~Chapter 27~

"Ne Eomma?.....eh? Cilantro? Ah…." The speaker looked back pitifully at the shop that was left behind. "….Wae you didn't say it earlier? Ah jinjja! I have to go back again! What do you mean by I am lazy--" she was distracted by a shout behind her; she thought she saw someone familiar; "Arasso, Cilantro, right? Yeah I'll get it."

The part of the street where two men were shouting was a bit dark as they were at a distance from the street light but she could clearly make out the ginger hair. Now many people may have ginger hair, but when you know a person who goes to the same school as you, it is impossible not to notice him, especially when he is involved in a verbal brawl with a stranger.

She didn't mean to eavesdrop nor was she interested if it hadn't been the slap from the other man to the ginger head that made the latter's head shift to the side where she was standing and they locked eyes making him widen his. He broke the eye contact with her when a frustrated; "This is not over!" was thrown at him. The ginger head pursued the man stubbornly only to get brushed off but he didn't give up and it continued till they vanished away from her sight. She didn't know how long she stood rooted on the spot but she was aware that her brain has started to function in auto-pilot mode. She bought the cilantro in a daze, returned back to her house, had dinner and went back to her room.

The next day the ginger head refused to meet her eye. The entire day, classes and shared classes went on pretty unnervingly smoothly for the ginger head. He isn't complaining about it…..okay maybe he is complaining because it is so weird of Seon Hul not to question him or approach him about tomorrow. Yesterday no matter how hard that slap was, he was 100% sure that he had seen Seon Hul with a grocery bag and she saw him, yet why isn't she popping the question?

During recess too, she minded her own business and talked to him out of conversation flow which irritated him to no end. In the end he couldn't suppress his annoyance anymore so he attacked her first when they were given a washroom break during P.E period. P.E is the only subject or period that is compulsory for every senior students of all streams.

He stood in front of the ladies washroom, waiting for Seon Hul to finish her business. She was startled when she saw an unexpected face right in front of her. "Ah kamjagiya!" she looked at him with suspicious eyes then; "What are doing in front of a ladies washroom, you pervert? Trying to take a peek?"

"W-what are you planning?" Luke's tried to steady his voice.

"What? For Christmas?"

"No!" The girl looked back at him, still patting her handkerchief on her face to dry the water. "You what I am talking about…" the girl still gave him a blank face. "About-about yesterday! You saw me! You saw me, right? That was you! It was you, wasn't it? Don't try to deny it."

"Ahh about that." Seon Hul realized what Luke was talking about. To be honest she was in a daze about it yesterday but she had almost forgot about it today until she realized that Luke is kind of avoiding her like a plague, often throwing her anxious, suspicious glances. She had inkling about the reason of this ambivert's sudden avoidance of her but thought that he might require space so she didn't confront about it to him. After all, they are just acquaintances through mutual friends. She didn't think it to be any of her business to enquire about yesterday's fiasco.

"Uh yeah that was me you saw and it was you whom I saw, I admit it. But what about it?"

"So you admit that you didn't see—wait what? Y-You admit it?"

"Yeah why?"

"N-no I thought you'll—"

"I'll what? Blackmail you? About your orientation?" upon receiving no reply from the fired up confrontational guy Seon Hul ran her fingers through her hair pushing them back. "Wow. No man I am not that cheap and horrible." She put her hands in the pockets of her shorts. "Listen man, I won't stoop that low to force someone come out of the closet. Also I didn't talk to you about yesterday because I thought it is none of my business. Moreover, it's not like we are friends, we are just acquaintances from mutual fri—sorry couple. So yeah."

'None of her business? They are not friends but acquaintances??'

"What are doing gaping over there? Hurry up!" Seon Hul started to jog towards the field to rejoin the class. Luke too followed her all the while her last words echoing in his head.

Luke would call himself as bisexual. Not many people know about it. In fact he chose not to spill about it to others. It's nothing that should be announced in a microphone anyway. The ones who know or have come to know either by accident or by chance have accepted him the way he is. Rio is still in dark about this and he wishes to keep the boy in the dark itself because he doesn't know anything about the past of Rio. Rio may not have said anything but his social anxiety, sudden attacks of PTSDs made Luke understand that the former might've suffered from a traumatic experience. Now he's not sure what kind of experience it was so to be on the safe side, he never disclosed his orientation.

But of all people he never expected Seon Hul to be having discovered it!

The man who had slapped him was his friends with benefits with whom he had met through Lindr but as of late things weren't sailing smoothly between them. Either he's busy with work or Luke is busy with his school and whenever they meet up the man yaps about nothing but his woes in life, his regrets. Now yesterday, when they met up the man disclosed the news of him getting married upon his parent's unavoidable arrangements. Luke was happy on the inside that finally they'll break up so he showed fake sympathy for that. However, contrary to his expectation, the man grabbed his hand and asked him to be his mistress. Luke was refusing him when he slapped him and Seon Hul happened to see it AT. THE. WORST. POSSIBLE. TIMING!

After that he tried to make the man understand but he doesn't know how much progress was made with his explanation about his refusal to be the mistress. When he checked his phone after the shower from his locker, his eyes almost bulged out of his sockets upon seeing the text message that was sent to him by none other than Rio. The message said;

"I am in Emilia's room…what should I do? TwT "

Author's note:

Ne Eomma— yes mom~in a way of receiving a phone call

Jinjja—really

Arasso— understood 

Wae—why