Chapter 32 (1/2)

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How long had I buried my face on the pillow whilst lying down? The phone suddenly vibrated which brought me back up to life.

Above the clouds, the skies had already turned into a bright cyan color instead of its previous hue which compromises of different shades of gray. As I noticed the name ‘Eun Hyung’ appearing on my phone screen, I slowly held my breath.

What would he say to me if I picked up the phone? I carefully thought about what he said after I hung up, but I guessed they would not be true. Had there been any other possibilities of me dreaming the entire thing? If he addressed something like that, there seemed to be nothing I could do but just to respond with a nod. I had to react like that since I didn’t want to go around looking like a weirdo to him.

Phew, I heaved a sigh and raised my flip phone open. Soon, as I had it on my ear, at the very next moment, I was so surprised to find out that the one who responded was the voice of Yoo Chun Young instead of Kwon Eun Hyung. I almost dropped my phone.

While I was falling into a panic while sitting on my bed, he spoke nonchalantly as if we had never fought before.

“We’re outside your house. Come out.”

“…?”

What on earth was he talking about? As I dropped my gaze at the phone doubtfully, he then repeated the unbelievable words he had just said with his unique serene tone.

“We’re in front of your house, so come out. Eun Hyung’s here, too.”

“… What?”

“It’s Sunday and your parents are probably home at home right now, so we can’t hang out inside your house. They might feel uncomfortable, so let’s head out somewhere instead.”

I, again, had my eyes dropped on the phone.

It was indeed such a surprising turn of events when I pick up my phone expecting Eun Hyung’s voice, only to hear Yoo Chun Young, who refused to speak with me for the last three days, instead. Now, he was even asking me to come out since they were outside my house…

My lips were hesitating to pull out some words, but I managed to gain the courage to ask, “Where are you guys going?”

A moment of silence floated over the phone. Then he replied with that blunt and soft voice I always heard from him before we fought.

“Wherever you want to go.”

“…”

“Anywhere.”

I was almost about to burst my tears on the phone.

This boy was truly the very icon of unpredictability. Especially, when he talked to me in that touchy warm-hearted tone, I could barely know how I should react to his spontaneous whims. Though he sometimes hurt my feelings in doing so, his chuckle would melt my heart away in an instance.

I had my lips pressed tightly to block out any sounds coming out and had my other hand pressed on top of my eye sockets. Then I lifted myself from where I was seated and said, “I… did not take a bath yet. My hair is messy, so wait inside my room while I get prepared. It would take at least 20 mins. Let me go open the door right now.”

“We don’t care.”

“It’s still cold outside. Hold on.”

Then I closed my flip phone with a snap and got up. Outside at the living room, my mom was watching TV at the couch and my dad was scratching his tummy under his sleeveless undershirt while reading a newspaper on the floor.

The sound from the TV was too loud for my voice to be heard.

I yelled out at my door, “Mom!”

“Why!?”

“Chun Young and Eun Hyung are in front of our house right. Can I have them inside from the cold?”

My mom, at last, took her eyes off from the TV show wherein a pretty actress shedding tears were the main focused and looked at me. She nodded and spoke with certainty.

“Of course! Are Chun Young and Eun Hyung strangers? They are my sons! Let them feel comfortable here.”

Duh… okay. As I nodded back, my dad, who was flipping over the newspaper, raised his eyes through his golden frame glasses.

He then said, “Hey, just be inside the house instead of chilling out in this cold weather. It would be such a heck to hang outside since the rain just stopped from yesterday’s pour. There would be water everywhere as you guys walk, so just play inside. Why not? You guys usually do that.”

“They don’t want to disturb you guys, so…”

“Come on. I’ve seen Chun Young and Eun Hyung before, and they were like coy and ascetic scholars. To us, it’s you, my King Kong daughter, who’s the most disturbing.”

His words made my mom burst out into laughter as she lied down on the couch. Holy mother of pearl! I stamped my feet repeatedly in anger and thumped toward the front door.

I looked inside the mirror to check myself and saw how my face looked quite alright except for my puffy eyes. After a moment of contemplation in front of the mirror, I finally pushed the door.