.

“Wow, what’s going on here? Am I dreaming right now?”

Lucas sounded bright and witty, as usual, over the phone; I was able to release tension in my body. He even reacted like a native speaker when dropping the exclamation ‘wow,’ which made me laugh.

“Why are you being so dramatic?” I giggled.

Lucas replied, “Because I thought you’d never reach out to me even when I’m thrown in the desert or jungle.”

Yikes, does he still have that in his mind? I slightly hunched my shoulders.

“Come on, I didn’t have your number at the time,” I replied.

“Really?”

“And I bumped into your mother in front of E-Mart around that time, and she told me that she had taken all your communication equipment.”

Lucas sneered, “No way! I, of course, hid extra equipment for emergencies. That’s how Reed’s successor survives in this tough world.”

“Yeah, yeah, awesome,” I grunted, but there was a giggle over the phone.

Before I changed my cell, I had never spoken to him on the phone, so his voice sounded very unfamiliar over the line.

There was soon a moment of silence; I touched my phone, feeling awkward.

Lucas asked, “So what made you call me? By the way, I’m just out of my way after watching the TV series that your friend makes an appearance on.”

“Do you also watch Korean dramas?”

He replied, “Jenny and Ian have been huge fans; I began to watch them, lately. It’s a little boring to suit my taste, but Ruda told me not to watch this drama, so it aroused my interest, instead.”

“Ruda?”

“Uh-huh, he refused to become a viewer of the most anticipated TV series.”

I sighed at Lucas’ response. Ruda, do you still hate Chun Young?

Both Ruda and Yoo Chun Young had been knuckling up for over a year, so wasn’t it now a time for them to become friends by getting sick of all those fights? In the case of Jooin and Ruda, they didn’t like each other at first, but lately, they seemed quite close enough although I wasn’t sure whether they really became friends or just gave up arguing.

Then is it a matter of personalities? I rubbed my chin. Ruda and Chun Young seemed to be at opposite poles. Ruda’s character had many qualities that could offend Yoo Chun Young; he was good at provoking others with a smirk on his face. It was hard to figure out what Ruda had in his mind.

I guess I should avoid them running against each other. Heaving another sigh, I opened my mouth.

“Actually, the reason I called you is also related to the person on that TV series we just talked about.”

“What’s about him?” asked Lucas.

“And it also includes my relationship issues.”

Lucas replied immediately, “A-ha, now I get it!”

I lowered my voice, then said, “You told me last time during our break at the paintball field that having no other options makes a bad choice. You also advised me to broaden my mental vision so that I could live a life true to my heart.”

“Uh-huh, I did.”

I repeated the same explanation that I did to Mina. Lucas’ response was more simple than hers.

“Your boyfriend is very faithful, maybe too much.”

“Huh?”

Lucas continued, “Usually, people are less likely to think about whether they have the right to ask others such questions or not even if they are afraid of being hated.”

After thinking about his comment for a moment, I asked, “That means you would just tell me don’t see Yoo Chun Young if you were in the same situation?”

“How could I let my girlfriend keep in touch with that handsome boy? Most of the guys would definitely worry about their lover falling into a boy like him, but in your case, your boyfriend is telling you that he would do better for you to always choose him, not Yoo Chun Young, instead of urging you to stay out of touch with him.”

I shut my mouth.

Lucas praised, “He’s awesome. I could never do it like him.”

“Why?”

“Isn’t it much easier to tell others what to do rather than changing ourselves?”

“…”

He added, “Besides, you hung up Chun Young’s call when your boyfriend said he doesn’t like him. A girl like you just does what others say, so it’s easier for your boyfriend to just change himself.”

I became speechless. Lucas giggled and continued talking.

“You should never meet a bad guy.”

I wondered, “How do you define a bad guy?”

“Guys like me or Ruda, and oh, let’s include your friend whose name was Woo Jooin or something.”

I replied determinedly, “No, Lucas, please don’t put Ruda and Jooin together with you.”

“You’re harsh.”

When thinking about our first encounter, I was even being generous right now.

“Is there any helpful advice that I can follow?” I asked.

What Yeo Dan oppa said to me resembled what Lucas told me before, so I believed that he would give me some clues to tackle this situation.

Lucas responded nonchalantly, “Didn’t your boyfriend say he would clear his mind? So, what else can you do?”

“Uh, come on, please be a little more serious,” I argued.

“But there’s something that’s been confusing me when looking at your couple.”

“What’s that?”

Lucas replied, “I think this is the time for you to be straight up with yourself. Which is it? Do you ‘like’ him or ‘not hate’ him?”

“Okay, then we’re gonna do this for the talent show on our school trip! No objections?” Yoon Jung In announced, pounding the blackboard.

Everyone in the class nodded, but actually, half of them weren’t even paying attention to the class discussion.

The weather was hot but not enough to turn on the air conditioner. The kids buried their heads onto the desk and groaned; some changed into T-shirts to stand the heat.

Some kids attached their desks and watched videos using their portable players. As they were mostly enjoying the trending TV shows or series, I was able to collect statistics of the most popular programs these days. And it was indeed when it came to this summer’s biggest blockbuster.

Why would we watch other dramas when this one boasted a huge cast of actors, a great director, splendid mise-en-scène, and even had a student in our school playing a role in the show?

To think of it, did Yoo Chun Young come to school today? What would he feel about me as I didn’t answer his call on the day when the first episode was aired? I didn’t even reach out to him on the weekends either.

I slightly clenched my fist. Last week, after talking to Lucas on the phone, I was lost in my thoughts. That’s why I even felt thankful that Yeo Dan oppa didn’t keep in touch. I also couldn’t contact Yoo Chun Young even though he did nothing to our relationship.

‘When you and Yoo Chun Young are together, it seems like only the two of you exist in the world.’

‘You guys are just gazing into each other’s eyes for the whole time.’

How could I just nonchalantly reach out to Yoo Chun Young when I heard those words? It was even worse to call him since I couldn’t maintain a stable voice and conversation on the phone. If Yoo Chun Young noticed that something strange was going on, what should I respond to him?

But the problem was that Yoo Chun Young preferred talking on the phone since he was slow in entering text messages. No, he only accepted calls and didn’t respond to texts.

When I didn’t answer his call that night, he began to call me day after day. He would be probably looking forward to my review on the drama or my love and support for him, but I couldn’t even say those things to Yoo Chun Young on the phone!

Whenever my phone rang, I flipped it to hide the screen from my eyes, then later sent Yoo Chun Young some messages that I had put my phone on silent mode or had been busy taking a shower.

After quite a while, he replied to me with a short message, saying ‘Okay.’ I asked him through the text what he was trying to say to me, but Yoo Chun Young always replied that he would just call me afterward.

In fact, we often missed our calls, reaching out to each other at the wrong time, but lately, I was obviously avoiding his call. What if he misunderstands that he did something wrong to me? My silly behavior started to make me concerned about him.