A Bear, a Confession, and a Split Lip

Finding out where they sold them had been hard enough, but the claw machine turned out to be no walk in the park either. Sure, he'd seen them in passing, but Ruby had never had the slightest interest in this kind of game in the first place. So this was his first time actually trying to win one.

He hadn't realized pulling a single bear out of a teetering pile of dopey-looking plush bears could be so difficult. The first day, knowing nothing, he blew through what little cash he had, then kept coming back to try again every spare moment for days.

That day too, he was pressing his forehead against the glass and glaring at the bear like he wanted it dead, when the friend he was waiting for yawned hugely and muttered beside him.

"Yo. Just give up. This place is famous for rigging the claw to be weak as hell."

"……"

"Or just ask her for it. What was her name—Soeun? The one who carries one around. Her older brother's supposed to be a claw machine master."

"……"

"Ugh. Obsessing over something so weird. What is wrong with you? Is that thing really that cute? It's just hideous."

Ruby couldn't hear a word being said next to him; he was focused entirely on controlling his fingertips. After dozens of rounds, he finally managed to nudge the doll toward the exit.

The prize was right in front of him. He positioned the claw and lowered it, tapping the bear right on the head—and with a clunk, the doll finally tumbled down into the chute.

"Whoa! Hey! No way! Holy crap, you got it, dude!"

His friend reacted as if he'd won it himself, but beside him Ruby only hummed quietly. Up close, the bear looked even stranger than it had behind the glass.

Outwardly he seemed indifferent, but inside sixteen-year-old Ruby, an endless whirlpool of pride was churning.

"Damn……."

The curse he breathed out was laced with pure gratitude. Now I get to bring this to Haeseo.

He could just wait at home and see her, but every minute felt too precious to waste. He'd gotten what she wanted with his own two hands. Haeseo would definitely smile.

How will she smile? Or will she be surprised first? Yeah—that's it. While I'm giving her this……. It might be the perfect day to confess, too.

Ruby's scrambling pace picked up. In just six more months he'd be a high schooler too. Two years apart, barely, and yet she insisted on treating him like a perpetual little kid. Every time they talked it was how's school, how are your friends—questioning him like she was his teacher.

Ridiculous. When they walked outside together, she was the one who got treated like a kid—aww, did you come out with your big brother? How sweet. She was all skin and bones with baby fat still clinging to her, her face perfectly round; even he could see it.

But what did age matter? The middle-schooler label stuck on him was something Ruby absolutely despised. Because it made Haeseo treat him like a kid.

He'd already worked ahead to the third-year high school curriculum and could help her with her homework, and yet she'd clap for him as if she were praising a five-year-old for spelling his name right.

Ugh. She doesn't even know who's teaching whom.

He frowned at the memory—but then the image of Haeseo's wide, round eyes spilling over with one exclamation of wonder after another floated up, and the corners of his mouth curled into a grin.

She had never once not been cute, but lately Haeseo had gotten prettier still. A simple word, yet nothing could have described it more accurately.

Is she allowed to get that pretty with entrance exams coming up? Ruby genuinely wondered. Everyone else gained weight from studying. Haeseo was a tiny little thing, so slim you'd wonder where all the food went.

Which meant once she got to high school, he'd have to stick right by her side and look after her. Well, full-time caretaking, then. Walking her to and from school, obviously, and eating lunch in the cafeteria with her too. If there was a problem she didn't understand, he'd offer one-on-one tutoring any time. Would Haeseo do self-study periods? Then he'd sign up for the evening meal with her, and…….

The thoughts chained on, one after another. By the time he reached the school gate, three boys were loitering there, snickering.

"No way that bastard actually confessed to Haeseo?"

Ruby didn't register them at all and started to walk right past. If only the name hadn't snagged in his ear.

Before anyone had a chance to notice Ruby standing frozen, the giddy boys were too busy crowing about the guy who'd confessed to Haeseo.

"Way out of his league. Bastard doesn't even own a mirror, idiot."

"Seriously, forget his face—doesn't Haeseo come from money? She lives up there, doesn't she? The huge mansion on the hill. Their wall runs all the way down to the flat road."

"So what? Confessing doesn't cost money. A rich girlfriend's even better."

"Ah, you trash. Right. For a loser like you, getting rejected is a prize in itself."

"Moron. I haven't been rejected yet."

"Pfft. Sure, in your dreams."

The last boy, a bit soft around the middle but solidly built, kept ranting while making no effort to hide the envious glint in his friends' eyes, swaggering on with growing bravado.

"I begged her not to answer right away—told her to think about it some more. She said okay."

"Tsk, tsk. Called it."

"Nah, you idiots, that's the whole trick. Girls like that, you push just a little more and they'll do anything you ask."

"You sound like a total pervert, you know that?"

"This is called strategy. Play on her sympathy. Worst case, even if she rejects me, I just whine, 'hug me just once,' and she will, right? Girl's got no parents anyw—urk!"

The boy who'd been holding court suddenly blinked down in confusion at the fist knotted in his collar. What the—what the hell! His friends stumbled backward, faces blank with shock. The boy who'd barged in out of nowhere looked young, sure—but he was far taller than any of them.

And his strength—God, his strength. The boy squirmed to break free of the grip, but the hold only tightened around his throat until his face went white.

"Let go of me, you bastard!"

Finally one of his friends swung a fist into Ruby's face. It caught his chin dead-on, but Ruby didn't so much as groan. He simply pushed the boy in his grip steadily forward and slammed him into the wall with a heavy thud.

"Gk—wh—why—"

The look in Ruby's eyes as he stared down at the boy was cold as a sheet of ice. The soft, bright energy that had carried him along while he ran, thinking of Haeseo, vanished in an instant, and all that remained on his rigid face was the raw bloodlust of a wild animal.

He wants to kill me. Not a single word had been spoken, but the boy knew. In the world of teenage boys trading filthy curses back and forth, killing was a word you heard over breakfast—but this was something else entirely, a different dimension altogether.

The boy's whole body trembled uncontrollably. Cold sweat soaked through his uniform shirt until it clung to his skin.

"Le-let go. Please. I'm gonna die like this……!"

The friend who'd thrown the punch begged, his face drained white. The boy being choked clawed at Ruby's hands with both of his, trying in vain to pry them off his collar, but Ruby's grip never loosened.

The boy's breathing hitched and rattled as if it might stop at any second. But more than the immediate pain, it was meeting those eyes in front of him that terrified him. The pupils, clouded over with lost light, held not a single shred of pity for him. I'm—I'm dying…… Right before he wet himself, the grip on his collar loosened, just slightly.

"Don't you ever go near Haeseo with thoughts like that. Stay away from her from now on."

"Urk—uh."

"Not going to answer?"

"Ngh—y-yes! Yes! I will!"

"Garbage."

He wanted to squeeze his throat, not his collar. Because breathing the same air as him felt like a waste. How dare he think of Haeseo that way.

The moment Ruby let go, the boy's legs gave out and he crumpled to the ground. Ruby's gaze dropped to the name tag pinned to the boy's shirt, and he memorized the name. Because if he pulled anything like this again, he'd have to kill him.

Ptui. Ruby spat out the blood pooling in his mouth. Only now did he register the throbbing ache in his jaw. When he turned around, the garbage's friends shrank backward.

It had already been a long day—or so Ruby had been thinking wearily, right up until he saw Haeseo. But the moment he faced her, his eyes lit up. A purely instinctive reaction, one he wasn't even aware of himself.

"Hey—what happened to your face?"

Haeseo, who'd surely had her head buried in cucumbers all day, came sliding right up to him.

Ah. She must've seen my split lip. Ruby was mid-shrug, about to brush it off as nothing, when Haeseo narrowed her eyes with a grave expression and rose up on her tiptoes. She'd gotten taller—or so it seemed from this height.

"Don't tell me someone hit you?"

Haeseo raised her small hand and touched his jaw, where an angry red scrape had bloomed.

"Hm? Tell your noona all about it."

Her warm, slender fingers were merely stroking his chin, soft as anything, and yet Ruby found himself unable to move, as if he'd been bound. It had been years since she'd stood this close. Not since elementary school graduation, he was pretty sure…….

"I'm fine. Just messing around with the guys."

His ears were turning redder by the second—redder even than his slightly swollen jaw. And all the while, Ruby conveniently omitted the fact that he'd thrown the first punch and played the innocent victim.

When Ruby stayed tight-lipped, Haeseo pressed her lips together so hard a dimple of frustration formed at her chin.

"Who—who would dare lay a hand on you, Ruby?!"

She was practically stomping her feet in outrage. The more he watched Haeseo worry over him like this, the more a satisfied smile spread across Ruby's face. See? Haeseo likes me too—she just hasn't realized it yet.

Otherwise she'd never care this much. Yeah. Really.

The corners of his mouth kept creeping upward. He couldn't wait to pull the masterpiece hidden in his bag out into the open.

"Noona. One second."

His heart was pounding like this was a proposal, and it wasn't even a ring. Ruby stepped back half a pace from Haeseo and swung his backpack around to his front. He unzipped it and pulled out the muscular bear kneeling in confession. His hands were shaking with nerves; the doll kept slipping from his fingers, and he fumbled to grip it again.

Calm down, you idiot. Ruby stole a quiet breath.

"This is for you."

He held it out, forcing his expression into nonchalance. Haah—but goddammit…… He was supposed to be holding the bear by its body, but he'd grabbed the little loop on its head instead, so the hideous bear dangled from his trembling hand, wobbling and spinning in place.