Chapter 10 …
Ha-ju didn’t remember the part of her past where her memory had been wiped; she didn’t know whether she had wanted to write, “Jeong Tae-heon, car-poor,” “Jeong Tae-heon, car-poor,” or “Jeong Tae-heon, not car-poor.” Either way, this was the absolute worst situation for her.
Of all things, her message was full of typos—except for the words “car-poor,” which were perfectly intact.
She vaguely remembered being drunk and trying to make a note to remember something. It seemed like the habit of using the “send to myself” function in chatrooms had created this embarrassing black mark—but why, of all people, had it ended up in her personal chat with Jeong Tae-heon?
Fortunately—or unfortunately—Tae-heon had seen the message she sent early in the morning but hadn’t replied yet.
“Ha… I must be crazy.”
Ha-ju opened the message she had sent him and lowered her head in despair. Seeing the “1” disappear next to the message brought a flood of thoughts.
What could Tae-heon possibly be thinking after seeing this?
She suddenly recalled another piece of gossip her senior, Bo-young, had told her over breakfast ramen that morning.
“Lots of people hang around Tae-heon just to get noticed by him. Boys, girls, doesn’t matter—they all want a chance with him. Some even find out his schedule and change their classes during the add/drop period. So this time, he avoided them by switching to another class. There was even someone on a forum willing to pay 200,000 won for the class Tae-heon attended in the first week.”
Bo-young continued with a laugh.
“Anyway, the class Tae-heon switched from originally had no group projects, just individual assignments. But starting this year, it’s a pair-based group project. Whoever ended up in the same group as Bo-young’s senior got an amazing opportunity. Some people chase him endlessly but never get close. I’m really jealous.”
“…”
“But why does your face look like that, Ha-ju? You look complicated. Are you interested in that senior too?”
It turned out Ha-ju was the one paired with him in that group project.
Because of the way freshmen schedules worked, she had to take her liberal arts class on Friday anyway, so she had just chosen the “Understanding the Popular Culture Industry” class, which happened to have space. It was at a convenient time after lunch, and she had chosen it without hesitation.
“Let’s see… Two people added during the schedule change… Then they’ll just be in the same group.”
Thus, Jeong Tae-heon, her new group partner, finally sent her his first message that day:
[Hi? Partner.]
In a classroom where everyone was sitting with their assigned partners, Tae-heon and she were the only ones sitting alone at their respective desks.
When their eyes met, Tae-heon tapped the desk next to him with his palm and grinned.
Since Tae-heon was her senior and a bit of a control freak, Ha-ju moved to sit next to him without question. He pointed outside with a pen in his hand.
“This spot has a good view. Sit here from now on.”
Whether he meant for her to sit in the spot he was currently in or to stay where she was, she didn’t know, but she just nodded and focused on the class.
She had expected him to play around all class, but surprisingly, he stayed quiet. Ha-ju, overly conscious of the seat beside her, kept her head stiffly up, staring straight ahead.
Because she was forcing herself to face forward, she couldn’t tell if Tae-heon was paying attention to the lecture or enjoying the view outside.
After that, they didn’t message much, but they were soon tied together for group projects and eventually for the final presentation. Two hours every Friday from 1 to 3 PM, a 2-credit class.
Now Ha-ju understood why Tae-heon thought she was following him. With so many stalkers around him, his misunderstanding was understandable.
But now, having sent him that drunken, strange message, he would probably consider her a full-on stalker.
Just as she was about to leave the personal chat with a look of despair, a reply came.
The messages came in quickly, one after another, and Ha-ju read them almost instinctively, as if she had been waiting for them. On the other side, the “1” notification probably disappeared immediately.
“I’m insane.”
She swallowed a small scream and dropped her phone.
Damn alcohol. Once again, she swore never to drink until she blacked out. Grabbing her head with both hands, she repeated over and over in her mind: If I do that again, I’m not a human, I’m a dog.
Hyun-woo watched her quietly from a short distance.
If only daily life could flow perfectly according to plan.
Ha-ju had been thinking that a lot lately. She wasn’t a greedy person. All she wanted was a peaceful, uneventful life, a calm and ordinary college experience, and to graduate, earn a living, and live quietly.
She didn’t want to be involved in any gossip at school.
So she planned to keep her distance from Tae-heon, get close to the well-behaved Hyun-woo to receive tutoring and tips on school and job hunting, attend every departmental event to maintain good relations with classmates and seniors, and avoid attracting attention.
Luckily, she wasn’t in frequent contact with Tae-heon, and they were in different colleges, so the chance of running into him was low. If she survived just two hours every Friday this semester, she would probably succeed in keeping her distance.
With hope, Ha-ju headed to the study room. Today, Hyun-woo was going to teach her how to get tutoring. They had exchanged numbers after the early-morning freshman OT when she had lost her memory.
When he texted on Sunday evening asking if she was free tomorrow, she naturally said yes. The awkward atmosphere during the trip home from OT had seemed like just her imagination.
“Sorry if I did anything wrong yesterday. I remember joining you, but I don’t remember singing at all… I’m really sorry.”
“No problem. Don’t worry. You don’t have to drink everything the seniors give you. You drank until you blacked out, what were you thinking?”
“I’m sorry.”
Today was about breaking free from that image.
Ha-ju steeled her mind and opened the study room door with a bright face.
A familiar face on the sofa smiled and greeted her.
“Hi.”
Bang.
She closed the door and checked the room again. It was definitely the study room.
Why was that person here? And from another department?
Today wasn’t even Monday. That meant it had been less than three days since OT—and less than three days since she had sent that drunken message.
“Ha-ju, you found it well. Come in.”
Hyun-woo’s voice came from inside.
Had she seen it wrong?
As she cautiously opened the door, her eyes met Jeong Tae-heon’s, who was standing right there. He grinned, the corners of his lips lifted.
The man, backlit by the fluorescent light, blocked much of the room’s light with his broad frame. His striking face dominated even without the light. If female classmates were nearby, they would probably say he shone without light, like an aura.
“Why are you running away? Don’t make your partner feel sad.”
“…”
“You can send messages so easily when drunk, but when sober, you don’t even want to talk?”
