Chapter 91: The Ripple Effect

“Yeah, it’s fun.”

Na Eun-hyeok answered, a gentle smile curving his eyes as his dark eyelashes fluttered down. Behind the veil of those thick lashes, his black eyes gleamed with a calculating, sharp intensity—as if he were thoroughly reading and analyzing my every reaction. His lips parted slightly as he spoke again.

“Un-ha-ya.”

“Yeah?”

“You’re fun, too.”

The moment he spoke while locking eyes with me, a sudden breeze swept past, carrying his scent right toward me. Breaking through the crisp, fresh smell of spring grass was a heavy, grounded woody note, followed by a faint trace of citrus that felt distinctly like summer.

The words felt so unfamiliar coming from him that I could only blink, my mouth hanging open as I struggled to find a response. Should I say ‘Thanks for thinking I’m interesting’? But hey, at least this proves he doesn’t hate me, right? Even though it was a bit of a stretch to call it a standard expression of romantic interest, just this tiny shred of positive feedback made my heart soar. A goofy, uncontrollable grin spread across my face.

Yet, lurking right beneath that fluttering excitement was a persistent knot of anxiety. Why is Na Eun-hyeok being so nice to me?

That was the fundamental question. Until very recently, Na Eun-hyeok had been a distant star, completely out of my reach. Having him sitting right here beside me felt like a fragile, fleeting dream that would vanish the moment I opened my eyes.

Overwhelmed by a sudden wave of nerves, I nervously started shredding the remaining lettuce in my bowl with my chopsticks.

“By the way, about that person who asked for your number earlier.”

“Cough!”

The completely unexpected topic made me choke on my own saliva. Thank goodness I didn’t actually have food in my mouth. My face flushed bright red as I frantically fanned myself. It wasn’t like Na Eun-hyeok could read my mind, but I suddenly felt like I was sitting on a bed of needles.

Eun-hyeok quickly stood up, filled a stainless-steel cup with water, and handed it to me.

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, ye-yeah… You saw that?”

“Yeah. It happened right by the stairs. I just had to turn my head to see it.”

Well, yeah, but still…

Okay, realistically, it made sense that he saw it. Like he said, from where he was sitting, he had a clear view of the central landing just by turning around. The girl’s voice hadn’t been incredibly loud, but it wasn’t exactly a whisper either, and it had carried easily through the quiet lounge.

Sure, let’s say all of that was completely normal.

“Are you going to text her?”

But I had never expected Na Eun-hyeok to ask me something so personal.

Before I could even think, my hand instinctively crept toward my phone, which was lying face down on the table. Eun-hyeok watched my movements closely. My anxious fingers tapped a restless, irregular rhythm against the back of the phone case, the erratic sound only making the sudden silence between us feel heavier.

“No, I’m not planning to.”

“Why? She seemed nice.”

“No, it’s just…”

Because there’s someone else I like. The words caught in my throat, and I couldn’t bring myself to say them out loud. I let the sentence trail off and averted my eyes. Eun-hyeok tracked my gaze perfectly, a faint, soft smile gracing his lips.

“Then wouldn’t it be better to send a polite rejection text?”

“Ah, y-yeah. I suppose so.”

“Yeah. Want to send it now? Don’t worry about me.”

“Uh, what…?”

“Go ahead,” Eun-hyeok urged, his eyes curving into a bright, pleasant crescent.

Staring at his beautifully smiling face, I slowly shifted my gaze down to my phone. It had buzzed once during our group project earlier, but it was completely quiet now. Unable to find any ground to argue against his surprisingly persistent push, I hesitantly picked up the device.

[I’m really sorry. I was a bit flustered earlier and gave you my number without thinking, but there is actually someone else I like. Thank you for your interest, though. I hope you meet someone wonderful.]

Tap, tap. The quiet sound of my fingers hitting the screen filled the space between us. Even as I pressed the send button, I couldn’t quite wrap my head around what was happening. Is this how these conversations normally go? Maybe I just haven’t been asked for my number enough to know how people usually handle this.

“Did you send it?”

When I finally set the phone down, I found Na Eun-hyeok resting his chin on his right fist, staring straight at me. I gave a dazed nod, and his smile grew even warmer.

“Good. It’s always best for both sides to clear these things up as quickly as possible.”

“Is that speaking from experience?”

“Who knows? What do you think?”

Given that people probably ask for your number as naturally as breathing, it definitely sounds like experience. I kept the thought to myself and simply nodded. Eun-hyeok held my gaze for a moment longer before letting out a soft chuckle. The airy, quiet sound sent a strange, ticklish sensation through my ears.

“Un-ha-ya.”

“Yeah?”

“Next time we run into each other, let’s have lunch together again.”

It really was a bizarre day.

When I logged into Zelphia after my last lecture, Sephiroth was already online, beating me to it yet again. Normally, I would have greeted him right away, but today I just stood there in a daze, completely forgetting to say hello. My mind was so thoroughly preoccupied with my lunch with Na Eun-hyeok that there was simply no room for anything else.

He had always felt like a star in the night sky—completely out of reach. Today’s lunch hadn’t felt like grabbing a casual bite with a classmate; it felt more like the surreal, heart-pounding shock of randomly getting seated next to a massive celebrity at a restaurant. I had been so incredibly tense that the entire hour felt like a blur, though Na Eun-hyeok probably hadn’t thought anything of it.

Even weirder was how he had practically managed my inbox by telling me to send that rejection text on the spot. Luckily, the girl hadn’t seemed offended by the message, but I had still sent her a small coffee gift icon out of sheer guilt.

But more importantly… were we really going to have lunch again? I mean, sure, my usual lunch circle had vanished lately, but still… really? Truly?

“What are you thinking about so deeply? A girl?”

Sephiroth’s sudden jab broke my train of thought as he clapped a hand onto my shoulder.

Seriously, who just asks something that blunt out of nowhere? As always, his total lack of filter made me genuinely worry about how he functioned in the real world. Surely he didn’t just stay cooped up inside his room playing games all day, right?

“What do you mean, a girl?”

“Or maybe the person you like?”

“It’s nothing like that.”

Seriously, this guy should open a fortune-telling shop.

Defensive, I lied straight to Sephiroth’s face despite him hitting the nail completely on the head. I looked away, unable to meet his eyes. I knew my reaction probably made it incredibly obvious, but I couldn’t help it; I wasn’t smooth enough to hide my flustered state.

“Then what is it? Did something good happen today? Did you get someone’s number or something?”

Sephiroth was being unusually relentless today. Normally, if I denied it, he’d drop it, but today he seemed determined to pry. The fact that he accurately guessed the number incident on top of everything else made me seriously consider recommending a career change to shamanism for him.

Still, I had absolutely no intention of telling Sephiroth about Na Eun-hyeok. ‘Hey, so there’s this guy I’ve been harboring a massive unrequited crush on for years, and he suddenly asked to eat lunch with me. Is it a green light?’ Green light, my foot—even a passing dog would laugh at that.

I knew the stark difference between my wishful thinking and cold reality. Na Eun-hyeok was likely just looking for a convenient campus lunch partner, and I was overanalyzing every single detail like a fool. Bringing it up to someone else would only invite ridicule.

Shaking the thoughts from my head, I quickly reached out and grabbed Sephiroth by the wrist.

“Let’s just go find Delwing.”

I started walking toward the upscale residential district where Delwing lived, but Sephiroth didn’t budge. Sensing something amiss, I looked back. The idiot had placed his free hand against his cheek and was dramatically twisting his body.

“Wow, moving this fast on the first date? How scandalous.”

“…What?”

“Since we’re already holding hands, I expect you to show me a really good time tonight, okay?”

“Get away from me, you psycho!”

I threw his arm back as if I were tossing away a literal cockroach. But instead of being deterred, Sephiroth just burst into a loud, booming laugh. Does this absolute lunatic have nothing else in his brain?

“Is that seriously all you think about? I literally just grabbed your wrist, how does your mind jump all the way there?”

“Big dreams lead to big achievements.”

“That’s not a big dream, that’s just pure insanity!”

Despite my furious protests, Sephiroth completely ignored me. This time, his hand shot out and clamped firmly around my wrist instead. Is this his idea of revenge? Fuelled by pure spite, I decided to play along and mock him using his own logic.

“Oh, yeah? Then are you going to show me a good time tonight?”

Sephiroth stopped and looked back at me. A sudden, terrible premonition screamed at me to take a step back, but before I could, he closed the distance, throwing an arm over my shoulder. His tone turned incredibly slick, his breath brushing past my ear in a low, teasing whisper.

“Of course, baby. Don’t you trust your hyung?”

Dammit, I shouldn’t have said anything.

As his hand naturally started sliding down toward my waist, I recoiled in absolute horror, breaking away from him. Sephiroth cracked up, looking thoroughly delighted by how hard I was shuddering from disgust. Why do I ever think I can win an argument against this guy?

As I stood there trembling and biting my lip in pure frustration, he gave my shoulder a playful pat.

“Let’s go, Beulli.”

“Hey, you’ve been calling me Beulli entirely too naturally lately.”

“It just rolls off the tongue. You hate it?”

“Yes.”

“Too bad. Deal with it.”

His calm, shameless attitude completely drained away my remaining anger. Reaching a state of supreme, zen-like exhaustion, I could only let out a hollow laugh.

Half-soulless, I walked alongside him into the quiet, upscale neighborhood. Delwing’s two-story house was as silent as always. With no signs of life inside and only the sound of the wind rustling through the courtyard, I stepped up and knocked firmly on the door.

“Excuse me, Mr. Delwing.”

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