Cold Coffee and Simmering Rage
In the heart of downtown, at a bustling franchise cafe, three glasses of iced coffee sat evenly spaced on a four-person table by the window. Beads of condensation trickled down the glass exteriors, plinking softly onto the tabletop.
"..."
Yoo Eunho lounged with his chin propped casually on one hand, a faint smile playing on his lips as he eyed his untouched coffee. Across from him, Nam Siu sat rigid, shoulders tense, glaring daggers like he wanted to devour the man whole. It took superhuman restraint to keep from flipping the table and grabbing that loathsome bastard by the collar right then and there.
And in the seat beside Nam Siu, Baek Isul gripped her straw with an expressionless face, idly stirring the ice in her glass with meaningless clinks.
"We bumped into each other at the library the other day, right?" Yoo Eunho flashed a friendly smile at Nam Siu, his tone warm and chummy. "I didn't get a proper chance to introduce myself back then. I'm Yoo Eunho, Isul's friend from middle school."
His voice dripped with feigned kindness, subtly emphasizing his middle school connection to her—like he was staking some territorial claim, implying he'd known her first.
In the old days, Nam Siu might have shrunk under that cheap power play, nursing some pathetic inferiority complex and averting his eyes. But not this time. Armed with the full truth, he was different.
"...Yeah."
Nam Siu kept his back straight, locking eyes with Yoo Eunho without flinching.
"Nam Siu. Isul's boyfriend."
No further explanation needed. Isul's boyfriend. Those words laid his position out plain as day.
"Ah..."
At Nam Siu's blunt declaration, the leisurely smile on Yoo Eunho's face stiffened ever so slightly. He seemed caught off guard by the sudden backbone from someone who'd looked so pushover-ish. But he quickly composed himself, smoothly shifting his target from Nam Siu to Isul.
"Isul, it's been forever. Your school's festival next week, right? You said you've been swamped prepping—thanks for making time this weekend."
"Yeah."
"We parted so abruptly back then. I've been wanting to see you. Thought I'd treat you to a meal... but with your boyfriend here, it'd feel awkward just buying for you."
Yoo Eunho shot a sly glance at Nam Siu, trying to dredge up old stories with Isul. Her brows furrowed faintly, lips parting reluctantly—
"Making time's no big deal. Isul's handling promo, so she's pretty busy, but I can help with that."
Nam Siu cut in shamelessly, slicing through the conversation before she could respond.
"We'll grab food just us later. You just called to catch up after all this time, right?"
"...Haha. Yeah, sure."
Twice now, the flow had been brutally severed. Yoo Eunho let out a hollow laugh, clenching his fist under the table.
From there, the invisible skirmish raged on.
"Isul used to be so shy back in the day... She doing okay now? At school, she'd barely talk unless it was just the two of us."
Yoo Eunho smiled wistfully, like reminiscing fond memories.
"Well, she talks to me the most now. She's changed a lot since the middle school version you knew."
Nam Siu parried calmly, refusing to yield.
Yoo Eunho's brow twitched faintly.
Isul, who'd been silently watching the suffocating exchange, finally let out a small sigh and stood.
"Haa... Gonna hit the bathroom."
"Huh? Want me to come with?"
"Nah. Be right back—talk while I'm gone."
Rubbing the back of her neck like she was tired, Isul vanished down the cafe's inner hallway.
"..."
"..."
The shallow, phony air around the table froze solid in an instant.
The good-natured smile vanished from Yoo Eunho's face.
"...If you're Isul's friend, you know Seo Juwon too... Guess that bastard filled you in on me?"
He leaned back, crossing his legs, rubbing his eyes.
"Yeah. Juwon gave me the full rundown on what a piece of shit you are."
Nam Siu smirked.
"Well, if you bought his story, you know what kind of guy I am... So you're here to protect her?"
Yoo Eunho chuckled lowly, asking with mock incredulity.
Nam Siu just glared fiercely, jaw set, not biting.
Reading something in their dynamic, Yoo Eunho uncrossed his legs slowly, leaning forward.
"But that bastard really didn't tell Isul what I did, huh?"
His eyes gleamed dangerously.
"So, I still got a shot with her? We text a lot more than you think... Oh, you probably have no idea what we talk about, do you?"
Yoo Eunho sneered, lips curling high.
But Nam Siu didn't waver, staring straight back.
"Sorry, but I'm not worried. You think Isul's into you?"
Yoo Eunho narrowed his eyes with interest at Nam Siu's unflappable calm.
"...You really like her, huh."
As Nam Siu started smoothing his expression—Isul would be back soon—Yoo Eunho leaned in close and whispered.
"But you think those filthy rumors about her in middle school were all fake? I saw the real—"
Snap.
Nam Siu's rationality snapped like a twig. His large hand shot out unbidden, slicing across the table through empty air.
Crash!
The coffee glasses tumbled to the floor with a clamor. Plastic cups, thankfully—no shards—but every eye in the cafe was on them now.
Nam Siu panted roughly, staring down in disbelief at what he'd done.
"Gh..."
Yoo Eunho lay sprawled on the floor, a vile smirk twisting his lips.
"You fucking—"
"...Hey."
A voice like ice he'd never heard pierced Nam Siu's ears.
"What the hell are you doing."
Isul stood there from the bathroom, lips pressed thin, eyes cold as she glared at him.
After sorting the cafe chaos and leaving the mess of Yoo Eunho behind, Isul and Nam Siu faced off outside.
Nam Siu hung his head like a criminal, biting his lip, eyes fixed on the ground.
"Haa... What was that about."
"..."
"I know you're not the type to just swing. There had to be a reason."
Her voice mixed disappointment with desperate understanding, trying to make sense of him.
But no matter how she pressed, Nam Siu's lips stayed sealed.
He couldn't bear letting those filthy words from Yoo Eunho's mouth reach her ears. Even if it meant her hating him, misunderstanding him.
Worn down by his heavy silence, Isul turned away coldly.
"...You go on ahead. I'll take Yoo Eunho home."
"...! Isul...!"
"Don't call my name right now. I don't even want to look at you."
Leaving those harsh words, she abandoned him on the street and headed back inside.
Nam Siu's gaze drifted through the floor-to-ceiling windows. There, behind her back, Yoo Eunho's serpentine face smirked mockingly at him.
"..."
He had nothing to say to her.
No matter the context, striking first was wrong.
But even if time rewound, he'd do it the same.
'He said he'd come to the festival...'
With a deep, heavy sigh, Nam Siu turned and walked away slowly.
No choice now—he'd prepare to settle things at the festival.
Monday morning, and Isul's mood was foul from the start. Avoiding Nam Siu's face, she'd left home early and arrived first in Class 2, scowling with pinched brows.
'What the hell was that about.'
More than him hitting Yoo Eunho, it bugged her that he'd hidden something from her.
And she couldn't trust a word from that guy's mouth.
'As if Nam Siu would hit him just for telling him to back off.'
Coming home without a clue about the full story, she'd spent the weekend in turmoil.
"What? Where's Nam Siu—you're here first?"
Ji Yoon, her always-early seatmate, eyed her curiously.
"Huh? Oh, just felt like it..."
Isul wanted to bury the weekend drama, but the frustration boiled over.
"Ahem... Ji Yoon, hear me out. A while back, I met up with a middle school classmate..."
"So Nam Siu just... punched the guy out of nowhere?"
Ji Yoon's casual listening face had turned grave.
"Yeah. But he won't tell me why. That's what's pissing me off most."
Ji Yoon nodded slowly at Isul's rant, then froze like she'd been smacked.
"...What's the name of this middle school 'classmate'?"
"Oh, you know him too? Yoo Eunho..."
"...!"
Ji Yoon's perpetual nonchalance shattered in an instant.
"Wait, hold up. Yoo Eunho?"
"Huh? You know him? Yeah, he was kinda infamous."
Ji Yoon instantly sensed something had gone horribly wrong.