A Day in Another World: Book Three

In Hye

"We can't do this anymore."

Cheong-san furrows his brows in confusion as I let go of his hand. Sadness runs through his dark eyes as he says, "What do you mean?"

"My sisters found out about our fake dating. They didn't like it very much."

The memory of our fight brings shivers down my spine. I don't want to repeat that. I've given too much headaches. I need to be a better sister after everything they've done for me.

"I didn't mean for them to get angry," he softly says. "I hope they don't get the wrong impression."

"We talked and everything is okay again, but I think it's a good idea to quit this."

"If it'll make you feel better, then let's quit."

Despite his hint of sadness, he still gives me a small smile and my heart finally lets out a sigh of relief. I give him a thankful smile and start walking to my first class.

"Does Luna know? Did she also get angry?"

"Not really. Why?"

"She scares me."

I let out a laugh. "I don't know what you're talking about. She's not scary at all, oppa."

"We've been training together. She's terrifying. I don't know how that strength can come from such a quiet person."

"I think she's cool."

"Yeah because you're not the one she knocks down to the floor!"

I laugh at his wide eyes and give him a sweet smile as we stand by the door of my first class. I give him a small wave and start to walk in. But Cheong-san takes my hand and stops me. I freeze and let his dark eyes burn through me as he softly says, "I'm sorry I caused you trouble. I didn't mean to get you into my problems. I should've stopped this a long time ago."
He does a chuckle as he nervously scratches the back of his neck. "Let's just say that I may have enjoyed it a bit. It was nice being your fake boyfriend. But thank you for trying to help me. I've never had such a good friend like you, In-hye."

As usual, I never know what to say when he says things like this. It's like those dark eyes freeze my heart and it no longer paces. He notices my silence and gives me a quick wave before walking off without looking back. The loud bell slaps me out of my frozen mind and I push away the rushing feeling as I enter my class.

As much as I tried to push his words away, they didn't bother to leave. I couldn't stop seeing him in my head. In Calculus, I was numbly looking at the board until a girl behind me asked for the notes she missed. Sadly, I missed most of those notes, too.

I sat with Cheong-san and he acted as if he didn't say anything sweet to me this morning. It was odd. He seemed even more nervous that we were back to being evident friends than when we were a fake couple. I decided to ignore it for his sake. Luckily, the bullies haven't noticed a thing about us.

My heart calms down by the time we are heading to work after school. Cheong-san quietly listens to me rant about an art teacher that got on my nerves today. He gently puts an arm out and stops me from crossing the street while I'm distracted. He checks both sides for us and continues to quietly listen as we cross the street.

"Hey!"

We both turn once we get on the sidewalk. The bullies come towards us with cackles and shining eyes ready to tease. Cheong-san does a light click of frustration and I give him a reassuring look. He lets out a sigh and says to the boys, "What is it now?"

One of them wraps an arm around his shoulders as he says, "How's the honeymoon, guys?"

Before I can respond back to make them go away, Cheong-san softly says, "We're just friends."