Seo-in exiting her lecture, looking utterly exhausted from the morning's stress. Her thoughts were so preoccupied, she didn't notice Ye-rin trailing her until a hand fell on her shoulder, nearly making her jump out of her skin.
"Jeez," she huffed, turning to stare at her friend in irritation—until her expression turned to something between dread and resignation. "…Please don't do this, Ye-rin. Just drop it," she pleaded.
But Ye-rin wasn't about to let this go. She folded her arms, eyes narrowing.
"Oh, I'll drop it when you explain why you're walking around campus in his ratty sneakers like some lovesick middle schooler."
Anya piped up from behind Ye-rin with an unhelpful grin, "And why your 'study session' excuse reeked of bullshit."
Seo-in opened her mouth—then closed it. There was no winning here. Defeated, she sighed and slumped against a nearby wall.
"...Fine," she muttered, rubbing her temples. "Yeah, I stayed at Luca's place last night." A lie—it had been every night for weeks.
Ye-rin looked like she'd just won the lottery, horrified but triumphant.
Anya gave Seo-in a pitying pat on the shoulder as Ye-rin leaned in close eyes gleaming with scheming energy.
"Now tell me everything."
Ye-rin grabbed Seo-in's wrist before she could escape into the campus café.
***
"Nice try." She jerked her chin toward an empty bench—far enough from eavesdroppers but very much within interrogation range. "Sit."
Seo-in considered bolting she could outrun Ye-rin in these stolen shoes … probably, but Anya had already flanked her other side, grinning like a fox.
Defeated, she slumped onto the bench with all the grace of a sentenced prisoner.
Anya wasted zero seconds, "How long?"
Seo-in pressed her lips together stubbornly—until Ye-rin snapped open her Notes app with ominous intent.
"Fine. Let's list your lies:
- 'Study session' when you can barely spell 'algorithm.'
- 'These aren't Luca's shoes!' meanwhile his NAME is LITERALLY—"
Seo-in lunged to cover Ye-rin's screen, face burning. "Two months," she hissed through gritted teeth before recoiling like the word physically hurt her.
The silence that followed was deafening until Anya burst out laughing so hard she doubled over while Ye-rin just gawked in betrayal.
"TWO MONTHS?! You let me text you 'goodnight bestie <3' every night thinking you were ALONE?!" A full-volume scandalized whisper.
Seo-in buried her face in hands stained pink up to ears ... which only made Anya wheeze harder while patting back mercilessly on shoulder blade as if congratulating some kind achievement, until suddenly stopping mid-laugh when realization hit them both simultaneously.
Anya slowly turned towards Ye-rin and said one word like it was death sentence itself, "...Hickey."
And just like that? Every ounce blood left inside Choi Seo-in´ body rushed directly onto surface skin at once. And Ye-rin' scream could likely be heard across entire campus .
Seo-in slumped in her seat with the look of someone who wished the ground would swallow her whole.
"No," she muttered so quiet it was almost inaudible over Ye-rin's shrieks.
"Shut. Up."
Ye-rin did shut up, only because Anya's eyes were also riveted onto something very visible on Seo-in's neck. Something purple and telling…
A beat of silence followed in which Seo-in wanted to die. Anya reached out and flicked the collar of Seo-in's shirt down with a triumphant grin.
"Oh my God, that is FRESH," she announced gleefully, as if discovering some scandalous artifact.
Seo-in slapped her hand away and yanked her collar back up—too late.
Ye-rin looked physically ill. "CHOI SEO-IN," she whispered, voice trembling with drama like this was the worst betrayal in history. "TELL ME YOU DID NOT LET THAT WEIRD IT GUY MARK YOU LIKE SOME KIND OF TERRITORY."
Seo-in pressed her lips together stubbornly, until Anya leaned in and stage-whispered, "...Was it at least good?"
A horrified pause followed before Seo-in finally lost it, "I HATE BOTH OF YOU!"
She launched off the bench like a rocket—storming toward the nearest lecture hall exit while Ye-rin chased after her screaming something about social status and family disownment.
***
Meanwhile, in the IT building's break room, Luca scrolled mindlessly through his phone when a notification from Seo-in popped up:
[Seo-in] 12:28 "Your shoes betrayed me!"
He blinked at the message—then snorted into his coffee. Before he could reply, another text buzzed in from an unknown number:
[Ye-rin] 12:28 "I HAVE YOUR GIRLFRIEND HOSTAGE IN THE CAFETERIA. 10 MINUTES OR I SEND THESE SCREENSHOOTS TO HER MOM!"
The message attached was a close-up of Seo-in's hickey with "PROPERTY OF IT NERD" poorly scribbled over it in editing app.
Luca choked on his drink. What!?
Luca's fingers flew across his phone screen, typing out a rapid response before he could even process the absurdity of the situation:
[Luca] to [Seo-in] 12:29 "I'm calling the police."
Almost immediately, another message popped up—this time from Seo-in's number, but clearly not Seo-in typing:
[Seo-in (Ye-rin)] 12:29 "TRY IT! I HAVE HER PHONE TOO!"
This time the message attachment was a photo of an extremely done-looking Seo-in mid-eye-roll while Anya grinned like a gremlin beside her.
Luca stared at his screen for approximately two seconds before exhaling through his nose and typing back with full resignation to whatever fresh hell this was:
[Luca] to [Ye-rin] 12:29 "What do you want?"
The reply came instantly—vibrating in his hand with all the subtlety of a bomb threat.
[Ye-rin] 12:30 "MEET US AT THE CAFETERIA IN 10 OR SEO-IN DIES!"
Luca pocketed his phone with a resigned sigh, already knowing this was going to be the most chaotic lunch break of his life. He debated just not showing up—but then he'd have to deal with Seo-in's wrath later, and that was infinitely worse than whatever interrogation Ye-rin had planned.
***
By the time he arrived at the cafeteria, Seo-in was slumped over a table looking like she wanted to disappear into her own hoodie, flanked by an unbearably smug Ye-rin and Anya sipping bubble tea like this was prime entertainment.
"You called me here for…?" Luca raised an eyebrow as he slid into the seat across from them—only for Ye-rin to slam both hands on the table dramatically:
"CONFESS."
Seo-in groaned loudly into her arms while Anya nearly choked on her drink laughing.
Luca stared blankly between them before slowly sliding his gaze toward Seo-in in silent question, "What fresh hell is this?".
She peeked up just long enough to mouth back, Kill me.