Chapter 14

Haji’s head dropped from up to down. When she looked up again, her eyes met Seojin’s.

“Did you see everything?”

“Uh, well…”

Realizing how rude she had been, Haji was startled. She had looked him over too obviously.

“You look so different. Not in a bad way, just different from usual.”

The usual neatly dressed Seojin was nowhere to be seen.

The stylishly torn distressed jeans and the thin white T-shirt gave a tantalizing feeling as if his skin might show through. The black jacket over it added to the look.

Anyway, it was a very different look from usual.

“What kind of feeling?”

“Hmm, like a runaway student council president?”

“How long am I going to be the student council president to you?”

“What? Are you perhaps…”

Offended?

Before she could finish, Seojin spoke again.

“Did your taste in clothes change recently?”

“What?”

Clothes?

Seeing Seojin’s frown, Haji tilted her head in confusion.

“Oh! This is from Seonghee…”

Remembering her own appearance, Haji awkwardly clutched her jacket.

“Is it weird?”

“Not weird, just…”

Seojin turned his head.

What is he looking at?

Haji followed his gaze but saw nothing but the lights hanging from the ceiling.

The glare made her blink and squint.

“Sunbae? Are your eyes okay?”

Even a brief glance hurt her eyes, so she was worried about Seojin, who seemed to be staring at the lights.

“No, it’s not okay. I’d rather go blind for a moment.”

“What? Why do you say such scary things?”

“You really…”

“What?”

As the tempo of the music sped up, Haji couldn’t hear Seojin’s words clearly. Trying to focus on his lips, she stared at him, and Seojin closed his mouth. He sighed and ran a hand over his face.

“It’s too loud, I can’t hear you!”

Feeling frustrated, Haji leaned forward and raised her voice.

“Huh…?”

Seojin’s face moved closer and closer until it was right next to her ear.

There’s no need to get this close.

“You’re driving me crazy.”

His low voice resonated in her ear, and his breath tickled her hair.

Even so, Haji couldn’t move. Turning her head even a centimeter would make their faces touch.

The pounding music and her heart’s loud thumping seemed to drown out all other noise. She felt like her heartbeat could be heard through the surrounding noise.

“Haji.”

“…Huh?”

She couldn’t stop her sound of swallowing.

He must have heard that.

Haji’s earlobes turned red. Seeing this, Seojin’s lips curled slightly.

“How long are you planning to stay?”

“Well, I think I’ll stay a bit longer.”

“In that outfit?”

Haji, stammering in embarrassment, closed her mouth at his subtly sharp tone.

She took a step backward. There was barely enough distance between them to face each other.

“Is it that bad?”

She felt hurt. Her eyes conveyed that sentiment.

She didn’t think she looked stunningly beautiful, but she didn’t think she looked bad enough to be criticized.

“Why is this conversation going in that direction?”

“Isn’t that what you meant? I know I look different from usual, but I don’t think this look is bad.”

People can transform and try new looks sometimes, right?

Haji expressed her thoughts firmly. She knew her look was more extravagant than usual, but it suited the occasion.

“You’re right. I think so too.”

“What?”

“I said, you’re right.”

His easy agreement made her fighting spirit drop.

“What’s so easy about it?”

“What’s difficult then?”

Anyway, he’s a man who never gives in easily. She knows well that she has no chance of winning this argument.

“I’ve never thought you looked bad. Not even once.”

“Then why did you make it seem like you didn’t like it?”

“You…”

As Seojin started to speak, someone bumped into Haji’s back.

“Ouch.”

Wearing high heels, Haji stumbled. It was hard to regain her balance on her heels.

Against her will, she leaned towards him. Into his arms.

This isn’t good!

She screamed internally, but her body betrayed her, and she ended up exactly as she had expected.

“This wasn’t my intention.”

With her face against Seojin’s chest, Haji quickly explained. She could feel his heartbeat, as loud as her own.

“I know.”

His dry tone made her explanation seem pointless. Haji flinched at his next words.

“But usually, people move away after saying that, don’t they?”

“I’m trying.”

Grunting, Haji tried to put her foot back into her shoe. It wasn’t easy to fit her foot back into the loose heel.

“If you want to stay like this, I won’t stop you.”

“I can stop. I’m almost done.”

“Too bad.”

A lie.

His tone didn’t sound disappointed at all. How heartless of him not to offer a hand to steady herself as she squirmed.

“Since your shoes are uncomfortable, how about going home?”

“I’ll decide after Seonghee comes.”

He seemed desperate to send her home.

Ah, I think I’m almost done.

Feeling her foot fit snugly into the shoe, she tightened it.

“How do you know when Seonghee will come?”

“Seonghee asked me to go home with her…!”

Once her shoe fit perfectly, Haji looked up sharply.

How long has he been watching?

Seojin’s face filled her vision. Her face filled his eyes as well.

For a moment, she felt like all the noise and people around them disappeared. It was as if only the two of them existed in this space.

His deep black eyes were like a black hole pulling her in. They were so deep she couldn’t see the bottom. Avoiding him felt impossible.

Neither of them looked away or spoke.

“Brother?”

Snap, like breaking a spell, the surrounding sounds came back.

Seojin’s eyebrows twitched slightly. As his face moved away, she could breathe again.

“Brother, what are you doing here?”

Seonghee approached, looking puzzled, and stood close to Haji, protectively.

“Is there a reason I can’t be here?”

“You’ve never come before.”

“I wasn’t in Korea.”

“Even if you were, you wouldn’t have come, right?”

“But you invited me again, didn’t you?”

His tone implied that he had done her a favor by coming.

“I didn’t expect you to come.”

“You sent it because you wanted me to come.”

“I didn’t know you were interested in me?”

“I always have been.”

“…You’re impossible.”

Their sibling bickering ended with Seojin’s victory.

Seonghee, looking frustrated, grabbed Haji’s hand.

“Haji.”

Seonghee pulled Haji behind her, blocking Seojin.

“I have somewhere to take Haji.”

“Go ahead.”

“I don’t know if we’ll come back.”

Seonghee’s words made a flicker of annoyance cross Seojin’s eyes. Seonghee smiled slightly at this.

“Let’s go. There’s a guy who wants to see you.”

“Who?”

“He’s there. A really cool guy.”

Seonghee emphasized each word unnecessarily, then turned sharply to look at Seojin.

To an outsider, Seojin might have seemed indifferent as usual, but Seonghee knew better. She recognized the irritation in his eyes.

Seonghee had noticed the strange situation earlier because of Seojin’s eyes. Even while talking to her, his gaze subtly drifted to Haji.

“Hurry, let’s go. You might not want to come back here.”

Seonghee smiled and pulled Haji along.

***

Watching the two women walk away, Seojin’s eyebrows rose.

In any case, his sister was no help.

Who do you think brought me here?

He didn’t like noisy, crowded places. Unlike him, Seonghee loved such environments.

“She seems to have noticed.”

Well, that’s good.

In the long run, it was a good thing. He had no intention of hiding it anyway.

As long as she didn’t do anything unnecessary out of defiance against him.

“No matter what you do.”

Seojin began to calculate, recalling the two people who had already disappeared from sight.

“There won’t be any variables.”

He reached a conclusion. Even Seonghee wouldn’t be able to break down Haji’s walls with a man.

No matter how many scenarios he considered, the conclusion was the same. Haji’s guard wouldn’t easily come down.

Except with him.

Haji had only just started to become aware of him. She didn’t seem to realize it herself yet.

“It took so long to get here.”

He couldn’t let anyone else have her.

Seojin answered the call that had been ringing for a while.

“Where are you?”

He looked around and approached the woman waving at him.