Chapter 8
Late morning, after finishing her shift at the café near campus, Yeon-ha was on her way to her first class when someone called her name.
It was a senior â a girl from the year above her.
The seniorâs face was visibly tense, filled with irritation. Before Yeon-ha could even figure out what was going on, the girl grabbed her wrist and dragged her behind one of the lecture buildings where few people passed.
âUh⊠good morning, Joo-yeon senior. Is it⊠a good morning?â
Judging by the seniorâs expression, it clearly wasnât.
Yeon-ha trailed off awkwardly, wondering why she had been pulled into such a secluded spot.
âDoes this university have bullies? Is she going to ask for money? But I donât even have any⊠would she hit me if I said that?â
She barely finished the thought when Joo-yeon stepped in close â uncomfortably close â and sniffed her hair.
Startled, Yeon-ha instinctively took a step back.
âWâwhat are you doing?â
Joo-yeon didnât answer right away. She bit her lip, eyes narrowing in anger, before finally spitting out,
âYouâve got some nerve, huh? I heard you were a freak, but now youâre even using the same shampoo as Ji-an senior?â
âHuh? Oh. Oh, crap.â
Yeon-haâs jaw dropped. Of all the ways to get caught after sleeping over at Ji-anâs place, this was not how she had imagined it.
Her tiny gasp â halfway between a groan and a sigh â only seemed to make things worse.
âThatâs stalking! You know that, right? The last time you passed by, I thought, âThatâs weird, she smells just like Ji-an senior,â but I let it slide. And now you smell like him again? Not every day, just sometimes â like youâre doing it on purpose to get people talking! What, trying to make it look like you slept with him or something? Are you insane?â
Apparently, Joo-yeon had reached her own wild conclusion: that Yeon-ha was deliberately using Ji-anâs shampoo sometimes, just to create rumors that sheâd been at his place.
From Yeon-haâs perspective, the misunderstanding was almost convenient.
So she didnât bother denying it.
âIf she wants to think that, fine by me.â
âYouâve been getting too bold lately, you know that? Youâre just a freshman, but youâve been flirting with Ji-an senior like crazy. People thought it was cute, so they let it slide, but donât push it. Everyone knows Iâve had dibs on him since forever. Ji-an senior is mine. So stay away.â
Yeon-ha had to physically bite her tongue to stop herself from laughing out loud.
There were so many factual errors in that one statement that she didnât even know where to begin.
First of all, Joo-yeon wasnât the one who âlet it slide.â
When Yeon-ha had publicly announced she was going to confess to Ji-an, the person whoâd been on the receiving end â and therefore the one with any right to decide how to react â had been Ji-an himself.
âNot that I ever actually planned to confess, but still.â
Back then, and now, her true intentions were known only to her.
She gave a quiet laugh under her breath.
Second, if we were talking about who had claimed Ji-an, the list extended well beyond the department â practically the entire university had self-declared crushes on him.
And out of all of them, the most famous case⊠was actually Yeon-ha herself.
Thanks to her infamous âconfession noticeâ at the freshman retreat, more people knew Yeon-ha was after Ji-an than even remembered Joo-yeonâs existence.
And third â that one, she decided, had to be corrected.
Without a word, she pulled out her phone, scrolled through her contacts, and pressed a number.
The line rang.
âHello?â
âHi, Jang-hoon sunbae. Itâs Yeon-ha. Is Ji-an senior with you right now?â
Ji-an had never actually given her his number, but she didnât need it.
If Ji-an was on campus, there was about an 80% chance heâd be with Jang-hoon â so she went for the sure bet.
And just as she expected, Jang-hoon answered flatly,
âYeah, heâs here. Why?â
âCould you hand him the phone for a second?â
Without asking why, Jang-hoon wordlessly passed the phone over.
And Ji-an, without even needing to ask who was on the other end, spoke in his usual curt tone.
âWhat.â
âJoo-yeon senior is currently asserting ownership rights over you, Ji-an senior. Is that something youâve mutually agreed on?â
Yeon-haâs eyes never left Joo-yeonâs face as she spoke.
The color drained from the older girlâs cheeks. She opened her mouth, then froze â realizing that if she said anything, Ji-an would hear every word through the speaker.
His voice came through a second later, low and annoyed.
âWhat kind of bullshit are you talking about? Hang up.â
Click.
Yeon-ha frowned slightly at the disconnected tone, then looked back up.
âYou heard him, right?â
âY-you⊠Youâre actually insane! How could you just call him like that?!â
Joo-yeonâs voice cracked in disbelief.
Yeon-ha smiled sweetly.
âWell, they donât call me a psycho for nothing, do they?â
âUnbelievable. What is wrong with you?â
Maybe it was the smile â the bright, utterly unbothered smile â but something in Yeon-haâs face must have unsettled Joo-yeon.
She couldnât say another word. She just spun on her heel and hurried away, her steps quick and clumsy with panic.
Yeon-ha watched her retreat, sighed lightly, and stuck her tongue out.
âSee? You donât mess with a psycho, senior.â
Not that the warning would ever reach her.
By the time Yeon-ha whispered it, Joo-yeon was already gone â her silhouette shrinking into the distance.
Yeon-ha gave a small, self-satisfied grin before heading off in the opposite direction.
âAnyway, if Iâm going to keep staying at Ji-an senior’s place, I should really buy my own shampoo.â
Carrying her toiletries around every time was a hassle, so she decided to just have them delivered straight to his apartment.
She opened the shopping app, efficiently added her favorite shampoo and body wash to the cart, and checked out.
Because, in her mind, there was no longer any option to stop relying on Ji-an.
She trusted â absolutely â that he would never lay a hand on her.
And besides, his apartment was warm, comfortable, and close to campus.
He hadnât exactly told her she could keep coming, but⊠the second time sheâd asked to stay, he hadnât said no.
To her, that counted as tacit permission.
Before Ji-an, whenever she missed the last bus, sheâd spent the night at the campus library â alone, shivering, surrounded by the eerie quiet.
It was cold, uncomfortable, and sometimes terrifying.
Not just because the place was empty â but because she was never sure it was.
Yet she kept working late, kept missing the bus, because she needed the money.
So when Ji-an had offered, âIf you miss the last one, just come to my place,â it had felt like salvation.
âThatâs why I canât â I mustnât ever confess again. I have to let this go.â
It would be wrong to burden the person who had rescued her.
And now that she was taking on more shifts, sheâd be missing the bus even more often. Losing Ji-an â or his home â wasnât an option.
Conveniently enough, the timing of her âI donât like you anymoreâ declaration and Ji-anâs âcome over if you needâ offer had overlapped perfectly.
So she had her own interpretation.
âHe only invited me because I said I didnât like him anymore.â
Which only made it more important to keep her distance â to draw a clean, safe line between them.
If she wanted to keep her little sanctuaryâŠ
she had to protect it.
* * *
Meanwhile, back in the lecture hall â Ji-an tossed Jang-hoonâs phone back at him with a flick of his wrist.
Heâd hung up the call the moment he realized what it was about, but the speaker volume had been loud enough for Jang-hoon to catch every word.
Jang-hoon was grinning like an idiot.
âWhatâs so funny?â Ji-an asked flatly.
âMaybe if you picked one girl and stuck with her, you wouldnât have to deal with crap like this.â
Ji-an gave him a sharp glare.
âWhat kind of logic is that? Youâre supposed to date someone you like, not just whoeverâs convenient.â
Jang-hoon chuckled.
âDidnât think you were the sentimental type.â
Heâd always assumed Ji-an didnât date because he was lazy â not because he actually cared about feelings.
Ji-anâs response was dry.
âNinety percent laziness. Ten percent, no one worth liking.â
Jang-hoon laughed under his breath, shaking his head.
Then, after a pause, he added â almost teasingly â
âSo, about that freshman⊠Yeon-haâŠâ