My Senior Keeps Trying to Seduce Me
I said my goodbyes and headed home. After Minho and Yujin left, I took a cold shower to steady my racing thoughts.
The water cascaded over me. It’s possible. Making my first love come true wasn’t impossible. I wasn’t lacking in any obvious way. I’d gotten into this university through decent grades, I kept up with exercise, people often said I had a good personality, and my face was… well, decent-looking. Hmm. Even though I’d accepted the truth, saying it about myself still felt a little embarrassing. Still, when I thought it over, it really did seem possible.
I spent a full thirty minutes giving myself a mental pep talk before finally stepping out of the shower.
The hair dryer hummed as I dried my white hair and glanced at my phone. There was a notification. I thought it might be from Minho, but the moment I checked the screen, my mind went completely blank.
“Uh…”
I’d been in such a good mood, but suddenly my head felt fuzzy. I stared at the phone like I was in a trance and, without thinking, pressed the call button. It was completely unconscious.
The line rang only briefly before she picked up, almost as if she’d been waiting with the phone in her hand.
“Hello?”
Her voice flowed like gentle waves, calm and soothing. My heart immediately began to pound.
“…Hello?”
“Yeah. Yeonwoo-ya.”
That familiar voice. The reason it felt so familiar was because of the way she said my name. For some reason, it felt like I’d heard it before.
“Why did you call?” I asked, more comfortably than I expected.
“Just because. I wanted to hear your voice?”
“…”
Sunbae, hitting my heart like that should be illegal. Was this what flirting sounded like? Not that knowing helped. I was already completely swept away.
“Sunbae.”
“Yeah?”
“Do you like me?”
“Yeah. I do like you?”
…Huh?
The words Yujin had said earlier flashed through my mind. I’d asked without really thinking, but the answer I received was enormous.
“What? You like me?”
“Yeah. Of course I like you~ You’re such a cute junior.”
Ah. The reply that came after I asked again was so disappointing that I couldn’t close my mouth. For a second, I felt like an idiot for misunderstanding.
“…Really?”
“Why? Is something wrong?”
“No. Not really.”
I had the strange feeling that I’d lost this round.
A soft chuckle came through the line. I told myself it was just my imagination. Probably.
“Yeonwoo-ya.”
“Yes.”
“Do you have any plans on Saturday?”
“Plans?”
“Yeah.”
“Hmm…”
I didn’t have any real plans. But there was something important I needed to do.
“I do need to study.”
“Study?”
“Yes. I have a lot of material I fell behind on during my military service.”
I needed to catch up on everything I couldn’t do while I was enlisted. I’d originally planned to start studying not long after discharge, but I kept putting it off until it had become this Saturday.
“Are you going to the reading room?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Then do you want to study with me?”
“With you, sunbae?”
“Don’t want to?”
“No, it’s not that… I just feel like I’d be a burden.”
If we studied together, I’d probably end up being the one learning from her. No “probably” about it. I was certain.
“It’s fine. I’ll teach you.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. How could I say no to my beloved junior?”
“…”
She’s definitely saying that on purpose to seduce me.
The longer we talked, the more I came to understand exactly what flirting was.
“Yeonwoo, I want to see your face.”
Everything she said was flirting. Every single word seemed designed to tempt me, and my heart kept walking a tightrope of nerves.
Before I knew it, two whole hours had passed while I listened to her gentle, affectionate voice and felt my heart hammering away.
“I’ll hang up now.”
“Okay. Sleep well.”
“You too, Yeonwoo-ya. Sweet dreams.”
“You as well, sunbae.”
The call ended with a click. I set the phone down, collapsed onto my bed, and buried my face in the pillow.
Ah…
It felt like a dream. So this was how happy it made you to talk on the phone with the person you liked. The combination of that warm feeling and the soft blanket was pure heaven.
You two knew about this the whole time? Minho and Yujin, those rotten friends of mine. I fell asleep hoping Saturday would come quickly.
It was Friday, just one day before our appointment, and I was completely out of it.
“Gu Yeonwoo.”
“…”
“Gu Yeonwoo.”
“Huh? Oh, what?”
I was so distracted I hadn’t even heard Minho calling me on the way to the cafeteria.
“…Are you sick?”
“I’m fine.”
It was just hard to focus. I wasn’t actually ill.
“What’s going on with you?”
“Well…”
It wasn’t really for any special reason.
“All I can think about is Shin Hari sunbae…”
The things she’d said to me yesterday kept echoing in my head.
“…”
Minho looked like he had a lot to say but had decided not to. He just stared at me.
“Then why don’t you just confess? The way she acts around you, the way you act around her, and that face of yours… it feels like it’s already over.”
“I don’t know about that.”
“What’s there not to know? You fell for her face too, didn’t you?”
“…”
I had nothing to say. Anyone could see that I’d fallen for her at first sight.
“Still, sunbae is probably different.”
Some people fall in love at first sight. Others don’t.
“That could be true, but… anyway, what did you talk about yesterday?”
“She asked if I had plans tomorrow.”
“And?”
“I said I had to study, so she suggested we study together.”
“Really? Then…”
Minho suddenly stopped mid-sentence.
“…?”
I followed his gaze and immediately understood why.
“Yeonwoo-ya.”
At the end of his line of sight, standing in front of the student cafeteria door, was Shin Hari sunbae. She was looking at us. More precisely, she was looking at me.
“…Gu Yeonwoo. I’ll head in first? Handle it yourself.”
“Huh? Oh, okay.”
Minho quickly made himself scarce for my sake.
She walked toward me with elegant steps that made her long cardigan and skinny jeans look like something a famous model would wear.
“Hello.”
Thanks to last night’s phone call, I was able to greet her fairly comfortably. Even though the stares from everyone around us and my own pounding heart were a bit overwhelming.
“Hey. Hi.”
“What were you doing?”
“Waiting for you.”
The reason she was waiting for me was obvious, since we were standing right in front of the cafeteria.
“You want to eat together?”
“Yeah.”
“…Then let’s eat together.”
I wasn’t about to throw away the meal Minho had basically set up for me. We went inside the cafeteria. As expected, the moment we sat down with our food, countless eyes turned toward sunbae.
“Doesn’t it bother you?”
“The stares?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm? If it bothers you, I can make them stop.”
“…Is that even possible? Wouldn’t it ruin your image?”
“If you want me to, I can do it.”
She spoke as if it were possible simply because I was special.
…There she goes again.
The flirting that had started yesterday was continuing today.
“…Let’s just eat like this.”
I didn’t entirely dislike it when she said things like that, so I stayed quiet and didn’t pay attention to the others. Shin Hari sunbae, sitting across from me, smiled softly and reached out to gently brush my ear.
I flinched at the sudden touch, but her delicate, considerate fingers quickly put me at ease.
“Your ears are red.”
Another thing I’d learned from last night’s call was that sunbae had quite a playful side.
“…Let’s eat quickly.”
“Hehe. Okay, got it.”
She gave a small laugh, withdrew her hand, and continued eating.
“Sunbae.”
“Yeah?”
“Why did you ask for my number?”
“Because I like you.”
She’d said the same thing yesterday, but it still felt like there was another reason.
“No other reason?”
“Hmm… because you’re handsome?”
“…”
From that answer, I could tell she had no intention of telling me the real reason. It felt like she was hiding something, and that made me a little disappointed.
“Are you sulking?”
She leaned forward and asked.
“…No. Not really.”
“You are sulking, aren’t you?”
“I’m not sulking.”
I really wasn’t. I was just a little disappointed.
“You’re sulking because I won’t tell you.”
So there really was something? Her guess had just turned into certainty.
“Sunday.”
She spoke with a faint smile.
“You’ll understand then.”
The way she said I would understand rather than that she would tell me felt strange.
“What does that mean?”
“Who knows? You’ll find out on Sunday, right?”
She gave a relaxed smile that clearly said she wouldn’t explain any further. Seeing that, my disappointment melted away again. Did that smile mean she liked me? Or was she just looking at me as a junior? Right now, all I could tell was that her feelings were positive.
“Yeonwoo-ya.”
Shin Hari sunbae called my name when we had almost finished the soybean paste stew and side dishes from the cafeteria.
“Yes?”
“What time should we meet tomorrow?”
“Whatever time is convenient for you, sunbae.”
I wanted to match her schedule, since she clearly had a lot going on.
“Really? Then I’ll call you at ten.”
“Okay.”
She tapped her elegant, beautiful fingers lightly on the table.
“Does it bother you when I call you sunbae?”
“Not really.”
In fact, not calling her sunbae would make me feel guilty, so the title actually felt comfortable.
“Why do you ask?”
“I used to find it uncomfortable when people called me sunbae.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. So how about calling me something more comfortable?”
Her goal was to get me to use a more casual title for her. I didn’t mind.
“What should I call you?”
“Hmm… Noona?”
It seemed like it was partly for me, but mostly because she really wanted to be called that.
“That sounds good. Will you call me noona?”
“…Have you never let anyone call you that before?”
“Nope. Not a single person has ever called me that.”
It seemed like an obvious fact.
Then… am I the first?
For some reason, that made me happy.
But she’s probably going to tease me about it.
If I said it now, she’d find some way to mess with me.
“I’ll start calling you that from tomorrow.”
“Sounds good.”
She accepted it readily, but the way she touched her lips with a slightly regretful expression was strangely seductive.
She stood up.
“Sorry. I have my next class, so I’ll head out first.”
“It’s fine.”
I had already finished eating too. But she didn’t leave right away. She stayed for several seconds.
“Sunbae? Aren’t you going?”
“Hmm…”
She tilted her head as if she were debating what to do.
“It should be fine.”
After muttering to herself, she placed one hand on the table and leaned her upper body forward.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Suddenly I was face-to-face with her red eyes at an incredibly close distance. My heart raced faster than I thought was physically possible.
Wow…
Even up close, she was breathtakingly beautiful. She reached out and gently brushed my lips with her finger. To others, it probably looked like a kiss.
“…Sunbae?”
“Mm. It’s nothing.”
She straightened up, glanced around, and said,
“I’ll go first then. Tomorrow you’re calling me noona, okay?”
She waved as if nothing had happened and left.
“…”
A storm had swept through in an instant and disappeared.
“What was that? What did she just do?”
“Did I see that wrong…?”
“No way…”
No matter what people around me were saying, I was trapped in my own world, touching my lips.
“They were so soft…”
It had only lasted a few seconds, a fleeting moment, yet the sensation still lingered vividly. Right now, only one thought filled my head.
…Does sunbae like me too?
That kind of behavior would be perfectly normal for people who were dating. Whether it was flirting or something else, if this wasn’t her liking me, then what was it?
I’ll find out tomorrow.
If we were alone together in one space tomorrow, a situation where I could be certain would surely arise. Thanks to that anticipation, the rest of the day passed in the blink of an eye.