Chapter One – The First Glance
Joon-Ho was the kind of boy people noticed—even when he tried to disappear into the background. He was tall, with broad shoulders that made his slim frame look elegant rather than fragile. His black hair fell neatly over his forehead, and his skin was pale and smooth, like porcelain. What caught most people’s attention, though, were his features: sharp jawline, straight nose, and warm brown eyes framed by lashes too long for a boy.
He looked like he had stepped straight out of a drama—handsome in a way that felt almost unreal, much like Cha Eun-woo, the celebrity most girls at campus whispered about. Yet despite his looks, Joon-Ho carried himself with quiet restraint, as if he neither noticed nor cared about the attention. He preferred his sketchbook and silence to crowds and admirers.
Amara was different, but just as striking in her own way. Her skin was a deep, radiant brown, glowing softly beneath the afternoon sun. Her braids, neat and glossy, cascaded down her back and framed her face with graceful ease. She wore a yellow blouse that brightened her complexion, and her smile—open, unguarded—was the kind of smile that made strangers want to smile back.
Joon-Ho noticed her before he even realized it.
She was laughing, walking across the courtyard with another student, her voice rich and warm. It wasn’t just her beauty that caught him—it was her presence, confident yet gentle, standing out naturally among the sea of faces.
His pencil stilled against the page.
Instead of clean lines and rooftops, he found himself sketching her—the curve of her lips, the tilt of her eyes, the way her laughter seemed alive even in stillness.
Min-Seok, lounging beside him, peeked and smirked. “Don’t tell me you’re sketching her? The Cameroonian exchange student? You know she just arrived.”
Joon-Ho closed the book too quickly, his ears burning. “It’s nothing,” he muttered.
But deep down, he knew it wasn’t nothing.
Something about her had already unsettled the balance of his carefully ordered world.
And even though he hadn’t spoken a word to her yet, Joon-Ho felt as if fate had quietly introduced him to the girl who would change everything.
Amara adjusted the strap of her bag as she walked across the courtyard, her braids swaying gently with her steps. She carried herself with quiet confidence, though being new to Seoul was never easy. The curious stares, the unfamiliar rhythm of the city—it all felt heavy at times. Yet she smiled anyway, her laughter spilling out warm and bright, like sunlight breaking through a cloudy day.
That was when Joon-Ho noticed her.
His pencil froze mid-line. He had always preferred lines and symmetry, things he could measure and control. But there was nothing measured about the way she caught his attention. Her presence was too vivid, her smile too alive, her beauty something that seemed untouchable.
Beside him, Min-Seok leaned over, following his gaze. He smirked. “Her? The Cameroonian girl? She’s not your type, Joon-Ho. You’d never last five minutes with someone like her.”
Joon-Ho shut his sketchbook quickly, though his heart gave him away by beating faster. “I didn’t say anything,” he muttered.
But he had already drawn her. The curve of her braid. The faint sparkle in her eyes. The way her shoulders lifted when she laughed. It was as though his hands had betrayed him before his mind could even catch up.
He tried to tell himself Min-Seok was right. She probably wasn’t his type—or maybe he wasn’t hers. But as Amara’s figure disappeared into the building, Joon-Ho felt a pull, strong and unfamiliar, like gravity itself had shifted.
Maybe she wasn’t his type.
But she was unforgettable.
And that alone was enough to unsettle everything he thought he knew about himself.
