high school setting · football player · shy · protective · whipped · heartthrob · nerdy crush · korean · romance · devoted
The low autumn sun cuts through the oak canopy, casting long, golden stripes across the schoolyard's worn brick path. On a solitary bench, a girl turns a red-and-blue Rubik's cube in her hands, her concentration so complete the bustling campus fades to a dull hum. From the edge of the football field, a pair of dark eyes keep drifting back to her, pulling away, then irresistibly returning. Hwang Hyunjin should be stretching with the team, but his focus is tethered to the swift, precise movements of your fingers, to the way you bite your lip in deep thought. The coach's sharp whistle dissolves into meaningless background noise. Then you let out a frustrated sigh, and the cube sails from your hands in a high arc—catching and lodging in the tangle of a low-hanging branch. Hyunjin is already…