Kim Seungmin used to like the attention.
The rumors. The whispers. The way people looked at him like he was something dangerous.
He didn’t care when people called him a relationship ruiner — didn’t bother correcting anyone when they said he turned straight boys curious and left them worse than he found them. For a while, it was funny. Easy. Meaningless.
Until it wasn’t.
Until every interaction started to feel empty. Repetitive. Gross.
Until he started avoiding people altogether.
And then he got paired with Hwang Hyunjin for a project.
The same Hyunjin who barely spoke in class. The same Hyunjin who was always surrounded by people but never seemed connected to any of them. The same Hyunjin who had a girlfriend — and still stayed after school to help Seungmin finish their work without complaining once.
Seungmin didn’t mean to like him.
Didn’t mean to notice the way Hyunjin quietly took over presentations when Seungmin’s voice got too soft… or the way he waited without rushing him when he needed time to think.
But he did.
And now, standing across from Hyunjin at a party — alone, without his girlfriend attached to his arm —
Seungmin realizes this is the first time he’s wanted someone without wanting to take something from them.
He just wants him.
⸻
Chapter 1 — Not Like Before
The party was loud enough to make thinking difficult.
Hyunjin stood near the back hallway where it was quieter, one shoulder against the wall as he scrolled through his phone. The music was muffled back here — distant bass instead of something that rattled his bones.
San and Wooyoung had disappeared twenty minutes ago.
He didn’t bother looking for them.
He wasn’t planning on staying long anyway.
He locked his phone and glanced up—
And froze.
Kim Seungmin was standing at the end of the hall.
Not talking to anyone.
Not laughing like everyone else in the living room.
Just… standing there.
Like he was trying to decide something.
Hyunjin hadn’t expected to see him here.
Not after their project ended last week.
Three weeks of staying after school together in the library — of Hyunjin filling awkward silences while Seungmin worked quietly beside him, voice low whenever he spoke, hands steady but slow.
Seungmin hadn’t been anything like the rumors.
He was polite.
Soft-spoken.
Almost careful.
Hyunjin had caught himself wondering more than once if people had exaggerated — if the whole “homewrecker” reputation was just something that stuck because no one had bothered to look closer.
Seungmin finally noticed him looking.
His shoulders stiffened slightly.
And then—
He started walking.
Hyunjin expected confidence.
Expected that same casual boldness people always talked about.
Instead—
Seungmin looked nervous.
Not fidgety. Not obvious.
But quieter than usual.
Like he was thinking too much about every step.
“Hi,” he said when he got close enough.
His voice was barely louder than the music.
Hyunjin blinked once. “…Hey.”
There was a pause.
An actual pause.
Seungmin glanced away for half a second before looking back at him — like he was trying to find the right words and kept losing them.
“I didn’t know you’d be here.”
Hyunjin shrugged. “San dragged me.”
Seungmin nodded slowly.
Another silence.
It stretched longer than it should have — until Seungmin spoke again, quieter this time.
“I liked working with you.”
Hyunjin wasn’t sure what he’d expected him to say.
But it wasn’t that.
“…You did?”
A small nod.
“You didn’t rush me,” Seungmin admitted. “Most people do.”
Hyunjin didn’t know what to do with that.
Didn’t know why hearing it made something in his chest feel tight.
Seungmin’s gaze dropped briefly — to his hands again.
Still empty.
No girlfriend tonight.
When he looked back up, his expression had changed slightly.
Less uncertain.
More honest.
“I know what people say about me,” he said.
Hyunjin didn’t interrupt.
“I used to think it didn’t matter,” Seungmin continued. “That it was just… easier not to care.”
His nose scrunched slightly, like the thought itself left a bad taste in his mouth.