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n.

nI blinked my eyes in embarrassment. To be honest, it wasn’t a hug. It seemed that he was so relieved that his strength had diminished. After all, he tried to lift himself from the ground with his two hands.

nHis head was on my shoulder, but he was desperately turning his head in the opposite direction away from my neck instead of turning his head towards me. Well… if he turned his head, we would be looking at each other in a very close distance, which would be very awkward.

nHis desperate attempt soon bore fruit for he got away from me at last. He lifted himself after sweeping his tangled and dusty hair.

nHe looked unstable in a way that I unconsciously grabbed his arm to support his movements, which made him look back to see me. He then showed a soft and relieving smile at me.

nI refused people’s help and was hesitant for a while but grabbed Eun Hyung’s arm tightly to move forward. While I helped him walk to our apartment, Eun Hyung asked me in a calm voice.

n“Aren’t you going to the grocery store?”

n“I don’t want to cross the crosswalk anymore today.”

nAs if he grasped the sincere feelings in my words, Eun Hyung soon buttoned his mouth. He then hesitated for a second but gently patted my head in an act of comfort. We trudged toward our house, looking like defeated soldiers who just got out of the battle.

nWe stood in front of the apartment while wearing the same outfits we had right now when we left the house. Our flushed cheeks caused by the heated concrete began to cool down.

nEun Hyung looked back at me when I stopped walking after zoning out for a second. We were still having our arms around each of our shoulders to help our way out.

nI turned my head to look at Eun Hyung’s face. He had been pale earlier, but now he looked totally exhausted. I felt my heart skip a beat.

nHow surprised would he have been in order to hyperventilate? The last scene he saw of his mother was her in a red car, locked among the thick fog.

nWhat if this was not a novel? I thought about those words in my head. Eun Hyung’s mother would have died as a character motivation, after all, this was just a novel; however, the fact that I nearly died in front of Eun Hyung, who had a traumatic experience when it came to car accidents, implied that it was needed in the plot for her to go.

nIt felt like someone’s malicious hand was pulling a string on our destiny in their own way. However, it was true that pain would make a person stronger, forcing them to mature. With these thoughts in mind, I looked up to gaze at Eun Hyung’s face as it shone radiantly under the spring sunlight.

nEun Hyung’s eyes that loomed under his dark brown lashes were now on me.

n“Why?”

nHis gentle smile overlapped with his face as I dropped my gaze on it: red hair attached on his white forehead and handsome face with scratches all over. Eun Hyung was, so far, the strongest person I ever knew physically and mentally.

nThen I suddenly felt how unfair the world was while I grabbed his arms as it wrapped my shoulders tightly. My vision became blurry again. I bit my lip to prevent myself from crying, but tears fell down my cheeks, no matter how hard I tried. This author was a bastard, no, she’s a bitch, a terrible bitch!

nThe reason I said that Eun Hyung was the strongest man I had seen did not derive from the fact that he was a great fighter. I said those because, despite all the pain he went through from the past, Eun Hyung embraced his sufferings and continued to smile softly at us. I could find strength in those smile of his.

n‘Come on, it’s enough,’ I thought while biting my lips as I felt a bit of tears welling in my eyes.

nHe went through a lot, and it caused him to be stronger than ever, but why must such a thing like that happen in front of Eun Hyung? Why was the author trying to kill someone in front of him with yet another car accident?

nAlthough remembering what he had gone through reduced me to tears, Eun Hyung didn’t seem to mind it at all. He might have thought that a different reason motivated my tears.

nEun Hyung stretched out his thumb hesitantly then gently pressed my eye rim. Then he took his hand off of my shoulders before patting my back.

n“Did it surprise you that much?” He asked.

n“…”

n“Everything’s alright now. I mean, I’ll make things alright now, I promise.”

nI did not know what ‘making things alright now’ meant. Although I assured him the car accident I had suffered was not a life-threatening one, he might have thought that remembering what had happened reduced me to tears.

nAnyway, how could he make that kind of thing ok now?

nIf I knew what he was thinking, I would have stopped him immediately but there was, of course, nothing I could do. All I did was shaking my head and murmuring my mind to him.

n“I… I really hate… this novel.”

n“Novel?”

nMy tears had forced my words to become fragmented. In fact, it seemed that he wasn’t sure if he understood what I meant; however, he showed a puzzled look right away to show that he had grasped my point.

nI bit my lip harder and wiped out my tears with my sleeve while lowering my head.

nThe reason I hated this novel was because of how it kept on adding salt on a person’s wound. It kept adding pain on a person’s pain repeatedly until the bloody pus gushed out from the scar, and the person would feel an immense amount of pain that it became inevitable for him to ask for help.

nThus, to all the characters inside a web novel, misfortune might encourage love because of a shared wound.

n* * *

nEun Jiho glanced at the clock from the comedy show he was watching, making him frown. It was already half an hour since the two of them left the house.

nStrange, the supermarket was right across the intersection… Eun Jiho, who was living at a five-minute walk distance from here, was familiar with this area.

nAre they taking a walk too? He tried to chill out, but the recent turn of events made it hard for him to relax.

nEun Jiho took out his phone from his pocket and pressed a few buttons. Over the phone, he heard only the automated voice system. He then dialed Eun Hyung’s number but as soon as he realized that Eun Hyung’s ringtone was ringing in front of the side table, Eun Jiho couldn’t help but frown again.

nHe slammed his flip phone shut and shoved it back into his pocket before burying himself on the couch. They would return soon… However, since he now knew how late they both were, he could not help himself from being on edge while hearing the ticking of the clock. Eun Jiho began to envy Yoo Chun Young, who was sleeping next to him carelessly.

n‘Damn it, I should have taken a nap light-heartedly like that. She’s with Kwon Eun Hyung, so what could possibly happen?’

nEun Jiho complained in his small mind as his concerns started to erupt; he soon found himself putting on his jacket after a moment of contemplation. Ban Yeo Ryung came out to the living room as if she detected something strange.

n“Hey, did you call Donnie? She’s not answering.” She asked.

nEun Jiho attempted to hide his anxiety and pretended to be nonchalant.

nHe replied, “Her phone is always on vibrate, and she rarely looks at it. You know how she is; she has a hobby of collecting missed calls.”

n“Okay, so why are you wearing your jacket?”

n“…”

n‘Just wanted to take a walk.’ Eun Jiho tried to make a rough response similar to that since he couldn’t confess his concerns on how late they both were. However, before he could utter those words, there was a noise from the doorknob resounded on the living room before the door finally opened.

n‘Oh, they’re back.’ Eun Jiho heaved a deep sigh when he saw Ban Yeo Ryung running to the door while waving her black hair. He perched on the couch and murmured, ‘Gosh, I was worried for nothing.’

nBefore he could enjoy a moment of peace, Ban Yeo Ryung’s shriek broke it into pieces.

n“W… hat… is wrong with your clothes? Did you guys fell on something?”

nEun Jiho then dashed to the door and stopped in front of them while they stood at the entrance. Woo Jooin also left the room and checked them out thoroughly with his sharp eyes, which they seldom saw.

nEven Eun Jiho, who was less sharp in observation than Woo Jooin, noticed that their overall appearances seemed very strange. Something had blackened Ham Donnie’s knees and her cheeks had visible scars on it. Even her hair looked tangled like a lion’s mane. Kwon Eun Hyung’s hair was also messy and the jacket that he once buttoned up to the collar was unbuttoned.

nIt could happen to Ham Donnie, but it seemed impossible for Kwon Eun Hyung to have such a rattled look since it was about a year when Eun Jiho saw Eun Hyung looking wasted after their senior school trip in middle school.

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