After quite a while, he fetched a deep sigh.

“Gosh…”

Taking a step forward, Eun Jiho murmured to himself.

‘One day, I will regret this thing. Why was I tempted by sweet pain? Once I indulge it, it’ll be hardly forgettable.’

However, when thinking that way, there were so many things to set back.

Shaking his head, Eun Jiho bent his steps again. On every step he made, the sceneries of their days clearly came across his sight and rewound back.

He thought, ‘Let’s say, the day I walked across the summer street while holding your hand when you were crying, or the day I leaned my head on your shoulder when we were sitting side by side on the couch. The other day, I sat next to you, watching you asleep for the whole break…’

Moving his steps, Eun Jiho slowly closed his eyes.

As he kept tracing back his memories, where he reached at the end was the day Ham Donnie first sat next to him. At that time, he didn’t like her, which made Eun Jiho let out a giggle when he came to think of it now; however, if he could go back to that day and make a choice again, could he not like Ham Donnie?

Eun Jiho then paused his steps as the question popped up in his head through the reminiscence. Suddenly showing a grin on his face, Eun Jiho began to walk again. He then murmured, feeling his vision brightened at a slow pace.

“That won’t happen.’

His father said that mind can be controlled by reason.

However, Eun Jiho was now walking toward Ham Donnie while being aware of him regretting it one day. He knew that what he was doing right now would engrave a regretful memory in his head.

As soon as he walked out of the corridor, he was able to see Ham Donnie faster than he expected. She was wearing a hairband with a bright cubic on her neatly trimmed dark brown hair. The gem shone like a star, reflecting the lights from all sides.

It was so dazzling that Eun Jiho narrowed his eyes for a second then looked at the face under it. He smiled and thought that he wouldn’t be wasting any time today. He didn’t want to let today’s opportunity slip by. That was when he dropped a sweet remark, making up his mind to watch as many funny faces of her as he could.

“Ham Donnie, you look pretty.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“…?”

Knitting his forehead for a moment, Eun Jiho looked back at Ham Donnie. She neither flushed nor revealed a sign of perplexity on her face but was just looking into her phone nonchalantly.

No way…

Eun Jiho grimaced, thinking, ‘Have she adjusted to this situation already?’

No, that couldn’t happen. Ham Donnie, slow to adapt in any situation, used to be a little behind in machinery and seasons in which many people criticized her for that aspect.

Eun Jiho repeated, “Dude, Ham Donne. You look pretty?”

He was too flustered to realize that he returned to his usual way of speaking. While Eun Jiho stared at Ham Donnie with his eyes full of confusion, she put her phone back into the clutch then raised her head.

“I said, I know,” she blurted.

“Know what?”

He knew that it wouldn’t sound good, but he couldn’t help himself asking like that. Across from him, Kwon Hye Young shot a look of disconcertion to Eun Jiho.

‘Jiho, that’s a no-no! It’s a red light! Red light to your crush!’

However, Ham Donnie didn’t show any special reactions to even what he just said. Now, Eun Jiho began to worry about if he was putting too much pressure on Ham Donnie. In the meanwhile, Ham Donnie lifted her head and spoke to him.

“Um, you are being sarcastic.”

“What? Sarcastic?”

It was truly an unanticipated interpretation. ‘How can she understand it in that way?’ Before he tried to say that, Ham Donnie continued, bending her steps.

“You always call Ban Yeo Ryung ugly.”

“… So?”

“And calls me pretty.”

Only then did Eun Jiho understand the sudden change of thought inside her small head.

He felt a stroke on the back of his neck. Just before, it seemed like a good opportunity to see her embarrassed reactions after a long time as well as to enjoy a couple’s conversation; however, everything was screwed up.

Furrowing her brows for a second, Ham Donnie quickly turned around and moved her steps to somewhere.

Eun Jiho also followed after, yelling out loud, “Hey, Ham Donnie! You ARE pretty!!”

“Yeah, I said, I know.”

“I mean, it’s not sarcasm… gosh! Shoot!”

“Yeah, I know, I know.”

“You know nothing!”

What Eun Jiho shouted out loud made the employees in the shop talk in whispers. Still, Ham Donnie had no reactions like a robot.

Anyway, she was such a girl who trusted things to the end. In good words, she was a woman of perseverance and in bad words, tactless as hell; therefore, her perception wouldn’t change again for a while.

Oh, lord!

Touching his forehead motionlessly, Eun Jiho murmured to himself.

“Ban Yeo Ryung! You are always interrupting us, but now you’re interfering remotely…”

* * *

“Ahchoo!”

Pausing herself to get the order, Ban Yeo Ryung sneezed with a shrug. She then rubbed under her nose to find out there wasn’t any nose running. Only then did she frown her eyes and fell into thought.

‘I’m not having a cold; besides, it’s summer, but why am I sneezing?’

On the other hand, the moment she let out a sneeze, the guys sitting close to the counter all stood up. A guy, who was standing closest to her, then handed out a tissue.

“P… please use this, please!”

His face was burning up so red that an apple could ask him to become friends.

“No, thank you,” Ban Yeo Ryung refused with a smile.

As soon as she took that action, about three people standing in the queue behind him handed out their tissues. Ban Yeo Ryung denied all of them, again, with a grin.

Watching the scene across the counter in silence, Ban Siwon, her uncle as well as the owner of the café, began to get a little tired of the series of events. He then glanced at the ledger that he took out to reorganize after a long time.

This café was just a part of his new property that he recently built and invested; his regular work was a dermatologist. Usually, he didn’t have much time at all, so it was almost his first time visiting the café at its peak hours.

Ever since Ban Yeo Ryung worked part-time in this place, the sales have nearly doubled; therefore, he came here today to check out what was going on in the café. Once he saw the overall situation, Ban Siwon just gave a dumbfounded look. When he got to thinking about it, those who had the most gorgeous appearances in the Ban family were indeed Ban Yeo Dan and Ban Yeo Ryung.

Still, it was truly an unbelievable sight to see almost thirty guys stamping out of their seats at her sneeze. ‘What a priceless spectacle!’ he thought.

While he slowly perked the corners of his lips upwards to hint a smile, Ban Yeo Ryung was refusing the tissues for the eighth time. She then looked down at her apron as her phone vibrated.

“Oh.”

As soon as she rolled her eyeballs to check the screen, she emitted a short whoop. She then firmly pressed the power button. The person who called her would hear the message of ‘the person you’re calling is not accepting your call…’ within 2 seconds after the beep.

She then looked forward again.

“May I take your order?”

A guy, who blushed after her sweet remark, soon flung a question.

“Who was it?”

Ban Yeo Ryung smiled with downcast eyes.

Of course, she hated private questions from strangers; however, this time, she felt not that bad.

When Ban Yeo Ryung flaunted a sincere smile, her beauty blinded the people around her even more. Her slightly downcast lashes and her twinkling black eyes like those from a starry night flickered at the guy. All he could do in front of that tongue-tying appearance was, therefore, just gulping in silence.

‘She’s really really really really really pretty,’ he thought. No one could say anything if she was arrested for her violent beauty; besides, even her voice was so enchanting like those of the Sirens!

The guy also didn’t miss watching her trivial moves such as Ban Yeo Ryung combing her black hair down her neck with her white hand.

In the meantime, she opened her red lips at last. And what came after made the guy’s jaw drop to the floor in a daze.

“A creature of no account.”

“Excuse me?”

“And a kidnapper.”

“Huh?”

Showing a face full of a rich smile to the guy who struck dumb, Ban Yeo Ryung put a period at the end of their conversations.

“There is someone called ‘Eun Ji-goddamn-ho,’ my love–”

“–Yeo Ryung!”

The guy couldn’t hear what she spoke after the words ‘my love’ because a voice suddenly interrupted them. He then turned around.