Campus Log - Chapter 86

“What are you doing?”

My voice shot up. The captured foot also flinched at the same time.

But Ryu Eun-seok only pressed his index finger to his lips and signaled for me to be quiet. The loud snoring from the next cubby abruptly stopped, and the sound of sleep-talking drifted over.

The heel of my foot pressed down on his thigh, which was hard as a rock. My ankle was being rubbed by his warm palm. Only my foot was caught by him, yet my entire body froze solid.

“You’re 162, right?”

Ryu Eun-seok held my foot in both hands and gauged its size.

“What size shoe are you? It’s smaller than my hand.”

“What are you doing? Let go.”

Afraid that a protest might come from next door, I couldn’t speak any louder. I gritted my teeth and twisted my waist.

I struggled to pull my ankle free, but instead, Ryu Eun-seok went ahead and grabbed my other foot as well. Then, just like when he had held the panda keyring, he fidgeted with both my feet.

“Oh, seriously, why are you doing this?”

“Because it’s cute.”

Those short words hit me harder than the grip around my ankles. I stopped breathing and had no choice but to stiffen my body. Only my blank gaze flew toward the man.

“Your feet are this small, yet how do you run so well without tripping? It’s amazing.”

Ryu Eun-seok, like a researcher looking through a microscope, lowered his head and examined my feet this way and that. His perfectly harmonious face was filled not with playfulness but with pure curiosity.

Thank goodness I trimmed my toenails yesterday. That was about the extent of the thoughts that suddenly occupied my mind. I didn’t even get as far as cursing at Ryu Eun-seok for his strange behavior or trying to escape his grip.

My posture couldn’t have been stranger. My face and upper body faced the cave wall, while my lower body was twisted like a pretzel. And both of my feet were resting on Ryu Eun-seok’s thighs, being kneaded by his hands.

Ryu Eun-seok had abandoned his comic book and was absorbed in examining the shape of my feet. Even without looking directly, the warmth touching my soles and his focused gaze were vivid. Whenever his fingers moved, my breath strangely quickened.

“What size shoe do you wear?”

“…230.”

I answered in a whisper, trying not to show my panting. I could no longer look at Ryu Eun-seok’s face and only stared at the brick-patterned wall. Even with my glasses on, my focus went blurry, as if my astigmatism had returned.

“Your soles are so soft.”

As his commentary reached me, a hot flush rose above my neck as if I had entered a kiln. Unable to bear my blurring vision, I squeezed my eyes shut.

“Are all girls like this? Or is it just you?”

“I don’t know.”

Why on earth was he doing this?

I should tell him to let go quickly, but like a wild animal hit with a tranquilizer dart, I just lay limp, quietly evening out my breathing. Having obediently surrendered both feet, I had long since abandoned any thought of resistance.

To be honest, I had expected something when we settled into this spot. On that day when the heavy rain poured down, Ryu Eun-seok had held my hand as we crossed the garden, and even afterward, he occasionally closed the distance between us.

Sometimes he would place his large hand on top of my head, or lightly tap the frame of my glasses. When sitting face to face, he would slip his long legs between mine, and under the pretext of protecting me from passing motorcycles, he had held my hand for quite a long time.

So if I thought there would be no contact in this cozy space with just the two of us, that would be a shameless lie deceiving myself.

But my expectations had only gone as far as touching forearms or holding hands. Grabbing my ankles and kneading the soles of my feet was far beyond my dry imagination. Without any time to think it was dirty or room to push him away, I was solely focused on not revealing my quickening breath.

So if he asked if I disliked it, I would shake my head no.

I wanted to be in contact with Ryu Eun-seok in any way possible.

At some point, Ryu Eun-seok, who had been murmuring while looking down at my feet, grew quiet. Only his piercing gaze and pressing fingers remained.