.”
“There you go again.”
“I’m telling you, if you want to date someone, go ahead.”
“If there happens to be another Do Jihoon entering Hanguk University’s College of Business this year, maybe that’d be possible.”
“…….”
He sounded indifferent. I’d expected him to at least tell me not to reveal we were engaged.
As things veered off from what I’d anticipated, I broke into a nervous sweat and tried to persuade him.
“Come on. You know I got into Hanguk University through the lawn admission track.”
“Of course.”
“I’m not planning on studying that hard. I’m just going to enjoy my department life and join clubs and hang out, you know?”
“And?”
“What do you mean, and! If it gets out that you’re engaged to someone like me, wouldn’t our Jihoon have a hard time? That’s why I’m saying this.”
“You sure talk smoothly.”
“Let’s just do that. Yeah? And if you’re really bothered, you can just tell people your fiancé was the one who started seeing other alphas first. Huh?”
“Well…….”
I put on the most pitiful expression I could and lightly tapped the back of his hand. Do Jihoon tilted his head as if thinking it over.
While I was worrying that he didn’t like the idea, I noticed something. The corners of his lips were slightly raised.
This personality-defective bastard was enjoying the fact that I was acting submissive. I ground my teeth and glared at him.
“You’re having fun right now, aren’t you? I already did my little act. Stop playing hard to get and just say okay.”
“Feels like you haven’t done enough yet.”
“Eing. Baby.”
“That’s not an act of cuteness. That’s an insult.”
“You bastard, don’t get all serious…….”
As I pouted my lips, the words I’d been waiting to hear finally came from him, who had been silent.
“Fine.”
“Okay……!”
“But you’ll have to pay me back later.”
“Excuse me……? Isn’t this mutually agreed upon shared responsibility……?”
“You want me to spread rumors that you’re Bumong’s son?”
“No, sir. Put it on my tab.”
Petty bastard……. Cheap bastard……. Sniffling, I sucked on my tear-soaked café mocha.
***
March. The chill had faded, and warm spring was just beginning to arrive. And it was the start of the semester.
On the first day of classes, I headed to school with Do Jihoon, who had come to pick me up with a face like he’d chewed shit. Judging by his expression, there was no way he’d come because he wanted to. His parents must’ve made him.
“……You’ve got classes first and second period too……?”
“…….”
Feeling a faint sense of comradeship, I patted his shoulder.
Do Jihoon got his license as soon as he graduated. He liked living by the rules, yet in strange ways he was progressive.
“Yuri. You’re drooling at the corner of your mouth. Wipe it and get up.”
“Tsk……. We’re already here?”
Actually, I’d been thinking of suggesting we go separately from now on in case weird rumors started. But Do Jihoon was better at driving than I expected, and it was comfortable.
I didn’t have a license. And it wasn’t like I could keep riding around in a car driven by a chauffeur every day like in high school. I decided to stick to Do Jihoon.
“You know we both have first period tomorrow, right? Writing general education.”
“So?”
“I’m counting on you tomorrow too.”
“…….”
Do Jihoon’s first class was in Building 201, and I had to go to Building 312. He dropped me off in front of 312 and disappeared.
I couldn’t say I hadn’t wanted to match my schedule with Do Jihoon, the only guy I was close to. But I figured that would be too much of a supporting-sub move, so I gave up.
But apparently, at Hanguk University, the school sets the schedule for first-year first semester students. Having made a whole fuss on my own and even gulped down kimchi soup in anticipation, I kept my mouth shut as if nothing had happened.
I was walking toward Room 406. Inside the university building, I could simultaneously sense alpha and omega pheromones. It was fascinating.
