Chapter 4
Chapter 4
My Ex-Girlfriend Keeps Glancing at Me
“I swear, I’m never sleeping with her again.”
Sihyeon grumbled inwardly while getting ready to go out.
When he woke up that morning, Yerin—who had definitely fallen asleep on the bed—was somehow sleeping while hugging him tightly.
“How the hell do you sleep your way all the way next to me? Did she roll off the bed or something?”
Sihyeon shuddered at Yerin’s terrible sleeping habits that had plagued him since childhood.
Meanwhile, the culprit herself was humming while curling her hair with a straightener, and Sihyeon stared at her with an exhausted gaze.
“Sihyeon, are you ready?”
“Yeah.”
“Then put your shoes on and wait. I’ll be out soon too.”
“Alright.”
By the time Sihyeon had finished reading two chapters of a daily webtoon after putting on his shoes, Yerin finally came out of her room.
Her hair was tied in a ponytail, paired with a pure white short-sleeved T-shirt and well-fitted jeans.
Unlike her usual plain appearance, today’s Yerin clearly looked like she had put effort into dressing up.
“How is it? Does it suit me?”
“It’s alright.”
Her sudden transformation made her already outstanding beauty shine even brighter, enough that even Sihyeon, who had high standards, nodded unconsciously.
“That reaction’s kinda underwhelming…”
Yerin looked at herself in the full-length mirror near the shoe rack and fixed her hair again.
She adjusted it while glancing at Sihyeon, then tilted her head at his indifferent expression before trying to head back into her room.
But Sihyeon grabbed her before she could.
“We don’t have time. Where are you going?”
“I saw a bunch of things bothering me in the mirror, so I was gonna fix my makeup.”
Who knew how long she’d take if she went back inside again? Deciding he couldn’t allow that, Sihyeon pulled her hand.
“You’re already pretty enough. Let’s just go.”
“Really?”
Flowers practically bloomed across Yerin’s face.
She slipped her half-removed shoes back on and tightly held onto the hand that was touching hers.
“If you say so, then I guess it’s true.”
Looking satisfied, she left the house together with him.
Even though Sihyeon insisted his leg was fine, Yerin forcibly dragged him to the hospital.
She kept questioning the doctor several times even after hearing he was okay, and only believed the results after seeing the X-ray herself.
After getting ointment for scar treatment at the pharmacy, the two boarded a bus to university.
“Still twenty minutes until we get there.”
An awkward amount of time to stand around waiting.
Yerin scanned the seats, trying to get Sihyeon to sit, and luckily found exactly one empty spot.
“Sihyeon, sit here.”
At Yerin’s cheerful suggestion, Sihyeon shook his head.
“It’s fine. It’s not like it takes that long to get there. I can just stand.”
“What if your injury gets worse? Sit down already.”
“You heard the doctor too. It’s just scraped skin, my leg itself is fine.”
As Sihyeon stubbornly talked back, Yerin’s eyes slowly narrowed.
“I’m seriously fine, so why is she making such a fuss…”
Maybe seeing the wound yesterday had shocked her badly.
Today’s Yerin felt like an overprotective parent.
“I appreciate the concern, but this is getting burdensome…”
Sihyeon deliberately avoided Yerin’s gaze as she stared at him with crossed arms. But he couldn’t ignore the burning sensation on the back of his head forever.
Finally giving in, he sighed.
“I’m really okay, so if anyone’s gonna sit, you sit.”
“…Really? Okay.”
Yerin obediently sat down.
Sihyeon tilted his head in confusion at how easily she agreed.
Then—
Squeeze.
Yerin wrapped her arms around his waist and pulled him onto her lap.
A grown man sitting on top of a woman?
The surrounding passengers looked over with mixed expressions of disgust and envy.
“What the hell are you doing? Let go already.”
“You wouldn’t sit otherwise. Might as well stay like this then.”
Yerin used all her strength to stop Sihyeon from standing up.
If he stayed like this, his full weight would press down onto her slender legs.
What if it hurt her?
“Fine! I’ll sit, so let go already!”
Unable to overcome Yerin’s stubbornness, Sihyeon finally surrendered and sat in the seat she’d given up.
“See? You should’ve just done this from the start.”
Satisfied, Yerin patted his head like she was praising him.
Clatter—
Sihyeon and Yerin, both tourism management majors, entered the classroom right on time.
The room had four large windows in the back, with sunlight streaming in from behind toward the front.
Since the air conditioning was strong, the two sat in the back row where they could comfortably soak in the sunlight.
“It’s been forever since we sat together like this, huh?”
“Yeah.”
Before dating Chaeyeon, the two had always been together.
But once Sihyeon started dating—
Chaeyeon had warned him not to get close to other girls, so his relationship with Yerin naturally became distant.
“She didn’t even like me that much, so why was she always so wary of other girls…”
Maybe it was the mindset of not wanting him for herself but not wanting anyone else to have him either.
As Sihyeon buried his head over Chaeyeon’s selfishness—
Bang!
The classroom door swung open loudly, drawing everyone’s attention.
Chaeyeon stood there confidently, while Sohee hovered nervously behind her with a miserable expression.
“Anyone would think Sohee was the one who cheated.”
Unlike Sohee, who kept anxiously reading the room, Chaeyeon scoffed after seeing Sihyeon sitting with Yerin.
Then she started walking to the opposite side of the room—
“Chaeyeon, where are you going? We should sit over here.”
Sohee grabbed Chaeyeon’s arm and dragged her all the way to Sihyeon’s row.
Glancing around, Sohee stared at the seat next to Sihyeon—Yerin’s seat—before awkwardly speaking.
“Uh… Yerin, could you maybe switch seats for a bit?”
While typing on her laptop, Yerin answered casually.
“Why would I?”
“Sihyeon and Chaeyeon just have a small misunderstanding… I want them to clear it up. Please?”
Yerin stopped typing and stared coldly at Sohee.
“Nope.”
“Huh…?”
Maybe she never expected to get rejected.
Sohee froze before continuing.
“I’ll ask around and find you another seat in the back. Just this once…”
“If you want the seat that badly, ask Sihyeon. If he tells me to move, I’ll do it.”
Resting her chin on her hand, Yerin looked at Sihyeon expectantly.
At the same time, Sohee looked at him pleadingly.
But Sihyeon had no intention of giving them what they wanted.
“I have nothing to say to you two.”
“You heard him.”
At Sihyeon’s response, Yerin smirked in agreement.
Sohee desperately begged again.
“Sihyeon, come on, just talk with Chaeyeon… Yesterday was really a misunderstanding…”
Why was Sohee the one trying to clear up the misunderstanding instead of Chaeyeon herself?
Why was Sohee humiliating herself like this while the actual person involved simply stood there watching?
The thought irritated Sihyeon deeply.
“Im Chaeyeon, do you have something to say to me?”
He deliberately dropped his gentle tone and spoke coldly.
Chaeyeon crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes sharply.
“No. I don’t.”
“Chaeyeon!”
Sohee cried out in frustration at Chaeyeon’s indifferent response.
“Figures. Her Majesty, who’s overflowing with pride, won’t even try to clear things up.”
Exactly the reaction he expected.
Sihyeon waved dismissively.
“Really? Then stop trying to involve yourselves with me and take her away.”
“Sihyeon, come on, we—”
Before Sohee could continue persuading him, Chaeyeon grabbed her wrist.
“Fine.”
Chaeyeon started walking away with Sohee, then suddenly stopped.
Looking around, Sihyeon realized there were no seats left where the two of them could sit together except the ones directly in front of him.
Maybe that was why Chaeyeon clicked her tongue before plopping down right in front of him.
Seeing that, Sohee glanced awkwardly toward Sihyeon before sitting beside Chaeyeon.
Clatter—
Not long after, the professor entered and class began with attendance.
Sihyeon already struggled to focus normally, but with those two sitting right in front of him, he couldn’t hear a single word of the lecture.
“She’s really completely fine, huh…”
Unlike Sihyeon, whose mind was in chaos, Chaeyeon calmly listened to the lecture while diligently taking notes.
Watching her made him realize once again that he truly meant nothing to her.
“Ha…”
Maybe instead of wasting time on relationships, this was the period where he should focus on academics.
Finally deciding to get himself together, Sihyeon forced his pen to move.
Scratch scratch—
As he filled his notebook with writing—
Tap tap.
Yerin nudged him.
“What.”
“Look at this.”
She handed him a yellow Post-it note.
Near the corner of the final page, there was a drawing of a girl wearing a skirt.
“This takes me back.”
Drawing on the edges of textbooks and flipping the pages to make animations.
It was something Sihyeon and Yerin used to do all the time in middle school.
Flip—
As expected, once Yerin started flipping the Post-it notes, the character began moving.
The girl suddenly grabbed her skirt.
Then slowly started lifting it.
“How bored were you to draw something like this…”
“Why? It’s fun. I worked really hard on this one, so watch until the end.”
Even though it was just a drawing, part of him wondered how Yerin wasn’t embarrassed as another girl herself…
But Sihyeon’s eyes kept drifting toward the animation anyway.
He was still a man, after all.
He couldn’t help getting curious about what came next.
Flip—
Noticing his attention, Yerin giggled and continued flipping the pages.
The drawn character gradually blushed while lifting her skirt higher.
The animation quality was absurdly high for something so pointless.
The girl’s smooth thighs became visible.
And just as the Post-it animation reached the end—
“Huh?”
The girl under the skirt turned out to be wearing safety shorts.
Then she stuck out her tongue directly at Sihyeon.
Smack!
The moment he realized the ending, a sharp pain exploded across his forehead.
The forehead flick Yerin delivered was so loud several students turned around.
Sihyeon nearly screamed, barely stopping himself by biting his lip.
“Pffft…!”
Yerin shook silently with laughter, clearly delighted that her trap had worked.
Sihyeon clenched his fist instinctively.
He seriously considered flicking her forehead back, but decided against it since it would probably escalate things.
“You seriously…”
“Your fault for staring so hard… pfft…”
Yerin couldn’t even finish her sentence before bursting into laughter again.
Wondering what was so funny, Sihyeon rubbed his forehead and found a bump already forming near the edge.
“How the hell was that flick so strong?”
Creating a bump with one hit.
It was hard to believe that kind of power came from those slender hands.
“You wanna get flicked once too?”
Sihyeon raised his fist while trembling in irritation.
“No thanks. Your forehead flicks hurt like crazy.”
“I’ll go easy on you, so just once.”
“And why should I trust that?”
Even though they kept their voices low, the bickering between them continued.
While Sihyeon swung his fist playfully and Yerin whined—
“Ha… you’re so fucking loud.”
An irritated voice suddenly interrupted them.
Chaeyeon turned around with a vicious glare.
The familiar look made Sihyeon freeze instantly.
Meanwhile, Yerin answered in a teasing tone.
“Sorry. I’m having too much fun playing with Sihyeon, so I can’t stop laughing.”
It sounded like an apology, but the mocking undertone was obvious.
Curious about Chaeyeon’s reaction, Sihyeon turned away from Yerin.
Whoosh.
And saw Chaeyeon glaring directly at him before sharply turning back around.
“Her glare is terrifying…”
Just like how people in old stories would freeze after locking eyes with a tiger, Sihyeon’s body instinctively stiffened whenever he met Chaeyeon’s gaze.
“Jeez…”
Convincing himself this pathetic habit would fade with time, Sihyeon calmed his shrinking chest.
Then he looked toward Yerin, who had gone quiet.
Tap. Tap tap.
She had resumed typing on her laptop with a deeply satisfied smile on her face.
“Pfft…”
Covering her mouth while her shoulders shook slightly, Yerin looked incredibly pleased with herself to Sihyeon.