# Chapter 13
“…Is this really how you play? Is this how you have fun with your friends?”
Do Jihoon threw a snide remark my way.
“Yeah. Kim Bojin’s friends all play like this. Why? Do your legs hurt?”
He sighed and looked at me like I was a 7-year-old child. His gaze was fucking arrogant.
“Your stare is unpleasant. Move your eyeballs away.”
“…Let’s not talk anymore.”
“Just tell me if your legs hurt. Let’s take a break at a café.”
He nodded with a tired face. I grabbed Do Jihoon’s arm and dragged him to a café that I spotted nearby.
“What do you want to drink? I’ll pay since I dragged you out.”
He thought 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 terrible taste in drinks. As I stared at him blankly, Do Jihoon clicked his tongue, saying “forget it,” and placed the order himself. When he asked what I wanted, I told him a café mocha.
“You’re like a café worker’s worst enemy.”
“What’s your problem now, Yuri?”
We bickered while sitting in our seats. When the buzzer rang to pick up our drinks, Do Jihoon got up first, so I quietly sat back down.
Watching from my seat, Do Jihoon was definitely handsome. His hair was black like ebony, and his brow bone and nose bridge jutted out prominently, giving his face dimension. Do Jihoon’s eyes were actually slightly upturned at the corners, but few people knew this because he was always smiling so much.
He wore clothes very well too. With a pretty bone structure and height approaching 190 cm, he looked good in anything.
“Yuri. You’re going to drool.”
As I absentmindedly observed him, Do Jihoon mocked me with a very pretty smile.
“I’m just curious. You know you’re handsome, right?”
“I have eyes, of course I know.”
He replied lightly to my meaningful question. As expected. There’s no beautiful person in the world who doesn’t know they’re beautiful.
“The same goes for you. You must know that you’re pretty.”
Huh? Suddenly?
A very cringe-worthy comment came out of Do Jihoon’s mouth.
Objectively speaking, Yeon Yuri is pretty. Light brown baby-permed hair, almond-shaped eyes, a round and straight nose, and red lips. A harmoniously beautiful person.
But it was strange to hear such words from Do Jihoon’s mouth. He was calmly stirring his drink with a straw.
When I didn’t say anything, Do Jihoon looked at me while drinking his Caramel whatever Frappuccino. My expression must have been quite stupid because Do Jihoon was looking at me like I was pathetic.
“What now.”
“…Nothing…”
It felt weird that I looked pretty in his eyes. We were engaged, even if in name only. I was still wearing the engagement ring on the ring finger of my left hand. Plus, it created an even greater psychological distance when someone who never says nice things to me said something like that.
“Yuri. You have a habit of losing your mind at least once a day. You know that, right?”
“That’s true.”
Do Jihoon criticized me again. Only then could I regain my senses.
“I was just surprised because you suddenly said I was pretty when it doesn’t suit you.”
“It’s true though. Your outer shell is pretty.”
“Fuck. Your outer shell is fucking pretty too, Do Jihoon.”
“Thanks for the compliment.”
He was such an annoying bastard. I glared at him. He was just slurping his drink without even looking at me.
“Hey. Is your Caramel whatever tasty?”
“It’s called a Caramel Cocoa Cluster Frappuccino, you goldfish, Yuri.”
“Yeah, that. Let me have just one sip.”
Before Do Jihoon could refuse, I quickly reached out and pulled his drink toward me. When I took a sip, a sweet taste spread throughout my mouth.
“Wow, it’s delicious!”
There was a chocolate flavor and something like a coffee flavor that was different from café mocha. Like how nobles in the old days had longer names the higher their status, I wondered if coffee tastes better the longer its name gets.
When I looked at Do Jihoon with a bright smile, he was staring at me with his face all scrunched up.
“Why are you looking at me so frighteningly?”
Do Jihoon was silent. I nervously pushed my café mocha toward him.
“Here. You drink some too. That makes us even, right?”
“…Let’s stop talking.”
Do Jihoon looked at me like he was looking at an ant crawling on the street.
“Oh, right.”
I patted his shoulder and opened my mouth.
“I have something to tell you.”
“Go ahead.”
“We’re about to start university now.”
There really wasn’t much time left until university entrance. Which meant there wasn’t much time left until the original novel began.
“You wouldn’t want people at school to find out that I’m your fiancé either, right?”
“…What.”
He shrugged his shoulders.
“So let’s pretend to be close friends. Everyone in the world knows your name, but they don’t know mine. I want to have a peaceful and quiet university life.”
“Big dreams.”
“Anyway. What do you think? Let’s do that.”
I thought he would agree right away, but Do Jihoon was surprisingly quiet. With that smart head of his, he was definitely calculating what would be more advantageous.
“I’m not saying we should pretend not to know each other at all. Just that we’re close friends. It’s not like we have romantic feelings for each other in reality anyway.”
I continued speaking while stirring my drink with a straw.
“Let’s only wear the rings when we meet our parents and take them off normally. We’re just engaged, not married anyway. And we can date whoever we want to date.”
“There you go again with that.”
“I’m telling you to date if you want to date!”
“If there was another Do Jihoon entering Hanguk University’s Business Administration department this year, it might be possible.”
“……”
He was indifferent. I thought it would be Do Jihoon who would tell me not to reveal our engagement.
As the scenario unfolded differently from what I expected, I tried to persuade him while sweating nervously.
“No. You know I got into Hanguk University through the ‘lawn special admission’, right?”
“Of course.”
“I don’t plan to study that hard. I just want to enjoy my department life and join a club to have fun, you know?”
“And?”
“What do you mean ‘and’! I’m thinking that if it gets revealed that you’re engaged to someone like me, wouldn’t it be too hard for our Jihoon? That’s why I’m saying this.”
“You sure know how to talk.”
“Let’s do it that way. Okay? If you’re really bothered, you can just spread rumors that your fiancé went off to meet other Alphas first. Hmm?”
“Well…”
I tapped the back of his hand while making a pitiful expression. Do Jihoon tilted his head to the side as if he was contemplating.
While I was worrying that he might not be into it, I noticed something. The corners of his lips were slightly turned up.
This personality-deficient bastard was enjoying seeing me take a submissive position. I glared at him, clenching my teeth.
“Are you having fun now? I just put on a cute act for you. Stop playing hard to get and quickly say you understand.”
“It seems like you haven’t done enough yet.”
“Aww, sweetie~”
“That’s not cuteness, it’s an insult.”
“You bastard, taking it so seriously…”
As I pushed my lips out in a sulky pout, the words I had been wanting to hear finally came from the guy who had been quietly silent.
“Alright.”
“Okay…!”
“But you’ll have to repay me later.”
“What…? Isn’t this mutual agreement and mutual fault…?”
“Do you want me to spread rumors that you’re the son of Bumong?”
“No, sir. Put it on my tab.”
What a petty bastard… A cheap bastard… I sniffled as I slurped my tear-soaked café mocha.
❖ ❖ ❖
March. The cold air was receding and the warm spring was beginning to arrive. And it was the start of the semester.
On the first day of the new semester, I headed to school with Do Jihoon, who had come to pick me up with a face like he’d just stepped in dog poop. Judging by his expression, he definitely didn’t come because he wanted to. His parents must have told him to.
“…Do you also have classes for 1st and 2nd periods…?”
“……”
Feeling a sad sense of camaraderie, I patted his shoulder.
Do Jihoon got his driver’s license right after graduation. He was a guy who liked living within the rules but was oddly enterprising in strange ways.
“Yuri. You’re drooling. Wipe it and get up.”
“Sssip… Are we already here?”
Actually, I was going to suggest that we go separately from now on to avoid unnecessary rumors. But Do Jihoon was a better driver than I expected, and it was comfortable.
I didn’t have a license. And I couldn’t keep riding in a car driven by a chauffeur every day like in high school. I decided to stick with Do Jihoon.
“You know we have the same 1st period class tomorrow, right? Writing elective.”
“So?”
“I’m counting on you tomorrow too.”
“……”
Do Jihoon had his first class in Building 201, and I had to go to Building 312. Do Jihoon dropped me off in front of Building 312 and disappeared.
I wasn’t entirely opposed to the idea of matching schedules with Do Jihoon, the only guy I was close with. But I gave up on it, thinking it might seem too submissive.
However, it turned out that Hanguk University sets the schedule for first-year first-semester students. Having made a big fuss for nothing and drunk an entire bowl of wishful thinking, I kept my mouth shut and pretended nothing had happened.
I was on my way to Room 406. Inside the school building, I could feel both Alpha and Omega pheromones at the same time. It was fascinating.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
