#47. Arrest
#47. Arrest
Si-eun, who had arrived before me and snagged a spot in the corner of the cafe.
Black straight hair, the classic hairstyle that drives guys wild.
A face even paler than Na-eun's fair skin, almost to the point of looking ghostly.
Si-eun was flaunting that overwhelming visual just like when I first met her.
Thinking it looked kinda off for a guy like me to be sitting with her, I grabbed a coffee and plopped down across from her.
"Minho oppa. Where'd you stop by? I thought I'd be later."
"Ah. Just chatted with a junior for a bit."
Couldn't exactly say my dick got grabbed by Na-eun, got hard, and I had to cool it down.
"Yeah? Hmm~ Then wanna check this out first?"
In that short time, Si-eun had dug up some actually useful materials and spun her laptop screen toward me.
"This is from some overseas site. Check out this case..."
Even as I listened to Si-eun's explanation, I could tell she was pretty damn serious about architecture too.
I'd noticed it from her back-and-forth with Hwi-min earlier.
Si-eun-ah. You.
You're an Architecture Villain.
"So, oppa, if you could find some articles or stats on floating population, that'd be great."
"Okay. Not hard. But it'd be nice if the data was easy to find."
Not just architecture—any field really—depended wildly on your topic when it came to materials.
Take a specific building: if it was world-famous or award-winning, you could snag equipment plans and details. But for some no-name with zero data, flipping through ledgers was it.
"Still, it's in Seoul, so there should be stuff."
"Yeah, probably."
And so Si-eun and I spent about two hours just gathering data, not exchanging a single word beyond presentation talk.
"Ah. Hungry."
Why does focusing on something always make you hungry?
Felt like a seriously unfair setup.
You should get hungry from working out and moving, not from sitting still slurping coffee...
Si-eun peeled her eyes off the screen at my unconscious mutter and looked at me.
"Huh? Oppa hasn't eaten either?"
"What? You haven't?"
"I skipped breakfast this morning scared I'd be late for class, so zero meals so far."
Hmm... Probably best to eat something...
But Na-eun kept nagging at me somehow.
If Na-eun caught wind, I'd be in for some serious torment...
Though yeah, we'd hooked up, but our relationship was still just senior-junior.
Not the widely known boyfriend-girlfriend type, more like...
Master and slave...
Nah, not quite that either.
Somewhere fuzzy between lovers and dom-sub.
That's where Na-eun and I existed.
"Yeah? Wanna grab food then?"
Hell~ I'm not trying to do anything with Si-eun, just starving and wanna eat—what's the harm?
"Yeah! Sounds good!"
"Campus cafeteria then?"
"Ah... um... that famous restaurant by school. Can we go there? If you'd come with..."
Famous restaurant?
What? Some new spot I don't know about?
Makes sense as a fourth-year, but still.
"Where?"
"Name's... Hajin's Rice House...? I think."
...That's the place I've been scarfing down since freshman year.
"You've never been there till now?"
"Must be super famous, huh?"
"Everyone at our school knows it."
Si-eun gave an awkward smile.
"But this is my first semester here this term. Makes sense, right."
Ah. True that.
I'd forgotten she was a transfer student amid all the frequent run-ins.
"Then let's go there. Their spicy chicken stir-fry is killer."
"Really? Thanks, oppa."
Si-eun flashed a bright smile.
Whenever Na-eun smiled like that, my spine chilled, but Si-eun's grin just had me awkwardly smiling back as I stood.
"Alright. Let's go."
"Yeah!"
At the restaurant, I ordered their signature dish.
Si-eun seemed to waver over this and that, but I straight-up snatched the menu.
"If you're here, you eat this."
"I-is that the rule?"
"Yeah. No regrets. Trust me."
Was hungry anyway, and brought her since she'd never been...
Her staring blankly at the side dishes.
Me chugging water.
Awkward silence settled in.
Only now was I clocking the situation.
Me, right now... no blackmail or anything...
With this pretty girl...
Sure, just extending presentation prep, but realizing it made my mouth glue shut.
"Oppa."
Si-eun broke the ice first, right when I was wondering what to say to a girl.
"Yeah?"
"Oppa. You dating Na-eun?"
"Pfft."
The water I was sipping nearly shot back up my esophagus.
"N-no...?"
"Really? You two seem sus."
Hmm... Yeah, two people with zero prior connection had been glued together around campus lately.
"Why? That obvious?"
"Kinda?"
"But nah, not dating. Just got closer recently."
"I see."
Perfect timing—the food arrived, cutting off Na-eun talk.
"Whoa~ Yeah, this is it!"
Seeing the grub, a satisfied grin spread across my face.
"Wow! Epic. Oppa, hold the spoon—lemme snap a pic first."
Ah... right.
Girls always gotta post this stuff on SNS...
Should've dated more to know.
Na-eun didn't seem big on SNS anyway.
Never seen her photo food despite eating together tons.
Wondering what pics Na-eun even takes, I suddenly recalled the one she sent the other night.
...Is that what cameras are for, Han Na-eun.
"Sorry! Let's eat quick!"
"Yeah, yeah. Dig in."
After that, no words needed between us.
No forced chit-chat.
Just enjoy the spicy chicken stir-fry.
I rolled the ramen noodles around the rice cake and shoved it in—pure bliss incoming.
This is the shit...
"Oppa. You're eating like it's the best thing ever."
Si-eun set down her chopsticks for a sec and smirked at me.
"Why? Not good for you?"
"No, it's delicious. Just your face looks so happy."
"'Cause it is."
What's the point of making money?
Just to savor these little happinesses, right.
"Oppa seems kinda funny somehow."
"Not 'cause I look funny, right?"
"Aw~ Why twist it like that~"
We polished off the fried rice too, and with the awkwardness faded, we swapped school life stories.
Main topic, as always: trashing profs.
No matter how unfluent I was with girls, I could roast profs with flair.
"That fucker needs his skull cracked for real. Wanna bash him with the model."
"Whoa, for real."
"Right? Makes no sense. Do that in two days?"
Hated how these profs tossed crap knowing they weren't making it.
After venting, only some rice grains left on the hot plate.
"I'll pay, so head out."
"Yeah!"
Bellies full, we beelined to the cafe across the street.
Still needed a couple more hours to wrap data hunt.
Snagged window seats, ordered drinks, sat down.
But human psychology: full belly, zero work motivation...
"Si-eun-ah."
"Yeah?"
"What's your hobby?"
"Love movies. Reading books. Oh! Lately, been reading web novels a lot."
"...Web novels?"
"Ah~ Kinda like webtoons but all text novel vibe...?"
As a web novel author, she was gearing up to explain web novels to me.
"I know 'em. Like 'em too."
"Whoa! Really! What kinda ones, oppa?"
...I like my own novels best.
Now dealing with... kidnapping, imprisonment, training, breeding sex...
Couldn't say that, so I named some mainstream hit.
Si-eun gushed how fun it was too and dove into spoilers.
Honestly, not totally my taste, but mainstream has its charm.
And novel talk with her was kinda fun.
"Ah. But honestly, I thought the gate escape episode dragged a bit."
"Yeah, that's prime drop-off zone."
'Cause even I almost bailed.
Tongtong.
Sudden tapping on the window glass—I whipped my head around.
And there...
Na-eun, glaring at me with utter contempt.