Chapter 26.2

“I think it’s only right to give someone room after rejecting them.”

“Really…?”

But what Arkhan was saying also seemed right, so I slowly nodded with a blank face.

And then I saw Noah standing in front of a nearby pillar and my eyes widened.

Not having looked that way, Arkhan was continuing to chatter on, “How hard of a time would that other person be having? That’s such a selfish and thoughtless thing to do.”

Hey, shut your mouth. Though a few of those words were indeed true.

Paling, I covered Arkhan’s mouth with my hand.

In a single moment, Noah had become a selfish and thoughtless person. I had no idea when he’d begun eavesdropping on our conversation but chills were running up and down my spine.

“Oh, I see.”

When Noah began coming our way after seeing me, Arkhan grinned and whispered in my ear, “So it really is about this guy? What you told me right now, Kate*?”

“….”

If you’re going to say it to my ear, then whisper.

Rubbing my itchy ear, I avoided Arkhan’s eyes.

Hearing Arkhan call me Kate*, Noah raised his eyebrows and asked, “Younger brother?”

*T/N: Since we don’t use the Korean suffixes in our translation (-unnie, -oppa, -sunbae, -noona, etc.), here Noah has heard Arkhan calling Kate noona, which is what a younger boy would call girls older than him, including (and especially) to his own sisters. This is why Noah asks if they’re related.

Arkhan’s face crumbled in an instant and I pressed down on his head forcefully as I answered rather modestly.

“I’m an only child.”

At the same time, I placed my share of snacks in Arkhan’s arms and mouthed at him to leave.

“Kate*?”

Stay still, you child. I’m trying to save you here.

“I’ll go visit you next time, for sure. I know which class you’re in. The bell’s about to ring, so go.”

With that urgent whisper, I pushed Arkhan on his back, and only then did Arkhan do as I say obediently despite the dissatisfied expression on his face. Surprisingly, he even lowered his head to bow to Noah.

“Hello. It seems I see you around often, senior.”

Facing away from him, I quickly tidied up my mussed-up hair and turned around again.

“Mm…”

What a lackluster answer. What was up with that?

Though I was a bit bewildered by Noah’s somewhat lifeless response, I pretended to be composed. “Though he goes a bit too far every now and then, he’s not a bad kid.”

“I see.”

At Noah’s peaceful-as-ever response, I calmed my heart, relieved. It seemed he hadn’t heard us as I’d originally thought.

While I was letting down my guard like that, Noah opened his tightly closed mouth. “So if he’s not your brother, who is he?”

Oho, was that more important to him? I wasn’t sure if I could say that was fortunate or not.

I was standing there awkwardly fumbling with my fingers when Noah’s face was suddenly way too close.

His voice, flattened to a low tone and sexier that way, rang in my ears. “I’ve been wondering for a while now, but maybe lovers?”

His beautifully formed pink lips moved right in front of my eyes. At the dizzying sight, I shut my eyes tightly and gulped.

Foul, that’s completely a foul move. If you asked anyone with that face, they’d even tell you nationally protected secrets.

Oh, I almost didn’t catch what he’d just said.

Soon, I spoke in a pathetic, trembling voice, my hands shaking like I had hand tremors. “Um, your face… if you could just, back away….”

“….”

Contrary to my expectations, Noah retreated obediently. Only after the sound of his breath became distant was I able to crack open my eyes.

Wow, frick, that was a little heart-pounding. Now I can breathe a little.

Taking a deep breath that I’d been holding, I placed a hand on my pounding chest and opened my mouth. “He isn’t my lover, no. Oh no, not a lover.”

Lover, he says.

We’d known each other since the days we’d been sucking on our own thumbs and grew up seeing all the things you didn’t want to see about each other—being lovers with that guy? It almost gave me goosebumps.

“He’s just someone I’ve known since I was young.”

“You must be close.”

“Well, yeah, I guess so,” with a rather uninspired face, I answered him.

If anyone asks you if you’re close to someone you’re really close to, then you would end up giving a pretty offhand answer. I think just about everybody is guilty of doing that.

For some reason, Noah looked a bit uncomfortable.

“I was just curious.”

Turning his head to the side, Noah murmured, “You didn’t really need to answer. I didn’t mean to be forceful.”

Oh, is that so?

So what?

Noah sometimes said things that were hard to understand and it seemed to have gotten worse these days.

Noah opened and closed his mouth a couple more times as if he was about to say something next, but in the end, he didn’t say anything. His silver eyelashes trembled as if to say he was having some kind of difficulty.

What in the world went in that pretty head of his, I wondered.

With narrowed eyes, I stared up at Noah.

Noah rubbed the back of his neck and avoided my eyes while I was all but glaring at him by this point. And that was when the bell rang.

“… I’m going. I’ll see you later.”

In a low-spirited voice, Noah said goodbye to me and turned away. Now that I saw him, even his complexion seemed pale.

Wait, did he have indigestion?

Even after I said goodbye and turned around, I tilted my head.

Why was he acting like that? He’d been completely fine up until this morning.

Oh no, if he was acting like that because he was jealous of how I was sticking close to Arkhan… that would be great.

“Geez.”

In the face of such a delusion, I suddenly felt that things were a bit unfair.

Even before I’d discovered that Book of Prophecy or whatever, I’d been in love with Noah, you know.

I scraped the soles of my shoes on the floor to quench my anger, and then suddenly realized that the bell was almost done ringing.