.

The club was still noisy with booming music; guys and girls were falling into a trance on the dance floor. Over the hallway, I could see the chaotic sight enveloped by the flashing lights. Would there be any more inappropriate place than this to run into a friend from the same school?

When I held Yoo Chun Young’s hand in silence for a while, he heaved a sigh and lowered his head.

“What are you doing here?”

“What about you?” Replying in that way, I observed his face. His blue-black hair was still there, but he was wearing a pair of blackish-gray contact lenses on his eyes. I wasn’t sure about him covering the half of his face with a face mask since many pictures of him with that look was already on the web; however, wearing those contact lenses seemed to work.

His voice and his hand sounded and looked familiar, but when I raised my head and met his eyes, I didn’t think he was Yoo Chun Young at the fleeting moment.

His black eyes looked softer than usual but not his voice. He replied in a colder tone than ever.

“I had something to do here, but you––”

Hmm… Wrinkling at the tip of my nose, I cut in, “Something to do here with none other than Eun Jiho? Where’s Eun Hyung?”

With a slight grimace, Yoo Chun Young averted his eyes from mine and answered back, “… Eun Hyung won’t let us go to a place like this.”

Lifting my chin, I asked, “But you came here anyway even though you were aware of that?”

“…”

Looking at him turning his head wordlessly, I thought, ‘Gosh, how suspicious you are!’

Unlike his naïve appearance, Yoo Chun Young wasn’t that stubborn person, so if he already knew that Eun Hyung would stop him from going to a club, but he still came here secretly, that something would be a very significant thing. Regardless of the importance, he was implying that he didn’t want to explain the reason to me as well as Eun Hyung.

At that moment, there was a transition to the offense. Yoo Chun Young tossed a sharp question.

“Why are you also here?”

Eek! Clearing my throat, I tried to reply in a nonchalant voice.

“Oh, I had something in here too.”

“By yourself?”

“Come on, do you think I have come here alone?”

“Then where are other people?”

I wondered for a second. Earlier, when we encountered in the streets, if he noticed me, he would have also seen Jooin dressed as a girl. However, according to the way he talked and the slightest signs he was showing through his words, Yoo Chun Young seemed like he couldn’t even imagine that the person beside me was Jooin…

I hesitated for a moment. In that case, I didn’t have to let him know about the existence of Jooin. Throwing a glance at the women’s bathroom, I replied, “We’re gonna meet here.”

As soon as I spoke that way, Yoo Chun Young had a keen edge on his voice, which made me startled.

“Then are you saying that you entered this place alone?”

“Um, yeah… why?”

“How could you… without a membership card?”

“What about you?”

Yoo Chun Young then took out his wallet from his inner pocket and showed me a gold card that had a butterfly print on. I sealed my lips.

“Did you think that I came here without any preparation?” said Yoo Chun Young composedly.

“…”

“You?”

When he flung that question immediately while narrowing his eyes, I began to hiccup.

“… Did someone drag you in?”

“Uh, nope.”

“You weren’t dragged to the second floor or other rooms, were you?”

“No…”

I had to say yes, but at that moment, One-card members of Dae Woon High School’s fancy self-introduction and Woo San’s sudden attack, which happened one after another as soon as we got dragged into the room, rose before my mind. Therefore, I missed the timing to answer correctly.

Yoo Chun Young’s following remark that sounded as fierce as a flame made me swallow my breath.

“Where is it?”

“Uh… what are you talking about? Where… where?”

“The room that you went in.”

Yoo Chun Young began to show a threatening bloodthirstiness on his pale face. Being surprised by his unusual look since he always maintained a low emotional temperature, I quickly pulled his arm.

“No, nothing happened eventually!”

“Did something happen on the way then?”

“…”

‘Yoo Chun Young, would you please stop getting so sharp only in this kind of situation?’ While I had that thought in mind, his icy-cold voice returned, “Tell me where it is!”

Ahhhh! I barely succeeded in grabbing Yoo Chun Young, who was about to go upstairs right away.

Lowering my voice, I almost shouted, “Stop! I also had something to do here, so I got in secretly. So are you. You came here without letting Eun Hyung know. Aren’t we the same then? Besides, you’re a public figure!”

“I would not pick a fight myself,” said Yoo Chun Young while furrowing his forehead. He added, “I’m just gonna check their faces and names.”

‘Just gonna check their faces and names? What are you gonna do with those things?’ With these thoughts, I blurted bitterly, “Then?”

“…”

“Hey, hold on. Yoo Chun Young, why are you averting your eyes? Huh?”

That was when I shook his arm for an answer. The women’s bathroom door suddenly opened; my face soon turned pale. Yikes! Jooin, who was walking toward this side, also stiffened his face at a slow pace while pausing his words.

“Hey, don’t you get off her…?”

Shouting in his usual voice while forgetting to speak like a girl, Jooin covered his mouth and took a step back.

However, it was too late. With a stiffened face, I stared at the two boys confronting each other. ‘Gosh, what should I do?’ I was so busy making an excuse for Yoo Chun Young that I totally forgot to get in touch with Jooin and tell him that he was also here. Well, although I did, Jooin would have not seen my message since he was busy talking with his cousin over the phone.

A suffocating silence swept among us. Covering my mouth in tension, I glanced at Yoo Chun Young, wondering, ‘What should I do? Did he notice that he is Jooin?’

Usually, I would have waved my hand as if to say, ‘Yoo Chun Young would never get aware that the girl is Jooin!’ but he noticed me in here just now. That being said, it wasn’t surprising if Yoo Chun Young also figured out that whom he was confronting was actually Jooin. Besides, he also heard Jooin’s voice!

Having those thoughts in my head, I held my breath when I found Yoo Chun Young detaching his lips at last. He then tilted his head and turned around to look at me.

“Is she who you’re meeting here?” he asked.

“Uh… um… yeah.”

I was walking on eggshells. ‘Is he acting right now?’ I thought, but he didn’t seem to pretend that action. No matter how quick-witted he became, Yoo Chun Young wasn’t a character to pretend acting.

Turning his head nonchalantly, Yoo Chun Young uttered, “It was true that you didn’t come here alone. Ok, then, see you.”

“Yeah…”

“Tomorrow.”

I was the only one who barely understood the word that he left. He would be implying that I should confess the truth of what happened today as soon as tomorrow or in the near future. When I slightly nodded, he nodded back and walked toward the crowd.

“Yoo Chun Young,” I suddenly called him.

Pausing his step, he turned his head and looked in this direction.

Being hesitant for a moment, I asked, “How did you notice me?”

Yoo Chun Young didn’t know that the girl was Jooin, whom he encountered every day at school, even after hearing Jooin’s voice. Well, of course, it was because Jooin was dressed as a girl; however, I also had hair extensions on my hair.

Tilting his head, Yoo Chun Young replied in a calm voice, “How could I not notice you?”

“…”

While Jooin and I became speechless, Yoo Chun Young receded again and mixed in with the crowds.

Jooin then collapsed beside me when I was looking in the direction where Yoo Chun Young just disappeared. Turning around in surprise, Jooin whined as if he was crying.

“Mama, I think today is really something or else…”

I tapped him behind the back which looked utterly exhausted.

‘Yeah, I think so too, or else how can you meet your cousin and also Yoo Chun Young in the same place?’ Thinking in that way, I kept soothing down his back. No day would be worse than this for Jooin. That was when I helped Jooin to barely get up from the floor.

“Why are you guys here?!”

As the yelling voice startled me out of the blue, I found that it was Lucas and heaved a sigh of relief.

Geez, I also forgot that he could pretend to speak like a woman, so this time, I was afraid if I had encountered my classmate.

Blinking swiftly, Lucas then blurted out something which made me tilt my head in wonder.

“I reached out to you guys! Since it’s too noisy in here, I’ve sent a text. Didn’t you check your phones?”

“What?”

As soon as I took out my phone from my pocket, I became silent for a second.