Nora's gaze briefly swept over me, head to toe, like she was inspecting a suspicious package.
Then her eyes landed on Leona—who, to her credit, still looked very much like "Leon," my cross-dressing roommate.
But Nora's eyebrows twitched ever so slightly.
She was already suspicious.
'This scene… it's just like the novel,' I realized, caught somewhere between amusement and dread.
In the original story, Leona was still mad at Ryen for that dumb joke about bathing together in the bathhouse. Ryen, in his infinite protagonist wisdom, decided that just saying sorry wasn't enough. After all, she'd rejected his apologies more times than anyone could count.
So what did he do?
He dragged her to the cafeteria under the pretext of treating her to lunch—as a peace offering.
And of course, that's where they met.
Nora and Leona.
—"Who are you?"
—"Hello, I'm Leon Harper. Ryen's roommate."
—"What are you talking about? Aren't we friends already?"
