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The evening before, Yu-ri Lee returned home with her hands still on her cheeks, her heart pounding.
"I'm home…"
As Yu-ri came in, her older sister, who was lying on the living room sofa in her underwear watching TV, poked her head up. Her dyed brown hair was in a layered perm, and like her sister, she had long eyelashes, but unlike her, she had a mole around her mouth instead of under her eye. Although her body was slightly less voluptuous than her younger sister's, she was objectively a beauty who belonged to the top tier.
"You're here? I guess the student council president is busy if she's only getting back at this time on the first day of the semester."
"Huh? Oh…"
"What's wrong with her?"
Yu-ri Lee's older sister, Yu-min, sensed something unusual about her younger sister's mood. She got up and approached her.
"Why is your face so red? Your eyes are all blurry."
"Huh? Oh, nothing happened."
"Yes, it did. You've never made that face before. Well, judging by this sister's incredible sixth sense… It's a guy! Right?!"
Yu-ri Lee jumped up and pushed Yu-min away.
"Oh, cut it out! It's not like that! And put some clothes on!"
"Who is it? Who? Is it that guy you've been hanging out with for a long time? The one you called 'Backstroke'?"
"Gong Young-bae! And it wasn't him! Oh, no…"
Yu-ri Lee had made a slip of the tongue, and Yu-min's eyes lit up even more as she clung to her younger sister.
"Oh my, look at her! Did you find another man? So what is Gong Young-bae? Just for fun? I didn't know my little sister could be a fisherman, too. You're an adult now! Who is the other guy? Is he handsome? What's he like? Did you two already do it?"
"Oh, it's not like that! And by the way, why do you think I'm like you?! I'm going to take a shower, so go away!"
Yu-ri Lee pushed her older sister away, went into her room, and closed the door. Yu-min lay back down on the sofa and muttered.
"Sigh, Ji-unnie broke up with a guy, but her younger sister is a fisherman… The world is so unfair. It's unfair."
After taking a shower and finishing dinner, Yu-ri Lee could still feel the lingering touch of Han Seong-jin's big, hard forearm on her cheek.
'This is crazy… I've never felt anything like that from Young-bae… And with the top-ranked student in the academy… I must be losing my mind…'
No matter how hard she tried to erase the memory, she couldn't deny the feeling she had experienced. Then, Yu-ri Lee's thoughts suddenly turned to the full lunch box Han Seong-jin hadn't been able to eat.
'Ah… Now that I think about it, he said it was for his dinner and tomorrow morning's meal…'
Han Seong-jin had sacrificed his food for her, even though it wasn't much. As much as she disliked guys like him, Yu-ri Lee's conscience ached too much to accept his help and pretend not to notice.
Yu-ri Lee closed her eyes and stood up, making a decision.
'Yes, I'll just get rid of the debt! Otherwise, I might end up in trouble, and who knows what he'll do using today as an excuse!'
She went to the kitchen and began to cook, showing off her housekeeping skills.
"It's really pathetic. Pathetic."
All the while, she listened to her older sister Yu-min muttering behind her.
"So you packed the lunch box yourself?"
"Yes, yes! It doesn't mean anything else, so don't get any ideas! I just scraped together the leftover food at home!"
To save money, I hadn't been able to buy a new lunch box and had only eaten a triangle kimbap for breakfast, so I was quite hungry. At that moment, Yu-ri Lee's lunch box was like a lifeline from heaven.
When I opened the lid, a full meal was revealed: steaming white rice, Viennese sausages with ketchup, stir-fried anchovies, stir-fried kimchi, and egg rolls.
"Sniff. Mmm~ Smells good~ Maybe it's because it's a lunch box made with love by our student council president. The smell is special, right?"
"Who, who put affection into it! This is just repayment for the debt I owed you yesterday! And classes don't start for a while, so why did you already open your lunch box?"
"Just by looking at it, it seems like it took a while to make. You should eat it when it tastes best, before it gets cold. And I'm hungry now because I only ate a single piece of food."
I immediately picked up the spoon in the lunch box Yu-ri had packed and began to eat. Yu-ri Lee's homemade lunch was as delicious as it looked—much better than a convenience store bento.
As I was eating my lunch box in the classroom before the first period had even started, the students' attention immediately focused on me. It didn't bother me, but Yu-ri Lee, who was leaning on the window frame next to my desk, lowered her head and didn't know what to do, as if she felt burdened by their stares.
In the end, I saved Yu-ri Lee once again.
"Hey, what are you guys looking at? Is this the first time you've seen someone eat? I can't even eat because of how much you're staring."
"Hehe…!"
When I spoke with a bit of force in my voice, the students immediately turned their heads and looked straight ahead. After I had created an atmosphere of fear, Yu-ri Lee watched me calmly eat and then said something.
"Did you really have to scare them like that?"
"You felt burdened by their stares, too."
"Well, that's not it! You could speak a little more gently!"
"That doesn't suit me."
While Yu-ri let out a small sigh, I ate my lunch box with my eyes lowered. Yu-ri Lee's eyes widened when she saw the lunch box with not a single grain of rice left.
"Did you eat all of that?"
"I heard that when something is delicious, it goes down well. And besides, it's proper to finish food that someone went to the trouble of making for you."
"That's… what they say? Hmm, then give it to me now."
"Just leave it in your bag until after school, okay? It'll smell bad and be hard to wash if it dries out. I'll wash it properly and give it back, so just leave it alone."
"You… you'll wash the dishes?"
"Did you think I couldn't even do that?"
"No, that's not the question. It's just that… the image of you washing dishes is very unexpected…"
At that moment, the classroom door opened, and the homeroom teacher came in for the morning assembly.
"Alright, is anyone missing? Let's take attendance… Hmm? Sniff. Wait a minute, what is that smell? Who was eating?"
The teacher wasn't about to start an inquiry but instead sniffed the air as if she had smelled the lunch box I had just eaten.
"Who forgets their lunch box in the classroom, making it smelly in the morning? Who is it?"
"I ate it."
The penalty period for cleaning the classroom after school was extended by three days.
As she sat down, the words of Han Seong-jin—who had eaten every last grain of the lunch she had packed—kept ringing in her head.
It's proper to finish food that someone went to the trouble of making for you.
'Young-bae… he never finished my lunch box…'
Even when they were in elementary or middle school, she had packed lunches for Gong Young-bae a few times when they went on picnics or festivals. However, Gong Young-bae never ate it all. He had various excuses, saying he was a picky eater, that his stomach was full, or that he was afraid of gaining weight. Although she packed it for him, she always saw the lunch box come back more than half-full, and even though she never showed it, she felt hurt inside. Was her lunch box tasteless? Was she being useless to Young-bae?
On the other hand, Han Seong-jin had said her lunch box was delicious. He even made extremely considerate remarks that seemed out of place for him, like saying that it was hard to make and that it was polite to eat it all out of sincerity. For the first time, Yu-ri saw her lunch box satisfy someone else. Even though that person was Han Seong-jin, she felt a sense of satisfaction and joy welling up in her heart.
Even after eating everything, he was considerate of Yu-ri until the very end, promising to take care of all the troublesome cleanup and return the lunch box to her.
Had she ever received this kind of consideration from Gong Young-bae?
Yu-ri Lee stopped thinking, afraid she would end up making unnecessary comparisons.
'I shouldn't worry about strange things for no reason. Basically, everyone is different. That guy isn't that great, and Young-bae isn't weird. Right.'
But there was no way to stop her heart from pounding.
Meanwhile, Gong Young-bae glanced at Yu-ri Lee while biting his fingernails. Only one day had passed, but Yu-ri's attitude toward Han Seong-jin had noticeably softened. This was Yu-ri Lee, who had always been uncomfortable sharing the same space with people like Han Seong-jin, and now she had even brought him a lunch box.
'Yu-ri… That lunch box… You didn't bring it for me, did you? You've never packed a lunch for anyone but me… Why for a bastard like him…?'
Gong Young-bae held his head, denying the reality.
'Well, she must have found a weakness. Otherwise, there's no way Yu-ri would do anything for a bastard she hates so much. We can talk about it later.'
Gong Young-bae decided to talk to Yu-ri Lee around lunchtime to calm himself down. He had no idea that this would only drive the two of them further apart.
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