The Bet
At Sia’s words, I hesitated for a moment.
It was because she wanted to be with me.
I hadn’t minded being with Sia at all.
But the way she had just spoken… it had sounded more like she was following me rather than her own dream.
“Then… are you seriously going to keep all my elective classes with me too?”
“Yes!”
“No no no, don’t copy me—do whatever you actually want, Sia.”
I had been half-joking, but when Sia actually said she would take the same electives as me, I tried to stop her.
“Huhu, you’re worrying about me?”
“Of course I am.”
“Don’t worry. I’m doing this because I want to be by your side, Siwoo.”
“Hmm…?”
“You see… your mom helps you with your work too, right? So I chose my major so I could help you later as well.”
“……”
Sia’s sincerity was clear in every word.
And the way she looked at me, unwavering, showed that she meant it even more strongly than ever.
Seeing that, I felt once again how heavy and solid the feelings she had given me truly were.
It wasn’t just about revealing her true identity—it was about wanting to stay together with me well into the future.
So I wanted to answer her feelings…
But I couldn’t just brush it off with a simple “I like you.”
Maybe Sia would think it was enough, but to me it still fell short.
That was why confessing to her right now felt impossible.
But soon… I would be ready.
Just a little longer and I could wait.
Before that, though…
“Sia, are you free this Christmas?”
“This Christmas?”
“Yeah, I was thinking we could spend it together this year.”
Surprisingly, Sia and I hadn’t spent Christmas together very often.
More accurately, we had almost never spent it as just the two of us.
At year-end we usually all got together—me, Sia, and her family.
Or else we each went off with our own families.
“So… does that mean just the two of us this time…?”
“Yes, no family stuff—just us.”
“Yes! I’m super happy! I’ll tell Mom right away!”
“Huh… um…”
I never would have guessed Sia would be this excited, but hearing her say yes made me feel good.
After we made plans to spend Christmas together, Sia and I walked home together.
Of course, Sia had been smiling the entire way.
Spending Christmas with Sia was wonderful, but to make it truly stable I still had one big mountain ahead: the final exams.
We had to get through the mid-term period in mid-December to be ready for the real thing.
Now, with only about two weeks left until the exam, we were studying together hard.
Thankfully, both Sia and I had kept top scores in every subject so far.
We had never dropped below a B across the board.
So this final exam was going to decide everything.
Whether I could climb to an A, or if Sia could reach one too.
Of course Sia was in more danger than me.
She was just barely holding on, but one slip-up could send her crashing down to an A.
But… I felt like this time she would be fine.
Why?
“……”
Because Sia was sitting right beside me, burning with intense focus.
She was ignoring me completely… but I understood why.
The reason Sia was studying this hard was simple:
For me.
When I told her Mom that I wanted to spend Christmas with me alone this year, Mom had agreed—but only if Sia raised her mid-term scores first.
Sia’s Mom agreed only if she raises her mid-term scores.
To keep Christmas with Siwoo alone!
Since Sia had always been an upward graph, her mid-term scores had been pretty solid… but to raise them again, she had to nail every question or at least solve one killer problem.
So she had been studying even harder than before.
That was why I couldn’t make a sound next to her.
Suddenly I noticed the time and realized we had already passed dinner.
Because we were still in the library, we couldn’t grab a snack like we usually did at study cafes.
I was getting hungry, so I waited until Sia finished the page she was on, then said,
“Let’s go eat for a bit.”
“A… okay…?”
We packed our stuff and left the library.
It was half past seven, so I figured we could eat and come back to finish studying later.
We looked for a good place together.
Normally the library had a cafeteria and snack shop, but both were gone now, so we had to go outside.
The walk wasn’t long, but the area was packed with bars.
If we went farther, it would be a problem, but luckily we found a tteokbokki place and went in.
We ordered tteokbokki and kimbap, then sat down and started talking about the exam.
Suddenly,
beep~
A text came in on Sia’s phone.
I wondered who it was, so I checked.
It was from Dong-hyuk.
“What are you doing?”
A sudden “What are you doing?” text.
I didn’t know why he sent it, but I answered anyway.
“Sia and I are at the library studying, just heading out to eat.”
“Really?”
“Who randomly sends a text?”
“Oh, do you have plans for Christmas? If not, I was thinking we should all go to the ski resort together.”
“All of a sudden?”
“Everyone’s coming, so if it’s because you’re worried about Sia, why don’t you bring her too?”
The ski resort mention made me tempted, but I had already promised Sia.
“I already have plans for Christmas.”
“With whom? Again with Sia? And you two still aren’t even dating? You’re such a liar.”
“Listen, it’s the whole family together.”
“Early matchmaking from the start.”
“Just go die.”
“Yeah, whatever.”
After that, I saw Dong-hyuk’s “EMERGENCY!!!!” message pop up in our group chat, followed by more from the others.
But I just put my phone back in my pocket.
No point arguing; they would just tease me anyway.
Just then,
“……”
Sia was glaring at me, cheeks puffed out like balloons.
Even though it was obvious, I explained what had happened.
“Dong-hyuk texted and I just replied for a second.”
“What was it?”
“He asked if I had plans for Christmas and I told him I was spending it with you.”
“Really?”
“Of course. I brought it up first, remember?”
“T-that’s right… hehe.”
Sia’s pouting face melted into a smile when I said I was with her.
If Sia had a tail right now, it would be spinning like a propeller.
We chatted about random stuff, the food arrived, and we ate until we were full.
After filling up, Sia was even more focused than before.
After that, we finally took the bus home as the library closed.
Time flew by quickly.
Two weeks until the exam… but somehow the test day was already right around the corner.
When exam season hits, time seems to speed up on the planet.
Otherwise days wouldn’t pass so fast.
But that didn’t mean we had slacked off.
Sia had been studying like crazy since almost a month ago.
Even a normal person would have dropped by now, but Sia was still reviewing at dawn as well.
I had even had to wake her up a few times when I thought she might collapse from exhaustion.
So we were ready…
But Sia was still anxious.
As I thought about how to ease her worries, one idea came to mind.
I wasn’t sure it would work, or if it might make her even more tense…
But I still decided to ask her.
“Sia, how about we bet on our wishes?”
“…a bet?”
“Whoever scores higher on more subjects than their mid-term gets to win—tied scores decided by how many points they improved.”
Sia’s eyes suddenly lit up.
“Yes! Let’s do it right now!”
I… wondered if I had dug my own grave, but the bet had officially started.