???

“Do you think they’re really dating?” One of my admirers asked me this during lunch break. Apparently, Yuri had been seen smiling and asking a girl for her number in our class yesterday.

He wasn’t on my radar, so I didn’t really care.

I’d entertained the thought of asking him out before, but guys like him aren’t easy to manipulate. He thinks too much. My relationships never last, so if I’m going to be in one, I’d rather be the one in control of it.

Looking at him now, he was more distracted by his phone than by the girl sitting in front of him. Though, considering the past few days, he was likely fuming because of the rumors about him and said girl.

Clover, right? She helped the school do well in a sport or something?

Whatever. The thing I was focused on sat a few rows ahead of me.

Kim Sora.

Why won’t you look at me the way you used to?

Why do those blue eyes that once held love vast as the ocean now look at me with ice-cold disgust and contempt?

I know you pretend like middle school never happened, but I’ll personally never forget how I felt when you stole my first kiss behind the gym, only to leave me behind weeks later.

Our relationship started as nothing more than a way for our parents to make connections between their companies, but it grew to be something much stronger than that.

You weren’t a player like my brother, and you haven’t been in a single relationship since we were together.

I tried to forget you, you know?

I tried to erase all the times you showered my heart with affection.

I tried to act as if all the memories we made together were a delusion.

A dream.

I told myself that our relationship was a fluke, and that I’d find someone better than you.

I dated male models prettier than you. I went on arranged dates with the sons of men whose connections could help my father’s company grow.

Even then, every guy I’ve been with since you has lacked the grace that you so elegantly flaunt.

It’s not about the money. I have that already.

It’s not about the looks, either.

I just want you, and only you, Kim Sora.

I just wish you’d understand that.

Yuri

Those girls are so loud today.

People I’ve never even spoken to have been coming up to me to ask me about my relationship status. I’d usually welcome a few new people to talk to, but not when it was about something so invasive. Laughing with Reily must’ve given our classmates the wrong idea.

There are only a few things I don’t like in this world.

And one of those things is people who don’t know how to mind their damn business.

It’s been over four days since then and people are still asking about it. I was hoping that a new rumor or something would take its place, but so far, the rumor mill is failing me.

Damn you rumor mill! If I were Orphan Ninja, I’d hit you with a r*sengan!

My sacred mornings and lunch periods had transitioned from nice and peaceful to loud and irritating. I’m usually patient when it comes to things like this, but even I have my limits.

This was different from the fights I’d have with Sora.

My classmates would typically leave me alone if they noticed they were getting on my nerves, but there must be something special about this rumor to them that makes them think it’s okay to keep grinding my gears like this.

This ends today.

I got up from my chair so fast that it fell with a clang. Everyone in the classroom fell quiet and looked in my direction.

“That’s not exactly how I wanted to grab everyone’s attention, but it’ll work for today.” If no one was gonna stop, then I’d give them something better to talk about.

Reily looked at me from her desk, likely wondering what I was gonna do. I smirked and said, “So everyone suddenly has the right to butt into my business, right?” I didn’t mean for it to sound so threatening, but I saw a few people shake their heads at my sudden question. So that’s the happy little accident the painting afro guy on TV meant. I’ll use the opportunity I just gave myself.

“Good,” I continued. “Because it’s about time I gave everyone an answer.” The atmosphere of the classroom immediately changed. I even saw a few heads I didn’t know peeking in the room, wondering what the commotion was about. “You’re all wondering what my relationship with Reily is, right?”

Several heads nodded, and I continued with “We’re just friends.”

One girl spoke up. “Guys and girls can’t just be friends.”

“Sure they can.” I walked over to the girl. “Wanna be my friend?”

“I-I…” The girl seemingly lost the ability to speak.

I kept going, ignoring the bumbling girl. “Sadly, a friendship like that only works out if you don’t have feelings for them.” I shrugged. “Sorry. I only talked to her because I needed her help with some stuff.”

“He’s right.” Reily herself spoke up from her desk. “He just wanted me, the person sitting in front of him, to help him learn how to take better notes.” Then, with a smug expression she added, “If you wanted something scandalous, then I’m sorry for your loss. Real life ain’t a drama.”

“They’re both right.” The last voice I wanted hear decided to speak up. “School is a place for learning, but it’s also a place for us to make connections that last for life.” Rich Boy was using our situation to play the hero in front of everyone. “It doesn’t matter what gender someone is. If two people enjoy being around each other, then that’s their business, not ours.

He quickly glanced at me with a smile and continued spouting his fake nonsense. “I know that Yuri and I have our differences, but I’ll be the bigger man and say that it would be wrong of me, no, wrong of all of us to get in the way of his personal relationships. After all, we’re all friends in this class, right?”

My eyes nearly fell out of my skull when I heard people clapping at what he said. Their talk quickly changed from Reily and I to the “beautiful” speech that Gill Bates here gave about harmony and friendship. He may have had ulterior motives, but he did help me out. I hated to do it, but I’d let this one go. Just this once.

After that little spectacle, I could practically feel the weird stare coming from the pink-haired girl sitting next to the girl who’d spoken up.

It was an open secret that Pinkie liked Little Bezos to the point of obsession, and that side of her intimidated me. She wasn’t like these other girls who had crushes on me or him. She was beautiful and could easily get her hands on any guy she wanted. No, that wasn’t all to her.

She looked at the guy the same way a predator looked at their prey.

There was a hunger in her eyes, and it was obvious to me that something had left her unsatisfied.

Now those sea-green eyes made me their target, but I couldn’t read the emotions behind them.

Without taking her eyes off me, the pink minx made her way over to my desk and only said a few words.

“We need to talk.”

And that was the end of my first conversation with her.

Class seemed to go by slower today. I didn’t know what this girl wanted to talk to me about, and the only thing I could think of was Boss Baby sitting ahead of us. Other than that, my mind blanked.

Class ended, and Pinkie motioned for me to follow her. Her usual group of sheep-like friends tried following her, but she made them disappear with a wave of her hand.

“Wish I had that power.” Oops. Didn’t mean to say that out loud.

Pinkie glared at me for a second but kept walking. She took me outside to a side of the school where students rarely went. I’d been led here a few times, but only to reject people.

We stopped, and she continued to glare at me with her arms crossed. Her right foot lightly tapped the ground as if she were waiting impatiently for someone.

Looking down at her face-to-face like this once again reminded me of just how pretty she is. Though, my attraction to her stopped strictly at appearance. Her next words reminded me how a bad personality can ruin good looks.

“Why does Sora pay so much attention to you?”

What a shame.

I pretended to look for hidden cameras or people with phones. “Are you being serious right now?”

My comment didn’t even touch her. “Why wouldn’t I be? I’ve spent the past few years trying to get him to glance in my direction again, while you get snarky and rude comments from him almost daily.”

I was shocked, maybe even a little happy. “I’m surprised someone realizes he’s been so rude to me!”

“Don’t get too excited. I’m only mentioning that because he has a tendency to act a certain way in public. Otherwise, he usually doesn’t bother.”

“So I was right about that.” She’d confirmed my guesses about that guy.

“You still haven’t answered my question.” Her grip on her own arm tightened. I barely knew this girl, but I knew a vein was getting ready to pop.

“And why would I answer your question when you haven’t even told me your name?” Pinkie’s right eye twitched at my comeback, then she looked at me with disbelief.

“You don’t know who I am?”

“Of course I do.” With a snarkier tone, I added “In my family, we introduce ourselves when we first meet people. You would know about that, wouldn’t you Miss Jin?”

She prepared to snap back at me but went against whatever thought she was about to say. That’s a relief. She straightened her back, took a breath, and seemingly transformed into a different person. A kinder voice from within her said, “I am Jin Nari, eldest daughter and heir to the Jin Group. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

In response to her forced introduction, I replied in kind. “My name is Heo Yuri, son of no one, grandchild of Choi Sangcheol, and heir to nothing. It’s a pleasure to meet you too.” Sarcasm seethed from my words.

Seemingly unphased by my introduction, Nari cast off her business mask and waited for my explanation.

I started with what I knew…or didn’t. “I don’t know what goes on in that guy’s mind, but I can tell you why I don’t like him. It’s not exactly what you’re looking for, but it’s better than nothing, right?”

She nodded. “It’s better than being left in the dark like I’ve been. At best, I may be able to come to some sort of conclusion from what you tell me.”

I gave her a rundown of the reasons for why I hated that bastard. Her facial expression slowly transitioned from a glare to one of understanding.

“I see. From what I know about him, I think I can tell you why he doesn’t like you.”

I raised my eyebrows at that. “Really? Other than what he says to me, what reason would he possibly have?”

For the first time, Pinkie—I grew attached to the nickname, okay?—hesitated. She bit her lip while thinking about it.

“It’s not my place to say.”

I could’ve tried to argue for why she should’ve told me after I spent all this time explaining myself to her, but I was exhausted. We’d spent a good hour talking, and I hadn’t talked to someone for this long in a while other than through texts. I didn’t mind talking to people, but I only had so much social energy.

Being an introvert is tough sometimes.

“You don’t have to tell me, but I still don’t get why you like that guy. There are so many better guys you could’ve crushed on. He’s an arrogant jerk who does whatever he wants. He wraps people around his fingers using daddy’s credit card, and he uses that silver tongue of his to make people like me look like an idiot.”

Pinkie looked like she wanted to say something, but I was too heated to stop. “I’ll never understand what goes through his head, and maybe even yours. I may be biased, but your obsession with him just doesn’t make sense to me.”

“It doesn’t have to make sense!” She suddenly raised her voice. I instinctively took a step back in surprise. Her body was trembling, but not out of anger or fear. “I wish love made sense to me.”

She looked up into my eyes, and I could feel the sadness behind them. “Sometimes, you’re just a normal person dealing with normal problems when suddenly, someone just appears. Your emotions decide that this person should live in your heart. You let them stay for a while.

“The feeling that comes with letting them stay is damn-near addicting. You feel yourself changing. Old habits start dying because you’re afraid that they’ll make this drug-like human who came into your life disappear, and you can’t let that happen. They’ve already invaded your thoughts, your dreams, and maybe even your wishes. Then out of nowhere, you think, ‘Hey, this person might love you back! What if I say something to them? What if this drug is something I need?’

“You take a chance, and for me, that chance was all I needed. For so long, I didn’t have to worry about love. Any pain or sorrow I experienced would wash away the moment I saw him. He had me in his arms, and I had him in my heart. I loved him more than anyone else in my life, and I never could have imagined that one day, I would lose him.

“I took all that for granted, and the whiplash I felt when he left me burned me up from the inside.” Tears started to well up in her eyes, but she still exuded confidence in her words. “I’ve known him for too many years now. It’s not that I want to love him; it’s that I can’t stop loving him.”

A weak laugh left her body. “I’m glad it wasn’t because of a girl. If I had to watch him fall in love with someone else…” Her sentence trailed off, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to hear the end of it.

I took a deep breath and responded. “You’re weird, and I may not agree with your taste in guys, but I can see where you’re coming from.” My heart started hurting as I thought about what happened in middle school. “The first time I fell in love, I never got the chance to tell her how I felt. I was a loser who didn’t realize that you only have so long to be with the people you care about the most.”

I gave Pinkie a light pat on the head. “You may be one crazy bitch, but I respect the motivation you’ve got. It’s kinda scary—borderline intimidating if we’re being honest here—but it’s something I wish I had more of.”

Pinkie fixed the part of her hair I’d pat and said, “I’m not crazy. I’m just a girl in love.”