After they settled into the empty seats together, Seolhyo quietly called out, "Jin..."
She rested her head against his side.
Seojin lifted an arm around her shoulders automatically. "Hmm?"
Seolhyo fiddled lightly with the strap of her bag in her lap before speaking.
"Irina and Mijin were saying earlier... since my brother already knows about us, we don't really have to hide our relationship anymore, right?"
Seojin looked down at her. "Yeah?"
"Well..." She hesitated. "They kept asking why we never post each other on Cyworld. They said we should."
Seojin stared quietly at the top of her head, her soft hair brushing lightly against his chin.
He pulled her a little closer.
"If you want to, I can post one when I get home." He smiled faintly. "Besides, I barely even open my Cyworld anymore. You know why."
Seolhyo sighed knowingly. "Yeah, yeah. Too many annoying messages."
Then she muttered, "Maybe if we post something, they'll finally stop bothering you. They'll know you already have a girlfriend."
Seojin chuckled softly. "Maybe the guys bothering you will stop too."
Both of them laughed quietly.
Seolhyo opened her bag on her lap and carefully pulled out the mini photo album.
After flipping through it for a moment, she took out the two photos she had picked earlier.
She glanced up at him before handing one over.
"These two," she said with a small smile. "I'll post this one, and you post that one."
Seojin looked at the photos in his hand.
One was him kissing her cheek.
The other was her kissing his.
He took the one where she was kissing him and smiled softly to himself.
"It came out great."
Seolhyo grinned proudly. "Of course it did. I'm in it."
He let out a quiet laugh.
Then he placed a hand gently against the side of her head and guided her back onto his shoulder before lowering his own head to rest lightly against the top of hers.
"You mean me?" he murmured.
Seolhyo nudged him with her shoulder, laughing under her breath. "It's obviously me. If it was just you, it wouldn't look as good."
Seojin closed his eyes, smiling faintly.
"Is that so?" he said softly. "Then I should keep you by my side the time so my pictures always turn out great."
Seolhyo closed her eyes too, relaxing against him as the bus rumbled softly through the night.
"Yeah," she whispered. "Guess I'll have to stick with you then."
Waking up that morning, I rubbed my eyes and dragged myself to the kitchen. The house was empty as usual, and breakfast was up to me as always.
I fried some eggs, half-burned the edges, ate standing up, then headed straight to the shower.
Steam still clung to my skin as I wrapped a towel around my waist and went back to my room.
I plopped down in front of the computer, turned it on, and waited for the dial tone to fade away.
As soon as Cyworld loaded, I clicked onto my page.
Album: [S♥S] → 1 new post → 124 comments.
"...Huh? Already?" I muttered, scrolling down.
[cutie_luv94]: WAIT WHAT?? He has a girlfriend??? 😭 My heart just broke into tiny pieces.
[angel_blossom]: Nooo way. THIS guy is taken??? I thought he was single for sure 😭😭
[yoona_star]: The girl's so pretty though 😭 They actually look good together... ugh fine, I'll allow it.
[luv_summer]: That's it, deleting all the screenshots I saved of him. Can't do this anymore. 💔
[haemin_89]: He went from "dream boy" to "off the market" overnight 😭😭
[miss_karen]: Why do all the handsome ones get girlfriends so fast… life is unfair 😩
[yujin_xoxo]: I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS IS REAL. This has to be staged. Someone tell me it's staged.
[pinkberry_07]: She's lucky. Like… insanely lucky.
After staring blankly at the flood of comments, I sighed.
"Oh, right… I forgot to set it to friends only."
A quick click fixed the settings, and I pushed the chair back before standing up.
After changing into my winter uniform blazer, I grabbed my bag and headed out to meet Seolhyo so we could walk to school together.
When I arrived, she was already there waiting.
Right on cue, she turned and spotted me walking toward her.
She smiled and waved her hand lightly.
As soon as I reached her, I bent down and kissed her cheek.
"Morning, Rim."
Seolhyo closed one eye where I'd kissed her cheek and smiled faintly.
"Mm. Morning, Jin."
I took her hand in mine as we started walking.
"Have you eaten?"
She nodded. "How about you?"
"Just did."
The two of us walked side by side through the chilly morning streets.
"How'd the photo you posted go?" I asked.
Seolhyo sighed dramatically. "It was fine. Some of the comments were honestly insane though..."
I chuckled. "I forgot to set mine to private, so mine got flooded with comments."
Seolhyo looked at me with tired eyes. "I always tell you to set your folders and posts to private. Why haven't you done it yet? You could just leave the homepage public."
I scratched the back of my head lazily. "That sounds complicated. Just leave it. I barely even use Cyworld anyway, so it doesn't matter."
Seolhyo shrugged. "If you say so. But any couple photos you post from now on should be friends-only."
I let go of her hand and wrapped an arm around her waist instead, leaning closer with an exaggerated obedient look.
"Yes, ma'am."
Seolhyo squirmed immediately, trying to push me away. "Stop clinging to me. There are people around."
I laughed quietly at the blush spreading across her face while passersby glanced at us.
Seolhyo finally managed to escape my hold and ran a few steps ahead.
"Hey!" I laughed. "Wait up! HAHAHA!"
She looked back at me laughing too, her hair swaying in the cold breeze.
The people passing by watched the two of them.
A man in a worn-out suit sighed bitterly as he stared at them. "Damn… I should've dated back then too. They said if I studied hard, I'd be happy. So why am I miserable?"
A student from another school grumbled while staring at Seolhyo. "When am I gonna get a girlfriend? How did that guy pull someone like her? I'm way better looking than him."
Nearby, an old man watched the two with a nostalgic smile.
"Seeing those kids reminds me of my high school days..."
They soon arrived at school, and before they knew it, the day had passed.
Dusk had already settled outside.
Inside the art classroom, Suwon sat at his desk, lazily sketching in his notebook when he noticed Suji walking by with her two friends.
He looked up.
"Oh! Hi!"
Suji's two friends immediately hurried ahead of her, already giggling among themselves.
Suji awkwardly waved back, visibly flustered.
"Y-yeah… hi!!"
One of her friends whispered loudly, "Hehe, let's get out of their way."
"Kyaa~ HEHE."
Suji turned even redder as the two girls disappeared to their seats.
She quickly sat down across from Suwon.
A few minutes later, the art teacher walked in, set her bag down, and lazily announced, "Same as usual today. Draw whatever you want."
Soon, the classroom filled with the soft scratching sounds of pencils against paper.
Suwon stared absentmindedly at his sketchbook, pencil resting in his hand without moving.
Nothing comes to my mind.
Yesterday's teasing kept replaying over and over in his head.
...It's seriously bothering me...
He glanced sideways toward Suji.
Yeah... no way...
Those idiots definitely got the wrong idea.
Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Suji looking at him.
The second their eyes met, she flinched hard and immediately lowered her head, pretending to focus intensely on her drawing while her hair hid her face.
Suwon stayed quiet.
...That was just coincidence, right?