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nI dwelled on Yi Ruda’s remarks over and over. Her exorbitantly positive way of thinking just made me sigh.

nIf she heard something meant for me, it would be better for her to just consider that I didn’t like her, but how could she bring out that positive conclusion? She likes me because I was honest?

nThe reason she wanted to be friends with me was that I was a straight shooter, I could introduce her to Yoo Chun Young instead. Since he was a person with enormous integrity, he would perfectly suit her needs in a friend.

nFortunately, Yi Ruda did not say a word to me until lunchtime. The kids in our class knew that the cold war situation between us lasted for a while, so they did not consider it strange that Yi Ruda was reticent. However, it might have looked a little strange for them that Yi Ruda was glancing at me, which was unusual for her to do.

nDuring lunchtime, one of our classmates came to me and asked a question.

n“Donnie, did Ruda ask you out?”

n“Huh? Oh, no!”

nI replied shortly, almost biting my tongue out of embarrassment. I was on my way to the 3rd floor when they asked that question. Shin Suh Hyun and Yoon Jung In, who was eating the banana splits, caught a glimpse of me in surprise.

nThe Kim twins saw what happened in the morning, so they were just smiling naughtily in silence. The girl who asked me the question was looking up at me in wonder with her red-brown eyes, waiting for a longer response.

nBefore giving her an answer, I looked around. Class 1-1 and 1-8 were on opposite sides of the floor, so they would not come to the east stairway since it was far apart from their class.

nNo fancy hair colors were around. As I did further confirmations, I looked back at the girl who asked me. She continued her words in excitement.

n“There are already rumors about you and Ruda. Someone saw you guys standing at the staircase to the 4th floor, but I heard you’re also close to the Four Heavenly Kings. Is that true?”

n“Huh?”

nOh, my gosh. The Four Heavenly Kings and I didn’t go to school together except for the 1st day of class, and we rarely met in school since our classes were far apart; however, it was strange that the rumor would spread, anyway.

nThe Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung were not the types who would hide our friendship together, but at the beginning of the semester, they did not speak much about their life to their classmates easily. In fact, their auras intimidated their classmates too much that they wouldn’t even consider asking them a question.

nTherefore, the stories about us would not have leaked from Class 1-1. Then was it because we all came to school together on the 1st day of class? I stared at the girl in front with a complicated mind. She was still looking at me with a smile.

nOkay, I could feel that there were eyes and ears everywhere around me. Maybe someone might have seen us hanging around in the town together yesterday after the exam.

nWhat should I do? Since someone had now disclosed things, that meant I couldn’t keep on lying anymore. I decided to first reply shortly as if it was nothing special.

n“Oh, yeah, it’s because we went to the same middle school.”

n“Then do you have their contacts?”

n“Um, I do…”

nI responded with a nuanced voice, pretending that we rarely got in touch. As I turned back to look at Kim Hye Hill, who knew the truth, she nodded to tell me that I must keep the secret within me. I managed to calm myself down and looked back in front of me.

nWhen the girl tried to say something, Shin Suh Hyun spoke with his calm voice from the side.

n“You guys are blocking our way. Why don’t you go to the classroom and keep talking there?”

n“Oh, okay…”

nI looked at Shin Suh Hyun in surprise. He was also a straight shooter like me. Yoon Jung In nodded, but the girl then said to her friends, who were heading to the cafeteria, to go ahead.

nI frowned my forehead on my way upstairs. Why wouldn’t she go to the cafeteria with her friends? Since she let them go ahead without her, it looked as though she was about to ask for something else.

nAs we got closer to our classroom, the girl gave me a sign with her hands. It seemed that she wanted to talk outside in the hallway. Oh, I really didn’t want to. With that thought in mind, I stood in front of the window with a sad face.

nShe remained silent for a while, tapping the window with her well-polished nails anxiously. When I inspected her fingertips, I found that she had a light pink manicure. Her short hair under the sunlight was slightly curled inside.

nHer name was probably Lee Soo Yeon. As I looked at her nails blankly, she opened her lip.

n“Um, would you mind giving me one of their numbers? It could be anyone.”

nI heaved a sigh to myself. It was what I expected. Would she believe me if I told her that people had asked me the same favor for a thousand times? A few boys I got close to even asked me for Ban Yeo Ryung’s number.

nHoly shoot! If it was someone close to me, I could have said, ‘Hey, do you think that will work? How could I give the number to them? Those people really hate this kind of stuff, so why don’t you just go ask them about it in person?’ However, the girl in front of me sat far away, so we rarely talked to each other.

nTo be honest, she gave me a cold shoulder before, but now, here she is, asking me a favor as soon as she heard the rumor. It was not something delightful; however, it was too early for me to make an enemy in school.

nI pressed my forehead and responded.

n“Oh, what should I do… I can’t.”

nThat was because they really hated having a random stranger asking for their contact number. Since I went to the same middle school as them, I knew that they would probably get mad about how she got their numbers. I wanted to say those words before she cut me off.

nShe asked back with her big eyes full of tears

n“Oh, really? Why? Why not?”

nOh, girl, I was trying to explain it to you before you interrupted me! Why was I facing this situation already at the beginning of the semester? My head was about to break into pieces because of all these stressful thoughts in my head.

nI truly hated this kind of situation. It was because these moments made me realize how overwhelming the Four Heavenly Kings and Back Yeo Ryung were. For most of the cases, some people, who were pretty much strangers to me before, would suddenly act friendly with me just so they could ask these favors to me.

nWhat’s worse was that the girl in front looked as if she was about to break into tears; however, I could not help it. The group of girls, who went to the cafeteria, must have been her friends, so what would happen if they shared their contacts together?

nI had shown her enough how embarrassed and troubled I felt right now, so if this woman had some ounce of common sense, she should please back off. I said those words to myself while pressing my forehead.

n“They really hate strangers getting their numbers and reaching out to them. So I can’t, sorry.”

n“Oh, please. Just once. I wouldn’t text them often. I’m just curious, would you, please?”

nWe all had an eleven-digit phone number, so what made her so curious about theirs? Besides, she said that she would only text them rarely instead of saying that she would not reach them out at all. It was ridiculous.

nI was so upset that I thought of just turning back from her; however, it seemed that it was not clever to make an enemy at the beginning of the semester.

nOh, what should I do? It would be better to be in the same class as the Four Heavenly Kings. If that happened, I would have drawn more attention than now, but this situation would rarely happen since the boys were already there.

nWhile I had these thoughts in mind, a cheerful voice came out of the classroom. I turned my head to see who it was, but, in fact, only one person I knew had that unique tone so far.

nIt was her, Yi Ruda. She called my name in a delightful voice from the classroom.

n“Hey, Donnie! Come in for a minute! I found what you wanted to see before!”

n“Huh?”

nWhen did I say I wanted to see something before? As soon as I had that in mind, Yi Ruda came out of the classroom. Then she pulled my wrist while the girl was absent-mindedly looking at us for a moment.

nShe dragged me into the classroom making me feel puzzled. As I glanced around us, I saw everyone looking at us. Some kids pursed up their lips to blow a naughty whistle.

nOh, my… This was a misunderstanding! Yi Ruda, however, just made me sit on my seat. Then she sat next to me, resting her chin on her hand with a grin.

nYi Ruda whispered in a low voice, “Oh, she went down the stairs. Maybe going to the cafeteria.”

n“…”

nI expected that Yi Ruda would be a tactless person like every other main character in a web novel; however, I was wrong.

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