# Chapter 94
“Are you okay?!”
I quickly got up and grabbed Jung Hyoin’s arms to help him up. He groaned softly in pain as he opened his eyes. He looked fine on the outside, but I wasn’t sure about his internal condition.
I wasn’t completely unharmed either after tumbling down and hitting the stairs, but I was too shocked to feel any pain. I turned my head from side to side to thoroughly examine Jung Hyoin.
“Are you hurt anywhere? Ah, your hands?!”
Since he played piano and drew pictures, he couldn’t afford to injure his hands. There were no visible wounds on his face or exposed parts, but I carefully took his hands to check for any fractures.
Jung Hyoin, still seeming dazed, blinked a few times and looked at the hand I was holding.
“I’m fine.”
Only after he finished speaking and moved his hand normally did I feel relieved.
Finally, anger surged up and I looked upstairs with a fierce glare. I hadn’t noticed earlier while checking on Jung Hyoin, but the guys who had been frozen in place moments ago were nowhere to be seen—they must have run away quickly.
Judging by how shocked Son Gyucheon and Ye Abin looked when I briefly made eye contact with them, they definitely hadn’t seen Jung Hyoin following behind me. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have impulsively pushed someone down the stairs.
“These sons of bitches.”
I cursed under my breath, feeling a gaze fixed on me from the side. Jung Hyoin slightly raised his eyebrows in surprise, but I pressed on, wanting confirmation.
“You saw them too, right? Who did it? This time, I’m going to deal with this properly.”
Even though I had let the morning incident slide, if this one went unpunished too, it was obvious the same thing would happen again. These were the kind of guys who would repeat such acts if left alone.
They tripped someone as a “prank” in a situation where a serious injury could have occurred. And they did it on the stairs, causing someone to tumble down. Although we weren’t badly hurt, this clearly constituted assault.
Jung Hyoin watched me for a moment as I snapped in anger, then grabbed my shoulder as if telling me to calm down.
“I know who did it, so it’s okay. But one of them seemed to be your friend.”
“What friend? It’s nothing like that.”
I replied sourly, and Jung Hyoin shrugged as if to say, “Is that so?” Despite being the main victim, he didn’t seem particularly angry. Seeing him say it was okay made me hesitate, wondering if he planned to let it go. As if reading my intention, Jung Hyoin looked toward where Ye Abin and Son Gyucheon had been and said:
“I don’t plan to let it slide. I’ll talk to them separately, so don’t worry about it. Be careful of those glass pieces there.”
Jung Hyoin pointed at the glass fragments beside me. I quickly lifted my hand to avoid them, as I could have been cut if I wasn’t careful. My hands had some minor scratches from the fall, but no major injuries.
I tried rotating my wrist, clenching and unclenching my fist to see if I had sprained it again while it was healing, but it was perfectly fine. A small sigh of relief escaped me.
“Hey, thanks. You saved me…”
I glanced around at the sketchbook and colored pencils scattered in a mess. Everything was damaged, but the broken drawing cup seemed to be the biggest issue, making me put a hand to my forehead.
“I’m sorry. This looks completely unusable now.”
I could see that several colored pencils were broken too. The sketchbook was tattered, looking worse than before, probably because it was wet. I bit my lip hard while looking at the slightly torn paper.
“Is this stuff expensive?”
“It’s fine.”
“What?”
“You don’t need to pay me back. It’s not even that expensive.”
Jung Hyoin got up from his sitting position and reached his hand out to me. Puzzled by the gesture, I grabbed it, and he pulled me up with a strong force. After effortlessly helping me stand, I started to thank him again but scratched the back of my neck while looking at the scattered items.
“But what do we do with all this?”
Just then, the class bell rang. We needed to go to class, but we also had to clean everything up. With no choice, I decided to grab cleaning supplies as soon as I got to the classroom.
When the bell rang and I entered the classroom, I immediately grabbed a broom and dustpan without sitting down and rushed out. Moon Seoheon followed me.
Though I heard footsteps following me and knew Moon Seoheon was coming, I had no time to look back and decided to leave him be.
As I pushed Jung Hyoin to the corner to clear away the items, Moon Seoheon came down the stairs and stopped when he saw the scattered belongings.
“What happened here?”
Moon Seoheon’s eyes darkened as he examined the ruined items. Recognizing who they belonged to, he seemed to grasp the situation and added:
“These are Hyoin’s things, aren’t they? Did you drop them while walking?”
“Ah, well…”
I glanced at Jung Hyoin while sweeping up glass pieces with the broom. Although there wasn’t anything to hide, I felt awkward telling the truth. I didn’t want to unnecessarily worry someone who had nothing to do with it.
Still, I couldn’t completely hide what he had seen, so I signaled to Jung Hyoin with my eyes, asking how to handle this. Catching my look, Jung Hyoin spoke to Moon Seoheon in a straightforward tone.
“I fell and tumbled down. That’s how they broke.”
“…You?”
Moon Seoheon raised his eyebrows in disbelief. When Jung Hyoin looked at me, I swallowed a sigh as if there was no choice and answered awkwardly.
“I was carrying them and fell, which made them tumble down, but Jung Hyoin caught me. We’re both fine, so don’t worry.”
“You fell? Let me see.”
Despite deliberately leaving out any mention of Ye Abin and Son Gyucheon and telling him not to worry, Moon Seoheon hurriedly came down and examined me. He grabbed both my shoulders, causing me to drop the broom I was holding. The glass pieces I had gathered in the dustpan fell out, scattering what I had just cleaned up.
“Ah, hey. I’m in the middle of cleaning here.”
“Where are you hurt?”
“I told you, I’m fine. Completely fine.”
As I was about to scold him, I noticed Moon Seoheon’s eyes trembling anxiously. Instead of the reprimand that was about to come out, I gestured that I was okay, and his eyes soon became calmer. I laughed dryly, thinking it was nice that he was worried, but wasn’t he overreacting?
I removed his hands from my shoulders and pushed him toward the corner where Jung Hyoin was.
“Don’t step there, it’s dangerous. Stay still until I finish cleaning.”
Seeing me speak so casually, Moon Seoheon seemed to confirm I was really fine and didn’t say anything more. After signaling the guys standing in the corner to be careful, I gripped the broom.
As I swept everything into one pile, the colored pencils gathered together with the glass pieces. Though they were dirty with dust, the pencils could still be used, so I thought it would be best to separate them.
Being careful not to touch the broken glass, I began removing the colored pencils one by one. The guys who had been standing still came over to help.
“Be careful not to get cut by the glass.”
They nodded obediently when I said this to them as they bent down to pick up the colored pencils. Somehow, I found it amusing and a small laugh escaped me, but then I felt a stinging pain in my index finger and raised my hand to check.
The scratch I had noticed earlier had widened, probably from brushing against a glass fragment. Although it wasn’t bleeding, the red mark had grown larger.
I narrowed my eyes at the sting. I was thinking I should put a bandage on it later when suddenly a hand shot out and grabbed my finger.
“…”
I stretched my neck in surprise and stared blankly at Moon Seoheon, who had grabbed my finger. I felt bewildered by his serious look at what was just a minor wound.
Instead of saying I was fine, I just tried to pull my finger away, but I must have used too much force without realizing it, because Moon Seoheon’s eyes widened. The pressure caused blood to seep from the wound on my captured finger.
Clicking my tongue briefly, I pushed firmly against Moon Seoheon’s chest, indicating he should let go. He stepped back but didn’t release my finger, instead pulling it toward himself.
Not understanding what he was trying to do, I just raised an eyebrow, when suddenly my finger was swallowed into Moon Seoheon’s mouth. I could only stare blankly at the scene, as if someone had hit me on the head.
“What are you—?!”
My attempt to shout “what are you doing” was cut off by the sucking force. Only a deflated sound escaped from my gaping mouth. Moon Seoheon looked at my shocked expression for a moment before finally removing his mouth after a while.
Without even getting a chance to examine my finger, I clenched my fist and covered it with my other hand, hiding it against my chest.
Moon Seoheon, looking at me stumbling over my words, licked his lips as if tasting something.
“It was bleeding because of me.”
At his words, which sounded like an excuse, I glared at him with an incredulous expression. No matter what, you don’t just take someone’s finger and suck on it?! It wasn’t even bleeding heavily—just a small amount that would have disappeared with a simple wipe. And it was certainly dirty with dust too.
Even if there had been a lot of blood, this wasn’t something friends would do to stop bleeding.
I was already feeling unsettled because of him lately, and now he kept doing things that caught me off guard, making me unsure how to react.
An indescribable emotion washed over me. As I fidgeted with my sucked finger and bit my lip, I felt a piercing gaze and glanced to the side.
Jung Hyoin, who was bent over awkwardly picking up colored pencils, had an expression that was neither completely expressionless nor could be described as angry.
When our eyes met, I took a deep breath, feeling as if I couldn’t breathe. A heavy silence stirred around us, making my back feel hot.
I glanced sideways at Moon Seoheon, the culprit who created this situation, and saw him casually picking up trash.
I really wanted to ask him why he did that, but couldn’t bring it up with Jung Hyoin present.
