In this university, everyone’s rich.
Correction, almost everyone’s rich―the only exception is, I guess, me. After all, I’m here on a full scholarship including the dorms. If not, there’s really, really no way I can go to the same university as celebrities and rich half kids.
And so, with the sad social-economical status difference, I thought that I’ll just live my entire university life studying quietly, working hard to not get my scholarship taken away as I try to not gather too much attention. Yet, for some reason unfathomable to working-class people like me, I somehow caught the eyes of――
“Hey!”
I hastened my walking pace, trying not to turn around and answer the sickly-sweet, honey-coated greeting. The familiar voice sent chills down my spine―it was none other than the ‘prince’ of the university, Yeon Hajun. Rich, handsome, has a way with words… truly deserving of the title ‘No. 1 Lady Killer’. Not to mention his confidence… perhaps the only people that could rival his glittery, sparkling existence is his hip hop group mates, BAE members Sugasano Allen and Anne Faulkner. I may sound like I’m praising him a lot, but interacting with him is seriously the one and only thing I don’t want to ever do… again. ‘Again’, because I did interact with him once―out of my stupidity.
“Hey, are you ignoring me? That’s not nice.”
“…”
He called my name.
Once.
Twice.
Three times.
“You’re really obstinate, aren’t you?”
I just don’t want to have anything to do with you, Yeon. Please.
It was almost the end of the corridor. Just as I prepared myself to run full throttle, a person clad in red showed up suddenly from the other direction. He seemed like he hadn’t noticed me as his eyes are on the papers he’s holding on to.
“Allen!”
“…Hajun?”
The person, none other than Yeon’s gang member, Sugasano Allen, looked up in surprise.
“Nice timing, catch her!”
He actually noticed I was about to run!? Yeon Hajun, a force to be reckoned…!
Sugasano blinked a few times, yet still caught me by the arm anyways. What’s up with this monstrous strength, I can’t move at all! Seriously? Even though he looks so lean!
“Good job, Allen,” Yeon said, as he scooted closer to us. Honestly, it probably looks like a picture of hell now―with Sugasano holding me by the arm, me still squirming trying to run away, and Yeon with his suspicious smile walking closer. And everyone’s looking at us, to boot! Good bye my peaceful university life… Hello my living hell…
“?”
Sugasano looked at Yeon, and then at me. And then back to Yeon. And then at me. In the end he decided to look at Yeon, and then tilted his head to the side out of confusion.
“What’s up?” He decided to ask. He probably couldn’t find any other words beside that.
“She’s running away from me, so I went after her,” Yeon replied blankly, as if it’s the most natural thing in the world. I looked at him with my most disbelieving look (at this point, I’ve decided to turn around instead of awkwardly making conversation―that I can’t dodge at this point―facing the other way).
“…”
Sugasano seemed like he shared my emotion at the moment and looked at Yeon in disbelief. After a moment of silence that wasn’t comfortable in any way, he turned to look at me, and immediately released my arm, “I’m really, really sorry about this,” he said, “I didn’t have time to process, so I just followed the first words I hear...”
Sugasano said, lowering his head. I immediately waved both of my hands, “No, no, it’s really fine. It’s not Sugasano-kun’s fault anyways.”
He looked up and blinked his eyes, “You know me?”
“I’d be living under a rock if I don’t know you!” I instantly replied without much thinking, laughing, “You’re Yeon-kun’s team member, dubbed the coolest guy in the whole university, the Sugasano Allen, aren’t you? There isn’t a day I don’t hear your name in conversations.”
Sugasano’s face reddened in embarrassment, “Eh- oh…” he responded, perhaps unable to find any words to say.
Sugasano fell quiet. He’s… actually pretty cute? I thought all members of BAE would be forceful like Yeon, but this guy probably has more common sense. Long live Sugasano! Hail hip-hop maniac! My oasis in the desert! I can’t help but to smile. To think that facing Yeon’s made me this exhausted…
Speaking of Yeon, he’s oddly quiet since some time ago…
I turned to look at Yeon, and I immediately regretted my life choices.
Yeon looked absolutely furious as he glared at me.
I-is he angry because I made conversation with his gang member!? I-I’m sorry for forgetting I’m of the lower status… I guess you’d find it annoying if some poor random girl talked with your good friend in such a casual manner. I’m really, really sorry. But since I don’t think I’ll get away unscathed if I apologized anyways, I’ll just take my leave as Yeon’s preoccupied with his own emotions…
“Well, that's that so I’ll be going now. See you, Yeon-kun, Sugasano-kun!”
I said, very quickly, as I scurried away…
…Or, at least, tried to.
Yeon immediately caught me by the arm (this again!?) and pulled me closer to him. Oh no, oh no, oh no is this the end of me!? I’m sorry mother and father in heaven… your daughter is going to die today without properly finishing her studies… even though that’s the only thing you both wished of me…
“Thank you for the assistance, Allen,” Yeon said―is it just me or his words sounded like they’re laced with poison?―as he dragged me away from Sugasano. I turned my head to steal a glance at Sugasano, sending him S.O.S messages with my expression and nonexistent telepathic ability. Help, help, help me! Please, I can’t die just yet…!
Sugasano tilted his head to the side in confusion again, but in just a moment his expression changed to that of realization. He then nodded to himself, and looked at me apologetically.
What!? What did you realize, Sugasano!? I’m pretty sure whatever it is you’ve got it wrong! Sugasa―nooooo! Wait, don’t go!!
Alas, my pathetic pleas fell into deaf ears as Sugasano left the scene. Why…!?
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
Right now we’re at a very deserted corner of the university, in the garden out the back. I still don’t understand what it is Yeon’s trying to do to me. I hope he’s not actually trying to kill me or something… I mean, in here nobody would notice, and he probably has enough money to silence the police and anyone else who saw the deed.
“You know,” Yeon started, and cold sweat ran through my back. His voice was icy, below zero in temperature. “I was going to do this the nice way, but you’re not being cooperative at all.”
I looked at him in fear, “D-do what…?”
“…This.”
In that moment, Yeon pulled off his glasses, leaned down, and―oh, my God he’s so close…!?
It took me a rather long time to realize what’s going on: the only things I realized was that he smelled sooo good, his red eyes looked extremely beautiful, and that his whole face is just cheating. God gave so much to one person it’s unfair, honestly.
And only after that did I realize the soft sensation on my lips and how he’s not even an inch away from me.
“!?”
And then he pulled back. His left hand reached for mine, and his right hand reached out to my face.
“You look like an idiot.”
“!?”
“…I didn’t think you’d get this surprised,” he smiled softly.
“!?”
Wh-what an angelic smile…!
A moment later my petrification wore off. As I regained my composure, I willed myself to speak, “O-of course I’m surprised!” I said, “I-I thought I was going to get killed for real…”
“…Just what do you think I am?”
“A sadistic, rich and handsome guy with a penchant for murder?”
“…Sigh.”
Yeon put his hand to the back of his head, “I thought I was being really obvious already.”
I tilted my head to the side, “…About?”
Once again, Yeon heaved a long, long sigh, “That I like you,” he said, “Ever since that day.”
My head spun full speed hearing his words―the only ‘day’ I could remember we shared was the first time we actually interacted with each other… that hot summer night. Indeed it was during a summer festival that I directly interacted with Yeon Hajun for the first time.
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
It was summer, it was hot, it was incredibly noisy, and I was in a deadly bad mood. It was supposed to be a girls’ day out with my close friends from high school―and we even promised each other to wear full-blown yukata―yet all of them bailed out on me because of different reasons, like deciding to go with their newly-acquired boyfriend, forgetting a deadline, and other personal issues. Seriously, they could’ve told me a few hours before I actually got to the festival.
But it was too late as I, dressed in a yukata with full make up, now stood by myself like a lost sheep amongst the sea of people.
I contemplated to go home right there and then, but then a crowd stole my attention.
Some tens of meters away from me, there stood a tall guy surrounded by an ungodly amount of girls. I focused my sight on the guy and found out that he’s actually the famous ‘Smiling Noble’, the Yeon Hajun, from the university I’m attending. He’s also my classmate for one, two of my courses, but of course he wouldn’t remember me. Anyways, I guess it is hard being a famous person. He kept smiling at the forceful girls, but from where I stood, I could really see that he’s really exhausted already.
Good luck, Yeon Hajun, the person I never even talked to yet could strangely sympathize at this moment…!
I was about to walk away when he… suddenly waved at me?
What?
I looked to my left, right, and turned my head to look at who’s behind me, but nobody’s there. Was he really waving at me?
Before I could process everything, he walked towards me, closing the gap between us. When I came to he was already beside me, holding my hand, as he said, “I’ve been waiting for you! Where’ve you been?”
I blinked at him a few times. He turned at the shocked girls in front of us, and said, “She’s the one I had plans with, so I’m really sorry, everyone.”
――and then he pulled me away from the scene.
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
“Umm!!” I finally managed to let out a voice.
“?”
Yeon tilted his head to the side―gosh, he’s cute―as he looked at me with a questioning stare.
“I don’t remember making plans with you at all, Yeon-kun…?”
I said, and he blinked: “You know me?”
W h a t ?
“First, who doesn’t know you and your group, BAE? Second, I’m your classmate in one of your current courses in university, and third, why would you even do this if you don’t know me!?”
“I somewhat remembered you, even though I’m not sure from where. Oh, and I don’t know your name so…”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah, and I’m alone anyway because Allen forgot his deadline and Anne’s currently out working―wait, what’s that?”
He suddenly dashed towards a certain booth, dragging me with him in the process.
Apparently, his question was directed at the goldfish scooping booth. The man in charge of the booth immediately greeted us with a cheery smile: “300 yen a try!” as he showed us the poi.
300 yen… I could buy a meal in the cafeteria with that much money…
I was about to say ‘no’ to the man, but then I stole a glance at Yeon and to my surprise, Yeon’s eyes were sparkling like a little child’s, as he glanced at the poi, the fishes, and back to the poi.
“…Do you want to try?” I asked, and he immediately nodded.
“I do!”
“Have you ever played before?”
“Nope, this is the first time,” he replied, “But I saw videos of people doing it online.”
I blinked a few times. How long has he been in Japan, again? How could he have not tried goldfish scooping!?
I guess it’s hard being a rich guy, too… (?)
“Okay then…” I replied, and I told the man, “We’ll play once.”
“Alright, here’s your poi, little miss and handsome guy!”
He handed us our respective poi and bowls. Yeon immediately squatted down to look at the fishes more clearly. I followed suit careful not to dirty my yukata―all the while still thinking of the 300 yen I just spent.
“So, what do I do?” Yeon asked, his tone full of excitement.
“Well, you just scoop the fish with that poi and put it into the bowl. There’s a trick to it though―”
Before I managed to finish my sentence, Yeon had already went in for the kill in faster than the light. He aimed for the huge gold fish floating in the middle of the small pool, and dipped his poi into the water.
…As expected, his poi teared due to the forcefulness.
“…It’s broken?” He tilted his head in confusion as he showed me his poi. It teared right in the middle, rendering it unusable.
“It is,” I nodded, “Of course it would, you’re being too forceful.”
“I didn’t know it was that kind of game,” he replied, “How do I even catch a fish with something like this?”
I grinned, “There’s a trick to it, you see.”
I searched for certain boxes in the booth with my eyes. And then I found my target: white boxes behind the man in charge of the booth. It said: ‘No. 5. Contains 200.’.
I nodded to myself. That’s not too bad.
“What are you looking at?” Yeon asked, curiousity written on his face.
“The thickness of the poi. Anyway,” I answered, “See here?”
I showed him my poi.
“The side where you can see the seam of the paper glued to the frame? It’s the back,” I said, and then I turned the poi, “And this one’s the front. You’ll have better chances of success if you scoop with the front side.”
Yeon looked at me in genuine admiration, “So it’s like that…!”
“Next, you have to aim for the right fish,” I continued, as I pointed at a fish, “See that one? It’s currently really close to the surface―means that it’s currently gaping for air. Fishes like that are on their weakest, so we should aim for them.”
Yeon let his sight wander around the small pool, “Like those?”
He pointed at a group of fishes near the surface, and turned to look at me.
“Yeah, that’s right!” I replied, smiling, “You’re getting better at this.”
“!” Yeon flinched and looked at me in surprise.
“…What’s up?”
“No, nothing,” He immediately replied, “Anything else?”
Something still smells fishy, but I decided to let it go. “Well, we just have to start scooping now.”
I pulled the sleeve of my yukata up to my elbow, “How many do you want?”
Yeon looked surprised, “How many?”
“Yeah.”
I pretended I didn’t see the expression of horror on the face of the man in charge of the booth. I’m sorry, but you offered a game to the wrong person…
“Then… I guess, three?” Yeon replied.
“Aight, leave it to the Legendary Scooper,” I said, and I concentrated.
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
“I could’ve got you ten, twenty more if you wanted.”
Yeon looked at the goldfishes inside the plastic he has on his hand, satisfied, “No, this is enough,” he replied, “After all, the person in charge looked like he’s going to faint if you continue playing.”
“Ehe,” I stuck out a tongue mischievously. In the end, Yeon tried around three times and finally managed to scoop one fish successfully. We decided to end our goldfish scooping adventure there and continued walking around the festival. He also paid for my share, though he pulled out one 10.000 yen bill and made both me and the man in charge look at him in surprise. It’s a good thing that the booth had change.
Honestly, playing games with Yeon made me forgot my bad mood towards those traitorous friends of mine. I’m actually somewhat grateful, although I could still feel piercing glares from all around the festival.
“Anyway―”
As I was about to say something to express my gratitude, Yeon had already scurried somewhere else―this time in front of a candy-apple booth.
“What’s this? Candy-apple?” He asked.
I smiled at his child-like behavior. The Yeon Hajun I knew from class looked so out of this world, so mature and full of composure, yet look at him now.
“It’s exactly what it is, a candy-apple.”
I followed his steps, closing in on him and the booth.
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
And after that we continued eating through the whole festival and dispersed―after finally introducing ourselves to each other, though it was more like me telling him my name.―without anything special happening, but…
“…You remember now?” He asked. It looked like he’d waited for me to finish processing everything.
“Um, the festival, right?” I asked, just to make sure. Yeon nodded, and I put a hand over my forehead, “How am I supposed to know anything from that!?”
Yeon looked at me in irritation, “I’ve been greeting you everyday ever since! I tried to talk to you, too, but you kept running away from me. The only place I could actually make a conversation with you was during group projects and classes!” He explained in exasperation, “How could you not notice? I kept taking the seats beside you, and even during group projects I was always the closest to you.”
“…You were?”
I asked, and I swear Yeon glared at me for a moment there.
I looked up to him, “I’m sorry, I’m really, really sorry. I guess I was too preoccupied by the death glares of your fans.”
Yeon sighed for the nth time today, as his eyes looked straight into mine, “So?”
“So…?” I questioned, unable to understand what he meant.
“So will you date me or not?”
Before I could say anything, he reached his free hand towards me and pulled me in closer for an embrace.
Honestly, even if I say no he’d probably still chase after me.
Yeon Hajun’s that kind of guy, after all.
· • —– ٠ ✤ ٠ —– • ·
“That was my first kiss you oh-so-naturally stole, by the way.”
“Really? No wonder you were bad at it.”
“…I swear, Hajun…”
“Oh, that felt nice. Call my name again.”
“…I hate you.”
“I love you too.”
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