Chapter 251

.

“Oh, you made it. It looks like you got some help, but good that you asked a stranger for directions,” he said. He then stretched out his hand and tried to pat my hair, which he often did, while praising me, ‘Good job, good job.’

Looking up at him blankly, I took a step back and avoided his hand. Eun Jiho then stared at me with a slightly bitter face.

I felt something from his attitude, but anyway, it was now after midnight; his so-called ‘birthday’ was also over.

‘I’ve done what he wanted for the whole day, so I guess I can also do whatever that pleases me now,’ I thought, but for some reason––no, I seemed to know what it was––I felt quite blue. Sidestepping Eun Jiho, who was yet standing still in the hallway, I took short and quick steps to go inside the room.

I said, “I’m gonna leave now.”

“Oh, really? Thanks for today.”

From the nuance reflected in his behavior right now, there was no sign of confusion, which he had until yesterday––I mean, until talking with Yoo Gun––, remaining at all.

Only then did I realize that Eun Jiho’s unstable attitude, which seemed to have been quite unsettling all day, had stemmed from his true heart.

Perhaps he spent the whole day doing what he wanted to do without thinking about the future.

I suddenly stopped walking and directed my eyes on Eun Jiho, who was paused in the middle of the hallway. His silver hair shone like a star under the light.

When our eyes met, he tilted his head, wondering, ‘Why?’ with a refreshing voice. I just stared at him with a sullen gaze then turned my head.

“No, nothing…”

‘You are able to do that…’ I murmured.

When thinking about my future, I should not get along with you guys anymore. This was based on my groundless hope of myself remaining in this world even years later.

There might be nothing left beside me in a few years. Although I had that in mind, I wasn’t ready to accept that yet.

Because you meant so much to me…

However, Eun Jiho… you were able to do that… After a moment’s hesitation, Yoo Gun’s advice was enough to stop you from feeling sorry upon ending something you would die to have.

That would be the difference between you and me.

Suddenly, it made me feel emotional.

As if he noticed the look on my face, he asked me, ‘Hey, what’s wrong?’ but I just ignored him and turned the doorknob.

However, now that I came to think of it, we only received one card key, which was currently with Eun Jiho. Thus, I wasn’t able to open the door at all.

Still, I wanted to open it. If there was a chance for me to avoid Eun Jiho’s face right now, I would rather just leave here as soon as possible.

Disregarding Eun Jiho’s hand carefully touching my shoulder from behind me, I knocked the door twice. Suddenly, the door opened with Ban Yeo Ryung’s face coming into view. She could not have looked so fabulous at that moment.

Looking at my face, Ban Yeo Ryung asked me in surprise, “Donnie, what’s going on? Did something happen outside?”

“Um, no. I’m just too tired.”

Putting an awkward smile, I continued, “Now let’s get back home.”

Yoo Chun Young, who was sitting on the couch behind Ban Yeo Ryung, or Jooin, who was lying on the bed, threw a glance at me one after another.

As soon as Eun Hyung asked me, ‘What’s up? Everything okay?’ with his eyes open wide, Ban Yeo Ryung nodded at me and turned back to bid farewell.

“We’re leaving.”

“Huh?”

Eun Hyung flung that question while looking a little disconcerted, but once he saw my face over Ban Yeo Ryung’s shoulders, he stayed silent.

So was Woo Jooin, who became quiet. When our eyes met, he took out his phone silently and shook it at me, mouthing, ‘Text me.’ Reading his message with ease, I slightly nodded, but it would be likely not today for me to get in touch with him.

My gloominess now wasn’t just from Eun Jiho. That was because if the world changed, Eun Jiho wouldn’t be the only one whom I would be losing.

He, at last, turned me around to face him. The fresh look he had just now disappeared; he suddenly turned a little stiff. Perhaps he thought I would have heard something disrespectful from someone whom I had encountered in the bathroom.

He asked, “What’s going on?”

“Nothing. I said I’m just too tired.”

Eun Jiho then looked too ridiculous for words.

“Hey, do you think that’s a tired face…”

That was when a hand suddenly stretched out to my shoulder from behind me. I turned around.

He was so tall that he blocked the light shedding to me.

“Yoo Chun Young,” I opened my mouth.

“I’d take you to the lobby.”

Without adjusting his disheveled hair, Yoo Chun Young directed his blue eyes on Eun Jiho and said, “I will go with her. Stay here.”

“… Fine.”

Eun Jiho replied while slightly furrowing his brows. He then took his shoes off and went inside the room. Before I left, Eun Jiho suddenly lifted his gaze and threw it at me.

He might be considering that the reason I was acting like this could have derived from him. Eun Jiho would then begin to guess several things; however, although he later noticed that I heard his conversation with Yoo Gun, he would never know why I had been behaving like this.

It was a fortunate thing for me.

When I walked along the hallway with Yoo Chun Young and Ban Yeo Ryung, who were both remaining quiet for now, and finally descended the stairs, I changed my mind.

As I lifted my hand and put it on my forehead, Ban Yeo Ryung, who was beside me, embraced my shoulders and spoke in a warm voice.

“Donnie, what’s up? Just let me know.”

I moved my lips but soon sealed them and just bent my steps, thinking, ‘Having a concern about something that no one can understand is good, at some point, since nobody will notice it. Still, it leans more to the miserable side.’

‘Not only Eun Jiho but other kids will also not understand me.’ The proposition I had in mind felt dreadfully sad.

When I kept my mouth closed, Yoo Chun Young and Ban Yeo Ryung didn’t say anything at all too. In front of us, who were standing mute in the elevator, the operator seemed hesitant to ask what floor to press.

Yoo Chun Young then said, ‘The lobby, please,’ in a calm voice, but the air inside the elevator was still heavy.

While the elevator was struck by a suffocating silence, it finally arrived at the lobby floor. As I stepped outside, I heard the operator heaving a big sigh behind us.

It was really night outside. While the coal-black darkness thickly surrounded the window as well as all the areas that were out of contact with streetlights, the sky far between the skyscrapers was still dark red covered with dust.

Yoo Chun Young walked to a small building with a ‘valet parking’ sign on that looked like a security office and spoke a few words to the guard. He then came back and said, “The car will be here soon.” He also added that he took a short nap.

“So, I’ll leave once I see you guys getting in the car,” he added, meanwhile getting a frog in his throat.

When my eyes met with Ban Yeo Ryung’s, we shook our heads as if we planned to do so. Ban Yeo Ryung opened her mouth first with a smile.

“You’ve been looking like a zombie ever since you were at home. Go take some more sleep.”

“Totally agree,” I replied to Ban Yeo Ryung.

As the two of us shared the same opinion, Yoo Chun Young could have accepted it. He, however, just stared at us blankly with emotionless eyes then shook his head obstinately as a refusal.

Since we had been inside at an air-conditioned place until just now, the air of the summer night felt notably hot and humid outside. That was when I lifted my hand to stretch my collar a little.

Yoo Chun Young, who was gazing at me, detached his lips.

“Ham Donnie.”

“Huh?”

“What happened earlier…”

Yoo Chun Young continued to speak at his characteristically slow pace.

“Can I ask you… about…”

“Uh-huh.”

“What it was?”

Yoo Chun Young sounded even more cautious than usual.