After the lecture ended, Ye-rin and I headed to a nearby pasta restaurant.

Ding~

Inside the restaurant, there was an Italian-style interior. The atmosphere truly exuded a refined elegance.

Sitting on an antique sofa, I handed the menu to Ye-rin.

"Pick whatever you want. This is my way of thanking you for letting me crash at your place."

"Huh? It's really fine, you know."

"I'm doing this because I'm grateful, so don't hold back."

"Hehe... alright."

With a shy smile, Ye-rin seriously scanned the menu. Then, in a bright voice, she said, "Then I'll have the sausage oil pasta."

"That's all you're going to order?"

"Yep."

That can't be right...

I couldn't help but look at Ye-rin with suspicion as she nodded.

And for good reason, she was actually quite the big eater.

Even with that slender figure, she was the type who could easily eat five packets of ramen as a snack.

"That won't fill you up."

"Uh..."

Sure enough.

Ye-rin averted her gaze, rolling her eyes as she avoided my look.

Why is she acting all shy about eating?

Puzzled, I pointed at the menu again.

"Order more. I made sure my wallet was full just so I could treat you."

"...Then I'll order a little more."

To the sausage oil pasta, Ye-rin added Gorgonzola and Chicken Doria as side dishes.

When she insisted that was enough, I ordered Spicy Cream Pasta for myself.

And then...

After ordering, I watched Ye-rin fidget uneasily while looking at the menu.

'What's going on with her?'

It seemed like she wanted to order more based on her reactions, but she kept insisting it was enough.

'Is she on a diet or something?'

The sudden decrease in her intake made me wonder if something had happened when we weren't hanging out together.

Pouring water into Ye-rin’s cup, I asked because I was concerned.

"Is something wrong? You're eating less than usual, so it's making me worry."

Ye-rin trembled slightly and, with a gloomy expression, responded.

"Recently, I realized that men don't like girls who eat a lot, right? So I decided to cut back on my food intake."

Did she find someone she likes while we were apart?

For a girl who lived for food to act this way, it was quite sad.

"Don't you think so too? A girl who eats a lot is totally unattractive to guys."

"Not at all. I actually think it's great if someone eats well."

Ye-rin's eyes widened in surprise at my response.

"Why?"

"Watching someone eat heartily gives off a positive vibe, don't you think?"

"Do you really think so?"

"Yeah."

Ye-rin seemed to mull it over, repeating to herself, "Really? Is that so?"

I added gently, in a kind tone.

"At least in front of me, eat as much as you want. If you start worrying about appearances, it'll just make things uncomfortable."

Ye-rin smiled brightly and nodded repeatedly.

"Then, I'll order a bit more."

"Sure."

With my permission, Ye-rin went ahead and ordered five more plates of pasta.

Despite the server's concern about the quantity, she nodded confidently with a calm expression.

'...Should I not have said anything?'

Suddenly, I started to worry about my wallet, but seeing Ye-rin's bright smile made all those concerns disappear.

It's all good if she's happy.

Watching her hum a tune, it was clear she was in a great mood.

As I was about to bring up a different topic to chat about with her...

Ding!

A KakaoTalk message came in.

[Sohui: Si-hyun, where are you right now?]

[Sohui: I'm about to have lunch with Chae-yeon. Want to join us? It's my treat!]

"She's at it again..."

I let out a deep sigh, and Ye-rin leaned in close to my face and asked.

"Who is it from?"

"Sohui. She wants me to join her for lunch."

Ye-rin's face scrunched up in displeasure.

"What? Just like earlier in the lecture room. Lim Chae-yeon didn't even ask to get back together, so why is she making such a fuss?"

While Ye-rin grumbled in disbelief, I had a good idea of what was going through Sohui's mind.

It was guilt.

Since Sohui was the one who brought Chae-yeon to the blind date, she probably blamed herself for our breakup.

Sigh...

The situation was getting more complicated, and it gave me a headache.

As I was about to send a half-hearted reply, the ordered food arrived.

There was so much of it that we had to join another table to ours to make room.

"This looks delicious."

Despite being angry just a moment ago, Ye-rin’s expression brightened immediately once she saw the food.

Her mouth watered as she took a picture with her phone and then picked up a fork.

"Thanks for the meal."

"You're welcome."

Ye-rin twirled the noodles around her fork and stuffed the whole bundle into her mouth.

Soon after, she stamped her feet in delight.

"This place is good. We should remember this and come back to try other dishes."

"I'm glad you like it. We have plenty of time until the next lecture, so take your time."

"Okay!"

Slurp—

Even though I told her to take her time, her eating pace didn't change.

I've seen Ye-rin eat countless times since we were young.

She always eats heartily.

And often gets food around her mouth.

"Here, you have some sauce on your face."

"Where?"

I handed her a tissue and pointed out where the sauce was.

But her hand kept missing the spot.

“Sigh… Show me your face."

In the end, like always, it was my job to wipe it off.

After removing the sauce, Ye-rin smiled brightly and said, "Thanks."

I nodded and then started eating my portion. Maybe because I started eating later, when I was halfway through, I noticed Ye-rin had already finished and was staring at her smartphone.

About five minutes later, while she was intently looking at her phone, she suddenly burst out, "Hey! You said you broke up, but you still haven't changed your profile picture?”

“Ah.”

I had been so out of it since the breakup that I forgot the most important thing.

“Geez.. It’s like you haven’t really broken up if you don’t change it.”

“I’ll change it right away.”

I took out my phone and went into the profile settings.

Soon, a picture of Chae-yeon and me embracing with the setting sun in the background appeared.

‘Those were good times...’

Without realizing it, I was getting lost in the memories.

“Excuse me. What are you doing? I told you to delete it already!”

Ye-rin’s sharp voice snapped me back to reality.

“Alright, alright. Stop rushing me.”

"Do you think I'm not going to rush you? Honestly, after saying you wanted to break up and then not even changing your profile picture, how pathetic do you think Chae-yeon must have thought you were!"

Every one of Ye-rin’s points hit the mark.

How could I leave a hugging photo as my profile picture after saying it’s over?

Even comedy couldn't get this absurd.

Thwack.

Ye-rin pointed at me with her fork, giving orders.

"Get rid of the profile picture and just put a period in the status message."

"Got it."

Following her instructions, she frowned while looking at her phone.

"Without a profile picture, it looks a bit dull.. Isn't there anything you can use?"

"I’ll take a look."

After a quick search, I found that my gallery was completely filled with photos of Chae-yeon.

The only other pictures were of stray cats or meme images sent by friends.

None of them seemed appropriate for someone who just broke up.

"Do people who break up even use profile pictures anyway?"

"Most people either leave it blank or put up a solo picture."

"Well.."

Since I didn't have any appropriate photos, I decided to just leave it blank.

Meanwhile, Ye-rin, who was staring intently at her phone...

"Si-hyun, how about we..."

She trailed off, shaking her head while taking a sip of water.

[Sohui: Si-hyun, where are you right now?]

[Sohui: I’m about to have lunch with Chae-yeon, do you want to join us? My treat!]

What should I do?

Si-hyun must be really mad…

He used to come flying over whenever I asked him to eat with Chae-yeon, but now there wasn't even a reply, let alone showing up.

"Sigh.."

What should I really do about this?

Because of my selfishness, I made the two of them break up!

I was deeply resentful of my past self for dragging Chae-yeon into this.

"Chae-yeon, I'm really sorry.. No matter what it takes, I'll make sure you two get back together."

Holding her hand, I said those words, and Chae-yeon answered while looking out the window.

"..It's fine. If we leave him alone, he'll come to apologize on his own. Why bother?"

"But.. it seems like Si-hyun is really mad this time. What if you really break up.."

"That's not going to happen, so don't worry too much."

Chae-yeon's confident demeanor was both reassuring and unsettling.

Sure, whenever they fought, Si-hyun was the one who apologized first. But this time felt different.

After all, this was the first time Si-hyun had agreed to break up.

'Right. I can't just leave things as they are.'

Si-hyun might extend an olive branch like usual.

But what if he didn’t?

I had to reunite them quickly, just in case.

Thinking that, I was sipping on a sports drink.

Bzzz-

Both Chae-yeon’s and my phones vibrated at the same time.

'Did they post an announcement in the group chat?'

We checked our phones almost simultaneously.

And the result.

[Kim Si-hyun's profile picture has been changed.]

[Kim Si-hyun's status message has been changed.]

I saw Si-hyun's blank profile picture and status message, marked only by a period.

"Hiccup.."

Was I too shocked? Suddenly, I started to hiccup.

'Si-hyun's original profile picture was of him hugging Chae-yeon...'

It was a photo he proudly showed off every day because it was so beautifully taken, but now he changed it?

This was definitely an unprecedented crisis.

"Ch-Chae-yeon.."

I felt so guilty that I couldn't raise my head.

But summoning all my courage, I managed to glance at Chae-yeon's face.

Her eyes were wide open, and her mouth was slightly agape.

She seemed very shocked, but gradually, a scornful smile crept onto her face.

"Ha."

Chae-yeon scoffed and threw her phone onto the table.

Thud.

The heavy sound made my body cringe involuntarily.

'Si-hyun, please forgive us!'

After that excruciating lunch time, I started looking for Si-hyun whenever I had a chance.

'By now, Si-hyun's lecture should be over.'

The best time to reconcile them was right after their fight.

Hurriedly running around, I finally spotted Si-hyun heading towards the department office.

"Si-hyun!"