June did not cry.
Not in the rehearsal hall. Not in the corridor. Not when she turned her back to the glass door and walked away as if she had seen nothing at all.
She only felt the heat.
That slow, humiliating heat that rises from your chest to your face when your pride realizes it has been touched. Not even attacked. Just touched.
And somehow that felt worse.
She made it to the stairwell before she finally exhaled. The air came out like it had been trapped behind her ribs for hours. Her hands were steady when she gripped the railing, but inside her mind something kept replaying in a loop.
Kitty and XH by the courtyard pillar.The way his posture softened.The way her voice looked quiet, like it belonged to him.
June pressed her palm against the cool cement wall and shut her eyes.
It's nothing, she told herself.It's a conversation.It's air.It's a break.
But her mind, cruel and precise, returned with its own answer.
Then why did it feel like the whole hall went silent?
She opened her eyes.
She could still pretend.
She was good at pretending.
June walked out of the stairwell like someone who had simply remembered she left something inside. Her steps were even. Her face composed. Her mouth neutral.
Every time she passed a reflective surface, she checked herself without looking like she was checking.
No redness. No trembling. No betrayal.
Good.
She returned to the hall and sat, posture straight, notes open in front of her. She nodded when the instructor called the next candidate. She applauded politely at the right moments, hands moving at the right speed.
She did everything right.
And still, her mind kept circling the same question, like a tongue pressing at a sore tooth.
Why does it matter to me?
Because you care, her heart answered quietly.Because you're terrified, her pride snapped back.Because you can't control it, her fear whispered.
June's phone buzzed.
A group chat message from NC: "Everyone breathe. We're still alive."
June typed back quickly before she could hesitate.
"Focus. Don't get distracted. People want you distracted."
The moment she sent it, she regretted it.
Not because it was wrong.
Because it was too true.
And because she knew Kitty would read it and feel it like a warning aimed straight at her chest.
June stared at the message until the screen dimmed.
Then she set her phone down and forced herself to watch the stage again.
She refused to look at the courtyard door.
Later, on the walk back
June left rehearsal with the polite exhaustion of someone who had spent hours acting calm. Outside, campus felt colder. The sky hung low, heavy with gray.
Still no rain.
June walked faster than she needed to. She told herself it was because she had things to do. Notes to revise. Outfit planning. Scholarship requirements to revisit.
But she knew the truth.
She was running from her own thoughts.
At the corner near the student center, she saw the crowd.
Not a big crowd. Just a cluster of students huddled around a phone, laughing, murmuring, reacting like they were watching something entertaining.
June didn't stop.
She didn't need to.
She already knew what it was.
Queen Selection updates.
Her name. Kitty's name. Candidate gossip.
Everything turned into a story within minutes.
As she passed, someone's voice rose a little too loudly.
"She's definitely the one to beat."
Another voice replied, "Which one? The calm one or the sharp one?"
A third voice laughed. "The one with the boy."
June kept walking.
Her spine stayed straight.
Her jaw tightened.
Kitty, trying to be kind
Kitty didn't plan to look for June.
It just happened the way some things happen when your heart is restless and your conscience is louder than your fear. She left NC and Jihye near the cafe and walked toward the quieter side of campus, thinking she would just get air, maybe pray silently, maybe let the day drain out of her.
Then she saw June ahead.
June stood near the vending machines, pretending to scroll, face calm, shoulders set. She looked like someone waiting for nothing and preparing for everything.
Kitty slowed.
She could walk past.
She should walk past.
But her feet didn't move.
"June," Kitty said softly.
June's thumb stopped on the screen. She didn't look up immediately. When she did, her expression was polite. Almost perfect.
"Kitty," June replied.
The air between them felt too clean, like a room that had been scrubbed aggressively to remove any trace of emotion.
Kitty held her hands together in front of her. "Are you okay?"
June's eyes narrowed slightly, not hostile, just alert. "Why wouldn't I be?"
Kitty swallowed. She hated how careful everything had to be. "I just… you left earlier. It looked like you were stressed."
June gave a small laugh that didn't reach her eyes. "Everyone's stressed."
Kitty nodded. "Yeah."
A pause.
June looked down at Kitty's hands, then back to her face. "Is that what you came to say?"
Kitty hesitated. She chose honesty, but gentle honesty.
"No," she admitted. "I came because I don't want this to get weird."
June blinked once, slowly. "Weird."
Kitty's voice tightened slightly. "You know what I mean."
June stared for a second longer than necessary.
Then she smiled.
It was a controlled smile. A smile designed to hide teeth.
"It's already weird," June said. "We signed our names. Now the whole campus thinks they own our lives."
Kitty felt relief flicker. Agreement. Common ground.
"Yes," Kitty said quickly. "That's exactly it."
But June didn't stop there.
June's smile faded and her eyes sharpened again.
"And the campus doesn't even need evidence," June said. "They'll invent it."
Kitty's heart thudded.
June looked directly at her now. No softness.
"Like two people standing outside for a minute," June continued. "And suddenly it becomes a whole story."
Kitty's throat went dry.
She didn't deny it.
She didn't apologize either.
She chose the most honest thing she had.
"I didn't plan that," Kitty said quietly. "I didn't even want him to come outside."
June's gaze held.
"Did you want him to?" June asked.
The question was simple.
But it was a knife.
Kitty stared at June, and for a moment she could not find words that didn't sound like betrayal.
"I wanted air," Kitty said finally. "He came because he cares about people. He checks on everyone."
June's lips pressed together. "Everyone."
Kitty felt her cheeks warm. "Yes. Everyone."
June exhaled slowly, like she was trying to keep something inside herself from spilling.
"You're kind," June said, voice softer now, almost tired. "That's your problem."
Kitty blinked. "My problem?"
June nodded once. "You don't fight. You don't push. You don't chase. You just exist. And people come to you."
Kitty's chest hurt.
She didn't know how to respond without sounding like she was accepting a compliment she didn't want.
June's eyes flicked away for a second.
Then back.
"And I've spent my whole life fighting for everything," June said. Her voice dropped lower. "So when I see someone get something without fighting, it makes me feel stupid for how hard I've had to become."
Kitty's breath caught.
This was the first time June had spoken like this, like a person instead of a candidate.
Kitty stepped closer, careful, respectful, not touching.
"June," she said softly, "you're not stupid."
June laughed again, sharper. "You don't get it."
Kitty shook her head. "I do. More than you think."
June looked at her like she wanted to believe that, but didn't trust it.
Kitty tried one more time.
"I don't want to take anything from you," Kitty said. "Not the crown. Not the attention. Not anything."
June's eyes flickered. Something almost fragile passed through them.
Then June's pride returned like armor snapping into place.
"No one can take what's mine," June said. "Only I can lose it."
Kitty swallowed.
June turned her phone in her palm, screen lighting up.
"You know what's funny?" June asked, voice calm again. "People think the crown is the prize. But it's not."
Kitty watched her carefully. "What is it?"
June's gaze held Kitty's for one breath.
Then she looked away.
"Control," June said.
Kitty felt the weight of that.
June started to walk past her, then stopped.
Without turning fully, June said quietly, "If you're going to be kind, be kind. Don't be kind and pretend you don't know how it affects people."
Kitty stood still.
June walked away.
Kitty's chest felt tight, like she had just survived something delicate and still managed to break it.
The rumor chapter begins
That night, the campus forum exploded.
It didn't happen all at once. It never did.
It started with one anonymous post.
Title: "Queen Selection: Candidate Tea"
The post was short.
"Health track candidates already acting like celebrities. Heard there's drama. Screenshots soon."
Within minutes, replies stacked.
"Drop the screenshots.""Which candidate?""Is it the calm one or the sharp one?""Not surprised if it's the boy involved."
Then the first "evidence" appeared.
A blurry photo.
Taken through glass.
You could see two silhouettes outside near a courtyard pillar. Close, but not touching. One looked like a girl with long hair. The other looked like a guy with his hands in his pockets.
No faces.
No sound.
But the caption did what captions always do.
"Look how close they are. That's not 'just talking.'"
Another post followed.
Someone edited the image, brightened it, zoomed it, circled their "distance," drew arrows like it was a crime scene.
Someone replied, "I told you. She's already got him."
A third person wrote, "Which one is she? Kitty or June?"
Then another account, also anonymous, answered with confidence.
"It's Kitty. June would never stand like that."
June saw it at midnight.
She wasn't searching for it.
She was tagged in a private message.
A screenshot from a classmate she didn't even like.
"Girl… forum is wild."
June stared at the blurred photo.
Her chest tightened.
Not because the photo proved anything.
Because it proved how quickly people would decide.
She typed back two words.
"Ignore it."
Then she stared at the image again.
The arrow. The circle. The caption.
A rumor was not truth.
But rumor was powerful because it didn't need truth.
It only needed attention.
June's fingers hovered over her phone.
She wanted to message XH.
She wanted to say, "Be careful."
She wanted to say, "Don't talk to her outside again."
She wanted to say, "Do you know what people are doing?"
She wanted to say, "Are you choosing her?"
She didn't send anything.
Because pride is also a type of silence.
Across campus, Kitty also saw it.
NC sent it with a single message.
"Don't look. But it's already spreading."
Kitty's hands trembled slightly as she stared at the photo.
She looked like a silhouette.
A symbol.
Not a person.
Kitty's first instinct was to pray.
Not for the forum to stop.
For her heart to stay clean.
Then her phone buzzed.
XH.
"You saw it?"
Kitty stared at his message for a long time.
Then she typed.
"Yes."
XH replied quickly.
"I'm sorry."
Kitty's throat tightened.
She typed slowly, carefully.
"You don't have to apologize for standing near me."
A pause.
Then XH: "I'm not apologizing for that. I'm apologizing because you didn't deserve to be turned into entertainment."
Kitty blinked hard.
Her vision blurred slightly.
She did not let herself cry.
Not yet.
She typed back.
"Neither did June."
XH didn't reply immediately.
When he did, the message was short.
"I know."
The ending beat
Before sleeping, June stood by her window, looking out at the gray sky.
Still no rain.
The air felt wrong.
She thought about Kitty's voice in the corridor earlier. Soft. Honest. Trying.
She thought about her own words.
Control.Mine.Lose it.
June pressed a hand to her chest.
She didn't want to hate Kitty.
She didn't even want to compete like this.
But the campus had turned it into a battlefield, and June had never been raised to walk away from battles.
Her phone buzzed again.
Another forum screenshot.
A new caption, bolder.
"Queen Selection is not about crowns. It's about who gets him."
June's jaw tightened.
She whispered into the quiet room, voice barely audible.
"They don't get to write my story."
Across campus, Kitty lay in bed, phone face down beside her pillow.
She whispered her own sentence into the darkness.
"Please let me stay kind."
Two girls, two prayers, one spotlight.
And a campus that fed on rumors like it was starving.
The story was tightening.
Not because someone had kissed.
Because everyone was waiting for someone to break.