Chapter 108
“Because I wanted to walk you there.”
“It’s practically next door. Why would you need to walk me there?”
“I just wanted an excuse to stay with you a little longer.”
Ryu Eun-seok murmured those embarrassingly direct words as if they were nothing, then matched his pace to mine.
The lingering summer sunlight trailed after us, but all my attention was fixed on the man walking beside me, leaving me no room to even think about the heat.
Seeing that Ryu Eun-seok seemed to be in a much better mood after we stopped for coffee put me at ease.
Still, I couldn’t let my attention keep revolving around him like this. I’d started dating Ryu Eun-seok because I wanted to be with him—not because I intended to hand over my entire daily life to him.
Ryu Eun-seok needed to keep his own balance, and I needed to keep mine.
“I’ll get going. See you later.”
When we reached the Business Building, he gave me a small wave before turning away.
Only moments ago, I’d been determined to make my own life the center of my world again, yet I couldn’t deny that I liked having someone take care of me like this. I finally understood why Ryu Eun-seok had said he enjoyed being looked after.
Lately, I was realizing every single day just how easily I could lose my balance.
As Ryu Eun-seok’s broad back gradually grew farther away, the key ring dangling from his black backpack stood out vividly in my vision.
I reached behind my own back.
The plush hanging there—identical to the one on Ryu Eun-seok’s bag in every way—greeted my fingertips with its soft texture.
Only then did I realize what Lee Dong-ha and Kwon Ga-ram had seen that had left them wearing such conflicted expressions.
For a brief moment, it felt as though the temperature of my heart had dropped several degrees.
At the same time, a petty thought crossed my mind—that maybe making people notice us like this wasn’t such a bad thing after all.
After all, thanks to this plush key ring, Kwon Ga-ram hadn’t clung to Ryu Eun-seok’s arm today, had she?
The realization that I’d driven away one of the bees constantly swarming around Ryu Eun-seok filled me with a secret sense of satisfaction.
I’d just scolded him for breaking our promise again and again, yet here I was, secretly indulging in thoughts this pathetic.
I was an unbearably hypocritical person.
***
From the very first day of the new semester, the window seat in the dormitory study room was mine again.
If anyone saw me like this, they’d probably call me crazy, but since their daughter always came home with scholarship awards, I couldn’t disappoint my parents.
“I knew I’d find you here.”
And before exam season had even begun, there was now one more regular visitor to the study room I used to have all to myself.
“Curled up in the corner like a cat again.”
Ryu Eun-seok dropped into the seat beside me with a thud. But instead of opening a book, he rested his chin on his hand and simply watched me.
“Don’t go around calling me a cat or anything.”
“The list of things I’m not allowed to say just keeps getting longer, doesn’t it?”
Ryu Eun-seok’s handsome face leaned over the partition. Judging by the playful lift of his eyebrows, he’d already forgotten all about our subtle argument that morning.
“I came all the way here, and you’re just going to study?”
“What else would I do in a study room besides study?”
I replied curtly and turned my attention back to the section I was previewing.
Then I felt something soft and warm against my cheek.
The smack came a heartbeat later.
A fresh, grassy scent brushed past my nose.
In truth, all those sensations had washed over me at once, but my brain processed them one after another.
I froze with my eyes still fixed on my tablet.
Time crawled by without me blinking even once.
My head finally turned stiffly only when Ryu Eun-seok pressed another kiss to my cheek.
He was already leaning in again, as though he intended to kiss me one more time.
Instinctively, I shrank back, wary.
“This is the study room.”
My voice came out low and subdued.
The study room, with only the two of us inside, was oppressively quiet.
Discussion
0 CommentsNo comments yet.