.

‘Yeah, that’s her,’ I thought. As she experienced many false rumors about her, I knew that she wouldn’t believe such gossip undoubtedly. Especially when it was about me. ‘However, I…’ Heaving a deep sigh, I smiled brightly. As soon as I showed that grin, Ban Yeo Ryung, who was in front of me, was reduced to tears.

I often saw her shedding tears when she was worn out. She hated crying in front of other people as much as I did. After all, she tended to think that it would be an inconvenience to others rather than a matter of self-respect. This time, however, was different.

Tears kept descending from her eyes. I never saw Ban Yeo Ryung sobbing her heart out like that in my whole…no, ever since I came to this world.

‘Oh my god, hold on…’ stomping my feet in nervousness, I held her shoulders.

“Hey, why… why are you crying? I mean, I knew that you wouldn’t believe it! Your text was just so serious, so I… oh, please stop crying! I’m sorry.”

“No, no… It’s just…”

Shaking her head furiously, Ban Yeo closed her eyes tightly. She then murmured with her tear-soaked lips, which looked and sounded threatening.

“I don’t know who that bitch is, but I’m gonna kill her…”

“B… an Yeo Ryung…”

“She’s dead meat… dead meat!”

There aroused a black aura over her shoulders, which looked like Eun Hyung when he was mad. ‘What should I do…’ I never saw Ban Yeo Ryung crying so harshly before, so I didn’t know how to console her.

As I stared at her, she finally opened her mouth. What she said after then made my jaw slowly drop.

“I’m fine, it’s totally okay if people are gossiping about me, but why does it have to be you instead? You got involved in all kinds of dogfights before because of me and nearly died, and now there’s this **ty rumor about you too…”

She whimpered alongside her words.

“… I’m okay since I’ve gone through these a lot, but why you? You’ve never been involved in any rumors like this before, but why is it happening this time? From my experience, I know how harsh it was to get through this. That bitch… I don’t know who that bitch is, but she’s dead…”

With that said, she, again, sobbed while burying her face into her hands. I didn’t know what to say, so I just pouted. Only these words swirled in my head, ‘Fine? How can you say that? How could you be fine?’

If we had grown accustomed to pain after going through it a lot, it would be impossible for us to fall into tears; however, we know that things don’t work like that. Still, Ban Yeo Ryung kept saying that she was fine. Hesitantly, I touched her shoulder. She then raised her tearful eyes and looked at me.

I said, “Hey, that’s enough. How can you be fine? I really get how you’ve felt now.”

Ban Yeo Ryung then cooled down a little. She stared at me with big, round eyes. I heaved a sigh.

“Don’t get mad in front of the kids to find out who was spreading the rumor. That girl named Choi Yuri, you told me about her many times. She and the other girls are the closest to you in Class 1-1, aren’t they? If you took my side right now, then your friendship with them will be over.”

“I don’t care about my relationship with them. Those who believed in that stupid rumors and hurt you don’t deserve my friendship.”

Ban Yeo Ryung’s determined remark made me speechless for the moment. Then I felt something warm rising within my heart; however, I shook my head.

“If you do that, then you’ll be completely isolated; besides, you don’t have proof that I’m not the one who did it.”

“Then what should I do?”

Shrugging my shoulders, I responded to her question.

“Leave it for now. There are crazy people out there, you know. Once we stay low and waited for the right timing, then maybe the truth that I didn’t do anything wrong will finally come to light.”

“No,” said Ban Yeo Ryung, heavily. There was a feeling of deep sorrow in her eyes. I sighed quietly. Since I’ve been her friends for a long time, I knew exactly what she meant.

Ban Yeo Ryung gazed at me indomitably for the whole time. She then stretched out her hand and grabbed mine tightly. Holding my hand with a determined look, she faced me and opened her mouth.

“Donnie, don’t allow injustice in your life.”

“…”

“If you turn a blind eye to them, then they’ll overreact. Disclose the truth and tread them.”

My eyes widened. She would never cope like that if she was in my shoes. While I blinked my eyes, Ban Yeo Ryung showed a sneer on her lips. Grinning bitterly, she looked at me.

“What are you talking about the truth coming into light? Who cares? Who would pay for the pain I felt because of this? No one. Even after burdening myself alone while receiving their apologies, still, the wounds would last. Those who hurt us won’t reflect on themselves. They would just think that they’re as much of a victim of false rumors. We should nip it in the bud.”

“…”

I just stared at her eyes at a loss of words. How many pains did those starry eyes of hers hid?

Ban Yeo Ryung wasn’t crying anymore. She stared at me with determined eyes, which reduced me to tears this time. Without another word, I just rubbed my sour nose with the back of my hand.

She was right. It always was like that. The truths of false rumors will never be cleansed. Apologies that came from the perpetrators of the false rumors would seldom come, but it never helped.

Apologies? It didn’t do anything to mend our broken hearts. Although this helped the public to unravel the truth, the pain it engraved within us would never heal. One might even be foolish enough to believe that what had happened was all water under the bridge.

From the perspective of the people who subjected others into a world of pain, they might believe that their apologies could magically turn the nightmare they had created into neverland. Some of them were even mad because their overtures were not reciprocated with the reaction that they expected. ‘Does an apology erase the taint that they had left?’ I would like to ask those people if apologies were enough once we unraveled what laid within their facade while our hearts remained wounded because of their cold stares and harsh criticisms.

The one who eventually bore the pain was only Ban Yeo Ryung herself, but people didn’t know that.

In life, it is impossible to live without sorrow, but people never spared Ban Yeo Ryung their knife-like words as if they had never experienced what it felt like to be on the receiving end of such agony. Why? Why didn’t they considered her pain when they were also afraid of it?

They didn’t apologize without fear of hurting their pride; however, how could they be so indifferent to Ban Yeo Ryung’s pain? They knew for a fact that no one wanted to get hurt.

I could hardly help myself from covering her with my tight embrace. Ban Yeo Ryung now looked like she had cooled down and just stared at me with her round eyes wide. As if she saw me burst into tears, she patted my back in confusion.

Trying to stop my sobbing, I said to her, “Ban Yeo Ryung, why do you always overlook those who have wronged you, then? You would just move on whether they apologize or not.”

She then replied immediately, and what I heard was so insane that I couldn’t stop myself from laughing.

Ban Yeo Ryung shouted, “How can you and I be the same? It’s totally fine by me if they treat me that way, but not you… I might be a bad, arrogant, and selfish bitch just like they said, but not you! You are not!”

As if she couldn’t bear her emotions, her voice was flowed along with her tears as she uttered every syllable of her statement.

“You… you aren’t that kind of person…”

This then filled Ban Yeo Ryung’s eyes with tears once again. ‘Geez, why are we doing this in front of our houses?’ I hesitantly stretched out my hand and held her in my arms.

She then wailed in relief in my arms. While sobbing, she mumbled in a tearful voice.

“Those bitches who said those bull** about you, oh, they are dead… sob, sob… why are they hurting you? How dare they do that?”

Feeling dumbfounded, I heaved a sigh before patting Ban Yeo Ryung’s head.

I replied, “Ban Yeo Ryung, next time, have that mindset not only for my situation but also for yourself to tread them. You keep being nice and ignoring them, so they think that they have the right to overreact.”

“Sob… sob…”

Ban Yeo Ryung just cried without responding. Meanwhile, the sun fell over the mountain while tainting the sky with a crimson brilliance. Under the dark, heavy clouds, the magenta sunset permeated palely.