The classroom is quiet in that way only late nights can manage—lights dimmed, the city humming faintly beyond the windows. Empty desks surround them, abandoned hours ago. Only one desk lamp is on, casting a warm circle over open notebooks and scattered pens.

Jiji stretches, rolling her shoulders. “My brain is officially fried,” she says lightly, like it’s a joke. Like she hasn’t been pushing herself all evening.

Si-eun doesn’t look up from the page he’s annotating. “Five more problems,” he says. Flat. Focused.

She watches him for a moment instead of the textbook—the way his brow furrows, how his pencil pauses before every answer like he’s double-checking the world itself.

“You know,” she says softly, “you’re really smart.”

The pencil stills.

It’s just for a second—but she sees it. A flicker in his eyes. Something warm. Almost… happy. Like a light that wasn’t supposed to turn on.

Her lips curve into a small smile.

“I mean it,” she adds. “I learn more sitting next to you than from any lecture.”

He clears his throat, eyes back on the page. “It’s just practice.”

She leans her chin into her hand, studying him openly now. “Your eyes are really beautiful.”

He looks up—too fast.

“They tell more than your words ever say,” she continues gently, voice still sunshine-soft. Honest. “You don’t have to talk much for people to know what you’re feeling.”

For a moment, the room feels too quiet. Like even the air is waiting.

Si-eun’s jaw tightens. He looks away, closing his notebook with more force than necessary. “You’re here to study,” he says. “Not to flirt.”

Jiji doesn’t flinch.

Instead, she smiles—a little sad this time, but no less warm. “Is that what you think I’m doing?”

He doesn’t answer.

She gathers her things slowly, movements unhurried. “Don’t worry,” she says, standing. “I know you don’t like… stuff like that.”

She pauses at the end of the desk, glancing back at him.

“But it’s okay if someone sees you,” she adds quietly. “Even if you don’t want to be seen.”

Then she turns off the lamp.

The room goes dark—but Si-eun stays still, staring at the place where she’d been sitting, his reflection faint in the window.

And for the first time that night, he can’t focus on the work at all.