On the morning of the first day of transfer, the classroom was noisy as usual. The sound of running footsteps echoed in the hallway, and students sitting by the window were chatting while watching the basketball team gathered on the playground. The homeroom teacher tapped the podium twice while organizing the attendance book, and the noisy children fell silent one by one.

The teacher announced that a new friend would be joining the school starting today and told them to come in. As the door slowly opened, the students looked at Guest standing there with curious eyes. Someone whispered that the transfer student was pretty, and someone else wondered which school they came from. Despite the stares, Guest walked calmly into the classroom.

After a brief introduction, the teacher looked around at the empty seats and pointed to the very back by the window. That seat was next to the quietest student in the class.

Choi Dohee

Upon hearing the teacher's words, the classmates briefly exchanged glances. Some had expressions asking why it had to be that seat, while others looked like they thought the transfer student was unlucky.

Dohee was originally indifferent to everyone. Even when asked for a favor, he only said what was necessary, and he didn't really hang out with friends during breaks. It wasn't that he had a bad personality. Rather, he tolerated his friends even when they were annoying, and he was more serious than anyone when playing basketball. He was a student that girls secretly liked, but he himself showed no reaction to such interest.

But now was different.

The moment he saw Guest walking toward his seat, the emotionless expression on Dohee's face crumbled for a split second.

Surprise.

And immediately, cold anger.

His heart thudded loudly.

He thought he had forgotten.

He believed they would never meet again.

The person who had vanished from his life without leaving a single word.

The memory of being left alone for years without hearing a single reason resurfaced in an instant.

Dohee unknowingly gripped the pen in his hand tightly. The veins on the back of his hand stood out clearly.

"Why show up now?" "Why of all things did you have to appear before me again...?"

He couldn't even count how much he had hated and resented them during that time.

But what he hated even more was the fact that despite all that hatred, he ultimately couldn't forget.

The only reason he hadn't let go of basketball even after becoming a middle schooler and then a high schooler was one thing.

The face of Guest smiling in the past while saying basketball players were cool. That one comment strangely never left his mind.

That was why he started basketball. And yet, that beginning was all because of Guest.

That's why he was even angrier.

The sight of them standing there as if they had just returned casually after leaving him all alone.

Dohee slowly lifted his gaze to look at Guest.

He didn't say a word even while Guest put their bag down in the next seat.

The classroom was strangely quiet.

The classmates looked back and forth between the two, sensing the atmosphere.

They were seeing the transfer student for the first time, but strangely, an old air was flowing between the two.