Faced with Jae Kyung’s openly sarcastic attitude, Na Eun felt for a moment what it was like to have her eyes rolled back in anger.

And she was appalled at Han Jae Kyung, who spoke as if he knew everything about why she hadn’t met someone new until now, as if he had watched everything.

She had no idea since when, from where he had been monitoring her.

Looking down at Na Eun, who was glaring at him as if she would kill him, as if she was cute, Jae Kyung opened his mouth in a tone reminiscing about the past.

“In the past, you were desperate because you couldn’t reach me.”

“……”

“Even then, I wanted to give it to you because you wanted it so much, but school uniforms weren’t my style.”

It was difficult. Jae Kyung, continuing his words, deliberately deceived her with a relaxed attitude as if holding back laughter.

Na Eun bit her lip again, receiving an unwanted wound from his attitude of endlessly belittling her past self, who had liked him and therefore recklessly revealed her sincere feelings without filtering.

Yet tears did not well up in her eyes. Only pure white anger filled that space.

Han Jae Kyung will stop if you ignore him, so stop provoking him now.

Seo Hee Won, who had been eavesdropping on the whole situation, advised gravely while suppressing his complicated feelings, but Na Eun could no longer hear that voice.

Her eyes rolled back in anger that had far surpassed the critical point where she could maintain reason.

She wanted to somehow distort the expression on Han Jae Kyung’s face in front of her.

She wanted to hurt him no matter what. If she couldn’t hurt him, she at least wanted to shake him up.

Had she ever hated someone this much in her life? This was exactly why she hadn’t wanted to know whether Jae Kyung was alive or dead.

Because she knew that if she saw him again, she wouldn’t be able to contain her hatred. Because she knew that deep-rooted anger would even eat away at herself.

Sure enough, Jae Kyung was endlessly dragging her down to the bottom.

I want to hurt him.

I want to make him angry.

I want to make any emotion appear on that sneering face.

‘In the past, you were desperate because you couldn’t reach me.’

The innocent love of her younger days when she just wanted to touch the person she liked. She despised Jae Kyung for openly mocking that.

Na Eun wanted to hurt him somehow at that moment.

‘Why won’t you kiss me? Don’t you like me that much? I like you that much?’

Recalling her immature self who couldn’t hide her feelings and begged like that, venom formed in her heart.

She glared at Jae Kyung as if she would kill him and raised the corners of her mouth.

What. Do I still look like a high school student desperate to kiss you?

Faced with the rudeness of trampling on the pure love of the past, Na Eun felt the urge to repay him with a corresponding action.

That’s why.

She approached him standing close by and wrapped her arms around his neck.

With one wrist already caught and not free, she could only use her other hand, but the effect was excellent.

When Na Eun, who had always tried to get away from him, instead threw herself into his arms, Jae Kyung was taken aback and let go of her wrist he had been holding.

With her other arm now free as well, she grabbed Jae Kyung’s collar and pulled him close.

While he was frozen at a distance close enough to feel her breath, Na Eun easily achieved what she wanted to do thanks to Jae Kyung’s waist that unexpectedly bent compliantly.

With one hand wrapped around his neck and the other gripping his collar,

She kissed Jae Kyung.

There wasn’t a shred of affection in that act.

It was an impulsive action stemming purely from anger, nothing more than a way to vent.

It didn’t matter that she was clumsy because she had never done it before.

As long as she could see Jae Kyung’s surprised face, nothing else mattered.

How many seconds had passed since she pressed her lips against his while clinging to him?

Jae Kyung, who had been stiff with surprise, suddenly embraced her back.

As if possessed by something, he quickly cradled the back of her head with the hand that had been gripping her chin until just now, and pushed Na Eun towards the wall.

Her back hit the wall but it didn’t hurt.

Thanks to Jae Kyung cushioning her, she felt no impact, but she was momentarily taken aback by the arm around her waist constricting her like a chain.

Eventually, as if mocking the venting she had just done, Jae Kyung dove into her when Na Eun slightly parted her lips, like someone dying of thirst.

Jae Kyung began to cling to her as if something to quench his thirst could only come from her lips.

Knowing that if she pushed him away in surprise here, it would really be neither here nor there, Na Eun just let him have his way for now.

Although she was quite surprised inside, she didn’t want to show it.

She found it ridiculous that Jae Kyung was now caressing her cheek with the hand that had been cradling the back of her head.

As if she was precious. As if he had been longing for her all this time. As if he had been the one who wanted to touch her so badly.

She detested how he was acting as if he had lost his mind from just one impulsive act of hers.

Na Eun wrapped both arms around his neck and pulled him closer as if daring him to do more, and that seemed to stop Jae Kyung’s thinking even more as the kiss became rougher.

Jae Kyung, who had seemed mature and modest in her naive days, was more skilled at kissing than anyone, and the sharp scent of cigarettes coming from him felt like it was mocking her younger self who had met him innocently in her school uniform.

Frustratingly, he was much better at everything than her.

Jae Kyung, who was diving into her as if something he had been holding back had burst, seemed a little impatient.

The increasing strength in the arm around her waist was saying that for him.

Na Eun felt a fear that she would soon be swallowed whole.

After being entangled like that for a while longer, it was only when Na Eun couldn’t stand it anymore and pushed him away that Jae Kyung withdrew.

“Haa, haa……”

Even though Jae Kyung had given her chances to breathe in between, she had to pant for a long time as if she had just run 100 meters.

On the other hand, Jae Kyung was standing calmly in front of her, looking down at her without even catching his breath.

He lightly wiped his lips, which had blood seeping and drying, with his left hand.

Jae Kyung’s eyes became clouded as if he had only come to his senses after Na Eun pushed him away.

Although he appeared calm because his breathing wasn’t rough, it was only on the surface, and it was clearly Jae Kyung who was shaken now.

Knowing this, Na Eun tried her best to regain her breath as quickly as possible.

Before Jae Kyung, who had barely come back to his senses, could speak, she quickly took the lead.

“……It’s just tiring and not much else.”

Having no time to realize what she had just done, she spoke to Jae Kyung, who had confused eyes, after barely catching her breath.

Jae Kyung tilted his head for a moment, not understanding what she had just said, as if he had just woken up from sleep.

Thinking that he might look innocently childlike if seen wrong, she gave a hollow laugh even in the seriousness of the situation.

“This kind of thing, I mean. It just makes you out of breath, and it’s just… meh.”

“……”

“Why did I want to do this so badly back then? It’s nothing special.”

First love and first kiss. As a teenager in puppy love, she had been completely immersed in fantasies.

She clearly remembers the days when she dreamed of her first kiss with Jae Kyung and felt excited.

But Na Eun, who had already thrown all those memories in the trash, abandoned even a shred of respect for her past innocent feelings.

It was because she didn’t want to pick up those feelings that Jae Kyung had first treated as worthless, those feelings that had just become garbage.

“Jae Kyung. You must still see me as eighteen, but now I can do this kind of thing as much as I want without liking you.”

Jae Kyung blankly looked down at Na Eun, who had now completely calmed down and was even snickering in a sarcastic tone.

Meanwhile, looking smugly at his subtly furrowed brow, she said,

“Someone once told me. That you can do all sorts of things without dating. Even without feelings, as much as you want. I didn’t understand then, but now I do.”

‘We can hug without dating. Other things are possible too, as much as you want.’

Remembering what Hee Won had said in passing a long time ago gave her more courage.

Back then she had only thought it was disgusting, but Na Eun felt like she could understand him now.

The less sincere you are, the easier actions become.

Na Eun retorted with anger and annoyance to what Jae Kyung had said earlier.

“Acting like you’re doing me a favor by giving or not giving. As if you’re anything to me.”

She glared coldly at Jae Kyung.

“It’s a good thing school uniforms aren’t your style. Villains aren’t my style either.”

“……”

“And you weren’t my first kiss either.”

Jae Kyung’s gaze wavered at those words. Na Eun watched this with satisfaction.

She felt good every time she confirmed that he was being swayed by her actions and words.

Whether the other person was sincere towards her or not, that was no longer important.

Even if it was sincere, she didn’t want to acknowledge it. How could such a violent emotion be love?

Having only learned from her parents about love that cares for and preciously embraces others, she found it detestable and disliked how Jae Kyung pretended to have lingering feelings for her while talking about love.

Moreover, if he expected to be able to hurt her this much and remain unscathed himself, she wanted to shatter that arrogance.

“Keep it up from now on. Pretending to have lingering feelings for me, pretending to want to go back to the past, pretending to regret the past, ……pretending to still love me.”

She openly mocked him.

“I look forward to your good acting.”

You never know. I might fall for you again because I’m naive and stupid.

If that time comes, I might become a useful card again and move exactly as you want this time?

As she continued to sneer, she rolled her eyes as if something had occurred to her and spoke nonchalantly.

Ah, there is one thing I’m grateful to you for though.

“Have you heard of flooding?”

She continued speaking, not realizing what Jae Kyung was thinking in front of her.

“They say if you’re forcibly thrown into an extremely unpleasant situation, people surprisingly overcome it quickly.”

“……”

“Thanks. Thanks to you, I think I can touch other people besides you now.”

Without a shred of sincerity. Smoothly.

She was even a little excited, feeling like she had learned how to live in the world a little more comfortably now.

And what stopped Na Eun was Jae Kyung’s low words.

Don’t provoke me, Na Eun.

“I’m really not in my right mind right now.”

Na Eun’s expression hardened at those words. Instead of getting angry at her provocation and sneering, Jae Kyung was just staring at her with slightly clouded eyes.

With the inside of his lips still reddened from blood that was still slowly seeping out, Jae Kyung muttered,

“Don’t make me do anything more……”

His voice, murmuring as if in a daze, was full of sincerity, but sadly, it did not reach her.

She smirked with the certainty that, at least for now, Jae Kyung wouldn’t do anything to her.

“Okay. I won’t mock you anymore.”

Instead, can I ask for one favor? She smiled.

Na Eun, with her back against the wall, lightly kicked the test papers already scattered all over the floor.

“Could you organize these and deliver them to the teacher in charge?”

You say you love me.

Finding it absurd even as she said it herself, Na Eun sneered for a moment before continuing.

“Then you should be able to do that much, right?”

“……”

She approached Jae Kyung, who was standing with a blank expression, either lost in thought or dazed.

Now feeling a slight sense of achievement that she no longer felt breathless even with him close by or looking down at her, she inwardly cheered.

She raised both arms and wrapped them around Jae Kyung’s neck.

As if affectionately about to embrace a lover, she tilted her head to meet the eyes of Jae Kyung looking down at her, and smiled prettily.

“Please, Jae Kyung.”

Jae Kyung quietly raised his hand and traced her cheek with his thumb, having witnessed how far someone who always considered others and gave their sincere heart could go when they decided to be cruel.

Na Eun calmly accepted that touch without avoiding it.

Reading the clear hatred boiling in the two eyes that had always been full of goodwill, Jae Kyung acknowledged what could no longer be reversed.

– And now he had to acknowledge his desire to forcibly reverse that irreversible thing.