adora • lookism

17. J High Festival

Without warning, Ari was hit by the powerful feeling that she was forgetting something crucial.

There was a light touch on her arm. Registering Jay's presence, Ari's mouth automatically moved to say, "$3500!"

There was a small intake of air from all around. Daniel turned to give Ari a puppy-dog look that managed to simultaneously express shock and gratitude.

Let's remind him to thank Jay later, she thought, lifting her face to send a friendly smile back at him. Except that Daniel's little movements finally allowed her to see past him, giving her a clear view of the tall man.

"We have $3500! Does anyone have a higher bid than $3500? $3500, going once!"

It was Handsome Library Oppa.

He was already looking at her.

Why was he here...?

The girl from the convenience store raised her arm again. "$7000," she said, in a brisk, confident voice.

Then, all of a sudden, Ari knew.

A beautiful, generous bidder at Daniel's slave auction, accompanied by a very strong bodyguard — it could only be one person.

That was Crystal Choi.

With a shocked gasp, Ari grabbed Jay's arm. Jay also paused, bemused by her reaction, and gave her a worried glance.

That was Crystal Choi. Which meant that the man next to her, the handsome gangster from the library, the cute older boy she had been texting almost daily for the past couple of weeks, was...

"Oh, crap," she hissed to herself. She felt not dissimilar as to if she'd been blind-folded, spun around a dozen times, then smashed in the back of the head with a lead pipe. "There's no damn way."

••••

Eugene-oppa was not going to be very happy.

••••

She had to go check, of course.

Ari was 17 now, so it had been almost two decades since she'd last read the work. What if there was a 0.001% chance that she was wrong and had somehow completely overwritten her own memory with fake information? It could happen, right? Right?

Damn it. Next time she would never again forget to ask someone their name until it was so late that it became too awkward to ask.

Ari hurried over to the parking lot while cursing her short legs the entire time, Jay trailing behind her in concern. By the time she arrived, Daniel was already there standing next to a Maybach, awkwardly trying to thank convenience store unni in the best way he could manage. From her annoyed face, it wasn't going too well.

"Unni!" Ari called, forcibly brightening her face. "I knew it was you!"

Both Daniel and the girl turned to look at her.

Handsome Library Oppa was nowhere to be seen. Was he in the car?

"Ari?" said Daniel, looking surprised. "Do you know each other?"

"Yup!" Ari bounded over. As she reached within arm's reach of the other girl, she belatedly realized that since Gun Park was supposed to be Crystal Choi's bodyguard... if he was really in the car, would he come out to stop Ari from getting close?

But no. Nothing happened, even as Ari trotted right up in front of the girl from the convenience store.

Then if Ari touched her?