Year 1939
Inha cries in her beloved's arms. Her face pressed against his chest, she chokes on her tears, unable to recover.
- Cry as much as you have to. Pour out all your sadness - the young man says in a calm voice, stroking her back with his hand.
- Minki, they killed my father. I managed to escape by a miracle - she says through tears. - Apart from you, I have no one left. I have no family, I am completely alone.
"I will never let anything happen to you. You will stay here, we will protect you," he says.
Wonsung, sitting on the couch, watches them with anger in his eyes. He can't stand that she always chooses his older brother. He would do anything for her, at this point he would run and tear the Japanese to shreds, but she came to Minki.
If only she would turn to him... he would provide her with the best protection. He wouldn't hesitate to kill them all.
"I would rather not expose you to this... what if they discover your secret because of me?" she asks indistinctly, moving her face away from his chest. She lifts her head and looks at him with tearful eyes. "I don't want anything to happen to you, either. I'll never forgive myself for that."
Minki takes her face in her hands and looks at her comfortingly.
- Don't worry, bunny. We're difficult to kill.
He often calls her bunny, a nickname that means something sweet and easy to eat. It scared her at first, but she got used to it and thinks it's cute when he calls her that, because now she knows she'll never be his food.
- Can I really stay with you? - He looks at Wonsung, who is sitting on the couch, angry as a hornet.
After this question, the boy stands up and, keeping his hands in his trouser pockets, approaches them. He lowers his head and whispers in her ear:
- I don't know if, because of a broken heart, one night I won't just decide to eat you, bunny - he emphasizes the last word. He heads for the stairs and, not paying attention to them anymore, goes up to the first floor.
- Wonsung hates me...
- You rejected him for me, so it will take some time for him to get his act together. Don't take his words to heart. You're hurt enough by your father's death...
Inha buries her face in her boyfriend's cold chest, and he hugs her tightly and kisses the top of her head as if to comfort her.
Year 2025
The nineteen-year-old girl opens her eyes, realizing that it was a dream. A very emotional, realistic dream that still made her heart ache. She wipes tears of sadness from her face, wondering why she saw him as her friend, or worse... a first year.
Did he make such an impression on her that she had a dream about him on the first night of her sophomore year of college?
Wonyoung sits up and combs her hair back, feeling like she hasn't gotten enough sleep. The clock says six in the morning. She woke up half an hour before the alarm on her phone would have gone off.
She lazily gets out of bed and stands in front of the large mirror that decorates her royal room. The white combined with pink makes the room look like the interior of a dollhouse. It has been decorated like this for over ten years, but Wonyoung can't decide to renovate it.
She likes to feel like a princess.
She looks at her reflection in the mirror, and the sight of the dark circles under her eyes confirms that she feels sleep-deprived.
- The makeup will cover it, it has to... - she says to herself, rubbing her face with her hand.
***
Sunghoon is an hour early before the first lecture. Yesterday was quite a pleasant day for him. He signed up for additional classes, familiarized himself with the map of the building, and thanks to that he knew where he should go for the first lecture.
Once inside the building, he heads to the upper floor, but stops halfway up the stairs when someone catches his eye. He smiles warmly at the sight of the elderly woman who had been so helpful and kind to him yesterday.
- Have you familiarized yourself with the map of the building? - asks the blonde girl as she approaches him accompanied by her friend.
- Yes, thank you.
A slender, gorgeous girl looking like a Barbie doll is leaning her hand on the staircase railing.
- You still seem lost to me, though. Did you manage to meet anyone else yesterday besides me? - she asks directly, and he sheepishly scratches behind his ear.
- No. You were the only one who was so kind and helpful, you were the only one who spoke to me.
The twenty-year-old girl looks delighted with his answer.
- I'm Somi, and I'd love to take care of you, lost sheep - she says openly, holding out her hand to him. The boy gently squeezes it in greeting.
- Sunghoon.
- Since you are a junior in my department, let me take care of you. - This girl is extremely brave around the male gender. She feels confident because she is beautiful. She knows that no one will have the courage to reject her.
"Okay," he replies informally, sending her a smile.
The eighteen-year-old boy feels that her companion is like a ghost, completely invisible. One look from Somi is enough to make her realize that she can disappear.
Sunghoon doesn't understand this relationship. Is she an errand girl? Something like that?
He only knows this from watching dramas. Rich people like to behave like this.
It seems to him that they are in a TV series as he walks down the hall with Somi and everyone is staring at them. Sunghoon feels awkward, not used to being around popular people who attract everyone's attention.
He has the impression that because of her, he will become recognizable in this place rapidly, although he would rather not. He prefers to live in the shadows, unnoticed.
***
Wonyoung looks disappointed as she steps out of the pink sports car, staring at her phone. Sullyoon, who arrived with her sister, looks at her with a surprised look.
- Unnie, what's wrong? You look sad.
Next to them in a parking space, Yuna pulls up on her motorcycle. She takes off her helmet and tosses her long, brown hair.
- What's up? - he asks with curiosity in his voice.
The 19-year-old girl continues to stare at her phone, an indescribable sense of anger piercing her heart as she looks at the photos of her former friend walking alongside the boy she dreamed about last night.
It's incomprehensible. Previously uninterested in guys, considered a princess looking for a prince on a white horse, Wonyoung is now feeling jealous looking at photos taken by students.
Yuna snatches the phone from her sister's hand and looks at the school news with a raised eyebrow. The headline is quite funny:
"Inhon Barbie is enchanting a new first-year hottie. Will she fall into her trap?"
- That fox is pretty bad. She pulled off a real treat the second day. Why didn't I notice it yesterday?
Sullyoon nods in agreement.
- Let's go. I would rather not be late for my first class - Wonyoung says in a sad voice.
She doesn't know why, but she feels let down. She still remembers the sparks, the feeling of excitement, when they looked at each other at the sign-up booth.
- Are you waiting for me? - Niki walks up to the girls and puts her arm around Wonyoung and Sullyoon. The youngest sister swallows nervously, feeling excited.
- Believe me, you're the last person we would wait for, idiot - Yuna says sharply, handing the phone back to her sister.
Wonyoung pulls herself out of her friend's embrace and walks towards the building. Yuna follows her, and Niki lowers her head and looks at her youngest sister.
The girl looks confused.
- Sullyoon, oh, Sullyoon - he says in an amused voice, touching her silky hair with his hand. The eighteen-year-old girl's heart beats very fast. - Your sisters are mean. It's good that your parents have at least one such sweet and lovely daughter. God rewarded them for their earlier suffering.
To strangers, Niki is a bad boy. He can be really nasty, but to the people he cares about, he is a really caring and warm guy. The mask he puts on scares away his enemies, and his true nature makes his friends love him really much.
Niki has two faces, and it's an honor to be the person who knows his better side.
"Shouldn't you go to your first class with Yuna?" Sullyoon asks shyly as she lifts her face to look at him.
- I should, but I prefer to go alone. Your oldest sister talks like crazy, I often feel like duct-taping her mouth.
- That's true, I typically feel like doing it too - the eighteen-year-old girl replies.
- Since your sisters have abandoned you, I will take you to your first class so that you don't accidentally fall victim to some intruder.
The teenager feels her cheeks turn red as she is embraced by Niki and led into the building.
His every gesture makes her fall in love with him more and more, and her silent love makes this feeling grow stronger day by day.
***
People whisper at the sight of Sullyoon and Niki as they appear on the second floor, heading to the classroom where she is teaching.
"He has gone from Wonyoung to the youngest sister now? There's no way my ship is dead," one of the students grumbles as her friends stand by the window, leaning on the sill.
The eighteen-year-old girl doesn't have the courage to ask him to finally let her go. She likes it, but she feels awkward when people gossip about them.
- Oppa, you should go to your room. You'll be late - she says to him shyly.
- Why are you kicking me out? I want to see the new students. They're definitely scholarship students, and besides, I like to be the last one to arrive at class.
She envies his self-confidence. She wishes she could be that brave.
Is there still a chance for her to change?
Niki leads her into the classroom and chooses her seat. The girl looks at him with a surprised look, feeling like a child as he forcibly places her in the third row.
- Here, no one will mistake you for a nerd, and you'll hear everything well. This place has a good atmosphere - he says, winking at her.
He looks around the room, noticing the two new faces of the girls. There is no male scholarship student he could decide as a victim.
"This is your first year of college, so study hard, little Sullyoon," he says, placing his hand on her head before walking away.
Unfortunately, she bumps into an equally tall guy in the doorway. He narrows his eyes as he realizes it's a new face in Inhon.
Scholar.
Looking at him, an indescribable feeling comes over him. He feels as if he knows him. It's strange, because he's sure that he's seeing him for the first time.
- That's how you apologize," Niki instructs him in a hostile voice.
"You might as well say it since you bumped into me," Sunghoon replies, not willing to let somebody push him around on his first day of class.
Who does he think he is?
- Before you respond with that attitude, think about who you're talking to.
The twenty-year-old boy angrily grabs him by the collar of his shirt, sparks flying from his eyes.
Sullyoon stands up from the bench, terrified by the sight. She's afraid that Niki will do something to the new student.
"You may be older, but you're as dumb as a brick. Let him go, Niki, right now!" Wonyoung's harsh voice makes everyone stare at her with their mouths open. The cold princess, who had ignored violence until now, is trying to help a stranger, insulting her best friend in the process.
Niki looks over Sunghoon's shoulder at the nineteen-year-old girl, looking thoroughly shaken. He lets go of the younger boy and walks past him, dragging him out of the bar.
- Smells? - he addresses her in a much gentler voice.
- When will you finally grow up? - she asks him. - You're twenty years old, and you're acting like a kid! You're looking for trouble with scholarship students, you're doing what my sister came up with in junior high. You and she deserve each other!
People look at them with curiosity in their eyes. Wonyoung, however, feels the gaze of a first-year student the most. His gaze is burning a hole in her face.
- What's wrong with you? - Niki frowns. - Why are you defending him? - He points a finger at Sunghoon.
The nineteen-year-old girl looks at the younger boy for a split second, but is unable to hold his gaze, so she focuses it on her friend again.
- I just want you to stop with this childishness, Niki. You're in your third year of college, you're an adult, get a grip. - After these words, he walks away, leaving the twenty-year-old boy in a state of stupor.
For the first time in his life, he was humiliated in front of people, and it was by the girl he had a crush on.
His anger is automatically transferred to the first-year student. He turns to face him and points a finger at him.
- You're screwed, I won't let you off that easy - he threatens him, and then quickly walks away, furious at the whole world.