The Probability of Becoming a Couple with Your Beloved

“Two hangover soups here, please.”

Wonhyeok ordered without even looking at the menu, as if he had been here before. It seemed to be a popular place – it was full of people inside. Moreover, almost everyone was students in university jackets.

Apparently, this was one of the popular spots among students.

“Have you been here before? This place is known for its hangover soup.”

“No. It’s my first time here. I don’t often go around the university area.”

Strictly speaking, this also meant that he didn’t have friends to hang out with. But Hangeom didn’t feel lonely or isolated. He never asked himself sad questions like “Why don’t I have a single friend?” or “Why don’t I have classmates to take photos with in university jackets under the cherry blossoms or go drinking with after exams?”.

Because this was normal for him. Since childhood, Hangeom was used to being alone. After all, loneliness is a feeling that can only be experienced by someone who once had something and experienced it.

Feeling Wonhyeok’s intense gaze on him, Hangeom smiled awkwardly.

“I don’t have friends.”

“No friends… Well, those who engage in casual sex can’t be friends.”

“What?”

Hangeom heard Wonhyeok mumble something, but at that moment the hangover soup was brought, and he couldn’t hear clearly. He wanted to ask again, but Wonhyeok had already picked up his spoon, so it was impossible.

“Hangeom, yesterday you seem to have misunderstood something.”

“Misunderstood?”

“I wasn’t angry yesterday. And I certainly didn’t think you were a bother.”

If so, that’s good. He had an unpleasant feeling like a thorn in his heart after that, but now he felt a little better.

As expected, the hunger that couldn’t be satisfied by the triangular kimbap was immediately satisfied by one bowl of hangover soup. The depth of flavor in the broth was special, which explained why Wonhyeok called this place delicious.

Even Hangeom, who usually ate little, completely emptied his bowl. Wonhyeok, having finished eating, stood up and approached the cashier first, extending his card.

“Senior, I’ll pay for my portion myself.”

Hangeom hurriedly began searching for his wallet in the front pocket of his bag.

“I invited you. Usually, juniors just quietly accept the treat.”

Hearing the words “go out first,” Hangeom stopped searching for his wallet and just nodded. When the automatic door opened, the warm midday sun gently descended on the ground.

These days, when the last cold had completely retreated and true spring weather had arrived, every day was very sunny. Hangeom, feeling the sunlight like a plant engaging in photosynthesis, looked around.

“Wow. Beautiful.”

Behind the establishment were several benches where one could sit, drink coffee, and relax. Sitting there, one could immediately see the large lake that was considered a landmark of Hanguk University. Around the walking path, people could be seen from time to time. Perhaps due to the good weather, the view of the campus by the lake seemed completely different than usual.

“Are you here?”

“Ah, senior.”

Wonhyeok, who had approached unnoticed, suddenly held out something to Hangeom. It was a cone with two scoops of ice cream. Moreover, it was old-fashioned ice cream, similar to popular childhood treats.

Hangeom’s cone had two scoops of strawberry ice cream, while Wonhyeok’s had more vanilla.

“Don’t you like strawberry? I got it thinking you’d like it.”

Wonhyeok asked, naturally sitting down on the bench.

“I-I like it.”

Although he didn’t know why Wonhyeok thought he liked strawberry, whatever Wonhyeok gave was good.

Hangeom’s face, shyly smiling and taking the ice cream, was covered with a blush the same color as the ice cream. Wonhyeok’s intense gaze fell on this red trace.

They naturally sat down together on the bench, ate ice cream, and looked at the lake in front of them. Feeling the sweet strawberry taste filling his mouth, Hangeom fidgeted with his fingers. This moment of eating together with Wonhyeok, sitting and looking at the lake, was very exciting and at the same time peaceful.

“Senior, thank you.”

“For what? For buying food? It’s just…”

“No. For bringing me here.”

When Wonhyeok first brought him to the hangover soup restaurant, Hangeom, honestly, was confused. But when Wonhyeok asked if he wanted to eat hangover soup together, Hangeom vaguely understood his intentions.

Wonhyeok probably guessed, seeing how Hangeom awkwardly left the cafeteria and ate a triangular kimbap in the club room. That he was going to have only this for lunch. So he naturally invited him to eat, so as not to hurt Hangeom’s pride. Thanks to this, Hangeom didn’t have to settle for a meager lunch.

“I think the senior is really very kind.”

“…I don’t know. I always tell the guys that I’m not particularly kind.”

Wonhyeok crunched the last part of the cone. This wasn’t a display of modesty. It was just an exaggeration to hide his nasty character. Probably if Kang Hangeom really knew his true nature, he wouldn’t be able to say such things.

“Really? But you take care of your classmates, paid for my hospital expenses and bought glasses.”

“That’s…”

“And helped with the assignment. I think it’s wonderful to spend your time and money on others without any benefit, regardless of the reason.”

Wonhyeok quietly mumbled to himself the words “without any benefit.”

“And I think I can love the senior, regardless of whether he’s kind or not.”

“…”

“Ah! I mean not that kind of ‘love’, but…”

Hangeom, realizing he said something wrong, fidgeted in his seat.

“I meant admiration! L-like a role model?”

Hangeom, confused, began to explain incoherently. He shook his head desperately. The pure feelings he had long harbored for his beloved senior burst out, taking advantage of the calm atmosphere.

“My classmates say the same thing! That they really want to be like the senior, that they respect you.”

Although he wasn’t close to his classmates and hadn’t heard such words directly, it was obvious that they all probably thought so.

Wonhyeok just looked with calm eyes at Hangeom, who was chirping next to him like a sparrow. At this moment, a cool spring breeze, still lingering, swept over the lake.

It slightly ruffled his elegant hair, and underneath, Hangeom’s face, red as a carrot, was fully revealed. The face, on which reflections of small ripples on the lake’s surface fell, was strangely shining, and it was impossible to look away.

Looking at the reddened face, Wonhyeok momentarily remembered Hangeom’s face, breathing heavily in his arms not so long ago.

“Hangeom.”

“Yes?”

“Do you want to date me?”

His voice was calm and even. A light pink liquid dripped from Hangeom’s hand from the melting ice cream he hadn’t finished eating.

“What did you just say…”

“Will you date me?”

The melted liquid stickily wet his palm. Hangeom blinked absentmindedly. Someone said that when something completely unbelievable happens, a person can’t think and their mind is paralyzed. Hangeom was in exactly such a state now.

There was a pause. The rotation of Hangeom’s pupils was especially loud.

“W-why?”

“What?”

After a long silence, the first thing Hangeom expressed was a question. It seemed Wonhyeok didn’t expect this, and his eyebrows twitched.

“Senior… do you love me?”

“Is it necessary to love to date?”

“What?”

“You can start dating and then fall in love.”

Is that so? Hangeom stared into space for a moment. He didn’t know such things very well. Because Hangeom was lonely from birth and had never dated anyone even after twenty years. He had never even had a “hint of a relationship”. Hangeom’s only experience with relationships was in the fictional world of books.

“And don’t you, Hangeom, love me?”

Ugh, Hangeom flinched as if hit in his most vulnerable spot. Although he had been spending a lot of time with the senior lately, he didn’t think it was so noticeable. He wanted to say it wasn’t like that, that it was just admiration, but it was too late to deny after such a pause.

“And I’m not someone who has no sense of responsibility at all. After all, I did that to you.”

Sense of responsibility? What did Wonhyeok have to compensate him for?

“But on the condition that we won’t interfere in each other’s lives, even if we date. If you don’t want to, then what can be done…”

“I-I really want to!”

Hangeom brought his face close to Wonhyeok. Thanks to this, his bright, puppy-like eyes were clearly visible through his hair.

“I w-want to date you, senior.”

The opportunity to become a couple with his beloved senior. Isn’t it worth agreeing first? Although it was unclear why he wanted to date if he didn’t love, and what he meant by responsibility, now it wasn’t so important for Hangeom.

Hangeom nodded vigorously, like a puppy agreeing with its owner.

Although Hangeom usually thought that one should be careful in everything, before a loved one, emotions always preceded reason.

“Okay, then.”

The corners of Wonhyeok’s lips, having heard the agreement, lifted slightly.