The road from Hwayang Valley to Haerang Province stretched endlessly outside the car window, but Dahlia barely saw any of it.
Her grandmother's house—her sanctuary of flowers, music, and warmth—grew smaller in the distance until it disappeared entirely.
Beside her, her father drove in silence.
Choi Hyunseok was a man of discipline and order, and though he loved his daughter, affection wasn't something he expressed easily.
"We'll have a quiet life in Haerang," he said calmly.
"You'll adjust. And… your grandmother would want you to keep moving forward."
Dahlia only nodded, clutching the pendant around her neck.
Her fate pendant.
Her grandmother's last gift.
---
( Haerang Central High School )
The next morning, Dahlia stood outside her new classroom—Class 2-B—her heart thudding like a trapped bird.
The hallway buzzed with chatter, but her world felt muted, wrapped in a layer of unfamiliarity.
Inside, Professor Kang Seongho, their strict but fair homeroom teacher, cleared his throat.
"Class, we have a new student."
He stepped aside, motioning Dahlia forward.
The room instantly quieted.
Dozens of eyes followed her every step.
"This is Choi Dahlia," Mr. Kang announced.
"And let me make this very clear, our institution does not tolerate bullying. Be nice to her."
The warning made a few students shift awkwardly in their seats.
Professor Kang continued, "Dahlia, you may choose your seat."
Her gaze drifted around the room until it settled on the fourth table by the window—quiet, bright, and slightly removed from the center of attention.
She approached it and sat down.
She didn't know it was someone else's seat.
Not just anyone's.
---
Jaemin Arrives
The classroom door suddenly slid open.
"Seo Jaemin," Professor Kang sighed, "late again."
Jaemin bowed quickly. "I'm sorry, Sir."
He moved toward his usual spot, rubbing the back of his neck anxiously, until he saw someone sitting there.
Someone with long dark hair…
Someone he knew he had seen before.
"E–excuse me," he said softly, trying not to sound rude. "That's… my seat."
Dahlia turned.
The moment their eyes met, time seemed to fold in on itself.
The aquarium.
The swirling fish.
Her soft smile behind the glass.
It was her.
And his mind blanked completely.
His mouth opened, then closed.
He tried again.
"Actually—um—no, never mind. Y–you can have it. I'll just… take another seat."
Dahlia blinked, surprised.
"Thank you…" she replied shyly.
He stepped back, heart racing, and slipped into an empty seat behind her, fifth table, next row, where he now had the perfect view of her from the side.
As Professor Kang began the lesson,
Jaemin stole a glance.
Just one glance.
But then another.
And another.
A faint smile tugged at his lips, one he tried to hide behind his textbook, while Dahlia quietly read her transfer documents, unaware of the effect she had on him.
---
Throughout the day, girls whispered
about her beauty.
Boys glanced at her with curiosity.
A few tried to approach her, but the moment they remembered her father's reputation, the district prosecutor of Haerang and her mother
Victoria Yoon, their courage faded.
She was polite, but quiet.
Gentle, but distant.
And so, Dahlia remained… alone.
Except for the boy who still found himself looking her way every chance he got.
Jaemin wanted to talk to her, really talk to her,
but every time he rehearsed what to say,
the words tangled in his throat.
---
That afternoon, after classes ended,
Dahlia walked toward the school garden,
one of the few quiet places on campus.
She touched her pendant for comfort…
But it wasn't there.
Her heart stopped.
She frantically searched her pockets, her bag,
her collar.
"No… no, no, no…"
Her grandmother's necklace, her last, precious gift—was gone.
She retraced her steps:
the hallway, the classroom, the courtyard.
Nothing.
Panic clawed at her chest as her eyes stung with tears.
---
Meanwhile, Jaemin headed back to the classroom to grab the notebook he forgot.
As he stepped in, something shiny near a chair leg caught his eye.
A chain.
He bent down and gently lifted it.
A sword-shaped pendant with angel wings, holding a pale jade stone.
His breath hitched.
"This… this is hers."
He knew instantly, he had seen her touch it several times that morning, almost protectively.
He closed his fingers around it.
"This must be important to her…"
For a moment, he simply stared at it, wondering how to return it without sounding awkward, weird, or overly excited.
He practiced quietly under his breath:
"Hey, you dropped this."
"No, that sounds too stiff."
"Um… I found your necklace?"
"No, too plain."
"Dahlia, is this yours?"
"Ugh, no! Too forward!"
He sighed and ruffled his hair.
"Why am I like this…"
---
He found her behind the science building,
standing alone under the shade of a camphor tree.
She was trembling, wiping her eyes.
Jaemin's heart clenched.
He approached slowly, afraid of startling her.
"Dahlia?"
She looked up—her eyes red.
He hesitated, then opened his hand.
"I think… this belongs to you."
Her breath caught.
"My… necklace…"
She reached for it with shaking fingers,
clutching it to her chest.
"Thank you," she whispered, her voice cracking.
"I thought I lost it forever…"
Jaemin scratched his cheek, trying to hide his blush.
"I'm just glad I found it before anyone stepped on it."
Dahlia looked at him properly for the first time—really looked.
Not through glass, not from a distance.
And she smiled.
A soft, sincere smile that made Jaemin's heart flip.
"Thank you, Jaemin."
He swallowed hard.
"H-How did you… know my name?"
She pointed shyly at the sticker on his ID.
He laughed under his breath, flustered.
"Oh. Right."
They stood there for a moment in comfortable silence, the breeze carrying faint hints of early autumn.
It wasn't dramatic or loud.
But something gentle began to shift.
A thread quietly connecting them.
A fragile beginning…
woven by fate.