“Oppa,” Hye Ju whined like a . “Soojung’s friend hurt me,” and she showed the disappearing mark in her wrist.

Instantly, the Yonghwa guy threw a piercing look at Kris, who felt it was too weak to scare him. He shrugged and tried to retort, but was easily cut off by a statement from the queenka.

“Your girlfriend’s being a and my partner was just too nice to stop her from slapping me,” she told the truth, making Hye Ju’s eyes widen in surprise.

Yonghwa lookedat the girl who ran beside him. “Is that true?” He asked. The girl shook her head in denial.

Soojung chuckled emptily. “Of course, she’s going to lie,” she pointed out. “And then you’re gonna believe her despite your attempt to look rational and fair.”

The cold wind blew on the four bodies frozen on their spots in the parking lot. For a moment, Kevin felt like an outsider, being the only one who knew nothing about what happened three years ago. But even though he wanted to retreat and leave Soojung in private to deal with her past, he just couldn’t.

He knew that she needs him there, more than anytime else. 

Silence was defied. “She said her part of the story, now I’m gonna listen to yours,” Yonghwa said, trying to sound rational.

All of a sudden, Soojung laughed; but Kevin wasn’t fazed. He knew they were empty laughter; and he guessed it right.

“NOW YOU WANT TO HEAR MY SIDE OF THE STORY!?” The queenka bellowed. “HAVEN’T YOU GONE TIRED OF MAKING FUN OF ME, JUNG YONGHWA!?”

The outburst was unexpected that even Kevin flinched. Passers-by began turning to them in curiosity, but Kevin was fast enough to tell them the scene’s nothing and that they should just go on with their lives. Fortunately, no one lingered around.

This effort of dismissing the attention didn’t go unnoticed. Soojung decided to lower her voice to save face. She didn’t want the newest champions to get involved in a pitiful scenario with two pathetic Sukji High students.

But that doesn’t mean she’ll just let it go.

“Who are you anyway to just tell me what I should do,” she said as she clenched her teeth. “Don’t act so righteous, pretending like you actually care for my opinion.”

Yonghwa rubbed his temple as his eyes fell close. “Look, you don’t have to take this immaturely,” he said with a monotone voice. And Soojung recoiled at the unmistaken slur. Hye Ju smirked.

“I-Immature?” She couldn’t believe what she’s been told.

“I-I didn’t mean it l-like that,” Yonghwa stuttered as he realized what he had done wrong. “It has been three years, why haven’t you let go of what happened yet!”

Soojung scoffed in incredulity. “You speak like it was nothing.”

The guy from Sukji looked at her with his eyes filled with pity. “Because it was nothing,” he said without thinking. “It was a simple case of three friends caught up in the issues of love, and you just overreacted!”

Instantly, Jung Soojung felt numb, and before she what she was doing, a loud slapping sound resonated through the empty parking lot. Hye Ju gasped.

“Y-You’re that heartless, aren’t you?” She tried to put her words together, and it came out like a whisper, filled with so much pain bottled up for the past three years. “Do you even have any idea about what I had to go through and what kind of trauma I had to deal with when you did that?”

“Soojung-ah…” Yonghwa tried to console her, as it finally sank in him how serious things were.

But the girl was unstoppable.

“I’ve always known that there’s something going on with Hye Ju and you when we were still together, but I chose to just let all those scary instincts pass because I wanted to trust you. After all, you said you chose me over her. Even though you flirt with each other right in front of my ing face, I didn’t say anything – because I want to believe you,” she said as she tried hard not to let the tears fall.

“It continued for months but you didn’t notice how I was about your ridiculous relationship with her, yet you kept on telling me you love me. I was so stupid that I decided to just look past it and try to forget so what we hav