Sudden Shower – 2

“…You heard?”

“Hmm~ What are you talking about? The part where they were shouting they wanted to have sex in the classroom? The part where they were evaluating appearances saying who’s pretty? Or~”

“Just say you heard everything….”

She heard everything. She heard it all.

Where did the guys who said those things go, and why am I the one who has to hear this? My head throbbed from the dizzying situation I found myself in.

“I just went back to the classroom to see if there was an umbrella when it suddenly started raining, and someone wanted to have sex….”

“…Let’s call it that. It’s uncomfortable to hear.”

I was afraid someone might hear as the word “sex” kept coming from the mouth of a girl I was talking to for the first time today.

Lee Yu-ri looked at me with a dissatisfied expression after hearing my words.

“…Don’t tell me you’re the type who thinks girls shouldn’t say such things?”

“I’m the type who finds such words uncomfortable from anyone, male or female, when first meeting.”

“What are you, some Joseon-era scholar?”

“Yes, I’m a damn scholar.”

When I replied firmly, Lee Yu-ri clicked her tongue once with a “tch” and continued.

“When I heard someone wailing in the classroom about wanting to do that, I thought if I went in now they’d definitely be embarrassed, and then it would be hard to face each other tomorrow~ so I waited outside the classroom for a bit to time my entrance. I didn’t expect them to embarrass me instead?”

ㅡ Oh, damn those bastards. This is exactly why I told them not to act like that in the classroom.

It was obvious without hearing her story that Lee Yu-ri was the wronged party, but hearing it from her directly made it even more maddening. I had nothing to say, so I scratched my head.

“So I was wondering how to teach those guys a lesson~ when someone decided to burst out in anger on my behalf? So naturally, I was curious about this someone?”

Lee Yu-ri spread her hands with a “ta-da” as she spoke.

“Plus I didn’t have an umbrella. I thought, now’s the time!”

“…What do you mean ‘now’? I just did it because I didn’t want to hear it anymore.”

“That’s why I was curious~? Guys talk like that all the time, don’t they?”

“Hey, don’t say dangerous things. That’s misandry, misandry.”

“Isn’t it true?”

“…It’s not true for about 80%.”

For a moment, I thought this person might be a future recruit for that bad group that shouts about “girls can do” or whatever, but.

Hearing her out, it wasn’t completely wrong, so I couldn’t easily refute it.

“Pfft, that’s a subtly realistic figure?”

Lee Yu-ri laughed heartily, asking what that was supposed to mean.

“Anyway, I’ll tell them to apologize to you tomorrow.”

“Forget it. I just want to pretend I didn’t hear and move on. I probably won’t be close with them anyway, so I don’t particularly want an apology.”

“…Are you sure?”

“Yes. To get an apology, I’d have to face them again, right? How should I put it… I don’t even want to do that, understand?”

…Are you that angry?

I thought she wasn’t angry since she’d been smiling all along, but listening to her now, I was certain.

Stupid guys. Seeing this attitude from Lee Yu-ri, who looked like she’d be popular, I thought those two wouldn’t have a chance to date any girls in our class for at least a year.

“I understand. It can’t be helped.”

“Yes, it can’t be helped. But-“

Lee Yu-ri looked at me curiously as she said,

“You absolutely won’t say sorry, even as a formality? Ah, I don’t mean you did something wrong and should apologize, really.”

“Me?”

“Yes.”

“As you said. I didn’t do anything wrong.”

I was confident.

Though I did end up getting angry, I had tried to stop them, so I was only embarrassed about being with those guys when confronting Lee Yu-ri. I didn’t feel sorry at all.

If I had done anything wrong, it was just the crime of being in the same place as them.

“Yes, I know. But usually people habitually apologize to get through the moment, so I just found it interesting? I really hate apologies made without knowing the reason, ughh… I absolutely detest them!”

“There’s only one person I’d do that for.”

“Ah. You’re going to mention your girlfriend again, aren’t you!”

“Of course.”

Lee Yu-ri made an expression of weariness at my declaration of principles.

How unfair. I was being sincere. I was a famous “dogeza man” when it came to Ye-rin.

“Haa… I can see why you got the nickname ‘yeo-mi-sae’.”

“…I’m called ‘yeo-mi-sae’?”

“You probably don’t knooow… but you and your girlfriend are famous in our class. Is your girlfriend in your profile picture? The kids who saw it went crazy about how pretty she is. As for you….”

A confident finger pointed at me.

“You’re the guy obsessed with his girlfriend. When I first heard it, I wondered how you got such a nickname~ but now I get it, yes indeed. You’re definitely a ‘yeo-mi-sae’.”

Lee Yu-ri explained that, for the record, she wasn’t the one who came up with it, she just heard it too.

Hearing this, I was so dumbfounded I couldn’t speak.

“…Who did you hear that from? No, who came up with that nickname?”

“I don’t know that either~?”

Whoever it is, I want to kill them. My fist clenched firmly.

Yoon Do-hyun’s grinning face flashed through my mind, but I thought it couldn’t be him.

He and I had a relationship where if we attacked, we’d both be critically wounded by just grazing each other.

“…Fine. It’s not wrong, I guess.”

At least Ye-rin wouldn’t have to worry about foxes clinging to me.

I thought this was news that would make Ye-rin happy if I told her.

“So which class is this rumored girlfriend in? Ah, seeing you’re going separately, is she in a different school?”

“She went to America.”

“Gasp……”

Oh, here we go again.

It took a moment to explain to the crestfallen Lee Yu-ri that I meant America literally, not metaphorically.

**

To Lee Yu-ri, who insisted on sharing an umbrella just once saying it wouldn’t get found out anyway since my girlfriend went to America, I declared I would just leave alone if she insisted one more time. Only then did she grudgingly go buy an umbrella.

We parted with her saying it was fun and see you tomorrow.

And that night.

“…That’s what happened.”

“……”

“That’s what happened….”

I honestly told everything that had happened that day to Ye-rin, who had called me for a video chat with a dazzling smile after waking up.

When I first received the call, I was clearly lying in bed, but somehow as I spoke, I gradually sat up, and by the end, I was kneeling on the bed.

“Hmm….”

…Maybe I shouldn’t have said anything.

No. It wasn’t like I had done anything wrong, and hiding it would have been the real mistake, so I spoke honestly.

See, the fact that Ye-rin’s eyes were pink, as they usually were when facing me, was proof of that.

After silently listening to my story, Ye-rin opened her mouth when I finished.

“You did well, oppa. I do think you could have spoken more kindly to your friends… but I understand how you felt. Hearing such talk behind your back, even I would really hate it….”

That’s right.

Though I didn’t tell Ye-rin, as someone with a little sister and a girlfriend.

Though those guys weren’t talking about these two, the thought that the two of them might be talked about like that by others when I wasn’t around made it impossible for me to stay silent.

Maybe that’s why.

When Ye-rin said I did well, I felt a warm sense of comfort regarding my earlier regret about getting angry out of nowhere.

However.

The warmth didn’t last long since it was scary how Ye-rin wasn’t mentioning anything about Lee Yu-ri.

“…Oppa?”

When I remained silent, Ye-rin asked as if wondering what was wrong.

After debating whether to speak or not, I just spoke without hiding anything.

There are times when hiding something is virtuous, but I didn’t want to do that over something like this.

“Hmm… I thought you would say something about Lee Yu-ri.”

“Say what… You didn’t approach her first, you didn’t share an umbrella, you just lent her one temporarily so she could buy one….”

…You remember well?

“Haha. Right?”

“…Actually, I am jealous.”

“…Haha. Right…?”

As expected.

I thought I did the right thing by asking honestly instead of trying to subtly pass it by.

“But….”

Ye-rin spoke while shyly pulling the blanket up to her nose.

Now all I could see through the screen were her drooping eyebrows and pink eyes.

“I know if I showed it, you would have a hard time… so I just trust you. I know you wouldn’t do anything that would hurt me….”

As her eyes looked at me as if seeking confirmation, I nodded my head, conveying that she should know that.

At that, her drooping eyebrows curved happily like flowers receiving water.

“Oppa.”

“Yes?”

“I’m… obsessive and jealous. More than you think.”

“I know.”

I was momentarily curious just how much she meant by saying it like that, but I knew from the start that Ye-rin was the type to be somewhat obsessive and jealous. And the same was true for me.

“You might not believe it, but if I wanted to, I could hide it without showing….”

“Oh, come on, that’s a lie.”

“See, you don’t believe me….”

But, it’s not just your eyes; your emotions tend to show on your face.

But Ye-rin didn’t seem to think so, as she patted the blanket, as if upset that I didn’t believe her.

“But if I did that, you would be scared. So I just show a tiny bit….”

“That was just a little?”

“What do you mean…?”

As Ye-rin glared at me as if telling me to watch my words, I slightly avoided her gaze.

“Ahem, for something like that….”

“…To begin with, I wouldn’t do anything you would dislike.”

I was about to say “that’s true,” when a good idea suddenly came to mind.

“You did though.”

Ye-rin opened her eyes wide as if asking what I meant.

“I did? What, what…?”

“You left.”

“…?”

“To study abroad.”

“……..”

“Ye-rin. The one thing you absolutely shouldn’t do at a funeral is resurrection, and the one thing you absolutely shouldn’t do in a relationship is studying abroad.”

“…Didn’t you just make up the second one?”

“So. Am I wrong?”

“…………”

When I asked “Huh? Huh?” with a mischievous expression, Ye-rin remained silent with her lips tightly closed.

Then she carefully pulled the blanket, which had been up to her nose, all the way up to the top of her head.

“Wow. Now you’re not even showing your face. Ye-rin?”

As I made a fuss saying I was upset, upset, the raised blanket started wriggling again and came down to her neck.

“So. Did you, or didn’t you?”

Just as I was about to seize the rare opportunity to tease Ye-rin one-sidedly.

“…A-aing. Why are you being like this, oppaa….”

…This is cheating.

Her face flushed red like a strawberry, with large pink eyes shining in between.

The cute whining with her voice mixed with aegyo, stretching the end of her words, asking for my forgiveness.

The way she couldn’t look me directly in the eyes out of embarrassment but still subtly and busily checked my reaction.

Each of those gestures, with her tightly gripping the blanket, seemed beyond lovable—it felt like cheating.

Because if she showed me this side, I would inevitably lose every time.

“Don’t be mad…”

I couldn’t possibly say that something else might make me angry.

No.

In truth, I had been angry for a long time already.