.
Once we descended the stairs, we got to successfully squeeze in between the crowds of people before the managers stopped us to do so. As soon as we barely stepped inside the bathroom, we slammed the door and glanced around.
Being extremely fortunate, there was no one in the bathroom; besides, the soundproofing was so good that the infernal noise outside didn’t pour into the space at all.
While a heavy silence prevailed in the space, Jooin opened his phone, at last.
“Hello… San hyeong?”
I was slightly amazed at his voice which sounded as if he just woke up. Well, it was indeed strange if a student wasn’t at home at this time of the day.
The voice over the phone, which buzzed inside the bathroom, even reached my ears.
[Oh, I’m sorry, Jooin! Did I wake you up?]
“No, not at all. I should, of course, pick up your phone. What’s up, hyeong?”
[Nothing special.]
“Come on, tell me about it.”
Unlike his clumsy pronunciation, Jooin spoke in that way, but his face looked notably stiffened. I could feel that Jooin was determined to nip the bud immediately if Woo San had some suspicious feelings rising within him.
Woo San’s response returned hesitantly.
[Um, I saw a girl just now, but…]
“Where are you?”
[Huh?]
“I said, where are you?”
Although I didn’t know their relationship so well, I could tell that Jooin seldom spoke in that attitude. The Jooin I knew was so kind and sweet to his cousins.
As I expected, Woo San’s voice sounded like he was choking with surprise. He replied stutteringly.
[Uh… just somewhere…]
“Hyeong.”
[K… araoke…]
Listening to Woo San’s response, I smiled awkwardly. It was already over eleven in the night, so even if he wasn’t in the club but was in a karaoke, that was still not normal as a student. Perhaps Woo San, the nationwide top ranker, didn’t know about that so well.
Jooin spoke sarcastically in a low voice, which he rarely did.
“I see, hyeong. You’re at the karaoke tonight.”
[No, Jooin!]
“How was the girl that you saw? Why did she remind me?”
Jooin’s straightforward remark even made me flinch. Well, if the call went longer, that was also dangerous.
While Jooin and I both looked at the phone in tension, Woo San’s response returned at last.
[I mean, I never met her before until now… but she looked so cute, adorable, and lovely.]
Staying quiet for a second, Jooin then asked with a slightly blanked out-look.
“Is that all?”
[Uh-huh.]
“Did we look alike…?”
[No, I’m not sure. Oh, I didn’t hear her voice though.]
After a moment of silence, Jooin and I heaved a long sigh at the same time. As if Lucas’s makeup transformation worked well than disguising himself as a woman, Woo San didn’t even notice the girl was actually Jooin.
Gently wiping out the cold sweat on my forehead, I thought, ‘Then at what point did Woo San recall Jooin from the girl? He said that they didn’t look alike and didn’t even hear her voice.
Wondering about those things, I realized that Jooin’s face suddenly turned pale as if he saw a ghost. I asked him in a low voice, “What’s wrong?”
Covering the microphone part of the phone with his thumb, Jooin whispered, “Now I come to think of it, San hyeong…”
“Uh-huh…”
“He saved my name in his contact as ‘my dearest adorable cute brother’ something like that…”
“…”
According to what Jooin just said, Woo San might have noticed that the girl reminded him of Jooin by instinct. Was that what he was saying right now?
I decided to give up understanding these brothers. Their relationship was way beyond my comprehension.
Jooin, who became relaxed, seemed to have a long conversation over the phone with Woo San as they usually did. Suddenly hanging up the call might also look suspicious, so I nodded at the look in Jooin’s eyes, which was asking me for an excuse, and just stepped out of the bathroom alone.
Jooin had to speak in his usual voice inside a women’s bathroom, so if someone came in, it would cause trouble. Since I had nothing to do at this point, I would better wait outside and look out for other women stepping inside.
As soon as I came out, I stood close to the wall and glanced around. Fortunately, there weren’t many people walking around this side; however, one thing that bothered me was that the men’s bathroom was also near here, so guys wandered around quite often.
‘Hmm, it’s a little embarrassing to stay here alone,’ thinking to that extent, I finally realized that Lucas and Ban Yeo Ryung was also inside here. I didn’t have a chance to think about them until now because I had to encounter the One-card members of Dae Woon High School, Woo San, and other rankers.
I suddenly took out my phone. Looking at the flashing message notification, I opened my flip phone without any other consideration.
“Excuse me.”
“Eek!”
As I got so surprised at someone calling me out of the blue, I dropped my phone on the floor. That was when I quickly bent myself to pick it up.
A hand gently stopped me from stretching out my hand to the floor. It was a pale hand, which had long fingers like those of a pianist. I thought it looked quite familiar.
Before I finished thinking about it, the person lowered himself and picked up my phone between his feet. He then handed it back to me. His black leather shoes shone smoothly under the light.
A tranquil voice then echoed, “Excuse me.”
I blinked swiftly. As soon as I got out of the bathroom, the music poured into me and surrounded the whole space. Despite the noise, his voice sounded strangely clear.
Getting my phone back, I threw a glance at his face thoughtlessly.
“Thank yo…u…”
Replying in that way, I was so bewildered that I almost bit my tongue.
Although he had black eyes instead of his usual blue eyes and covered half of his face with a face mask, it wasn’t difficult to figure out who he was. Of course, I could since I had seen him for years!
Having eye contact, I shrieked to myself, ‘Why are you here?!’
I then opened my hunched fingers. Putting the phone in my clutch as nonchalantly as possible, I thought, ‘No, he would have not noticed me.’ I only said the word, ‘Thank you,’ to him; besides, even Jooin had escaped Woo San’s doubtful gaze when he was the most beloved cousin. Above all…
Lifting my head, I looked up at Yoo Chun Young.
We all knew that he had a hard time recognizing other’s faces. In this regard, how could he notice me at a glance when I got a professional makeup from Lucas and was wearing a wig and even contact lenses? Didn’t Jooin also show up confidently with a female outfit while boasting that Chun Young would never recognize who he was?
With those thoughts in mind, I showed an awkward smile and slightly lowered my head, murmuring, ‘See you then.’ That was when I tried to leave the spot like running away. Yoo Chun Young grabbed my wrist in a flash. His voice then came over from an excessively close distance. Heaving a sigh, I thought, ‘Yeah, why not…’
“Thank you? Me too.”
“…”
“I wondered why you are outside in the middle of the night and where you are heading to… I never expected to meet you here.”
I looked up at him. My head then bumped into his chest. Yoo Chung Young was now standing right in front of me as if he was locking me into his arms. Staring at his chin and the look in his eyes, I smiled clumsily. Ha… haha.
Yoo Chun Young, who was dropping his gaze at me, then uttered, “Ham Donnie.”
I couldn’t help feeling a déjà vu after a long time. It was very scary to hear someone calling my name at this point…
There was a heavy silence. I, who laughed out loud alone for a while, soon lowered my head from feeling quickly exhausted. I fastened my gaze at the wall to avoid his eyes and replied, “Ham Donnie? I have no idea who you’re talking about…”
Although I blurted those out, there was only one thought prevailing in my head. ‘How did he notice me? I understand if it was Eun Jiho, but how could Yoo Chun Young grasp that it was me?’
Indeed, my clumsy tactics didn’t work at all. The look in his eyes turned slightly colder.
“You…”
Before he looked more furious, I quickly turned around and grabbed his hands. Shaking his hands as cheerfully as I could, I showed a full smile.
“Hi, Yoo Chun Young! How can we see each other in a place like this instead of at school? Isn’t it so amaz… I mean…”
I couldn’t even joke that it was so amazing to see him in a place like this, so I just swallowed the words after.
