Besides, who cared if she was the prettiest in the year? The thought of having to reject yet another would-be suitor was bothering him, like a fly in his brain. It didn't matter if she was pretty, it was just boring. It was so... classic, to be a campus couple and walk around at night and sit on a bench and.. who knows what. What did people do? Talk about their favorite activities? Plan out mortgages? The thought felt distant, something he couldn't imagine thinking about at this point.

There was always the possibility, at this age, that any girl would be interested in potential fiancees at this point. Even his friends kept saying that they'd be the prettiest couple in the school's history, probably.

It's not like I can't be pretty by myself, he thought, somewhat annoyed, hurrying down the empty hallway after meeting the delivery man at the front of the humanities building. Honestly, he had nothing to do with the humanities building, but it had looked the emptiest at this hour. He just needed to eat.

As he half-walked, half-jogged with the plastic bag that was so full, it had been tied with extra string, he nearly ran into a student who was tiredly turning over notes in the hallway as she walked.

"Sorry," she mumbled, looking up to make a quick apology.

As usual, as soon as she did, her eyes widened slightly. "Oh, I mean, uh.. yeah, sorry."

"It's totally fine," he replied, trying to be reassuring. The girl seemed really taken aback.

It's not like bumping into someone handsome was worse than bumping into anyone else, he thought indignantly. He needed to find an empty classroom. This was getting to be exhausting.

He tried a few classroom doors, which were locked, and then finally found one that opened as soon as he turned the handle. "Success," he said aloud.

Standing in the doorway of the classroom, he decided that it was probably better not to sit in view of the hallway, which could be seen through the windows next to the door. Though he doubted anyone could possibly know he was in the humanities building. He faced the blinds on the window that had them upwards to be sure, and, satisfied, settled for sitting in the now-slightly-darker corner of the room, at a lone desk.

Perfect.

He started setting out the various things he had ordered, recounting his selection in his brain.

Rice. Pork and kimchi mandu. A little container of boiled quail eggs. A— what was this? He tried to see through the lid on the container he was currently holding. Oh, steamed egg. He forgot he ordered that. He continued, pulling out a paper bag that had a stuck-on note. Thank you for ordering from Brother's Taste Jjimdak! Please order from us again soon. He made a delighted expression at the revelation that there were free cheese sticks.

He pulled out the last item, a massive plastic container filled to the brim with spicy jjimdak. He had ordered the family set since he didn't eat breakfast, but even for him, it seemed like a lot. They had put extra glass noodles in, presumably because they thought he was a hungry family of four, and there appeared to be rice cakes in there too, mixed in with the spicy and savory sauce.

His stomach rumbled.

After delicately placing his paper-wrapped chopsticks on the desk, he sat down to eat, jamming his AirPods into his ears and pushing "play". He wondered if the next morning's class would smell the familiar aroma of braised chicken. He pictured the students trying to pull out their assignments, wondering, "Is that jjimdak? Who ordered jjimdak?" "I'm hungry now" "Does anyone want to go get jjimdak after this?"

The thought was funny. He laughed through a mouthful of rice and chicken.

He continued like this for some time, working his way through most of the rice and a few of the dumplings, occasionally pressing "next" to find a more upbeat song, the hand holding his chopsticks jabbing at his phone screen with the knuckle of his pinky finger to avoid having to put them down.

The next song was too quiet. He tried to press the "next" button, but kept missing, so there was a moment of silence in which he suddenly became aware that there were—