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n.

nYi Ruda grabbed my arms once again, making me take a step back out of surprise. I was almost about to cry.

nI said, “Yi… Yi Ruda. The reason I behaved like that was…”

n“Yes.”

nYi Ruda nodded with a serious expression.

nOkay, I should tell her the truth. The reason I acted mean was that I did not want to be friends with her at all. Come on, Ham Donnie, I should tell her all about it! It was when I took a deep breath and tried to speak out the truth to her did it happened. A pure melody came out of my pocket.

nThe title of the song was ‘Forest,’ which was a very refreshing piano arietta; however, it sounded too bleak and loud when heard in the empty narrow staircase

nWhat the… this would draw all the people here. As soon as I had that thought in mind, I heard someone coming up from downstairs. With a click sound of turning the switch on, bright lights poured down from above us.

nMy eyes were wide open while looking at the shadow coming up the stairs.

nA silver hair finally came into my sight. Needless to say, it was, Eun Jiho.

nHe had a strange face while he was looking at me and Yi Ruda. Then I realized that Yi Ruda was still grabbing my hands. I mean, it would be better to describe it as Yi Ruda holding my hands unilaterally.

nAs I tried to make an excuse out of bewilderment, Eun Jiho strode toward us.

nHe then snatched my arms from Yi Ruda’s hands. I raised my head to look at Eun Jiho’s face in surprise since his action was unexpectedly virile.

nWas he mad? However, his face looked as nonchalant as usual. He then said to me while scratching his silver hair.

n“Dude, what are you doing here? I thought you two were ghosts or something.”

n“H… ow did you come here?”

nI asked back in wonder, looking at his usual apathetic face. He then rolled his eyeballs and responded with a shrug.

n“Just wondered if you were available, so I went to your classroom, but you weren’t there when I came So I called you and heard your phone ringing near the stairs.”

n“Oh…”

nI grasped the overall situation. My class, 1-8, stood closer to this stairway, so if Eun Jiho was snooping around my classroom, he would have definitely heard my ringtone.

nAs I nodded, Eun Jiho pulled up the corner of his lip to give out a slanted grin at Yi Ruda. It surprised me to see that sneer, which he rarely showed to others that I teased him as Mr. Jekyll and Hyde.

nEun Jiho then flung a question to Yi Ruda.

n“Hey, I don’t care if there’s American style of talking to people or whatnot, but at least I know they won’t grab a girl’s hand by force if she says no.”

n“So what?”

nYi Ruda asked back with a frown as if he was deeply disturbed. Eun Jiho scoffed out loud with his usual sneer this time and responded.

n“If you like her, just give up. That would make your life much easier.”

n“W… hat? What are you talking about!”

nYi Ruda’s face flushed red with a scream. Well, even I would get embarrassed if a handsome guy whom I rarely saw in my lifetime suddenly asked me if I had a crush on a girl.

nAs I stared at Yi Ruda, Eun Jiho replied in a calm attitude from my side. What he said made me almost burst out laughing.

nHe said in a very serene voice, “Ham Donnie wouldn’t even cast her gaze at boys who don’t have black hair.”

n“W… hat?”

n“Oh, and she also doesn’t have any feelings toward guys without black or brown pupils. There are other options too, but since your hair color and eye color are already out of her usual taste, it would be better for you to give up now.”

nEun Jiho paused and giggled with a sneer on his face. He then tilted his head and continued his words.

n“I’m giving you a bit of advice as her long-time friend, politely.”

nHe then whispered, ‘Isn’t it?’ to me. It looked as though he was asking me about his politeness, which made me just pout my lips at a loss of words.

nWell, why would I care about boys’ hair colors or eye colors? I would, instead, feel sorry for them if I did that.

nHowever, it was true that I was not feeling the Four Heavenly Kings as a member of the opposite sex even if they were all rather attractive men. That was because they were Ban Yeo Ryung’s guys. In this regard, what Eun Jiho said had hit the mark one way or the other. Still, I never knew that a character inside a novel would see through me.

nWhich made me curious. Whenever I added things like ‘Law of the Web Novel, Article X’ every instance I had a thought in my head, was Eun Jiho also thinking about the same thing and adding ‘Law of Ham Donnie, Article X’ or something like that every time I did something? Oh, no.

nWhile Yi Ruda and I remained silent in surprise, Eun Jiho pulled my arm to make me stand in front of him. Then he pushed my back to rush me with a careless attitude.

n“Dude, hurry. The bell’s about to ring.”

n“Okay, I will! Don’t rush me.”

nI almost rolled down the stairs since Eun Jiho was pestering me. While walking down the staircase, I glanced back, but I did not saw Yi Ruda there anymore. It seemed that what Eun Jiho said had awfully affected her. She could probably be thinking of things like, ‘Am I too boyish?’ or something like that.

nAs I kept glancing back, Eun Jiho threw a question at me in annoyance.

n“Dude, why do you care so much about him if you’ll reject him, anyway? Just go downstairs, ASAP.”

n“Gosh, how come you’re so confident about who I’ll be going out with?”

n“Am I wrong? You wouldn’t even give a guy a chance if he doesn’t have black hair and eyes.”

nEun Jiho then pointed with his chin as a gesture to keep walking downstairs. There was nothing wrong with what he said, so I just descended the stairway with a grumble. As if Yi Ruda was standing still until now, I heard no signs of life from upstairs.

nAs Eun Jiho said that there were no empty seats left inside a classroom before the morning assembly. He pushed me through the front door and roughly waved his hand to bid farewell. However, he suddenly stopped walking to his classroom and turned back to call me. I looked back as a response.

n“Are you still concerned about what the psychic said yesterday?”

n“Huh?”

n“Your dark circles.”

nEun Jiho then tapped a few centimeters below his eye sockets while laughing naughtily. I just heaved a short sigh. It looked as though there was a gloom over my face.

nAs I sighed continuously, Eun Jiho continued his words.

n“If you’re still concerned about it, do you want me to call my driver after school? I can give you a ride.”

n“What?”

n“She didn’t say I would have a car accident. So who knows, it might be better if you stayed with me, right? If you’re too anxious, just hit me up.”

n“Peace,” Eun Jiho left with those words and turned back to walk towards his classroom. When I looked around my classroom again, all the boys and girls were all looking at this side in excitement.

nThe Kim twins even had a twinkle in their eyes. Well, since I left the classroom with Yi Ruda and returned with Eun Jiho, they might think something strange was going on.

nWhile I returned to my seat quickly as the bell rang, I thought about what Eun Jiho said.

nHe had his usual nonchalant attitude and remarks; however, he was considerate enough to know what was on my mind. I truly liked the way he cared about me, which was natural and cool.

n‘Eun Jiho was indeed a character inside a novel.’ As I rested my chin on my hand, thinking about such things, the front door opened and Yi Ruda entered.

nSince Eun Jiho was not here anymore, I thought Yi Ruda would continue the conversation we had before; however, she remained silent, closing her mouth tightly. All she did was to have her chin sitting on her hand while throwing an uncomfortable glance at me.

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