Chapter 31 (1/2)

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Yoo Chun Young had his eyes lost in thought, but after a while, he heaved a sigh and slowly nodded.

Kwon Eun Hyung detached his back from the window and walked back to his bed. He then dropped his gaze on the phone perching on the bed.

The screen remained black still. There weren’t any messages or calls from her yet.

Kwon Eun Hyung asked abruptly, “What do you think?”

“What do you mean?”

“I was talking about what Donnie said. It is unbelievable if we would apply our common sense to it. What do you think? Do you think it’s true? I mean, maybe she just dreamt about it, right?”

After his questions, Kwon Eun Young had directed his eye contact to Chun Young. Yoo Chun Young turned off the monitor and swiveled the computer chair to face Kwon Eun Hyung.

A heavy silence dropped between the two. Soon, Yoo Chun Young broke the ice.

“There might be something she wasn’t telling us yet.”

“… What makes you think so?”

“If that happened on March 2, 2009, she shouldn’t be scared about March 2, 2008, but based on what I remember, Ham Donnie had texted me she couldn’t sleep around that time.”

“Maybe she hates back-to-school day or something like that.”

“When I thought about it… her problem is not about her inability to fall asleep, it’s about not wanting to fall asleep.”

Yoo Chun Young’s face seemed serious as he could be when he spoke of that remark. He seemed to admit that what she had confessed earlier were true, but he was not convinced that she’s telling every detail they needed to know.

Kwon Eun Hyung tried to recall his memories of what Donnie was like around 2008. At that time, she grew her dark brown hair up to her chest, and it looked quite well on her.

What Yoo Chun Young pointed out was accurate. Right. Ham Donnie seemed to be unusually sensitive around March 2. One time, he saw Donnie stabbing her arm with a mechanical pencil, so she wouldn’t fall asleep. However, that did not mean she studied or did something worthwhile when she was awake.

At that time, it was hard to understand the cause of her desperation; however, if she was just afraid of falling asleep, then Yoo Chun Young’s assumption made sense.

She might have definitely gone through something else before, and that would explain her trouble falling asleep. In other words, her insomnia existed way before 2008.

While Kwon Eun Hyung remained silent while he had his thinking cap on, Yoo Chun Young suddenly opened a folder on his phone and pressed the buttons with his thumb. Kwon Eun Hyung had his eyes back at him and asked in wonder.

“What are you doing?”

Yoo Chun Young’s blue eyes were tracing the phone screen busily. Then he, at last, slammed the folder and raised his eyes to Eun Hyung.

He asked, “… On March 2, 2009. When Ban Yeo Ryung and Ham Donnie left, what did we do?”

“If you’re talking about that time…”

Kwon Eun Hyung retraced his memories at a slow pace. The four boys, who were looking vacantly at the two girls leaving, tried to come up with a plan to celebrate the day in their own way. Going to an Internet Cafe was rejected since they would always come there on a daily basis. They also did the same in going to the movies and the arcade.

They, eventually, plodded along the street and agreed to hang out in the weekends. Since March 2, 2009, was a Monday, they all thought it was quite a good plan. Kwon Eun Hyung and Yoo Chun Hyung then walked back home together. After that, they arrived home and…

“We were texting about our hang out at the weekends.”

“Yeah, we did… Ban Yeo Ryung texted back around 4 pm.”

“Right.”

Kwon Eun Hyung’s composed response triggered Yoo Chun Young to frown his black eyebrows in silence. While he continued speaking with Yoo Chun Young, Kwon Eun Hyung also seemed to piece the remaining pieces of the puzzle together.

He thought that on that day, Ban Yeo Ryung returned to her home and only after 2 hours, around 4 pm, did she responded to his text. Then wouldn’t they also ask if Ham Donnie was awake at that time?

No, from the very beginning… Kwon Eun Hyung’s cheek turned a little pale. He dropped a glance at the phone sitting on his hand. The screen was still dark. His face reflected in the darkened monitor to reveal that his eyes were slightly trembling.