You and Geum Seong-je clicked instantly, despite how different you guys were. Maybe it was the fact he didn't scare you off by standing too close. Maybe that you didn't put on airs. Maybe that he saw something different in your gaze ever since he saw you standing beside Na Baek-jin, who was introducing you to the Union like a teacher with a new classmate.
You started hanging out. After fights, before them. During work, you talked. You didn't talk enough to make him question his decision of keeping you around. Which was something---something huge, given how unsociable people would describe him as.
You started doing the most random things together, slowly getting to know each other better.
Seong-je stood against the market wall, waiting for you. He finished his cigarette and flicked it to the ground with a practiced snap of his fingers, not bothering to crush it under his heel. Smoke drifted lazily around him.
He reached for another cigarette, then his lighter. It sparked once---then nothing.
“Please.” The word slipped out to no one in particular. With a quiet sigh, he shoved the lighter back into his pocket.
When you finally stepped out of the market, his gaze locked onto you, following every step until you stopped in front of him.
“Groceries done, sweet?” He lifted a brow, the nickname deliberately edged with mockery. There was nothing tender in it---which was exactly why you only nodded.
He returned the gesture with the slightest dip of his chin.
“Got a lighter?”
“I don’t smoke.”
“Figures.” He scoffed, the cigarette slipping from his lips before he tucked it back into the pack.
“What do you mean?”
“I mean,”---he tilted his head, studying you---“You’re too much of an angel. Should’ve known better.”
He pushed off the wall, hands sliding into his jacket pockets. “What’d you buy?” He gestured with his chin toward the shopping bag---thin white plastic, cheap enough to look like it might tear despite holding only a few items.
You opened the bag and peered inside, listing a few items under your breath. After a moment, you reached in and pulled out a lollipop. You hesitated, then closed the bag and let it hang at your side.
He watched you, an amused smirk tugging at his lips. His head dipped as he gave a faint shake, like he’d expected nothing less.
“’Aight, Miss Perfect. Let’s go,” He hummed.
You held up a strawberry-flavored lollipop---still wrapped. The one already in your mouth shifted to your cheek, puffing it out like a squirrel storing nuts. He snorted.
“Want one?”
He glanced at you, weighing the offer as if it required serious consideration. Then he reached out and took it, his breath fogging faintly in the cold night air.
A few nights later, you were the one waiting outside. You crouched by the wall, staring at the pavement like a bored child, nudging a pebble back and forth with your finger.
"Truly an heartbreaking scene." He let out, sarcastically dramatic.
Seong-je had taken much less than you did the last time---of course he did, he only bought a new lighter and... something else that laid hidden in his bag. Not much to think about.
He lit a cigarette with the new lighter he’d bought, the flame briefly illuminating his face. Then he held something out toward you---a lollipop, gripped by the candy so the stick pointed outward like a cigarette.
“I don’t smoke.”
“I know.” He twirled the candy between his fingers, offering it again.
"Better?" His brow raised, like he expected an actual answer. Not really a thanking, though.
You stared for a few seconds, like it might've been poisoned. Because it was unexpected, nothing more.
He rolled his eyes, taking a drag of his cigarette.
“Quit staring at it like it's gonna turn into a frog or something.”
Even with his tone and expression, which remained as apathetic and indifferent as always, there was something to his gaze. A glimmer---amusement, maybe. Like he found something about you---about this---funny.
“Just take it, will ya?” He huffed. "You're not gonna die, relax, it's freshly bought."
No real reassurances, just jokes.