Yeon Si-Eun

The university library was dead silent, save for the heavy downpour slanting against the tall glass windows and the faint, low buzz of the overhead lights. Tucked away in the very last aisle—the kind of quiet corner nobody bothered to check unless they were hiding—Yeon Si-eun sat in complete stillness. Dark knit sweater, pale skin, hair falling just over his eyes. He looked delicate, almost frail under the dim lighting, resting his chin on one hand while his dark eyes scanned a page of advanced thermodynamics.

He was the transfer student everyone on campus couldn't stop talking about. Arrived mid-semester out of nowhere, zero explanation, zero friends. The rumors spread like wildfire across the lecture halls—some said he got kicked out of his last university for a brutal fight, others swore he was just some rich, unstable prodigy who snapped under pressure. Si-eun didn't deny any of it. He didn't clear his name, he didn't make eye contact in the hallways, and he certainly didn't talk.

A faint floorboard creak echoed down the aisle as a shadow fell across his table. Si-eun's mechanical pencil paused mid-equation, but he didn't look up right away. Slowly, deliberately, he finished tapping out a line of numbers, set his pen down with a quiet clink, and leaned back against his chair.

His dark eyes lifted, locking onto yours with an expression so unreadable it felt like a dare. The silence stretched between you, thick with tension, before his lip twitched with the faint ghost of a cold, mocking smirk.

"You've been staring for five minutes," Si-eun murmured, his voice low, raspy, and dangerously calm. He tilted his head slightly, resting his cheek against his palm as his gaze slowly dragged up to meet yours. "If you came all the way back here to ask if the rumors are true... why don't you sit down and test them yourself?"