.

Lowering his head, he soon attached his face close to mine, which made me slightly flinch. He was never too abrupt but had his lips touching my cheek as slow as possible so that I could express my intention to refuse.

That was when I heard some rapid footsteps coming toward us. My house door was flung open all of a sudden. Raising my hand instinctively, I gasped harshly and held onto the wall. Once I heard a cheerfully ringing voice, I lifted my head.

“What are you two doing there?” asked Ban Yeo Ryung. She looked bewildered while holding my house door. Once I lifted my head, I found Yeo Dan oppa taking a deep breath while holding the balustrade, which made my heart feel heavy.

Anyway, why was Yeo Ryung coming out of my house?

After I went inside with Yeo Dan oppa, I could grasp the overall situation. There were beer and soju bottles on top of the living room table along with some fruit platters. The TV screen was displaying the latest TV drama that everyone was talking about.

These days, my parents and Yeo Ryung’s parents talked on various subjects for several hours whenever they met. Therefore, Yeo Dan oppa and my relationship was more easily exposable.

I looked at the calendar on the living room wall. Since it was a long weekend, the neighbors gathered at our house after a long time and were sharing some warmth. As if I had guessed correctly, Yeo Ryung’s parents, who were sitting on the corner of our living room, waved their hands at us.

“How are you, Donnie?”

“Hi, Mr. and Mrs. Ban.”

“I heard that you’re very busy studying in cram school these days since you became a sophomore in high school.”

‘Don’t push yourself too much,’ adding that way, Yeo Ryung’s mother looked behind my back and opened her eyes wide.

“You two came together?”

“We met on our way home.”

Listening to Yeo Dan oppa’s blunt response, my heart began to pound faster. It was such a dangerous situation now. We kept our relationship as a street. However, both our parents had gathered at my house; we also had a person here who knew the truth about us. Geez, even though this wasn’t a scene in a TV drama, things felt unbelievable.

That was when Yeo Ryung’s mother spoke to her son, “Don’t hang out with your friends too much during the break. Try to take care of Donnie too. Come back home together like right now. Help her with her studies as you do it with your friends. You know Donnie is almost your real sister.”

Her remark made me think about what we had just done in front of the door. My face reddened while thinking, ‘No, we can’t do such things between real siblings.’

To make matters worse, Yeo Dan oppa might have also come up with the same thing. Watching him blushing up to the root of his hair, I also felt somewhat embarrassed. Thankfully, Yeo Dan oppa was the type of person who didn’t reveal his thoughts on his face.

Unlike his cool and chic character, Yeo Dan oppa replied in a faint voice, “I will.”

“Donnie, you also heard that, right? Use my son as much as you want.”

“Haha, thank you,” I replied while breaking out in a cold sweat. At that moment, my father, thankfully, saved us from this awkward situation.

“If you guys aren’t gonna have some fruit slices, go into the room. Geez, our living room is too small.”

“Should I bring you guys some snacks to the room?”

My mom asked us kindly after my dad’s remark. I quickly shook my head and beckoned to Yeo Ryung, who was sitting in the living room, so that she could follow us to my room.

Once I shut the door and blocked the noise coming from the living room, I could let out a sigh of relief. Standing against the door as if I was defending this space from a zombie attack, I murmured, “How could the couples in TV dramas keep a secret relationship? How does it work?”

It wasn’t the first time that our families had gathered in someone’s house. Over the past few months, especially after the break, the two families met quite often; however, every time it took place I always felt so nervous.

Having heard my murmur, Yeo Ryung pouted her lips from beside me and said, “Then break up.”

“No.”

“I don’t think so.”

Yeo Dan oppa and I uttered that way at the same time. Once we exchanged eye contact, both of us burst into small laughter. Watching us behaving like that, Yeo Ryung acted like a petulant kid again.

We had been together for nearly two months, but I could understand why Yeo Ryung kept telling us to break up. Ever since we started dating, Yeo Ryung became the loneliest person among us. I was going to cram school; Yeo Dan oppa was studying in the library with his friends. During our spare time, oppa and I enjoyed dating, so Yeo Ryung couldn’t help but get upset.

At first, she denied all our suggestions of hanging out somewhere; however, she began to consider our plans little by little. Amusement parks, movie theaters, the Han river, or the Lake park in Jamsil… When the three of us visited such places altogether, it didn’t seem like dating, of course, but I liked it since I felt like we went back to our childhood.

‘Oh, now I come to think of it…’ Taking a seat, I brought up a story I had in mind.

“I heard it in my cram school earlier that Yoon Jung In is traveling Japan during the New Years’ holiday.”

Yeo Ryung’s eyes widened immediately.

“Japan? What about the classes?”

“Well, it’s a four-day holiday, so I guess he’s taking a short trip.”

“Wow, how lucky he is,” replied Yeo Ryung while lying down on my bed out of strength. Taking off my thick padded coat, I also plumped down on my bed beside her.

“My family would visit our hometown during the holidays,” I uttered.

“So are we.”

Watching us sharing those conversations, Yeo Dan oppa looked like we were saying something too obvious. Regardless of his expression, we just looked up at the ceiling without moving an inch then turned to the other side with a moan.

“Ah, it’s too far. I hate it.”

“Though our place isn’t that far, I still don’t like it anyway.”

We repeatedly uttered, ‘I hate it,’ like a broken robot. Yeo Dan still gave us a look that he didn’t understand why we were reacting that way.

‘I know that we have to visit our hometowns during the holidays, but it’s too annoying! I wish I can just stay at home spending as much time as possible in front of the computer…’

Having those thoughts in my head with my pillow in my arms, I suddenly came up with the guys who were traveling far more than myself.

After a moment of hesitation, I carefully asked, “Um, Yeo Ryung?”

“Huh?”

“What are the Four Heavenly Kings doing during the holiday?”

“Oh…”

Looking absent-minded for a second, Yeo Ryung’s face soon brightened. As if she felt so excited, she suddenly got up from the bed and sat straight. Watching her reacting that way, I kind of felt sorry.

As I mentioned earlier, ever since oppa and I started dating, Yeo Ryung turned out to be the loneliest person among us, and at the same time, she was the most heartbroken from the quarrel between me and the Four Heavenly Kings.

Especially during the break, the six of us hung out very often, but this winter break, Yeo Ryung couldn’t even bring up any suggestions about going on a short trip together. Last year, we went to see the winter sea; we also visited Yoo Chun Young’s vacation home quite often. These events didn’t happen during this break. However, now I had brought up their stories for the first time in a long time, Yeo Ryung would become very delighted.

Feeling guilty somehow, I averted my eyes from her but turned my head back to her once she returned a response.

“Well, first, Jooin’s gonna stay in Seoul.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh, you know Jooin’s relatives all live in Seoul. They also reunite quite often. So, this time, they decided to skip the reunion in order to avoid any hassle or traffic jams during the holidays. He’s just staying at home, therefore.”

‘I see,’ I nodded my head. Listening to her about Jooin’s relatives, Woo Rinara and Woo Rihon’s big match at the party flashed through my head.

‘Those people shouldn’t live that way if they don’t want to cause Jooin any more trouble,’ I thought. My brows suddenly met in the middle.

Then I heard Yeo Ryung shouting, “So if you want to call Jooin, do it whenever you want!”

“Huh? Ah… okay.”

Yikes, I responded bitterly since it felt so unexpected. Watching her becoming sullen out of the blue, I quickly changed the topic.

“What about Eun Hyung?”

Yeo Ryung immediately returned to her cheerful ego and replied, “I heard he’s going somewhere.”

“Going somewhere?”

“Uh-huh, but he didn’t tell me where it is.”

Having heard her response, I recalled that Eun Hyung always didn’t show up during the holidays for some unknown reason. He just told us that he had somewhere to go but never revealed where he was heading to.