Chapter 17 Part 2

You don’t remember that we decided to keep our distance, do you?

That’s probably what it was. At Lee Jun’s sarcastic question, Chaeheon glanced around for a moment before meeting his eyes again.

“It’s because there were no other seats here.”

“Here?”

Lee Jun was about to click his tongue at the ridiculous statement, but then unconsciously looked around. Seeing that the seats were already full and the empty spots in between weren’t easily visible, he closed his mouth.

“When did everyone arrive?”

He hadn’t noticed because he was lost in thought. Chaeheon, discerning Lee Jun’s thoughts, naturally put down his bag and sat next to him.

“You don’t have a hangover or anything, do you?”

Lee Jun barely resisted clicking his tongue at Chaeheon’s graceful movement as he settled onto the chair.

“I’m fine.”

“That’s a relief.”

In the interrupted conversation, Lee Jun looked at the coffee in front of him. Although he had exchanged his own for it on Friday, today only an Americano that Chaeheon had bought was sitting on the desk. It was placed in front of him, so it was probably given for him to drink, but unsure, he looked up at Chaeheon.

“Are you giving this to me to drink?”

“Yeah.”

Chaeheon nodded indifferently. It’s not like he just picked it up on the way, so why act like that… Of course, it was a coffee he was receiving without any compensation, so he should refuse it, but…

Lee Jun stared at the coffee seriously. At the simple crossroads of whether to refuse or not, Lee Jun pondered for a moment before picking up the Americano with a slightly larger motion. Chaeheon’s narrowed eyes fixed on Lee Jun’s hand.

Knowing he was being watched, Lee Jun pretended to be nonchalant and took the straw in his mouth. He ostentatiously sipped the Americano, and the cool coffee refreshed his mouth. It was an act intended to show Chaeheon, but he quite liked the sip of Americano.

Even though it wasn’t a day with long classes like Friday, it was quite welcome.

“Thanks, I’ll drink it well.”

When Lee Jun said it with genuine gratitude, Chaeheon lightly shrugged his shoulders. With the straw still in his mouth, Lee Jun’s eyes darted around. He had something in mind, which was why he hadn’t pushed Chaeheon away yet, but nothing else came to mind.

Lee Jun, searching for something to say, didn’t notice that Chaeheon had covered his mouth while looking at the Americano.

“What about the assignment?”

As Lee Jun naturally changed the subject, Chaeheon’s eyes widened slightly. It was as if he hadn’t expected to be asked first, and another unreadable expression briefly flitted across his face.

What was that? Did he notice I was forcing the conversation? Just then, Chaeheon rummaged through his bag and pulled out a printout. The neat font on the cleanly printed material caught his eye.

“Senior, are you done with yours?”

Lee Jun lightly nodded and took out his own. Smoothing out the slightly crumpled edges, Lee Jun spoke again.

“When do you do your assignments?”

“…Unless it takes a long time, I do mine on the same day.”

Useless words like “I see” were swallowed back down. It wasn’t like he didn’t know Chaeheon’s study habits. It wasn’t easy asking curious questions to someone he had not only known for a while but had also seen naked.

How should he continue a conversation that was choppy like chopping wood? Thanks to this, the time Chaeheon spent making strange expressions was getting longer. It must have been obvious that he was trying too hard to talk on the first day.