Spring Moon

22

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Huh?" I looked at Evelyn behind the counter confusingly, my brows almost knitted together.

I did not understand. No, I couldn't understand. Even the slightest. What did that mean? A good thing?

What was good about Kevin's remark about Joochan's art?

"C'mon, Ivy..." Evelyn stared at me with frustration clouded over her, the sigh that left her system afterwards was enough to prove that she was done with me. "I just can't believe that you are a love story writer when you are too slow in finding out."

"Excuse me, Miss," I leaned forward across the counter, intimidating my dearest friend on the other side. "You will definitely lose your mind if you encounter Hong Joochan."

I whispered the name, wandering my eyes around just to be careful though I knew nobody would be spying over us. But, I didn't lie. Joochan could love someone wonderfully, he could make one feel as if the world was made up of fluffy clouds where falling to the ground would never hurt. However, he was suck at identifying one's feelings. He couldn't easily read the room.

There were a few episodes that I seemingly couldn't rid of though years had passed since we broke up. It was one of the days when I was facing a slump. I could barely focus on doing anything. I just felt like crying for no reason but of course, I held it because that was the nature of me.

We were having lunch together that day and he had a habit of recording our moments. My mind that day was really really chaotic, I couldn't even hold the chopstick right. The fish ball I held in between the two sticks that was supposed to go straight into my mouth however slipped and fell into a bowl of soup, the broth splashed all over my face. The feeling of crying was double and it eventually became triple when the guy across from me was laughing.

And the worst part was, he got that captured in his video.

To add more misery to my already hectic day, Hong Joochan posted the video on his social media saying that I was too cute with that silly mistake.

"For 2 days straight, my classmates were laughing at me," I raised my hand which was shaping a V in the air. "None of them knew that I was actually in a bad mood."

"Damn!" Evelyn cursed a bit loudly which caught Jacob's ears immediately from a corner. The colour on his face slowly drained, as if he was the sinner instead of his girl. "So, did Joochan take the video down?"

"Not before I cried in front of him."

"You cried?"

I nodded, inhaling a big amount of oxygen as I felt the anger slowly creeping back into my heart. Back then, I tried really hard to understand his nature. But, the more days passed, I just realized that I would never manage to match my pace with him. We were totally different no matter how many times he convinced me that we were compatible. We were not.

"Wait..."Evelyn raised a palm in the air, and her head then was shaken vigorously. "This is not Joochan's story. It's Kevin. So, I don't need to hear more."

"Okay, then," I shrugged, proudly granting her wish.

"Anyway," she clapped her hands once, wanting to gain my attention, however, she earned Jacob's as well, the male swiftly slid in next to her, joining our conversation. "My point is... it's good if Kevin pointed out Joochan's contribution to your book. That means he knows how to get jealous."

Jealous?

"How do you know he's jealous?" My head slightly tilted, my focus right now was beyond my own imagination.

It had been my dream for a while to see Kevin getting jealous. So, if Evelyn was telling me that my boyfriend finally showing a symptom of it, I probably would've cried. But, somehow, if Kevin acted that way because he was jealous that I was working with my ex, I should've shivered. He wasn't cool at all, his silent confrontation was scary like it was a ticking bomb slowly doing its countdown. And suddenly it would explode.

Dangerous.

"I'm talking from an experience, Ivy," the corner of Evelyn's eye was shooting at Jacob next to her and her face was showing all the signs of tiresome to deal with one. Like, she refused to deal with it again. Suddenly, my curiosity had piqued my interest. What did I miss? Jacob was jealous? For what?

We were caught afterwards. Jacob somehow understood our silent conversation, our eye-talking session. He then scoffed, one hand cupping his hip while his tongue poked through his cheek.

"Badmouthing me, huh?" Jacob flickered his gaze from Evelyn and to me, the angel in him had vanished when he did so.

"Who?" I acted dumb, faking my giggle to find one chance to escape. Anything, just anything. What could it be?

Then, my prayer was granted when the sensor on top of the entrance rang, signalling us that someone was coming. Jacob's attention immediately shifted to the alleged customer but surprisingly, he did not greet them like how they had it scripted.

Instead, Jacob looked at me before he spoke in a low tone, "Here he comes... Hong... Joochan."

I felt all the lights in my world turned off at once, darkness casually engulfed me into its bubble. This should be my hideout, the only place I could go to avoid any interaction with him from occurring. But, he was here. When did he get the courage to come here - to my friends' cafe when he was all scared to face them before?

Damn!

Subconsciously, I fished out my phone, clumsily typing out a message. Evelyn whispered he was nearing and for a brief moment I felt like I was stuck in a horror movie, and a serial killer who was hunting me was counting steps to get to me. It was scary, I swore I felt my heart screaming as well.

Turning on my heels, I put my phone against my ear as soon as I pushed the call button, being greeted by a few beeps as my eyes met Joochan's.

He softly smiled as he approached me. Closer and closer until I could hear his voice calling my name.

"Ivy..."

"Ivy?" But, I was drawn more to the confused tone of Kevin Moon calling my name through the phone.

"Hey... Sorry, I must have been disturbing you," despite saying it rather calmly, my gaze that was darted on Joochan's face was glaring. Stay away from me was what I said through the sharp glare.

It must have reached him well because Hong Joochan seemed to huff in frustration, his lower lip was bitten as he internally cursed. Perhaps, this was the cruelest thing I had done to someone but I couldn't help it. I had no desire to talk to him about our past and I was still mad at him for every recent thing that happened between us that involved Kevin as well.

"Is everything okay, Ivy?" Kevin questioned, worries were sugarcoating his voice that it came out sounded so heavy. "What's with the SOS message? You made me worried."

Ah... the SOS.

I texted him earlier 'SOS! Kevin, please answer my call'. Honestly, I never expected him to answer either because normally when we were desperate for help, nothing would come our way. Not even a person. But, maybe, luck was on my side today. Maybe, it was just at the perfect time he was holding onto his phone when I texted.

"That..." I trailed off, still eyeing Joochan with the sharpest dagger planted in my gaze. "This homeless guy is trying to approach me. I need a distraction."