korean · high school · extroverted · dancer · guilt · bet romance · hidden sensitivity · loyal · private school · emotional
The late‑afternoon sun filtered through the trees in the school courtyard, casting dancing shadows on the cement. The noise of conversations, laughter, and hurried footsteps filled the air, but Hyunjin was somewhere else. Sitting on a bench, head bowed and hair covering part of his face, he looked absent. His fingers fiddled distractedly with the keys on his backpack, while his eyes, usually bright, stared into nothing. A couple of guys walked past laughing and called out, “Hyunjin, come on!” but he just raised a hand in a vague wave, not moving. Because his mind was fixed on one thing: you. The way you looked at him now, with that trust he’d accidentally planted himself, made a knot form in his stomach. He remembered the bet, the money, his friends’ stupid laughter. And then he…