The Reason for Love
The empty space behind the school store.
It was a secluded corner no one had any reason to visit, a place that didn't even fall along anyone's usual path. Especially with club activities pulling students out of the classrooms and off in other directions, it was safe to say no one else was around right now.
She'd said they were going to the store.
Yet instead of stopping there, Jeong Ayeong had dragged him to a place like this. Han Sein looked up at her with quiet, questioning eyes. He didn't voice the doubt. He simply watched her.
Ayeong's lips pressed tightly shut. She had followed the surge of her feelings, but now that they were here she had no idea what to say to him. Conversation—human relationships in general—had always been her weak point. How was she supposed to speak to the boyfriend she loved? How was she supposed to put her own emotions into words? The confusion left her floundering.
"Uh..."
Ten minutes for the break. Factoring in the time it had taken to get here, less than five minutes remained. She forced the thrashing emotion deep inside her chest back down. There was so much she wanted to pour out, yet she had no confidence she could untangle it all without creating misunderstandings in the time they had left.
And so...
"Th-that... uh... I love you."
"Idiot."
"Huh?"
The air left her lungs in a rush. Her startled reaction melted straight into trembling as Han Sein's body pressed into her arms—more accurately, as he let himself be held by her. Her breath stopped. The shaking voice never finished its sentence. Her awkward hands had nowhere to go.
Warmth. The gentle heat of his breath against her. The sulky knot in Ayeong's chest unraveled in an instant. The root of the problem hadn't been solved, but this was the power of love.
"I was just reading a romance novel."
"R-really...?"
"Yeah."
A brief silence. His soft, swaying voice tickled her, and the arm wrapped around her waist felt strangely intimate. The head that had been buried against her chest lifted. The eyes that met hers held nothing but sincerity—at least, that was how Ayeong felt it.
The gloomy thoughts had long since fled. Only the thrill and sweet electricity of the touch remained.
"The bell rang."
"Ah..."
A soft sound of regret slipped out. Only then did the bell reach her ears. That was how intoxicating the hug had been. Han Sein's body slowly drew away. Just as he said, the bell had rung; it was time to return to club activities.
Ayeong possessed overwhelming ability—she could have wiped out sixth and seventh periods if she wanted—but she couldn't force that on anyone else.
"Th-that..."
"Mm."
Before he left, Ayeong made a hesitant little noise. Han Sein didn't look impatient. He simply offered a faint smile. Did he know that this side of him drove women crazy? It wasn't the look of disgust he used to wear, nor the blank indifference. It was the gaze of a lover filled with affection. Even she found her own awkward words and voice frustrating, yet he listened as if it were nothing. He accepted her completely as Jeong Ayeong.
And so she gathered a little more courage. It might still come out clumsy, but it was the best courage she could manage—the effort, the attempt.
"Y-your hair..."
"...?"
"Can I... stroke it?"
Would he refuse? Would he be disgusted? What if it was a mistake? Ayeong's anxious heart melted under the soft, airy smile that answered her.
"Pfft."
"Ah...?"
"You don't have to ask for something like this."
"Aaah..."
Another soft sound of wonder escaped her. Han Sein closed his eyes and tilted his head slightly forward. The pose was pure puppy—waiting to be petted, hoping for affection, utterly lovable. Faced with that, she couldn't hesitate. She lifted her hand and began to stroke carefully.
Silky strands. An addictive texture. The fact that this wasn't just any ordinary boy—that this was Han Sein, her boyfriend—sent the sharpest thrill through her.
"Hey, how long are you going to keep petting?"
"Aah, sorry."
She apologized, yet the foolish grin never left Ayeong's face. It probably looked perverted, but watching Han Sein get shy only made the wide smile impossible to hold back. To think a boy this adorable was her boyfriend.
The happiness lasted only a moment. Cold reality snapped her awake.
"We're gonna be late—I'll go first!"
"Ah, okay..."
She couldn't even ask him to walk with her. She hadn't planned to, but more than that, Han Sein was already hurrying off toward the clubroom. Watching his retreating back, the space left behind felt terrifyingly quiet. The higher the happiness had soared, the more crushing the solitude felt now.
"Hah... haah..."
Unsteady breaths spilled out deep and long. The unhappiness that followed happiness was worse than she had imagined. Or maybe it was simply anxiety. The adorable boyfriend she had just held and whose hair she had stroked was heading straight to Kang Hyeona—the girl she hated most.
It was almost funny. Back when she was being bullied, she hadn't hated Kang Hyeona. There had even been parts of her she liked. After all, the one who actually tormented her had been Park Hyorin. Paradoxically, it was only after Han Sein appeared that the hatred took root.
"Haaaah..."
It'll be fine. Ayeong swallowed the unease and headed for the clubroom.
—Tap. Tap. Tap.
A steady, rhythmic noise. The sound of a shoe striking the wooden floor. The break was over. The bell had already rung, yet there was still no sign of Han Sein. Even back when she used to torment him, he never skipped this class. That was why Kang Hyeona tapped the floor even more irritably—until the door finally opened and she could stop.
"Sorry, I'm a little late, right?"
"Yeah, but..."
Kang Hyeona's words died. The moment she saw Han Sein walk in, the shock was enough to make her forget whatever she had been about to say. To anyone else it might have looked like nothing, but she had been holding the image of him from just minutes ago, so she noticed immediately.
"Your hair..."
"Hair? Ah—no, it's nothing."
He realized his disheveled state late and hurriedly tried to smooth it down. Watching that only twisted her heart further toward the edge. What the hell had happened during the break? His hair was that messy, sticking out every which way. It looked exactly like someone had grabbed him by the locks.
Kang Hyeona said nothing. But Han Sein's flustered reaction only looked stranger.
"Let's just read already."
"......"
The abrupt change of subject. He looked almost desperate, as if something had pricked his conscience. The way he avoided the topic only sped up her deductions. Kang Hyeona rose from her seat. There was no hesitation in the steps that carried her toward him. Her thoughts and actions were firm.
"What were you doing?"
"...I went to the store with Ayeong. Why?"
"Then why's your hair like this?"
She ran her fingers through the still-messy strands he had claimed to fix. Yet the answer that came back was so simple it almost deflated her for a second.
"I-it's just... never mind."
A timid, shrinking voice. None of the boldness remained. None of the cold, logical edge either. Was this like Han Sein? No—it wasn't even the version of him she had first met. Right now he only looked like a prey animal desperate to escape.
"Hey, Ayeong and... never mind."
"......"
Kang Hyeona cut herself off. Jeong Ayeong hitting Han Sein? Remembering the girl who always looked so crushed, it was almost impossible to imagine. But then the news bulletins that had flickered through her mind, the domestic-violence cases she had been forced to review... it wasn't completely absurd. Women who were oppressed and wronged outside sometimes went home and raised their hands. Hitting the husband they loved happened more often than people thought.
Kang Hyeona couldn't say a word. Did she even have the right? The girl who had tormented him herself, turning around and measuring someone else by the yardstick of violence? Even she knew that wasn't it. So she settled for the words that lived in the space between.
"You're not dating her because you have to, are you?"
"......"
"I told you last time—I'll help you. You don't have to date her anymore. Huh? Fuck, what kind of guy would go for a girl like Jeong Ayeong—"
The mouth is a vessel for emotion. Feelings she had suppressed and carefully held down for so long burst out the moment they found the channel of speech, flooding everything. It wasn't what she had originally meant to say, and precisely because of that, it was the truth that had been sitting in her heart.
"Dating isn't some ordinary thing. Both people have to be in love. Right? That bitch Ayeong might like you, but you... you don't. So you hate it."
"I like her."
The quiet voice that slipped out. Suddenly a piece of the past flashed through Kang Hyeona's mind—the results of digging into Han Sein's background. In other words, she had learned, whether she wanted to or not, just how hard his life had been and still was. Not everything, but at least this much was certain: he had never grown up loved under normal parents.
And that was why the shock hit her like a blow to the head. He still fumbled and hesitated, yet his expression carried absolute certainty. The faint smile that rose was soft and quiet.
"She said she likes me. She said she loves me."
"......"
"So... I like her too."
The reason for love. Stupidly foolish, idiotic, completely pathetic—and therefore absolute.
"...Fuck."
Kang Hyeona's face crumbled. Just as Han Sein had once tried to do, she fled. She no longer faced him. Like one of the ghost members, the club president left the literature club room behind.