You Turn the Page
Kang Hyeona chose emotion over reason in the midst of an unbelievable situation.
Whether he had deliberately picked a book like this, or simply chosen another by an author he had genuinely enjoyed reading…
She could have compromised.
But perhaps even she had unconsciously hoped for something like this?
"Sit here."
"Uh…"
Han Sein patted the seat beside him.
Kang Hyeona approached slowly, and just like that the two of them sat facing each other.
It was a ridiculous thing.
The space was vast and wide. Even setting aside the long desk, if you counted the room-like area, nearly thirty people could have sat and read. And yet the two of them… sitting side by side, no less.
It was an enormous waste of space, but heat was rising just as fiercely. The source of that heat was none other than Kang Hyeona.
Should one call the atmosphere hot? Conscious of Han Sein sitting to her left, she stiffened completely, not knowing what to do with herself.
"Alright, then let's read…"
She flinched.
Han Sein's words, spoken as if to proceed, came to a halt. The book stood upright between them. When Kang Hyeona glanced sideways at him, she realized one thing.
Han Sein's frozen expression. It looked almost hesitant, and his faintly trembling pupils held fluster.
Only then did Kang Hyeona let out a deflating little laugh.
So he really had wanted to read it.
The gesture of Han Sein's that had shaken her heart held a sincerity of another kind. Whatever his intention, at least that was how Kang Hyeona saw it.
Was that why? Her frozen heart loosened just a little. Her body was still burning, and a wind thick with excitement seemed to brush past her—but at least it no longer felt like an emotion only she was carrying.
"Hurry up and look."
"Huh…?"
"You said you wanted to see it."
"U-uh…"
Kang Hyeona opened the book. It sat between Han Sein and her—right in the middle—and that only brought their bodies closer. A ticklish silence drifted through the room. The body that had loosened for a moment stiffened all over again, because the distance she already felt was close had narrowed even further.
"Can I turn it?"
"Y-yeah."
One page turned. Han Sein held the left corner, Kang Hyeona the right, centering the book between them. The faintly escaping breaths were unsteady. An atmosphere hard to stay still in. Toes fidgeted on their own, and her gaze drifted not to the book but to Han Sein.
"Done reading?"
"Y-yeah…"
They roughly skipped the introduction. On the turned page lay a famous opening. A distance close enough for warmth to transfer. In the quiet silence Han Sein's eyes stayed on the print. Kang Hyeona peeked at him now and then before snapping back to herself. It was a book she had wanted to read in the first place—and if she had not been with Han Sein, it would have been precious nourishment for emptying her mind.
"Done reading?"
"Yeah."
The situation repeated. One page, then another. As was only natural, Kang Hyeona—who read often and had already read this book several times—finished first. Then Han Sein, finishing next, would speak up. At first she simply accepted it. But after about ten minutes of the same method, a thought they both shared slipped out of their mouths.
"It's a bit… uncomfortable."
"Yeah."
"Hyeona, you read really fast."
"Because I've already read the book."
The atmosphere was intense enough to heat their breathing, yet Kang Hyeona gradually adapted. The writing of her favorite author helped her concentrate even in this kind of mood, and they began to solve the problem that had come up.
"Um… when you're done reading, put your hand up a little more."
"Like this?"
"Yeah, just right."
The fingers that had been timidly resting on the corner now filled one whole side. The promise was set that way. When Kang Hyeona finished first she would rest her hand there, and Han Sein would turn the page. Simple, but an important agreement that let them focus on the book without a word.
Silence settled again. Kang Hyeona let out a faint sound.
"Euk?"
"…?"
"Ah, no."
She denied it in a trembling voice. In that instant a sharp, tingling pleasure rose. Just as promised, she covered the edge of the book with her hand and had to wait until Han Sein finished reading.
The problem arose there. Han Sein, having finished the entire page, moved to turn it—and his hand came down over Kang Hyeona's, which had been resting on the right side, overlapping it completely. An indifferent look, or rather an action so unguarded it bordered on defenseless. Touching hands with the opposite sex and simply turning the page as if nothing had happened. From the position of Kang Hyeona, who liked him, it was enough to drive her mad.
Behind the interesting plot and events, as the emotional lines of the attractive characters tangled and the atmosphere grew steadily hotter—
—Rustle, rustle.
Behind the soft sound of turning pages, skinship was delivered. Not a full handshake. Overlapping hands was the better description. Yet that passive-and-active contact carried excitement. Hot warmth followed one after another. In the vast space the only sound and presence belonged to Han Sein beside her. The rustle of pages and the sound of breathing. Shoulders and hands brushing now and then. It was an atmosphere that inevitably called to mind a love one ought to have given up. Her pounding heartbeat rang even louder.
A fact Han Sein did not know and Kang Hyeona did: the very next page. The lewd scene that had earned the book its reputation as erotic fiction was about to appear. So Kang Hyeona, face growing redder by the second, swallowed hard.
And then the page turned. The moment they faced the long-awaited scene—
"Ah…"
"……."
A faint sigh slipped out. Kang Hyeona fell silent and at the same time looked at him. The sound that had left his mouth, the trembling pupils. The cheeks and ears flushing deeper were almost reassuring—because it no longer seemed like only she was reacting this way. It bothered her a little that the subject was a lewd novel, yet at least here, in the same space, at this close distance, she was happy that she could share something with him.
The writing climbed steadily toward its climax. The lewdness the print delivered sometimes surpassed video or illustration. She rubbed her thighs without realizing it. An uncomfortable, lewd atmosphere crackled and leapt.
"I-it's too lewd…"
Han Sein's mouth opened. Words about maybe skipping the part began to form—but they never finished.
—Ding-dong-ding-dong.
The bell signaling the end of fifth period. Two periods still remained, yet it marked the end of that long, long stretch of time that had tickled their hearts.
"…It's break time."
"Yeah. Let's rest and then continue."
"…Yeah."
A brief silence. Seeing Han Sein looking somehow uncomfortable, Kang Hyeona stood first and spoke.
"Aren't you going out?"
"You go first…"
"Ah… okay."
She wondered what it was for a second, then understood. The lewd atmosphere until just now. Normally Han Sein would have stood right up and wandered around, yet he remained seated with an awkward air. A woman without tact might not have noticed—but Kang Hyeona, who possessed at least basic consideration and common sense regarding the opposite sex, understood. An extremely sensitive matter, and privacy that had to be protected.
"I'll go out first."
"Yeah."
Break time had come; she ought to get up. Kang Hyeona raised a hand and touched her own cheek. The feverish body heat warmed her palm.
"Hoo…"
A small sigh. She walked out with the thought of needing outside air. If the two of them stayed alone in here any longer, she felt she might commit some dizzying mistake.
She opened the door. And in that instant—
"…?"
"Ah."
Kang Hyeona came face to face with Jeong Ayeong.
Jeong Ayeong's expression—always so careful around her—crumpled. The image reflected in her pupils was raw enough to stimulate the very thing she had not wanted to think about, the thing she had feared. A woman who had spent club time with her boyfriend walking out with a flushed face? Especially when that woman was Kang Hyeona, who had once bullied her and him?
Jeong Ayeong walked past with a stiff face, deliberately bumping her shoulder.
"Hey."
"……."
"Shit, what."
A classic shoulder check. Ignoring Kang Hyeona's sharp voice entirely, she strode on. Looking into the classroom, Jeong Ayeong's expression loosened a fraction. Her heart was still rigid, still sunk in anxious delusion—but when she faced the seated Han Sein her voice came out colder than usual.
"Uh, Ayeong, why so early…"
"Let's go to the snack bar."
"I rested a little…"
"I said let's go to the snack bar."
The sharp voice rang through the classroom. She wanted to escape the uncomfortable situation. For Jeong Ayeong, that voice was both rebellion and plea. Whatever had happened until just now, her boyfriend's condition looked a little off—and Kang Hyeona had walked out with flushed cheeks. So Jeong Ayeong seized Han Sein's wrist. The reason he had been forced to stay seated. Behind his awkward movement her strength pulled him along.
"Ah, ouch. Just a second."
"Hurry. Let's go talk."
Was the grip on his wrist stronger than expected? Han Sein's expression stiffened subtly. A look of apology crossed Jeong Ayeong's face, but it never reached Kang Hyeona's eyes. She was sorry—yet that was not what mattered. Even for a single second she wanted him away from Kang Hyeona. She wanted to talk in a space with just the two of them.
A sharp turn of the body. Jeong Ayeong led the way; Han Sein's awkward footsteps followed.
"……."
A forced situation. Not a single opinion of Han Sein's had been asked. Everything had been driven by Jeong Ayeong's emotions alone. And so, deep in Kang Hyeona's chest, something plummeted.
The fact she had been turning away from raised its head. Left alone after Han Sein and Jeong Ayeong headed for the snack bar, she realized their relationship once more.
Jeong Ayeong and Han Sein.
That those two were dating by force.