Falling for you • Y.JW ✔

Chapter 10: Something Different

Jungwon didn't expect things to change so quickly.

He thought he'd have to keep pushing, keep trying to break down the walls Hyemi had built between them. But after that conversation at the café, something shifted.

It wasn't like they suddenly became a couple overnight. There were no grand confessions, no dramatic moments. But something was different.

For the first time in years, their interactions weren't built on competition.

For the first time, it wasn't about who was better, who was smarter, who could get under the other's skin first.

It was just them.

And Jungwon liked it more than he was willing to admit.

—

"Are you even listening?"

Jungwon blinked, snapping out of his thoughts as Hyemi waved a hand in front of his face.

They were sitting in the library—together. Voluntarily. No one was forcing them. No one was trying to prove anything. They were just... studying.

Well, Hyemi was studying. Jungwon was very distracted.

"You spaced out," she accused, narrowing her eyes. "What were you thinking about?"

Jungwon smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Hyemi rolled her eyes. "Forget it. Let's just finish this."

But as she turned her attention back to her textbook, Jungwon couldn't help but smile.

He liked this.

The quiet moments, the little conversations, the way she was just there now—beside him, instead of across from him, like they weren't fighting for something anymore.

Like they were figuring it out together.

—

It wasn't just studying.

Jungwon started walking her to class, even when it wasn't on the way to his own.

Hyemi started texting him first, sending sarcastic comments about whatever she was doing, as if she expected him to respond.

Their friends noticed.

Sunghoon nudged Jungwon one day during lunch, smirking. "So... Hyemi, huh?"

Jungwon sighed. "Don't start."

Jay grinned. "It's cute. You guys actually like each other now."

Heeseung chuckled. "Shocking, really."

Meanwhile, on the other side of the cafeteria, Hyemi was getting the same treatment.

Wonyoung smirked as she sipped her drink. "You're literally glowing."

Yuna wiggled her eyebrows. "It's because of Jungwon, isn't it?"

Hyemi groaned, burying her face in her hands. "Can you not?"

But no one was letting it go.

Because it was obvious.

They weren't just rivals anymore.

They weren't even just friends.

They were something else.

And for the first time, neither of them were running away from it.