The sky had been a bruised purple all evening, and by the time I left the library at 10:00 PM, it had finally broken. The rain wasn't a gentle drizzle; it was a cold, torrential downpour that turned the world into a blurred mess of grey and black.
I didn't have an umbrella. Normally, I would have waited in the lobby, but the events of the morning—the bottle spinning, the look on Jisoo's face, and Hanbin's sudden departure—had left me feeling restless. I just wanted to be home. My apartment was only a few blocks away; I figured I could make it if I moved fast.
The streetlights in the alleyway leading toward the restaurant were flickering, and one by one, they gave out. It was pitch black, the only sound being the rhythmic drumming of rain against the pavement and my own shallow breathing. I walked steadily, my clothes soaking through, my hair plastered to my forehead.
I didn't see it—the deep construction hole where the pavement had been torn up for pipe repairs. My foot hit empty air, and I felt the sickening lurch of gravity taking over.
This is it, I thought, closing my eyes. I'm going to break something.
But I never hit the ground.
A pair of strong, frantic arms caught me from behind, wrenching me backward. The force was so sudden that we both lost our balance. We tumbled to the wet pavement together.
I landed with a thud, but the surface wasn't hard concrete. It was soft—warm and breathing. I was pinned against a chest, my hands braced against someone's shoulders.
I opened my eyes, gasping for air. In the dim, watery light reflecting off the puddles, I saw him.
Hanbin.
His hair was dripping, his eyes wide and dark with a mixture of fear and something I couldn't name. Because of the way we had fallen, our faces were inches apart. Before I could process the shock, the momentum of the slide brought us together.
Our lips met.
It was a brief, accidental collision—a soft, wet shock that sent a bolt of electricity straight to my core. My heart skipped a beat, then began to race like a malfunctioning engine.
"Sorry," I stammered, my voice trembling as I tried to pull back. I was flustered, my face burning despite the cold rain. "It was... it was an accident. I didn't see the hole. I'm so sorry, Hanbin."
I started to push myself up, my hands slipping on his wet hoodie. I expected him to let me go, to help me up and offer a logical explanation for why he was following me in the dark.
Instead, his hand shot out, his fingers locking firmly around my waist, pulling me back down against him.
"Don't," he rasped.
His other hand came up, his thumb brushing a wet strand of hair away from my eyes. His palm was hot against my cheek, cupping my face with a tenderness that made my breath hitch. He looked at me then, not as the "Ice Prince" or the genius coder, but as the boy who had been holding his breath for months.
"It wasn't an accident," he whispered.
Then, he leaned up and kissed me.
This wasn't like the accidental bump from a moment ago. This was deliberate. It was certain. One hand stayed anchored at my waist, holding me close, while the other cradled my head as if I were the most precious thing he had ever found.
My eyes widened in shock, my brain screaming for a second, but then... I felt it. The warmth, the safety, the sheer rightness of it. I had been waiting for this. Through the fear, through the study sessions, through the silence—I had been waiting for him to bridge the gap.
I closed my eyes, my hands sliding into his wet hair as I kissed him back. The rain was freezing, the ground was hard, and we were soaking wet in a dark alley, but for the first time in my life, I felt like I was exactly where I was supposed to be.
He pulled back just an inch, his forehead resting against mine. We were both breathing hard, the steam of our breath mingling in the cold air.
"Danoh-ya," he said, his voice low and vibrating through my chest. "I've spent my whole life trying to keep variables out of my system. I tried to keep you out. But the more I tried, the more I realized... the system doesn't work without you."
He looked me straight in the eyes, his gaze unwavering.
"I don't want to be your 'shield' or your 'tutor' anymore. I want to be yours. Completely. Stay with me? Not as a project partner... but as mine?"
The "Ice Prince" had finally surrendered. And as I looked at him, shivering in the rain but glowing with a light only I could see, I knew my answer.