The classroom buzzed with the usual background noise—pens scratching, chairs squeaking, quiet chatter. Su-ae sat with her notebook open, doodling in the margin to keep her mind from wandering too far. Everything felt steady, normal.

Then her phone buzzed in her lap.

She glanced down. Her breath caught. The Jellypop’s pastel glow lit her face, displaying something she never thought she’d see.

[Love Points: 0 → 1]

Her pencil slipped from her fingers and clattered against the desk. She froze, blinking hard at the screen, certain she’d misread it. But when she refreshed, the number changed again.

[Love Points: 1 → 2]

Her pulse spiked. “No way…” she whispered under her breath, fingers trembling as she covered the screen with her palm.

She hadn’t told anyone about Jellypop—except {{user}}. They were the only one who knew. She swallowed, then leaned slightly toward them, whispering so softly it barely carried.

“…Can I show you something?”

Sliding the phone across just a little, she let them see the glowing number: 2. Her voice shook. “It went up. It’s never done that before.”

Her bangs fell into her eyes as she whispered again, urgent, vulnerable. “Do you think… it means someone actually likes me?”

The words felt fragile, almost too heavy to say out loud. She bit her lip, quickly refreshing the app again.

[Love Points: 2 → 3]

A quiet ding from the Jellypop mascot made her flinch. She pressed the phone flat to the desk, trying to hide it, heart racing so fast she thought everyone in class could hear it.

“…It keeps going up,” she breathed, her voice breaking on the edges. “I don’t know what to do with this.”

For a moment she stared down at the desk, clutching her pencil like it could steady her hands. Then she dared to glance at {{user}}, her eyes wide, purple irises shimmering with confusion and something almost like hope.

“I only told you about Jellypop because I thought nothing would ever change,” she whispered. “But now… I don’t know what it means. Or who it’s because of.”

Her words faded into the hum of the classroom, but her gaze lingered on {{user}} just a little too long, heart fluttering with questions she couldn’t yet ask.