Yi Soo looked resentfully at Ji Ho, who had frozen with a bewildered expression.

Memories of trying not to like Ji Ho and pushing him away all came flooding back at once.

“You said you wouldn’t do anything to hurt me. You told me not to be afraid of anything…”

She hated Ji Ho for making her say such things.

Even as she spoke, her heart ached.

“I was afraid this would happen… *sob*”

Tears suddenly poured from her eyes.

In the end, Yi Soo lowered her head and buried her face in her hands.

She couldn’t hide the welling up of disappointment.

Ji Ho watched Yi Soo crying but couldn’t easily open his mouth.

He seemed to know where things had gone wrong.

Had she seen him with Yoo Mi?

How must she have felt seeing her boyfriend, who said he would be with his mother, meeting another woman?

As he tried to understand Yi Soo’s feelings, Ji Ho’s heart felt like it would burst.

What on earth had he done to Yi Soo?

Ji Ho pulled Yi Soo, whose shoulders were trembling, into his arms.

When Yi Soo pushed against Ji Ho’s chest, he held her even tighter.

“I’m sorry, Yi Soo. But it’s not what you think.”

His voice came out choked up.

“It wasn’t me, but my mother who called. I first met her when we were young, as the daughter of my mother’s close friend. After that, we often met whenever our mothers got together. After my mother went to London, we met together whenever my mother came to Korea, and that was today.”

Yi Soo was surprised to learn that Soo Min knew Ji Ho too.

Large hands gently and warmly stroked Yi Soo’s back.

“I didn’t know either. I only found out for the first time when I got in the car and asked where we were going.”

Despite Ji Ho’s words, Yi Soo’s tears wouldn’t stop.

Still, he thought he should say everything.

Not leaving even a speck of dust, everything.

“My mother asked me to go to the department store because it was her birthday today. I bought the gift she chose on behalf of my mother, and even in that moment, I was only thinking of you. Looking at the rings and necklaces on display, I thought they would suit you well. I wanted to give them to you as a gift.”

Ji Ho held Yi Soo tightly, pulling her deeper into his embrace.

He wished Yi Soo would stop crying, stop trembling.

“We had lunch with our mothers. The two of us went to the department store on my mother’s errand. That’s all.”

Ji Ho released his arms and cupped Yi Soo’s face with both hands as he spoke.

Yi Soo’s face was covered in tears.

Ji Ho’s heart ached at the thought that he had made Yi Soo cry when she had said she wouldn’t cry anymore.

“How could I lie to you?”

Ji Ho wiped away the tears streaming down Yi Soo’s face with his hands.

“I like you so much.”

As Yi Soo blinked a few times, her tear-blurred vision gradually became clearer.

Her view was filled entirely with Ji Ho’s face.

“I’m so sorry for everything.”

Ji Ho pulled Yi Soo into his arms.

“…Okay.”

Yi Soo barely managed to answer in a trembling voice.

Though she knew it wasn’t a lie, the tears that had started wouldn’t stop easily.

Crying while drunk was really the worst.

For some reason, tears kept welling up despite her feelings, making her feel so miserable.

After crying for a long time in Ji Ho’s arms, Yi Soo finally managed to stop her tears and said,

“I’m sorry too… for misunderstanding on my own.”

Yi Soo slowly raised her head.

Her tear-stained face was achingly beautiful.

Ji Ho looked at her with complex emotions as he caressed her face.

He was sincerely sorry, but at the same time, he felt good.

That Yi Soo was jealous.

It seemed ridiculous that he was happy about this fact, but honestly, he was.

His heart tingled at the thought that she liked him enough to shed tears like this, to get angry like this.

“How can you be pretty even when you’re crying?”

Ji Ho smiled and gently kissed Yi Soo’s lips.

The hand that had been caressing her cheek burrowed into her hair.

Yi Soo slowly closed her eyes.

The soft, warm lips seemed to melt her frozen heart.

**

Ji Ho, who had gone to the car saying he had something to give, put down a red shopping bag in front of Yi Soo.

“I thought of you as soon as I saw this and bought it.”

It was the same brand that Yoo Mi had been holding in her SNS photo.

‘He must have bought it while shopping for Yoo Mi’s gift.’

Yi Soo just stared blankly at the shopping bag.

“Open it.”

After removing the packaging sealed with red sealing wax, an elegant rectangular case appeared.

When she pressed a small button, the lid slid open smoothly, revealing a dazzlingly shining necklace in the light.

“…It’s a necklace.”

Yi Soo looked at the necklace in a daze.

She roughly knew the price range of necklaces from this brand.

With diamonds added, it might be much more expensive than Yi Soo imagined.

“What do you think?”

“It’s pretty.”

Ji Ho looked at Yi Soo’s slender, white nape with a slightly excited expression.

“…Why did you buy this?”

It wasn’t any special anniversary or anything. It was really just an ordinary day.

No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t think of any reason.

“I thought it would suit you well. Do I need any more reason than that?”

The reason was too simple.

“Come here. I’ll put it on for you.”

Ji Ho took the necklace out of the case and wrapped his arms around Yi Soo’s neck to fasten it.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Ji Ho’s fingertips seemed to tremble slightly.

The L.O.V.E. letters engraved on the necklace sparkled dazzlingly between Yi Soo’s collarbones.

“It suits you well. So pretty.”

Ji Ho looked at Yi Soo lovingly as he leaned his head back a little.

“I was really excited imagining putting this on you.”

“Thank you.”

Was it okay to respond so flatly after receiving such an expensive gift?

Though Yi Soo was the one who received the gift, Ji Ho seemed more excited.

“I didn’t prepare anything for you.”

Ji Ho cupped Yi Soo’s face, which wore an apologetic expression after receiving the sudden gift, with both hands.

“I was happy buying this, so excited giving it to you. Seeing how well it suits you is enough.”

Ji Ho’s face was full of smiles.

“Still, something this expensive feels burdensome.”

“I have a lot of money, you know.”

Yi Soo lightly rolled her eyes at Ji Ho, who spoke jokingly with a smile.

“I don’t like just receiving. I can’t do this much for you.”

“You do other things for me. There are plenty of things I want to receive from you.”

“You never say you understand till the end, do you?”

Yi Soo leaned her face against Ji Ho’s chest and hugged him.

She wanted to bury her face in his chest, get intoxicated by his scent, and feel his warm body temperature.

Not knowing how unbearable this action made Ji Ho feel.

Yi Soo’s day, which had been swept up in fierce waves, came to a peaceful end.

**

“Good morning, everyone!”

Yoo Mi greeted her friends brightly as she entered the practice room.

The friends who had arrived early approached Yoo Mi as if they had been waiting and bombarded her with questions.

“Yoo Mi, I saw the photo you posted on SNS, who’s that guy whose back is only visible?”

“Is he your boyfriend?”

“Did you receive a luxury brand gift for your birthday?”

“How rich must he be to take you to eat at such a place and even give you a luxury gift?”

Friends quickly gathered around Yoo Mi.

Many friends envied Yoo Mi, who was a rich family’s daughter and nicknamed the goddess of the dance department for her beauty.

As a result, Yoo Mi consciously chose only photos that her friends would envy to post on SNS, and every time she saw her friends’ envious reactions, Yoo Mi’s self-esteem soared.

“Ah, that photo? You’ve all seen it already. It was my birthday that day, so I had a date with oppa. Hoho.”

She was even grateful to her friends who recognized and mentioned it first, just from posting a few photos.

‘This is why I can’t quit SNS!’

“A date with oppa? Don’t tell me the man in that photo is Seo Ji Ho?”

Even among Yoo Mi’s friends, the photo taken with Ji Ho had been a topic of conversation for a while.

Yoo Mi was secretly pleased with the rumor that she was Ji Ho’s girlfriend.

Although she was worried about Ji Ho’s reaction, she was too happy to hear such talk, even if it was just a rumor.

‘It could become true someday. What’s wrong with a little rumor in advance?’

So Yoo Mi didn’t particularly deny her friends’ questioning and gave ambiguous answers.

“Yoo Mi, is that rumor true?”

“I heard you’re the girlfriend of that famous Seo Ji Ho…”

“Well… We haven’t officially decided anything yet, but you know, it’s like we’re in that stage before starting, what do you call it, flirting? Hohoho.”

Even to Yoo Mi, the photo of her and Ji Ho together looked affectionate, like a couple.

She felt like finding whoever took the photo and bowing to them in gratitude.

Her friends were worried about Yoo Mi being talked about, but Yoo Mi herself didn’t mind the whispers behind her back at all.

‘Tch! If you’re envious, just say so. Do you think I don’t know you’re doing this because you’re jealous?’

She became even more smug at the thought that people envied and were jealous of her.

She rather sneered at such people.

Although it wasn’t true, hearing such rumors made her feel as if she had really become Ji Ho’s girlfriend.

“We’ve always celebrated each other’s birthdays. I told you before. We’ve been close like siblings since childhood. Our mothers are best friends.”

“So you’ve been like siblings until now, and now you’ve changed to girlfriend?”

“Not yet… But don’t you think it will naturally become that way as time goes on? Hohoho.”

“You’re so lucky. This place is really expensive. I heard one course meal costs hundreds of thousands of won. He must have treated you to a meal there because he now thinks of you as his girlfriend. Yoo Mi, I’m so envious.”

“Hehe. Is that so?”

Friends looking at Yoo Mi’s SNS photos exclaimed in admiration.

“Girls, I received this as a birthday gift.”

As Yoo Mi daintily tucked her long hair behind her ear, her earrings sparkled and jingled.

“Oh my! It’s so pretty. Wow, is this what you bought at that luxury brand store?”

“Yes. We went together yesterday. He told me to choose whatever I liked.”

Yoo Mi said with a smile, her lips curled up.

Although it was paid with Yeon Soo’s card, it was true that she went and bought it with Ji Ho.

Strictly speaking, there was no lie in Yoo Mi’s words.

“But Yoo Mi, why did you only post your photos? There are none of you two together.”

“Ah, that… Oppa doesn’t like that kind of thing. He seems shy about it.”

Since her friends had no way to verify the truth of the rumors, Yoo Mi enjoyed the situation, talking freely.

‘Well, I’ll make it true soon anyway.’

“We haven’t officially decided to date yet, so. I didn’t want to make things awkward by posting oppa’s photos. Just keep this between us, okay?”

She properly silenced her friends and even made an escape route for later.

If they ended up not dating, she could just say they only flirted for a while and it ended.

“Girls, oppa is playing basketball at lunchtime today, want to go watch together?”

“Sure. Sounds good!”

“Yeah. Let’s do that.”

She did want to show them at least once.

Even if she wasn’t his girlfriend yet, it was true that she was quite close to Ji Ho.

Just showing that level of closeness would be enough for her friends to not doubt Yoo Mi’s words at all.

“But girls. There’s one thing I need to tell you… Oppa might act a bit cold if he sees you because he gets shy, so please understand if that happens. Okay? He doesn’t really like showing affection in front of people.”

She didn’t forget to ask for her friends’ understanding in advance, worrying about Ji Ho’s reaction.