XLIV

“Chan Soo,” Jae Ra interrupted. “I’m talking about Kim Chan Soo!”

       Li Eun paused for a moment, checking if Jae Ra is really serious. A scoff escaped from disbelief upon realizing Jae Ra is nowhere near fooling around. “You can’t be serious, Jae” She started nervously. “I mean, I think I get it now why you thought before that he liked me but—“ Li Eun searched for the right words to say. “It--it’s just absurd, you know” She showed off a lopsided smile.

       Jae Ra rolled her eyes in response. “Oh God,” She slammed her palm unto her forehead. “Do you want me repeat everything I said? Or should I give you a very detailed report about your whole stay in this school and everything that happened? I can even tell you about---” Jae Ra came into a sudden halt, remembering Kai’s request.

“You can tell her anything, EXCEPT ANYTHING that involves Lee Byung Hun. Do you understand?”

       With an eyebrow raised, Li Eun encouraged Jae Ra to continue talking. “Tell me about what?”

“Uh—” Jae Ra massaged her temple, trying to reduce the pressure she’s having from the stressful situation which is getting out of her control.

“Jae?” Li Eun probed.

       She bit her lower lip anxiously before letting out an uneasy laugh. “You know, Li---I---I’m not supposed to tell--”

       The last words became inaudible as the school’s emergency alarm went blaring off. Pupils dilated, limbs frozen, the two let out gasps as realization hit them. The whole cafeteria turned into a chaos. Smoke coming from kitchen started to crawl towards the hall. Students’ shrieks and cries of fear filled their ears. Li couldn’t think for a moment until Jae Ra snapped her back to her senses.

“Li! Let’s go! It’s—” Jae Ra’s words got tangled with her coughs. The smoke is getting thicker every second and they knew it will choke them eventually if they won’t be able to find themselves out on time.

          Li blinked her stinging eyes as they headed for the door jammed with students trying to escape the room as much as her. Anxiety rose as she looked back and saw fire blazing dangerously from the kitchen. Frantically, she pushed herself into the swarm of students in panic before realizing Jae Ra is no longer beside her.

“Jae!” She shouted. Her voice drowned out by the noi