By Zephyria 
Hearing his name called so suddenly, Haon nearly jumped out of his chair.
“Yes?”
“I originally wanted you assigned to me but couldn’t make it happen, so I was a bit disappointed. But this works out well. I thought you were quite good at dividing up small spaces.”
“Oh… Thank you.”
Flustered by the professor’s praise, Haon gave a dazed reply.
“In that spirit, how about expanding the scale of this graduation project a bit and collaborating with Cha Jeong-won?”
The professor’s gaze shifted briefly between Cha Jeong-won and Haon. Following the unexpected praise came an unexpected proposal, leaving Haon speechless and staring blankly.
Tangled up with Cha Jeong-won again.
Was this also a coincidence? Or was it a stroke of luck bestowed as a reward for sticking so close together lately?
This was more than just running into him while walking.
“From my perspective, I think the two of you would be a very good match. You’d positively influence each other, and I believe a fantastic result would come from it. Both of you, think it over.”
“……Yes.”
He answered automatically, but Haon’s mind went completely blank.
‘Is this really right?’
Without realizing it, his gaze drifted toward the window.
He and Cha Jeong-won made eye contact again. This time, neither looked away. Without any sense of who started first, a feeling—very brief, yet unmistakably one shared only by those who have shared something—passed between them.
“We’ll need to start in earnest from this week, so if you have any questions, contact me separately.”
＊ ＊ ＊
Even after class ended and people got up to line up for individual consultations with the professor about their work, Haon couldn’t snap out of his daze.
“Hey, so where did you sleep yesterday? Did you even go home?”
At Kim Hyun-gyu’s question, Haon turned to look at him, his face still dazed.
“They were looking for you at home…”
“I…”
Haon looked at Cha Jeong-won’s now-empty seat.
He had no idea when he’d left.
Glancing around absentmindedly, the moment he saw Cha Jeong-won leaning against the classroom door, Haon blurted out exactly what he was thinking.
“I should go eat ssambap.”
Kim Hyun-gyu’s eyes widened.
“Ssambap at this hour? Who goes to a ssambap place for lunch?”
“Me. I’m going, so you eat whatever you want.”
He didn’t even ask Kim Hyun-gyu to join him.
He hoped Cha Jeong-won would come. Imagining the situation where he’d have to wrap and eat the ssam all by himself, Haon got up from his seat.
He walked without deliberately looking back.
“It’ll probably still taste good even if I eat alone, right? No, he’ll come… What if he doesn’t?”
He felt both anxious and excited. Those two feelings, like fortune and misfortune, arrived as a pair.
The ssambap place in the alley near the university was slowly starting to fill up as lunchtime approached. There were more office workers from nearby companies than students.
The owner approached Haon, who was lingering at the entrance.
“Just one?”
The owner asked, and Haon immediately shook his head.
“Two. One more friend is coming.”
“There’s an empty spot in the corner over there. Have a seat.”
Haon went to the corner window seat, put down his bag, and pulled out a chair. One seat facing him, another seat beside him. If it got crowded, they might have to share the table, but for now, it seemed spacious enough.
‘What if he really doesn’t come?’
He placed the wet towel on the table, turned his phone screen on and off once. He deliberately didn’t open the messenger app.
He hadn’t specifically invited him, so if he didn’t come, it would just mean eating ssambap alone. But strangely, today he didn’t want to do that.
Just then, the glass door opened once more.
A familiar silhouette appeared. Seeing the unmistakable face, Haon’s lips parted in a silly grin.
“Sunbae!”
Haon stood up faster than he expected. His voice was noticeably cheerful, even surprising himself with how glad he sounded.
Cha Jeong-won briefly scanned the surroundings, saw him, and turned his steps in this direction.
“You found it well.”
There wasn’t just one ssambap place near the school. Moreover, this shop was in an alley, so unless you knew this place had good ssambap, it would be hard to find.
“I just saw it while walking.”
Whether it was true or not, Cha Jeong-won’s face looked calm, without any sign of blushing or agitation.
“Good thing we didn’t miss each other. I was just imagining having to wrap and eat the ssam all by myself.”
He said it lightly, as if joking, but somehow the tension eased. Seeing Cha Jeong-won actually come made him feel even proud.
“I feel the coffee I bought you was worth it. Since you came because of that.”
The sizzling sound of grilling meat and quiet conversations continued here and there, but a different atmosphere settled over this small table.
“Earlier, when we made eye contact, why did you look for so long?”
While pouring water, Haon casually brought it up.
“Do you know how nervous I was?”
His tone carried a slight edge. Half-joking, half-serious.
Cha Jeong-won picked up his water glass, took a sip, and set it down very slowly.
“Since we made eye contact, I just looked.”
“It was too long for just looking. Couldn’t you hear my heartbeat?”
“Not that much.”
Cha Jeong-won said as if preemptively blocking Haon’s fuss, but Yoon Haon wasn’t one to become docile just because of that.
“Everyone might have seen us. Then, do you think they noticed?”
He wondered if his efforts to avoid it had all been in vain. Instead of responding to Haon’s words, Cha Jeong-won added another jab.
“If they noticed, they’d come here.”
It was a precise counterattack. Haon momentarily pressed his lips together tightly, then burst out laughing.
“That was the strategy.”
“Strategy.”
“Not many people eat ssambap for lunch. And not many would come all the way here. I guess you could say this is my personal favorite spot?”
The answer to the question was already decided.
Instead of answering, Cha Jeong-won picked up his chopsticks. The side dishes came out first, followed by warm doenjang jjigae, ssam vegetables, and a grill plate with meat placed in the middle of the table.
Haon scanned the table once and immediately moved his hands. He picked up a lettuce leaf, placed a piece of meat, garlic, ssamjang, and bean sprouts on it in order. The ssam gradually swelled up.
“Mouth.”
“Huh?”
“Open wide.”
Acting nonchalant, Haon held out the ssam toward him. At first, he intended it as a joke, but once he did it, he felt embarrassed.
“Why are you trying to feed me?”
Cha Jeong-won didn’t obediently open his mouth.
“Sunbae, you hurt your wrist, remember?”
“That wrist is all healed, and I even threw darts.”
As if to say he had checked it himself, but Haon didn’t budge.
“Did you come here to seduce me?”
Even as Cha Jeong-won, unable to bear it, teased him, Haon replied calmly.
“Hey. This is a restaurant where you wrap for the person in front of you.”
You don’t know much, do you? Only after Haon insisted he eat did Cha Jeong-won open his mouth and accept it.
Haon pulled his chair a little closer and carefully pushed the ssam in. During the process, a segment of Haon’s thumb brushed against the side of Cha Jeong-won’s lips. The warmth of his skin touched for a very brief moment before parting.
‘Ah, hot.’
His finger burned, confusing whether it was from the meat’s temperature or another reason.
Cha Jeong-won chewed the ssam and looked around.
At the surrounding tables, everyone was busy wrapping and eating their own ssam, and the atmosphere was such that no one paid attention to who was feeding whom. It was immediately clear this wasn’t a restaurant where you wrapped for the person in front of you.
While he slowly chewed and swallowed, Haon pointlessly picked up his water glass again and set it down. He noticed a bit of seasoning smudged at the corner of his mouth.
“That.”
“Huh?”
Haon hesitated for a moment, wondering whether to pick up a tissue. In the end, he left the tissue and moved his hand first.
“It’s smudged here.”
He very lightly brushed the side of his lips with his index finger. As if wiping off the ssamjang stain, yet the contact between his finger and lips touched and parted momentarily, deliberately slower than necessary. A soft sensation remained on his fingertip.
Cha Jeong-won’s gaze followed that finger.
“You could have wiped it with a tissue.”
“The tissues here are rough, so I was worried your skin might get scratched.”
It was nonsense, but once spoken, it sounded plausible. With a look that seemed to find it absurd, he diligently chewed what was in his mouth.
“But why is your face red?”
At those words, Haon reflexively covered his cheek with the back of his hand.
“It’s not red.”
“You really can’t lie.”
Though his words were clipped, Cha Jeong-won’s gaze was gradually becoming more relaxed. It felt like a subtle tension that had been clinging somewhere had loosened slightly.
Seeing that, Haon felt a part of his resolve crumble a little.
“Um… About the graduation project. Have you thought about the professor’s proposal?”