Chapter 89: An Unexpected Alignment

“Are you sick?”

“Hmm?”

“If you can’t focus because you’re not feeling well, we can just call it a day. I’ll handle compiling the assignment myself.”

My tone wasn’t quite as gentle as I had intended, but regardless, Na Eun-hyeok looked up at me. My own reflection was caught inside his clear eyes. Could I reach out and check his temperature? My fingertips twitched over the table in hesitation, but in the end, I lacked the courage and let my hand fall back down. Eun-hyeok stared at me quietly before letting out a soft smile.

“I’m fine. If anything, aren’t you the one who’s sick?”

“Me? No, I’m fi—”

Before I could even finish my sentence, Eun-hyeok reached out toward me. His hand naturally pressed against my forehead, feeling much warmer than I expected. His hand was firm yet smooth, and the sensation of his long fingers brushing against the curve of my forehead was terrifyingly vivid. A sudden wave of heat rushed to my face. Unable to pull away or say a word, I just kept my mouth half-open like an idiot, letting out a faint gasp. Resting his chin on his other hand, Eun-hyeok stared intently at me, the corners of his lips tugging up into a gentle smirk.

“Your face is turning red, Un-ha.”

“Uh, I…”

“The flu has been going around lately. Be careful.”

Eun-hyeok’s hand slowly drifted away from my forehead. Unable to look him in the eye, I looked down at the floor and nodded vaguely. I couldn’t even bring myself to check whether his gaze was fixed on me or his textbook. I felt pathetic for having spent so much time debating whether to touch his forehead earlier, especially since I hadn’t been able to do a single thing. Like a fish caught on a harpoon, I was completely helpless in his grasp.

Did Eun-hyeok know that he held me in the palm of his hand? He probably didn’t. Pulling his hand back, he wore a quite satisfied smile as he opened the cookies I had brought. Watching his crimson lips bite into the cookie, a faint tightness gripped my stomach. Get a grip, Chae Un-ha. I hastily pinched my thigh. The dull throb of pain quickly put a damper on the sensations I shouldn’t be feeling.

“Un-ha, you should have some too.”

Clueless about the turmoil inside me, Eun-hyeok simply offered me the cookie with that pretty smile of his. I looked down at the cookie on the table he was pointing to.

“You’re not eating?”

“Uh, well.”

“Or are you going to give it to another friend?”

Even though I knew the question, accompanied by his gentle smile, carried no hidden meaning, I shook my head violently before I could stop myself.

“No, no! I’m going to eat it.”

“Then let’s eat together.”

The smile I loved so much broke across his face like sunlight. It was a laugh as dazzling as the sun pouring through the massive glass windows. Truthfully, I didn’t even have an appetite for cookies, but I picked one up as if possessed. The thick cookie crumbled crispily in my mouth, tasting intensely sweet. I couldn’t tell if it was the chocolate in the cookie that was sweet, or the time I was currently sharing with Eun-hyeok.

I glanced back down at my phone. The image of the freshman girl who had gathered the courage to ask for a number for the first time flashed through my mind, contrasting sharply with my own image. The courage to confidently approach someone you like, the boldness to not fear rejection—those were traits she possessed, and I lacked.

Did I truly lack them?

Every now and then, I wanted to find that courage too. Even a coward could get greedy sometimes. I wanted to gaze just a little longer at Eun-hyeok’s sleek nose, the soft contours of his lips, and his sharp jawline. It felt as though the trace amount of caffeine in the chocolate lingering on the tip of my tongue had awakened me. Or perhaps, I was simply drunk on the moment.

“Na Eun-hyeok.”

Eun-hyeok-ah. A sweeter title like that just wouldn’t form on my tongue this time. I swallowed hard after stiffly uttering his full name. Resting his chin in his hand, Eun-hyeok shifted his eyes up to look at me. I was quietly staring at the teeth marks he had left on the bitten cookie when his crimson lips parted.

“Un-ha.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you have lunch plans?”

Eun-hyeok looked at me. His dark brown eyes caught the light, gleaming a rich amber. They looked sweet, like the color of freshly baked bread, yet distant, like the faded glow of a sunset swallowing the night. As always, I was caught in his gaze, completely paralyzed. It was a heavy, dense look that made me feel like diving in and drowning. Closing my mouth which was about to open on its own, I swallowed hard and forced out my courage.

“N-No.”

He smiled.

I simply couldn’t believe it. I could only stare blankly at the back of the man striding ahead of me, hurrying my pace whenever the distance between us grew too wide. Eun-hyeok, dressed in his white shirt and black trousers with his bangs parted slightly upward, naturally drew everyone’s gaze as always. But the fact that I was tagging along right behind him—and at such a close distance—was something I had never even dared to imagine before.

“Na Eun-hyeok.”

“Hmm?”

“What about the people you usually eat with?”

I recalled the faces of the classmates he usually hung out with but whom I wasn’t close to. They were a group of stylish individuals who loved to dress well. At the center of that crowd was always Eun-hyeok, blinking with his usual detached expression, while the rest of the group swarmed around him as they moved between lecture halls and cafeterias.

However, hearing my question, Eun-hyeok’s expression remained flat. His attitude was entirely indifferent, as if such people had never existed in the first place. He merely glanced back at me once, not even slowing his steps toward the cafeteria as he answered.

“I don’t really have anyone I usually eat with.”

“Huh? But…”

Don’t you always eat lunch with them after class? With Hyeon-gu, and Jae-jin… I let the names of those unfamiliar classmates linger on the tip of my tongue before giving up on speaking them aloud. I was worried that if I brought it up, I might accidentally expose the fact that I was always watching him. It was a classic case of a guilty conscience. Watching me swallow my unfinished words, Eun-hyeok crinkled his eyes and smiled softly again.

“Why? Should I just keep eating with you from now on?”

“U-Uh?”

But I had anticipated this development even less. Eating lunch with me from now on? I ended up freezing dead in my tracks. Eun-hyeok’s words swirled around in my head. Keep eating together? We hadn’t even finished our first meal together yet, but he was already talking about the future. Just chewing over those words made the world spin.

“No, you don’t have to do that.”

Of course, the malfunctioning Chae Un-ha didn’t go anywhere.

Ah, seriously…

After turning him down so coldly, I cried tears of regret internally. Why couldn’t I just say ‘okay’ at times like this? I thought I had grown pretty used to Eun-hyeok by now, but whenever he caught me off guard like this, my system would short-circuit, failing to produce the proper response.

“Why?”

But Eun-hyeok’s reaction was even stranger. Facing me, he blinked with a genuinely puzzled expression. He looked exactly like someone who had fully expected me not to answer that way.

If he asked me why, what was I even supposed to say?

As I stood there like an idiot, still unable to answer, Eun-hyeok’s hand lightly rested on my shoulder. Suddenly, a thought struck me that this sensation felt remarkably familiar. Was it because I had grown used to Sephiroth resting his hand on my shoulder? The natural weight of the hand resting lightly on my shoulder reminded me of that cyber friend of mine.

“What are you thinking about, Un-ha?”

“Ah, nothing.”

How could I even compare the two? How could I keep thinking about Sephiroth while looking right at Na Eun-hyeok, Chae Un-ha!

Chiding myself, I hastily grabbed Eun-hyeok’s wrist and pulled his hand off my shoulder. His hand came away easily and submissively. It held no weight at all, as if it had carried no real significance from the start. Pulling his hand back, Eun-hyeok crinkled his eyes and took a step closer to me.

“Is it because you eat with your friends?”

“Ah, no. It’s not that. Sung-jin said he’s on a diet, and Gyu-tae seems to have plans…”

Why was I rattling all this information off? A wave of self-loathing washed over me, but my mouth wouldn’t stop. While I inadvertently spilled all the recent updates regarding my lunch buddies, Eun-hyeok merely locked eyes with me and nodded his head slowly. He only opened his mouth again after my disjointed explanation had completely wound down.

“I think it would be nice to eat with you.”

Ah, Eun-hyeok. Na Eun-hyeok.

I stood there frozen, unable to accept or reject his offer. For a long time, Eun-hyeok had been my sun and my idol. The fact that an existence I had never even dared to dream of reaching out to was proposing we grab lunch together was a greater shock than if I had proposed it to him. To put it in perspective, humans could endlessly visit a temple to meet a god. But a god descending to the human realm just to meet a human was a far more improbable, miraculous event, wasn’t it?

…Is it because I think this way that I keep breaking down in front of him? Because I view him as a god? But how else am I supposed to view someone so perfect if not as a god…

However, since Eun-hyeok’s proposal had been casual from the very start, he turned around without a moment’s hesitation when no answer came from me. It was something to be disappointed about, but I actually found myself breathing easier. It was always wise to be wary when too much good fortune came all at once.

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