.  Ban Yeo Ryung had a redoubtable personality leading her to be best friends with Woo Jooin within a few days. She became to squabble with Eun Jiho and got along with Kwon Eun Hyung and Yoo Chun Young.

  She was indeed the female protagonist. I was in awe of her. Other girls were just licking their fingers looking at those four boys, but she was truly amazing.

  There was, however, a problem. Ban Yeo Ryung refused to leave my side. As in most novels, she only had one girlfriend. Here, that one and only friend was me.

  Of course, I tried my best to be away from Ban Yeo Ryun! It was obvious I would be involved in all kinds of trouble if I got along with her. Just in a single book alone, there are an abduction, bitches, thugs, motorcycle rides every day, slaps in the face, and oh, so much more…


  I felt sorry to Ban Yeo Ryung who strongly believed we were and will be friends forever since our birth. However, I put my efforts into staying away from her to keep my peaceful life.

  Three years later since then, and now, the five of them and I will be going on a senior trip. Today was the day before.

  “…”


  How did it go like this? Isn’t the story feeling a bit hollow around the middle? I paused, throwing my clothes inside the bag and frowned. Come on, how, did we end up like this for real? I moaned and firmly pressed my eyelids between my eyes. Well, there were too many reasons to talk decisively about why the story went like this.

  The time cumulated like raindrops over the last three years. In those few years, the relationship between Ban Yeo Ryung and I changed. Those three years were longer than I expected. I looked up at the wall clock thoughtlessly.

  Holy Christ, it was already midnight. Gosh, our plan was to take the first train tomorrow at 5:40 in the morning.

  As I grew startled and picked up the bag again, the doorbell at the front door rang. My parents were in the living room, so they would take care of it. No sooner had I thought like that when someone called me.

  “Donnie!”


  “Yeah?”


  “Open the door!”


  “Mom, you’re in the living room right now!”


  I shouted but had a frowny face after her response.

  “Oh, Eun Ji Jung is crying on the TV! I can’t go!”


  That TV drama, gosh. I grimaced and stood up. How long have I sat down here? I calmed my trembling legs down and strode to the front door.

  The only person who would be knocking my door at this hour would be Ban Yeo Ryung. While having that in mind, I gasped at the unexpected face.

  Through the opened door, I saw a black-hair that reflected a purple glow from the permeating living room light. The face was pale white. The rich black eyebrows and the dark eyes staring at me were, unlike Ban Yeo Ryung’s, pitch black.

  It was the appearance of Ban Yeo Dan, Ban Yeo Ryung’s brother. Instead of her, why is he knocking our door at this hour?

  I thought about my messed-up hair and my unwashed oily face for a while. He was, however, not that surprised at my horrible countenance. Oh, I realized the fact that I forgot and got frustrated. Yes, there was a reason.

  If I must categorize the protagonist’s older brother in the novel, there would be two different types: the ‘idiot’ and the ‘cold handsome dude only generous to his little sister.’ Based on his Michelangelo’s David-like features and his icy cold voice, Ban Yeo Dan belonged to the latter.

  This cold, handsome dude type does not care about any other girls except his little sister!

  In fact, when I first met him, I thought I was playing the role of falling in love with him at first sight. He was that awesome. Eun Jiho or Kwon Eun Hyung in school… The so-called Four Heavenly Kings might be Ban Yeo Ryung’s boys, but Ban Yeo Dan was her brother. Therefore, I thought he wouldn’t fall in love with her. They are a family, aren’t they? Unless he is her half-brother, wouldn’t he have a little crush on me, at least for once?

  Although Ban Yeo Dan would not love his sister like more than a family or a friend, the girl he would fall in love with would not be me, however. I, therefore, gave up as well. About 3 years have passed since then.

  He was still so gorgeous, and I could not help but stare at him. He then handed over something to me. I asked,

  “A watermelon?”


  “My mom told me to deliver. She said your mom wouldn’t be asleep watching a TV drama.”


  “Oh, your mom was also watching it.”


  “Yeah.”


  He nodded and quietly chuckled as if he felt absurd glancing over the living room area. His laugh seemed unreal like that of the male protagonist in a TV drama, but his overall vibe was still awesome.

  As I looked up, gaping at him, he raised his hand and tapped my head. This meant, in his words, ‘Do not let go of yourself when I talk.’ I often lost myself in my own thoughts when I’m having a conversation with him, so he seemed to think of me as goopy.

  However, the reason why I let go of myself a lot was only because of Ban Yeo Dan himself. As I mentioned before, he was such a drop-dead… gorgeous man.

  I brought myself back to reality and looked him up.

  He asked, “Why are you not in bed yet?”


  No accent, no tone. He questioned with his unique way of talking. It has been quite a while since he asked me something, so I felt excited. I responded with a gleeful grin.

  “Oh, I was packing my bag.”


  “Oh yeah, the beach trip?”


  “Yes.”


  “With the guys?”


  When he asked me with an uncomfortable look, I thought like, yeah that’s expected. He just wanted to know about the trip from me.

  As I shrugged my shoulders with a smile, he slightly frowned his dark rich brows.

  He said, “Be careful.”


  “Well, it’s just a one-day trip and they’re not even guys.”


  “Okay.”


  He then slowly turned around and went back to his house. I watched the whole thing at our front door as I let myself fall like a captive by every move he made.

  How can I be not excited when a guy living next door is attractive enough to outshine the handsome movie stars I see often in my mom’s TV dramas? Even though he is like an iron wall that never gets opened except for his little sister.

  I touched my forehead where he tapped and put the watermelon in the living room with a smile. In the TV drama, a b*tch was shedding tears in front of a guy. She was crying out desperately.

  “How could she, how could she do that?! How could she seduce every guy so easily?!”


  My mom, watching the TV breathlessly, looked as if she was about to get absorbed by the screen.

  I glanced at the b*tch as I nodded and turned back. When looking at the Four Heavenly Kings and her brother, I wondered, too, how Ban Yeo Ryung could do that so easily.

  * * *

  Since it was winter, it would be still dark outside at five in the morning. When I had woken from my peaceful respite on my bed, however, I crinkled up my eyes from the bright light through my unopened eyelids.

  As I grabbed my blanket and tried to pull it up over my head, someone’s hand overlapped on my hand.

  The hand was ice cold as if it was outside until a moment ago, and at the same time, unbelievably soft. A low voice echoed near the bedside.

  “Get up.”


  If the voice was my mom’s, I would have pulled the blanket all over my head immediately. However, it was not her. It was a flawlessly smooth and attractive voice of a person between a grown man and a boy.

  Oh, he should better be a radio DJ. I thought unconsciously and then opened my eyes in a flash, realizing there was only one person around me with that voice.

  Eun Jiho! What the hell is he doing here!?

  As soon as I opened my eyes, it was the vividly shining silver hair under the sunlight that came into my sight.

  Eun Jiho. It was really Eun Jiho.

  As I sprang my body out of the bed, he looked surprised for a moment and released my hand from his clamping hands. He did not seem flustered at all. When I scowled at him, he asked me nonchalantly.

  “Why?”


  “You, you… Why am I in your room, no, why are you in my room…”


  Words did not come out properly out of embarrassment. Eun Jiho blinked his jet-black eyes once and replied with a refreshing smile.

  “Ban Yeo Ryung told me to wake you up. Your mom opened the door for me. She’s in the kitchen packing lunch.”


  “Mom!”


  How come you allowed him to my room!? My howl was about to blow up the house. Soon, a response came back from the kitchen.