"who am i to you?" i whispered to him.
maybe I was a fool for even asking. because I knew what he'd respond before the words had even left my mouth.
"no one," he replied a beat later, not a hint of hesitation in his cold voice. his eyes betrayed no...
a brief time set aside for a treasured activity; in between stolen glances and borrowed time
• chapter four • smoky dreams
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"YOU KNOW, I'VE NOTICED SOMETHINGCURIOUS. You've been throwing flames at the back of my head in every pharmacology class we had for the past weeks. Mind telling me what I did wrong to make you this angered?" He casually asked, eyeing me from the side.
Startled by his question, I unwillingly stiffened and struggled to think straight. I didn't reply right away as I tried to install the karaoke set in silence, busying my hands with the electric wires.
To be honest, I wasn't expecting a confrontation with him tonight. Especially not after the way he asked me for a karaoke battle and after I readily accepted it like the fool I was. Not even a second thought; I just eagerly said yes. Ridiculous.
I reminded myself that I was still mad at him, so I kept mum and avoided his burning eyes that always made me feel more shy than I should be.
"Must be my fault," Haruto glanced toward the ceiling and sighed dramatically. "Let's see. Was it because I heard you play piano? Mmm, was that a crime? Or are you still mad because I didn't come out of the water fountain like you asked me to?" He said in a joking tone.
I glared at him bitterly to shut him up. "You know why."
A prick of resentment twinged deep inside me as I pondered about our incident in the auditorium. It hurt my feelings. Did his friends in this same room even realize that I was the person they stared at with contempt and made a detour just to avoid being on the same path? Were they all two-faced like that?
Haruto didn't reply for a few seconds. His slight smile had vanished to be replaced by his usual stern face, like he sensed the unfortunate direction of my thoughts. I thought this had to be the end of our conversation for tonight. However, without any warning and startling me once more, he laughed out loud and threw his hands in the air, suddenly breaking the tension.
He pretended to be scared and imitated a higher tone of voice. "Oh no, I heard all about his terrible reputation! Absolutely foul. According to Park Jihoon, he must be the devil in disguise. I should stay away from him at all costs!"
"That's not what I sound like," I protested, finally turning toward Haruto to look at him sharply in the eye.
He instantly dropped the act and stared back at me with a neutral expression on his near flawless face. And he was taller than me, damn.
I went on to explain. "I don't care about your reputation or whatever. I hardly know anything about you, after all. It doesn't matter. But you really didn't have to treat me like shit when we bumped into each other in the auditorium. I might have spilled coffee on you, but you didn't have to humiliate me like that in front of practically everyone who was watching."
