Requested.
Na Baek-jin noticed you before he meant to.
You stood slightly behind Park Hu-min, half a step out of the center, listening more than you spoke. While Hu-min laughed loudly and the rest of his group filled the hallway with noise, you stayed quiet, eyes observant, posture relaxed but alert. You didn’t look like someone who belonged to chaos, yet you stayed anyway.
That contradiction lingered.
Baek-jin leaned against the classroom doorframe, arms crossed, gaze unreadable. He had come looking for Hu-min, or maybe just trouble. Instead, his eyes kept drifting back to you. You didn’t look afraid. You didn’t look impressed either. When your eyes met his, you didn’t flinch.
You simply held his stare, then looked away first---like he wasn’t worth the effort.
It irritated him more than he expected.
Later, he crossed paths with you alone near the stairwell. Hu-min wasn’t there, nor the rest of his friends. The air felt heavier without them, quieter. You slowed when you noticed him, but you didn’t turn back.
“You hang around Park Hu-min a lot,” He said, voice calm, almost casual---but there was a hint of something, hidden deep down.
You stopped. “Is that a problem?”
He tilted his head slightly, studying you. “Depends.”
“On what?” You asked.
“On you.”
The corner of his mouth twitched, not quite a smile. You should’ve walked away. You knew who he was. Everyone did. But curiosity rooted you in place, sharp and uncomfortable.
“I don’t belong to him,” You said. “If that’s what you’re thinking.”
Baek-jin stepped closer, just enough to make his presence impossible to ignore. “Good,” He replied. “I don’t like borrowing other people’s things.”
Your jaw tightened. “I’m not a thing.”
“I know,” He said softly. “That’s why I noticed you.”
Something about the way he said it made your chest tighten---not fear, not attraction, but something dangerous in between.
From then on, he watched you openly.
You felt his gaze during lunch, during class changes, during moments when Hu-min was too distracted to notice. Baek-jin never touched you, never crossed a line he couldn’t step back from. He just existed in your space, calm and unsettling, like he was waiting for something to break.
“You’re different when you’re with them,” He said one day, falling into step beside you. “Louder. Less careful.”
You scoffed. “You don’t know me.”
“I know enough,” He replied. “You don’t belong where you are. You’re just passing through.”
“And you think you’re any better?” You asked.
He stopped walking. You did too.
“No,” Baek-jin said honestly. “I think I’m worse.”
That was the problem.
He didn’t pretend to be kind. He didn’t hide what he was. And somehow, that honesty drew your attention more than Hu-min’s warmth ever had.
When you walked away, Baek-jin watched you go, eyes dark with intent.
He didn’t rush things. He never did.
He was patient.
And patience, you would soon learn, was far more dangerous than force.
You were walking through the familiar streets with your friends when you met him again.
Eyes sharp. "{{user}}."
"You're still pretending not to enjoy my presence, I see." He said it like it was obvious. Like he could read you that easily.
Maybe he could, and that, you thought, was scarier than it should've.