Chapter 96
* * *
“I'm sorry.”
That was her first word. A short, monotonous phrase slipped out.
Shin Ayoung lowered her head deeply as she said it.
“…….”
When she raised her head again, she had to face the gloomy expression of the man before her.
The expression she had to confront every time someone confessed to her.
“Ah….”
A short sigh brushed past her ears.
The atmosphere that had once left her flustered and unsure what to do whenever she first received a confession
had gradually become familiar. At least now, it no longer bothered her.
“…I see, then…?”
Jeong Jaehun covered his lower face with one hand, as though trying to hold up the corners of his mouth.
I could see his eyes darting around.
“……Is it because of your studies?”
“It’s not only because of that.”
Shin Ayoung lightly shook her head.
“Then……”
Jeong Jaehun drew out his words slightly, then raised his gaze.
“Or is there someone else you like?”
For a moment, Lee Seungho came to mind.
“……No?”
The pitch at the end of her answer rose faintly.
She nearly lost control of her expression.
No, she couldn’t. She mustn’t.
Shin Ayoung calmly tried to settle her heart.
She raised her eyes and looked at Jeong Jaehun.
“……”
Ah, it was fine.
“Then let’s go out, even if only for a little while. It’s not like you dislike me, right?”
“……”
“If we date, we might discover more things we like about each other.”
That they would grow to like each other if they dated.
She had heard that line several times before.
“I want to remain good friends with you, as a senior and junior.”
It was a prepared answer. The response she had given until now continued like a macro.
“……”
Jeong Jaehun said nothing. He merely stood there like a wooden statue.
He looked as though he couldn’t properly accept what she had said.
……It wasn’t that he didn’t understand.
Good friends. A good senior-junior relationship.
What did “good” even mean? In truth, she wasn’t sure herself.
It merely contained the meaning that she wanted things to end well. It held no meaning beyond that.
“……I’ll head back first.”
“……”
There was still no answer.
Shin Ayoung lowered her head once more, then started walking first. She quickly left the area.
Once she had rejected his confession, leaving was probably better for him.
Tap, tap—
From the end of the hallway where she had been called out, she slowly made her way toward the stairs below.
“Ssshhup……”
As she walked, Shin Ayoung found herself drawing in a breath.
It wasn’t because of being confessed to. It was simply because of the thought that naturally came to mind.
……The truth was, she wasn’t all that different from him.
Following that train of thought, Shin Ayoung compared herself to the situation before her.
“……”
She stood in Jeong Jaehun’s place.
And Lee Seungho stood in hers.
It was exactly that kind of situation.
‘Ah, damn…….’
She shouldn’t have thought of it.
Shin Ayoung’s expression hardened. She had become anxious about the future for no reason.
She knew too well how to reject a confession, and how the confession she made would come across to the other person.
That made it difficult for her to convey her feelings easily.
After situations like this had repeated themselves, she had gradually become this way.
‘……It’s a needless worry.’
Shin Ayoung clenched her fists tightly.
She had never had a reason to think about it, and she had never once considered it.
But she had become anxious that someday, her own words might be thrown back at her.
That made her anxious, somehow.
* * *
Lunch break.
I left the cafeteria, chewing on my lips. The meat had been especially tough today.
……Putting that aside, it looked like he had been rejected after all.
I looked at Shin Ayoung’s Minimi walking ahead of us.
I had thought she seemed especially down today. So that was why.
“……Come to think of it, what happened with the band club?”
The thought suddenly occurred to me.
I turned and asked Ji Nuri, who was walking beside me.
“Oh, that?”
Ji Nuri answered calmly.
“I decided to try joining it once.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, for about a month? I’ll try it for a little while, and if it’s okay, I’ll stay. If not, I won’t.”
It worked out, it worked out. If not, then not. It was a very cool way of thinking.
“I see.”
I nodded. Since that was what she wanted to do, all I could do was support her.
“Are you worried?”
Ji Nuri grinned.
“I am worried.”
I answered honestly.
“……Huh? You are?”
Ji Nuri’s expression went blank.
“I’m worried you’ll space out and cause some kind of trouble.”
“……”
“Oh, they don’t have snacks there like we do, you know? Since you’re a senior, you’ll probably steal the kids’ snacks—”
Whack-whack—! Ji Nuri swung her palm at me.
“……Oof!”
I had teased her for no reason and gotten hit.
“……”
I rubbed my forearm.
That girl had quite a punch.
“……I’m stopping by the school store before I go. Are you going too?”
The weather was hot, and after eating, I felt like having something to drink.
Isol had skipped lunch, and Shin Ayoung had gone on ahead.
Since Ji Nuri was the only one left, I figured I’d ask her.
“No, I’m going to the clubroom to mooch some snacks.”
“Really?”
Well, there was food in the clubroom too.
It just wasn’t what I wanted.
“Don’t eat too much.”
Otherwise, we’d run out of all the snacks meant for people who came for counseling later.
“Hey, I don’t eat that much, you know?”
Ji Nuri’s eyes narrowed sulkily.
I fled the scene as though escaping.
Whoooosh—
As soon as I entered the school store beside the cafeteria, a cool blast of air-conditioning washed over me.
‘Let’s seeee.’
I looked around the store, then picked up a peach juice.
Nothing beats this for cleansing the palate.
It was cheap, came in a generous amount, and tasted pretty good, too.
I thought I should choose something else as well, so I looked around a little longer—
“Oh, what the.”
Along with a faint noise, I heard a surprised voice.
More precisely, it was a voice pretending to be surprised.
“……”
I slowly turned around. Jeong Jaehun was standing there.
“What, you came to the school store too? What are you buying?”
Jeong Jaehun spoke to me in a somewhat cheerful tone. His manner was strangely friendly.
It was somehow unnatural for someone who had just been rejected.
“Hello.”
I gave him a natural greeting as he approached.
Even as I did, I rolled my eyes around the nearby area, searching for his Minimi.
Ah, there it is.
His Minimi was perched on his shoulder. Its expression wasn’t particularly bright.
As expected, there had to be some reason he had come looking for me.
“Wow, you’ve grown so much taller?”
Jeong Jaehun approached with a natural stride, making a fuss about how different I looked from the first time.
“Thank you.”
I gave him an appropriately polite reply. I wondered why he was suddenly complimenting me.
“You’ve been exercising a lot lately, huh?”
“I do my best.”
Even while answering, I looked over the display shelves.
Did the clubroom have this snack? I found myself debating it.
“Seungho, you……”
As I was doing that, Jeong Jaehun cautiously opened his mouth.
“Do you have a girlfriend?”
“No, I don’t.”
“Is there someone you like?”
“……Why?”
I turned my gaze toward him.
“No. It’s not that.”
Jeong Jaehun gave a faint smile.
“Want me to set you up with someone?”
Then he began tapping at his phone screen.
“There’s a girl I know. She’s pretty decent.”
He held the screen out toward me. An Instagram post was displayed on it.
I didn’t know her. She was probably a third-year girl.
“What do you think? She’s not bad, right?”
“……Why are you suddenly trying to set me up with someone?”
“There are actually quite a few girls interested in you these days. You didn’t know?”
“……”
I examined his Minimi.
I couldn’t tell whether that was true or a lie.
— “---------”
That was because the noise was concealing his thoughts.
It wasn’t any help at times like this, either.
“I appreciate it, but you don’t have to do that.”
I looked down at the post, then pushed his phone back toward him.
“……Are you not interested? Want me to introduce you to someone else?”
I couldn’t read his thoughts, but
his actions made his intentions all the clearer.
I had no desire to get caught up in it.
“I prefer to meet people naturally, so I’m fine without being set up.”
I glossed over it with an appropriate excuse.
“……Really?”
Jeong Jaehun nodded lightly.
“All right, then. If you change your mind, let me know anytime.”
“……”
I didn’t bother answering that question.
That probably wouldn’t happen.
Jeong Jaehun left the school store just like that. He wasn’t carrying a single item in his hands.
— “Hmm…… So Seungho prefers to meet people naturally, too……?”
Just as I was heading toward the register, a voice from behind made me stop.
What was that?
“……”
I slightly tilted my head backward.
Flap, flap—
Short limbs were sticking out from beyond the corner of the display shelf.
Their movement caught my eye.
“Oh……”
That was Ji Nuri’s.
Even when I looked again, it was unmistakable.
I had thought the kid looked familiar. It was her Minimi.
Why she was here was another matter.
“……”
I walked over to it. I went there openly.
I suddenly approached Ji Nuri, who was behind the display shelf.
“Hey, when did you get here? You said earlier you were going to eat in the clubroom.”
At that question, Ji Nuri’s eyebrows shot up.
“Ah……”
A short breath spread softly through the air, then
her expression quickly changed back to normal. She turned her gaze forward again.
“No, it’s just…… There weren’t any drinks in the clubroom. I came to buy something to cleanse my palate.”
Ji Nuri answered in a casual tone.
She yanked open the refrigerator door with a clatter.
“Maybe it’s because the clubroom refrigerator is small. Things disappear so quickly.”
Then she crouched down and picked up two drinks lined up on the lower shelf.
She looked as though she was debating which of the two to have.
That was how it appeared on the outside.
— “He even rejected every introduction…….”
Her voice was a soft mutter.
— “Is he more serious about me than I thought……?”
She didn’t pout or display her usual triumphant attitude.
The Minimi merely muttered with a calm expression.
“……”
I blinked. Her reaction was different from usual, and it surprised me a little.
“Hey, aren’t you going to pay?”
“Ah, yeah, I’m going.”
I came to my senses at Ji Nuri’s call.
Our eyes met briefly.
— “Heh.”
Soon, the bridge of the Minimi’s nose rose, and it let out a triumphant laugh.
“……”
I let out a silent sigh as I watched it.
Right. This was the usual Ji Nuri.
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(!Sign!)
(There’s an AI illustration if you scroll down!)
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Ji Nuri lost in thought