Chapter 117: Chapter 117
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‘Picking someone up at a rest area really happens!’ I didn’t know that fact during middle school.
As I peeped around that direction busily, Eun Jiho shook his head and said something to the girls. Eun Hyung also reacted the same but with a fierce smile. Yoo Chun Young just tilted his head without any response then looked somewhere else. Even Woo Jooin smiled quietly as usual, but he didn’t give his number to anyone at all, no matter how much they tried.
‘Well, it’s not the first time they dealt with that kind of situation…’ As I understood what was going on, I decided to look where Ban Yeo Ryung was.
She was talking about something with a bright face to some girls in her cla.s.s. The reason why I wasn’t so concerned about her after our cla.s.ses differed once we were in high school was that she was not an unsociable person at all. The only thing that lingered in me was the fact that there would always be a girl who would get jealous of Ban Yeo Ryung and try to pull some stupid trick on her.
Only three years and a few months pa.s.sed as we got closer, but it was already three times since I last saw her struggling with such situations. Baek Yeo Min, a girl in our cla.s.s when we were freshmen in middle school, was an example of someone who always smiled and acted like Ban Yeo Ryung’s best friend. However, she ended up talking smack behind her back eventually. Although kids in high school tend to be more mature than they were before, no one could convince them that there wouldn’t be anyone b.i.t.c.hing Ban Yeo Ryung behind her back.
I looked at her with mixed emotions before stepping inside the bathroom. I then kind of saw a group of kids who were wearing a school uniform getting closer to Ban Yeo Ryung’s direction.
When I left the bathroom, the scene changed a little. The rest area was still crowded with people. In front of the snack bar with steam rising above its roof, kids chit-chatted in excitement while grabbing paper cups with snacks inside. At a distance, a few buses rolled into the parking lot again. Some students were looking at the things on the stall.
Then… most of their eyes were bent on somewhere.
In the middle of their gazes, there stood Eun Jiho, who was saying something to Ban Yeo Ryung with a smile. As if he teased her as usual, Ban Yeo Ryung flew into a rage, and soon, Eun Hyung intervened to arbitrate their quarrel. Yoo Chun Young grinned at the funny situation, then Woo Jooin winked at my side as if he noticed me from far apart. A few kids turned to look in this direction, so I pulled the corners of my lips up slightly to resemble the hint of a smile as a response.
I saw that a group of boys couldn’t get closer to her but was just standing still apart from Ban Yeo Ryung. I then finally grasped the overall situation. They probably would have approached Ban Yeo Ryung to get her number, but the Four Heavenly Kings might have interfered to stop them. Since the four boys guarded Ban Yeo Ryung safely like that, no one would dare flirt with her at all. ‘Hmm…’ As I nodded like nothing extraordinary had happened, the next situation then stiffened my face.
A group of girls in school uniforms stepped closer to Ban Yeo Ryung bravely. The leader standing in front was a girl with wavy curls. Blus.h.i.+ng her face, she handed out her phone to Ban Yeo Ryung. Kim Hye Hill, who suddenly stood beside me, whispered in a low voice.
“Now, what the heck is that?”
“I know that Ban Yeo Ryung is pretty, but that’s…”
‘A girl wants to get Ban Yeo Ryung’s number? Why?’ As I stared at their direction with a complicated face, something substantial fell on my shoulders. When I turned back to see who it was, there stood the s.h.i.+ning Yoon Jung In.
He handed over some sweet potato sticks for me to try, so I had a few. s.h.i.+n Suh Hyun, who was standing behind him, asked while looking at the fuss apart.
“Something’s going on there.”
“Yeah, the Four Heavenly Kings and Ban Yeo Ryung, as usual.”
“Oh, guys, we might be running late. Let’s return to the bus.”
As soon as Yoon Jung In said that, Kim Hye Hill and I snapped back into reality. ‘Wouldn’t they be late?’ When I glanced at Ban Yeo Ryung in concern, our eyes met. She then smiled at me.
When she smiled, her eyes curved into a crescent moon-like shape. Her gorgeous eyes then captivated other people. While gazing at her with their jaws dropped after seeing her beauty, I smiled back while waving my hand to her then boarded the bus.
As I sat on my seat for a while, I felt the vibration inside my pocket. I took out the phone then checked the screen. ‘Eun Ji-G.o.dd.a.m.n-ho,’ the four words twinkled silver on the screen. I opened my flip phone.
“Hey, what’s up?”
“Dude, stop sleeping.”
‘…What the h.e.l.l is wrong with him?’ I began to wonder.
* * *
What a sunny day! Ban Yeo Ryung, who rested her chin on her hand, raised her head when she heard a slight exclamation coming from aside. Woo Jooin, who sat before her with a Pepero stick between his lips, handed out another one to her. She was hesitant for a moment but soon took it with a smile then gave it to a friend sitting next to her.
Donnie’s face overlapped onto her friend’s. Although Donnie was not doing anything else other than riding a different bus, Yeo Ryung felt a little weird. ‘It’s just that I can’t get used to a trip without Donnie beside me,’ Ban Yeo Ryung said to herself, ‘So yeah, that’s what it is.’
She knew how much she was relying emotionally on Donnie. ‘I only have Donnie,’ she often thought; however, she grew anxious about the fact that she couldn’t accept anyone as a friend forever.
Ban Yeo Ryung carefully observed her friend’s face beside her. Her round forehead slightly tangled bangs, and a shoulder-length black hair resembled Donnie.
Her name was Choi Yuri, one of the few whom Ban Yeo Ryung decided to open her heart to in the cla.s.s. Yuri, who was dropping her gaze at the floor, lifted her eyes as she noticed Yeo Ryung’s stare. She then put a grin on her face.
“Hey, why?”
“Nothing,” Ban Yeo Ryung said with a smile to put down the seriousness. Feeling cute, Yuri looked at her then began to talk about something.
Ban Yeo Ryung listened to her story, chit-chatted with Woo Jooin in front of her, and said a few words to Eun Jiho who was sitting right across her. It was a smooth start of the trip.
At the rest area, a situation that always happened retook place. When she came into a crowded spot, Ban Yeo Ryung grew scared rather than getting excited or cheerful. She hated drawing others’ attention, and especially, she felt so uncomfortable when people asked her for something with greedy eyes.
Ban Yeo Ryung frowned then stretched her hand out from aside. When she reached someone’s arm, she then felt relieved. She pulled her arm and linked hers through it. Choi Yuri, who was beside her, chuckled.
“Yeo Ryung, what’s wrong?”
“There are too many people.”
“Let’s go to the bathroom and head back. Oh, look over there. Someone’s asking Jooin’s number.”
Like other girls in their cla.s.s, Choi Yuri also felt that Woo Jooin was comfortable. As what she just said, Woo Jooin, who was standing in front of the snack bar, showed an awkward grin to a girl. They were at a close distance from here, so she clearly heard his response.
“Sorry, I have a girlfriend.”
“Can you just give me your number? I want to be friends with you…”
“My girlfriend doesn’t like that.”
His friendly brown eyes looked mysteriously sharp and steady. Choi Yuri mumbled in surprise from aside.
“Jooin gave out a flat refusal; that was very unexpected.”
“Uh-huh! That’s him, usually.”
When Ban Yeo Ryung replied like that, she was perplexed by the lasting silence between them. Choi Yuri, beside her, sent a gaze that revealed a thirst for something. She looked as if she wanted to hear more about Woo Jooin, but Ban Yeo Ryung refused to do so. It never went well for Ban Yeo Ryung when she got involved with a girl about the Four Heavenly Kings.
When Ban Yeo Ryung put a mixed smile on her face, Choi Yuri also responded with a grin then pulled her arm.
Luckily, it was a sunny day. Ban Yeo Ryung’s mood got gradually better too. When she encountered her cla.s.smates and chatted with them before the women’s bathroom, a group of boys walked toward their direction from a distance.
They all looked determined while their eyes shone with a desire in their minds. Ban Yeo Ryung stepped back unconsciously. One of the boys came closer and flung a question.
“Excuse me… do… do you have a boyfriend?”
“…”
Ban Yeo Ryung rolled her eyeb.a.l.l.s but couldn’t figure out what to reply. As she remained silent, a few girls around them sent a naughty glance at her. Some looked excited, whereas some looked jealous.
Ban Yeo Ryung hesitated to respond. If she said no, it was obvious what would happen next; however, she wasn’t even a good liar to affirm them. At that very moment, a hand stretched out from aside out of the blue. It was then laid on her shoulder. She turned her head to see who it was.
A familiar face came into her sight. A boy with a beautiful silver hair then spoke to the guys before her.