By Zephyria 
As soon as Haon pushed open the classroom door and entered, his eyes scanned the interior.
People were scattered here and there, settling into their seats and organizing their things. But the person he was looking for was separate.
‘There he is.’
Second row by the window.
Cha Jeong-won had already taken his seat and was rolling a pen. Perhaps he had just run his hand through his hair, as the strands near his forehead were slightly tousled, and the line of his neck was partially visible above his black shirt.
‘Originally, it would have been a different classroom.’
With the change in the professor overseeing the graduation projects, the classroom had changed too.
Thanks to that, he was assigned the same professor as Cha Jeong-won, which meant he could see him from Monday morning.
Haon pretended to look at the opposite wall for no reason, then naturally shifted his gaze toward Cha Jeong-won. As if waiting, their eyes met.
“……”
He should have been the first to look away, but strangely, his body wouldn’t listen.
Cha Jeong-won showed no sign of surprise. He didn’t laugh broadly or show any exaggerated delight. He simply lowered the corners of his eyes ever so slightly and watched quietly with an expression that seemed on the verge of breaking into a smile.
Cha Jeong-won was now keeping their relationship a secret, just as Haon wanted.
But strangely, Cha Jeong-won’s gaze made Haon’s heart pound.
‘Sunbae, if we keep making eye contact like this, people will notice.’
Haon muttered to himself internally and hurriedly turned his head away.
For no reason, he set his bag down on the nearest empty seat, then picked it up again. It was a spot where Cha Jeong-won wouldn’t be visible, and he felt he might regret it later.
As he walked, pretending nothing was amiss, he thought he heard the sound of someone laughing behind him.
Probably not, he forced himself to pretend he hadn’t heard.
He set his bag down on the seat two over from Cha Jeong-won. It was a distance where they could easily pretend to have nothing to do with each other, yet if they just slightly raised their heads, their eyes would naturally meet.
‘This should be a safe distance, right?’
As he unzipped his bag to take out his laptop, his mouth suddenly felt parched. Having not slept properly last night, a wave of fatigue washed over him.
He checked his watch, confirmed there was still time before the lecture started, and abruptly stood up from his seat.
“Maybe I’ll just grab a coffee and come back.”
He muttered it like a soliloquy and stepped out into the hallway.
Even while standing in line at the building’s cafeteria, Cha Jeong-won kept popping into his head.
＊ ＊ ＊
“Ah, two, please.”
After finishing the payment, Haon turned around and then hesitated.
‘If I give one to sunbae, won’t people think it’s strange?’
So he was about to cancel, but the person right behind him was giving him a look that said to move aside if he was done ordering. It was an awkward timing to correct the order now.
‘Well, whatever. It’s just one coffee; how suspicious could it look?’
As he walked back down the hallway holding two cups of coffee, his chest felt uncomfortably fluttery for no reason. Even the sound of ice cubes clinking against each other in the cup seemed annoyingly loud.
He pushed the classroom door open with his shoulder and entered. The friends chatting inside briefly turned their heads, then returned to their conversations. While no one paid any attention, Haon set one cup of coffee down at his seat, then approached the window side holding the remaining cup.
The closer he got, the clearer Cha Jeong-won’s profile became. He could see the thin shadow falling along his jawline and the slight prominence of tendons on the back of the hand holding the pen.
“Sunbae.”
Even his calling voice sounded strangely awkward.
Cha Jeong-won stopped his pen and looked up. Others nearby glanced over, and Kim Hyun-gyu, who had just entered the classroom, was about to call out to Haon but stopped.
“What.”
Cha Jeong-won replied in his usual voice. His tone was as dry as always, but it somehow felt strangely disappointing.
‘No, this isn’t the time to feel that.’
Haon gripped the cup tightly with both hands and then held it out to him.
“This… I accidentally ordered two. Sunbae, would you like one?”
His voice rose slightly at the end. He felt it sounded like a transparent excuse, which made it worse.
It wasn’t that he couldn’t drink both himself, but the reason he had specifically brought it to this person’s seat seemed too obvious, making the attempt to hide it seem pointless.
Still, he couldn’t take back the words he’d already spoken…
Cha Jeong-won looked down at the cup once, then back at Haon’s face.
“An accident.”
He repeated it briefly, then wordlessly reached out his hand. Their fingers brushed slightly. A lukewarm temperature, not quite hot, was transmitted.
Even though it was just a passing touch, his heart raced.
“Huh?”
Kim Hyun-gyu made a strange sound and approached.
“If you ordered it by accident, you should have brought it to me. Hello.”
He greeted Cha Jeong-won, then tapped Haon’s shoulder.
“Why are you bothering Jeong-won sunbae first thing in the morning? I’ll just take this…”
Just as Kim Hyun-gyu was subtly scolding Haon and trying to take the coffee, the cup in Haon’s hand disappeared in the nick of time.
Kim Hyun-gyu, seeing his own empty hand in an instant, looked around in confusion.
“Suddenly felt like having it.”
“Suddenly?”
Kim Hyun-gyu repeated his words, then scratched his head and set his bag down on the seat next to Haon.
“Kim Hyun-gyu, you come by every day and buy coffee. Why are you empty-handed today?”
Haon spoke with an awkward expression, but still glanced at Cha Jeong-won.
He was drinking the coffee with an impassive face. His composed demeanor—not commenting on the taste or saying thank you—felt remarkably natural.
“What are you doing, sit down quickly.”
Urged by Kim Hyun-gyu, Haon awkwardly returned to his seat.
Even while drinking his coffee, a stifled laugh kept escaping from the corners of his mouth.
It felt nice sitting in the same row as Cha Jeong-won, drinking coffee together.
“By the way, where did you sleep yesterday?”
“Pfft!”
Simultaneous with Kim Hyun-gyu’s question, Haon spat out the coffee he was drinking.
“Ugh, gross. Just witnessed a coffee fountain.”
Fortunately, no one was sitting in the front row, but traces of splattered coffee were blatant all around.
“Cough, cough. What are you…”
As Haon wiped his mouth and chin with the back of his hand while speaking, Kim Hyun-gyu handed him a tissue from the side and retorted.
“You packed all your stuff and left. But I slept at school yesterday, and you weren’t there.”
“Why are you sleeping here? It hasn’t even started in earnest yet…”
Turning it into a rebuke toward Kim Hyun-gyu, Haon quickly glanced around. Then, noticing some had splashed onto Cha Jeong-won’s seat as well, his face flushed red.
He was showing all sorts of embarrassing sides to Cha Jeong-won.
“Sorry.”
After apologizing to him, Haon cautiously reached out his hand.
“It’s fine here.”
Cha Jeong-won coldly refused, then took out a tissue and wiped his own seat. Haon’s hand hung awkwardly.
“Hey, the professor’s coming.”
Kim Hyun-gyu poked Haon’s side, urging him to sit down quickly.
As he sat in his chair, pretending to look around, he glanced to the side. Cha Jeong-won was already looking forward with a perfectly normal expression.
‘This feels strange.’
He was the one who suggested keeping it a secret yesterday, so why did it feel like things were flowing contrary to expectations?
As the professor opened the door and entered, Haon glanced back toward Cha Jeong-won again. At that very moment, their eyes met from across the way.
It was an even briefer moment than before, but this time, the gaze was clearly intentional.
Cha Jeong-won took a sip of coffee, set the cup down, and very subtly raised and lowered the corner of his mouth.
…Was he mocking me for spitting out the coffee just now?
“Happy Monday.”
The professor’s voice echoed from near the door. The professor, with hair half-streaked with white, walked to the podium holding the attendance sheet. The students gradually quieted their murmuring and settled properly into their seats.
“Kim Hyun-gyu, Yoon Haon, you’re newly added, right? For the consultation, come see me anytime during my free periods.”
“Yes!”
Kim Hyun-gyu shouted energetically.
He acted as if the change in supervising professor was a good thing. And truly, Kim Hyun-gyu was grinning broadly.
What’s with him.
“Now it’s the real graduation project. No joke, your work this semester could become the first piece you can present as a portfolio anywhere you go.”
Standing in front of the blackboard, the professor tapped the lectern with one hand.
“We’ll keep the spatial scale open from a minimum of a studio apartment or larger, up to commercial space remodeling. Whatever you do, you need to do it properly.”
Answers came scattered from here and there. Haon wasn’t much different.
He had already decided to some extent even before starting the graduation project.
“And…”
The professor’s gaze naturally shifted toward the window side. It was a name most already knew.
“Cha Jeong-won.”
Haon unconsciously steadied his breath and shifted his gaze that way. Cha Jeong-won reacted calmly, not looking surprised in the least.
“Yes.”
“I doubt there’s another student here who’s already held a solo exhibition, but with that level of skill shown, we can have some expectations for this graduation project too, right? You need to produce at least one piece worthy of bringing in external judges under the school’s name.”
The professor’s tone carried both pressure and expectation simultaneously. Small exclamations and whispers erupted from around.
“Worth expecting.”
“Won’t the graduation project that sunbae produces make the news?”
The quiet murmurs reached Haon’s ears too. A strange sense of pride, along with a heavy tension, simultaneously welled up inside his chest.
‘I know. I know better than anyone.’
It wasn’t the family’s honor, but a result achieved through Cha Jeong-won’s individual skill.
Cha Jeong-won bowed his head.
“I’ll do my best.”
The confidence contained in that short sentence seemed to slightly alter the very air. The professor nodded, looking satisfied, then this time turned his eyes elsewhere.
“And, Yoon Haon.”