.

Well, I could understand that some people might backbite me when I wasn’t present. My brain wasn’t a flower garden, which would only function with positive thinking such as having expectations of people always talking good things about others. I couldn’t control others’ feelings toward me; therefore, I was clearly aware that people could hate others for no reason.

However, it was a different story if someone tried to involve Ban Yeo Ryung into our matter. My face turned stiff even more. Those, who tried to approach me to get closer to Ban Yeo Ryung, were the type of people that I hated the most.

After my remark, Chun Dong Ho didn’t come closer to me anymore. Still, I felt very unpleasant to sit beside him while leaving a space between us as small as a palm.

Putting my elbow on the table, I rested my chin on my hand to avoid his gaze as much as possible. ‘Geez, I should have asked Yeo Dan oppa to bring me with him. Why did I forget to tell him about it? Such an idiot!’ I bleated out a complaint to myself.

At that moment, I heard something like a faint chime. Someone seemed to step inside the café again, but since I was desperately averting my eyes from Chun Dong Ho, I didn’t have a chance to look in that direction.

As soon as a question pierced through the bell sound, I turned to look aside.

“What did I do so wrong?”

“What?”

Glancing beside me, I found that Chun Dong Ho’s face looked as upset as I was. I forced a laugh while feeling dumbfounded.

Come on, wasn’t it me who got verbally abused by this boy in the bathroom? If someone had to be upset, it should be me, not him. Why was he now in a bad moon when he just uttered whatever he wanted to his friend?

Chun Dong Ho continued, “Okay, I admit that I’ve tried to get along with you while expecting to be closer to Ban Yeo Ryung. That could look like I was trying to use you.”

Although he insisted that he had done nothing wrong, Chun Dong Ho lowered his voice as much as he could in order to avoid Lee Mina and the other kids from hearing his words. Feeling ridiculous, I let out a peal of empty laughter and retorted, “Look like using me? You were about to use me. Why aren’t you putting that out clearly?”

I tried to end this up without making a fuss, but I couldn’t help loudening my voice. Yeo Dan oppa’s friend, who was sitting across the table, threw a glance in our direction.

Yikes… I had my mouth shut for a moment to calm down. Chun Dong Ho then flung another question.

“Is it that bad to have a crush on Ban Yeo Ryung instead of you?”

His question struck the back of my head with a loud thud. Feeling the shock, I asked, “… What?” and firmly pressed my aching head with my hand. If the words that went between us just now were only an awl, his remark this time seemed like an iron bar.

As if he thought that he hit the nail on the head, Chun Dong Ho spoke triumphantly, “Honestly, I don’t think you have to lose your temper that much just by what you heard near the bathroom. Why should I like you instead of Ban Yeo Ryung?”

“Hey, you’re really not catching the point.” Suppressing the anger rising within me, I kept on speaking, “Did I ask you to like me? Don’t you ever dare to compare others like…”

At that moment, Chun Dong Ho cut me off, saying, “Who would have a crush on you instead of Ban Yeo Ryung… Is this what you’re angry about? I could speak out what I have in mind, don’t I? What’s so wrong with that?”

As soon as I heard those words, all the noise around me disappeared, and I began to space out as if I was fallen into the water. After quite a while, I murmured to myself, ‘So this is what they say you can’t even get angry when you’re so dumbfounded.’

I directed my eyes to Chun Dong Ho. It was just a few hours ago when I thought that his bleached hair, black eyes, and loose outfit resembled Ruda. ‘I cancel those words,’ I mumbled. In every aspect, this bastard in front of me didn’t look similar to Ruda at all.

There was this moment when I got to compare myself to others; however, that should be done by myself to accept the truth and endure what I was lacking. If I had to hear those words from someone else, it was intolerably miserable.

When my anger reached the top of my head, the periphery of my sight faded to white. Meanwhile, only Chun Dong Ho’s face was visibly clear as if it was surrounded by a frame.

Now he even threw away his reflective attitude and began to believe that he had some lethal weapon to change this situation. Switching his behavior to that of a person, who trusted that he had the right and way to attack others, Chun Dong Ho blurted out with pride, “Gosh, this is so annoying. Why should I walk on eggshells when I didn’t do something that bad?”

I just bit my lips. He was acting too ludicrously that I was at a loss of words. If this situation was a scene in a TV drama, I would have pointed at the screen and yelled, ‘Throw some water over there right now!’ However, as I became the person, who was directly involved, that wasn’t easy at all too.

Pouting my lips, I opened and closed my empty hand over and over. That was when the look on Chun Dong Ho’s face turned gradually elated with time.

‘Splash!’ With a loud noise, there was water spilling over Chun Dong Ho’s hair.

Time seemed to stop for a second. Lifting my head blankly in that situation, I came up with some hilarious thoughts.

‘Did I gain some supernatural or magical power to make the cup fly over to him automatically and pour water over his hair? If not, how could that happen?’

Lifting my head more, I saw a person, who was looking down in my direction while placing his hand on the back of the couch that Chun Dong Ho and I were sitting on.

“Whoa…”

I gently emitted a whoop. There stood a person, who looked like a perfect fit for the leading role of a TV drama.

As if he drank soju bottoms up, Yeo Dan oppa was waving an empty shot glass. His friend asked him in perplexity, “Hey, what did you just do?”

“Drink some cold water and pull yourself together.”

“What? Dude, what the…”

Leaving Yeo Dan oppa’s friend, who looked flustered, aside, I observed Chun Dong Ho’s face. He was blushing like a boiled octopus.

He would, of course, feel embarrassed since he got harassed in this place where even the girls in his cram school were also sitting around. Wasn’t he such an arrogant boy who talked something like, ‘Is it that bad to have a crush on Ban Yeo Ryung instead of you?’ while he got caught backbiting others?

Chun Dong Ho struck a retort, at last, as if his anger went beyond a critical point of his patience.

“What are you doing?”

Yeo Dan oppa replied as if he had been waiting for that question.

“This girl… she doesn’t like you.”

I became blanked out again, wondering, ‘Did he hear all our conversations until now? Since when? How far did he listen to?’ Anyway, his response was so cool that it pierced into my suppressed feelings at once and released myself from the strained atmosphere.

His following words almost made me burst out laughing while forgetting about the situation.

“If a girl is with me and you, she will, of course, like ME, not you.”

“…”

“Don’t flatter yourself.”

While Yeo Dan oppa spoke that way, not only his friend but also all the people around the table stared in our direction vacantly.

Although he wasn’t behaving that active earlier, he still didn’t look so confident enough to drop this kind of remark. Only I, who knew the entire situation, kept back my laughter like do or die.

When I switched my gaze back to Chun Dong Ho, he was staring blankly in this direction while getting defeated by Yeo Dan oppa’s simple response. Meanwhile, Yeo Dan oppa stretched out his hand to me and said, “Let’s get out of here.”

As if I was possessed by a devil, I grabbed his hand and stood up from my seat.