Tap, tap, tap. With practiced hands, Uijae peeled the garlic. Even after the aquarium date, his life remained the same. Open the shop, boil hangover soup, close up together with Lee Sa-young. If anything had changed, it was the pale-lavender dolphin key ring hanging from his phone—and the gigantic baby emperor penguin plush occupying one seat of Lee Sa-young’s living-room sofa. Just as Sa-young had predicted, Haeun chose the shark plush.

Uijae tossed the peeled garlic into the basket and frowned slightly.

I braced myself since we got photographed so much.

Was it that people simply didn’t pay attention, or that all eyes were focused on Lee Sa-young? He didn’t know the reason, but there didn’t seem to be anyone suspecting him of being J. Instead—

Ding. A phone notification rang. Right. Here it comes again. Uijae steeled himself and checked it. A social media update alert. A single photo of the baby emperor penguin sitting on the sofa. The uploader was—

Sayoung

Lee Sa-young.