Excluding the time spent lying in bed during the 24 hours, I shouldn’t have carelessly ignored the advice of my closest friend of 7 years, who I spend the most time with.

Na Eun started her period the very next day, and felt a slight chill in her body.

And now she was regretting more than anyone else that she had started her academy part-time job from the morning, thinking ‘No way. It’ll be fine.’

“Teacher, are you alright?”

Na Eun felt her condition rapidly deteriorating to the point where even a student submitting a vocabulary test paper was surprised enough to ask, seeing her pale complexion.

Na Eun nodded with a vague smile and collected the test papers, quietly doing her assigned tasks at her designated seat in the study room.

Grading test papers, reporting results to the supervising teacher, assisting with classes. Although her usual work wasn’t particularly laborious, everything felt difficult today.

It was fortunate that she had contacted in the morning to cancel the tutoring scheduled for the evening, just in case.

The menstrual cramps that weren’t usually severe came on suddenly today. Her lower abdomen ached with a throbbing pain, and meanwhile her forehead felt feverish.

Her originally scheduled work hours were until 6 PM, but she thought she should tell the manager later that she wasn’t feeling well and would like to leave early.

Why is the elevator so slow?

Holding the collected test papers to her chest, waiting to go up to the 10th floor where the faculty office was, she sighed at the elevator that had just descended to the 4th floor and was now stuck there without moving.

Cough. She hastily suppressed a small cough that was about to burst out.

With all sounds going to Hee Won through the communicator she was wearing on her ear, she was doing her best not to reveal that she was sick.

Despite the kind warning the day before, she didn’t want to appear weak and struggling due to poor self-care.

The perceptive Hee Won had been urging ‘If you’re sick, go home’ for a while now, but Na Eun pretended she wasn’t sick.

It was a pointless stubbornness, as she would inevitably be found out when she met Hee Won who would come to pick her up after the part-time job ended.

I really don’t want to use the stairs today. Though she grumbled inwardly, the elevator that showed no signs of coming up eventually drove her towards the emergency exit.

Each step climbing the stairs, trudging along while preciously holding the test papers to her chest and showing every sign of not wanting to go, felt endlessly heavy.

Ah, I’m dying. She felt the fever rising more and more on her forehead, and her untouched skin started to sting and hurt.

Feeling that she really couldn’t go on, she resolved to tell the manager that she would leave early as soon as she found him.

However, seeing that the manager overseeing her work was nowhere to be found in the academy today, she worried that an early departure might be unreasonable.

But it was an awkward situation to report to just anyone and take leave abruptly, as all the teachers were busy with the special lecture period during the break.

While contemplating what to do, feeling a bit self-conscious about leaving suddenly due to illness when there was a mountain of work to do today, Na Eun encountered someone coming down from the upper floor and averted her gaze.

It was the person she least wanted to see at a moment like this.

A faint scent of cigarettes emanated from him, as if he had just come down from smoking on the rooftop.

It’s a wonder how he managed to hide it so perfectly in front of her in the past, being such a heavy smoker.

Suddenly realizing the oddity of the situation where she encountered Jae Kyung coming down from the 11th floor while she was on her way up, Na Eun inwardly lamented.

When the head hurts, the body suffers along with it.

Intending to go to the 10th floor faculty office, she had mindlessly walked an extra floor up while struggling with illness.

Jae Kyung stopped his descent at the strange sight of her heading up to the rooftop with test papers.

Na Eun inwardly prayed for him to just pass by.

Due to the special lecture period, this was their first encounter today despite classes starting early in the morning.

Contrary to her wishes, Jae Kyung approached with a hardened expression as soon as he confirmed Na Eun’s complexion.

Bringing her down to the landing halfway up the stairs to the 11th floor, Jae Kyung asked.

“Are you sick?”

“……”

Na Eun shook off Jae Kyung with all her might as he had briefly grabbed her wrist to pull her down.

Despite the feeble gesture with no strength, Jae Kyung readily let her go.

His concern wasn’t just about being shaken off. Jae Kyung asked again with a hardened expression towards her lack of response.

“I asked if you’re sick.”

Ah, I’ve been found out. Na Eun squeezed her eyes shut, conscious of Hee Won’s silence on the other end of the earpiece communicator.

He must have heard Jae Kyung’s voice just now, and if so, it was clear that her efforts to hide her illness had been completely exposed.

Hee Won seemed to be intentionally keeping quiet.

This is really embarrassing and strangely apologetic. Even with Jae Kyung standing right in front of her, her attention was focused on Hee Won who would be hearing this entire conversation.

Jae Kyung, looking down at Na Eun with a slightly angry face as she seemed lost in thought with no regard for him, snatched the bundle of test papers from her hand.

“I’ll deliver these, so go tell the manager you’re leaving early.”

I was going to do that anyway. It was awkward to insist she wasn’t sick with her pale complexion.

Yet, the fact that it was Han Jae Kyung of all people saying this made her dislike it, and Na Eun reached out to him with unnecessary stubbornness.

“Give me back the test papers. It’s my job.”

“Listen to me.”

“Why, are you going to threaten me with someone’s life again if I don’t listen?”

Seeing that Jae Kyung had no intention of returning the test papers, Na Eun lowered her outstretched hand and sneered.

“Threatening must be your hobby. Is it because you’re a villain?”

“……Save your sarcasm and pushing my buttons for when your condition improves.”

With one hand holding the test papers and the other on his waist, he bit his lip and glared at her.

Na Eun secretly thought that she had seen this angry face, which she had rarely seen throughout their relationship, quite often recently, and smirked.

“You’re really good at this.”

Before Jae Kyung could ask what she meant, she continued.

“Acting like you really care about me.”

“……”

“Why don’t you just take me away and beat and torture me like before? Stop pretending to care about me.”

Hee Won, who had been silent until now, finally spoke up towards her.

His voice, audible only to Na Eun’s ears, seemed to be seething with something but maintained a level tone to try to calm her down.

She tried to accept his advice to restrain her behavior.

Although concerned about the test papers in Jae Kyung’s hands, she trusted he would handle it and turned her body to move out of the center of the emergency staircase.

But before she could take even one step, she was caught by his hand and pulled back.

Finding herself suddenly backed against the wall again, before Na Eun could get angry, Jae Kyung’s low and chilling voice pierced her ears.

“Do you really want me to take you away?”

“……”

“You’ll regret it.”

Don’t tremble. If you were going to kill me, you would have done it already. She tried not to show her trembling wrist.

She felt a pain that should no longer exist in the little finger of her left hand.

Na Eun ignored her pounding heart based on fear with all her might.

“Go ahead, then.”

She glared at Jae Kyung with murderous intent and muttered.

“This time I’ll bite my tongue and die for sure.”

“……”

Go ahead and play your useless hand. See if it goes your way.

Half sincere and half intended to upset him, her words finally pushed Jae Kyung past his boiling point.

He threw the test papers he was holding onto the floor and cornered her.

Gripping her neck with one hand as if to strangle her, Jae Kyung pushed Na Eun against the wall and growled lowly.

“Say one more word about dying.”

Though her neck was held, Na Eun furrowed her brow feeling the grip that wasn’t tight enough to prevent her from breathing.

She looked at Jae Kyung with a puzzled expression for a moment, noticing that despite his discomfort, he couldn’t bring himself to act as if he would kill her.

Even trembling with anger, his palm gripping her neck didn’t tighten further, as if afraid to apply more force.

At this point, it’s all or nothing. Na Eun laughed with her neck still held.

“Why, you don’t want me to die? You must really love me.”

It was sarcasm based on the certainty that it couldn’t be true.

As Jae Kyung, hit right on the mark, loosened his grip, Na Eun shook him off and wiped her neck where his hand had touched with the back of her hand as if annoyed.

“But if you’re going to act, pick a clear stance, will you? You should at least be kind if you want me to fall for it.”

Then I might fall for you again and give you my liver or gall bladder like a fool?

She had no hesitation in describing her past self, who had loved more purely than anyone, in such terms.

Jae Kyung quietly looked down at Na Eun for a moment, then softly asked.

“If I treat you kindly,”

– If I act kindly like before.

“Will you love me again like before?”

“……”

“Can we go back to how we were? Us?”

With each word Jae Kyung uttered, Na Eun’s face contorted with shame.

She furrowed her brow as if she had heard something she shouldn’t have, and spoke to him with eyes full of disgust.

Han Jae Kyung.

“- I’d rather hope for my own insanity first.”

“……”

“No. Seeing you say such things, are you the one who’s gone mad first?”

While villains would have long since abandoned basic human conscience or moral views, this level of shamelessness was enough to make one want to click their tongue.

As she resolved to wash her ears first when she got home, Jae Kyung had already come close enough to press down on her and grabbed her wrist.

She shook to break free, but he didn’t yield easily like before.

As Jae Kyung looked down at her from right in front, she felt suffocated again and squeezed her eyes shut.

Meanwhile, Jae Kyung, who had been staring down at Na Eun as she closed her eyes and tried to force out uneven breaths, grasped her small chin with his other hand that wasn’t holding her wrist.

After forcing her to open her eyes and look at him, Jae Kyung spoke towards eyes that now held not a single speck of affection for him.

“You used to like me.”

Na Eun’s brow furrowed as she listened silently.

“You and I, we were in love. Na Eun.”

Jae Kyung smiled.

His gaze, which seemed to be mocking yet somehow desperate, scanned Na Eun’s face thoroughly. As if engraving something he never wanted to forget again into his memory.

“Do you think you could like someone else? The way you liked me?”

She closed her eyes for a moment with resignation, then opened them again.

A sense of despair washed over her, wondering when this dreadful first love would finally lift the dark veil it had cast over her.

‘I promised you, didn’t I? That the ending would be happy. Don’t worry about anything, I’ll make sure you see next year’s cherry blossoms with a new boyfriend.’

It’s unclear why Seo Hee Won’s voice came to mind at such a moment. But Na Eun was instantly calmed, and so she could smile.

“That’s right, Jae Kyung.”

As she readily agreed, Jae Kyung’s gaze hardened instead.

Na Eun looked up at him with a steady gaze, without shaking off his hand holding her chin.

Though he was the one subduing her, Jae Kyung momentarily stiffened, feeling somehow oppressed.

Na Eun, looking at such a Jae Kyung, smiled back and continued speaking.

“From now on, I won’t be able to like anyone as much as I liked you in my life. ……But so what.”

So what about it. Her eyes shone blue with anger and conviction.

“I told you. You’re just a passing trial to me. I’ll meet someone I can like enough, even if not as much as you, and I’ll be happy. So act like a proper villain and… just get lost already.”

She spoke as if gritting her teeth.

She was truly sick of it now. But Jae Kyung sneered and lifted the corners of his mouth. He called her name gently like before. Na Eun.

“You can’t meet anyone else.”

“……”

“I’m already engraved on your body, aren’t you?”

Like this-. Jae Kyung smiled, gesturing with his eyes towards her trembling body that he could feel through the chin and wrist he held.

“How are you going to meet anyone when you act like you’re about to faint just from someone touching you?”