Three Hours Later - Lecture Hall, Somewhere between binary trees and sleep deprivation. Luca stared blankly at his notes, where he'd accidentally scribbled:
"Seo-in's hands >>>>> time complexity" …instead of actually paying attention to sorting algorithms.
***
At the same time, Seo-in was on her way to campus. Her class would only start around 9.40. But as she sat on the bus, she got a call from her childhood friend Ye-rin, and Ye-rin didn't know that during this summer, Seo-in was living with Luca.
Currently she was standing in front of Seo-in's apartment for more than 15 minutes, because she wanted to go together, she thought Seo-in still hadn't woken up and was lazing around in bed.
Seo-in groaned the second she saw Ye-rin's number flash across her phone. It was too goddamn early on a Monday for this. But if she didn't pick up now, her friend would only try again and probably show up at her apartment out of impatience.
She answered the call with a sigh, "Hey."
"Hey!" Ye-rin chirped, her voice far too shrill for the early hour. "You're awake, right?"
Seo-in had to bite back a scathing reply. "Obviously," she said instead. "Why else would I be answering the phone?"
Ye-rin ignored that, which was typical. "I'm already outside your place," she announced brightly, making Seo-in's fingers tighten around her phone in irritation. "How soon can you come down?"
Seo-in's grip on her phone tightened further. "You're what?" Her voice came out sharper than intended, but the panic was already crawling up her throat. Ye-rin standing outside that apartment—her apartment—was a disaster waiting to happen.
"Duh," Ye-rin huffed over the line, completely oblivious to Seo-in's internal crisis. "I told you last week I'd pick you up today! You never confirmed, so I assumed it was fine." A pause. "...You are home, right?"
Seo-in squeezed her eyes shut for half a second before forcing a careless laugh.
"Actually ... slight change of plans." She could hear Ye-rin's skeptical silence through the phone and scrambled for an excuse that wouldn't involve mentioning she hadn't slept in her own bed all summer. "I had an early group study session at the library! Forgot to tell you."
Ye-rin groaned loudly enough that Seo-in had to hold the phone away from her ear slightly before hearing, "Ughhhh of course YOU would forget."
While on the phone, Ye-rin checked Seo-in's story post, which she had just uploaded a few minutes ago. Her eyes narrowed slightly when she saw the sneakers Seo-in was wearing in the photo.
Another dramatic pause—then abruptly, "Wait … are you wearing those hideous sneakers I got rid of last month?"
A bolt of terror shot down Seo-in's spine as she glanced at her feet. Still clad in Luca's stolen high-tops.
She barely stopped herself from blurting out, "These are COMFORTABLE—" just as someone behind her on the bus coughed pointedly at how loud she'd gotten mid-lie.
Ye-rin continued mercilessly, "...Yeah no way those were ever YOUR taste. Who did you steal them fr—"
And then—like divine intervention—the bus speaker crackled overhead with their next stop announcement.
Seo-in nearly sagged in relief as she cut Ye-Rin off hurriedly:
"Gotta go my stop is next see u on campus bye!"
She hung up before another interrogation could start ... only for three rapid-fire texts from Yerin to immediately light up her screen:
[Ye-rin] 09:32 "Those NOT be his shoes, Choi Seo-in! WE ARE TALKING ABOUT THIS LATER!"
Seo-in stared blankly down at the screen, the bus slowing to a halt as it pulled up to her stop. The doors opened with a soft hiss and the usual morning crowd filtered past her on their way to work and school. But Seo-in's brain had been completely and thoroughly fried by both that text and the knowledge her friend was still loitering outside the last place Seo-in wanted her to be. She stepped off the bus with a heavy sigh, wondering what the hell she was going to do now.
Her fingers flew across the screen in a frantic reply:
[Seo-in] 09:35 "THEY'RE MINE NOW! ALSO I HAVE A CLASS IN 10 MINUTES, BYE!"
She shoved her phone back into her pocket with a huff, ignoring the way it kept vibrating— probably Ye-rin's incoming rage texts. The walk to campus was short, but Seo-in took extra care to avoid any routes where Ye-rin might lurk like some kind of disapproving ghost.
The lecture hall was already half-full when she slipped inside, dropping into a seat near the back just as the professor walked in. But instead of paying attention to derivatives or whatever this class was supposed to be about today?
Seo-in's brain remained stuck on two things:
1) "Ye-rin absolutely knew."
2) "Luca would never let her live this down if he found out she'd been caught wearing his shoes like some lovesick teenager. Even though that's exactly what she was."
***
Meanwhile Ye-rin calls Anya, and talks about Seo-in's strange behavior, "Anya, you won't BELIEVE what just happened."
She walked quickly out of Seo-in's apartment complex, voice hushed but crackling with gossip-fueled energy.
"What now? Did she finally admit she's been living in that IT nerd's closet?" Anya asked.
Ye-rin scoffed. "Worse! She lied straight to my face—on a BUS, Anya! A PUBLIC BUS!" She dramatically tapped the screenshot of Luca's shoes on Seo-in's feet. "And then she tried to gaslight me like I wouldn't notice?? LOOK AT THIS."
A beat of silence as Anya studied it before, "...Are we sure those aren't just … ugly fashion choices?" she said doubtfully.
Ye-rin nearly shrieked into the phone, "THEY MIGHT HAVE HIS NAME SCRIBBLED INSIDE THE TONGUE IN SHARPIE!"
She knew this because she had snooped through Seo-in's shoe rack months ago when visiting and vividly remembered gagging at the sight.
Anya gasped—fully invested now. "...Oh my god. She really is letting him wife her up in secret." Then, after a loaded pause. "Should we stage an intervention before her family finds out and disowns her?"
Ye-rin pinched the bridge of her nose. "It might already be too late for that," she muttered darkly.
Anya sighed in disappointment, "Oh come on, it's not that bad—"
"NO, IT IS VERY MUCH THAT BAD." Ye-rin interrupted, her hands clenched as she quickened her pace. "They had hated him since they found out he wasn't the ideal German boy, now you know what they'd do if she actually told them she was living in his apartment?"
Anya exhaled quietly on the other line as if bracing for impact. "...Yeah. Good point..."
Ye-rin finally stopped her step, glaring up at Seo-in's window behind her. "I mean, if she's not going to do anything about it, then I have to."
Anya made a skeptical noise. "Like what? Sneak in and take a photo while they're asleep?"
Ye-rin scoffed. "No," she hissed—then paused. "BUT HOW DID YOU KNOW SEO-IN LIVES WITH THAT WEIRDO?"
"I'm just ... guessing?" said Anya with a hesitant chuckle.