Hana POV
Hana stayed where she was long after Jiwon disappeared around the corner.
Jiho stood frozen beside her, staring at the empty hallway as if the air still echoed with his brother's voice. His hands were clenched so tightly she worried his nails would break skin.
She knew she should say something.
Ask if he was okay. Ask why Jiwon said those things. Ask why they looked at each other like two people standing on opposite sides of a burning bridge.
But the moment she parted her lips, Jiho stepped away from her.
Not dramatically. Not cruelly. Just enough to make her feel the space he put there.
"I told you yesterday," he murmured, barely audible. "You shouldn't be near me."
Something in her stomach twisted.
"That's not fair," she said quietly.
"Fair?" Jiho laughed under his breath, but it wasn't amusement. "Nothing about this is fair."
He turned, running a hand through his hair, jaw tight, shoulders stiff with a tension she didn't know how to ease.
"Jiho…" she tried again.
"No," he said, sharper this time. "Don't. You don't get it."
That stung.
"I'm trying to understand," she said.
"You can't," he muttered. "And you shouldn't want to."
She flinched at the finality in his voice.
He must have noticed, because his expression flickered—regret softening the edges of anger—but he didn't take it back.
He didn't get the chance to.
Because the classroom door burst open, and Seohui stormed out.
"There you are—oh."Her eyes landed on Jiho. Instantly, her shoulders rose in instinctive caution. "I… didn't know you were here."
Jiho didn't acknowledge her.
Seohui took Hana's arm. "Come on. You need to eat before you pass out."
"I'm fine," Hana whispered.
"You look like you haven't breathed in ten minutes."
Which wasn't entirely wrong.
Seohui tugged her gently. Hana glanced one last time at Jiho.
He didn't meet her eyes.
He just stood there, looking like someone who had already decided something he didn't want to say aloud.
Seohui pulled Hana toward the stairwell.
Hana let herself be led—until she didn't.
Halfway down the stairs, she stopped abruptly.
Seohui almost stumbled. "Hana—?"
"I need to do something," Hana said.
Seohui blinked. "Right now?"
Hana nodded.
Her pulse thudded in her throat, but this time it wasn't fear pushing her forward. It was something else. Something she hadn't allowed herself to feel until now.
Resolve.
"I can't just… let things happen around me anymore," she murmured.
Seohui's expression softened in surprise. "Okay. What do you need?"
Hana inhaled shakily.
"I need to know who reported me."
ADMINISTRATION WING
Hana had never voluntarily walked into the administrative wing before. Students usually avoided it unless they were auditioning for responsibility or being punished.
The secretary looked up as Hana approached.
"Yes? Do you need assistance?"
Hana's throat tightened, but her voice didn't waver. "I was told a report was filed involving my name. I'd like to know what the accusation was."
The secretary blinked. "Students don't usually—"
"I… I want to make sure there isn't a misunderstanding," Hana said quickly. "Before it affects my record."
That did it.
Teachers respected students who cared about their records more than their pride.
The secretary typed something into the system, eyes flicking across the screen.
Then she frowned.
"It doesn't specify details," she murmured. "It's labeled as a 'conduct concern involving interpersonal entanglement.'"
Hana's stomach dropped. "Interpersonal entanglement?"
"It means someone believes you're getting involved with another student in a way that might be… disruptive."
Her cheeks flushed. "Disruptive how?"
The secretary looked uncomfortable. "It mentions influencing… inappropriate behavior. From a male student."
Jiho.
Someone was deliberately painting her as the catalyst of his trouble.
"Do you know who filed it?" she whispered.
"No," the secretary said. "It was submitted internally. It doesn't list a student name."
Hana's fists tightened at her sides.
Someone inside the system had filed this.Someone with authority.Someone who knew how to weaponize rumors.
Her heart pounded, but she didn't crumble.
She nodded politely. "Thank you."
She walked out before her legs gave out.
HALLWAY
The moment she reached the empty corridor, she leaned against the wall, breathing through the burn in her chest.
Someone was trying to erase her.
Erase her future.Erase her credibility.Erase her place here.
And the easiest way to do that was to tie her to Jiho.
She could walk away now.Distance herself.Let him take whatever fall people expected of him.
But the thought of that—leaving him alone in that quiet, heavy storm—
hurt more than anything the rumor could do to her.
She didn't want to run.
She chose not to.
Hana lifted her head.
If someone wanted to use her to hurt Jiho, then she needed to understand why.
She needed to know who he really was.Why people cared so much.Why the Elite Track boys confronted her.Why administration was suddenly involved.Why Jiwon looked at her like she'd stepped somewhere dangerous.
Her hands trembled.
But her decision didn't.
She wasn't going to disappear quietly.
She walked faster, heading back toward the regular building, her steps echoing with something she hadn't felt in a long time.
Intent.
BACK COURTYARD
She found Jiho exactly where she expected—in the back courtyard behind the old music rooms. A place no one else bothered with.
He sat on the low concrete ledge, elbows on his knees, looking like someone trying to breathe through a weight pressing against his ribs.
She approached slowly.
"Jiho."
His shoulders tensed, but he didn't look at her.
"What are you doing here?" he muttered.
"I talked to the administration office."
He went absolutely still.
"They said someone filed a report," Hana continued, voice steady even as her heart hammered. "About me. About influencing you."
Jiho exhaled sharply, standing abruptly. "I told you to stay out of this."
"I can't."She stepped closer. "This is about me too."
"It wasn't supposed to be." His voice cracked, low and furious—not at her, but at everything else. "I'm trying to keep you—"
"Safe?" she whispered.
His jaw tightened.
"No," she said softly. "You're trying to keep me ignorant."
That made him freeze.
His eyes lifted to hers—slowly, reluctantly, as if looking at her meant admitting something he wasn't ready to face.
"You think knowing the truth will help you?" he asked quietly.
"No," she said. "I think not knowing will destroy me."
A beat of silence stretched between them.
A long, trembling second.
Something in his expression shifted—pain, fear, conflict, something she'd never seen this clearly before.
"Hana…" he whispered.
She stepped forward.
And for the first time since everything began, she didn't wait for him to decide the distance between them.
She closed it.
"Let me stand with you," she said.
His breath hitched. "You don't know what you're asking."
"Then tell me."
He shook his head once, almost violently. "I can't."
"You won't," she corrected.
Jiho's hands curled at his sides.
He looked away—
—and that was when she made her choice.
Her first real choice since coming here.
"If you won't tell me," she said softly, "then I'll find out myself."
His head snapped toward her, eyes widening in alarm. "Hana—"
"I'm done pretending nothing is happening."
"That's not your job," he snapped, stepping closer.
"Then whose job is it?" she whispered. "Yours? You're drowning, Jiho."
His breath stilled.
She'd said it.The thing he'd been trying to suffocate beneath anger and distance.
"You're drowning," she repeated gently. "And you won't let anyone in."
He stared at her, breathing hard, as if every word she spoke pried open a piece of him he'd been fighting to keep locked.
Then—
A sound cut through the courtyard.
A phone buzzing.
Not hers.
His.
Jiho slowly pulled it from his pocket.
One look at the screen—and his blood drained from his face.
Hana watched his hands tighten around the device.
"What is it?" she asked.
He didn't answer.
He just stared at the message like someone had punched the air out of him.
Her heart pounded. "Jiho. What happened?"
He lifted his eyes to hers.
Slow. Haunted.
Someone had texted him a picture.
Her.
Talking to Jiwon in the courtyard yesterday.
And underneath, a message:
"If she means this much to you, keep her close. Or lose her."
Jiho's voice came out barely above a whisper.
"They're not just threatening you anymore."