.
“I’m her boyfriend. Let me take her with me.”
Eun Jiho’s icy cold lips and jet-black eyes resembling his characteristically condescending attitude looked heavily subdued than usual.
What Ban Yeo Ryung felt from Eun Jiho during her freshman year in middle school was that overwhelming behavior. No one could cope with that look and the way he talked. Indeed, the boys, who blocked her, soon stepped aside in perplexity.
“Oh… yeah… ok…”
“Let’s go,” Eun Jiho said to Ban Yeo Ryung briefly, then strode along in front of her. Choi Yuri, looking at Ban Yeo Ryung’s back, was getting far apart. At a distance, Eun Hyung was chatting with Yoo Chun Young but when their eyes met, he put a grin at her. He swept his red hair back and came closer to her.
“Oh, Jiho. Good job. Are you ok, Yeo Ryung?” Kwon Eun Hyung asked to relieve her.
Well, it was already three years since they got closer. They knew how much she struggled with guys and therefore, how much she feared and hated strangers approaching her. Ban Yeo Ryung became a bit embarrassed that she replied while rubbing her hair.
“Huh? Um… yeah…”
“Good.”
After replying with a soft tone, Kwon Eun Hyung patted her head with his big warm hand as usual. Eun Jiho’s loud voice then overlapped.
“Hey, Ban Yeo Ryung, why can’t you just lie? All you have to do is say, ‘Oopsie~ I have a boyfriend~’ and call any of us.”
“I don’t know. I just can’t.”
“Geez, that’s beyond my power but thank god you have a friend like me next to you.”
Eun Jiho threw his icy cold face away then put a rich smile at her. His unique frivolous voice was so funny that Ban Yeo Ryung burst into laughter. A voice then came over from behind her.
“Yeo Ryung, instead of yours, why didn’t you just give my number? It’s still fine.”
“Really? Can I?”
“If they called my number and found out it was a guy, they would be like, ‘Oh, this girl just gave me a random number.’ But what’s the big deal for that?”
“I never thought about that. Still, I don’t want to make you guys in trouble.”
“We’ll just receive a few cursing messages,” as if it was nothing, Woo Jooin said with a shrug.
Seemingly, he looked friendly and nice but sometimes, he surprised people by showing his unexpected character.
Woo Jooin and Ban Yeo Ryung were alike on giving their full hearts to the people in their friend zones but being frighteningly indifferent to those outside the zones. Ban Yeo Ryung stared at him for a moment but soon turned her head to look beside her when someone touched her arm. And so was the Four Heavenly Kings.
From her school uniform skirt, the person who handed out her phone to Ban Yeo Ryung in a blushing face was indeed a girl. ‘What is going on?’ Ban Yeo Ryung soon felt dizzy and confused. The girl then slowly detached her lips.
“Um… if you’re ok, would you give me your number? I want to be fr…iends with you…”
Ban Yeo Ryung hardly could respond. Instead, she looked at the girl with a complicated gaze. This was such an unexpected, unexperienced situation that she couldn’t figure out what to do. Even the Four Heavenly Kings and Eun Jiho, who was full of resources in any emergency, became speechless and just watched the situation.
After hesitating for a while, Ban Yeo Ryung carefully picked up her phone.
When it was time to leave the rest area, Ban Yeo Ryung saw Donnie, getting on the bus, then met her eyes. As Ban Yeo Ryung showed a face full of rich smile, Donnie also put a sweet grin at her. She then waved her hand to Yeo Ryung.
When Donnie disappeared from her sight, Ban Yeo Ryung stomped her feet in joy. Regardless of the four boys staring at her in wonder, she kept her smile for quite a while.
As she got back to the bus with the Four Heavenly Kings, Choi Yuri was still not back. Ban Yeo Ryung sent her a message to ask where she was then sat down on her seat. It was, again, Donnie’s face that came across inside her head when she found herself sitting alone.
‘I miss Donnie,’ as she thought like that, she heard Eun Jiho, sitting across her, speaking on the phone.
“― Dude, stop sleeping.”
“…?”
Ban Yeo Ryung raised her body a little to lean herself toward Eun Jiho.
She then asked, “Eun Jiho, who are you talking to?”
“Ham Donnie. Dude, because you might be bored… you’re bored, aren’t you?”
“Me too. Let me speak to her too!”
Ban Yeo Ryung stretched her hand out to him but Eun Jiho pushed her forehead away heartlessly. She never felt this desperate to hear Donnie’s voice, so she stretched her arm out a few more times. Still, Eun Jiho tightly attached the phone to his ear. He didn’t even respond to Ban Yeo Ryung this time.
‘Shoot…’ Ban Yeo Ryung sat down on her seat again while pouting her lips. She then stared at her phone in a sulky face.
‘I also have a phone… I should’ve called her. You looked so happy with other kids, so I didn’t call you… Even if I call you right now, I won’t get connected since you’re on the line with Eun Jiho.’
When she fell into thought for quite a while, the phone suddenly vibrated. A text message arrived. ‘Who is it?’ Ban Yeo Ryung then opened her flip phone in wonder. The Four Heavenly Kings were next to her, Donnie was talking to Eun Jiho through the phone, and Ban Yeo Dan wouldn’t have his phone during class due to his school’s strict policy.
When she dropped her gaze at the phone screen, her face turned dark. As if he noticed something serious was going on with her, Kwon Eun Hyung, who sat next to Eun Jiho and was staring at her, lifted his body.
“Yeo Ryung, what’s up?”
Ban Yeo Ryung didn’t respond but grabbed her phone tightly.
Sent by: 010-4857-xxxx
Hey princess~~ lol you so fu*king high to be treated like a ho? What a slut flirting with all the guys! Yo pretty face bitching all around you whore as fu*k lololol beat the sh*t out of you laughing like a cunt surrounded by boys… Bitch plz fu*k off!!!
She felt her heart pounding a little faster. Looking at the screen, her sight became so blurry that she slowly closed her eyes.
It wasn’t her first time to face such a thing like this. She heard this kind of sick and tired bullshits since middle school; therefore, it would be weirder to get unfamiliar with or to cry out for these things. Despite all her bad experiences, Ban Yeo Ryung still became heartbroken and felt dizzy.
Every word turned into a dagger and stabbed her deeply. Biting her lips, she heard a cold voice coming from her front.
“What is this?”
It was Woo Jooin. His voice didn’t reflect any of his usually delightful and positive tones but was severely cold like ice.
Before Ban Yeo Ryung was about to say something, someone snatched her phone out of her hand. Ban Yeo Ryung raised her head. Eun Jiho, who suddenly came closer to her, stared at the screen in a grim face.
His black eyes, observing the screen thoroughly, soon revealed a sign of sneer. He put a twisted smile then pressed the call button before Ban Yeo Ryung tried to fling a question.
“What are you doing?” she asked out of perplexity.
“Hold on. Hey, who the fu*k are you to send this kind of bullshit to my phone?”
[Excuse me? Who… who is this?]
The volume was loud enough for Ban Yeo Ryung to hear the voice over the phone. The sound quality wasn’t very good but she could easily notice that the voice belonged to the girl, who she met at the rest area. The girl had an outstandingly strong and unique tone.
Eun Jiho didn’t hesitate to respond immediately. Unlike his usual tone, he spoke aggressively and fastly.
“The person who received your retarded text. I own this number.”
[What? Doesn’t it belong to a girl?]
“Do you have an ear problem? You motherfu*king bitch… text me that bullshit again and see what happens. I have your number and my network. You play me again, you get doxed. You hear me, bitch? Watch the fu*k out!”
Eun Jiho then pressed the end button before the girl replied. He walked toward Ban Yeo Ryung, who was blinking in surprise, and gave her phone back then asked in his usually relaxed face.
“How was I?”
“Eun Jiho, are you ok?”
As if it wasn’t only Ban Yeo Ryung who became dumbstruck at his aggressive tone, a few kids at the back asked in wonder. Eun Jiho waved his hand in the air as if nothing had happened.
“No, nothing. Some stupid kids have found my number. They sent me a load of swears.”
“Oh, I see. You almost freaked me out.”
“Yeah, so I had to be aggressive to stop them.”
“Well done.”
The person who said that was Yoo Chun Young who was asleep during the whole time.
