.

He continued, “I’ve been pretty obvious but she really has no idea. How can she not notice that for the whole year? When Woo Jooin hugs Ham Donnie, I tell him not to saying that he can break her bones. I show Donnie how much I hate him doing that to her. I even went to her house that often but she never noticed my crush on her. She just thinks that I’m hanging out at her house because I’m free. Isn’t that funny? You know, I once ate the ice cream Ham Donnie just had and was almost killed by Ban Yeo Ryung. Still, she is completely unware of my acts. How can she be so slow?”

“…”

“As I get to see her, I can clearly tell what she likes and hates from the look in her face. You know, how honest are facial expressions are. Do you remember when Jooin told me that I changed so much after my sophomore year in middle school?”

“Yeah.”

Eun Jiho swept his hair back as if he felt embarrassed.

“I changed because of Ham Donnie. She couldn’t stand me acting cool or talking flauntingly, so I changed myself to speak comfortably. Later I also found how convenient it was. I admitted that I was trying hard to mimic my father before. What’s funny is that all my change is for her but she seems to consider that I’m doing it for my reputation. Isn’t it so ridiculous?”

After that remark, Eun Jiho fetched a long sigh. Yoo Chun Young couldn’t respond at all. No one could dare say ridiculous to Eun Jiho when he changed his behavior and his way of talking for Ham Donnie, whom he liked.

Yoo Chun Young recalled Ham Donnie often teasing Eun Jiho as Jekyll and Hyde. In Eun Jiho’s point of view, it would be such a speechless situation.

Eun Jiho swept his hair back as if he was being a little hesitant. He then continued his words.

“So, I thought I should tell my crush on her, I really should do that but… I didn’t know what to do at all. It’s my first time falling into someone this much. Why do I have to care about the way to confess or the best timing? And therefore, I was just vaguely thinking about telling her my crush…”

“Uh-huh,” Yoo Chun Young answered shortly with a nod. When he lifted his eyes to glance at Eun Jiho, he had his eyes closed in a grimace. His sliver lashes shined under the moonlight. Eun Jiho kept on with his eyes closed.

“Do you remember Yoon Sarah?”

“I do,” without adding any comments, Yoo Chun Young replied briefly. Her name was, however, quite familiar.

Regarding Eun Jiho or the other Four Heavenly Kings’ fame, there were always female followers. Yoon Sarah, however, went a little too far. Wandering around his house, she finally bumped into Eun Jiho more than ten times. Every morning she called Eun Jiho to come outside and gave gifts to him; therefore, it was such a pain in the ass for Eun Jiho to deal with her.

One day, when Kwon Eun Hyung asked Eun Jiho quietly if he was ok, Eun Jiho fetched a sigh and said, ‘My father told me to never treat a woman bad… but no matter how many times I tell her in a good way, she never seems to understand. What should I do, for real?’

‘Jesus…’

Since Eun Jiho was young, his father’s words were like a bible to him; therefore, Kwon Eun Hyung couldn’t help but smile ambiguously.

Then one day, she didn’t appear anymore, so everyone just thought that Eun Jiho successfully escaped from her. Later when others asked, Eun Jiho showed an uncomfortable look on his face without any words.

His eccentricity continued after then. He began to date a girl and had a relationship for about two months. He then broke up and stayed single for a month then repeated the same process. Eun Jiho did that with three girls. When the other boys asked him about what they did, he said he walked around the streets while holding hands but nothing special happened other than that. ‘For what reason?’ Yoo Chun Young furrowed his brows.

For a while, it was kind of uncomfortable to mention the overall happening, so no one really asked about it to him. As a result, people seemed to forget about it. And now, Eun Jiho began to talk about it directly, which was unbelievable.

Eun Jiho put a smile on his exhausted face.

“Yoon Sarah. The girl followed me in the hallway on that day too. She kept asking me, ‘Why are you not dating me when you’re not seeing anyone for now.’ So, I replied, ‘I have a crush on someone else,’ as always. She then told me to bring that girl in front of her. She added that I couldn’t because I was lying.”

“Uh-huh,” replying to Eun Jiho, Yoo Chun Young tried to recall the exact period of this happening. Yoon Sarah almost stalked Eun Jiho when it was only a few months after they became seniors in middle school. In this regard, it would be exactly a year ago from now.

Eun Jiho continued with a smile.

“Then I saw Ham Donnie walking toward us from the other side of the hall. Luckily, she was alone, which could be my only chance to get away from Yoon Sarah, so I grabbed Donnie impulsively. Ham Donnie looked surprised as if asking me why was I suddenly grabbing her when she was about to just say hello and walk pass me by. Why is she so… cute…?”

Eun Jiho gave a pause and sighed. He then raised his hands and covered his forehead. In a tired voice, he kept on his story.

“I hugged her shoulders in my arm and told Yoon Sarah, ‘Look. She’s the one I’m into.’ Yoon Sarah then scowled at us for a while then strode away. Ever since then, she didn’t follow me anymore. When she left, Ham Donnie looked at me like what was I doing. Do you know what she said to me after that? The first thing that she said was, ‘Hey, do you think it’s ok to use a person as a tool?’ So, I replied, ‘I wasn’t joking. I really like you,’ sincerely.”

“Uh-huh.”

“She kept on saying to me don’t lie, so I told her a few more times that I like her, I’m not joking around, and I’m being serious.”

Eun Jiho’s eyes were on the other side of the waving ocean. From the sigh mixed in his words, it was obvious that he would be feeling quite difficult to say such things. He, however, raised his hand to dishevel his hair sometimes out of anxiety but never stopped to confess his stories.

“After quite a while, Ham Donnie, at last, looked as if she understood what I meant. You know, her face told me that she realized how serious and sincere I was. She stared at me with her eyes wide open. I waited for her answer but do you know what she said?”

“What did she say?”

“She said, ‘I have to go to the hospital,’ out of the blue.”

Yoo Chun Young frowned his brows while wondering, ‘Hospital? Why?’ Eun Jiho kept on.

“Dude, can you believe that? She heard my confession then told me that she should go to the hospital immediately. How on earth could someone respond to a love confession like that? I became so puzzled that I thought I should first grab her not to go. Ham Donnie then tried to say something to me. I was like, now you’re gonna give me a clear answer; however, do you know what she told me?”

“…”

“She said she would go see the doctor to check for cancer, but she could have a car accident on her way. In that case, she could suffer from amnesia too. If she encountered a loss of memory, I should tell her to go check for cancer. Can you understand that?”

While talking about that time, Eun Jiho’s voice began to heat up. The conversation he had with Donnie that day was still clear and vivid as if it was from yesterday.

He confessed his love, at last, after having a crush on her for a year and a half; however, the response he heard was so ludicrous that he never could forget. In fact, even more preposterous thing happened next, which he didn’t tell Yoo Chun Young.

The sunlight from the wide window at the hallway poured into Ham Donnie. Her hair and eyes shined bright brown; however, her face turned so pale that she looked like a dead person.

After the pause, she blinked a few times then continued her words.

“Oh, not suffering from amnesia after a car accident but I could be a little sick mentally.”

“What?”

“Cancer cells are also life, living things. I should give my cancer cells the right to live, so I don’t want to receive chemo treatments… if I say something like these, beat me to get the treatment.”

“What…?!”

“I’m really going to see the doctor.”

Eun Jiho refused to think further but fetched a deep sigh. Something seemed to be pounding in his head. He kept on while furrowing his forehead.

“Her attitude was so serious that when she turned back to leave, it looked as though she would be heading to the hospital right away. But if she saw me… as a guy, at least sometimes, she would never say something nonsensical like that. So, I yelled up to her back that it was a joke.”

“How did she react?” Yoo Chun Young asked knitting his brows a little.

Eun Jiho shook his head then had a face that could hardly tell whether he was smiling or crying.