Chapter 44
“Huh?”
Shin Ayoung slowly straightened up at Lee Sol’s words. Looking puzzled, she pointed toward the clock at the front of the classroom.
“...Class is about to start soon, though?”
“It’ll be quick.”
Lee Sol’s tone was firm. It clearly meant that it had to be now.
“...Okay, fine.”
Shin Ayoung reluctantly turned around.
The two of them disappeared from the classroom like that.
“...What’s this all of a sudden...?”
The spot the two of them had left behind.
Ji Nuri narrowed her eyes as she looked in the direction they had disappeared.
“...You don’t happen to know anything, do you?”
Ji Nuri whispered the question to me.
— “If it’s him, maybe he knows? He was with the two of them for a while.”
Ji Nuri’s Minimi stared at me with bright, alert eyes.
It looked at me with a detective’s certainty.
“No.”
I shook my head. I didn’t answer.
— “Oh, come on.”
The Minimi dropped down onto the desk in disappointment.
It grumbled that this was no fun.
“...”
Even if it reacted that way, there was nothing I could say.
Because I really didn’t know.
Lee Sol’s Minimi was still tangled with noise, while Shin Ayoung’s...
Since yesterday, she hadn’t voiced any thoughts besides feeling happy.
I couldn’t be certain of anything, and she would never say it outright, either.
“Hmm...”
If there was anything I could guess...
I could only guess that Lee Sol had called Shin Ayoung out because of what happened yesterday.
She’d lost an entire day despite not having any time to study.
— “...What is it really...?”
Ji Nuri’s Minimi rolled around on the desk and muttered. Its stubby toes twitched.
Her worrying never seemed to end.
She really was a curious one.
* * *
Footstep, footstep—
Lee Sol walked down the hallway.
Shin Ayoung followed three or four paces behind her.
“...”
“...”
Neither of them said a word.
Lee Sol was sorting out what she should say.
Shin Ayoung seemed to sense the strange atmosphere, because she only tilted her eyebrows questioningly and never opened her mouth first.
They were heading toward the stairs at the end of the top-floor hallway, where few people went.
Since people rarely came there, it was a place where they could talk without worrying.
When they reached it, Lee Sol stopped walking.
“...”
Shin Ayoung stopped a short distance away.
A strange standoff continued for a moment.
“...Want some?”
Lee Sol took a small box out of her pocket. It was the box of chocolates Shin Ayoung had just given her.
“Come to think of it, I’m dieting.”
“...”
Shin Ayoung looked down at it and thought for a moment before readily reaching out her hand.
“...Then, just a little?”
“Here. It’s okay, you can eat it all.”
Lee Sol handed the entire box to her.
“...How’s your test prep?”
“Test?”
“Yeah.”
Looking at the chocolate now in Shin Ayoung’s hands, Lee Sol opened the conversation.
“The sports festival is coming up... After that, there won’t be much time left, you know.”
“......Why all of a sudden?”
Shin Ayoung tilted her head.
Lee Sol had been trying to ease the atmosphere.
Perhaps it had been a rather random topic.
“Just. I was wondering how you were doing.”
“Hmm...”
Shin Ayoung thought for a moment, then answered with a small smile.
“I’m preparing reasonably well. I study consistently even normally, so I don’t think it’ll be a major problem.”
“Yeah... I see.”
Lee Sol fiddled with the edge of her sleeve. Her movements slowed.
Some people needed that long to do something that others could finish so easily.
...But it was okay.
That was something that no longer mattered.
It was true that she felt a little deflated.
But she had no intention of envying Shin Ayoung for it. Hadn’t she received help because of her?
“What about you, Sol? Minji unni taught you yesterday. She’s really good at studying too, isn’t she?”
The question flew back at her.
“Hmm...”
Lee Sol fell silent. She turned her head and thought about it carefully.
“I don’t think she’s bad at teaching...”
She definitely wasn’t bad at teaching.
Saying she was good at studying wasn’t wrong, either.
If someone was good at teaching, she was. Most people could probably improve their grades with her explanations alone.
It was just that...
“It was difficult for me.”
For Lee Sol, she wasn’t a good fit.
It had been like that throughout the entire study session.
The thought that Seungho would have taught her more easily kept nagging at her.
Instead, she felt even less focused than when she studied alone.
To put it simply, it was like expensive clothing in the wrong size.
It was only expensive and cumbersome.
“Uh...really?”
“Being good at studying doesn’t mean everyone’s good at teaching.”
“...”
Shin Ayoung awkwardly brushed her hair back.
It even looked as though she was gauging Lee Sol’s reaction. She must really have felt sorry about yesterday.
“It’s okay.”
Lee Sol shook her head.
There was no need for that.
She didn’t have to worry about it.
After all...
“Seungho said he’d help me study today. Won’t he keep doing that from now on...?”
That was why it was okay.
In response to the somewhat probing question,
“Mmm. I see...”
Shin Ayoung responded with an even more awkward look in her eyes.
She couldn’t meet Lee Sol’s gaze and awkwardly stared down at the hallway floor.
‘...What?’
Seeing that expression, Lee Sol became even more certain.
Normally, Shin Ayoung would have simply smiled brightly.
But now, the inner expression that normally never cracked had shown through.
It was quite an unusual sight.
“...So... why did you call me?”
Shin Ayoung checked the time and asked. It felt as though she wanted to end the conversation quickly.
“What, didn’t you have something to say to me?”
“...”
Lee Sol’s lips moved. She did have something to say.
‘What should I say?’
She recalled everything she had been weighing as they walked there.
Should she ask Shin Ayoung to help her get together with Seungho?
If she said that, Shin Ayoung would readily help.
After all, she could hardly ever refuse someone else’s request.
Even as she thought that...
‘...No.’
It didn’t seem right.
She remembered what had happened last time.
Lee Sol shook her head inwardly.
Whether deliberately or not, Shin Ayoung might say she would help and then subtly get in the way.
When she remembered that, she couldn’t even bring herself to mention it.
‘...Even aside from that.’
Asking Shin Ayoung to help her now...
She couldn’t do that.
“...”
Lee Sol quietly stared at Shin Ayoung.
Her expression was ordinary.
There was nothing different from usual. To anyone else, she would have looked like her normal self.
It was just that...
Lee Sol noticed immediately the subtle difference between Shin Ayoung’s expression in front of Seungho and the one she wore now.
Of course she could tell.
She didn’t think she could ask Shin Ayoung to help her while she was in that state.
...Instead.
There was something else she wanted to say.
“...You know, that time.”
Lee Sol spoke as she tapped the end of her dangling tie.
She was a little nervous.
“You asked me last time. Do you remember?”
“Last time... when?”
Shin Ayoung pursed her lips, showing her confusion in her expression.
“During the school trip. At the lodging.”
The memory was still vivid whenever she thought back on it.
On the first night of the school trip, Shin Ayoung had suddenly asked her that question.
Back when Lee Sol herself hadn’t had the slightest idea.
Without any warning at all.
“...You asked if I had a thing for Seungho. Remember?”
“Huh?”
Shin Ayoung’s expression stiffened. Her pupils widened as though she hadn’t expected Lee Sol to bring up that subject.
Even while watching that expression, Lee Sol continued speaking.
If she didn’t say it now, she felt she might never be able to.
Slowly, as if reading a letter aloud, she drew the thoughts inside her out into the open.
“Back then, I said he was just on my mind.”
“Uh... yeah, you did...?”
Shin Ayoung looked a little timidly at Lee Sol’s lips. Her heel shifted backward.
“But now...”
Now.
—and then Lee Sol’s words caught in her throat.
“...”
Lee Sol lightly brought the back of her hand to her cheek. Her cheek was hot enough to burn.
She felt as though her breath were catching in her throat.
The blood rushed to her head.
Even though she was only saying it in front of Shin Ayoung, it was this difficult.
Only now did she realize what a painfully shy person she was.
It felt strangely new.
But it wasn’t an unpleasant feeling.
“Phew...”
Lee Sol held in a small breath.
She creakily lifted her head.
Before she could hesitate any longer, she decided to act.
“Now.”
It wasn’t simply that Seungho was on her mind.
It wasn’t merely fondness.
“...I think... I... like... him...”
At last,
she forced the words out.
Why she felt this way.
Whether it was liking him rather than mere interest.
She couldn’t describe the reason in words, even to herself.
But the fact that she couldn’t describe it didn’t mean the feeling was a lie.
“......”
She wouldn’t ask Shin Ayoung to help her.
She could handle it herself.
She had no intention of doing anything about whatever feelings Shin Ayoung might come to have.
Those were her own feelings.
...But.
I was the one who liked him first.
That was all.
She wanted Shin Ayoung to know.
translatedLines