I S U F D (Lisa X Mingyu)

C27

If you move, you won’t be able to see the orange cat any more.

“Why did you take the love letter?” Lisa raised her head to look at Mina sitting across from her. “Don’t tell me that you also liked Choi Minho?”

“I don’t…” Mina whispered this before belching slightly, her breath smelling of alcohol.

Lisa was a bit alarmed. “Don’t tell me the one you like is me? Eh, for so many years, I have only treated you as a friend…”

“…” Even if she was drunk, Mina tenaciously rolled her eyes at her. “I liked Bambam during high school.”

Lisa: “…”

Right, that handsome, very awesome basketball player on the sports committee. At least half the girls in their class also liked him.

“Then why did you take it?” Lisa couldn’t figure it out. Since Mina neither liked her nor Choi Minho, why did she take the love letter?

Mina burped again and fumbled her way back to her bed. She hugged her pillow again. “I was under a lot of pressure in our third year of high school. My parents had very high expectations for me, and at school, we had weekly and monthly exams to prepare for the midterms and finals. We never stopped taking exams. I felt as if I nearly couldn’t breathe, Fortunately, I had all of you by my side then. We all had fantasies about our lives in the future and were looking forward to the flourishing and beautiful A City. We planned to buy a villa in A City and raise a couple dogs. Each weekend, we would get together in the afternoon to drink tea…”

Lisa: “…”

Mina’s words reminded her of something. During that time, their sole joy…was visualising these daydreams. At the moment, it seemed that they were truly foolishly adorable back then. They didn’t know the cost of housing in A City, so their fantasies included them buying a villa…

“Now that I think about it, we were very immature, but at that time, all those unrealistic dreams of ours supported me throughout all of my last year. Thinking about having that kind of life in the future seemingly gave me the strength to continue on.” Mina glanced at Lisa, who was standing to the side, when she said this, her eyes already misty. “You might not know, but Choi Minho had already begun thinking on returning to our alma mater to teach then. Old Zhao had always considered Choi Minho as his favorite pupil, and likewise—Choi Minho had always admired Old Zhao. One time when I went to the office, I heard Old Zhao and him talk. He said that he was thinking about returning to the school to teach. Old Zhao felt that he could have a larger stage and gave him some advice; Choi Minho, however, was very resolute. He had always been a man who was firm in his thinking.”

Lisa silently listened. Mina breathed in through her nose before continuing. “If you got together with Choi Minho, you certainly would have chosen to stay with him in D City, right? At that time, Jihyo had already decided to go abroad. If you returned to D City, then in the end, what would I have been persevering for all this time? Didn’t we agree on raising a dog together while living in a large house? In the end, would I seriously end up alone?”

Mina’s tears finally began falling. Lisa’s eyes have also gradually turned red because of her words. Mina had always been the most earnest one amongst them as well as the one who tried the hardest. Her grades were also the highest. Their teachers and parents all placed high hopes on her, so how great of a pressure had she beared? They might never know.

The small room fell silent, before Mina’s voice echoed throughout. “At that time, I was very young and inexperienced. Now, when I look back at my past self, I realize that I really was stupid beyond redemption. How did things turn out after I selfishly took away your letter? Are our lives as we expected them to be? No.”