Chapter 130: Roses, Rivals, and Rose Day Chaos

Ban Eunhyul was caught in deep thought from the morning.

“Master, I prepared some roses. Would you like to take them with you?”

The chauffeur offered a bouquet of roses that he had prepared in advance since today was Rose Day.

“When have I ever bothered with something like that?”

“I thought maybe you’d want to this time, so I prepared them just in case.”

Ban Eunhyul had never once celebrated Rose Day in his life. It was the same for other special days, too.

On Valentine’s Day, he would receive an overwhelming amount of chocolates from female students, but he had never observed White Day.

Ah, but this White Day was a little different.

Dana wanted to try the limited edition lollipops released for White Day, so he bought out the entire stock at the store.

‘If she wants it, I have to buy it.’

Though no one had said anything, Ban Eunhyul rationalized this quietly to himself as he looked at the bouquet of roses in the chauffeur’s hand with a conflicted expression.

A quick glance outside revealed that many students were already heading to school carrying roses.

Those who came empty-handed were buying single roses sold in front of the school and walking in.

“Give me that.”

Taking the bouquet from the chauffeur, Ban Eunhyul opened the car door and got out with a relaxed motion.

Just stepping out of the car, all eyes of the students heading to school immediately turned to him.

Accustomed as he was to the gazes, Ban Eunhyul casually walked on with one hand stuffed in his pocket.

A single rose petal fluttering from the bouquet in his hand fell quietly to the ground.

“Mine!”

“Move!”

At that moment, all the nearby female students rushed forward to grab even that one petal.

Ban Eunhyul had already walked quite a distance, but the girls continued their little battle over the fallen petal until the teacher came over and calmed them down.

Dr-reuk.

The classroom door opened, and Ban Eunhyul entered, inhaling the scent of roses that filled the room.

Dana was asleep with her head down on the desk beside the mountain of bouquets piled next to Ban Eunhyul’s desk.

“Hey, did you see that?”

“Could it be that Eunhyul brought those roses?”

“No way, someone probably handed them to him in the hallway.”

The atmosphere was one of disbelief that Ban Eunhyul had come to school carrying a bouquet of roses.

It was understandable, since no one had ever seen him care about things like this before.

But the class didn’t know this—

That Ban Eunhyul walking with a red bouquet of roses was so breathtakingly beautiful that the female students couldn’t even bring themselves to hand over a flower.

Some fainted with nosebleeds and fell backward; others just gawked, mouths agape, admiring his face.

Divided into these two groups, the girls eagerly chased after him, trying to imprint this rare sight in their eyes.

In the warming weather, Ban Eunhyul loosened his tie and rolled up his sleeves, holding the roses.

This was truly a rare scene.

“Did you get that on your way here?”

Even Ban Eunhyul’s longtime friends found this unfamiliar.

Han Jibin naturally assumed he must have received the bouquet on the way to school.

“No.”

Sitting in his chair, Ban Eunhyul didn’t even glance at the roses on his desk.

Instead, he stared quietly at the sleeping Dana.

Then, he lightly tapped her back to wake her.

“What…?”

Dana, still half-asleep, squinted her eyes and murmured in a hoarse voice as she sat up.

Thud

As Dana straightened up, Ban Eunhyul carelessly placed the bouquet on her desk and said,

“I picked it up on the way.”

Blinking after rubbing her eyes at the bouquet on her desk, Dana glanced to the side.

Her gaze landed on Ban Eunhyul’s desk covered in roses.

“Ah.”

Since there were so many flowers, she assumed he was just dumping them on her.

Completely misunderstanding the situation, she thought nothing of it, unaware of how extraordinary it was that Ban Eunhyul had given her a bouquet.

Unaware of what Dana was thinking, Ban Eunhyul tried to act indifferent but watched her reaction carefully.

When her response turned out to be more subdued than expected, his face flushed red with heat.

‘This doesn’t feel right.’

Tilting his head in confusion, he cleared the roses off the desk, his ears practically burning with embarrassment.

***

On the way home, the scent of roses filled the entire school grounds.

Even after reaching the playground, the smell lingered everywhere, making his head ache.

‘Why are there so many people?’

As he got closer to the school gate, he noticed a crowd of students gathered in one spot.

Whoever it was that had arrived this time, judging by the number of female students flocking there, it must have been a male student of star quality on the level of Inso.

‘Is someone confessing?’

He had just seen a public confession inside a heart made of rose petals on the field.

A public confession—that was just terrifying.

They must have prepared such an event because it was Rose Day, but the thought of being the one confessed to sent shivers down his spine.

He was about to pass indifferently through the crowd gathered in front of the gate when someone called out,

“Dana.”

He stopped and turned toward the voice.

It was Do Ihyun walking toward him.

He quickly checked if Do Ihyun was holding any roses in his hand.

Luckily, Do Ihyun was carrying nothing.

‘Why did I even check that?’

He sighed in relief, then suddenly felt embarrassed for having thought it.

‘I’m not some crazy guy or anything.’

What reason would Do Ihyun have to give him roses?

Ban Eunhyul had only given him one among the many bouquets he’d received himself.

“What’s that?”

Do Ihyun’s sharp voice cut through as his eyes stayed fixed on the bouquet Ban Eunhyul held while approaching.

“Oh, this? Ban Eunhyul gave it to me.”

“…He gave you roses?”

“Yeah. He had a lot of bouquets on his desk, so I think he gave me one of them.”

“Ah.”

Do Ihyun’s expression darkened, as if matching the gloomy weather.

Or was that just a trick of the light?

Still, it was strange for someone who disliked attention to come this far.

“So, what are you doing here?”

“Just wanted to see you.”

“Ah, so you wanted to hang out with me.”

He sometimes said things that confused people and nearly made their hearts drop.

If Do Ihyun hadn’t nodded silently at her, she might have misunderstood again.

“What should we do for fun? Everywhere’s probably full of couples today.”

Looking around at the couples nearby with blurry eyes, Do Ihyun nonchalantly said,

“Then let’s be a couple too.”

“What’s gotten into you today?”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re different from usual.”

It was really, really different.

His usual lethargic tone and indifferent eyes remained the same, but everything he said now was easily misinterpreted.

Puzzled by her words, Do Ihyun suddenly seemed to notice something and walked behind her.

He headed toward the flower stall that had been selling roses in front of the gate since morning.

‘No way.’

He wouldn’t do anything drastic like buy flowers to give her, would he?

Though somewhat used to the Four Heavenly Kings’ followers, Do Ihyun’s fans—rarely seen outside since he mostly stayed indoors—were a bit intimidating.

Even now, countless eyes burned into her, glaring fiercely.

‘My head feels like it’s about to split open.’

If someone’s glare could pierce a person, it would be right now.

Lost in trivial thoughts, Do Ihyun came back holding a bouquet of seven roses.

With each step he took, her anxious heart pounded wildly.

“Today’s Rose Day, you know.”

Her ominous feeling proved right.

The moment Do Ihyun handed her the bouquet, screams of disbelief and murmurs broke out around them.

She awkwardly accepted the bouquet and lowered her gaze.

She couldn’t understand why the bouquet felt so heavy in her hands.

‘His bouquet has two more roses than Ban Eunhyul’s.’

She hadn’t thought much when receiving it, but now she noticed Do Ihyun’s bouquet was slightly bigger.

‘Could it be…?’

Though it was said they didn’t get along, were they even competing over this?

‘Why am I the one receiving bouquets?’

Thanks to this, even if she remained unnoticed upfront, she’d be the subject of endless gossip behind the scenes.

There were countless girls whispering behind her back.

“Give me that.”

Do Ihyun naturally reached to take Ban Eunhyul’s bouquet from her hand.

She instinctively pulled her hand back.

“I’ll just hold it. It’s more balanced if I carry bouquets in both hands.”

She didn’t even know why she said that.

The unexpected events of the day left her unable to focus.

Despite her rambling, Do Ihyun calmly nodded but looked longingly at the roses in her hands.

“Gasp!”

Just then, a startled gasp broke out and the murmuring grew louder.

Suddenly, the crowd of female students that had gathered around them parted sharply on both sides.

From between them, Ban Eunhyul appeared, looking far less cheerful than before leaving school.

Standing with a slight tilt in front of them, he glanced crookedly at the bouquet Do Ihyun was holding and curled his lips into a smirk.