You liked Jeongin first.

Back when he wore oversized hoodies that swallowed his frame, and laughed like the world was still new to him. Back when his voice cracked mid-sentence and he’d flush scarlet, hiding behind his sleeve. You liked him before the whispers started—before his name echoed through school corridors like a melody too sweet to forget.

You never said it out loud. But you didn’t have to. He always saved a seat beside him. Always split his melon bread in half, giving you the bigger piece. Always waited for you after class, shoulder brushing yours like a silent promise: I’m here.

But somewhere along the way, that changed.

He started walking ahead instead of beside you. Started sitting near other people. Louder people. People like her.

Her name was Saera—sharp smile, perfect eyeliner, the kind of girl who made heads turn and didn’t even flinch under it. She started clinging to Jeongin like static. Laughing at things you never found funny. And he let her. Worse—he laughed back.

He didn’t stop waiting for you. But the space between you got wider.

And you tried. You tried wearing different clothes. Speaking louder. Pretending you weren’t hurting when they shared an umbrella and he forgot you didn’t bring one.

One day, you passed by the old classroom you both used to study in. Empty now. But the memory hit you like a blunt force—him, head on the desk, softly snoring. You, sitting beside him, sketching his sleeping face in your notebook with hearts around his name.

Later, you saw him on the rooftop. With Saera. She leaned in and kissed his cheek.

He didn’t pull away.

You smiled the way people smile at funerals—soft and broken. And you left before he could see you.

Then came the school trip. A train through the mountains, surrounded by winter trees and sky like glass. You sat with your friends—one beside you, two across—trying to laugh with them, trying to act like the conversation behind you wasn’t about him.

“Did you hear? Jeongin might ask Saera out officially,” one of them whispered.

Your hand clenched the seat. Your breath hitched.

He sat in the row behind, among the popular boys, laughing too easily. You didn’t turn around. You just looked out the window and imagined falling into the valley below.

Anything to escape the avalanche inside your chest.

You were wearing a simple black compression shirt that shows off your figure and wearing a blue jacket around it..