Chapter 20

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I heard a voice from a distance. The rumbling noise grew louder and resonated into our classroom at long last. The kids watching the movie slowly turned their heads and saw the back door as if an intruder had come to ransack their peace.

Among them, there was also Eun Jiho who was looking at the door with an annoyed face. Instead of asking other people, he strode to the back door and opened it immediately.

A group of girls with their usual high pitched voices were behind the opened door. Their name tags indicated that they were seniors. All the girls were peeping Eun Jiho’s face with their eyes wide opened except for one who was not captivated of him.

She looked shy dropping her eyes to the floor. Then she stole a glance exactly at us. When her eyes finally reached our direction, it directed onto the man who was sleeping next to my desk. She was gazing at Yoo Chun Young.

I realized she had something to do with him, and at the same time, I also deduced what that something was. It was obvious to know these facts for anyone who had an eye.

I turned my head to look at Yoo Chun Young. As we spent quite a time hanging around for a month or two, I discovered that a bomb going off could not even wake him up when he was asleep. He proved this himself by remaining asleep despite the fuss in front of the class.

I reached out my hands and shook his shoulder, but he was still not awake. Eun Jiho, who was looking at me, had a rare smile on his face. He was now good at laughing at people, but he barely did so until three years ago.

We seemed to attract the kids’ gaze as if they were a source of his excitement. I strongly shook Yoo Chun Young’s shoulder again. He still had no reaction.

Dude, dude! Wake up! Should I shake his head to wake him up? Just then, something happened when I was about to reach my hands out to his gorgeous face.

The girl who soon came into the class held my hand back. I raised my head abruptly. Under the pale light, her cold eyes on me were enough reason to curdle my blood.

How dare you touch his face. Her eyes revealed that notion. It was no surprise that she was the senior student who came here to confess her affection towards Yoo Chun Young.

I did not like the way she looked at me, so I diverted my gaze away from her and removed my hand from him. At that moment, Yoo Chun Young awakened eventually.

He lifted his body from the desk and knitted his brows as if the forceful way in which has awakened from his deep slumber was enough to offend him so. Then he turned his head around, looking at me and the senior. It seemed he already had a solid grasp of the overall situation.

He stood up in a natural motion and said to her, “Let’s go outside.”

As he spoke with a half-awake voice, he then took off his earphone and gave it to me. I grabbed it in confusion, unsure of what was happening at the moment. That was when I started to lift my bewildered eyes onto Yoo Chun Young. As I had my eyes back to the girl, she was keeping a deathly scowl on her face at me.

He told her to go outside so they could talk but she did not even take a step as she engraved her gaze at me. Yoo Chun Young, who was walking ahead, then stopped along the way out and stared at her in silence.

What was that? The air flowing between them was breathtaking. Everyone in the class was looking at the two as they sat petrified on their chairs. When about thirty pairs of eyes were observing the situation, she slowly opened her lips.

“No.”

“…?”

Without a response, Yoo Chun Young just knitted his brows. The girl breathed in as if she was holding back her guts and spoke again.

“I want to talk here.”

“…?”

Yoo Chun Young’s eyes were, again, lost in confusion. So did all of us, who had our ears opened to hear their conversation.

I flickered my eyes. Was she serious? This place was not a good spot to share something confidential like a confession or something like that. In this environment, many people were already looking at her.

Oh, maybe, that’s why she was…?

I quietly moaned from within my head, overstraining myself.

The girl had her shoulders straight and said, “Chun Young, I like you. Please go out with me.”

A heavy silence went by our shoulders. The girls who were snooping around the backdoor gazed at this sudden development while holding their breath.

In the middle of the silence, Yoo Chun Young did not say a word as he stood near the backdoor. As if he was stuck inside the dim darkness, he did not budge an inch for a while.

His lips opened at last and what came out through his lips first was a sigh. Then he replied, “Sorry.”

Her face, in front of me, distorted into a surreal expression. Yoo Chun Young’s response was, however, expected. The moment she confessed about her crush on him, his face spoke for himself. He seemed to have no sign of interest with her. With that thought in mind, I saw Yoo Chun Young’s face.

He looked pale. It was one of his distinct features, but he looked even more exhausted. I could feel what he was feeling right now.

The girl bit her lips firmly. Then at the next moment, a sharp voice came out of her mouth.

“Why? Why do you hate me? Huh?”

“…”

“Don’t stand still like that! Say something. What did I do wrong!? You hate me much you refuse me in front of all these people!”

As if her anger had finally exploded, she was screaming alone in the classroom. I stared at the scene with groundless fears.

It was like watching a movie. The situation seemed unreal, frightening, and sad all at the same time. Perhaps it was because I was aware that this scene would be repeated multiple times in the future.

Yoo Chun Young’s mouth opened as well.

“I’m sorry.”

His face, however, did not look that sorry. He looked calm like usual but his eyes were deepened with darkness. He is exhausted, I murmured.

Then there was the sound of someone gulping down her tears. I turned my head to the woman standing in front. The faint sunlight reflected her sorrow-filled expression. There she stood crying. Her clear tears were running down her cheeks, all the way to the floor.

All of us saw vacantly how the girl shivered her shoulders. The whole class witnessed how she wiped out her tears with her clenched fist and stood still while crying for a long while. Even Eun Jiho, who was just observing the situation, seemed a little surprised.

Then the girl’s friends waiting around the backdoor dashed into the classroom. Don’t cry. Why are you crying about this!? There’s a whole lot of good guys out there! Among the girls, there was also someone glowering at Yoo Chun Young with eyes filled with much hostility.

A few words went by to calm her down. Then they left Yoo Chun Young and stormed out of the classroom.

A moment of silence passed. Then the boys surrounded Yoo Chun Young and asked, ‘Dude, what was that? Is she the one who’s chasing after you?’ Yoo Chun Young fetched a deep sigh without a word and furrowed his eyebrows making him shut his eyes tight.

At that time, there was only me and Ban Yeo Ryung among the girls in the class who spoke with Chun Young. The girl who sat in front of me whispered with her gaze at us.

“Wow, I already had in mind, but no one should ever confess their feelings to Chun Young.”

“Yeah, for real. Look at the girl leaving the classroom with tears. How miserable is it to be in front of the class?”

But… I hesitated while biting my lips and then continued,

“But it was her who said that she would propose in front of us.”

“But she never knew that she would get dumped in front of all the people. Anyway, I feel sorry for her.”

The girls shook their heads after that response. One of the girls then tapped my shoulder archly and said,

“Try not to fall in love with him, or else you could end up with tears like her.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’m always doing–being aware.”

As I laughed with those words, she patted my head saying how much I was doing a good job and turned her head back again to face the front. Then I touched the earphone Yoo Chun Young had given me.