vengeance | woosan

18

The next day at school, I decided to hang out with Seonghwa, Hongjoong, and Mingi at the student lounge.

"Enough about my day, but look at you, San, your Instagram blew up! You're changing your style, and is that—is that a hickey?" Hongjoong pointed out the mark. "It's been staring at me."

I sheepishly blushed, covering my neck with my hand. "I got laid," I admitted, causing the group to cheer, drawing attention from others in the lounge room. "Cool it!"

"Dude, you're glowing. Do you like this person?" Seonghwa leaned in from his armchair.

"Not like that, it was just a drunk night, one-night stand," I shrugged, biting the bottom of my lip.

"Does Yeonjun know?" Mingi asked, and I nodded.

"Yeah," I chuckled awkwardly, knowing deep down I had just slept with Chanhee to release the sexual tension I had built up for Yeonjun. And it hadn't fully gone away. "Can we not talk about it?"

"I like this new style you've got on," Hongjoong changed the subject. I looked at the random shirt I had put on and chuckled. "Yeonjun's."

"Ah, I see. How is he, by the way, with the whole Wooyoung thing?" Seonghwa asked, his eyes curious as he leaned back in the armchair. The afternoon sunlight filtered through the large windows, casting warm rays across the student lounge.

"He's okay, he's just taking a break from dating," I replied, shifting uncomfortably in my seat. The conversation had veered into territory I wasn't prepared to navigate.

"I never hear anything good about that Wooyoung guy," Mingi chimed in, his expression thoughtful as he leaned forward. "You know my friend Chae Young." His mention of her name sent a shiver down my spine, and I couldn't help but tense up.

"No," I blurted out.

"Oh, she's a fashion major," Mingi continued, oblivious to my reaction. "She was talking to Wooyoung, they went to a party and he ditched her and she found him having sex with someone." he revealed Chae Young's story that I didn't even know about.

"The man is like a sex addict," Mingi concluded, shaking his head in disbelief.

"Imagine being that lonely to just cheat left and right," Seonghwa added, his tone tinged with sympathy. "He can't be mentally well. We talk about people like him in psychology class-"

I couldn't bear to hear any more. Standing up abruptly, I forced a smile. "I'm getting a snack," I announced, my voice sounding strained even to my own ears. With a quick nod to my friends, I made a beeline for the exit, desperate to escape the suffocating weight of the conversation.

I went to the vending machine and punched in the code for the snack I wanted, only to feel hands covering my eyes. "Guess who," a fake deep voice rang in my ear.

"Yeonjun," I guessed to play it safe, even though I knew it wasn't him. Yeonjun was home, as far as I knew. The hands uncovered my eyes, and I turned around to see the blonde artist smiling at me.

"Surprised?" Wooyoung asked, sounding a little nervous, and I forced a smile onto my face.

"Very. Are you okay?" I asked, leading him into an empty staircase hallway so my friends wouldn't see us. Wooyoung nodded. "Yeah," he said, scratching the back of his head.

"I just wanted to say that I'm sorry," Wooyoung said suddenly, his voice tinged with genuine remorse. "I'm sorry for what I did to your friend, I'm sorry for punching you, I'm sorry for being an asshole and playing with your emotions." He apologized earnestly. "I strangely like you, San, and when I like someone, it scares me because I'm afraid they'll break my heart, so I just break things off before something happen to me." He admitted, and I listened, trying to maintain a poker face.