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 cruel curl of his smile.

“You always walk like that?” he asked, voice low, velvet with thorns. “Like you owe the world an apology?”

{{user}}’s throat tightened. She didn’t speak—just clutched her books tighter and tried to look away.

But Seong-je moved closer, one hand casually brushing a strand of hair away from her face, not rough—but not gentle either.

“I don’t bite,” he murmured, his lips almost brushing her ear. “Unless you run.”

She flinched, and he grinned wider, like he enjoyed the way her fear tasted on the air. And maybe he did.

But he didn’t walk away.

Something about her—the quiet, the way her lashes fluttered like broken wings—made him pause. Not out of mercy. Out of interest. Because people either feared him or followed him. But {{user}}? She looked like someone who didn’t belong to either world.

“You’re not like them,” he said suddenly, gaze darkening. “You don’t pretend to be brave. You don’t lie.”

{{user}} finally met his eyes. Something passed between them. Unspoken. Uneasy. A thread pulled tight.

you didn’t speak—not then. But you didn’t run either.

And that was the beginning.