Chapter 7
Chapter 7
Group Project With My Ex-Girlfriend and Childhood Friend
As promised beforehand, Yerin and I came to Baskin Robbins together.
Mint chocolate, Puss in Boots, Rainbow Sherbet. After choosing three flavors, we quickly sat down.
Pressed by Yerin’s urging, I started telling her one by one about what happened in the department room.
“That happened while I was gone!?”
“I’m telling you, that’s what happened. She’s the one who messed up, yet she keeps demanding that I apologize…”
“Did something seriously go wrong with her head? How can someone be that selfish…”
Yerin stopped mid-sentence and stared straight at me.
Her normally gentle eyes had narrowed sharply.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
“Just… I’m wondering how much you spoiled her for her to become that arrogant.”
“You’re saying Chaeyeon’s twisted personality is all my fault?”
“Not completely, but part of it is definitely on you.”
The YouTuber I watched before said the same thing.
Now Yerin too.
Why did everyone keep saying the victim—me—was also at fault?
Yerin scooped up a spoonful of mint chocolate ice cream and continued while wagging the spoon.
“You should’ve stopped clinging so hard. Instead, you got completely blinded by some crazy girl and ended up like this.”
“At least we broke up now. Why are you talking so much about it?”
“Hehe… true.”
Smiling softly, Yerin pinched my cheek.
Then she shook it around while saying,
“From now on, if you date another girl, get my permission first. Then you’ll be able to avoid landmine girls.”
She acted like she was my mother or something.
I waved my hand dismissively.
“No thanks. I can find my own dating partners just fine.”
“Oh really? Says the guy who found someone like Im Chaeyeon and became a tota— mmph.”
Since I could already tell what she was about to say, I shoved a spoonful of ice cream into her mouth to stop her.
“Sir, your tongue’s awfully long today.”
Maybe my sudden action startled her.
Yerin blinked her sparkling eyes repeatedly.
Then she stared directly at my face before a faint blush spread across both cheeks along with a strangely meaningful gaze.
“What’s with that look…?”
While I awkwardly endured her sticky stare, Yerin smiled with her eyes and brushed her hair behind her ear.
Then, not long after—
Munch munch.
I suddenly felt movement transmitted through the spoon.
“W-What are you doing?”
There should be limits to joking around.
I tried pulling the spoon back afterward, but Yerin pursed her lips and stubbornly refused to let go.
“You still haven’t had enough? Let go already.”
Slurp.
The sensation traveling through the spoon became stronger and faster.
Feeling strangely embarrassed, I yanked the spoon back hard.
Pop.
As the spoon came free, a silver strand of saliva stretched between us.
The spoon that had been covered in melted ice cream moments ago now looked polished clean.
“Did you coat my spoon in honey or something? How much do you have to suck on it before you’re satisfied?”
“Sorry. The ice cream was just so good that I got carried away.”
Honestly, that was just like Yerin.
If it involved food, she completely lost all restraint.
I abandoned the sparkling-clean spoon and grabbed a new one while speaking.
“That’s what happens when you keep eating weird stuff like mint chocolate and finally taste something normal.”
“But mint chocolate is delicious…”
Yerin sulked over the weirdest things and silently shoveled mint chocolate into her mouth.
Not long after, we finished all the ice cream.
Just as I was about to throw away the trash since she’d treated me—
“Give me the spoons. I’ll throw them away.”
Before I could answer, Yerin snatched the spoons away.
Three days had already passed since my argument with Chaeyeon.
Maybe the conversation in the department room had been the final blow.
Neither of them bothered me anymore.
Glance. Turn.
…Though Sohee still kept checking my mood.
“Still, compared to before, this is pretty peaceful.”
Wouldn’t it be nice if this peace lasted all the way until graduation?
I wanted to stop getting tangled up with Chaeyeon and the others entirely and just live like strangers.
Thinking that simple wish, I accepted the paper the professor handed out.
And the moment I read it—
“Fuck.”
A curse slipped out before I realized it.
—
《Group Assignments》
[A Group: ***, ***, ***, ***]
[B Group: Kim Sihyeon, Im Chaeyeon, Yoon Sohee, Han Yerin]
[C Group: ***, ***, ……]
—
The professor said we’d be doing a group project, but he’d somehow assembled the worst possible team.
“This is seriously insane…”
I rubbed my eyes, flipped the paper upside down, and tried denying reality, but nothing changed.
More importantly—
Chaeyeon stared at me indifferently.
Sohee made a cheerful fighting pose like she was trying to encourage us.
And Yerin beside me sat frozen with her mouth hanging open.
The reactions around me made it painfully clear this was reality.
“Ha…”
A headache was already coming on.
We’d barely even fought recently, and now we were forced into this situation together.
As I held my head and sighed, Yerin asked worriedly,
“Sihyeon… are you gonna be okay?”
“No. Not even remotely.”
Honestly, I wanted to throw the project away entirely.
But ruining everyone’s grades over personal feelings didn’t feel right.
At the very least, I should finish what needed to be done before ignoring them.
“Sit together with your assigned groups.”
At the professor’s instructions, the classroom erupted into movement.
Some people happily gathered with close friends, while others awkwardly exchanged greetings.
And among them, the worst group by far was—
Glare.
Chaeyeon.
The moment I approached, she stared at me like she wanted me dead.
“If you’ve got a problem, just say it.”
“I don’t.”
Like hell she didn’t.
She was practically radiating discomfort.
“Haah…”
I’d already lost count of how many times I’d sighed today.
Realizing the suffering ahead of me, I sat across from Chaeyeon with my vision practically darkening.
Not long after, Yerin arrived carrying her laptop and sat beside me.
“……….”
It already felt like five whole minutes had passed.
No one said a word.
We just silently fought a psychological war.
Especially Yerin, who kept staring at Chaeyeon coldly.
Her gaze was so terrifying that even accidentally meeting it made my body shrink.
“U-Um… guys? Since we’re stuck together anyway, let’s all try our best!”
Sohee tried to ease the dangerous atmosphere.
Since it really looked like the project wouldn’t progress otherwise, I reluctantly joined in.
“We’re all uncomfortable, but let’s cooperate at least until the project’s finished.”
Sohee’s expression brightened instantly.
Only then did Chaeyeon and Yerin slowly nod.
As the tension loosened slightly, Sohee quickly continued.
“So about this project… I was thinking one person does the presentation, one handles the PPT, and two people do research. So what does everyone want to do?”
I wasn’t very good at making PPTs.
And I absolutely hated standing in front of people to present.
“I’ll do research.”
“Then me too.”
Yerin immediately followed my choice and picked research as well.
“Okay, so Sihyeon and Yerin handle research. Chaeyeon?”
“I’ll make the PPT.”
“Okay. Then I’ll do the presentation. Also, I think it’d be better if we worked together in person. When should we meet?”
Sohee placed suspiciously strong emphasis on “together in person.”
“She still hasn’t given up?”
There was no way Sohee didn’t know that things between Chaeyeon and me were completely broken.
Yet the girl who’d been nervously reading the room moments ago suddenly looked energized like she’d found a new opportunity.
“Do we really have to meet up?”
At my question, Sohee smiled brightly.
“If we’re all in the same place, it’ll be easier to exchange feedback quickly.”
“We could do that through SNS too.”
“Nope. What if someone disappears halfway through?”
As if that would happen.
Everyone in this group was responsible enough to do their part.
Yerin was hardworking whenever she took on something.
Chaeyeon wasn’t the type to dump work on others irresponsibly either.
And obviously, neither was I.
“Sohee knows that too…”
Which meant Sohee was probably forcing us to meet up just to create opportunities between Chaeyeon and me.
Right as I was about to refuse—
“Sounds good. But let’s focus hard and finish everything in one day.”
Yerin accepted Sohee’s proposal first.
“Mmgh—!”
I pinched her thigh, wondering why she was deciding this on her own.
Yerin flinched and whispered into my ear.
“If we’re doing it anyway, it’s better to finish in one shot. If we do everything over SNS, what if they use that as an excuse to keep contacting you?”
“Ah…”
So Yerin had thought this through too.
It actually made sense.
Feeling guilty, I immediately apologized to the teary-eyed girl rubbing her thigh.
“Okay. Then I’ll make a group chat later and send everyone the exact schedule.”
With Sohee wrapping things up, the discussion ended.
“But why hasn’t Im Chaeyeon said anything?”
She should’ve been uncomfortable seeing me too.
Yet strangely, she hadn’t voiced a single complaint.
A few days later.
The four of us gathered at a study café for the group project.
Chaeyeon and Sohee sat on one side.
Sihyeon and Yerin sat across from them.
An uncomfortable atmosphere lingered heavily between all four people.
“Should we get drinks before we start?”
Trying to break the awkward silence, Sihyeon stood up to take everyone’s orders.
And as though she’d been waiting for that exact moment, Yerin immediately spoke.
“Sihyeon, get me the usual.”
“Got it.”
Sihyeon understood Yerin’s vague order instantly.
Just how often had the two of them gone to cafés together for this to happen so naturally?
At Yerin’s obvious display of closeness, Chaeyeon and Sohee widened their eyes while watching the exchange.