.
When I twisted my head to get out of Yi Ruda’s arms, she released me without making a fuss. Eun Jiho took his breath back at last. I stretched my hand out to him.
“Dude, give me back my ice cream. It’s all melting.”
“Oh.”
Eun Jiho then crazily looked at his side as he realized that he had my chocolate fudge in his hand. It was, however, too late. The ice cream had already melted and was running down on the back of his hand.
‘Damn it,’ when I furrowed my eyes, Eun Jiho started to look a little perplexed.
“Okay, okay. I’ll get you another one. I’ll have this, and you can have the new one instead.”
“Oh, you’re gonna throw that out just because it melted a little? Just give it back to me; I’m just gonna have it fast.”
“Nope, why would I throw it out? This is mine now, so you have the new one. Not a bad deal, right?”
Eun Jiho replied, determinedly, then took the ice cream far away from my hand. With my hand still stretched out to him, I frowned my brows in wonder.
‘Wasn’t he the one who had gone batshit crazy because I was about to give an ice cream that I had already bitten to someone else? ESPECIALLY when it’s a person whom I’m not even dating? Is he kidding me or what?’
Staring at Eun Jiho with a grimace, Yoo Chun Young suddenly stretched out his hand and took the ice cream.
This time, not only me but Eun Jiho also showed a surprised look on his face. Yoo Chun Young shrugged in his usual serene attitude.
“I’ll get you another one. Let me have this instead,” he said.
“Huh…?”
I became puzzled. Why were these two so obsessed with that half-melted ice cream? I was aware that Yoo Chun Young and I had similar appetites, but… ‘Aren’t there more chocolate fudges in the cafeteria? Had I picked the last piece? No, there were quite a lot of it in there…’
Rambling those thoughts in my head, I stared at Yoo Chun Young. A hand then suddenly popped out beside me and snatched the ice cream again. It was Yi Ruda.
Holding the half-melted chocolate fudge in her hand, she looked at the three boys with a crooked smile in triumph. A burst of laughter then erupted in front. When I raised my head to see who it was, there stood Eun Hyung giggling at us. For some reason, he laughed while softly bending his eyes. He then took off his glasses and covered his face with his hand. As he kept shrugging his shoulders, it looked as though he was howling with laughter, but I had no idea what made him laugh that much.
At the next moment, as if it was meant to be, Kim Hye Hill, who was beside me, burst into laughter too. She also bent her body while laughing to death. Since Kim Hye Hill usually didn’t show her emotions, her unexpected gesture made me wonder, again, what made them all laugh so much.
Now, Ban Yeo Ryung was the only one who was doing nothing among them. Eun Jiho and Yoo Chun Young were, somehow, scowling at Yi Ruda as if they were about to punch her in the face, whereas Yi Ruda wrapped her arm around me and showed an invidious smile on her face.
I glanced at Ban Yeo Ryung. She had a penetrating gaze at Yi Ruda with her jet-black eyes. If one could kill someone with a stare, Yi Ruda would have died over a hundred times already.
At that moment, something came across my mind, which took my breath away in surprise. While the two scowled at each other in such tension, I took one or two steps behind while covering my mouth with my hand.
Was this finally the time? Did they, at last, realize that they were the protagonists in the novel? Although they might not have reached that part, they would have instinctively perceived that each of them was a disturbance in the lives of others! If not, they couldn’t possibly scowl at each other so fiercely like that.
The two girls looked like those who encountered an enemy on a log bridge. A grim ambiance resonated between the two strainedly. I stretched every nerve in my eyes toward Ban Yeo Ryung’s lips that both were about to pop. Then, at last, I saw her mouth opening.
At the next moment, I burst out a loud cough while bending my body. What Ban Yeo Ryung said was genuinely unbelievable.
“You… give me Donnie’s ice cream this instance!”
“What?”
Yi Ruda looked as dumbfounded as I was. I never thought that Ban Yeo Ryung would argue with Yi Ruda about having my ice cream too.
Although I expected something unrealistic like, ‘Should we engage in a girl-to-girl fight for the female protagonist position?’ she was still going too far! Why were they paying much attention to my ice cream from earlier?
It was only 800 won, an 800 won chocolate fudge! Besides, everyone in the cafeteria was staring at us while holding their breaths from the very beginning. If it was possible, then I wanted to give the chocolate fudge ice cream to every living person in this place, so I could end this hilarious fight.
Yi Ruda, however, didn’t look as if she would give Ban Yeo Ryung my ice cream. She then opened her blue eyes narrowly and responded with a smile.
“Who do you think you are? Don’t tell me what to do about Donnie’s ice cream. What? Are you that this is yours?”
“D… Donnie is…!”
Ban Yeo Ryung stained her black eyes into a desperate tint before shouting while clenching her fist.
“Donnie is… mine from her head to her toes!”
“…?”
“…??”
“…???”
The impact it made after her remark was magnificent. The summer heat in the cafeteria cooled down right there and then. The temperature inside the space area felt like it was reaching sub-zero.
Seeing Ban Yeo Ryung at a step behind, I noticed that everyone inside the cafeteria had turned their heads to look at me. Those watching my ice cream in excitement since this debacle had begun was now looking back and forth between Ban Yeo Ryung and me in fright.
After a moment, Eun Hyung broke the ice. He held Ban Yeo Ryung’s shoulder and bent his body to adjust himself to her eye-level. He then kindly asked her as if he had become a kindergarten teacher.
“Yeo Ryung, what you wanted to say was, ‘Donnie is my friend, so I don’t like how you would snatch her ice cream like that. Please give it back to her now,’ right?”
“Huh? Um… yeah.”
Ban Yeo Ryung smiled awkwardly. She, at last, seemed to have noticed what she just said. She kept smiling while looking at Eun Hyung as she carefully moved her eyes to see me. I heaved a sigh to myself. ‘Ban Yeo Ryung and her speech disorder really are… I thought it would cause trouble, though…’
A rumbling noise soon prevailed in the area. Eun Hyung tried to straighten things out, but it proved to be useless. It especially affected the sophomore and senior boys, who obviously had a crush on Ban Yeo Ryung as they stared towards our direction a tearful face. Their whispers came towards me, and it clearly embedded in my ears.
“How lucky she is…”
“I wish Ban Yeo Ryung was obsessed with me too…”
“Isn’t Ban Yeo Ryung so cool? This is the first time I’ve seen this side of her…”
“So jealous…”
Hearing those words while drawing more attention from others’ was about to kill me. Yi Ruda, who soon gathered her senses, asked Ban Yeo Ryung in a terrified look why she said that I washers. For some reason, Eun Jiho, who was beside her, stood beside Yi Ruda, and Yoo Chun Young touched his forehead as if he was having a headache. Kwon Eun Hyung was heaving a sigh one after another. I then pulled Kim Hye Hill’s hand as she stood beside me quietly.
Kim Hye Hill, who was half-buried in the shade, glanced at me in wonder. She seemed to be enjoying this weird fight. From the look on her face, I could tell that she was refusing to leave the space. I whispered in a low voice.
“I’m gonna die in embarrassment right now.”
“…”
As if she couldn’t leave her friend to die here, Kim Hye Hill tapped my back and left the cafeteria immediately.
When we went outside, the hot breeze that was mixed with the sand dust from the schoolyard even felt refreshing somehow. As we walked into a spot that was devoid of human activity, I finally managed to breathe with ease.
Looking at the crowded cafeteria, a few kids walked past by me in a hurry like they were dealing with an emergency. They shouted out something while running, which made me bury my face in my hands.
“Hey, where are you going?!”
“There’s a love quarrel in the cafeteria!”
“Wow! Dude, let’s go together!”
“…”
Kim Hye Hill raised her arms quietly to tap my back. I dropped both hands and shook my head silently at her.
“Are you okay?” Kim Hye Hill asked with a slightly pale face.
“Uh-huh, of course,”
“You really don’t look okay at all.”
“…”
We walked side by side, speechlessly for a while. I then paused my steps and spoke to her.
“I should have not revealed my relationship with the Four Heavenly Kings. I just feel that way.”
“Actually… I was also thinking the same way earlier.”
“…”
Kim Hye Hill then looked at me warmly, which saddened me more, so I bent my steps again without any words.
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