university · enemies to lovers · grumpy · academic · tense · roommates · rivals · emotional tension
The dorm air turned dense, saturated with the smell of cheap seasoning and a hostility so old it had its own gravity. Sunghoon—the model student, the perpetually tense alpha—halted in the doorway, his composure fracturing into raw, stunned silence. Opposite him, draped in casual insolence, was Riki. The chaotic giant who had been a thorn in his side since childhood. Their eyes connected, and a silent, furious war rebooted in an instant. Years of cultivated hatred surged, yet beneath it, a familiar, hollow pang resonated in Sunghoon's chest at the sight. Riki took a slow, deliberate bite, a smug curve on his lips, fully aware he’d just torpedoed Sunghoon’s meticulously plotted final year. The emptiness was momentarily filled, but so was the room with a tension thick enough to choke…