Harmonious Love

First Kiss (7)

“Why do you keep trying to seduce me?”

“!”

Mo Yeon’s eyes widened. Tae Young-won was serious, but this was happening inside the lecture hall. Another group was presenting at the front. Mo Yeon’s head turned busily from side to side with rabbit-like eyes.

“You keep trying to seduce me in new ways, it’s provocative.”

“Sunbae…!”

However, even as Mo Yeon frantically looked around, Tae Young-won’s eyes remained fixed on Mo Yeon.

After confirming that no one had heard their conversation, Mo Yeon barely managed to calm down. Mo Yeon whispered with sharp eyes.

“It’s not like that.”

“It’s not?”

“You said it yourself back then, sunbae. You said everyone does it. That they usually drink after exams are over.”

“Hmm.”

But well, does the reason really matter?

“…It’s true.”

He couldn’t predict what Mo Yeon wanted to talk about, but this was unexpected. Perhaps it was because Mo Yeon wasn’t particularly fond of alcohol to begin with.

“Well, alright. Let’s do that.”

Tae Young-won nodded willingly. Mo Yeon explained several times that there really wasn’t any other intention. Tae Young-won nodded multiple times saying he understood, but Mo Yeon couldn’t shake off the feeling of being wronged.

“I’m telling you, it’s true.”

“I said I understand.”

“Really. From last time, you keep saying I did something…”

Even as Mo Yeon spoke with lowered eyebrows, Tae Young-won shrugged. Still, neither of them could fully believe the other’s words. The same conversation repeated several times, and in the end, Mo Yeon was the first to break away.

“You know you have a style that really irritates people, right?”

“Oh? Usually when someone’s irritating, it ends there. You can’t stand being with someone who doesn’t irritate you anymore because it’s boring.”

“Huh…”

Mo Yeon sighed deeply and turned away.

Looking at Mo Yeon like this, he remembered something he had forgotten. In fact, it was a thought that had been troubling his mind recently.

Originally, the end of this relationship was set for this semester.

His eyes, staring into space, were lost in thought.

***

The university area was bustling with people everywhere to celebrate the end of the semester.

Even though it wasn’t late yet, there were already drunk people, and there were gatherings that looked like end-of-semester parties. Tae Young-won asked several times if a quieter place wouldn’t be better, but Mo Yeon stubbornly insisted on a bar near the school.

For two weeks, the two had been busy with exams, hardly having time to breathe. Since their homes were so close, they ate meals together every day, but they avoided spending more time together than that.

Especially when it came to studying, Mo Yeon absolutely refused to do it alone with Tae Young-won. Mo Yeon was originally someone used to doing everything alone, and most of the classes the two took were different anyway.

But avoiding study time together wasn’t just because of that issue. Having learned a lot while preparing for the presentation, Mo Yeon rarely let down their guard at Tae Young-won’s house.

During those two weeks, Tae Young-won tried to lure Mo Yeon at every opportunity, suggesting they study together at his place or asking Mo Yeon to rest a bit after meals, but Mo Yeon desperately avoided it in various ways. As a result, contrary to their worries, both were able to focus on their final exams.

“Isn’t it too noisy? You don’t like this kind of thing, right?”

Mo Yeon quickly shook their head at Tae Young-won’s repeated question.

“I told you, it’s really fine.”

Then, looking around the bar, Mo Yeon picked up and ate some of the snacks provided as basic side dishes.

How many times had they been to a bar like this since coming to university?

Except for stalking Tae Young-won after discovering the effects of yang energy, it would be fair to say it had never happened. Except for that one time in freshman year, that is.

When Mo Yeon had just entered the Business Administration department at Korea University, there happened to be a classmate whose birthday was at the beginning of the semester.

The classmate was handed a huge beer mug, big enough to fit a person’s head, filled with a bomb shot mixing all kinds of alcohol. They picked Mo Yeon, who happened to be sitting right in front, as the target to help them drink it. Mo Yeon had somehow naturally been dragged to sit there, but was not enjoying it at all. They just wanted to go home quickly.

‘Drink it quickly, Mo Yeon. You and this person have to empty this together.’

It was a fact Mo Yeon learned much later, but that gathering was set up under the pretext of other excuses to bully Mo Yeon. Even the birthday classmate, probably swept up in the atmosphere, was in on it, as Mo Yeon found out later.

At that time, Mo Yeon had already clashed with Sunbaes over student council fees and such. It was a time when the stigma of being an “outsider” was already being created.

‘What are you doing? Drink it quickly.’

‘I don’t want to.’

Mo Yeon had no intention of drinking that alcohol, whether they had noticed that the gathering was actually set up for them or not. Looking inside, even the snacks were now floating in the alcohol. They had clearly only been pouring various types of alcohol, but… when did they put the snacks in?

Ugh, Mo Yeon finally couldn’t help but frown. Mo Yeon was by no means someone with a strong stomach.

The Sunbae, whose name Mo Yeon couldn’t even remember now, pushed the glass towards Mo Yeon once again. Mo Yeon pushed his hand away.

‘Ah!’

The huge glass, shocked by the impact, sloshed its contents, and the alcohol spilled onto the Sunbae’s pants. Unfortunately, it landed right on the crotch area, not even on the thigh.

‘Sunbae, you drink it all you want.’

After saying that, Mo Yeon fled from the bar.

“Wow, so you really did that back then? Spilled alcohol on the Sunbae’s pants saying if they were going to make you drink this, you’d just go home?”

That incident was what spread the rumor about the “outsider” of Korea University’s Business School throughout the entire department.

“I didn’t do it on purpose.”

“That’s crazy. It’s fortunate you didn’t meet Park Hyung-su then.”

“It was fortunate that it was before Park Hyung-su came back from his leave. Now, well, Tae Young-won would cut anyone off if they even tried to mess with me. He’s always hanging around like this.”

Han Chae-yeon and Kim Jung-hyun’s eyes sparkled. They were Sunbae students at the time, either on leave or busy with studies, so they had only heard about the situation through rumors. There probably isn’t a person in this world who wouldn’t find it interesting to hear about such an incident from the person involved.

Except for Tae Young-won, who had been sitting next to Mo Yeon with a sullen face for a while now.

“Aren’t you two leaving?”

“Honestly, we’ve never seen Young-won care for a junior like this before.”

“…”

Tae Young-won’s words were simply ignored. Hearing such things from others’ mouths made Mo Yeon feel somewhat embarrassed, and they awkwardly smiled. They glanced at the face sitting next to them. Tae Young-won’s face was still full of discontent.

“Why has Tae Young-won’s expression been like that since earlier?”

“Why are you two so oblivious and butting in? I still don’t understand why you’re sitting here.”

The problem was that on the day of the long-awaited appointment with Mo Yeon, these uninvited guests had inserted themselves at will.

“…”

Mo Yeon glanced around cautiously. Fortunately, Tae Young-won’s expression wasn’t bad. However, even though he was smiling, there was clearly a sting in his words.

“Mo Yeon said it was okay for us to come, why are you making such a fuss?”

“Just because someone says you can come doesn’t mean you actually should if you have any sense.”

Why would someone who usually puts on airs suddenly act like this? Kim Jung-hyun and Han Chae-yeon were Tae Young-won’s most comfortable classmates at school, but it seemed like this was the first time they had seen him show such obvious discomfort.

Han Chae-yeon clicked her tongue and leaned towards Mo Yeon, whispering.

“Would he act like this if a classmate had just been dumped? I’m telling you, sometimes he really seems like a heartless bastard.”

“…”

How did she know? Mo Yeon felt nervous, wondering if it was okay to let them catch on like this. But in reality, Tae Young-won didn’t seem to care much.

“Why are you bringing up the breakup again? I was just starting to forget about it…”

“Oh right, sorry.”

Kim Jung-hyun had been dumped by his long-term girlfriend during the exam period and was still unable to escape from his deep sorrow.

“Oh right, Mo Yeon. Your glasses.”

Han Chae-yeon, looking for an excuse to change the subject, called out to Mo Yeon as if she had just remembered something.

“My glasses?”

“Yeah, you’ve been wearing those glasses a lot lately, right? See, this kind of thing makes you much cuter! What suddenly got into you?”

“It does look much better to my eyes too.”

Mo Yeon was wearing the glasses Tae Young-won had given as a gift even now.

“These were a gift from Young-won sunbae… I like them too.”

Mo Yeon smiled unconsciously and fiddled with their glass. After taking a small sip, they heard a soft laugh from beside them.

It was the first gift Mo Yeon had ever received from someone else in their life. A gift from someone else was quite special to Mo Yeon.

Moreover, unlike the old glasses that were always treated strangely, even others complimented these new ones, saying they looked good. Mo Yeon couldn’t help but feel a sense of pride.

“This guy gave them to you? Why?”

Han Chae-yeon asked.

“He’s the type who wouldn’t even get a gift for his girlfriend if he had one.”

“Yeah, he’s not really the type to care about those things.”

“Right. What’s gotten into him?”

Mo Yeon glanced at Tae Young-won.

It was with a slight sense of smugness, being the only one who knew about his past relationships. Mo Yeon thought Tae Young-won would know this fact and return a playful look as usual.

But strangely, there was no expression to be seen on Tae Young-won’s face.