Chapter 2

After a long pause, Evan opened his mouth. Hearing his bewildered voice, I felt embarrassed and shy. I covered my flushed face underneath my swaying, silver hair, and quickly sat down. I could feel Evan’s gaze as he glanced from beside me.

What do I do? He said hello to me. This is crazy. Heart, calm down a bit.

Not wanting to show how unsightly I looked, I quickly banged my face into the desk. Bam! It rang louder than I expected. When I lifted my head in surprise, I saw Evan again. He looked slightly speechless. Have I become a man to him whose first impression was stammering, and banging his head on the desk?

“Did you eat something wrong today? You’ve been acting weird since morning.”

I heard Carmen’s nonsensical voice as he hung around to appreciate the famous Evan Pristin’s face. Go back to your seat. When I weakly muttered that, he whined in a voice laden with aegyo.

“Awww, honey. Why’re you so cold to me today? Let me stay here a bit longer.”

“Just shut up and go.”

Carmen pouted and muttered in a low voice. Yes, yes, I’ll be going now. The back of my head hurt, seeing him slur the end of his words, wink at Evan, and then leave. Why’d you gotta wink? That kind of guy was my only close friend. Evan doesn’t think I’m the same as him, right? I looked around, then immediately studied Evan’s face. He stared at Carmen’s back with a stern face. It was a cold look that didn’t suit his flower-like face.

“That, you don’t have to worry about him! He’s not a bad guy, really, just… he’s always been like that, so…”

I stammered, making all sorts of excuses. I was now completely in tears. Gotta smile, I gotta smile, but despite repeating this multiple times, devastation showed on my face.

“…Okay.”

Evan still had on a sour face. Unable to overcome this awkward atmosphere, I once again huddled onto my desk.

It’s all ruined. What was that just now? I was thinking of not being too deeply involved with him like the original, but I didn’t want to make our relationship this weird.

The lecture hall door opened, and the students quieted down in the blink of an eye. There was the sound of chalk hitting the blackboard. I heard the teacher call attendance, but I couldn’t raise my head. I felt Evan’s patient gaze, sitting beside me.

Finally, it wasn’t until I was called out during lecture that I sat up. I forcibly opened the book, and turned it page by page. How much time did I spent doing that? I wasn’t thinking straight, but it reached to a strange point where my body was just turning the pages.

My head had been in the same position, so my neck felt stiff. But nothing to be done about it. Because I could feel a gaze poking me from the side, like an experiment being observed.

Do I really look that weird? Why’s he staring at me like that? If this is how Evan shows his interest, is that it? Please, I’m hoping it’s not anything bad.

“Oh.”

Blood quietly rose to the surface together with a tingling sensation. My fingertip stung. Red blood spread on the white paper. I was lost in my thoughts, my mind elsewhere.

The blood didn’t stop at all, so as a temporary measure, I placed it in my mouth and sucked it. I couldn’t leave my seat since class hadn’t ended yet, and living in the dorms was mandatory, so the school had an infirmary, but… To be honest, I never want to go there.

It’ll stop soon if I just do this, right? Since Hail Verde’s body was strong and resilient. As I stared at the drops of blood without thinking of anything in particular, a fair hand suddenly popped out from the seat beside me.

“…Wanna use this?”

That scared me! I patted my surprised heart, and carefully looked at the owner of the hand. It was Evan. Evan was handing me a band-aid. Thinking that Evan had seen all my worthless effort, a wave of shame surged through me. My hand trembled.

“T-Thank you.”

I stammered again. Just why the hell can’t I say a single word right? As I scolded myself, Evan’s face opposite of mine looked delicate. He seemed slightly surprised, but also slightly embarrassed. I was about to carefully take the band-aid from him without touching his hand, but my body twisted together with a sudden warmth.

“It’d be hard to put it on with one hand, right?”

Oh my god. His gentle touch as he placed the band-aid made me keep my mouth shut. I woke up from the majestic breath I felt right in front of me. Evan was staring at me. I lowered my head at his eyes that were seemingly observing me, and saw his delicate hands stroking mine. My heart felt like it was going to explode.

“So pre– Ah, the bandaid’s so pretty. Thank you.”

Band-aids are all the same, what do you mean it’s pretty? Stupid Hail Verde. When I thanked him in a faint voice as I scolded deep down, his deep black eyes grew wide.

“…Thank you?”

“Y-Yeah. Thank you.”

Looks like he didn’t think I was even gonna thank him. I’m not that rude. I tidied up my face for no reason. The hard texture of the band-aid touched my tender flesh.

“Excuse me.”

At that moment, Evan spoke with a still awkward look on his face.

“You’re Hail Verde, right?”

“Yeah. I’m Hail Verde.”

Evan’s complexion changed. His dark eyes sparkled, then darkened. My voice rose, surprised by the fact that I had a proper conversation with Evan, but my eyes met with the professor watching me from the side. After quickly turning my body to face the blackboard, I whispered in a voice that only Evan could hear.

“Just call me Hail.”

In the original, Hail had Evan call him ‘Verde.’ It was to imprison Evan by reminding him of his overwhelming economic power and superiority. I don’t need to do that, so I’d just rather he call me Hail. If my most beloved Evan calls my name, I’d be so happy my heart might stop.

But Evan just glanced at me, looking anxious. Is it that weird to call me by my name during our first meeting? Was I too much?

As I began to worry about all kinds of things from seeing him not speaking a word, his slightly moving mouth opened. It was a very shaky, very small voice.

“Hail.”

His red lips spoke my name. There was strangely power in his voice as he chanted just one, just one word. I grabbed my chest. The sound of my pounding heart overpowered everything. Evan saying my name made my heart flutter even more than seeing the cherry blossoms in full bloom.

I don’t want to get involved with him like in the original, but getting this close to him is okay, right? I’m not going to walk the path of a yandere top, anyways. Staying beside him as a friend is fine, right? He sits next to me anyways, and if it follows the original, he’ll soon become my roommate, so it won’t be so awkward. With a smile blooming on my face, I brightly answered,

“Yep!”

The professor finally yelled something at me, but all my senses were focused on Evan. Evan blinked his eyes, as if finding it unbelievable. His long eyelashes fluttered like butterflies. Even his surprised face was pretty. While looking sideways at his side profile, I quietly wrote letters on a post-it.

「Can I also call you Evan?」

Neatly, I wrote it down in the neatest handwriting I could do. He hesitated to accept that post-it. After a while, the post-it I gave him was returned to me.

「Sure.」

It was a simple answer, but it was enough to make my heart beat. Evan also has pretty handwriting.

Evan, I muttered in a low voice. His name as it came out of my throat was unfamiliar, yet ticklish. As if in response to that, Evan looked at my direction.

I showed him the brightest smile I could make. My smiling face gently melted away my sharp impression. Evan stared blankly at each of my actions. He chewed his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but eventually turned his head.

The boring lecture was still going on, but the beating of my heart wouldn’t stop. For some reason, I was lost in pleasant thoughts as I read the words he easily handed over. I hope that every time I come across Evan, I could say hello to him.

After that, Evan and I gradually got closer. The time we spent together increased, and before I knew it, we became close enough to be friends. Now, I could count with my fingers how much time I didn’t spend with Evan. I was together with him during class, eating, and even sleeping since he’s my roommate. Evan Pristin became a precious friend of mine.

***

He is… my friend, but.

“That’s how you solve it. Hail, are you listening?”

“I-I am– hnghh…”

Legs neatly placed under the chair sneakily touched me. Evan, who clung close to me like two people sitting on a single chair, held a pen. I blankly looked at the elegant handwriting embroidered on white paper. Our ankles bumped into each other. Surprised, I crumpled the paper in my hand. I heard a tearing sound at the end of the paper.

“Now then, try solving it yourself.”

Our fingers were entwined. It felt like red spots bloomed everywhere our skins brushed. A gorgeous face was pushed right in front of me. I shut my mouth, holding back my humid, hot breath. It’s all over if I move my mouth even just a tiny bit.

“Hold your pen properly.”

Concentrate. When Evan muttered that, something soft touched my lips and then fell. The main bottom’s ‘clear, refreshing body odor’ described in the original novel strongly filled the tip of my nose. The pen rolling on the desk made a loud noise. I mumbled, moving my hips back as far as possible. It was a risky position, as if I was going to fall with just a single flick.