Chapter 113: Chapter 113
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They changed the original ch.o.r.eography to avoid the extremities of how physically explicit the real steps were, which eventually made it look fancier with a sophisticated allure to it. I knew that Yoo Chun Young was quite athletic, but I never thought he would be such an expert dancer.
I had the same thoughts regarding Ban Yeo Ryung, who danced along with him. She seamlessly performed even the difficult moves with her slim and long limbs. Whenever she moved her body, her jet-black hair waved on her back while s.h.i.+ning an orange hue under the light.
‘Yeah,’ I nodded, ‘if Yoo Chun Young and Ban Yeo Ryung are on stage again, no one can beat them.’ As I had that thought in mind, Yi Ruda, from aside, suddenly opened her mouth. She remained silent until now, maybe because she did not understand the retreat in Korea; therefore, when she broke the ice, everyone turned their heads to look at her.
She blinked her blue eyes once then said, “Hmm, as far as I know… as a reward for partic.i.p.ation, if there are more people on the stage, then the score would be higher, right? That’s what I understand, at least.”
“Yeah, that’s right.”
“Then what about doing a play so many of us can partic.i.p.ate? Let’s do something hilarious. If many people are on stage, we only have to remember just a few lines while getting a higher score. As far as I hear from you guys, we already expected most of the other cla.s.ses to do dance performances.”
“Sounds nice!” said Kim Hye Woo. He then looked at Yoon Jung In.
“Good idea. Then should we go for that?” Yoon Jung In replied with a nod.
He glanced around the kids as if asking for their agreement. No one refuted it; instead, most of the kids responded positively.
Yoon Jung In smiled to show his satisfaction and nodded before looking at Yi Ruda.
“I also realized that we have a person who could go toe-to-toe against the Four Heavenly Kings.”
“What?”
“Hey, let’s make Yi Ruda the protagonist. What do you think? Don’t we have a chance to win now?”
When Yoon Jung In said that with a full smile, Yi Ruda’s jaw dropped out of surprise, she even looked so pretty with that look on her face. A light blond hair covered her white forehead.
‘Gosh, such a beautifully surprised face! Unbelievable…’ As I dwelled upon her face with a wistful and yearning glance, she suddenly moved her blue eyes to look at me.
I was surprised, but she gave me an unexpected grin, which made me feel weird. I mean, it was more than just an odd feeling. Something like a sense of anxiety seemed to crawl within my stomach.
The Yi Ruda I knew would have said, ‘What? h.e.l.l, no. Why should I?’ or ‘Not me, please.’ She, however, didn’t say any of those words but diverted her blue eyes with a mysterious glare on me instead. When I noticed how she subtly perked up the corners of her lips, her calm voice rang out of her mouth while looking back at Yoon Jung In.
“Ok, if no one wants to play the main role, then I’ll take that.”
Her remark made Yoon Jung In ask her immediately, ‘Sir Ruda, would you like to have something?’ with a serious face. While everyone burst out laughing at Yoon Jung In’s comical reaction, Ruda had her eyes back on me.
“But on one condition.”
An awkward silence suddenly dominated the noise within the cla.s.sroom. Every eye that pointed toward Yi Ruda’s lip revealed a sign of tension.
She then continued, “I’m in only if Donnie plays my counterpart.”
On her red lips, she put on a dark vibrant smile.
* * *
“A dance performance as always.”
On our way back home from school, Ban Yeo Ryung replied in a relaxed face.
Well, there was nothing else to do other than a dance performance. If someone sings a soft ballad in a talent show, it will never work unless the person is such a great singer. The best is to show something visually fancy to draw other people’s attention. As I nodded to her remark, Ban Yeo Ryung flung a question.
“What’s your cla.s.s doing?”
“Um… a play.”
“A play? Who are playing the roles?”
“Almost everyone? The concept of our cla.s.s is to flood the stage with everyone in the cla.s.s.”
“What? Flooding the stage?”
Bending her eyes with a smile, Ban Yeo Ryung asked back as if she thought it was funny. When she smiled, her dazzling jet-black eyes twinkled like a star. It reminded me of Yoo Chun Young’s eyes that I saw earlier in the home video, which made me anxious somehow. Yoo Chun Young’s eyes on me were like those of Ban Yeo Ryung right now, s.h.i.+ning brilliantly.
I never saw Yoo Chun Young having such eyes like that. While I lost my mind in thoughts, Ban Yeo Ryung threw another question, which surprised me.
“But aren’t there any main roles?”
“Yeah, Ruda will do the lead role.”
“Yi Ruda?”
“Uh-huh, I heard that they would use Ruda’s face to compete against you guys.”
“Makes no sense.”
Ban Yeo Ryung responded briefly, then closed her mouth. She looked particularly upset whenever Yi Ruda was our topic. Hearing her name alone had already made Ban Yeo Ryung reveal her discomfort. I recalled the conversation that went through earlier today.
“I’m in only if Donnie plays my counterpart.”
A moment of silence hung between us. Yi Ruda said something like this before and made the air turn a bit off a few times. She patted my head or put her jacket on me when I was asleep. When it happened, kids in our cla.s.s gave a naughty gaze at us. It was nothing serious, so everyone just accepted it until they grew familiar with it; however, the sudden silence that prevailed on the cla.s.s earlier was maybe because Yi Ruda’s blue eyes looked unusually serious.
I blinked in perplexity before saying, ‘Don’t put too many lines or else I’ll bomb on stage.’
‘Are you gonna take the role?”
I responded with a nod to Yoon Jung In’s question.
‘Uh-huh, but are you guys gonna hate me when I make a mistake?’
‘Not really, but I’ll probably boo you to death with a stone,’ Yoon Jung In replied with a giggle which made s.h.i.+n Suh Hyun smash his head. Kids burst into laughter again, and I watched them with a smile too. At that moment, someone said from aside.
‘Hey, why don’t you accept it already?’
‘Huh?’
‘Yeah, why don’t you stop playing hard for Yi Ruda to get you, huh?’
‘Gosh, what the…!’
I swung my hand in the air, but the voices didn’t cease. Instead, some kids began to agree with a nod.
‘Oh, Ham Donnie, you such a bad girl.’
‘True. We should be careful.’
Geez… I scowled at them while pouting my lips against their misunderstanding. They all looked very excited as if joking to show the truth in their hearts.
Of course, I knew how others would regard the repeated situations. Wouldn’t it look like Yi Ruda was continually trying to win my love while I’m playing hard to get?
Feeling uncomfortable with their misunderstanding again, I carefully observed Yi Ruda’s pretty and delicate profile face. First, she doesn’t have Adam’s apple. Second, she reaches over 170cm, which is tall for a girl, but how come I’m the only one who understood that she is a female crossdresser? As I demonstrated a sign of stuffiness on my face, Yi Ruda spoke to me with a stare.
‘Donnie.’
‘Huh?’
‘Let’s make it happen.’
Yi Ruda’s face then showed a beautiful grin, which captivated me just to give her a nod. At last, the other kids went back to their seats. Looking at Yi Ruda’s fixed gaze and smile at me, I fell into thought.
Where would she stay during the retreat? It would be very uncomfortable for her to change clothes and sleep with other boys. For both Yi Ruda and the boys, it was not a good thing at all; however, something came across my head that seemed to ease my mind.
In a novel with a female crossdresser, the girl never gets caught even if she lived in the same dorm and the same room. Others didn’t know that Yi Ruda was a crossdresser, so they wouldn’t find her although she stayed with the boys. Alright… I nodded out of satisfaction.
‘Ok, let’s make it happen,’ I replied.
This was the overall conversation between us.
‘Hmm…’ I wondered while furrowing my forehead. ‘Should I tell Ban Yeo Ryung that Yi Ruda pointed me out to be her counterpart?’
While I took a moment of consideration, I soon shook my head. Her face had already looked so upset just because Yi Ruda was the lead role; however, if she were about to know that the counterpart was me, she would undoubtedly stop me from playing the part with a solemn look on her face.