16: Confusion

“Kim Myungsoo.”

The heck’s wrong with this woman? She has the nerve to call me by my first name? Just because she’s giving me that soft look and her hair looks beautiful as it sways against the wind and the cherry blossom petals are falling all around us doesn’t mean I’m going to forgive her. Wait, what am I even saying?! What’s with this atmosphere?

“I take back what I said last week.”

Now she’s confusing me. She should just get straight to the point. I’m about to go crazy here.. “What? What thing?”

With her eyes closed, she took a deep breath and clutched her chest. Afterwards, she looked up at me with a calm expression. I don’t know why but, that image somehow caught me off-guard. To make matters worse, she suddenly flashed me a smile. Without knowing it, I was already holding my breath. Dammit, I guess the spring season is influencing my mind now. I need to snap out of it.

“I like you, after all.”

“AAAAAAARGH! What the heck was that?!”

“Seriously, what the hell’s up with this dude?” Sunggyu asked Woohyun, who just replied with a shrug.

“Kyahaha! Look at his ears!” Dongwoo laughed as he pointed at my ears. “They’re both red even though he hasn’t drank anything yet!”

“Dongwoo, his whole face is red,” Howon remarked. “It’s been like that for hours now.”

“Come to think of it,” Sungyeol suddenly scooted closer and examined my face. “You’re really red. Why are you blushing so much?”

“He’s probably thinking about the that he watched or something,” Woohyun commented as he drank another can of beer.

I almost threw my untouched can at him. “Yah! I’m not like you, you -addict.”

“But the -addict is that dude!” Woohyun said as he pointed at Sungyeol.

Sungyeol threw his empty can at him. “Yah, why am I suddenly involved in this?!”

“Anyway!” I shouted out amidst the commotion. “Just…continue what you guys were doing and leave me alone! I’m thinking here!”

The guys all shrugged as they went about their own businesses. Finally, some peace and quiet.

I’m actually the one who invited them for a drink at my house, except for Sungjong because that dude’s still a kid. After what happened earlier, I needed a few people to confide to, but somehow, I still couldn’t tell them about it.

You see, I’m bothered as hell. After blurting out that confession earlier, the Witch suddenly made a run for her life and hopped inside the bus without looking back. It’s like, she dropped a bomb and didn’t care whoever got caught in its explosion.

She seriously left me hanging and confused. She didn’t even give me time to react or say anything! Well…it’s not like I would know what to say. What the heck was I supposed to say anyway?

No. This is supposed to be easy for you, Kim Myungsoo. You’ve received a lot of confessions in the past and you’ve always managed to deal with the situation by calmly rejecting them.

Wait, so does that mean I just have to reject her? That’s it, right? It’s supposed to be that simple.

Then why the hell do I still feel so bothered?

“I really don’t know how to deal with this!” I suddenly shouted out, which startled the members. They all gave me confused looks.

“Seriously, dude,” said Sunggyu. “Just let us hear it. If you don’t know how to deal with whatever you’re dealing with, we’d be happy to help you out.”

“Yeah!” Dongwoo smiled as he placed a hand on my shoulder. “That’s why you asked us to come over, right? You wanted us to help you, right? RIGHT?”

I annoyingly pushed his face away which was getting closer and closer to mine. “Aish! Fine! I have no choice! I don’t care anymore!”

They all scooted closer and began to form a circle around me. Great. Now they really wouldn’t leave me alone. I’ll just have to spill the beans.

“Someone…confessed to me…” I finally revealed. There. It’s finally out. They can say whatever they want now. I don’t care—

BUT WHY AREN’T THEY SAYING ANYTHING? AND WHY DO THEY LOOK AS IF THEY’RE DISAPPOINTED?

“Yah! What’s up with you guys?”

“Yeah, we get it. You get confessions everyday!” Sungyeol exclaimed. “Stop rubbing it in, even though I also receive a few confessions every now and then.”

“It’s not like we’re not aware of that fact, Mr. Obvious Kim!” Woohyun angrily stomped away from the circle and sulked at the corner. The other members scattered as well to resume what they were doing earlier. It seems they didn’t want to interrogate me any longer. “Just because you receive more confessions than us doesn’t mean you can go bragging about it.”

“You’re all a bunch of idiots,” Howon commented out of nowhere. “It’s not normal for Myungsoo to actually talk about receiving a confession. This could only mean that this is not an ordinary confession and the person who confessed is not just some girl whom he could easily reject.”

As soon as Howon said that, all the members gasped and immediately ran to form a circle around me once again.

“Yah, yah, yah! That actually makes sense!” Sungyeol began to shake my shoulders violently. “Kim Myungsoo! Who is the girl? If you can’t reject her, does that mean…you like her?”

“H-How do I even answer that question?” I stuttered as I tried to search for the right explanation that even I couldn’t find. “I’m pretty sure I don’t like the Witch in a romantic way! I like someone else! But just like what Howon said, she’s not someone whom I could reject so easily! Why? It’s because…uh…oh, that’s right!” I snapped my fingers as if I finally realized something important. “Because she has something which she could use against me! Yeah…that’s it! And I can’t reject her because she might take revenge using that thing!”

“In conclusion,” Howon suddenly closed the manga he was reading and adjusted his glasses. “The person who confessed to him is Jung Jieun. The journal that he was desperately trying to find is in the hands of Jung Jieun. N