Chapter 04
And with his long legs, Hyunoh walked past Yeonjae, still holding the straw in his mouth.
But his cup was already empty except for ice. Every time he sucked on the straw, only the sound of air came out.
In the late spring air, already carrying the scent of the coming summer, the sound of a trendy song drifting from nearby restaurants mixed with the cheerful laughter of college students—and the hollow sound from Hyunoh’s empty plastic cup echoed in her ears.
Only then did Yeonjae come back to her senses and hurry to catch up to him. That was when Hyunoh asked,
“So why do you like Lee Dohan so much?”
At that question, Yeonjae couldn’t answer either.
Third year of middle school.
Yeonjae had the worst year of her sixteen-year-old life.
That summer, her parents—who had never gotten along since she was young—finally decided to divorce.
It wasn’t something she had never imagined. But vaguely expecting your parents to divorce and being officially told they were divorcing were completely different things.
Her grades, which hadn’t been bad, dropped to the bottom. Her mother, who cared deeply about academics, used Yeonjae’s falling grades as an outlet for her own stress from the divorce.
Her father barely came home.
He had already met another woman. He announced that he would start a new life with her.
As if puberty wasn’t difficult enough, her family situation collapsed on top of it.
Back then, if someone had just lightly pushed her, Yeonjae would have reacted in only two ways.
Either explode in anger.
Or burst into tears.
But there was one thing Yeonjae overlooked.
Girls going through puberty were all sensitive.
In the middle of her parents’ long fights, Shin Yeonjae slowly became someone sensitive, picky, a little rude, someone who looked down on friends and gave them unpleasant looks.
Looking back, it was almost like a game.
Yesterday, Hyejin was the worst girl for ignoring her friends because of her boyfriend.
A few days later, Jiwon became the really awful girl for looking down on friends because she got good grades.
So tracing back to the exact starting point didn’t really matter.
To be honest, Yeonjae didn’t think much of her broken friendships. Her head was already filled with bigger worries than school life.
But when even Miyeon—her closest friend since elementary school—turned her back on her, that was hard to endure.
“Miyeon, want to go home together after school?”
“No. I… promised to hang out with Hyejin and the others.”
“Oh, really?”
From a distance, Hyejin’s group stared at Yeonjae and Miyeon. They were the loudest group in class.
Miyeon couldn’t even meet Yeonjae’s eyes. She quickly left and immediately joined Hyejin’s group.
Yeonjae had already guessed.
And she couldn’t say she didn’t understand Miyeon.
If Miyeon didn’t leave her, then Miyeon would become the next target.
Still, that didn’t stop the bitterness.
Yeonjae thought, If it were me, I would have held Miyeon’s hand no matter what.
After her friends changed, she also lost people to eat lunch with.
For a while, Yeonjae skipped lunch again and again.
Later, she just ate alone.
Then the same girls who had been her friends only days ago whispered loudly enough for her to hear.
“She has no pride. Eating alone like that. Pfft.”
“I knew it when she looked down on us. She’s really awful.”
Just last week, they had eaten together and gone to cram school together after school.
Now they treated her like she was invisible.
At first, Yeonjae didn’t know what to do. But little by little, she became calm.
Should I just be thankful there’s no physical violence?
They didn’t pour milk into her locker like in dramas. They didn’t bump into her shoulders on purpose.
They simply didn’t talk to her.
As if she didn’t exist.
During gym class, when she ended up paired with the only other leftover student, she could hear her former friends whispering and laughing from afar.
“Now the losers can hang out together. Perfect match.”
“Ugh, I think they smell. Loser smell.”
Sixteen years old. Maybe that was why they could be endlessly cruel.
“Uh… Yeonjae.”
A few weeks later, when she turned around, Miyeon was standing there.
All eyes in the classroom were on the two of them.
She hasn’t even looked in my direction for weeks.
Yeonjae stared at her without answering.
Miyeon hesitated, aware of everyone watching, then continued,
“…What are you doing after class?”
Her tone was gentler than before.
Inside Yeonjae, who had been pretending to be indifferent, a small hope began to rise.
Maybe they could become close again.
She didn’t need the other girls. They were only friends because they were in the same group.
No matter how much they tried to hurt her, it only made her upset, not deeply wounded.
But Miyeon was different. Miyeon turning her back had truly hurt.
Hiding those thoughts, Yeonjae answered,
“Why? Nothing.”
Even saying that made her nervous.
“Then… after school, can we talk for a bit?”
Yeonjae felt her chest swell without realizing it and nodded.
After class, Yeonjae waited in the classroom until the others left.
Miyeon waved goodbye to friends who greeted her but didn’t follow them out. She stayed quietly in her seat.
When the classroom was empty and only the two of them remained, Miyeon finally stood up and walked over.
She gave an awkward smile and fidgeted with her hands for a long time.
After hesitating for quite a while, she finally spoke.
“…You know the boys’ high school across the street? There’s a second-year there named Lee Dohan.”
As she said that, she opened a social media app and showed a picture.
It was a group photo. She zoomed in until only one boy among more than ten filled the screen.
“You might know him too. He’s been famous around here for being handsome.”
But Yeonjae didn’t know who Lee Dohan was.
She didn’t even care about male idols. Only when someone mentioned liking one would she briefly look them up.
Even so, she could tell at a glance which boy Miyeon meant without even zooming in.
In the photo, he looked like he had been captured by chance by someone else’s raised phone camera.
His features were neat and balanced. His gaze was slightly awkward, like he hadn’t tried to pose at all.
And yet, compared to the others who clearly tried to look good, his face was much more striking.
As Yeonjae stared at the picture, Miyeon added,
“Hyejin said you live in the same apartment as him.”
“…So?”
“Can you get his number for me?”
“What?”
For a moment, Yeonjae was too shocked to respond.
“Me? Why?”
Her reflexive question was answered in a trembling voice.
“…Hyejin likes him.”
Only then did Yeonjae properly look at Miyeon’s face. She looked like she was about to cry.
“She said she’ll only keep hanging out with me if I get his number…”
After that day,
When school ended, Yeonjae sat on the playground swing and waited for Dohan until the sun went down.
Her parents, preparing for divorce, paid no attention to her. Even if she skipped academy and stayed outside all day, the only one who worried about her was the security guard.
“Why is the student from Building 107 always sitting outside?”
Even at that concerned question, Yeonjae just smiled awkwardly.
As soon as he walked away, she let out a quiet sigh.
She knew.
She didn’t have to do this favor.
She could have said, You suffer too.
But she didn’t.
She was angry at Miyeon, but Miyeon was still her friend. Just because Yeonjae was in trouble, she didn’t want Miyeon to suffer the same way.
She thought she would see Dohan quickly.
But things didn’t go as easily as she hoped.
She even began to doubt whether the information about them living in the same apartment was true. Dohan rarely appeared.
Still, she waited.
Thankfully, the information wasn’t false. One evening at sunset, she casually looked toward the apartment entrance corner—
And Dohan appeared.
Yeonjae recognized him instantly.
That’s him.
Hyejin’s crush.
