“Ah Mi ah,” Chan Yeol said lazily.

“Uh, uh huh.”

“I realized... you have been looking everywhere else but at me since just now.”

“Since, since when?” I said as I looked at the toenail of the passerby in slippers.

“There! You’re doing it again! What’s wrong?”

Let me rewind a little…….

So I was coughing reallllllllly badly from the choke, further aggravated by Chan Yeol’s slap on the back, and just when I thought my lungs are going to fall out from my throat-

Park Yong got behind me and wrapped his arms around my waist, ing my stomach area with his fists until a mouthful of kim bap in mush form flew out of my mouth.

“I…. guess I need to get a new box of kim bap,” I said, fleeing the scene.

I stood before the kim bap food kiosk trying to clear my mind.

Did Chan Yeol mean it when he said ‘Ah Mi is someone I like’? Did he say that because I was his first friend in school? Or because he had this belief that I am a nice person just because I decided to teach So Eun?

Did he even mean it in the way I thought (or.. wished)? For a dense person like him, I don’t doubt the possibility of him putting it the wrong way.

“Ah Mi ah,” Chan Yeol called out while walking towards me.

“What, what are you doing here!” I haven’t sorted out my thoughts yet!

“I came to check on you – you took so long to get your kim bap!”

“Oh. They, they are having a promotion at 2 packets for 5,000 won, so I’m having a hard time deciding,” I said, looking at the food kiosk.

And apparently for the next 5 minutes, I looked everywhere but him.

“When Ah Mi left just now……. Park Yong hyung, he said I shouldn’t like you.”

“WHAT?” I accidentally over-reacted. But… that jerk! How is it that he even tries to spoil my love life (alright, just going-to-be) for me?!

“He said he likes you, and he will make you like him too, so I shouldn’t be in the way.”

“Uh...?” Now I’m confused. Is this a ridiculous excuse he came up with, just to stand between Chan Yeol and me? But why? What exactly did I do to make him come up with such meticulous plans to disrupt my otherwise semi-peaceful life?

“Are you going to run to him now?” Chan Yeol growled.

“Wh.. what?” It’s always so hard to follow up with his thoughts - I can never expect what he’s going to say next.

“Now that you know Park Yong likes you….. are you going to run to him? Were you considering it?” He said with downcast eyes.