Mint Candy Love - Chapter 1.4

The professor was watching them with a face that seemed to find it amusing when he raised his head again. Ki-young Han’s lips, which he had forced upwards, trembled. He smiled with his eyes. But it didn’t look like he was smiling. There was nothing that he could do about it. He was a person who rarely had a smile on his face.
“me too…”

“… … .”
“It’s OK.”
I smiled bitterly, trying to swallow.

***
Mugunghwa Hall. It was a large lecture hall that could hold 100 students. But all eyes were on Kiyounghan and Yoonyejun. After a two-hour class, the professor told them to write a schedule for the remaining hour. The two sat in silence.
Ki-young Han twisted and turned the pencil in his hand. He had an uneasy feeling of separation from the pen’s leisurely movement along his fingers. In the end, he took hold of the pen with one hand.
“Let’s do it.”
In the end, he was the first to open his mouth.
“Student and department.”
Only then did Yoon Ye-jun open his mouth. It had been closed the whole time. He was two years older than Han Ki-young. But they were in the same class, third year. He was in the journalism and information department. Since they were in the same social science department, it was possible that they had met. But it was strange that he had seen them for the first time last winter. In other words, Yoon Ye-jun had a face that stood out a little bit.

Yoon Ye-jun lowered his eyes in silence. Ki-young-han looked at him. He was writing down the information he had given him. I hate to say this to a man. But his profile was quite handsome. The tips of his long eyelashes were turned up a little bit. His lips were full. The bridge of his nose was moderately high, but the tip of his nose was round. Yoon Ye-jun, who had been staring at the desk, opened his eyes. Their eyes met, and Ki-young Han unconsciously tried to avoid looking at him.

Even when he was scolded by his parents or teachers during his school days, if they asked him why he opened his eyes like that, he would say that it was his birthright and what could he do about it. So he avoided eye contact, which hurt his pride.
“I want to ask you something.”
Yoon Ye-jun’s voice was neither high nor low in pitch. It was a flat tone. Ki-young-han looked up. He was resting his chin on his hand and playing with his pen.

“Didn’t you say that you would be a drop-out of this class?”
“Yes.”
“But why are you here?”
“It’s in my heart.”
His pride was hurt. Yoon Ye-jun raised the corners of her lips silently and said, “Ah…” Ki-young Han’s eyebrows knitted slightly. He was clearly indifferent and seemed to have answered without much emotion, but the corners of his lips turned up as if mocking him. He quickly covered his lips with his fist as if to hide his expression. But Ki-young Han saw it clearly.
Yoon Ye-jun took the schedule that the professor had given to each group and asked.
“How about after this class, since we only have to meet once a week?”
“I have a major class.”
“I’m free on Friday or today.”
“It’s a lecture.”

Of course, the flat I lived in was a 10-minute walk from the school. But it was a course I was taking to make time for myself. I didn’t want to spend Fridays doing group projects.

Yoon Ye-jun said with a friendly expression on her face.
“But it’s a group project. We have to meet the deadline.”
‘Why is it that the professor only likes me? We are all students.’
The face that I saw last winter was superimposed. It was an expression that was either a stab to the bone or a feeding of taffy. He frowned. He made a rough wave with his hand and asked.
“After the class on Thursday.”
“I have a part-time job… If you give me your phone number, I’ll be in touch.”
Yoon Ye-jun handed over his mobile phone to him. Ki-young-han dialled his number. He handed it over. Yoon Ye-jun pressed the button to call. Ki-young-han’s mobile phone, which was in silent mode, flashed the screen, left a “missed” message and shut down. Ki-young-han saved the number. Yoon Ye-jun. It was only an instant connection for one semester. But now they had to meet often.
Oh, it makes me sick just to think about it.
“I shouldn’t talk about that now. Just put down what’s on the syllabus. What’s on the syllabus? ?”
“Isn’t this ?”

Yoon Ye-jun said in a relaxed manner. “Yes, yes,” Ki-young-han replied insincerely. A normal person would have frowned at Ki-young-han’s attitude and language and clucked their tongue. But Yoon Ye-jun didn’t react at all. He just pulled the schedule closer. This was even more annoying than before.

“It’s no big deal, since everyone does their own reports… I’ll just do the drafting and upload it to the schedule.”

“… … .”
“I think you might find it a bit annoying.”

Ki-young slowly raised his head, looking at Yoon Ye-jun’s plan. Every word he said was annoying. He pretended to be friendly. But his tone made me think. It would have been fine if he had just said, “I’ll do what I said. But he kept on provoking me by saying that I was going to be bothered. What do you think of people? Ki-young asked. Han held out his hand without hesitation.
“Give it to me. I’ll take care of this.”
“… … .”

Yoon Ye-jun looked at Ki Young-han’s hand. He looked it up and down. Then he asked, “Why?” Ki Young-han said: “Move your hand.

“I’ll just do it. I know how to use it. Leave it to me. I’ll write it and send it to you by the end of the week. Please check it.”

“….”
Yoon Ye-jun laughed again. It was a refreshing laugh, but Ki-young ignored it. Was he finished with his work? He looked around and saw that everyone was very happy. I wondered if this was college. Group blind dates have their limitations. It was ambiguous to say that spring had come, but they were laughing with their mouths covered, blushing, scratching the back of their heads. It was chaos. The only ones who hadn’t experienced the spring yet were Han Ki-young and Yoon Ye-jun.
Ki-young Han crossed her arms and tilted her head back to look at the ceiling. The room smelled musty because it wasn’t properly ventilated. I’m thirsty. I’ll have to buy some coffee the next time.
“Student Yejun, student Yeonghan.”
At that moment, the professor was in front of them. Ki-young Han looked down from the ceiling and met the professor’s eyes.
“Don’t be too burdened. It wasn’t every term, but it happened sometimes. You can’t get the sex ratio right. But we got along quite well.”

“I think it would be a good experience because it would be special.”
Yoon Ye-jun rounded his eyes and answered the teacher. He was shocked and stunned. Didn’t he know that if he pretended to be nice like that, everyone else would notice? But the professor ignored him. He was already in the middle of a conversation with Yoon Ye-jun. Han Ki-young watched them chatting, then sighed and turned his head. This semester seemed particularly hard.