CHAPTER 03
A pair of cold eyes stared straight at her.
His sharply defined jawline and perfectly sculpted features looked flawless, as if incapable of compromise.
The unreal beauty, like a figure stepping out of a painting, turned Hong Yumin’s mind completely blank.
…Is this a dream?
Why… why on earth…
“Where did you sell my assignment, Hong Yumin.”
Seol Jaejun sunbae was really here.
“You didn’t say it would take this long.”
Seol Jaejun took a step closer.
Kim Byungtae seemed to be making a fuss beside them, but she couldn’t hear him.
It felt as if only the two of them remained in the world, and every cell in Hong Yumin’s body focused on Seol Jaejun.
After all, he had been the only person who let her breathe during her college days.
When Hong Yumin couldn’t say anything, Seol Jaejun stepped even closer.
It was confusing whether he had come from the past or she had gone back to it.
The citrus scent that had once shaken her heart seeped deeply into her nose.
Her heart churned.
“Hmm?”
At his low voice, urging yet gentle, Hong Yumin slowly raised her lost gaze to look at him.
His eyes were still fixed on her.
“Let’s date. I’ll treat you well.”
Just like that moment before.
“Haah, damn it. What the hell are you two doing, huh?!”
At that moment, Kim Byungtae’s chubby hand shoved itself between them.
He grabbed Hong Yumin’s arm and tried to pull her toward him.
Seol Jaejun immediately seized Kim Byungtae’s wrist.
“Ahhh! I-it hurts, you bastard!”
Though it was an easy grip, Kim Byungtae let out a sound somewhere between whining and screaming.
Seol Jaejun paid no attention and called him in a chilling voice.
“Sir.”
“Ugh!”
“His specialty is dine-and-dash.”
A mocking sneer slipped from Seol Jaejun’s lips.
“But he might run away even before eating. It’s too small.”
His indifferent gaze dropped precisely to the front of Kim Byungtae’s pants.
Kim Byungtae’s face turned as red as a ripe persimmon.
“I know well. She’s crazy about big ones.”
Seol Jaejun chuckled softly and whispered to Kim Byungtae.
Hong Yumin stared at Seol Jaejun in disbelief, her mouth hanging open.
Kim Byungtae pointed at her angrily.
“Hey! What are you to him?! Th-this is a contract violation! Huh?! You said you were a virgin!”
W-what, a virgin?
Hong Yumin was utterly flustered.
What kind of contract did her uncle’s family and that pervert even make?
More importantly, why was Seol Jaejun saying such nonsense?
Hong Yumin looked at Seol Jaejun, who was only making the situation worse.
He met her gaze without a hint of emotion, then looked back at Kim Byungtae.
As if Kim Byungtae was his only prey.
As if he intended to tear into him until the very end.
He took another step toward Kim Byungtae.
Intimidated by his taller frame, Kim Byungtae staggered backward with a groan.
A glance revealed the edge of the table pointed directly toward him.
“Ugh.”
The moment Hong Yumin frowned, her eyes met Kim Byungtae’s.
Embarrassed, Kim Byungtae lashed out at her.
“Damn it, you’re dead at the next meeting!”
Kim Byungtae fled without a shred of dignity.
As he disappeared, a chilling silence wrapped around Hong Yumin and Seol Jaejun.
Her breath caught in her throat.
Being forced into a blind date with a vulgar man in his forties by her uncle’s family was already absurd enough.
But to be caught like this by her college sunbae…
And of all people, by Seol Jaejun, her first love whom she was seeing again after five years.
Hong Yumin cautiously raised her eyes to look at him.
His sharp gaze pressed down on her.
She flinched and cleared her throat awkwardly.
“Ah… um…”
“I haven’t heard your answer yet.”
Hong Yumin bit her lip and asked back hesitantly.
“…Yes?”
“Where did you sell my assignment, Ms. Hong Yumin.”
“Ah…”
It had been a sudden decision to study abroad.
Her cousin Hong Suji had already planned to study in Germany and had taken a leave of absence to prepare.
Two weeks before Hong Suji’s departure, her uncle and aunt forced Hong Yumin to take a leave as well and sent her to Germany.
They said it was to stay by Hong Suji’s side.
In other words, she was nothing more than a modern-day attendant.
And because of that…
“I’m sorry.”
“If saying sorry solved everything, why would laws exist in this world?”
Hong Yumin chewed her lip and looked up.
When his deepened gaze, matured over five years, settled on her, her heart began to race foolishly.
Afraid he might hear her heartbeat if she stayed silent, she spoke again.
“…Did you… not get the credits?”
“Do you think that’s something to say?”
Hong Yumin squeezed her eyes shut and bowed her head.
“Ha… I’m sorry, sunbae.”
Hong Yumin felt miserable.
Back then, wanting to avoid going to Germany, she had borrowed money from Seol Jaejun, the only one on her side, and worked hard on his assignment.
In the end, she couldn’t even give it to him.
But how could she take responsibility now, five years later?
All she could do was bow her head repeatedly like a sinner.
After bowing several times, Hong Yumin turned sharply to leave his presence.
But immediately, her wrist was grabbed, and she was pulled back.
His eyes quietly held her.
It was hard to escape his gaze, like shackles.
Just like the first time they met in that general education class.
“…Please let go, sunbae. I’ll be going.”
“In Germany, your fiancé.”
“…What?”
Hong Yumin frowned, then recalled what Hong Suji had once said.
“Hey, Seol Jaejun’s friend came looking for you. So I told him you had a fiancé in Germany.”
Hong Yumin had laughed it off, thinking there was no way his friend would actually come to Germany.
But was it true?
Had he really come all the way to Germany to find her?
“You really like selling things, don’t you. Where did you sell your fiancé?”
Her face burned red with embarrassment and frustration.
Hong Yumin lowered her gaze and let out a weak sigh.
“Where did you sell him to end up on a blind date with a man like that?”
“…It’s none of your concern, sunbae. It was nice seeing you, even for a moment. Take care.”
She twisted her wrist free and began to walk away.
Her heart pounded wildly.
Afraid she would be stopped if she looked back, Hong Yumin walked forward without turning around.
Seol Jaejun watched Hong Yumin’s unsteady retreating figure.
Should he stop her or not.
He had so many things he wanted to grab her for and question.
“Young master.”
At that moment, Kwon Yongil suddenly appeared behind him.
“I heard there was a disturbance in the lounge, so I came, and as expected, it was you—”
“Hey.”
“Yes?”
“Make sure she gets home safely.”
“…Excuse me?”
Arriving late and unaware of the situation, Kwon Yongil looked back and forth between Hong Yumin and Seol Jaejun.
“Find out where Hong Yumin lives.”
“Hong Yumin?!”
Kwon Yongil spoke loudly, then quickly covered his mouth in shock at his own voice.
Of course.
During college, he was the only one who knew about Seol Jaejun’s hopeless one-sided love.
“Yumin already left.”
“Gasp!”
“If you lose her, you’re dead.”
Kwon Yongil hurriedly ran in the direction Hong Yumin had gone.
Left alone, Seol Jaejun calmly sat back down as if nothing had happened.
But a complex, unreadable emotion flickered in his eyes.
After rushing out of the hotel, Hong Yumin stopped on the street, then walked, then stopped again, repeatedly slapping her cheeks.
She still couldn’t tell whether what had just happened was a dream or reality.
More than the absurd blind date with Kim Byungtae, it was meeting Seol Jaejun that felt unbelievable.
She had first met Seol Jaejun during a freshman general education class.
After days of suffering from Hong Suji’s torment and losing sleep, she had dozed off without realizing the lecture had started, only to wake at the professor’s voice.
The sculpture-like man sitting beside her, chin resting on his hand as he listened to the lecture, slowly lowered his gaze to look at her.
That brief moment felt like eternity.
Neither of them looked away.
‘Hi.’
With just the movement of his lips, he greeted her, and spring bloomed in Hong Yumin’s frozen heart.
