.  As always, his black eyes were full of mischief. What he replied with a swiveling smile then made my jaw drop.

  “I’ll take care of it, so wear whatever you want. That was what I meant.”


  “…”


  I stared blankly at myself reflected in his twinkling, pure black eyes that got close at hand. Then I raised my hand to grab and swing his arm.

  Ai yai yai, why?! When he uttered a shriek again, the driver seemed to glance our direction while driving the car; however, I shouted out loud nonchalantly.

  “Dude, you… do you think making me nervous as hell then acting like a prince in soap operas will make me feel better? Huh?!”


  “Ah, hey… hold on!”


  “Where did you learn such naughty things…?”


  Swinging his arm, I adjusted the line before dropping it out of my mouth as something came across my mind.

  The term ‘learn’ meant that Eun Jiho had literally learned from someone about how to act like a prince-type guy in a TV show, which didn’t make sense. I could tell from his behaviors that Eun Jiho’s heroic disposition was already in his DNA.

  I began to swing his arm again from pausing to ramble those thoughts.

  Eun Jiho stopped screaming; instead, he took my hand off his arm.

  “Gosh, put that away and just talk to me! Why are you and Ban Yeo Ryung getting alike?” yelled Eun Jiho.

  “Really? What a compliment!”


  “…”


  Eun Jiho looked quite dumbfounded for a moment. He cast a glance outside the window, but soon diverted his eyes back onto me.

  “Do you think that’s a compliment?” he asked.

  As I nodded my head without hesitance, Eun Jiho lifted his hands to cover his face.

  “Geez…”


  Glancing at him fetching a deep sigh, I put his arm back and went back to my seat.

  Anyway, I barely received his response to my concerns about the dress code.

  ‘I’ll take care, so don’t worry about it.’


  I guess he already had some plans for my outfit, but why didn’t he let me know about it in advance? He really had something to make a person so nervous as hell.

  When I touched my head in anxiety with a sigh, he seemed to catch immediately what I was feeling. That was when he blinked his eyes then called my name slowly, narrowing his eyes. I quietly detached my lips, rubbing my hands.

  “Um… should I just not go?”


  “Come on,” Eun Jiho answered sulkily, “Is it because I threw some naughty jokes? Hey, if you needed to prepare for something, I would’ve not even asked you…”


  “No, that’s not what I mean…”


  When I suddenly interrupted his words, Eun Jiho directed his black eyes on me. Glancing him for a second, I dropped my gaze at the floor again. My finger-tapping movements became twitchier.

  “I wonder… would I really be helpful to you, if I go…”


  Blinking his eyes, Eun Jiho threw a glance at me as for me to keep up what I had in mind. I continued with hesitation.

  “I mean, I just realized that I don’t have any outfits suitable for those events; besides, I’m a stranger there, not a silver-tongue, and not even as outstandingly gorgeous as Ban Yeo Ryung… argh…”


  A hand suddenly stretched out to me and pulled my cheek that I couldn’t complete the sentence. When I raised my head, Eun Jiho’s black eyes were scowling at me. He was joking around with me just until now, so I wondered why he suddenly looked upset. The moment I was about to ask him waveringly, ‘What was going on,’ Eun Jiho brought up his words ahead of me.

  “Why would you not be helpful? Why?”


  “Um… dooonn’t youuu thinnnkkk sssoo…?

  I tried to respond, but as he pulled my cheek, I could hardly pronounce the words correctly. That was when I looked up at him in resentment. Shaking his hand on my cheek, he continued his remark.

  “If someone ever asks you, ‘Why you’re here,’ for the sake of those reasons, just say that Eun Jiho knelt down and begged me to come.”


  “…”


  “Dude, what the fu*k? Why should there be any reasons when I just want to be with you? What are those criteria for?”


  While he was speaking, I tried to flicker my eyes or take his hand off my cheek, but I gradually stopped these motions as he struck a wedge in me.

  “All I need from you is to just breathe in and out next to me. That’s enough to rest my body and soul, clear?”


  “Um… yeah.”


  What he just said made me feel like an air-purifying plant. I tilted my head ambiguously. Eun Jiho kept on his words, pulling my cheek.

  “And make sure to bring whoever that says those shits to you. It’s a must. Get it? If Choi… and don’t laugh away like an idiot.”


  Eun Jiho paused in between the sentence, biting his lips, then soon put another word instead. Though he omitted what he tried to say, I kind of grasped the unspoken word.

  Choi Yuri. I repeated the name inside my mouth. It seemed to be all over now; however, as the name slipped out of Eun Jiho’s mouth, I felt quite unexpected to hear that from him.

  Suddenly, I recalled what she poured out at the school rooftop on that day. Rolling my eyeballs, I fell into thought.

  The girl might have had a crush on Eun Jiho…


  If so, Choi Yuri successfully engraved her existence in Eun Jiho’s memory by any means. I, on the other hand, was labeled as an idiot after that incident. Having a faint smile, I rubbed my stinging cheek that Eun Jiho kept on pulling.

  After that day, Eun Jiho and Woo Jooin spat the word ‘idiot’ numerously to me. I could understand why to some degree.

  To be honest, it would’ve been way faster and easier to deal with the rumor that spread in Class 1-1, if I asked the Four Heavenly Kings for help. I, of course, was aware of their words having such an absolute influence on the kids.

  However, when the happening of ‘Ban Yeo Ryung Haters Club’ turned out to be targeting me instead of Ban Yeo Ryung, I couldn’t ask for help from anyone eventually.

  Female protagonists had their own ways to resolve a problem. So were the friends of the female leads. We had our own way to handle the problem. I thought I was quite clear about my position, but why… I slowly bit my lips.

  Why are they distracting me? Why do they make me have some stupid hopes like I can do whatever I want and it’s fine to do so? Why do they make me trust such things?

  Then it felt like I was rewarded for all those days when I stayed low in fear of acting presumptuously to Eun Jiho, Ban Yeo Ryung, or sometimes to other kids. The secure and tranquil feelings I had from them were like drugs.

  Blinking my eyes slowly, I put my cheek on Eun Jiho’s palm that was wandering around my face until now. I remained still like that with my eyes closed, then suddenly opened my eyes wide like a person who just woke up from sleep.

  My terrified gaze and his astonished eyes struck in the air, and the very next moment, he turned himself around. His hand also got off my cheek. Pouting my lips, I blushed with shame.

  What the hell was I doing? Why did I act like his pet or so? How can I be so out of my mind even for a second!

  That was when Eun Jiho, who fastened his gaze at his empty palm for quite a while, opened his mouth.

  “Excuse me…”


  I lifted my head in surprise and said, “My bad! Dude, I’m so sorry.”


  Eun Jiho, who slowly turned around to look at me in an indescribable face, soon grimaced again. Backing off hastily, I continued my words.

  “I mean, what you just said was so smooth, relieving, and kind, so…”


  His face was now returned to his usual, apathetic look. Eun Jiho cast a glance at my cheek and his palm alternately and answered back.

  “Geez, do you always behave flirtatiously after hearing some soothing words?”


  “Um… no, sir Jiho. Flirtatiously? You’re going too far, sir.”


  Having a serious look on my face, I replied immediately, which made Eun Jiho furrow even more. He acted as if he had something to say to me, pouting his lips; however, in the end, he just put himself back to lean against the chair with a deep sigh.

  “Hey, don’t do that to other people.”


  “Huh? Oh, sure.”


  I tried to add, ‘Of course,’ but Eun Jiho took an intervention.

  “You keep making me think that you’re something else.”