CH 37

Yiyoung was startled out of her trance a few moments later when the teacher appeared behind her. “I called you so many times. Why didn’t you respond?” he asked.

She had been so lost in the book’s world that she didn’t hear him come back to the library.

“It’s lunch time. Go out and eat your food. Don’t forget to lock the doors behind you,” he added. For some reason, the teacher seemed grumpy, as if he hated his job. The library indeed prohibited the consumption of food inside its premises, but Yiyoung had assumed the teacher would let her eat inside because it was raining so heavily. There was no one at the school to scold them if they broke the rules just this once, and yet she was forced to leave the library.

The only place that wasn’t closed right now was the library, and now, because of some jerk who had decided to anger the teacher, she had to eat outside in the rain. “I will.”

After the teacher left, Yiyoung grabbed her lunch bag and made sure to lock the doors before walking through the hallway to go outside. She took an umbrella and walked toward the gazebo in the school ground, splashing water everywhere. But unbeknownst to her, someone was already at the gazebo, watching her walk toward him.

Muyeol stared at her, silently noting how Yiyoung made it impossible not to notice her with the loud, noisy way she walked. The sight of a mere sandwich and a bottle of milk in her lunch bag brought a frown to his face.

“Huh?” Yiyoung was visibly confused when she spotted Muyeol. She dramatically pointed at him like a comedian. “Why are you here?”

“Why do you think I’m here?” Like Yiyoung, Muyeol had also never been on a field trip, but simply because he didn’t want to go. And he never felt the need to go to the library because no one said anything to him when he didn’t; nobody dared to yell at him.

“So the wicked kid he was talking about was you!” she laughed loudly.

A scowl flitted across his face before Muyeol calmed down. This wasn’t his first time hearing something like that.

“Where have you been all this time?” Yiyoung asked. When Muyeol didn’t respond, she looked around, unable to spot his lunch bag. “What about your lunch?”

“Are you on a diet or something?” Yiyoung continued as she took out the food from the bag.

“Not hungry,” he said curtly.

“Okay, I’m going to have my lunch then.” She concentrated on opening the sandwich’s wrapper.

“Alright.” 

Yiyoung took a huge bite of her sandwich. She wasn’t the least bit curious about why Muyeol didn’t show up at the library; he always did whatever he wanted, after all.

A sudden shiver traveled down her body, her toes wiggling uncomfortably as the cold sunk into her bones from her wet shoes. Yiyoung lost her appetite. As she put everything back inside the bag, she thought how it was a good thing she hadn’t opened her milk bottle yet.

“What’s wrong?” Muyeol asked.

“I’ll eat it at home. It’s too cold right now.”

It was then Muyeol noticed that her lips were quivering. “Go inside the library and eat.”

“No way. The teacher was in a bad mood because of you. I use the library often, I don’t want to get into trouble.”

“Who cares? There’ll be a different teacher on duty tomorrow.”

“I care. You might not care about anything, but my school record is important to me. I can’t get into any trouble.” 

“Anyway,” she continued, still shivering as she put her hands on her thighs, “it’s been a while since I last saw you.”

“Yeah,” Muyeol replied, “because we’re in different classes now.”

“That’s right, we used to be in the same class, didn’t we?”

“It was annoying.”

“Ha!” Yiyoung exclaimed as he leaned against a pillar. “Still, it’s good to see you.”

Muyeol simply stared at her in response, so she tried asking him a question. “You aren’t sick anymore, right?”

When he didn’t reply, she tried to complain, “I’m asking because I’m worried—”

Muyeol suddenly threw her jacket at her, leaving her to fumble around to catch it. “What is this?” she asked.

“So you don’t say you got sick because of me,” Muyeol said quietly.

“Really? Yay!” She threw on his jacket and sighed as the warmth enveloped her. A giggle slipped out of her when she caught a whiff of Muyeol’s scent. “Hey, this smells like you.”

“So what?”

“It feels like we’re hug…” Yiyoung couldn’t finish speaking, caught off-guard when she noticed the way Muyeol was looking at her. She could see her reflection in his vivid eyes. She wanted to ask him why he was looking at her so… so intensely, but could not muster up the courage. 

Muyeol did not blink; he didn’t want to. He traced every feature of hers with his eyes: her sharp nose, her deep eyes, her perfect lips, and that sharp curve of her face… She looked so beautiful.

Yiyoung forgot how to breathe. His eyes seemed so different today, she had never seen them glimmer with charisma like this before. She couldn’t take her eyes off of him. She gulped, wondering why she was so parched all of a sudden.

As Muyeol focused on her thick, well-defined lips, he suddenly recalled the promise she had made. ‘She said she would grant me anything I want. Would she let me kiss her right now if I ask for it?’

He wondered how her lips would feel against his. When he tried to imagine how Shitty Yoon would respond to his request, he chuckled. She would agree, but definitely frown while doing so. Still, no matter how desperately he wanted to ask her, Muyeol didn’t want to waste his only chance.

Yiyoung’s eyes widened. ‘Is he… laughing? Why is he laughing?’

She had never seen him laugh so freely. It was always either a sardonic snigger or a cold scoff which upset people, but he seemed so different now. She was starting to view him in a new light now, not that she realized it. But Muyeol felt it; Yiyoung was warming up to him. The invisible thread of fate connected the two of them.

However, the moment was interrupted when Yiyoung’s phone rang. “Yoon Yiyoung, lunch break is over,” the teacher’s voice blared through the speaker.

Time had passed by so fast that Yiyoung never realized the break got over. With the sudden realization that she was late, Yiyoung hurriedly took off the jacket and handed it to Muyeol. “Thank you. It warmed me up.”

“Just keep it,” he said.

“Huh?”

Muyeol walked past her. “Let’s go back to the library together.”

“Hey, you don’t even have an umbrella!” she opened her umbrella and ran after him.

“Here, hold it.” Muyeol obediently accepted the umbrella when she handed it to him. As they walked under it in harmony, he silently wished for the day to last forever.