Translator: Elisia
Editor/Proofreader: Wojo
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Where is Sara?
Lee Soo-ah started feeling a bit anxious.
It was because she had chosen a gift after days and nights of deliberation.
If possible, she wanted to give it to her when Sara was dressed nicely and when they were alone together.
She knew well that it wouldn’t create a super romantic atmosphere or anything like that.
To Sara, Lee Soo-ah was just a friend.
While Lee Soo-ah had feelings beyond friendship for Sara, they were one-sided emotions that Sara was unaware of.
But since she didn’t have the courage to directly tell Sara that she liked her, Lee Soo-ah wanted to continue their friendship like this for now.
Someday, truly, she would confess her feelings.
So she chose this gift as a symbol to keep their friendship going.
But even though it was just friendship, she didn’t want to hand over the gift in front of their other friends.
A gift of friendship exchanged between just the two of them.
Because she wanted to at least feel that kind of emotion.
When Sara disappeared alone earlier, she thought it was her chance and tried to follow her—
But she lost sight of her among the crowd and was wandering around the last place she saw Sara.
Then, Lee Soo-ah’s eyes caught sight of someone.
Ha-neul was coming out of a corner room with a light, almost flying step.
Her face was full of smiles, as if something very good had happened.
And seeing that smile, Lee Soo-ah thought:
The only reason Ha-neul could smile like that must be because of Sara.
She wanted to go and question her immediately… but somehow, she didn’t have the courage to do so.
Ha-neul was always a confident person, and if her actions were justified, she wouldn’t feel intimidated no matter what others said.
Whenever Lee Soo-ah stood in front of someone like Ha-neul, she felt small and didn’t want to clash with her.
…Well, in terms of height, she was definitely shorter than Ha-neul.
Even without asking, it was obvious that Sara was in the room Ha-neul just came out of.
Lee Soo-ah hid behind a thick pillar until Ha-neul completely passed by, and only then did she quietly slip out.
If anyone had been watching her, it would have looked suspicious to anyone.
Luckily, it didn’t seem like anyone was paying attention to such a hidden corner.
Lee Soo-ah quickly walked over to the closed door, opened it slightly, and peeked inside.
Sara was crouched down.
Letting out a sigh of relief, Lee Soo-ah stepped inside, but then realized something was strange.
Sara was crouching with her face buried in her hands.
As if she were crying.
“…Sara?”
For a moment, her mind went blank.
What did Ha-neul do to Sara?
Of course, Lee Soo-ah trusted Ha-neul.
She was one of the most upright people she’d ever met.
She trusted her.
She trusted her, but…
Seeing Sara in this state after Ha-neul left the room made her feel uneasy.
Could it be, by any chance, that Ha-neul did something strange to Sara?
Lee Soo-ah slowly, carefully, approached Sara.
And once again, she felt something odd.
…Though Sara was crouched down with her face buried in her hands as if she were crying, there were no sounds of sobbing or sniffles.
Only the sound of deep breaths, as if she were trying to calm herself, could be heard.
“…Sara?”
Lee Soo-ah, now standing right behind Sara, cautiously placed her hand on Sara’s shoulder and called her name.
“Hyah!?”
Sara’s reaction was intense.
Her left shoulder, where Lee Soo-ah’s hand had landed, twitched as she tried to move away.
But Sara was crouched down, and it was impossible for her to quickly slide to the side or do a full roll with her athletic abilities.
As a result, Sara flopped over to the side.
“S-Sara!?”
Lee Soo-ah rushed to Sara’s side, calling her name several times.
“Oh, ah, Soo-ah…?”
After flailing around on the floor for a moment, Sara finally realized that the person in front of her was Soo-ah.
“Sara, is something wrong?”
Lee Soo-ah extended her hand to Sara.
“N-no, nothing happened…”
Then, just as Sara instinctively reached out to take that hand, she froze completely.
Lee Soo-ah’s movements also stopped at almost the same time.
“……”
“……”
For a long while, neither of them said a word.
Lee Soo-ah’s eyes were fixed on Sara’s left hand, which had grabbed hers.
Sara, who had fallen to the right, instinctively extended her left hand toward Soo-ah.
And on the ring finger of that left hand, there was a ring that Lee Soo-ah had never seen Sara wear before.
“Oh, um, this…”
Sara stammered in panic,
“This, this is a friendship ring!”
She shouted.
Only after hearing that did the frozen Lee Soo-ah start to move again.
“A friendship ring, really?”
Who wears a friendship ring on their left ring finger…?
Of course, Lee Soo-ah knew about the existence of friendship rings.
However, she had never seen anyone deliberately wear one on their finger.
Naturally, wearing such a ring would cause people to misunderstand, one hundred percent.
While it wasn’t common for girls to date each other, it wasn’t so rare that you’d never encounter it, and nowadays, it wasn’t particularly shameful either.
The reverse was also true.
Obviously, if you made matching friendship rings, you wouldn’t wear them on your finger; people would wear them on something like a necklace to avoid misunderstandings.
And in Lee Soo-ah’s eyes, that ring seemed like a gift designed to cause misunderstandings on purpose.
Even if Sara didn’t wear that ring on her finger, people would still misunderstand just from seeing her carry it around.
Above all, people who were embarrassed by the idea of girls dating each other often used the excuse of “friendship.”
…How frustrating.
The gift I chose was definitely one that would also show how close I was to Sara.
But Ha-neul was moving much faster.
…At least, it was okay as long as Sara thought of it as just a friendship ring.
“……”
“……”
In the slightly awkward atmosphere, Sara stood up, holding onto Lee Soo-ah’s hand.
“So, um, why did you come all the way here?”
It seemed Sara felt awkward with Lee Soo-ah’s silence, so she asked.
“…A gift.”
“Huh?”
“I came because I wanted to give you a gift too.”
Barely managing to hold onto her composure, Lee Soo-ah took a deep breath.
“I wanted to give it to you when we were alone.”
“I-I see…”
After nodding, Soo-ah deliberately pulled out the box she had brought.
It was a small box that fit perfectly in her palm.
“T-thank you…”
Maybe because Lee Soo-ah’s face turned red as she handed over the box, Sara blushed as she accepted it.
Inside the box, there was another box.
It wasn’t some kind of prank with boxes within boxes, but the inner box was a luxurious one, covered in fabric that screamed of fine jewelry.
“I-I’ll open it…”
Seeing Lee Soo-ah staring intently at her as she opened the box, Sara spoke a little awkwardly.
After watching a visibly tense Soo-ah nod stiffly, Sara took a breath and placed the empty box on a nearby chair.
Now, only the jewelry box remained in Sara’s hands.
She slowly opened the box.
“…Wow.”
Inside the box was a thin silver thread.
But upon closer inspection, it was clear it was a finely crafted necklace.
Not too flashy, yet not too subtle—it was something that definitely didn’t look cheap.
Around Lee Soo-ah’s neck was a necklace identical to the one inside the box.
“Sara.”
“Y-yeah?”
“Can you sit down on the chair for a moment?”
“O-okay…”
At Lee Soo-ah’s request, Sara cautiously sat in the empty chair nearby.
Lee Soo-ah approached Sara, picking up the necklace from the jewelry box in her hand.
“…Can you lift your hair for a moment?”
“Y-yeah…”
Sara answered softly, sounding a little nervous, and lifted her hair with her hand.
Lee Soo-ah, standing behind Sara, gazed at her white nape.
With her hair neatly lifted, the clean, bare skin was dazzling.
A silver line crossed that dazzling skin.
“All done.”
At those words, Sara lowered her hand.
Her black hair fell down, covering the back of the necklace.
“It-it’s beautiful…”
Sara said in a slightly trembling voice.
“……”
“Soo-ah?”
Not hearing any response from Soo-ah, Sara tilted her head slightly, feeling uneasy.
Her black hair softly framed her white skin.
And just barely visible were her lips, glowing softly.
“……”
Seeing that, Lee Soo-ah felt uneasy.
She worried that those lips might brush against someone else’s.
Or worse, that they already had.
No matter how much she heard that it was a friendship ring, she was still anxious.
Because she had seen Ha-neul leave this room with such a carefree smile.
Among all the girls around Sara right now, Lee Soo-ah was falling behind the most.
Yes, that’s right. Because of that—
Lee Soo-ah thought to herself.
I want to run ahead, just like them.