The end-of-semester finals of the first semester were approaching before we knew it.

Was there a time-slip effect among the influences of love?

These days, I was keenly aware that time was passing by quickly, without knowing how things were going.

The bracelet that had been hidden by the sleeve was now exposed to the sun as the weather got hotter, and the time the sun stayed in the world grew longer.

It was now the starting point of summer in earnest.

“Ah, I want to graduate quickly! I hate exams!”

Han Jae Hee, who had been looking at her laptop, pushed it forward and banged her forehead on the table with a thud.

Inside the campus cafeteria, Nam Yoo In, who had been studying for her assignment and final exam preparation, rested her chin on her hand and looked at her friend who had suddenly collapsed with a sound.

Then, she briefly glanced at the empty seat beside her. The owner of the seat had not come today, making an excuse of being busy.

“Yoo In.”

“Yes.”

“Be my model for a bit.”

“How did the topic shift from graduation to modeling? Isn’t that a completely different genre?”

Taking her eyes off Yoon Ji Han’s empty seat, unsure if he didn’t want to come or was really busy, she looked back at Jae Hee, who was still lying with her head down.

Earlier, when she asked Jae Hee why she came alone to the cafe, Jae Hee replied curtly with a displeased face, “Yoon Ji Han said he’s busy.”

They were in the same department, so they must have been together until just before coming to the cafe, but after that curt answer, Jae Hee closed her mouth about Ji Han.

So Yoo In just nodded and didn’t ask further, saying, “Is that so?” Her elder sister’s advice about needing independence from each other, like an objective observation, was floating around in her head at the right timing.

“Will you do it or not?”

“I won’t.”

“Ah, why~ Can’t you do it for me?”

“Why don’t you do it yourself? Why ask me?”

“I have too many other things to do. You know the boss is always the busiest, right?”

Jae Hee, who had been preparing a small-scale online market recently, was having days where even two bodies wouldn’t be enough.

All this time, she had been going to various brand and shopping mall photoshoots, making connections with her unique friendliness and sociability, gathering information, and recently set a grand goal of wanting to create a brand under her own name.

The start of that was this small-scale market.

“I’ll help with something other than modeling. Like packaging or customer service?”

“Packaging with that face? Teacher, you should deceive moderately.”

“I’m not selling my face. I won’t do it.”

As if there was any way she could easily let this face be sold when someone was trying so hard to protect it.

As Yoo In waved her hand as if telling Jae Hee to continue her studies, Jae Hee pleaded once more with a tearful face, but Yoo In pretended not to hear and kept her eyes fixed on her lecture notes.

After making a few more whining sounds, Jae Hee soon gave up and pulled her laptop back.

The study time of the two cafe-studying friends continued for a while, until Jae Hee, who said she had something to do, cleaned up her spot first, bringing it to an end.

Yoo In, who didn’t want to stay alone, also packed her things and left the cafe following her friend.

As they left the cool interior and stepped outside, the hot sunlight seemed about to heat up their lukewarm scalps immediately, and the air enveloping their skin was quite warm.

“Wow. It’s already hot.”

“I know. I should plan a summer vacation soon. Oh, will Nam Yoo In go on vacation with the director now?”

“We’re so busy we can barely see each other’s faces, so…”

“But you’ll still go on vacation, right? Don’t you already have it all planned out?”

“Ah, stop it and go quickly.”

Jae Hee, who was being pushed on the back, said she brought her mother’s car and offered to give Yoo In a ride home, but Yoo In couldn’t impose on a friend who had things to do.

Saying she would go by herself, Yoo In turned her back first at the fork of the gentle hill and took out her phone while leisurely walking down the path.

Gi Yeon, who had read Yoo In’s message saying she was studying at the cafe, hadn’t replied since then, probably busy. After typing and sending a message saying she was going home now, just as she raised her head, a familiar side profile caught Yoo In’s eye.

In the corner of the central library, which one must pass to exit through the main gate, in the smoking area darkened by shade where sunlight didn’t reach, Yoon Ji Han was standing amidst rising wisps of smoke.

“…Oh.”

After always seeing him surrounded by a throng of people, seeing him now exhaling smoke with a face tired and weary of the world and eyes full of ennui as he stared into space, she suddenly felt that he might have been lonely even in the midst of all that.

Moreover, the cigarette he never used to put to his lips. It seemed that this was probably Yoon Ji Han’s busy business.

“Smoking doesn’t really suit you, Ji Han.”

The shoulders clad in a dark plain short-sleeved shirt flinched, and his head turned sharply.

Not having expected to encounter Yoo In, his delicate eyes furrowed upon discovering her.

“It’s a preference item, what does it matter if it suits me or not.”

At the uncharacteristically rough answer, Yoo In suddenly realized that he truly felt uncomfortable facing her in this moment.

She quietly looked down at the vast distance that had opened up between them without her knowing. Physically, she could reach him in just a few steps, but his white sneakers seemed to be telling her not to.

Her clear face, tinged with embarrassment, stiffened for a moment before showing signs of resignation.

“You’re right. I made an unnecessary comment. Well, enjoy your smoke then.”

Yoo In smiled deliberately lightly.

It was comfort to Ji Han, who was rejecting approach with such a drastic change, saying it was okay, or consolation to herself, who was hurt, entangled with all sorts of disappointment, regret, and unspecified purposes.

Her feet, which had been stuck to the ground, soon began to move away from Ji Han at a rapid pace.

She didn’t know why it had turned out like this. It was frustrating that her relationship with Ji Han was deteriorating like this, without knowing the reason or context, but she didn’t want to admit that all the arrows were pointing towards Gi Yeon.

Even if it’s selfish, it can’t be helped. She really didn’t like the current situation that made it seem like meeting Gi Yeon was a mistake.

Foolishly, her eyes were burning hot and tears seemed about to fall.

At the same time, one man who could soothe this moment most hotly and coldly came to mind.

“Haah…”

Just as she reached the main gate, her breath heavy from suppressed tears and quick steps.

As she was about to wipe the tears pooled at the corners of her eyes, her arm was suddenly pulled back and her body was turned around by force.

Ji Han appeared, trying to catch his breath, his appearance disheveled as if he had been running.

“…Why are you crying.”

His well-groomed, delicate features suddenly contorted.

“Nam Yoo In. Why are you crying?”

“…Will you let go of this.”

“Tell me why you’re like this first.”

Knowing that continuing like this with emotions running high would only lead to a fight, she didn’t want to quarrel with Ji Han anymore.

Yoo In quietly tried to pull her arm free, but the hand holding it firmly showed no intention of letting go. The indescribable emotion that had been breaking through at his one-sided pressing began to seep out bit by bit.

“It’s none of your business, so let go.”

“None of my business, you say.”

“Yeah.”

“…Ha.”

Ji Han, exhaling a sigh that sounded like lamentation, clenched his thin jaw tightly like a deeply hurt person.

His light-colored eyes, which had been fluttering like clear milk mixed into coffee, now held great waves as they sharply focused on Yoo In.

Yoo In also didn’t avoid his gaze, putting strength into her blurred eyes and looking back at him.

The scene of a beautiful woman with reddened eyes as if she had just stopped crying, glaring fiercely, and Yoon Ji Han, the pride and star of the theater and film department, standing in confrontation, was not a sight that any Sunhyeon University student could just pass by.

Given the location, the curious gazes of unspecified individuals approaching the two and the blatant whispering were gradually tightening around Yoo In’s neck like a snowball.

Just like on a day when she was young, walking under severely critical gazes, her airways felt blocked and her vision became dizzyingly dark.

In the end, Yoo In’s head dropped down with her eyes tightly shut. Behind her closed eyelids, her pulse flickered irregularly.

“Yoo In.”

What mercilessly cut through her terrible thoughts was a deep, heavy voice.

Yoo In slowly turned her head. The figure of someone who shouldn’t be here gradually became clear.

A man in a neat navy blue suit, looking at Yoo In with an expressionless face.

As their eyes met, the man approached slowly and steadily as if he had been waiting.

“What’s this situation? Yoon Ji Han, why are you grabbing someone else’s woman in such a public place?”

Do Ki Yeon, who had leisurely completed his sentence, roughly struck away Ji Han’s hand that was holding Yoo In.

Watching the arm that fell and swayed due to the force, Ki Yeon displayed an icy sneer.

“I heard you were close, but it seems that’s no longer the case. Making Nam Yoo In uncomfortable like this.”

“…”

“Let’s hear the reason for this annoying act towards my girlfriend. What’s the reason?”

“…What are you so curious about? Friends can fight too.”

“Ah, friends. Taking in such a rude person as a friend. Our Yoo In is really generous, isn’t she?”

Ji Han’s chest, frozen like a statue holding unseen competitiveness, rose and fell steeply.

Ki Yeon coldly looked him up and down as if he found Ji Han’s heavy breathing ridiculous, and smiled only with the corners of his mouth.

“Hey, Yoon Ji Han. If you want to join my company, learn how to curry favor first. Study not only how to watch your words, but also how to distinguish between what you can and can’t do.”

“…”

“I hope you won’t create any more situations that make you blush. You’re not stupid enough to not understand what I mean, are you?”

The sharp sarcasm pierced into Ji Han, carried by a leisurely voice.

Ki Yeon strongly pulled Yoo In’s waist, who had been watching the two men’s reactions while feeling an uneasy déjà vu.

The face looking down at Yoo In was infinitely affectionate, as if a different personality that only Yoo In knew had entered.

To the point where the too-rapid change of attitude was almost scary.

“Do you have any business left? Our puppy.”

“…No.”

“Let’s go.”

As soon as the words ended, Yoo In was pushed out of the school gate without a chance to look back at Ji Han.