The first day back on campus was always an assault on the senses. The lecture hall was filled with the usual post-break chaos—students swapping stories of their holidays, the frantic shuffling of bags, and a loud, artificial energy that I usually filtered out with a pair of noise-canceling headphones.
But today, the system was compromised.
Jeonghan was in a particularly relentless mood. He hadn't even let me reach my usual seat before he hooked an arm around my neck, dragging me toward a cluster of desks pushed together in the center of the room.
"Come on, Hanbin-ah! Don't be a ghost on the first day back," Jeonghan grinned, his grip tightening when I tried to pull away. "The professor is ten minutes late. We're doing a quick round of 'Social Predictions.'"
"I'm not interested," I muttered, my eyes scanning the room.
I found her. Danoh was sitting a few rows back, watching the commotion with a small, hesitant smile. She looked rested, her hair pulled back, and for a second, the static in my head cleared just by looking at her. But then Jeonghan shoved me into a chair, and the noise returned.
"The bottle! Use the bottle!" Jisoo's voice pierced through the din.
Jisoo was sitting directly across from me, her legs crossed and a sharp, predatory smile on her face. She was the kind of person who treated social interactions like a game of poker—always looking for a weakness to exploit. Since the first semester, she had been trying to "crack" the Ice Prince, mostly for the status it would give her in the department.
"The rules are simple," Jisoo chirped, placing an empty green soda bottle in the center of the desks. "Wherever the two ends point, that's the couple the universe predicts will happen before the spring blossoms. No backing out!"
The group let out a collective "Oooooh," and someone flicked the bottle.
It spun with a dizzying, rattling sound against the wood. I stared at it, my mind already calculating the friction and the momentum, hoping it would land on literally anyone else.
The bottle slowed. It stuttered. It came to a definitive stop.
The neck was pointing straight at Jisoo. The base was pointing straight at me.
The room erupted. People were whistling, slamming their hands on the desks, and chanting our names. It was a shallow, mindless noise, but it felt suffocating.
"Destiny!" Jisoo laughed, her eyes flashing with a cold sort of triumph. She leaned forward, her perfume cloying and heavy. "Looks like the universe has spoken, Hanbin-ah."
I didn't look at her. I looked at Danoh.
The small smile she'd had was gone. She was staring at the table, her hands clenching the strap of her bag. She looked the way she had in that hallway—small and excluded. The "A+" we had earned together, the dinner at her restaurant, the quiet moment at the memorial park... it felt like the group was trying to overwrite all of it with a stupid game.
"Go on! Sit closer!" someone shouted.
Jisoo didn't wait. She stood up and slid her chair right next to mine, her shoulder brushing against mine. The physical contact felt like an error message. It was wrong. It wasn't the warmth I had felt from Danoh; it was just a cold, invasive pressure.
"Since we're a 'couple' now," Jisoo purred, reaching for my arm. "Link up! Give the people what they want. Put your hand in his elbow, Jisoo-ya!"
The chant grew louder. "Link up! Link up!"
Jisoo's hand reached out, her fingers closing toward my arm to pull me into that familiar, performative "couple" pose.
My internal sensors spiked. The logic gate flipped. I couldn't do this. I wouldn't let them turn me into a prop in Jisoo's game, especially not while Danoh was watching her own heart break in real-time.
Just as Jisoo's fingers touched the fabric of my hoodie, I stood up.
The chair screeched against the floor—a harsh, dissonant sound that cut through the chanting like a blade. The room went dead silent. Jisoo's hand was left hanging in empty air, her smile faltering into a look of genuine shock.
"The universe doesn't predict anything," I said, my voice cold and sharp enough to draw blood. "It just follows the laws of physics. And my physics don't include this."
I didn't look at anyone else. I grabbed my bag, pushed past a stunned Jeonghan, and walked straight out of the lecture hall.
I needed air. I needed to clear the cache. But more than anything, I needed to find a way to tell Danoh that no matter where the bottle pointed, my coordinates were already locked on her.