.  I got up from the ground as Yi Ruda and Yoo Gun helped me by holding my arms and hands. A heavy silence hung in the air.

  Rolling my eyes quietly, I diverted them onto Yi Ruda’s face that was full of shame. Next, I switched my gaze to Yoo Gun who looked so nonchalant. Yi Ruda then broke the ice.

  “Um, so… this is…”


  “Huh?”


  “This outfit is… God damn it!”


  Without finishing her sentence, Yi Ruda turned her head. As if she didn’t even want to show me her face, she shoved her hands onto her palms.

  “Oh, it’s okay. You look nice.”


  As soon as I made that response, Yi Ruda lifted her head and shrieked, “That isn’t a compliment to me!”


  “Uh, really? I’m sorry.”


  “Oh, no, My bad. I should have not yelled at you. AHHH, shoot…”


  Yi Ruda rubbed her face with her hands and remained silent for a while.

  ‘Hmm, still, she looks so pretty. Don’t female crossdressers blush or like to hear that they look pretty when they are wearing a female outfit?” I wondered.

  When I stared at her side face while questioning myself, a voice came over from the front. I turned my head and found Yoo Gun speaking lightly, “From where to where did you hear?”


  “Excuse me?”


  “Our conversation.”


  “Oh…”


  Rolling my eyeballs again, I replied hesitantly, “Um, a person called Jenny is looking for Yi Ruda…”


  I thought he would blame me for eavesdropping on their conversation; however, he didn’t. Instead, he was laughing as if he felt satisfied somehow.

  Eh? Feeling dumbfounded at his reaction, I heard him asking me a question.

  “Now then, what would you like to do?”


  “Um, sorry?”


  Smiling leisurely, he pointed behind me with his chin and said, “Being friends with that bastard.”


  “Oh…”


  “What would you do?”


  Only then did I understand what he meant and, at the same time, realize why he didn’t get mad at me when I overheard their talks.

  He now had a chance to split me and Yi Ruda even without borrowing Yi Ruda’s hand to do so.

  Standing still for a moment, I soon turned my stiffened body like an ungreased robot to look at Yi Ruda.

  Her face was tinged pale. She looked at me with a grim face then when our eyes met, she averted my gaze surreptitiously. That was when she tried to say something while biting her lips.

  I stretched out my hand to grab hers. Quickly lifting her head, she asked, “W…hat’s up?” Her hand that was inside my two palms fluttered like a startled bird.

  I tried not to let her hand go, so I grasped it tightly and turned my head back. Yoo Gun was still staring at us with a look of interest.

  Taking a deep breath, I uttered, “I knew that some people were chasing Ruda since the beginning. Actually, everyone in our class is aware of it.”


  “Really?”


  “Yes, so I…”


  I turned my head to look at Yi Ruda’s face that was lined with tension even until then. As we had eye contact, her blue eyes gleamed with emotion.

  Turning my head back to Yoo Gun, I continued, “I will keep being friends with Ruda.”


  ‘Hmm….’ Yoo Gun then put an enigmatic smile on his face. I diverted my gaze back onto Ruda and enunciated my words clearly.

  “Ruda was the first person in high school who asked me to befriend her.”


  “I see.”


  “Yeah.”


  With that said, I bowed my head to Yoo Gun.

  “I appreciate your concern though.”


  As I added with a flat voice, I also raised my head slowly to observe his reaction.

  I expected that he would be angry at me since there would be another girl––who was hanging out with a suspicious kid––staying next to his little brother.

  However, he didn’t look upset at all.

  Flickering his eyes while looking at me, he then tilted his head sideways and murmured, “This also looks nice.”


  Excuse me? That was when I tried to ask him back.

  Having eye contact with me, Yoo Gun gently smiled. It was the grin that he showed me when we first met in the hallway, so I became a little perplexed.

  As I wondered the reason, Yoo Gun continued his remark, still, with a grin.

  “You don’t seem to hurt Chun Young as well.”


  “Excuse me?”


  Yoo Gun flaunted a vibrant smile. For the first time, he didn’t look like a frightening person but just Yoo Chun Young’s brother.

  “That means Chun Young seems to have made a good friend.”


  Responding to me with a soft voice, he then looked at Yi Ruda who was standing behind me.

  “But it doesn’t mean that I am allowing your presence.”


  “Hell, yeah!”


  “Anyway, I’m just respecting Donnie’s decision to make friends.”


  Before I knew it, he was calling me Donnie instead of my full name.

  ‘What did I do?’ As I wondered with my head tilted to the side, Yoo Gun, once again, sent me a warm gaze.

  He then said, “So, it was nice meeting you. See you around.”


  “Uh, yes!”


  Pointing at Yi Ruda with his chin, he made a final remark.

  “And that bastard is as dangerous as I am, so don’t trust him too much.”


  ‘Is this also a piece of advice given by a friend’s brother to me?’ I nodded in ambiguity.

  Yi Ruda then yelled out loud from behind me.

  “As dangerous as you? My ass, man. Who are you comparing me with?!”


  Without any response, Yoo Gun turned around to bend his steps. Yi Ruda soon stopped making her frantic last-ditch effort. We both were at a loss of words and just stared at him receding.

  Then I heard a loud sigh coming from beside me, so I turned my head. As if her legs turned to jelly, Yi Ruda crouched down to the floor with an M-shaped pose. She then heaved a sigh while hanging down both arms between her legs.

  Yikes! Forgetting my concern about what I should do after finding her identity out, I just quickly sat on the floor, but now I was shouting, “Ruda, you’re wearing a skirt! You shouldn’t sit like that!”


  “Oh, there’s pants inside.”


  She immediately pulled up her purple skirt, which made me so speechless.

  Next, she rolled up her dress all the way up to her waist and showed me herself wearing something like a purple sleeveless shirt on top and black shorts on the bottom. Looking up at the sky, Yi Ruda slowly uttered a sigh. She then turned around and asked me, “Aren’t you surprised?”


  “Huh?”


  “I look pretty… is that all?”


  Yi Ruda then added while waving her sleeve in the air.

  “Any comments for this outfit?”


  Oh… only then did I nod at a slow pace.

  It would be, of course, a lie to say that I wasn’t surprised at all; however, I struck dumb because her overall appearance looked so gorgeous. My reaction had nothing to do with her female outfit.

  I, again, slowly scanned her look.

  Revealing her bare legs under the black shorts and sitting with her hips on the floor, Yi Ruda looked, strangely, sexy and decadent than usual.

  Her blond hair swayed around her shoulders. When I suddenly stretched out my hand to touch her extended hair, she recoiled with a surprise but soon just left me to do that.

  “Does it look different?” she asked out of the blue.

  “Uh-huh.”


  “It’s a hairpiece.”


  She already seemed half given up explaining this. I tossed a question to her, who was showing a look of surrender.

  “Is it done in a hair salon?”


  “Nope, I did it myself.”


  “Wow.”


  “Even the makeup.”


  ‘Oh, that’s amazing… although, honestly, I’m not that envious when it comes to makeup.’


  When I glanced at her with awe, Yi Ruda loosened up her strained face as if she now felt relaxed. Putting her elbow on her knee, she rested her chin on her palm and said, “I can also make my voice sound like a woman.”


  “Really?”


  “Oh, not right now. I used it too much today. If I do it again, I’m gonna throw up.”


  Uttering those words, her face began to look cheerful as usual, so I felt slightly relieved too; however, that was just for a second. She soon turned dark again.

  I asked, “Ruda?”


  “My mom taught me all these,” she murmured while taking her gaze off from me.

  “Your mother?”


  “Yi Jenny.”


  “Oh…”


  With downcast eyes, I thought, ‘The person named Jenny, who kept on appearing in their conversations earlier, was Yi Ruda’s mother. Ruda must have escaped from her mother then.’