By Zephyria 
Lee Beom, who had been standing behind me, suddenly intervened. Just as I thought, ‘Wow, Lee Beom’s saying the right thing?’, a large, unfamiliar hand appeared above my head and ruffled my hair like a bird’s nest.
Do I look like a dog? I frowned and looked sideways. My eyes met Lee Beom’s. His eyes, as black as the shade of dense trees, stared at me. I hadn’t meant to glare, but his dazzlingly handsome face was too intimidating, so I looked away first.
But, take your hand off my head.
Unable to dare to roughly brush away Lee Beom’s hand on my head, I carefully picked at it with my pinky finger as if picking up trash, worried about getting something dirty on my hand. I succeeded in pulling his hand down.
Pfft. With a sigh of air, I thought Lee Beom might have smiled slightly.
“…Dummy.”
Lee Beom murmured quietly.
As I tried to pull his hand away, I froze like a stone and lost my grip. I almost swore.
The reason I stayed up all night was because of this dummy, and this guy…! I swallowed the urge to yell. Min Si-hu tilted his head.
“Dummy?”
I felt a sense of foreboding. Why is he acting like that now?
“Is that Joonie’s pet name?”
What?
This kind of thing…
A pet name?
“No.”
“You mind your own business.”
Lee Beom and I answered simultaneously. I was taken aback by Lee Beom’s curt reply. I wanted to correct the misinformation, but what was with ‘mind your own business’? My eyes, already sunken from fatigue, seemed to deepen further.
“It’s not a pet name.”
I insisted again that it wasn’t, but I found myself in a moment of existential dread.
What am I doing caught between these two? For what glory am I enduring this?
“Hoo-hoo-”
Min Si-hu, who hadn’t heard my denial at all, tilted his head with an interested expression. My mind snapped back. Even if I was having an existential crisis, I had to clear up the misunderstanding. I frantically denied it.
“It’s really not, so don’t get the wrong idea.”
“Eeeeng~ Si-hu wants to call Joonie dummy tooooo~.”
“Stop it.”
Min Si-hu’s eyes widened at my stern, serious tone. I turned my gaze away from Min Si-hu, who had stopped playing, and rubbed the back of my neck.
‘Did I speak too harshly?’
My heart felt a momentary pang, but I resolved to say what I had to say. There was a limit to my patience.
Even as a joke, hearing that word was agonizing. It felt like they were shouting that I was a character in a teen romance novel.
“I hate that word, so don’t call me that. You too, Lee Beom.”
My voice grew quieter, but I finished speaking with a degree of firmness. They were my friend’s brother and claimed to be my friend, so even if they were delinquents, they wouldn’t start punching me and acting up just because I showed a moment of annoyance, right?
A brief silence enveloped us. Anxiously, I glanced around at the guys.
Then, Lee Beom, who was behind me, put his arm around my shoulder and rested his chin on my head. I felt trapped. Goosebumps erupted on my skin where Lee Beom touched me.
‘What is this?’
Lee Beom murmured softly from above my head.
“…Say it like that from now on.”
Say it like that from now on? Isn’t that like the common nagging phrase from mothers, ‘You’re doing well. Keep it up’? In other words, does it mean, ‘If you do that one more time, I’ll mess you up’?
‘Did I… just make a big mistake?’
At that moment, Min Si-hu’s large eyes sparkled, and he leaned his face close. His sharp nose and handsome face came right up to mine.
My body instinctively tried to pull back, but I had forgotten Lee Beom was behind me, leaning against his chest. I was in a real predicament.
Before I could even be surprised by the firm muscle against the back of my head, Min Si-hu moved his face even closer. Min Si-hu’s thick-lashed eyelids seemed to scrutinize something, then relaxed.
“Hae-jun-ah.”
At Min Si-hu’s voice, calling me normally for the first time in a while, goosebumps spread to my arms. I felt like I was about to turn into a hedgehog. My feet felt like they had thorns!
The suffocating silence continued for what felt like a very long time.
And then, a moment later.
Min Si-hu’s sudden action turned me into a brick.
Smack.
“???”
“Aaaagh! You bastard Lee Beom!!”
“Who are you sticking that dirty mouth near? Min Si-hu, are you crazy?”
“Dirty! Dirty! Apologize! Apologize to Si-hu!”
Wh-what is this??
The shouts were loud, but I only belatedly realized that Lee Beom had blocked Min Si-hu’s lips with the back of his hand, preventing actual contact. But that didn’t erase the shock of Min Si-hu’s action!
My eyes trembled like a lake during an earthquake, and cold sweat poured down like erupting lava.
‘What was that just now?’
Tak. Lee Beom flicked Min Si-hu’s whining forehead. It sounded like a walnut cracking.
Min Si-hu clutched his forehead and rolled on the classroom floor.
“It hurtstttttt!!”
“If you want to kiss so badly, kiss me.”
“Why would Si-hu kiss that bastard Lee Beom!! Leave our Joonie alone!”
Min Si-hu, who had sprung up, glared at Lee Beom with tears welling in his big eyes. Come to think of it, I had momentarily forgotten about Min Si-hu’s shocking behavior, but I was currently being held tightly in Lee Beom’s arms. I needed to escape from here too.
My thoughts seemed to be a beat behind, but I couldn’t help it. If I had to face every moment with a clear head, I might have already fainted.
First, escaping his embrace was the priority. It was probably because of this guy that I had goosebumps all over my body since earlier. I was grateful that Lee Beom had blocked Min Si-hu’s lips, but that was one thing, and this was another.
“Lee Beom-ah.”
My timid voice cut through the chaos, and Lee Beom’s gaze turned to me. His dark eyes, slightly lowered, were framed by thick eyelashes. His already dark pupils looked even darker.
“Can you… let go?”
“Don’t you want to?”
Lee Beom’s eyebrows twitched.
For a moment, I thought Lee Beom was going to say ‘No,’ and I thought I was screwed, but he was asking if I didn’t want to.
However, given the atmosphere, it wasn’t a genuine question. The surroundings grew cold and rapidly cooled. Is it really okay to answer ‘no’ to this?
Come to think of it, didn’t Lee Beom tell me earlier to try saying things like that one more time?
‘Am I… screwed?’
As my silence stretched, Lee Beom’s eyebrows twitched again. His expression was terrifyingly grim. No matter how brave someone was, they couldn’t answer truthfully with such a menacing look!
I immediately forced a smile like a machine.
“Ha. Ha. It’s almost time for class. So, please let go.”
Lee Beom let me go reluctantly, his lips twitching. As soon as my shoulders were free, I quickly got up and retreated to the back of the classroom.
“My pretty Jjuni, you have to give me a kiss~ You have to get a prize!”
“Stop it. Don’t you know that’s a punishment, not a prize?”
“Woo woo woo!”
Lee Beom grabbed Min Si-hu by the collar as he followed me like a Jiangshi, chanting “Kiss~”. Watching that, I tried to maintain an awkward smile, but my desire to be alone grew stronger, and I fled the classroom.
I had a hunch that going to the bathroom would only lead to bigger trouble, so I headed for the lockers in the hallway. This kind of escape shouldn’t lead to a dead end like the bathroom, but to an open space. That way, when they came looking for me, I could use an excuse about running errands for a teacher and get away further.
I could hear Min Si-hu, who had been restrained by Lee Beom in the classroom, flailing his arms and whining to be let go. As expected, it was good that I got out of the classroom.
Pretending to look for textbooks in my locker, I buried my head, shutting out the noise of the world. Someone approached stealthily like a shadow and touched my arm.
Startled, I looked up to see Jeon Jae-hyung.
Right, he was here too.
I sometimes forgot he existed because he was always sleeping.
He, with his usual sleepy expression, thrust his arm towards me. Having been hugged by Lee Beom before, I instinctively stepped back. But his arm wasn’t aimed at me; it was aimed at the locker. Feeling awkward, I glanced at Jeon Jae-hyung. He was calmly putting a Bboongyi doll into my locker.
“Ah… sorry.”
Jeon Jae-hyung didn’t respond much to my overreaction. I awkwardly scratched the back of my head.
He’s the most normal one, so I didn’t run away, but… why is he putting this in my locker? I was bewildered by the Bboongyi doll in my locker. Come to think of it, he was never normal.
“It’s a gift…”
“Huh?”
“And in the future…”
Jeon Jae-hyung paused for a beat. He was slow with his words too. I looked at Jeon Jae-hyung with a blank expression. Beneath his droopy, sleepy eyelids, his soft, hazy brown eyes were half-visible, fixed on me.
“If you dislike something…”
“……”
“You can say you dislike it.”
What kind of nonsensical statement was that?
Before I had time to ask, Jeon Jae-hyung left. Just then, the class bell rang.
What was that?
Standing there dumbfounded, I saw Min Si-hu and Lee Beom leaving our classroom through the back door, so I quickly re-entered through the front.
Unlike my grim prediction that Min Si-hu might ambush me again during lunch demanding a kiss, the rest of the break passed uneventfully. I had been tense, thinking I might be cursed with a terrifying kiss ghost, but thankfully, that didn’t happen.
After class ended without incident, I set off to visit Seong Hae-min. As always, the Four Heavenly Kings were trailing behind me.
“Kyaaaak-! It’s Lee Beom’s beloved horse, Jae. Gyu. Eon! Look at that noble presence!”
“That jet-black sheen! It’s been so long!”
“Right? He hasn’t brought out his beloved horse much lately!”
“What about Min Si-hu’s Lion’s Roar!”
“Min Si-hu’s Lion’s Roar! Even the name of his beloved horse is cool!”
“Oh my god, it’s so sensual I think I’m going to collapse…”
“We love you! Four Heavenly Kings!”
Sigh.
All I could do was sigh. This was beyond my control.
I covered my ears. Not listening was the best option.