'I'll never sleep with her again.'

Si-hyun grumbled to himself as he prepared to go out.

It was because when he woke up in the morning, Ye-rin, who had clearly fallen asleep on the bed, was hugging him while sleeping.

'How does she manage to end up next to me? Did she roll off the bed?'

Recalling Ye-rin's bad sleeping habits from the past, Si-hyun shuddered.

Meanwhile, she was happily humming while doing her hair with a curling iron, which Si-hyun watched with a disheartened look.

"Si-hyun, are you ready?"

"Yeah."

"Then put on your shoes and wait for me. I'll be out soon."

"Got it."

While scrolling through two episodes of a daily webtoon, Ye-rin, now ready, emerged from her room.

Her hair was tied up in a ponytail, she wore a crisp white T-shirt and well-fitted jeans.

Unlike her usual plain appearance, today's Ye-rin had made an effort, and it showed.

"How do I look? Does it suit me?"

"It's alright, I guess."

Her transformation highlighted her already stunning looks, enough to make even the picky Si-hyun nod in agreement.

"Your reaction is lukewarm..."

Ye-rin pouted as she looked at herself in the full-length mirror by the shoe cabinet, adjusting her hair.

Then, as she was about to head back into the room, Si-hyun stopped her.

"We don't have time. Where are you going?"

"I just noticed some things that bothered me in the mirror, so I want to fix my makeup."

Worried about how long it might take for her to finish, Si-hyun decided he couldn't let her go back in and took her by the hand.

"You're already pretty enough. Let's just go."

"Really?"

A bright smile spread across Ye-rin's face. She put her half-removed shoe back on, clutching Si-hyun's hand tightly.

"If you say so, it must be true."

Wearing a satisfied expression, Ye-rin and Si-hyun left the house together.

Even though Si-hyun insisted his leg was fine, Ye-rin dragged him to the hospital.

Despite the doctor's reassurances, she kept asking questions until she finally believed the diagnosis after seeing the X-ray. After getting a prescription for scar ointment at the pharmacy, the two of them caught a bus to head to the university.

"It'll take another 20 minutes to get there."

The time was awkwardly short for standing and waiting. Ye-rin scanned for available seats and luckily found a single empty one.

"Si-hyun, sit here."

At Ye-rin’s cheerful suggestion, Si-hyun shook his head.

“No, it’s fine. It won’t take long to get there. I can just wait standing.”

“What if your wound gets worse? Just sit down.”

“You heard the doctor too. These are all just scratches; there's nothing seriously wrong with my leg.”

As Si-hyun kept arguing back, Ye-rin's eyes gradually narrowed.

‘Why is she making such a fuss when I’m really fine.’

Was she still shaken from seeing his wound yesterday?

Today, Ye-rin was acting like an overprotective parent.

‘I appreciate her concern, but if this keeps up, it’s going to be burdensome.’

Si-hyun avoided her glare, folding his arms. But he couldn't ignore the piercing sensation at the back of his head. Unable to bear it any longer, he sighed and said, "I'm really fine, so if someone should sit, it should be you."

“...Really? Okay then.”

Ye-rin took a seat as Si-hyun suggested. Why was she complying so easily for once?

Just as Si-hyun tilted his head in puzzlement,

Squee...

Ye-rin hugged his waist tightly and sat him down on her lap.

A man sitting on a woman's lap? The passengers on the bus exchanged glances of disdain and envy.

“What are you doing? Let go right now!”

“If I don't do this, you won’t sit. So we might as well go like this.”

Ye-rin used all her strength to hold him down as Si-hyun tried to stand up.

If he sat like this, his full adult weight would fall on her slender legs... It might strain Ye-rin's legs.

“Alright, alright! I’ll sit, so just let go!”

Defeated by Ye-rin’s stubbornness, Si-hyun surrendered and sat where she wanted.

“See, it would have been better if you did this from the beginning.”

Ye-rin patted his head approvingly, satisfied.

Si-hyun and Ye-rin, both majoring in tourism management, arrived in time for their class and entered the lecture hall.

The room featured four large windows at the back, with sunlight streaming in and lighting up the front.

The air conditioning was quite strong, so the two chose seats in the back where they could soak up some sunlight.

"It's been a long time since we sat together, hasn't it?"

"Yeah, it has."

Before Si-hyun started dating Chae-yeon, they were always together.

But once Si-hyun began a relationship with Chae-yeon,

She had warned him not to get too close to other girls, which naturally created distance between Si-hyun and Ye-rin.

'If she didn't even like me, why was she so protective about other women around me?

Was it that she didn’t want me for herself but also didn't want anyone else to have me?’

Si-hyun was pondering Chaeyeon's incomprehensible selfishness when—

Bang!

The door was flung open, grabbing the attention of Si-hyun and the other students.

Chaeyeon confidently stood at the source of the noise, while Sohui, looking anxious and distressed, stood behind her.

'Anyone would think Sohui was the one who cheated.'

Unlike the nervous Sohui, Chaeyeon scoffed when she saw Si-hyun sitting with Ye-rin.

As she started to head to the opposite side of where Si-hyun was sitting...

"Chaeyeon, where are you going? Come over here."

Sohui pulled Chaeyeon's arm, bringing her to Si-hyun.

Glancing around.

Sohui stared intently at the seat next to Si-hyun, where Ye-rin was sitting, and then, awkwardly, she spoke up.

"Uh... Ye-rin, could you possibly give up your seat?"

Ye-rin, typing on her laptop, replied indifferently.

"Why should I?"

"There's a bit of a misunderstanding between Chaeyeon and Si-hyun… I wanted to help clear it up. Could you please?"

Ye-rin stopped typing and glared sharply at Sohui.

"No."

"Huh?"

Sohui, taken aback by Ye-rin's refusal, stood speechless for a moment before continuing.

"I'll talk to the others and find another seat in the back for you. Just this once..."

"If you really want to sit here, ask Si-hyun. If he tells me to sit somewhere else, I'll move."

Ye-rin, resting her chin on her hand, looked at Si-hyun as if demanding an answer.

At the same time, Sohui's eyes were pleading, but Si-hyun had no intention of meeting her expectations.

"I have nothing to say to you two."

"See?" Ye-rin echoed with a smirk at Si-hyun's response.

Sohui, now on the verge of tears, pleaded in a trembling voice.

"Si-hyun, please don't be like that. Talk to Chae-yeon. The incident yesterday was really a misunderstanding."

Why was Sohui trying to clear up the misunderstanding instead of Chae-yeon herself?

As his best friend was debasing herself this much, Chae-yeon just stood there watching the situation unfold.

Feeling annoyed and frustrated, Si-hyun asked tersely.

"Im Chae-yeon, do you have anything to say to me?"

He intentionally dropped the friendly tone and spoke bluntly.

In response, Chae-yeon, who had her arms crossed, narrowed her eyes sharply and replied.

"No, I don't."

"Chae-yeon!"

Sohui's exasperated voice burst out at Chae-yeon's indifferent reply.

‘As expected. Our prideful queen has no intention of even trying to clear up the misunderstanding.’

It was such a predictable reaction. Si-hyun waved his hand dismissively, signaling them to leave.

"Really? Then take her and go, don't drag me into this."

"Si-hyun, please, let's..."

Before Sohui could persuade further, Chae-yeon grabbed her wrist.

"Alright."

Just as Chae-yeon agreed to move, she halted her steps.

Glancing around, Si-hyun saw that there were no other seats around them where the two of them could sit together.

Could it be because of that? With a click of her tongue, Chae-yeon abruptly sat in the front seat.

Seeing this, Sohui hesitated, glancing at Si-hyun before reluctantly sitting next to Chae-yeon.

Screech-

Before long, the professor entered, and the lecture began with a roll call.

Though he usually struggled to concentrate, today's distraction was worse than usual. With those two sitting in front of him, nothing reached Si-hyun's ears.

‘Doesn't she feel anything?’

While Si-hyun couldn't focus and felt completely out of sorts, Chae-yeon was listening attentively and taking thorough notes.

Watching her, Si-hyun felt the sting of realizing yet again just how little he meant to Chae-yeon.

"Sigh..."

Maybe it was time to refocus on his studies, given how much time he'd wasted on the relationship.

Determined to pull himself together, Si-hyun forced his pen to move across the notebook.

Scritch-scratch, scritch-scratch.

As he filled his notebook with words, a tap on his shoulder interrupted him.

"What's up?" he asked.

"Look at this," Ye-rin replied, handing him a yellow Post-it note.

Inspecting it closely, he noticed a small drawing of a woman in a skirt near the edge of the last page.

‘Good old times.’

It reminded him of the little animations he and Ye-rin used to create by flipping the edges of their textbooks during middle school.

Flip flip flip—

As expected, when Ye-rin flipped through the Post-it notes, the character started moving.

The once still female character suddenly clutched her skirt.

Little by little, she began to lift it slowly.

"How bored do you have to be to draw something like this?" Si-hyun muttered.

"Why? It's fun. I did a really good job this time, so watch until the end." Ye-rin responded.

Even though it was just a character, Si-hyun couldn't help but wonder how Ye-rin, being a woman herself, wasn't embarrassed by it.

Despite his inner conflict, Si-hyun's gaze kept being drawn to the Post-it note. After all, being a guy, he couldn't help but be curious about how the animation would end.

Flip flip flip—

Noticing Si-hyun's interest, Ye-rin giggled and started flipping through the pages again where she had left off.

The character steadily blushed and lifted the hem of her skirt.

The quality was absurdly high, making it incredibly immersive.

As the character's smooth thighs came into view...

Just as the animation neared its end...

"Huh?"

The character, who was wearing shorts underneath her skirt, stuck out her tongue at Si-hyun.

Wham!

At the same moment, a sharp pain exploded across Si-hyun's forehead.

The loud flick Ye-rin delivered was strong enough to make a few students turn around.

Si-hyun bit his lip hard to suppress the scream that almost escaped from his mouth.

"Pfft!"

Amused by the fact that Si-hyun fell for her trick, Ye-rin chuckled in delight.

Ye-rin stifled her laughter, careful not to let the professor notice.

Si-hyun's fist clenched involuntarily. He considered giving her a flick on the forehead in return, but decided against it, knowing it could escalate things.

"You really..."

"It's your fault for staring so hard... Pfft!"

Ye-rin couldn't continue her sentence and burst out laughing again. Curious about what was so funny, Si-hyun rubbed his forehead and felt a bump protruding.

'How could a flick on the forehead be this strong?'

He couldn't believe that one flick could cause a bump. It was hard to imagine such power coming from her delicate hand.

"Do you want to get flicked on the forehead too?"

Si-hyun raised his trembling fist.

"No way. Your flicks hurt a lot."

"I'll do it gently, just let me do it once."

"How can I trust that?"

Even though their voices were low, the playful argument continued.

As Si-hyun swung his fists dramatically and Ye-rin pouted in protest...

"Sigh... You're so freaking noisy."

With an irritated voice, Chae-yeon turned around, glaring at them.

While Si-hyun froze at the sight of those familiar eyes, Ye-rin replied in a playful tone.

"Sorry. It's just so fun messing around with Si-hyun, can't help but laugh."

Though it sounded like an apology, her tone was clearly mocking.

Curious about Chae-yeon's reaction, Si-hyun turned his head away from Ye-rin.

Whoosh.

As a result, he saw Chae-yeon glaring at him before turning her head forward again.

'Her gaze is so fierce.'

Just like the old saying that meeting a tiger's eyes could paralyze you, Si-hyun's body stiffened whenever he saw Chae-yeon's gaze.

"Sigh..."

Hoping that time would eventually fix this fragile habit, Si-hyun tried to calm his trembling heart.

Then he looked over at the now quiet Ye-rin.

Tap, tap.

She had started taking notes on her laptop, a satisfied smile on her face.

"Heh..."

Covering her mouth and shaking slightly, to Si-hyun, she seemed extremely pleased.