Chapter 161: Chapter 161
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Suddenly, Choi Yuri’s sense of reality seemed to have flown far into the distance. Ham Donnie’s brown hair was waving in the wind again as it scattered faintly like it was a scene inside a dream. Ham Donnie’s sharp retort came through.
“Oh, yeah… if you fooled yourself into believing that you’re doing all these for others’ sakes, then I’m at a loss of words, but believe me, mess with the bull, and you’ll get the horns one day. That’s all there is to it. I also heard enough, so I’m leaving.”
Choi Yuri then saw Ham Donnie pulling the iron door slowly. At that very moment, she gathered all her senses again with the squeaking sound.
Ham Donnie’s words flew alongside the chilly breeze and scratched Choi Yuri’s cheeks sharply. At the next moment, Choi Yuri sc.r.a.ped all her strength up and shouted out loud.
“Stop! Where are you going? Are you saying that I’m s.h.i.+fting my responsibility to others?”
Ham Donnie paused before pulling the iron door in its entirety. She then turned back to see Choi Yuri at a slow pace with her eyes wide.
In the sunset, a heavy silence wrapped around the s.p.a.ce between them. Choi Yuri then detached her lips first. She, at last, laughed out loud and flung a question.
“What makes you so confident?”
“What?”
Ham Donnie looked quite perplexed. Choi Yuri continued carelessly.
“Because Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings are your friends? Is that why you’re acting arrogant like this? Who do you think you are? Are you pretty, good fighter, or rich? No, you aren’t. There’s nothing brilliant about you. You’re so confident because of them, right?”
Ham Donnie blinked. After a few moments, she showed nothing less than a sneer on her lips.
She then said, “Hey, you shouldn’t be close to Ban Yeo Ryung and the Four Heavenly Kings, huh? No matter what you say, other kids would ask you, ‘Are you acting arrogant because you’re close to the Four Heavenly Kings?’ What are you gonna do then when they asked you that?”
“Are you kidding me?!”
“I didn’t know that only those who are pretty, brilliant, smart, and rich can articulate their thoughts. Yeah, do as you please. Adios!”
Ham Donnie then raised her hand again to bid farewell. Choi Yuri’s eyes grew bigger. Her clenched fist and her lips were about to tremble. Her head seemed like it had blanked out of anger. Choi Yuri called her back.
“Hey… you! Stop there, I’m not gonna let you leave.”
Pulling the door, Ham Donnie looked dumbfounded.
“How dare you say that? You drove me to the corner as the craziest b.i.t.c.h in front of the entire school. Now you’re blaming for saying my thoughts to you? Earlier, you’ve said that you’re advising me for the sake of Ban Yeo Ryung and other kids, aren’t you?”
‘How arrogant is this b.i.t.c.h for her not grasp the situation!?’ with that thought in mind, Choi Yuri raised her voice.
“You! You hurt me!”
Still, Ham Donnie didn’t look as if she was regretting any of her wrongdoings.
Instead, she leaned against the iron door with her elbow and displayed a more dumbfounded look on her face. The words that came out of her mouth thereafter were fierce enough for Choi Yuri to flinch.
“Nope, it was you who hurt me first. Had I ever hurt you with my words before?”
“…”
“Because of your groundless remarks, I got verbally attacked by not only you but by others, too, even strangers. You, however, got hurt from my meaningless words and wouldn’t let me leave? Then, I guess, based on my situation, I should kill you, then, eh?”
“You… you!?”
“You’re not the only one who got hurt. Please, act your age and have some self-respect.”
After her comment, Ham Donnie’s face grimaced as if she was about to cry; however, Choi Yuri didn’t feel refreshed at all. Of course, she shouldn’t feel refreshed. Facing Ham Donnie made Choi Yuri bit her lips tightly.
None of her plans went well. Choi Yuri wanted to hear Ham Donnie confessed about what she did wrong and how much suffering she was enduring. She longed for her to leave the school; however, Choi Yuri had no idea what was going on right now.
Ham Donnie told her that she wasn’t troubled at all. She also told her about how she did not lose anything because of the rumors. She didn’t even think about moving to another school. ‘No, this can’t happen,’ thought Choi Yuri while biting her lips. On the other hand, she suddenly felt like she was wronged. With a flame in her eyes, Choi Yuri gazed at Ham Donnie, who was facing her in wonder too.
Her brown hair that scattered in the wind got attached to her cheeks. She had a narrow chin and round forehead, the usual face of a run-of-the-mill girl. There was also nothing remarkable about her thoughts. She used an average tone, knew how to swear, and wasn’t a kind-hearted person. Regardless of all these aspects, Ham Donnie was taking everything away from Choi Yuri.
Ham Donnie was effortlessly doing and getting all the things she always longed to have, which was standing beside the Four Heavenly Kings. She was even beloved by not only Eun Jiho but also Yoo Chun Young.
Choi Yuri gnawed her lips firmly. A voice, boiling from the bottom of her heart, leaked through her bitten lips.
“How could they like such a girl like this…”
“What?”
Before Ham Donnie could ask back, Choi Yuri strode toward her involuntarily.
Ham Donnie then stepped back a little as if she tried to resist how the distance between them got closer. Her feet stopped right in front of the stairway down the rooftop. Missing a step back, Ham Donnie would roll down the staircase. Choi Yuri stretched out her hands in spite of herself then grabbed Ham Donnie by her collar.
Ham Donnie stared at her with roundly opened eyes. Choi Yuri detested her face, for it seemed that it showed how she knew nothing.
If she didn’t exist, Choi Yuri could have been in her position. What was so different between them anyway?
Although she hated to admit it, Choi Yuri was quite identical to Ham Donnie in many ways. She, however, tried to hide the information regarding her family on purpose. She thought that she could steal Ham Donnie’s position and worked hard for it. Eun Jiho, however, didn’t show any interest in her at all. The Four Heavenly Kings did the same.
‘Why? How come? Was it because they already had her? Her face and personality did not differ much from me, but why her and not me?’ Her thoughts whirled within her head in an endlessly spiraling loop like a broken merry-go-round. Choi Yuri looked in front of her; standing under the shadow of the building, Ham Donnie’s face remained half-buried in the shallow shade. Choi Yuri laughed upon seeing her darkened face.
She then said, “No one messes with me. You’re gonna pay for talking impudently like that. Your family and you… do you know who I am?”
“Why? Do you have a hidden ident.i.ty?”
Ham Donnie acted laid back till the end. Her feet were almost on the edge of the staircase by a hair’s breadth. Choi Yuri glanced down furtively.
‘Does she know that there’s a staircase behind her? No, I don’t think so,’ she thought. Ham Donnie wasn’t even grabbing the stairway handrail.
‘No one’s watching,’ Choi Yuri murmured to herself. ‘If she doesn’t realize the gravity of her situation, then I must make her aware of it’ thought Choi Yuri. To the entire school, she was already a sweet friend who cared about someone’s misfortune, whereas Ham Donnie was a bad girl who spread bad rumors about her longtime friend and created a hate club out of jealousy.
‘No matter how many people gossiped about it, a rumor is nothing, you say? It’s ineffective to you at all? If you think so, then I’ll show you how hard the truth feels like.’
‘If I push you from here,’ Choi Yuri kept thinking with a smile, ‘You’re gonna tell others that I pushed you, but would anyone believe you? All of them already think that you’re a b.i.t.c.h. I can talk to the kids while crying that I gave you a piece of advice regarding your situation, but you were already too mad that you were probably lying. Who would then trust your words?’
As if captivated by something, Choi Yuri applied a strain to her hands, seizing Ham Donnie by the collar. She then saw how her eyes slowly grew. Taking a deep breath, Choi Yuri pulled her hands to grasp Ham Donnie harder. That was when she tried to push her for good.
An icy cold voice then flew over from behind Choi Yuri’s neck.
“What are you doing?”
Choi Yuri thought earlier that the rays of sunset that were pouring from the rooftop, somehow, shed a shadow above her. She, however, thought that she must have been seeing things, for her rage had already started feeding her mind with nonsensical delusions.
It was wrong. Someone, for real, came toward her back. A person who was tall enough to shed a shadow around her and had that frigid voice… there was only one person she knew who had that voice around her.