Fake Lovers (1)
I knew I ought to be thinking something, but my brain had apparently gone on strike. Remarkably, not a single thought came to mind.
Or rather — even if I did manage to think, I had the distinct feeling I wouldn't be able to produce the right answer.
I took a moment to look her over. Those slightly downturned eyes, that straight nose, a gentle impression and a personality kind to everyone. She was tall for a girl, but that only made her look more like a model. Her dark brown, unpermed hair swayed with a glossy sheen, and even from a bit of a distance, a fragrant shampoo scent drifted over.
After that brief once-over, the most plausible answer occurred to me.
...A dare?
A beauty like this had absolutely no reason to confess to me. The only remotely possible explanation was a dare. Ah. If that was it, I could understand.
But handing out a dare like this on the first day of school, to a classmate you don't even know — that guy was clearly a psycho.
Even if the person carrying it out had been some ordinary classmate, getting a confession would make any guy's heart skip. But when it was Lee Yeonhee — rumored to be the most beautiful girl in the school — saying those words, my heart had no choice but to stop.
If it hadn't been me, someone would have died of a heart attack.
Not because I was swooning or anything like that.
Even as a dare, the mere fact of being confessed to by Lee Yeonhee would, the moment it reached anyone's ears, spread like wildfire. I'd be on the receiving end of every guy's jealousy and icy glares. I already hated drawing attention, and I didn't have any friends. The thought of being hated even more on top of that sent a chill down my spine.
I was turning Lee Yeonhee's words over in my mind for the umpteenth time when she spoke again, pulling me back to reality.
"Um... can you not hear me...?"
"...I can hear you."
"So... your answer...?"
I didn't need to ask what the answer was for. In this situation, there was only one thing that counted as an answer. Which is why I could reply without the slightest hesitation.
"Sorry."
I bowed my head to signal my refusal, and Lee Yeonhee's eyes went round. She let out a stunned little huh.
"Um... I think there's been some kind of misunderstanding."
See? I knew it. It was a dare after all. Starting tomorrow, my school life was fucked.
Just taking the dare seriously would be enough to get me labeled a tryhard, and on top of that I'd be branded the lunatic who rejected Lee Yeonhee's confession. Ahh... starting tomorrow, would lunchtime become me staring at the bathroom stall door and walls for company? My desk might have die scrawled across it, and my locker might be stuffed full of trash.
I was drowning in a flood of gloomy thoughts, having already given up, when Lee Yeonhee's next words yanked me back to reality.
"I'm not actually asking you to date me. I want you to pretend to be my boyfriend. Fake it."
......?
What the hell was she talking about? Out of nowhere, on the first day of school, she confesses to a classmate who's a complete stranger and then asks him to be her fake boyfriend? This isn't some light novel. The plot holes in this thing were insane.
Even so, my answer was already decided.
"Sorry."
I bowed my head once more, delivering my second refusal. Lee Yeonhee, who had unintentionally become a two-time confessor, looked utterly incredulous. Wait — she was the one who confessed, so was it really unintentional?
Having been rejected twice, she seemed quite flustered, as if she'd never imagined this outcome.
"......Would it be all right if I asked why?"
"Plenty of reasons."
"For example?"
"First of all, if we're fake-dating, we'd have to announce that we're going out, right?"
Lee Yeonhee thought for a moment, then answered.
"W-well, yeah?"
"That alone means I'll be getting jealous looks from every guy in the school. I might collapse from stress-induced appendicitis. Or before that, I might just vanish without a trace..."
"Don't you think you're exaggerating a little?"
"You need to understand the weight of your own words."
"So that's the only reason?"
"Isn't that enough on its own?"
"Not even close."
"Then let me ask you something instead. Why me, of all people?"
The bustling morning commute on the first day of school. It wasn't that I hated going to school, but hating the first day back was something every student couldn't help.
As I approached the front gate, the guys started greeting me.
"Morning, Yeonhee~"
"Good morning~"
A guy from last year's class whose name I couldn't even remember anymore greeted me. I returned it with a polite smile, and from the other side another guy started talking.
"Hey Yeonhee~ Did you see the video that went up on that Neotube channel yesterday? Wasn't it hilarious?"
"Yeah. It was pretty funny."
A Neotube channel I'd happened to talk about a few times. I had zero interest in it, but I played along anyway. I gave the guys who approached me halfhearted responses and headed into my assigned classroom.
I sat down in a random seat and was fiddling with my phone until morning assembly when bouncy footsteps that sounded like they ought to come with a cartoon thump-thump sound effect came running toward me from the back door.
A few heads shorter than me, short bright-brown bob, a lively personality — she just looked cute, like a puppy. My best friend, a bond that had lasted since middle school.
"Yeonhee, hi!"
"Hey, Naeun."
Naeun set her bag down at the seat next to mine, dragged her chair over toward me, and sat down.
"What's with our Yeonhee looking so dead first thing in the morning?"
"You already know without asking. Haa..."
I let out a weary sigh, and Naeun giggled.
"Yeah, yeah. It's not like this is our first day knowing each other. I know, I know!"
"The first day of school is draining enough, and then this first thing in the morning. What am I supposed to do..."
"You've got it rough. Being pretty is a crime, huh~ Hehe."
"...Stop teasing and help me think of a solution."
"Hmm... but those guys aren't going to give up with just any ordinary method, you know?"
Haa... I'm so tired. Why are they so incapable of giving up? I put up such a wall — they should know to back off. But there's no sign of that happening.
As I was thinking that, Naeun clapped both hands together as if a great idea had struck her.
"Ah! I've got it. How about this?"
"What?"
"Get a boyfriend!"
"What kind of... is that even a suggestion? You of all people know better than anyone that I'm dealing with this because of guys staring at me."
"Nope! Not a real one. A boyfriend for show."
"You're telling me to pretend to date someone?"
"Exactly! That way you can send the message that you're taken, so stop hitting on me."
"That does sound like a good idea..."
I hummed in thought for a moment, then continued.
"Most of the guys probably have a crush on me. Could I even find someone?"
"So what conditions are you looking for?"
"Hmm. First of all, he can't have any romantic interest in me."
"Why? Wouldn't it look more like a real couple if he did?"
"If there's even a little bit of actual interest, it's not fake anymore. So no."
"Fair point. What's the second?"
"This is the most important one. He can't look at me with lust in his eyes."
Those eyes are exactly why I've gotten so sensitive. This is the most important thing.
"Ah, right. You said you're really good at picking up on how people look at you."
I nodded in agreement, and Naeun asked,
"But is there even a guy like that at our school?"
She had a point, so I had nothing to say. Just looking at all the guys' gazes, there wasn't a single one without some kind of agenda. And when they stared so openly with those creepy eyes, it would be weirder not to notice.
As I was thinking that, the guys in class started gathering around. The second wave was beginning.
Ding-dong-deng~♪
I barely made it to lunchtime. Naeun and I decided to just hit the school store, buy some bread, and call that lunch. It wasn't that the school didn't have a cafeteria, but if I ate in the classroom I'd be facing the third wave, so I had no choice but to flee.
I ate my bread in exhausted silence for a long while before Naeun broke it.
"Hwaaa~ Who holds actual classes on the first day of school?"
"...Tell me about it."
I answered flatly, and Naeun switched topics.
"So, anyone look promising?"
"...No."
"Hmm... I took a look around during class. There's a guy sitting by the window at the far end."
"Ah... Han Juyeong, you mean?"
"Yeah. You know him?"
Thanks to those pointless self-introductions every class period, I knew even if I didn't want to. I gave an awkward little laugh and asked,
"So what about Han Juyeong?"
"Nothing much. During class everyone else was staring at you or sneaking glances, but that guy was just looking out the window."
"Hmmm..."
"Oh, speak of the devil, there he is!"
Huh?
I turned my head slightly and saw Han Juyeong not far away, eating bread by himself. But... why was he eating lunch alone? And at the school store, not in the classroom? Did he not have any friends?
"Naeun."
"Hm? What?"
"Why do you think he's eating alone?"
"Hmm... no friends?"
It was the kind of thing that would make the person in question cry if they overheard, but Naeun said it without a care. And looking at it objectively, that really was the only conclusion, so I couldn't say anything.
No friends, and according to Naeun he didn't seem to have a crush on me either... would someone like him be okay? If he had no friends, there wouldn't even be anyone to find out it was a fake relationship.
I filed the thought away for now and started walking back to class with Naeun. Even in that short walk to the classroom, the stares were overwhelmingly numerous. And it was the same once we stepped inside. People going about their business, then all their eyes gathering in one place the moment I entered. Familiar, and yet still so oppressive.
I wonder if I can find someone else decent...
In the blink of an eye, homeroom was over and it was time to go home.
I'd thought, There's no way there's nobody, right? — but they do say "there's no way" is how people get themselves in trouble.
Still, there was one person, so I figured I should at least talk to him. Trying to approach him in a classroom full of kids would be hard, though, so I asked Naeun to go ahead without me just for today, and waited.
Fortunately the kids cleared out of the classroom quickly. Whether he disliked crowded places or not, Han Juyeong stayed in his seat until everyone else had left. And once they were all gone, I slowly walked over to him.
"Han Juyeong."
At my question, Lee Yeonhee suddenly went quiet and sank into her own thoughts. I figured maybe she didn't even have a reason worth thinking about, and was about to sneak away thinking It doesn't have to be me, right? when—
"......Just because."
"...What?"
"I said just because."
"That's not even... that doesn't make any sense..."
"So you don't want to?"
"It's more that I'm not particularly keen on it?"
At my answer, Lee Yeonhee made a suspicious hmmm sound, then—
"Yeah? Then I'll spread a rumor tomorrow that you dumped me."
Oh for fuck's sake, why are you doing this to me.
"If I say I confessed to you and you turned me down, you'll end up getting dirty looks from the guys whether you want them or not, right?"
She said it with a little giggle. I was so dumbfounded my mouth just opened and closed, and Lee Yeonhee continued.
"So, can I have your number?"
I had no choice but to give it to her.
"I'll be going, then. See you tomorrow."
"Wait."
This time I was the one who stopped her.
"Hm? What?"
"Isn't there some other compromise we could reach?"
"Nope. There isn't."
Blunt. My frozen stance must have been funny, because Lee Yeonhee's mouth curved up at both corners as she whispered in my ear.
......Before I even had a chance to refuse, the power dynamic had flipped in an instant. Or had I been the subordinate one from the start?
Someone out there would probably call this a reward and go, Wait, this is actually great. But a chill ran up my spine, and I could only freeze.
Without even giving me time to collect my thoughts, Lee Yeonhee spun around and left first. I stood there for a long while before heading home with nothing but the phone number she'd given me.
"I'm fucked..."