Fake Lovers (3)
The instant Lee Yeonhee announced our relationship—right before morning homeroom—a crowd of students tried to swarm our desks. Then the homeroom teacher walked in, and the whole thing fell apart.
Thank you, teacher...
I let out a long breath, thinking I was safe. That peace lasted all of ten minutes. Homeroom ended, and the kids came flooding back as if this was exactly where they were supposed to be.
Which is how Lee Yeonhee ended up beside me, weathering a full-scale interrogation.
"Who confessed first?"
"When did you two start talking?"
"How far have you gone?"
"What do you even like about him?"
Hey now. That last question was a little unfair to me, don't you think?
I was staring at the wall, pretending none of this had anything to do with me, when someone dropped into the seat in front of mine.
"Hey!"
Kang Hanbyeol...?
"Uh... yeah. Hey."
I answered warily, wondering what this guy could possibly want with me.
"You're Han Juyeong, right?"
"...Last I checked."
"I'm Kang Hanbyeol! Let's get along!"
"Yeah... likewise..."
I scratched the back of my neck, feeling awkward. Kang Hanbyeol let out a bright, easy laugh that was almost pleasant to hear.
Every school has those people—kids you've never spoken a word to, whose faces you barely know, but the second someone says their name you go, Oh, that guy. Lee Yeonhee was one of them. So was the guy sitting in front of me.
"Extrovert" didn't even begin to cover it. He was a Super Insider through and through.
I was just wondering what business he could possibly have with me when he beat me to it.
"So, who confessed first?"
...You too, huh.
"Wouldn't it be better to hear it from Lee Yeonhee herself?"
"I get the feeling it'd be more fun coming from you."
Why was everyone looking for entertainment from me? Was my face that funny-looking...?
"But... Lee Yeonhee...?"
Kang Hanbyeol was looking at me like I'd grown a second head.
What? Had I messed up?
I was still trying to figure out what I'd done wrong when my phone buzzed. I glanced down. A text from Lee Yeonhee.
The message...
The name...? What about the name?
I was still turning it over when another text came in.
Ah... I'd screwed up. I would've known better if I'd ever actually dated anyone...
I snuck a look back up. A pair of eyes was still watching me, openly puzzled.
I had to come up with something, so I wrung my brain out for an excuse.
"We only started dating yesterday, so I guess old habits are dying hard..."
"That so? Don't most people switch to casual names once they start talking?"
Tch. This was why I couldn't stand sharp-eyed people.
I flicked a glance sideways, silently begging for backup. What I found instead was Lee Yeonhee, looking at me like my excuse was the funniest thing she'd heard all morning—and, at some point, a bunch of kids from other classes who'd crowded in to watch.
What is this, a zoo? We're not monkeys in a cage...
With this many eyes on us, I can't do a thing...
I was about halfway to giving up when Yeonhee took my hand and, without warning, laced her fingers through mine. I sat there frozen, too startled to react. She just smiled sweetly and lifted our joined hands for everyone to see, showing us off.
Most of the guys deflated on the spot and wandered off to do their own thing. Even Kang Hanbyeol let go of some of his suspicion.
But even with a good number of them gone, plenty still remained.
We announced it this morning and they're already this clingy. Unbelievable.
I was just then getting a real sense of Lee Yeonhee's popularity when the warning bell rang, the teacher walked in, and the group finally broke apart.
Once she'd confirmed they were dispersing, Yeonhee leaned in, brought her lips to my ear, and whispered.
"From now on. Call me. By my name."
The words tickled my ear, and my shoulder twitched. She grinned, looking thoroughly pleased with herself.
...Just sitting there and taking it wasn't in my nature.
I leaned toward her ear in turn and whispered back.
"Got it. Yeonhee."
This time it was her shoulder that jumped, the same way mine had. She'd been on the offensive all morning; she clearly hadn't expected a counterattack, and the reaction was even better than I'd hoped.
So this was what they called impact...? It was more fun than I'd expected.
Yeonhee snapped her gaze forward a second later, pretending nothing had happened. Not that it fooled anyone—her ears had gone bright red.
Break, class, break, class. Repeat that enough times and, before I knew it, it was lunch.
I stood up out of habit, ready to head for the school store, when someone caught my sleeve and stopped me cold.
"Where are you going?"
"To get lunch..."
"You're going to leave a girlfriend this pretty all by herself?"
"..."
Yeonhee was looking up at me with sparkling eyes. It was too much pressure. I had no choice.
"...Let's go together."
Then again, nothing looks weirder than a guy eating lunch alone when he has a girlfriend. If I got careless and someone figured out this was fake, I'd be the one eating the fallout. I'd agreed to help her, so I might as well do it properly.
"Okay!"
Yeonhee beamed, bright as anything. A few of the guys in our class were already staring, looking thoroughly bewitched by that smile.
She disappeared toward the other side of the classroom, saying she was going to grab a friend, and came back a moment later. A short girl was with her.
"Hiii! Nice to meet you! I'm Kim Naeun!"
Kim Naeun greeted me with a sunny smile and stuck out her hand.
She's like a puppy.
The thought had barely formed when Yeonhee asked, in a voice too low for Naeun to hear,
"She's like a puppy, right?"
So it wasn't just me. Objectively puppy-like, then.
I gave a small nod and started to introduce myself.
"Hey... I'm..."
Naeun cut me off before I could finish.
"Han Juyeong, right?"
"Well, yeah, but... do we know each other?"
"You wouldn't know it, but you're kind of a celebrity right now. As Yeonhee's boyfriend."
...We'd announced it this morning. And my name was already making the rounds?
Terrifying. The popular kids' grapevine was a thing of horror.
I shut my mouth, too stunned to say anything, and Yeonhee started tugging at me.
"Alright, introductions are over. Shall we hit the store?"
I trailed after them like an idiot, without a word.
Eating in the classroom or at the store would have been a circus—I didn't even need to look to know that—so we found a quiet bench with no one around.
"So you went with Juyeong in the end?"
"Yeah. He turned out to be more fun than I expected. And he fit the criteria, too."
The two of them talked like I wasn't even there.
Criteria? What criteria?
I looked between them, lost, and Yeonhee filled me in.
"Oh, right—you wouldn't know. Naeun's the one who told me to get a fake boyfriend in the first place."
I'm sorry—why?
"...Thanks for the vote of confidence."
"It's all thanks to this genius's impeccable eye!"
Kim Naeun planted both hands on her hips, puffed out her chest, and let out a triumphant little hmph.
She was begging for a noogie.
There could not have been many people in the world capable of getting on someone's nerves this efficiently.
After lunch, things only got worse.
The rumor spread faster than I could possibly contain, and half the school came pouring in to see if it was true. Nobody actually talked to me except Kang Hanbyeol, but with Yeonhee sitting right next to me, I got swept into the storm anyway.
I wasn't free of it until the final bell.
I slung my bag over my shoulder and glanced toward Yeonhee. Unlike me, she was still buried in a crowd, even at dismissal. I slipped out of the classroom while no one was looking and headed home.
My feet dragged. I was exhausted. Then a voice called out behind me, out of nowhere.
"Whoa, heading home alone and leaving the school's number one beauty behind~"
"As expected, I guess Lee Yeonhee's boyfriend really is built different."
The tone was all mockery. I turned around and found exactly who I expected.
"...Kang Hanbyeol."
"Aww, don't call me that stiffly. You'll hurt my feelings."
"What are you doing here...?"
"Well, you looked like fun."
That word again. Fun.
"So why are you going home by yourself?"
"Lee Yeon— I mean, Yeonhee looked busy."
"Hmm~ that so?"
He kept tossing questions at me, and I kept giving him half-answers, until we hit a fork in the road and split off.
"Alright, I'm gonna head out. See you tomorrow."
"Yeah. Later."
Wait. Why was he going back the way we'd come...?
I walked on after we parted, and before long I was at the apartment. I stepped into my room.
This. This was the quiet I'd been craving...
I changed clothes, settling into that calm, and was just about to rest when the phone in my pocket buzzed.
There was only one person who would text me. I checked it immediately.
I could feel the chill coming off the words. Something had gone very wrong.
I scrambled to send an excuse.
I'd tried to dodge a trap and stepped on a landmine instead.
Hah... my life...
The announcement of Juyeong's and my relationship turned the school upside down.
Thanks to that, today felt about three times busier than usual. And I don't mean that as a figure of speech.
At lunch I introduced Naeun to Juyeong, and Naeun told him she already knew we were a fake couple.
Then time slipped by, afternoon homeroom ended, and I'd figured at least the walk home would be easy. Without class to hold them back, though, everyone came flooding toward me.
I fielded their questions halfheartedly, and by the time the crowd finally thinned, quite a while had passed.
Have I had a day this exhausting recently...?
I can say that with certainty: no.
Dating isn't all sunshine, I guess...
If Naeun had heard that, she probably would have said, "That's just because it's you."
Juyeong crossed my mind, and I looked over at his desk so we could walk home together.
An empty chair. A vacant desk.
He'd slipped out and left me behind.
A flicker of indignation rose in me. In a sulky mood, I yanked out my phone and started typing.
The reply that came back was a lame excuse.
He just left because I looked busy...?
And what was he planning to do if someone caught him?
In reality, Kang Hanbyeol had already caught him—not that Yeonhee had any way of knowing that.
In that case, I'll make sure you never even think about running away again.
Fueled by a completely unnecessary surge of motivation, I sent my reply and started walking home.