Jiyu gathered her hair and neatly swept it over one shoulder. Then, just as before, she tilted her head to the side and lowered her gaze. Her long eyelashes, casting crescent-shaped shadows beneath her eyes, suddenly trembled, and she bit down hard on her lower lip.
‘What am I even doing?’
Hunter felt strangely unsettled. They were only checking each other’s pulse as the teacher had instructed, yet somehow he felt like a villain committing some unspeakable crime.
It felt unfair…
And yet, at the same time, he wanted to torment her.
The thought of seeing the perpetually calm, determinedly mature Ju Parker lose her composure—of watching her haughty brows droop and her cold eyes fill with tears—sent an inexplicable thrill through him. A thrill as intense as scoring match point in the final round of a tournament.
For a moment, a peculiar sensation seized his heart, squeezing it tight.
Hunter frowned and lowered his gaze, then paused.
‘Why is her neck so thin? Even Daisy’s thighs are thicker than that.’
It looked as though it might snap if he pressed too hard.
Come to think of it, his image of Jiyu had remained frozen in time, fixed on the day she had appeared at the Hamilton residence wearing that ridiculous white dress.
Thin, frail, and indistinct.
He saw her face almost as often as he saw his own family’s, so he had never taken the time to look at her closely. But today, Jiyu seemed strangely unfamiliar, almost like someone he was meeting for the first time.
She was still thin, frail, and indistinct.
And yet something about her was different.
The fact that he could not identify exactly what had changed irritated him.
‘She’s still just Ju Parker.’
Hunter gave a quiet scoff and shifted his gaze between the nape of her neck and the anatomical model. A red circular sticker marked the pulse point on the model’s neck. Estimating the location by sight, he carefully reached out, placed his fingers just above her collarbone, and pressed down.
After waiting for nearly three seconds without feeling anything, he lifted his fingers. He had not pressed particularly hard, yet a red mark remained on her pale skin.
Startled, Hunter shook out his wrist to loosen it. Then, focusing every nerve in his fingertips, he searched along her neck once more.
Jiyu, whose shoulders had been trembling faintly, let out a muffled “hup” and jerked her shoulders up to her ears. Hunter’s hand became trapped, flattened between her shoulder and neck.
“W-what are you doing?”
Flustered, Hunter yanked his hand free.
“It’s too ticklish, Hunter. I’ll find it myself.”
Jiyu’s cheeks, usually so pale that she looked almost ghostly, had turned a deep pink. As she avoided his gaze and searched her own neck, heat rushed into Hunter’s ears as well.
‘Damn it. What did I even do? Anyone watching would think we’d kissed or something.’
Jiyu pointed with her index finger to a spot halfway between her neck and collarbone.
“Here.”
Hunter, who had been clenching his fist, steadied his breathing and reached out again. He placed his fingers over the pulse point and swallowed.
This time, he felt the beat clearly.
Jiyu’s shoulders twitched again, and a shiver ran through her.
“Just endure it for a little while. It’ll be over in one minute.”
“…Okay.”
Hunter glared at the clock and began counting the beats. For some reason, his throat felt unbearably dry, forcing him to swallow again and again. Sweat gathered in his palm, and the humid air of the gym seemed suffocatingly hot.
The instant the minute was over, he snatched his hand away, grabbed the worksheet, and lowered his head.
“102. The pulse is stronger than before, but slightly irregular.”
“102? Are you sure you measured it correctly?”
This time, Jiyu questioned him with open disbelief. Hunter raised his chin and looked down at her with an intimidating expression.
“Want me to measure it again?”
“……”
She immediately lowered her gaze and shook her head.
Hunter touched his own neck and found the pulse point almost at once. It did not tickle in the slightest. Then, imitating what she had done, he tilted his head to the side and leaned his upper body slightly forward.
“Here.”
Jiyu hesitated, raising her hand with agonizing slowness. Three soft fingers settled precisely over the carotid artery, which was throbbing vigorously beneath his skin.
“I’ll start counting now.”
Her voice was barely above a whisper.
Hunter nodded solemnly.
But before even five seconds had passed, he clenched his teeth.
It had definitely felt fine when he touched it himself.
Now, however, a ticklish sensation bloomed beneath Jiyu’s fingertips and slowly crept up the back of his neck. He refused to hunch his shoulders like she had. That would look ridiculous.
He had his pride.
Hunter tensed his entire body and held his breath. He kept holding it until his face turned red, then expelled the air in a sharp “ha.” Goosebumps rose along his arms. The hair on the back of his neck stood on end, and his breathing grew ragged.
“Hunter, it’s too fast!”
“What?”
Grinding his teeth, he snapped his head toward her.
“Slow down a little… Ah, what do I do? I lost count. I think I have to start over.”
Hunter drew an enormous breath, puffing out his chest, then released it in a heavy sigh as though he had reached the absolute limit of his patience. Sweat beaded across his forehead. Heat surged through his entire body, as if he had just finished an all-out sprint.
“Sorry. I’m not doing it on purpose—your pulse is just too fast—”
“Damn it, Ju Parker.”
At the sound of his rough voice calling her name, Jiyu flinched and snapped her mouth shut.
Hunter lifted his chin and glared at her with murderous intensity. His flushed face made it clear that he was genuinely furious. Jiyu instinctively shrank back.
“…Sorry. I’ll count again.”
She murmured the words and placed her fingers against his neck once more, concentrating every nerve on the rhythm beneath her fingertips.
Hunter’s shoulders went rigid and rose slightly. Round beads of sweat formed at his temples, and the prominent knot in the middle of his throat bobbed up and down.
Tense as a drawn wire, Jiyu fixed her gaze on the clock and desperately tried not to lose track of the pulse racing wildly beneath her fingers.
The instant the minute ended, she jerked her hand away as though she had been burned.
Hunter’s skin truly was feverishly hot, like that of someone sick with the flu. Jiyu swallowed and opened her mouth.
“The rate is—”
“Shut up and just write it down.”
Hunter’s voice cracked slightly.
“Okay.”
Jiyu pressed her lips together and bent over the worksheet.
〈Carotid Pulse〉
***
─ 128
─ Very strong
─ Extremely irregular
***
On Friday afternoon, with spring rain falling steadily, Jiyu waved goodbye to Chloe as she left school.
“See you Monday, Chloe!”
“Have a great weekend, Olivia!”
After New York’s parched winter gave way to early spring, rain began to fall frequently. A light drizzle had come and gone since morning, fogging the classroom windows, but by afternoon it had thickened into a fine, steady mist.
The rain seemed light enough to walk through without getting too wet, so Jiyu initially set off without opening her umbrella. Before she had even gone a block, however, she stopped in the middle of the sidewalk.
She narrowed her eyes and looked up at the sky. The raindrops striking her face were colder than she had expected.
Dark gray clouds hung so low that they seemed almost close enough to touch. The rain showed no sign of stopping. If anything, it looked likely to grow heavier.
At this rate, she would be soaked through long before she reached home.
Jiyu wiped her face with the back of her hand, pulled an umbrella from her backpack, and quickly opened it. Her mother had insisted on stuffing it into her bag that morning despite Jiyu’s complaints about having to carry the extra weight to school.
Resting the umbrella against her shoulder, she continued down the wet pavement, her shoes splashing through shallow puddles.
Jiyu liked rainy days.
She loved hurricane season, when she could sit beside the window with a book and listen to the violent downpour raging outside, as though the rain meant to swallow the entire world in a single gulp.
She also liked the gentler rains of spring, falling like water from a sprinkler and washing the last traces of winter clean from the streets.
From Central Park, the fresh mingled scent of trees, grass, and damp earth drifted over the low stone wall and spread all the way to Fifth Avenue.
Rain splashed freely beneath the hem of her uniform skirt, which had somehow grown much shorter over the past year. Droplets slid down her bare legs and soaked into the white socks pulled over her ankles.
Jiyu shivered, wedged the umbrella handle between her neck and shoulder, and buttoned her cardigan.
As she began walking again, a tall boy in an Alton School uniform strode past her, his footsteps splashing against the pavement.
For a moment, a familiar scent—reminiscent of Central Park on a rainy day—lingered at the tip of her nose.
‘Hunter.’
She grabbed the umbrella handle again and tilted back the canopy that had been blocking her view.