I Start with a Bad Hand!

Agnes, who had become quite familiar with opening my door naturally, glanced at the white box on my desk and asked, looking at me seriously, “What’s that?”

“Someone gave it to me as a gift,” I replied.

“Who? And what is it?” 

Instead of answering, I gestured towards the box, suggesting she open it. Agnes tilted her head in curiosity and opened the lid. Inside the box, the yellow fabric rustled and shimmered in the sunlight.

“…A dress? For the spring ball? But you said you weren’t going.”

I wasn’t sure whether to nod because it was indeed a dress, or shake my head since I wasn’t going. So I just gave a vague headbang as an answer. Agnes narrowed her eyes and pulled out the dress. It was adorned with yellow jewels that sparkled in the midday light. I looked at the dress with an indifferent expression. Receiving something like this from Hayden, with whom I wasn’t that close, felt a bit overwhelming.

‘How could he just hand it over and leave like that?’

This morning, when I opened the door to the knocking, Hayden stood there with a large box. A bad feeling passed through me as I saw him. Standing in the doorway, blocking his way, I looked up at him, but before I could ask why he was here, Hayden smiled brightly and said, “Oh, you were inside. Thank goodness.”

“Why are you here, senior…?”

“I just wanted to give you this.”

With that, Hayden handed me the large box. The box was quite heavy, matching its size, and as I staggered slightly from the weight, Hayden grabbed my hand firmly to steady me.

“Even if I can’t be a magic toad, I wanted to do this much for you.”

“…What?”

No way… Hayden gently patted my shoulder once and then my head before turning to leave.

‘Oh, I can’t even scold him for patting my head because the box is heavy.’

When I hurriedly put the box in my dorm room and came out to catch him, Hayden was nowhere to be seen.

“A senior I know gave it to me as a gift.”

“All the seniors you know, I know too. Which senior would give you something like this?”

“Exactly.”

I just laughed off Agnes’s genuinely curious question. But I felt strangely troubled. The excuse of not having a dress was just a convenient reason for not attending the spring ball.

‘I never thought someone would actually gift me a dress.’

“…Is this a cultural difference too?” I wondered as I shook my head where Hayden had patted. As he said, he really seemed to have no sense of personal boundaries.

“Are you really going to wear this?” Agnes asked, her expression as disapproving as mine. It didn’t seem like she was merely dissatisfied with my vague answer. Her face clearly showed she was holding back something she wanted to say. I nodded to Agnes.

“You can speak honestly.”

“It really doesn’t suit you.”

“Thanks for your honesty.”

“Why on earth would someone give you a dress in this color?”

Agnes frowned as if the bright yellow dress, reflecting the sunlight, hurt her eyes. After alternating her gaze between me and the dress for a moment, she finally let out her restrained thoughts.

“It looks like a dress from several decades ago.”

“Really? It doesn’t look much different from other dresses to me.”

“You really don’t know anything, do you?”

Then Agnes kindly began to explain in detail why this dress was outdated. She pointed out the material of the fabric, the type of lace, the method of gemstone inlay, and even the overall style of the dress, all of which were far from current trends.

“Wow, but it’s quite interesting. How did he manage to miss all the trends so skillfully? It’s like he gave you a dress that belongs in a history book.”

Agnes’s harsh critique made me feel a bit uncomfortable, even though her words were funny.

‘But Hayden is a foreigner… Maybe he just doesn’t know….’

I recalled the attire of students from Sereti, where Hayden was from. Their clothes were mostly simple pieces of fabric. Even at banquets, they wore elaborate pieces of fabric. So it was possible that Hayden wasn’t familiar with the styles trending in the Empire. After all, he’s a male student and might not be sensitive to dress details.

‘But I heard he has complicated relationships with women. Would someone like that give a dress so unsuitable for the recipient?’

I looked at the delicate lace of the dress and then folded it back, handing it to Agnes.

“I was going to return it anyway. It doesn’t make sense to keep a dress for a ball I’m not even going to.”

“Right? Wow, but even looking at it again, the sense of style…”

“The person who gave it is a foreigner.”

“That explains it. Well, then.”

Looking at Agnes’s flushed cheeks from embarrassment, I pondered how to meet Hayden.

‘Well… come to think of it, I’ve never approached him first.’

For some reason, I always happened to run into Hayden by chance. We never met intentionally. So where on earth should I look for him? In truth, I didn’t know much about Hayden. I only found out last fall that he was from Sereti. I didn’t know what classes he took, what club he belonged to, where his dorm was, or even what time he usually ate. Now I had to return this dress to someone I knew so little about.

‘This is troublesome.’

I muttered to myself, feeling the strain in my neck from the weight of the box containing the dress.

***

In the end, I had no choice but to seek Irene’s help. I figured she would know more since we were in the same grade. The student council president, who I hadn’t seen in a while, didn’t hide her pure disgust as she asked me again.

“…Why are you looking for Hayden Saturn?”

“Oh, he gave me something, and it feels a bit burdensome, so I wanted to return it.”

“What did Saturn give you?”

Agnes, with a disgruntled expression, answered.

“A dress.”

Irene’s face hardened, clearly not expecting this, and she asked again.

“A dress?”

“It’s extremely tacky.”

At those words, Irene raised an eyebrow, and Agnes, as if taking it as a signal, removed the lid of the box I was holding and showed the dress to Irene.

“He gave you this dress?”

The second daughter of the Bardy Trading Company nodded vigorously at Irene’s question. Irene’s expression, which had been slightly displeased, became indescribably complex after seeing the dress.

“Yes. I made an excuse that I wasn’t going to the ball because I didn’t have a dress. But I never thought he would actually gift me a dress.”

I rambled on, explaining that I missed the chance to refuse it immediately and now I didn’t know where to find him. I had no one to ask. Irene listened quietly before letting out a shallow sigh.

“I don’t share any classes with him, but I know he’s a member of the music club.”

“Music club?”

Nodding, Irene leaned in slightly and asked me softly.

“There’s nothing else, right? Just in case…” Irene began, but then closed her mouth. “No, never mind. Is this all you need?” she finished, leaving her sentence hanging. It was unusual for Irene, who usually completed what she started, to leave her words unfinished. Finding it strange, I nevertheless dismissed it and thought, ‘If he’s in the music club, then Frank might be there too.’ I shrugged it off and headed towards the music club room.

When I knocked on the door, a student holding a string instrument bow greeted me with a puzzled expression. I told him, “I’m looking for Senior Hayden Saturn. Can you tell him Degoph is looking for him?” and waited.

The music club’s practice room looked like a well-organized mess, possibly from a burst pipe. Despite efforts to clean up, traces of dirt and disarray remained on the walls and floor. 

When Hayden finally appeared, he was dressed more neatly than usual in his school uniform. As he approached me with a welcoming smile, I awkwardly bowed my head.

“…So, I’m here to return this,” I said, handing back the dress with a brief explanation. Hayden nodded with a peculiar smile.

“Really? That’s too bad. I think it would have suited you well.”

For some reason, I recalled Agnes repeatedly saying, “The dress is spitting you out. No, it’s throwing you up,” while holding the dress up to my face. I couldn’t help but let out a small laugh. Seeing this, Hayden also began to laugh, his gentle eyes curving into crescents.

“Why are you laughing?” I asked.

“Because you laughed. Why did you laugh?”

Unable to tell him that Agnes said the dress looked like vomit, I stifled my laughter and replied, “I just can’t imagine this dress suiting me.”

“No, I think it would look good on you. I swear, no one else could pull it off as well as you.”

At that moment, a thin thread of discomfort cut through the lingering amusement. Meeting Hayden’s gaze, I noticed something strange. His eyes, which I had always thought of as a soft hazelnut color, looked more like wet earth today.

Forcing a smile through the unfamiliar sensation that stiffened my muscles, I asked, “You swear on the ground?”

His smile deepened as he replied, “Yes, I swear on the ground.”