SMW 90

As I stopped walking, barely suppressing my anger, the desolate scenery of the hallway—where no students had yet arrived—came into view. The reason I had called Hee Won out so early in the morning, before everyone else arrived at school, was not because of some other watcher, but because I was conscious of a single person’s eyes. I could have caused a scene in front of the entire student body if I wanted to. However, I no longer wanted to show that side of myself to Han Yeo-reum.

When I recalled the look of fear on Han Yeo-reum’s face yesterday as he watched me enraged by the stream, a surge of irritation flared up again. I hadn’t intended to take my anger out on him.

Immediately after summer vacation ended, the man who called himself my father—who had been quiet for a while since enrollment—showed up with a lawyer and made an insane proposal. Even then, I hadn’t shown much of a reaction.

He wanted me to replace his dead child. Along with that, the envelope he handed me contained a document detailing Baek Seol-ha’s history since birth, a contract proposing that I live as Baek Seol-ha, and a non-disclosure agreement.

Looking at it, I was so appalled that I couldn’t even feel angry. It wasn’t even worth the effort.

But the moment I saw that envelope, which I had torn up in front of that man, held once again in Han Yeo-reum’s hand, everything changed. I wasn’t unaware that it was a form of blackmail. That was why I couldn’t control the rage boiling up from deep within my gut and ended up snapping. It was an action that couldn’t even be packaged as “concern.” It was clearly a vent for my frustration. It was the worst.

Suppressing the emotions surging once more, I walked until the classroom appeared before me. Through the firmly closed back door, Han Yeo-reum’s empty desk caught my eye. Just that seemed to calm my turbulent emotions to some extent.

Han Yeo-reum might actually mistake himself for someone important to you, you know?

At first, it was mere interest. [visit our site]Even when our visit our sitebody heat touched, I dismissed it Read on Read BL Novelsas simple curiosity.

And then summer began. By the time I came to my senses, Yeo-reum had already taken a deep root in my heart.

Even so, only one season had passed since Han Yeo-reum became something to me. Nevertheless, I now wanted to become something to Han Yeo-reum as well. It was a foolish realization that only hit me on that rainy day, after I had trapped Han Yeo-reum within my embrace under a single umbrella.

I wanted to swallow Han Yeo-reum’s body heat, his breath, and his soft skin, making them entirely mine. It was an impulse and a desire that could not be satisfied by the mere warmth transferred to a wristwatch.

To think that the desire to possess someone felt like this. It was truly a wretched thought. If I had possessed even a shred less patience, I might have reached out to Han Yeo-reum while he was shivering, drenched in rain.

What controlled me was my reason, educated by my grandmother to constantly show respect for others. In fact, it was then that I first realized such a desire existed within me. As if mocking the part of me that thought simply getting closer would be enough, the feeling was deeper and more obsessive than I had expected, to the point where it surprised even me. The moment I realized what I wanted from Han Yeo-reum, the heart I thought would keep moving forward suddenly hit the brakes.

It wasn’t that I felt repulsed by the fact that I harbored such desires for a man. Rather, I was afraid of how Han Yeo-reum would react when he found out how I felt. Since there was no way he liked men, he would obviously hate it. It wouldn’t be strange at all if an even more negative reaction returned.

I was afraid. Was the fear of being hated by someone always this terrifying?

It was a feeling that had seeped in over just one season. Yet, I felt a pain as if I might melt away from a warmth that felt like it would never be erased.

So, I tried to stop. After all, when the body grows distant, the heart tends to forget. I figured I’d be okay after a couple of weeks of composing myself. If that didn’t work, I could just keep as much distance as possible at school. Since I was the one who started the relationship, ending it would be easy. Thinking that it was a feeling that would be forgotten in just one season, I welcomed autumn.

However, the moment I saw Han Yeo-reum again after the break, I had no choice but to admit defeat once [Read on Read BL Novels]more. I missed him. The moment I saw his face, I felt an impulse to reach stolen contentout to Han Yeo-reum, regardless of the gazes of others. I became even greedier. That was why I constantly had to suppress the desire to stop Han Yeo-reum—who was avoiding me more blatantly than before—and trap him in my arms.

Honestly, separate from the need to suppress it, I couldn’t understand why he was avoiding me so much. Perhaps he had instinctively sensed the danger. If so, it was a wise judgment.

The Chairman is using Han Yeo-reum as a hostage to blackmail you.

Bang! Unable to overcome the renewed surge of anger, I slammed my fist against the back door.

“Kyaak!”

At the same time, a scream echoed through the hallway. Turning my head, I saw a female student frozen in place a short distance away, staring at me. The presence of people was gradually increasing near the stairs at the end of the hallway. It seemed school hours had already begun.

I stepped away from the door and straightened my posture. Ignoring the female student’s reaction, I stared at Han Yeo-reum’s seat through the back door again.

If, until recently, I was afraid of being hated, now I was more afraid of the possibility that Han Yeo-reum might get hurt because of me.

I wasn’t afraid of dealing with that man alone. No matter how young I was, protecting myself wasn’t difficult. But when it came to protecting someone else, I was still utterly powerless.

I already had a precious person to protect. Recently, my grandmother’s chronic illness had been worsening. She tried her best to hide it from me, but she lacked the delicacy to hide the medicine bags, which were increasing in both quantity and variety. That man probably knew more about my grandmother’s symptoms than I did. That alone was enough to make me terrified.

Therefore, it was right to stop here. I [Read on Read BL Novels]must not increase the number of precious things that man could hold hostage. Han Yeo-reum had to [unauthorized copy]become someone who meant nothing to me.

“I really wanted to apologize.”

At the very least, I wanted to remain a good memory for you in what might be the final moment.

In the end, I turned away without opening the classroom door. I knew the female student who was still staring at me was in my class. Soon, rumors would likely start circulating that Choi Seol’s temper had turned foul again.

It seemed okay to go back to the way things were at the beginning.

“Oppa.”

“…”

“Oppa?”

“…”

When I looked up, Mina was staring intently at me from across the table.

“What?”

“What are you thinking about so deeply that you don’t answer even after I call you several times?”

What was I thinking about? Since it was a thought I had fallen into without even realizing it, I felt dazed for a while even after waking from it. The more I did, the more urgent Mina’s gaze became.

“That the cake is damn sweet.”

It was a half-baked excuse, but since it was also the truth, Baek Mina wore an even more bewildered expression.

“Sweet? The clerk definitely said it wasn’t sweet. Wait a second.”

She then picked up a fork, cut a small piece of the cake I had barely touched, and put it in her mouth.

“What, it’s really barely sweet. Oppa, you really can’t eat sweet things.”

“That’s why I told you several times.”

It wasn’t that I hated sweet things entirely. The sweetness of fruit or a certain amount of sweetness in food was fine. However, the taste of dessert-type sweets made artificially sweet with sugar felt unpleasant to the point that my tongue tingled.

Still, the reason I was sitting across from Mina, staring at a dessert that didn’t [stolen content]suit my visit our sitetaste, was stolen contentbecause of a debt I had inevitably lost to.

“I didn’t know you hated it this much. But it can’t be helped. Do you know how many launching parties I was invited to this morning? I canceled all of them to come and grant your request. So today, you have to cater to everything I want.”

“I only asked if you had time.”

Mina looked appalled at my remark that the choice had been hers.

“Wow, the nerve… But you’re so cool that I’m not even angry. Oppa, are you a bad boy?”

“Stop talking nonsense and just eat.”

“I’m already finished. It’s just that you’re still not eating.”

Her plate was indeed completely empty.

“Then that’s enough. I’ll be heading out now.”

“Where are you going? Since you called me, you should play with me more.”

“I don’t have time for that. I have to go to the hospital.”

“Hospital? Are you sick?”

“My maternal grandmother was hospitalized.”

Not long after I decided to keep my distance from Han Yeo-reum, my grandmother’s health deteriorated. Since she originally hated hospitals and was stubborn, I had to plead with her to finally get her admitted, and I was practically living there every day. Thanks to that, it was rare for me to attend all my school classes, and it was also easier to keep my resolution. That is, until yesterday, when I saw Han Yeo-reum personally tying the tie of that noisy fellow.

“Ah… I see. Then it can’t be helped.”

Mina’s previously confident expression became ambiguous. Rather than simply giving up, her gestures and tone suggested she knew about my grandmother and my situation. It would have been much better if she had been tactless enough to ask for more details. My mood suddenly sank. Even though she was his biological daughter and resembled neither his face nor personality, I couldn’t help but see that man in her, simply because of the fact that she knew other people’s information without permission.

“I’m leaving.”

“I told you, let’s go together.”

I walked out, leaving her behind as she hurriedly gathered her things. As soon as I opened the door, a cold wind brushed the tip of my nose.

“Wow, it’s cold. They said this is the first cold wave of the year, and the wind is really no joke.”

Having followed me after all, she shivered once and held out a scarf to me.

“Here, you left this behind.”

“…Thanks.”

“It’s nothing. Oppa, you don’t seem like the type, but you’re surprisingly clumsy. Leaving things behind, spacing out so much that you don’t hear me calling… But that’s not stupid, it’s actually kind of charming. Do you know? Everyone around us was staring at you the whole time we were in the shop. Did you dress up this handsomely even though you were planning to go straight to the hospital? I actually expected for a moment that you were taking me to a fancy restaurant.”

I let out a hollow laugh, finding it utterly absurd. The reason I wore a suit and called Baek Mina was for a different reason.

Despite knowing I had to be careful to avoid that man’s eyes, I had called Han Yeo-reum to the stream. And I had also arranged to meet Baek Mina nearby at a similar time. One was greed, and the other was a precaution just in case.

If it were that man, he would certainly focus his attention on his own daughter rather than a mere school friend among two people meeting at the same time. He would do so while harboring the hope that the thing he wanted might actually happen.

I hadn’t told anyone, including Han Yeo-reum, the detailed inner workings of my plan, but Baek Mina had noticed it was to deceive her father’s eyes and had readily agreed to come. Even so, to think she could say she thought I dressed up for her—it was simply amazing how she could be so full of self-love.

Even when Han Yeo-reum offered to buy me a meal while returning the book, he had asked while walking on eggshells around me. I felt almost cursed that my mouth had no choice but to refuse. Yet, something that was not easy for me and Han Yeo-reum was very easy for Baek Mina. That was likely the leisure of someone who had never had to walk on eggshells in their life. Baek Hee-won was like that, and I had seen that trait in that man as well.

Perhaps that was why. No matter how much affection she showed me, she was a girl I could never bring myself to grow fond of. And I shouldn’t have.

It was then. While I was momentarily distracted, a hand reached out toward me.