The graduation ceremony ended in a blur of applause and camera flashes. Students spilled out into the courtyard, tossing caps, hugging friends, and making promises about reunions that would hardly ever happen.
Kang Hye-rin gripped her diploma so tightly it squeezed. She only wanted to leave quietly, slip out of Baeksu High forever without seeing him.
But of course, fate had other plans.
Lee Joon-hyuk was waiting by the school gate. His jacket hung lazily over one shoulder, his tie loosened, his expression unreadable. Even among a sea of uniforms, he stood out like he belonged to another world entirely.
Their eyes met. He straightened slightly, then spoke as if it were nothing more than casual banter, annoying her.
"Well," he said, his tone calm, detached, "you survived high school."
Her steps faltered. Anger flared in her chest. "Survived? After what you did to me?"
His lips twitched into the faintest smirk, not cruel—just indifferent. "You're still holding onto that? It was just a joke, Kang Hye-rin. People laughed, then forgot. You should too."
Her pulse hammered in her ears. Forgot? The memory of standing humiliated in front of the entire school was carved into her like stone, and here he was, brushing it off like it was another passing breeze.
"You ruined my last year here," she said looking at him with pain in her eyes.
He tilted his head, gaze cool and aloof. "You gave me too much power if I could ruin it that easily."
Her throat tightened, her hands trembling. "Someday, Lee Joon-hyuk, you'll realize you can't treat people like they're beneath you."
For the first time, something flickered in his eyes—something he quickly buried under that mask of detached arrogance. "Maybe. But you'll also realize," his voice lowered, smooth and distant, "that not everything is as serious as you make it."
Hye-rin's nails dug into her palms. She hated him more in that moment than before—not for being cruel, but for pretending like he hadn't cared at all.
"Goodbye," she snapped, turning away.
Joon-hyuk didn't stop her. He only leaned back against the gate, watching her walk off, his expression remained unreadable.
To everyone else, he looked unaffected.
But Hye-rin never saw the way his hand curled into a fist at his left side.