Stepping out of the department building, Na Eun looked around when she didn’t see the person who was supposed to be waiting for her on the first floor of the opposite building.

As promised that day, Hee Won, who had returned to the way he was before, took the wheel in Na Eun’s stead without asking twice when she said she had business at school.

He said he also had documents to submit at school, so they were supposed to meet here after taking care of their respective tasks, but judging by his absence, it seemed his work was running late.

Moreover, he said he had something important to tell her today, so she had to see his face.

Intending to sit on the small sofa inside the first floor and wait for him to come, Na Eun blinked her eyes slowly when she saw a woman slowly approaching her from the end of the left corridor.

It was a face she vaguely remembered.

“Hello.” Na Eun greeted back awkwardly with a polite smile to the other person’s dry greeting.

Although she didn’t know well, it was clear the woman was older than her. The woman looked at Na Eun, who bowed her head in greeting, with some dissatisfaction and said,

“Hee Won oppa went to move his car. He said he double parked, but the car behind him won’t move, so I think someone called him.”

“Ah……”

It seemed that his work didn’t end late, but he went down to the parking lot first after receiving a call while waiting for her.

As Na Eun expressed her gratitude for letting her know, the woman spoke with a slightly subtle face.

“Are you perhaps Hee Won oppa’s girlfriend?”

Throughout the last semester, the woman who stuck close to Hee Won’s side like a lover and attended lectures together still had a look full of wariness.

Why is she so wary? I even bought her coffee before. Thinking inwardly, Na Eun shook her head with a smile.

“I’m an acquaintance dongsaeng.”

It seemed she had made a similar excuse before, but the other person couldn’t accept it at all.

Could this person also be one of Seo Hee Won’s ex-girlfriends? While making a meaningless guess, the woman, who had been mumbling after hearing her answer, said,

“Then do you know if Hee Won oppa has a girlfriend now?”

“He said he has a girlfriend?”

When she tilted her head at the news she was hearing for the first time, the woman spoke with a slightly heartbroken face.

“I asked earlier, and he said he does.”

“……Then I guess he does.”

Na Eun affirmed indifferently.

Just as she tried to talk to him and sit next to him during lecture, she probably pestered him while Seo Hee Won was waiting.

Seo Hee Won, who found it annoying, would have made up an excuse that he has a girlfriend.

Na Eun was not shaken at all by the situation that was clear even without seeing it.

However, she let out a small laugh at the woman’s next words.

“Him having a girlfriend is probably just a lie. I’m in the same department as oppa, so I know, but Hee Won oppa doesn’t properly date anyone.”

Ah…… Haha. Na Eun just laughed at the woman’s words.

“Oppa probably won’t remember, but I was rejected by him the year before last. When I confessed, he said let’s date, so I was happy, but then he laughed and said, ‘Let’s date today and break up tomorrow.'”

……Oh my. Na Eun inwardly groaned.

Seo Hee Won, who was currently the person she needed most and the only good person to her, still had such a past.

The woman laughed at herself for still liking him even as she recalled the infuriating past.

“But I still like Hee Won oppa.”

“……”

“I’m saying this for your sake, but don’t like Hee Won oppa no matter what.”

You’ll really get hurt. At the woman’s sincere advice, Na Eun smiled silently.

Because she could roughly distinguish whether that advice was really for her sake or just hypocrisy to eliminate a potential competitor.

Should I tell her I’ll handle it myself, so don’t worry about it? While pondering for a moment, the woman took one step closer to Na Eun when she didn’t seem to be swayed much.

Then, as if to tell a secret, she looked around to see if there were people after scanning the surroundings, and added in a lowered voice.

“And this is almost a well-known rumor, but…… I heard Hee Won oppa does night work.”

“Pardon?”

This time she was really surprised.

When Na Eun was startled by the absurd story, the woman smiled slightly, seeming a bit satisfied now.

“There are many eonnis in our department who have met with Hee Won oppa. Those eonnis told me that he goes to work at night.”

“……”

“You know what that means, right?”

Na Eun closed her eyes tightly for a moment and then opened them. She was dumbfounded beyond surprise.

No, why did such a rumor start? Dumbfounded, she suddenly opened her eyes wide. Night work? He goes to work at night? Could it be……

“Did he say that himself? That he does night work?”

“Yes. Since the oppa directly said it himself, it’s probably true.”

When the woman nodded, Na Eun closed her eyes tightly again and lowered her head.

She had to calm her breathing for a moment to hold back her laughter, but in the end, she couldn’t hold it in and burst out laughing.

She quickly covered her mouth with her hand and stopped in case others around would look at her for laughing too loudly, but it was enough to offend the woman standing in front of her.

“What’s so funny?”

Na Eun, still trying hard to pull down the corners of her mouth that wanted to rise again, said to the question that she couldn’t understand.

“Nothing much. If we’re going to be specific, that’s something he can do during the day too, so it’s funny that he expressed it like that.”

When a call comes in, they have to rush out regardless of day or night. That’s their daily life.

He probably made such a joke while making a rough excuse when he had to quickly leave while on a date with his girlfriend.

Of course, it was the worst, or rather, trashy excuse to make to a girlfriend, but Na Eun, who already knew Hee Won’s personality to some extent, just found it amusing.

Then if he has to run out during the day, is it day work? Anyway, Seo Hee Won, who did his best to make his image trashy, was funny, so she giggled for a while.

On the other hand, the woman, who interpreted Na Eun’s words differently, now dropped her pretense and frowned deeply.

This girl is more messed up than I thought.

“……You find it funny when I kindly warned you to be careful of Hee Won oppa?”

It’s not that you’re telling me to be careful, but you’re conveying those words to get rid of me because I bother you.

It was not pleasant to see her pretending to be virtuous when it was so obvious.

Na Eun stopped laughing, leaned against the wall with a relaxed expression, and looked at the other person.

“If you like Seo Hee Won and I bother you, honestly say that I bother you.”

The woman’s expression hardened in an instant at the words that hit the nail on the head.

“If you like someone, it’s not right to deliberately tarnish their reputation by spreading bad rumors about them to others, don’t you think?”

If it were her, no matter how much she disliked someone clinging to her love, she would never spread any rumors outside that would tarnish her love.

At her serious words, the woman changed the expression she had been managing and revealed her true colors coldly.

“Then I’ll be honest. Could you please stay away from Hee Won oppa because you bother me?”

It’s actually better that you’re really honest like this. Na Eun smiled and shook her head.

“I have no intention of staying away, so go directly to Seo Hee Won and tell him.”

That I bother you, so he shouldn’t see me. At her following words, the woman couldn’t answer anything and only had resentful eyes.

Na Eun looked up at her leisurely with a smile.

“Ah, you know.”

“……”

“What Seo Hee Won would answer.”

A knife-like silence fell between the two women.

Na Eun looked up at the woman, who was biting her lip and making a choked-up expression, with a chilly gaze.

Strangely, she was a little annoyed from earlier.

That person likes Seo Hee Won, and Na Eun and Hee Won are not in that kind of relationship at all.

It was solely Na Eun’s will to deliberately advance the situation like this when she could have avoided it by speaking nicely.

…… Am I originally this ill-natured?

She belatedly realized that her personality tends to worsen compared to usual when it comes to matters related to Hee Won, but she immediately brushed it off from her mind.

A fight sometimes doesn’t require pulling hair and swinging fists.

And the winner of this fight was naturally Na Eun.

She checked the vibration on the cell phone she was holding and looked at the screen.

The caller was Hee Won as expected, and he was probably contacting her while coming back up to the first floor of this building from the parking lot.

“If Seo Hee Won comes here now, it will be more difficult for eonni.”

Not wanting to be more disliked by the person you like would be the same feeling for everyone.

Na Eun smiled brightly and showed the flashing screen.

And to the woman who pretended to worry about her, disparaged Seo Hee Won, and blatantly expressed that she was a nuisance, she said,

“I’ll give you time to hide. Hide.”

“You went around saying you do night work?”

It was after they had finished all their business at school.

Getting into the passenger seat, Na Eun asked and Hee Won glanced back at her.

“How do you know that?”

“Just by chance.”

You met her. Hee Won, who grasped the entire situation at once with Na Eun’s few words, made a slightly embarrassed expression.

“I just said that to make an excuse.”

“I know.”

Na Eun smiled benevolently as she had no intention of blaming him.

It was just funny, and it was also amazing how Hee Won didn’t care at all about any scandals that came out about his private life.

“But wouldn’t it be better not to do that from now on? Why bother inviting misunderstandings?”

“Got it.”

“……”

It was just passing advice, but Na Eun flinched at Hee Won’s immediate answer as he turned the steering wheel to exit the parking lot.

It was both awkward and strangely familiar that he agreed to do as she said without any objection to what she had spoken.

His words that he would do anything she wanted were not false.

Hee Won, who really returned to his previous attitude ‘as much as Na Eun wanted’ since that day, became indifferent as if the past days when he tearfully poured out his confession never happened.

Nevertheless, it was undeniable that the small, caring actions were the same, and the appropriate distance, neither too close nor too far, was particularly comfortable and nice.

She looked at Hee Won’s face and then lowered her head.

Then suddenly, her gaze lingered on his upper body.

It was because she remembered what kind of pattern was engraved on his waist, which was covered by a thick outer garment due to the cold winter.

Now that she knew a black pattern that couldn’t be accurately described as either a gear or a spiral wrapped around his side, she became more curious.

When did he get the tattoo? Was it painful? Then, as she suddenly recalled the night when she first saw that pattern, her face turned red in an instant.