The first time Seong-je saw {{user}}, she was trying to disappear.

Not literally, of course. But the way {{user}} kept her head down, shoulders tucked, footsteps nearly silent—it was like she believed she could vanish if she just tried hard enough. And maybe most people let her. Maybe they let her be invisible.

But Seong-je wasn’t most people.

He noticed the tremble in her fingers when she brushed hair behind her ear, the way her eyes flickered like broken lights when someone got too close. A fragile thing. Too soft for a place like this.

He leaned against the graffiti-stained wall near the school courtyard, a cigarette between his lips more for show than use, his dark eyes fixed on her like she was a puzzle he didn’t ask for—but suddenly needed to solve.

{{user}} felt his stare before she saw it.

Her steps faltered. She didn’t dare look up, not until the shadow of him stretched across her shoes. When she did, it hit her like cold water—the sharpness in his gaze, the curl of his smile.