.  As if awaiting my response, Yoo Chun Young’s serious gaze was enough to freeze myself and even my parents.

  He looked quite satisfied with my reaction while donning a grin on his face. Then he glanced at Eun Hyung, which startled him before turning his eyes towards me. Eun Hyung looked perplexed for a moment but soon had a warm smile on his face.

  “Yeah, I also thought the same as Chun Young.”


  “Wow, my daughter is really born lucky of having great friends. Why are you standing like that instead of drying your hairs ASAP?”


  What my dad said with a blank expression had me shaking my head at last. I tapped my head with a towel on and turned back.

  Then I murmured in a low voice, “Oh, geez. What a life!”


  No matter how much I grumbled, the living room was busy with active conversations.

  Mom and dad looked excited to see Chun Young and Eun Hyung’s faces since they haven’t seen them for a while. Soon as my mom began talking about a new topic, I stopped drying my hair and lifted my head.

  “Oh, Chun Young and Eun Hyung are also going to So Hyun High School with my daughter! Then you guys will have the opening ceremony tomorrow as well, right?”


  “Yes.”


  “Then, do you guys want to have some barbeque for dinner? I’d like to appreciate you all getting along with my daughter for the last 3 years and wish you guys to continue being good friends with her. So, aunty wants to…”


  “Honey, you are going too far. These boys should go back home to enjoy dinner with their family and have some spiritual time for tomorrow’s opening ceremony. Don’t try to take their precious time before their opening ceremony”


  “Oh my, that makes sense.”


  Nice, dad. I heaved a sigh of relief and pointed the hairdryer closer to my still wet hair.

  As I was about to ease my mind, however, Yoo Chun Young responded out of nowhere in a very unexpected moment.

  “It’s okay, sir. My dad has been tied up today, so it’s okay for me to stay for dinner.”


  “…?”


  “Yes, so am I, but wouldn’t this be treated as an excuse to stay then, sir?”


  Not only Yoo Chun Young, but Kwon Eun Hyung also agreed to stay for dinner, which made my jaw drop. I mean, why… how could those words come out of Eun Hyung and Chun Young’s lips, who hardly went to other’s house around mealtime for they think it’s common courtesy to do so?

  Despite myself gaping at the unexpected situation, my mom did not mind; instead, she responded mirthfully.

  “Oh, really? Then let’s invite Yeo Ryung, Jiho, and Jooin as well to have a dinner party!”


  Mom, how would you afford all this meat? Before I could address that, Eun Hyung interfered our mother-to-daughter talk and reached out to our other friends. As I heard his response, I fell deeper in confusion.

  Let’s say Yoo Chun Young tend to be unpredictable, but what was going wrong with Eun Hyung? Regardless of how I threw myself into confusion, the ‘admission celebration barbeque party’ would be pushed through at a full speed out of the blue.

  * * *

  “Oh, yeah? Then let’s do that. Okie Dokie.”


  My dad was walking back and forth at the living room corner speaking at the person on the other side of the phone.

  A drama that drew a lot of viewers lately played on the TV, but my mom was the only one who was focusing on it. Yoo Chun Young and Eun Hyung seemed to wonder what was going on through the phone since their gazes were snooping around the living room corner.

  I broke the ice while watching their eyes following my dad’s pace.

  “Maybe he’s talking with Yeo Ryung’s parents.”


  “…?”


  They both did a double-take at me.

  By the time their faces moved to my direction, the woman inside the TV looked dumbfounded after hearing the sad news of the male character who developed cancer. Her startled face and the two boys’ bewildered look were exquisitely alike, and it made me burst out laughing.

  As they stared at me with confused gazes, it was then when I pulled myself together to continue what I was saying.

  “Maybe we will have dinner together with Yeo Ryung’s family. Hold on, then it’s Yeo Dan oppa, Yeo Ryung, you, you, Eun Jiho, Jooin, and I… oh, lord, how many are we?”


  I stopped counting with my fingers as I frowned. Eleven people seemed too many. Although the price of the meat would be split into two, would our parents afford such a high price? As I started thinking about it, Eun Hyung seemed to be grasping something after I left the vague statement I has just said.

  For a moment, he rolled his green eyeballs and then asked me,

  “Um… is there any outdoor space around here to grill?”


  “What, for eleven people? Yeah, we could barbeque outside at the large bench; we’ve done that before with Yeo Ryung’s family.”


  I replied while shrugging my shoulders. Honestly, if I started thinking about it, such an event only happened once; however, the scenery of both family grilling and catering food as soon as taking the seats on the bench looked as if our barbequing history together took place for a long time.

  Eun Hyung nodded, satisfied with my response. He then typed something on the phone. Before I could ask who’s the person he’s calling on the phone, the answer came right through his lips.

  “Yeah, Jiho.”


  “…?”


  “Oh, oh! I was almost there, but that son of a b*tch! What the heck did he do? The time is too short to cool down! That ULT! Dang!!!”


  Before I could ask why on earth he called him, a voice filled with anger rang through the phone.

  Eun Jiho was going ape…… I said that to myself as I stared at the phone in Eun Hyung’s hand.

  Eun Jiho’s voice was loud enough to surprise not only Chun Young, who was sitting next to Eun Hyung, but also my mom, who was lying on the couch drawn into the TV. My dad even glanced at this side while talking on the phone, so that was how noisy Eun Jiho was.

  A moment after, my mom smirked and said carefully, “Um… I guess you guys have another friend named Jiho, Eun Hyung.”


  Eun Jiho had been so polite to adults that my mom had thought of him as a model student. For instance, my mom regarded him as someone who would never use any abusive words.

  No, mom. That Jiho was the same Eun Jiho you had known so far. I wanted to tell her the truth at that moment but had to stop since Eun Jiho would refuse to see me for about 5 years if I did so.

  Eun Hyung, on the other hand, tried to say something on the phone but responded while giving an awkward grin at my mom.

  “Yes, yeah… it’s a different friend.”


  “It sure is. Phew, aunty was so surprised if he would be the same Eun Jiho.”


  My mom heaved a long sigh of relief and turned her head back to the TV. Eun Hyung and I also breathed out briefly and giggled at each other. Then he got up from the seat and almost whispered on the phone while walking across the living room.

  Chun Young, who was looking at his back, nodded as our eyes met. Even I felt that Eun Jiho was now dangerous enough to continue the call around my parents. They needed a different place to speak with him through the phone.

  In the meantime, Eun Hyung and Jiho’s conversation kept on quietly and, at the same time, pushfully.

  “Yeah, chill. What. What is it?”


  ” I was about to get a pentakill! That ass!!!”


  While his insane voice turned into a horrible shriek, I took my ears off of their conversation and shrugged my shoulders with an apathetic expression. Then I tapped Chun Young’s shoulder while he was paying attention to Eun Jiho’s abusive remarks.

  When his head turned to my side, his blue-black hair gently scattered through the air. I lowered my voice and whispered to him.

  “See, that’s how games affect people. You should also stop playing too much.”


  Chun Young turned his head back without any words and pressed his eyes firmly as if he had finally felt the fatigue he was trying to conceal. The dark eye bags on his face caught my eyes. I knitted my brows.

  Oh, for God’s sake. I asked, “Hey, did you pull an all-nighter yesterday playing games?”


  “…”


  “Geez, come on. Dude! You should not do that!”


  “Whoa, look at her taking care of her man. Why don’t you do that to your father?”


  Aargh! I lifted my head with surprise and quickly crawled back sitting on the floor as I found my dad’s face within 50 centimeters away from my face. After seeing his face, I jolted my head back away from him making the back of my head bash into the couch. As I crouched my head while groaning in pain, someone beside me rubbed the injured area.

  Ugh, ouch. I had my face enveloped in a frown filled with utter pain and raised my head. There, I saw my dad ignoring his daughter’s pain and gently sitting on the couch. My rage grew thereafter.

  I yelled, “Dad! Oh, come on. Why are you saying that!?”


  “What? Oh, I’m sorry, is freedom of speech gone in this house now?”


  “Her man? Honey, did you just say her man?”


  Whether or not my eyes were filled with tears in pain, my mom looked excited after asking her question as if her interest were onto something else. She even spoke while slapping. Her attention on the TV seemed to have disappeared, ignoring the female character who was wailing as she carried her terminally ill lover in her arms.

  I stopped pouting my lips and had my eyes on Yoo Chun Young, who was staring at the back of my head with an anxious look.

  Just when I was about to warn them not to get the wrong idea, my dad spoke on my behalf.

  “Oh, I saw them having eye contact. You should’ve seen the flames in their eyes.”


  “Oh my, oh lord, oh geez! How adorable!”


  “Dad!!!”