.

Kwon Eun Hyung was confident about himself reading other’s emotions quite well. It, somewhat, resulted from his childhood background. If he had even a strand of hair out of place, he would receive severe criticism saying, ‘It’s because he wasn’t raised in an intact family.’ To avoid the reproach, he had to read other’s mind and behave upon that, therefore.

Since he lived that way, Kwon Eun Hyung thought he was aware of Eun Jiho’s emotions to some degree. ‘Have I been wrong?’ Eun Jiho’s eyes just now were, however, such an unseen thing to Eun Hyung.

Yoo Chun Young’s soft glance and Eun Jiho’s deeply submerged eyes… Kwon Eun Hyung closed his eyes with a frown.

Suddenly, a strong premonition struck him. A long time ago in the past, he sensed something crawling awkwardly inside him when he saw the vividly red car disappearing into the fog at a slow pace. The eccentric feeling that he had back then was now speaking to him; the retreat will be a turning point for their relationships, having a complete fallout.

I carried a quite heavy bag on the bus and sat next to Kim Hye Hill, in front. By sitting closer to the forepart of the bus, we thought it would be better to avoid any motion sickness; however, as soon as I sat down, someone pulled my arm. When I turned my head back, Yoon Jung In came into my sight. I asked him while feeling dumbfounded.

“Why?”

Yoon Jung In smiled naughtily at my response then pointed the back of the car with his chin. Before I was about to ask Kim Hye Hill for help, he dragged me all the way to the back and made me take a seat. Yi Ruda was also enforced to sit next to me without knowing the reason. Sitting side by side, we both looked at each other blinking our eyes then we saw Yoon Jun In at the same time.

He perched right in front of us with his one hand placed on the back of the seat. Laughing naughtily, he grabbed a bunch of papers in his hands. It was then that we noticed what he was thinking. Yoon Jung In spoke with a wink.

“Hey, how was remembering the script? Tomorrow night is the night, so shouldn’t you guys perform a rehearsal?”

As soon as he said that, we heard kids blowing whistles, booing, and roaring wickedly inside the bus. Gosh… I furrowed my face.

‘I did remember it but the script is a total mess…’ With that thought in mind, Yi Ruda said something besides me.

“I’m fully ready. What about you, Donnie? Will it be fine?”

“Oh, you are such a prepared man!” Yoon Jung In said with a smile then looked back at me.

Knitting my face, I turned my mouth up slightly to resemble the hint of a smile. Of course, it was a fake grin. I barely opened my mouth to reply.

“I did remember the script but…”

And exactly 10 minutes later, I stammered my lines then lifted my head to look around inside the bus. No one had their heads up in the air properly. Some kids had a weird look on their faces while holding each other’s hands. A few kids buried their faces on the back of the chair in silence. Aside from me, Shin Suh Hyun and Kim Hye Hill were having a horrible gaze at me.

Kim Hye Hill, who seemed to hesitant for quite a while, carefully detached her lips as our eyes met. She then flung her words to me.

“Do it over again.”

“…”

“Let’s just first read it correctly.”

“Um… I did remember the whole script though.”

It was true that I had every line inside my head; however, acting is a different story. As I raised my eyes to look at Yi Ruda, she gently nodded while staring at me. She then had her eyes on Kim Hye Hill.

“From where?”

“Hmm, let’s start from Yi Ruda pushing Ham Donnie to the wall and locking her inside his arms.”

When Kim Hye Hill read that line in a calm voice, I felt a shiver crawling up my spine. While I tried to rub the back of my chilly neck, a hand stretched out from aside then held onto the wall right next to my face. Yi Ruda soon turned her body to look at me in a close distance.

We weren’t on the stage but inside a bus, so this was all we could do; however, it was still such a small distance. Yi Ruda’s knees almost touched mine and her nose was within a 30-cm distance from me. Her hand could easily reach me when stretched out.

The sunlight through the curtain shined the tip of her handsome nose. Her dazzling eyes looked somewhat colder than usual.

The silence between our lines seemed to be particularly long. After a good while, Yi Ruda, dropping her gaze at me, opened her lips.

“Do you… want to be mine?”

Her soft and sweet voice soon prevailed the silent space. At that very moment, everyone inside the bus seemed to stare at Yi Ruda while holding their breaths. I wasn’t getting it wrong. She truly had a unique vibe that allured people.

As I dwelled upon her with a captivated glance, she just kept her stare at me. The longer the silence, the more uncomfortable she would be; however, she didn’t push me at all. I gathered my senses back but became distressed as my next lines came across my head. My heart seemed to be snatched out.

I tilted my head a little diagonally to avoid her gaze or else I could hardly speak my part. At last, I opened my mouth.

“Heart… p…ound…”

“…”

A cold silence hung among the audience again. Soon, a person got up from his seat out of the blue, which broke the ice. Needless to say, it was Yoo Jung In, who was sitting right in front of us.

He shouted at me, “Hey, Ham Donnie! Are you having a speech disorder? Come on, it’s just two words, ‘heart pound.’ Is it hard for you to just speak the two words correctly? Hold on, there’s another one.”

Yoon Jung In then flipped the script in his hand nervously. He then continued his words.

“Hey, this part, ‘I can’t love someone anymore because I only have one heart. My heart was already taken by Yi Ruda, so I don’t have anything left.”

“Dude, hold on. Don’t read that out loud!”

As soon as I cried out, a few kids retched while turning pale. Yoon Jung In, who devastated many of us in a flash, however, responded in a face that showed no signs of guilt.

“I mean, why can’t you say this simple line? Do you know how you read this? Should I show you? ‘I… can’t lo…ve some…one anymore… because, cough, I only have one… heart… cough, gosh… what’s it got to do with heart and love?’ Geez…”

“You know, it’s weird!”

“Oh, just get over it and move on. What did you also say? ‘My he…art was already taken by Yi Ruda…, so I don’t ha…ve anyth…ing left. Cough. How can I be alive without a heart?’ Hey, stop stammering! Why you keep adding unnecessary comments?”

“Dude, honestly, the script is too…”

I gave a pause in a grimace then scowled at a few kids who wrote the script. As they saw my angry gaze, they pretended to be indifferent while looking up at the ceiling. Sigh… I dropped my head and swept my hair back. I then opened my mouth.

“Hey, who says out loud ‘heart pound’ instead of just blushing? Do you have your mouth on your heart?!”

“You’re not ready to blush your face.”

“It would be way easier than saying out loud ‘heart pound.’ Let me do that.”

“Is it that hard for you?”

Listening to our story apathetically, Kim Hye Hill, who perched her arm on the armrest, suddenly stretched her arm out.

She then easily snatched Yoon Jung In’s script out of his hand and slowly went over it while leaning her body to me. I also bent myself to her. Her jet-black hair shined bluish under the sunlight.

“Let’s see… ‘Pound. What are you talking about? We met just now. What? No, I won’t. Geez, what a weirdo…’ Hmm.”

A few kids tried to cover their ears out of the freakiness but soon looked at us in wonder. So was I who felt unexpected.

Surprisingly, the lines coming through Kim Hye Hill’s calm and even tone weren’t cheesy at all. The only problem was…

“Hey, Kim Hye Hill. Stop that. Are you reading a book?”

“Come on, oppa. Do you want me to put some emotions in here?”

“No, since it would make all of us cringe inside here. Hey, just stop reading it for now.”

“Ok.”

Kim Hye Hill replied while closing the script neatly to hand it over to Yoon Jung In. She then came back to her seat and buried herself there.

Yeah… the problem was that Kim Hye Hill’s acting was literally like reading a book.