.
Eun Hyung also added with a smile, “What’s wrong, Donnie? Chun Young becomes serious-minded and does a good job when accomplishing his given task. You know how much he takes care of himself after he debuted as a model.”
“Except once when he fought with Yi Ruda,” said Jooin.
Beside him, Eun Jiho smirked and uttered, “True, he doesn’t even move an inch during the PE class as if he’s standing still and meditating silently.”
“Isn’t it because he’s just annoyed ?”
Sharing those conversations, Jooin and Eun Jiho giggled at each other. I was already being concerned about Yoo Chun Young, but they didn’t seem to look that worried…
Eun Hyung, also sending a pitying glance at the two boys, diverted his eyes back onto me.
“Donnie, he’ll be good,” said Eun Hyung.
However, I still couldn’t loosen up the strained look on my face.
* * *
In the end, we couldn’t escape from the topic of Yoo Chun Young’s acting debut in the TV drama debut. When we even finished doing some crazy things such as improvisation, it was already close to eleven at night.
‘If I leave here to go home right now, I’d be arriving at my apartment almost the same time as Yeo Dan oppa,’ Having that thought in mind, I got up from the seat.
Eun Jiho and Jooin had collapsed on the table after laughing deadly at my acting, which I’d put every ounce of my energies, but the two lifted their heads and directed their eyes to me as they found me standing up.
“Are you leaving now?”
“Mama, you already returning home?”
While the two asked those questions one after another, I added, “Guys, is it just me who doesn’t know that tomorrow is a holiday?”
Eun Jiho turned his head away from me and grumbled, “Where’s our friendship of pulling an all-nighter together on the day before the opening ceremony? Hey, you’ve changed.”
Perhaps he was talking about the day before the high school entrance ceremony. Geez, that was so long ago! However, it was true that so many things had happened over the year.
As if I suddenly woke up from sleep, I glanced around the café and observed the looks on the faces of my familiar people.
Eun Hyung took his coat and even took care of other people belongings; Ban Yeo Ryung spoke something with Eun Hyung with a bright expression then poked Yoo Chun Young, standing right beside her, on his side with her elbow; Yoo Chun Young furrowed his forehead, but when his eyes suddenly met mine, he slightly loosened up.
Then I saw Eun Jiho’s bright hair scattered on the table.
There was a time when I believed that I would never be able to laugh and talk this way with them again. The memories of that time had already faded like a dream.
During the time when we had been apart, did he also believe that we could never return to those good times again?
After hesitating for a second, I lifted my hand and shoved it into Eun Jiho’s bright and crisp hair. I patted him with true heart about ten times more sincerely than doing it to my friend’s dog, but Eun Jiho didn’t seem to like it. He jumped up like a goby caught in a net.
Hold on, a goby? I giggled at the silly metaphor that flashed through my head. Eun Jiho, however, didn’t seem to notice it.
Instead, he suddenly cried out, “Dude, you need to become cold sometimes!”
That was when I stopped laughing and put down my hand covering my mouth. I tossed a question, “What do you mean out of the blue?”
“From now on, you need to give cold shoulder to me,” replied Eun Jiho.
Hesitating for a moment, I carefully responded, “Among these people, I think I’m treating you the coldest… am I not?”
Eun Jiho grimaced immediately. I mean, but… I slowly folded my fingers one after another to count something. Aside from being close, Eun Jiho had a charm similar to that of Yoon Jung In. In other words, he had this mysterious magnetism about him, ordering a knuckle sandwich.
I switched my gaze back to Eun Jiho. What response was he expecting when it was him who told me to treat him cold? Behind Eun Jiho, gasping in irritation, Jooin pounded the table and was laughing like crazy.
“That’s true! That is so true! Haha, aha, ha…”
“Don’t you stop laughing?!”
Regardless of Eun Jiho grabbing Jooin by the collar, Jooin was still in fits of laughter. Eun Hyung gently put us together who were making a fuss.
“Enough guys, let’s go. If we keep making noise here, it’ll cause trouble to Yeo Ryung’s uncle.”
“Ahaha, yeah, let’s go now,” said Jooin, barely stop laughing. Wiping out the beads of tears in his eyes, he stood up from the seat. Eun Jiho, who was watching that sight sulkily, moved his long legs to get out from the table.
Since it was late at night, the Four Heavenly Kings insisted that they would walk us back home. It wasn’t necessary; however, Yeo Ryung and I were aware of how nervous they were after the kidnapping thing, so we just nodded.
On our way home, we craved for something sweet; someone suggested to go grab some ice cream at the convenience store. I also agreed to that willingly and bent my steps.
Though it was still cold outside, the weather wasn’t that bad to enjoy an ice cream back home. Instead, it was perfect for the ice cream to not melt until we return home.
Inside the convenience store where we’d been together after a long time, Jooin showed his unique spirit of adventure. Putting his face close to the ice cream freezer, he murmured as if he’d been possessed by it, “Wow, what would it taste like if we mix mango with watermelon?”
Beside him, Eun Jiho responded with a slightly sick and tired look, “I guess it wouldn’t taste like a flavor released for people to enjoy.”
Regardless of Eun Jiho’s response, Jooin looked inside the ice cream freezer enthusiastically. He suddenly uttered again, “Whoa, it says, instant noodle-flavored ice cream! I really wonder how this will taste like too. I won’t be able to sleep if I don’t try this one.”
“Dude, you kidding me? Are you serious that you’re gonna try it?” shouted Eun Jiho. He added, “If you do that, we’re gonna break up…”
Leaving those conversations behind them, Yeo Ryung and Eun Hyung headed to the beverage fridge while saying that the weather’s a little cold for ice cream.
Standing beside the cashier blankly, Yoo Chun Young and I just watched them behaving that way. Both of us had chocolate fudge ice cream cones in our hands. Our firm taste didn’t allow even a chance to think twice.
Yoo Chun Young asked me, all of a sudden, who was standing still vacantly, “Wanna go outside and wait?”
“Huh? Uh, yeah, let’s do that…” I stammered quite severely. Quickly turning around, I pushed the door wide open.
We became standing side by side in front of the glass wall outside the store. Watching his side face in the light that had penetrated the glass wall, I thought, ‘How long has it been since we’re like this together?’ Perhaps, it would be our first time after speaking to each other on Sports Day.
Suddenly lifting my head, I looked up at the sky that turned dark blue at some point. The gray sky in my memories overlapped above that scene.
The beads of rain falling down the slate roof, the smell of rusty bikes lined up under it, and the round puddle under the blue umbrella…
At that moment, Yoo Chun Young’s low and calm voice brought me back to the real world. As if I just work up from sleep, I flinched in surprise and turned my head.
“Why can’t you look at me in the eyes?” he uttered.
“Huh?”
“Ever since we started talking about the drama.”
Did I? Thinking that way, I had eye contact with him then saw myself reflected on his blue eyes. Something felt very strange. It seemed like I had come into a hologram made of videos of the past. Everything right now felt as if it had already occurred a long time ago, not at the moment.
Was this because Yoo Chun Young was the only person who didn’t change that much ever since we first met in middle school? Now I had come to think of it, Eun Jiho, Jooin, Ban Yeo Ryung, and even Eun Hyung had changed quite much from the time when we first met. However, Yoo Chun Young was sincerely the only person who was just the same as before.
At that moment, Yoo Chun Young asked me again, “Why aren’t you looking at me?”
That was when I raised my hand to sweep my fallen hair back. I spoke vaguely, “No, I’m just… you know being an actor in a TV drama isn’t something that’s easy to do. Besides, you’re making a debut in a big one, so that just makes me more concerned about you. That’s why I kept thinking about it.”
He tossed another question, “Is that all?”
I closed my eyes and showed a bitter smile at this sharp question. I replied, “Modeling and shooting a TV drama are very different… your reputation and popularity will change too. I’m also worried that your life will change too much.”
“So?”
“And if that will even change the person who you are. That also makes me concerned…”
Speaking that way, I stealthily averted my eyes from his gaze. I was afraid that he would already have read why I had dropped those words to him.
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