Chapter 3: Plaything Senior (3)

　　He hated cheap motels, so he usually spent the night in the hotel room he leased year-round.

　　He forced his eyes open, his lids heavy. He hadn’t slept deeply, and his entire body felt weighed down with exhaustion. He tossed and turned, trying to find a comfortable spot on the mattress.

　　Lying beside him, Hyena stirred at the movement and slowly woke.

　　“Mmm,” she groaned.

　　She shifted, burying her face back into the pillow, her long dark hair sprawling across the sheets like tangled roots. Wrapping an arm around his waist, she mumbled in a sleep-addled, raspy voice, “I want to sleep more… Why are you up already? Go back to sleep.”

　　Seongbin rolled onto his side and brushed away her stray strands of hair, fully exposing her bare upper body. He ran the tip of his index finger over her nipple, the one he’d spent the night sucking and biting. As he rolled the soft peak between his fingers, it quickly hardened under his touch.

　　“Noona, don’t you have class?” he asked.

　　“I’m skipping. How about you?”

　　“I’m going.”

　　Hyena, her face still half-buried in the pillow, finally peeked out at him. She gave him a playful, mock-glare and pulled the duvet up to her shoulders.

　　Seongbin sat up, leaning back against the headboard. “You should go. I need to get to class, too.”

　　“Can I come back after?” she asked.

　　He ran a hand through her long hair, the thin strands slipping through his fingers as he toyed with them. She had mentioned dyeing it black because maintaining bleached hair was too much of a hassle, but the ends were so damaged they split at the slightest touch. She really needs to cut it, he thought. Just dyeing it black and letting it grow out isn’t going to fix this.

　　But he decided to keep his thoughts to himself. He had no desire to ruin the mood of someone he’d just spent a perfectly good night with.

　　“I’m going home today,” he said.

　　“Why go home when you have a place like this?” she pouted.

　　“Home is just more comfortable.”

　　“When are you finally going to take me to your place, then?”

　　Seongbin let out a dry, empty laugh. Instead of answering, he tossed the blanket aside and swung his legs out of bed. He was completely naked, but he didn’t bother reaching for a robe. Beneath the covers, Hyena was just as bare.

　　He walked over to the mini-fridge, grabbed a bottle of water, and cracked it open to take a long drink.

　　“…Get me some water too,” Hyena mumbled, her voice thick with sleep.

　　He walked back to the bed and handed her the bottle. Only then did she drag herself upright to take it. Seongbin tilted his head from side to side, then rolled his neck, stretching out the tension from the night.

　　“I’m going to shower,” he said.

　　“Okay. I’ll rest a bit more and go in when you’re done.”

　　After taking a sip, she faceplanted back onto the mattress, groaning dramatically as she rolled around.

　　“Ughhhh…”

　　Leaving her theatrical groans behind, Seongbin headed into the bathroom.

* * *

　　Maybe I should’ve gone home and changed. He felt gross wearing yesterday’s clothes. He’d gone straight to school with Hyena because he knew she’d find some way to tag along if he said he was going home first, and now he was paying the price.

　　He sat on a bench, braving the late winter wind. If he hadn’t gone to that bar for the semester opening meeting, he wouldn’t feel so disgusting. He wanted to air out the smell of food and alcohol clinging to his clothes, but he was going to freeze to death first.

　　If he were at home, he would’ve sprayed some cologne, but he hadn’t kept any in his hotel room.

　　Standing out in the open, people kept trying to catch his eye. A group of underclassmen hanging out nearby glanced over, then walked up to bow politely.

　　“We didn’t get a chance to say hello at the meeting yesterday, Sunbae. Good morning.”

　　Networking actually mattered in their major, so upperclassmen and underclassmen generally got along. Just because they were in the Department of Public Administration didn’t mean everyone was only studying for the civil service exam.

　　He offered a warm, eye-crinkling smile as they approached.

　　“Hey, guys,” he said smoothly.

　　He pulled out his cell phone and scrolled through his KakaoTalk. There wasn’t a single group chat, only a flood of direct messages.

　　-Want to grab food?

　　-You don’t drink, right?

　　-Let’s get coffee.

　　-I’m in Gangnam right now, want to meet up?

　　He left them all on read.

　　“Seongbin, what are you doing out here?” a voice called out.

　　He looked up as a shadow fell over him. He didn’t frown, but he didn’t smile either. The guy was a sunbae about two years ahead of him, someone who was practically joined at the hip with Hyena’s ex-boyfriend.

　　Even before those two broke up, this guy had always gone out of his way to pick fights with him. He didn’t even bother to nod.

　　“Hello.”

　　“Looking for girls?” the guy sneered.

　　He let a faint smile touch his lips.

　　“Just getting some fresh air before class starts,” he replied. “I don’t really have any friends, you know.”

　　“Then you should actually show up when your classmates invite you out,” the guy scoffed. “Stop chasing after girls all the time.”

　　His smug, sarcastic tone was pathetic.

　　“I don’t eat with guys,” he said, his tone turning sharp.

　　The sunbae’s face twisted into an ugly scowl. He let his smile drop completely.

　　Clicking his tongue, the guy turned around, muttering loud enough for him to hear.

　　“Cocky little shit.”

　　He’d made an enemy out of the guy simply by refusing to join their pathetic little clique. But even if he did hang out with them, they only ever asked trashy questions.

　　Whenever he got dragged into private gatherings, they’d just pry with their creepy, disgusting curiosity. “When was your first time? Who in our major have you slept with? How was she?”

　　He’d much rather spend his time with women. Even if they traded dirty jokes, at least it doubled as sexual tension.

　　Should I head back inside?

　　He stood up. The new semester had started, but the weather was still closer to winter than spring. He wished it would warm up soon. At least standing out here had aired out most of the smell on his clothes.

　　He paused, his eyes locking onto a spot not too far away.

　　He saw a familiar figure. Having just stepped out of the building, the man was walking toward the bench where Seongbin had been sitting, heading for the stairs.

　　Their eyes met. The man seemed to have changed his clothes, but he was still dressed entirely in black, wearing his department jacket again. If it weren’t for the different seams on his pants, Seongbin would’ve thought it was the exact same outfit as yesterday.

　　Seongbin stared vacantly at him.

　　You don’t have a good reputation among the guys. Stop doing stuff like that.

　　Messing around with girls you have no intention of dating.

　　The words he had gone out of his way to say last night echoed in his mind. Who does he think he is, some champion of justice?

　　That damn shaggy hair. He looked like a creep, and he acted like one, too.

　　Seongbin ignored him and walked right past. He didn’t even think to look back. The guy was just another face in the crowd.