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[If not, then why are you doing this to me…? You don't even like me.]
[…….]
Once again, Hunter could only gape with trembling eyes, unable to give any answer. She watched him in silence before asking sharply.
[Hunter Hamilton. Tell me. Why did you try to kiss me for a third time?]
[Does that even matter? You kissed Rex even though you aren't dating. How is this any different from that?]
[What? Why do you keep saying such weird things!]
She frowned, her eyes flashing.
Hunter grew anxious. The sound of Rex's voice drifting in from outside reminded him that while this was his first kiss, it wasn't Jiyu's.
That son of a bitch.
Should I just kill him?
Suddenly, anger surged up to the top of his head.
His chest felt tight and suffocating. Hunter had never once had a toy taken away from him. For the first time in his life, he felt an inexplicable sense of injustice. That unfamiliar emotion agitated him.
[I don't know, I just don't know! I'm sick of this, so stop asking. Isn't it obvious? Curiosity, a trick of hormones. Something like—]
With a sharp slap, Hunter's head whipped to the side.
His eyes widened, having been slapped for the first time in his life. He slowly straightened his head and looked down at Jiyu.
The corners of her eyes, which were glaring at him, turned red, and moisture pooled in them instantly. As he stared at her in bewilderment, a dull ache throbbed in his solar plexus.
Jiyu wiped her eyes with the hand she had used to hit him, then covered her lips with the back of her hand and bolted out of the photo booth.
As Jiyu left the booth, fighting back tears, Chloe approached her with a bright expression.
[Chloe, I'm really sorry… but I think I have to go home first.]
Greeting her in a tearful voice, she kept her head down and pushed through the crowd. As she briefly looked up to find the exit, she happened to lock eyes with Sienna.
Sienna glared at Jiyu, her lips twisting as if she were about to cry. Then, she spun around, leaned against a friend beside her, and burst into tears. The friends surrounding Sienna glared at Jiyu as if they wanted to kill her.
Biting her lip to keep from crying, Jiyu hurried out of the party venue.
Hunter, with one cheek swollen and red, yanked open the photo booth curtain as if he were about to tear it apart. Seeing his murderous expression—looking as if he were about to hunt someone down—Rex let out a stifled gasp and covered his mouth. Then, he shouted loudly.
[Kiss ‘and’ slap!]
Chloe quickly snatched up the instant photo that everyone else had forgotten.
And so, their first and last Spring Fling came to an end.
✾ ✾ ✾
Jiyu spent the rest of the spring semester avoiding Hunter. She went to school a bit earlier and left a bit later, fearing she might run into him in the lobby.
As soon as the outdoor tennis season officially began, Hunter leveled up from the National Tournament to the ITF (International Tennis Federation) Junior Circuit Tour. After that, he frequently missed school during the week.
Sienna gathered her friends and declared that she no longer liked Hunter. Then, as if to make a point, she started dating Lucas Preston, one of Hunter's friends.
Chloe vividly described the scene she witnessed after Jiyu left the Spring Fling, as if it were a scene from a drama. She added that it was the most exciting day of her life, given how much she lived for gossip.
[Sienna was surrounded by friends, sobbing like a girl who'd caught her boyfriend cheating. Then, she suddenly stopped crying and started applying makeup right there. Then, with pure malice in her eyes, she headed toward Hunter and his friends. I thought she was going to bash Hunter, but nope. She started flirting like crazy with Hunter's friends! And then, it just so happened that Lucas got hit with the 'kiss and slap' penalty!]
While talking, Chloe stuck out her tongue and made a slurping sound with her ramen noodles. Then, she shook her head.
[Wow. Right then and there! A French kiss in front of everyone! I thought Sienna was going to devour Lucas. Chomp chomp.]
Giggling, she suddenly turned serious, her eyes widening as she decided to interrogate Jiyu about her relationship with Hunter. She didn't forget to flutter the four-cut instant photo between her fingers.
[Just spill it. When I asked if you were close with Hunter, you absolutely denied it, but then you suddenly go in for a kiss? And secretly inside a photo booth? Uh-uh! Don't touch!]
Blocking Jiyu's repeated attempts to grab the photo, Chloe hid it behind her back and threatened her, wrinkling her nose.
[If you don't tell me the truth, I'm going to stick this photo on Sienna Reed's locker!]
[…….]
When Jiyu hesitated, Chloe clicked her tongue.
[It's not like I didn't notice at all. At first, I thought maybe you were just childhood friends who lived in the same apartment complex? But do you know how weird the atmosphere is every time you two run into each other? I thought it was strange, but how could you keep this a secret from me! Just spill it! You're dating Hunter Hamilton, aren't you? Right!]
Chloe pressed her, fluttering the photo in front of Jiyu's eyes. Jiyu shook her head, struggling to snatch the photo from Chloe's hand.
[We're really nothing, Chloe. It's just that our moms are close because we live in the same apartment. We just had a few playdates when we were kids. And he hates me.]
Chloe narrowed her eyes, crossed her arms, and scoffed.
[Hooo, he just goes in for a kiss with a girl he hates? Man, I wish I had a childhood friend I hated. We could kiss and go on play 'dates,' huh?]
She teased Jiyu, arching her eyebrows a couple of times. Even then, she didn't forget to twist her body away every time Jiyu reached out to secure the photo.
[I told you it's not like that! Hunter, I mean, he's shy… it's just that I'm an easier target than the other kids. Just give it back, Chloe!]
Hearing this, Chloe paused for a moment and then burst into laughter, clutching her stomach.
In that moment, Jiyu swiftly snatched the photo. Phew.
She considered throwing it in the trash, but fearing someone might find it, she decided to take it home and dispose of it there.
The laughter stopped abruptly, and Chloe sneered.
[A 'shy' Hunter Hamilton. That's the lamest excuse I've heard in my sixteen years of life.]
[…It's really not the kind of relationship you think it is.]
Jiyu shook her head with a serious expression.
With a worried look, Chloe gestured toward where the Popular Clique was gathered.
[But what a shame, Sienna doesn't seem to think so….]
[Everyone will realize it as time goes by. That we're really nothing.]
Jiyu let out a deep sigh.
Whenever Sienna and her friends encountered Jiyu, they glared at her as if she were a mistress hidden away by a husband. They would intentionally bump into her shoulder and giggle, or subtly trip her while running from the starting line during track class.
It was unfair, but she endured it.
Because it was true that she had kissed Hunter.
Sienna was the type to cut off an eight-year friendship just because he had been secretly invited to the party. Jiyu had expected some level of childish retaliation.
'As long as Chloe stays by my side, it doesn't matter.'
Jiyu comforted herself this way.
She hated Hunter, who had pushed her into a pit of hell using penalties and jinxes as an excuse, yet remained completely oblivious. And she hated herself even more than Hunter for willingly responding to a momentary impulse—no, a lapse in judgment—despite knowing what would happen.
She had no choice but to do her best to live like she was dead, staying quieter than ever, stifling even her breath to avoid Sienna and the Popular Clique.
It wasn't easy.
Since no one saw her and Hunter together after the party, and no rumors of them dating surfaced, the interest in the invisible nerd began to fade. When she showed no reaction to the persistent bullying, they gradually lost interest.
Before long, they began to ignore her as if she didn't exist, just as they had before.
Jiyu breathed a sigh of relief.
✾ ✾ ✾
Early May. Jiyu's family moved into a small one-bedroom apartment on 96th Street, at the northern edge of Yorkville, for a few months. This was because they had finally achieved their dream of owning a home.
An elderly person who had lived for forty years in a three-bedroom apartment on the second floor of the Fifth Avenue building where they resided had passed away. The daughter, who lived in California, decided to give up on renovations and put the apartment on the market as-is, at a price 10 percent lower than the market value.
After hearing the news from Lauren, a member of the apartment board, Ae-jeong contacted the owner directly and snatched up the apartment before it even hit the real estate market.
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