That brought me back to my senses. I bolted upright, reached forward, and pinched Rangii’s ears.
“Unyaah?!”
Rangii’s look of happiness disappeared, replaced by a painful grimace. But I had no intention to go easy on her.
“Y-you little!! W-what were you thinking?!”
“Ow! It hurts!! Let me go! I’m dying!!!”
“U-uwah, it hurts, Sunghoon, it really hurts! Waaaah!”
B-but it looked like Rangii really was in a lot of pain, so I relaxed my hands. But I kept my fingers where they were, ready to reapply the pressure at a moment’s notice.
“Wh-who taught you to do something like that?!”
I asked that so that I could redirect my anger at Saehee, but my assumption was mistaken.
“I-I don’t know. I just did what my body told me to.”
I could tell from the fear clearly apparent in Rangii’s eyes that she was telling the truth. D-does that mean she did that without knowing what it was? I fell to the ground. All the strength had left my legs. Th-that was a full French kiss just now. After experiencing what I had only heard about … it was no surprise that my cheeks started burning red. I covered my face with my hands. Then I licked my lips without realizing what I was doing. I could taste Rangii. Rangii started tearing up after witnessing my reaction.
“…Walk with me. Right now.”
Narae commanded me to leave the room with her.
“…Why?”
Narae answered while exiting the room.
“No back talk. Now follow me.”
The frosty tone in Narae’s voice shocked me to the very core. Narae was genuinely angry. Crap. Was it because of what happened earlier? I couldn’t think of any other reason. But regardless of what just happened with Rangii, did Narae seriously want to punish me for it? That doesn’t seem right. When I tried to run away, none other than Narae was there to block my exit path. Everything should be cleared up once I make it outside. I left Rangii in the master bedroom and went outside. Narae was waiting for me with her arms crossed.
“The hell’s wrong with you?”
From her very first word, I got the feeling that Narae was ready to bite my head off.
“About the thing with Rangii….”
“Not that!”
I began trembling at Narae’s ferocious roar. D-don’t let yourself be cowed. What’s wrong with me, being so frightened by my own childhood friend. I didn’t do anything wrong.
“I saw everything.”
“and?”
“Are you seriously asking?”
…Yes, I am.
“Or are you just acting clueless?”
“No, I’m serious.”
Narae took a deep breath in preparation to say something, then she bit her lip and clenched her fists.
“…I seriously hate you.”
That was my execution call. I was losing control of my legs. I grit my teeth and forced myself to stay upright. A cold sweat formed on my back. It’s okay. It felt as though something was about to burst out from inside me. I held it in. My head was spinning. What did Narae just say?
“W-wait. N-Narae. Why’d you say that?”
“Don’t think for a second you’ll be able to talk your way out of this again. I’ve figured it out.”
But what are you talking about?! I was ready to scream in frustration, but I forced myself to calm down. Losing my temper here wouldn’t help me in the slightest. I acted on my emotions only once, and I ended up hurting someone I liked. I did my utmost to cool my temper and spoke to Narae.
“Narae. We’ve been friends for years, but if you don’t tell me why you’re angry, then I won’t know. Please tell me. If it’s a misunderstanding, then I can fix it. And if I did something wrong, then you can just punish me.”
“So you want me to spell it out for you?”
Narae looked at me with pure hatred in her eyes.
“You want me to explain why I’m so angry, why I’m so disappointed in you, and why I hate you?”
She was telling me to figure it out for myself. But the sad fact was that I wasn’t smart like Narae or Saehee. It was taking me a long time to figure it out. But no matter how hard I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out why she was angry. And that left me with only one thing I could say.
“So….”
Then Narae, my childhood friend, pierced me through the heart.
“I’ll wait. But stay the way you are now, and you’ll stay clueless.”
I was left speechless by Narae’s declaration. I knew that I wouldn’t learn anything by keeping my mouth shut, so I forced myself to speak.
“…Give me a hint. About what I did wrong.”
“You didn’t do anything wrong.”
I nearly broke out into tears.
“Then why are you angry?”
Narae answered.
“Because I know for a fact now that you’re in love with Rangii.”
What?
Stunned into silence, I could only stare as Narae continued speaking.
“I’ve seen the way you look at Rangii. I tried to convince myself it couldn’t be true, but now I’m sure. You wouldn’t have made a face like that if you didn’t see Rangii as a woman.”
What am I supposed to say? What do I tell Narae?
No, what I had to say was already clear. I just had to tell her what I tried to tell her earlier. I cemented the words in my mind and readied myself to speak. But Narae made me shut my mouth again.
“But there’s one thing I want to ask you. Rangii or me. Which one of us do you like more?”