Anything But Study - Chapter 56

Bang- Boom!

Once again, the sound of large fireworks exploding in the sky began to echo.

Light from the fireworks bursting on the opposite side streamed through the window, intermittently flashing across the dark classroom.

“Hng….”

“Haah.”

Thump. Thump.

Even louder than those booming sounds, Melia thought she could hear the pounding of her own heart.

Right now, secretly kissing Hailon Alfred like this, it felt as if her heart might burst.

This wasn’t even the library.

It was just an ordinary classroom.

What if someone came in?

And yet she didn’t want to stop.

His breath was so sweet. Why did she keep wanting to breathe it in again and again?

Right now, Melia wasn’t being driven by the artifact’s effect.

Even so, she wanted this man purely of her own will.

She knew she should keep her distance. She had gone through that last incident with him.

And besides.

Now she knew he had a fiancée.

Even as guilt bloomed inside her, she couldn’t bring herself to reject him.

No matter what kind of desire Hailon directed toward her.

Boom-!

Just as another loud firework exploded outside and then briefly stopped.

Slick.

Their lips, which had been clinging together, slowly parted, and their gazes met in the air.

Only their lips separated. The distance between her and Hailon was still extremely close.

Close enough that they could feel each other’s breath against their faces.

Melia’s chest rose and fell as she drew in breath. Yet she couldn’t avert her eyes from the pair of eyes staring straight at her.

It was hard to read the complicated emotions mixed in those pitch-black pupils.

She couldn’t understand why he was looking at her with such passionate eyes.

“Why are you trying to avoid me?”

“I never… did.”

She didn’t even understand why he was asking that.

Melia glanced away. She said no, yet her attitude suggested the opposite.

A short, dry laugh escaped Hailon.

Just moments ago she’d accepted everything. His lips, his tongue.

Maybe that was why the question came out without hesitation.

“Is it because of that day?”

The moment he mentioned the time he’d practically forced her to pleasure him, Melia’s eyes widened.

‘So… he was thinking about it.’

After he left that day, nearly a month passed without them seeing each other.

Stupidly, hearing this made her feel slightly relieved. Just knowing she hadn’t been the only one conscious of it.

And what happened that day….

“No. It’s really not that.”

Melia shook her head.

She meant it.

‘It couldn’t be helped because of the artifact.’

At the time, she was confused and troubled, but she didn’t resent him.

She herself experienced that desire boiling up like an uncontrollable impulse.

But Hailon clearly wasn’t satisfied with that answer. His stiff expression didn’t soften, and his gaze remained fixed on Melia.

“Then.”

When he spoke again, it was only a single word, but it carried weight.

“If it’s not that, then what is it?”

It sounded like an interrogation, pressing her for an answer. His attitude made it clear he intended to hear it no matter what.

As if he truly didn’t understand anything.

A surge rose up inside her chest.

Maybe that was why Melia suddenly felt something inside her churn.

‘You really don’t know?’

This relationship was far too one-sided.

Even though he had a fiancée, he formed this kind of relationship with her.

And yet he had no feelings for her. He only kept her around as someone to relieve his sexual desire.

Anyone else could have filled that role anyway.

If it could be anyone at all, then why do you keep doing this to me?

The resentment she felt toward him slowly began to swell.

In the end, the emotions surging up made Melia’s eyes fill with tears.

“Can’t you just leave me alone? Stop doing this and just give me some time… please….”

“Wait… Melia, why….”

Through her blurred vision, clouded with tears, she could vaguely see Hailon’s face as he looked at her.

Maybe it was because she couldn’t clearly see what expression he wore.

“Don’t cry. Tell me. Okay?”

His voice sounded as if he were genuinely worried about her, and in the end, Melia honestly let the reason slip from her lips.

No, in truth, it had simply become too hard to keep hiding it. Saying she was hiding behind an excuse would be more accurate.

“…You have a fiancée.”

“What? Where did you hear that….”

Hailon’s expression stiffened. Melia knew everything?

It was his own mistake for living without caring how loose Anastasia’s tongue was or how quickly rumors spread around Erpen.

“Don’t tell me… Anastasia?”

“…So it’s true.”

His lack of denial made Melia’s heart collapse.

The tiny hope she’d held that it might just be a false rumor melted away.

Then all the more reason this shouldn’t happen.

That kiss just now.

And the tenderness he was showing her.

Unable to hold back her feelings any longer, Melia’s mouth moved on its own, beyond her control.

“No matter what the ancient relic’s effect was, you have her now. So you don’t need to do this to me…!”

Hailon’s body froze the moment he heard the tearful sound in her voice.

Huh?

“But then why, why do you keep making things so hard for me….”

The more he listened to Melia’s words, the more he couldn’t understand why a strange sense of anticipation kept blooming inside him.

It was almost as if…

“Are you jealous?”

That was why he asked. He wanted to confirm it.

He wanted the emotion Melia felt to truly be jealousy.

And the answer he heard was….

“Yes. That’s right.”

Exactly what Hailon had been hoping for.

Unaware of his thoughts, Melia bit down hard on her lower lip before answering.

“Am I not allowed to feel that way?”

It sounded as if he were saying she didn’t even have the right to be jealous of that girl.

She felt miserable.

She couldn’t endure it any longer.

Now that things had come this far, she couldn’t hide it or lie anymore.

She’d already said almost everything.

Even if Hailon looked at her coldly after this, she didn’t care anymore.

It was impossible to keep living every day with this painful feeling.

“I like you, Hailon…!”

“I like you, Melia.”

“Yeah, I like you too—”

She froze. Melia’s words abruptly cut off.

Every thought that had been swirling in her mind scattered in an instant.

Nothing came to mind.

Nothing except Hailon’s voice.

What did he just say?

Did her brain create some kind of hallucination?

She couldn’t believe the words she’d just heard were real.

Her half-parted lips trembled.

She needed to ask him. Ask what he’d just said. But no sound came out.

And yet….

“I like you, Melia Anderson.”

As if he’d read her mind, Hailon confessed his feelings once more.

Pitch black eyes and dark green eyes met and tangled in the air.

A brief silence followed.

Neither of them said anything. And yet for some reason….

Even just holding each other’s gaze like this, it felt as if their emotions were passing directly between them.

As if to prove it, without either of them taking the lead, their lips met again.

Boom- Boom!

At the same time, fireworks burst loudly in the distance once more.

But the two of them, who were now devouring each other more urgently than before, couldn’t hear anything anymore.

Nothing except each other’s breathing. Nothing except the pounding of their hearts.

Even the cold wall pressed against Melia’s back now felt hot.

“Ah….”

Suck- Slurp-

Drawing in breath intermittently, they kept sucking on each other’s lips as if they’d become addicted and couldn’t let go.

At some point, Hailon’s hand slipped inside Melia’s top.

Holding her full breasts in his palm, he stroked them several times before pulling his lips away, as if that alone wasn’t enough to satisfy him.

“Ha… ah….”

Their ragged breaths filled the small space between them, less than a handspan apart.

Hailon’s gaze dropped to Melia’s heaving breasts, and with hurried hands he pushed her top upward.

As if he couldn’t wait even a moment, he stripped off her underwear in one motion and lowered his head.

When his tongue swept over the ripe pink areola, her body trembled sharply.

The firm yet soft bud that rested on the tip of his tongue was so perfectly formed that he almost wanted to swallow it whole.

Lick-

“Ah…!”

Melia wrapped her arms around his head.

A moan slipped out as pleasure shot through her entire body.

Just looking down at him as he sucked at her breast as if honey might pour from it sent a strange, intoxicating sensation wrapping around her body.