# Chapter 86
Recently on our morning walks to school, we often chatted about trivial things, but this time we didn’t do that at all.
Since I couldn’t bring myself to say anything, there wasn’t a single word exchanged between us. Moon Seoheon didn’t initiate conversation either, so we walked in silence for quite a while. Fortunately, we were walking hurriedly because time was tight, which was a relief.
The crosswalk signal in the distance changed. I finally blurted out something I hadn’t been able to say since we set out.
“Hey! Run!”
I glanced briefly at Moon Seoheon before running ahead. The signal at that crosswalk changed quickly, so it was still a close call even when running.
As the numbers suddenly appeared below the green light, I felt more anxious. We hadn’t even crossed half of the crosswalk yet, and the decreasing numbers had already reached single digits. As I put more strength in my legs, I felt someone grab my wrist.
When I turned my head, Moon Seoheon was holding my wrist and starting to run. If I recalled how he had dashed like a rocket during soccer, I knew his speed was no joke, but he was really fast.
My legs couldn’t keep up, and I stumbled several times. Still, we managed to cross the crosswalk safely before the light changed to red.
“Haa, haa.”
Even though we only ran for a moment, my heart was pounding from the full-speed sprint.
While I was catching my breath with my hands on my waist, Moon Seoheon bent down to check on me. I backed away, startled by his sudden approach.
“Are you okay?”
“…Yeah.”
My hair was sticking to my forehead as if I was sweating. As I roughly wiped it away with my hand, my stomach churned and made a loud noise.
The growling was so loud that it seemed to echo around us. Surprised, I reflexively hugged my stomach. Though that wouldn’t stop it, the persistent sound was clamorous to the end, as if demanding food.
“……”
As I couldn’t raise my head from embarrassment, Moon Seoheon, who had been quietly standing for a moment, spoke.
“If you’re hungry, should we stop by a convenience store?”
“…T-There’s no need for that. We don’t have time, let’s just hurry.”
“There’s a convenience store right on our way anyway. Let’s buy a rice ball and eat as we go.”
Though I said it was fine, Moon Seoheon grabbed my arm and pulled me into the convenience store. When we opened the door and entered, the part-timer greeted us without even looking up.
I passed the counter and headed to the rice ball section. Some items seemed to be on promotion, with complimentary sodas. But as expected, there was a reason they came with free drinks—none of them looked appealing.
I intended to choose quickly and leave, but suddenly I couldn’t decide. The free soda was tempting, but I didn’t particularly want a rice ball, so I was torn.
Just as I was about to randomly pick one because Moon Seoheon was standing there waiting, the sudden sound of a camera shutter made me flinch.
I put down the rice ball I’d picked up and looked around. It was just that the noise had caught my attention, but there were only me, Moon Seoheon, and the part-timer in the store. Moon Seoheon was standing with his arms crossed, leaning against a table in the separate eating area. It wasn’t him who had turned on the camera.
It wasn’t me either, so the only one who could have made that sound was the part-timer. What would there be to photograph here? It might seem strange, but there wasn’t really any reason to think too deeply about it. However, seeing the quite embarrassed expression of the part-timer made me feel uneasy.
I glanced at Moon Seoheon, who was just quietly looking at the part-timer. I could have thought he was just looking in the direction of the sound, but somehow I could sense something different from usual.
Despite his usual expressionless face, his facial muscles were subtly tense. The tightened jaw, lips pressed into a straight line, and subdued gaze. Perhaps because I saw him almost every day, even such minor changes naturally caught my eye, though they would be barely noticeable to others.
An awkward silence lingered in the convenience store. Soon, Moon Seoheon’s gaze, which had been directed at the part-timer, turned to me. As soon as our eyes met, Moon Seoheon, who had been standing straight, exhaled softly and relaxed his shoulders. For a moment, his gleaming eyes were hidden by his eyelids as he blinked several times.
Seeing his signal asking if I was done, I approached the part-timer without picking up the rice ball I had put down or choosing something else.
“Excuse me, could I check your phone?”
The part-timer, who had been standing there with an awkward expression at my sudden approach to the counter without selecting any items, flinched as if startled.
I deliberately hardened my expression and held out both hands with palms visible. The hesitating part-timer looked back and forth between me and Moon Seoheon.
Seeing this, I couldn’t help but click my tongue, and realizing my mood wasn’t good, the part-timer quickly handed over their phone.
“……”
As I took the phone, I glanced at the part-timer. They seemed like someone who might have just become a college student, looking quite young. I held the phone back up to the part-timer’s face, showing the lock pattern on the screen.
“Would you unlock it? Or just tell me the truth.”
“Ah… well……”
The part-timer, moving their lips, finally confessed the truth under my steady gaze. That Moon Seoheon was so handsome that they had unconsciously taken a picture.
I made sure the part-timer deleted the photo, stopped them from apologizing, and then brought Moon Seoheon over.
“You should apologize to him, not me.”
“Yes, yes! I’m really sorry! I must have lost my mind for a moment. I’ll sincerely apologize, so please don’t report me.”
After briefly watching the part-timer bow their head and speak rapidly, I asked Moon Seoheon what he wanted to do.
“The photo’s deleted, so it’s fine. But I think we should hurry up and choose something.”
Moon Seoheon checked the time on his phone and spoke nonchalantly. Only then did I remember we were on our way to school and hastily left the convenience store.
It was uncomfortable, but since the problem was resolved and Moon Seoheon said it was okay, there was no need for me to step in or discuss it further. But maybe because I had almost been involved in a similar issue before? I felt bad.
Especially since Moon Seoheon was acting like it was nothing. I cautiously asked Moon Seoheon, who was positioning himself as if preparing to run.
“Are you okay? Why didn’t you say anything and just stood there? You knew they took a picture, right?”
Judging by how he had been looking at the part-timer with disapproval, he clearly noticed. But Moon Seoheon didn’t even protest, as if it wasn’t a big deal.
Moon Seoheon straightened the upper body he had bent forward to run. A gentle smile was spreading across his face as he turned to look at me. His smiling lips looked genuinely pleased. However, his eyes, which seemed to scan me as they moved over me, were meaningful.
I had occasionally received similar glances, but this one was overtly trying to examine me. When I raised my eyebrows as if asking what he was doing, Moon Seoheon laughed silently. His lips, stretched upward, gradually parted.
“It’s not like this is the first or second time it’s happened… Last time you praised me for becoming a star, and now you’re worried?”
“……”
Despite his seemingly light tone with hints of laughter, I couldn’t say anything. Even if Moon Seoheon really did speak of it as insignificant, it wasn’t something I could take lightly.
He called it praise with his words, but was it really praise? My expression turned awkward with the uncomfortable feeling.
Moreover, realizing that what just happened hadn’t simply passed, my mood sank further. Moon Seoheon was just resigned to such incidents because they were familiar to him. Not because he thought there was no need to discuss it deliberately.
“Let’s hurry. We’ll have to run all the way without stopping now.”
As I was moving my lips without being able to respond, Moon Seoheon grabbed my arm. Looking at the time we had left, we would barely avoid being late if we ran all the way to school. I let Moon Seoheon lead me as if surrendering my body to him, then soon put strength into my legs.
* * *
Thanks to running without stopping, Moon Seoheon and I were barely able to get in before the main gate closed.
Unlike me, who was drenched in sweat despite running together, Moon Seoheon showed off his dry skin. While I could barely breathe properly, he was only slightly out of breath.
Anyway, he’s an amazing guy, I thought to myself.
Just when I think my stamina has improved a bit, times like this make me realize I still have a long way to go. Maybe it feels that way more because I’m comparing myself to Moon Seoheon.
As soon as I sat down, I roughly wiped away my sweat with my sleeve, and when the morning assembly ended, I fanned my face with a notebook to cool down my heated body. I wanted to stop and feel the fan instead because my arms were trembling as if all my energy had been drained from running.
After the homeroom teacher left, I glanced at the clock and stood up with my heavy body, feeling even more hungry. As I got up with a sigh escaping my lips, Moon Seoheon turned his head and asked where I was going.
“Going to the school store.”
If my stomach made noise again during class, the embarrassment I felt in front of Moon Seoheon earlier would be nothing. If I had known this would happen, I should have just arrived early and stopped by the school store.
With the idea of quickly buying a bread to eat since time was short, I turned my body and passed by Moon Seoheon, but he pulled out his chair and stood up.
“I’ll come with you.”
Instead of asking why he was coming when he wasn’t even hungry, I just nodded lightly at him as he immediately followed me.
But when we arrived at the school store, I regretted not coming alone, regardless of what he might have said.
“So this is where you were? I was wondering if you were late since you didn’t come for so long.”
Maeng Moa somehow found us and suddenly cut in while we were on our way to the school store. Judging by how he was speaking, it didn’t seem like he just happened to see us passing by and approached.
“Did you go to the classroom?”
“Yes. I was sitting at my desk waiting, but you were taking so long, I wondered if something had happened again.”
Maeng Moa, who was standing next to me, tilted his head and stared at me. When I glared at him with my eyes as if asking what he had to say, he sighed lowly as if he was deflated and shrugged his shoulders.
“I’m glad you seem okay. I was surprised when you collapsed yesterday.”
“Ah. Well… I slept well and felt better when I woke up.”
“Hmm, fortunately, it seems the medicine you took had an effect.”
Did they give me medicine while I was collapsed? I did take one in the morning, but there’s no way this guy would know about that, so he must be talking about medicine given after I collapsed. Anyway, he must have helped when Moon Seoheon was moving me, since he was probably with him.
