Chapter 39 Part 2: Jin

“Um…” Shine stepped forward in front of me, and she glared at Jin.

Their gazes tangled in the air.

“Wait a minute…” Jin hardened his expression and stepped back.

The sandwich that had filled his mouth had long since disappeared.

But Shine didn’t step back.

She didn’t listen to what he said.

When Jin took a step back, she took a step closer.

“Hmm…” Jin stopped when Shine’s eyes sparkled as if she wouldn’t just give in.

When Jin stopped moving, Shine also stopped.

They glared at each other without saying anything.

I sat down and wiped my eyes with my sleeve.

The feeling of my clothes getting wet was unpleasant.

The two of them didn’t say a word after that.

In the cold silence, the cool breeze blowing through the shaded pavilion dried my wet eyes.

“Shine?”

I got up and called Shine.

But she didn’t respond.

Her gaze was solely focused on Jin’s eyes.

I carefully moved and put the sketchbook spread out on the floor into my bag.

I zipped up the yellow bag with its large mouth open tightly and slung it around my back.

I looked at Shine and then turned my gaze to Jin.

He also seemed frozen and didn’t move at all.

Time had stopped for one or two people.

About five minutes had passed since then.

Shine was the first to move.

She stumbled and collapsed.

“Shine!”

Startled, I approached her and hung on her arm.

“Are you okay? Does it hurt?”

Shine glared at Jin without saying anything.

I followed her gaze and looked at Jin’s appearance.

However, Jin’s appearance was no different than before.

He was still glaring at the place where Shine’s gaze had lingered.

“I’m stronger.”

Shine got up, approached Jin, who was frozen, and patted his body.

Jin’s body collapsed right after that.

Jin, who had fallen to the floor, had a relaxed expression as if he had fallen asleep.

His face was calm, unlike the look of the staring contest with Shine earlier.

“Shine? What happened?”

A series of incomprehensible events.

Jin suddenly collapsed after a snowball fight.

He didn’t seem to be hurt anywhere, but he didn’t seem like he would wake up easily.

“Shh. Jeff. Nothing happened. Don’t worry about it.”

Shine, who was taking a deep breath and straightening up her staggering body, reached out her hand to me.

I held her hand.

There was nothing between them.

I nodded.

“Shine, are you sick?”

But apart from that, Shine didn’t look well.

Just in case, I started to carefully touch her body, looking for any injuries.

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yeah.”

I let out a sigh of relief after confirming that Shine was okay.

Immediately after, I glared at Jin’s face, which was lying on the floor.

I was furious at the sight of him lying there with a calm expression as if he was asleep.

I untied the bag I was carrying on my back and rummaged through it.

Colored pencils, crayons, and small ballpoint pens poured out.

I picked up a dark red ballpoint pen.

Click.

The sharp tip popped out with a small noise.

I caught my breath and began to draw on Jin’s face as he lay there.

Red lines were drawn crookedly, and a red mustache appeared on his face.

“He still won’t wake up?”

I pressed hard and drew a picture, but Jin didn’t seem to want to get up.

I drew a picture of a fat pig on his forehead.

Red doodles filled his face.

But my desire for revenge didn’t subside.

I put the pen in my bag and turned my gaze to the shoes Jin was wearing.

The leather shoes looked quite expensive and gleamed black.

I matched out to his shoes.

I could feel the firmness on my fingertips.

After struggling for a while, I was able to take the shoes off his feet.

The shoes gave off an unpleasant smell.

I picked up a convenience store bag that had fallen nearby and put the smelly shoes inside.

After that, I wrapped the convenience store bag tightly.

This way, the smell wouldn’t escape.

“Let’s go!”

Shine and I hurriedly left the pavilion, afraid that Jin would wake up.

I held Shine’s hand and ran for a while until we arrived in front of the large rock where Jin had been sitting and fishing.

I stopped in front of it and threw the convenience store bag I was holding into the pond.

The black envelope that had risen high into the sky fell into the pond and began to float away.

I hid my body behind a large rock and stared at the pavilion.

Jin’s figure was slightly visible, and he still seemed unwilling to get up.

What a strange person.

From what I heard from Amy, Jin was the leader of the group she belonged to.

It was truly incomprehensible for someone like that to steal our lunch sandwiches.

His real purpose probably wasn’t sandwiches.

It seemed like we had met by chance, but the more I thought about it, the more unnatural it seemed to meet him.

I couldn’t even see his shadow normally, but he appeared right after Amy disappeared.

There were no fish in this pond.

The fishing rod hanging in the empty pond looked very awkward.

So what was his purpose?

Why did he approach us pretending to be a coincidence, avoiding Amy?

I leaned against the large rock and got lost in thought.

“Jeff, let’s go back.”

“Huh?”

Lost in thought, I got up from my seat when Shine grabbed my hand and pulled me.

Shine’s face looked tired.

The moment I saw her face, the doubts that had been floating around in my head disappeared in an instant.

It seemed like it would be best to go back to my room as she said.

“Right, we should go back.”

I nodded and rubbed my stomach.

I was starting to get hungry.

The image of the sandwich that Jin had taken away flashed before my eyes.

I grabbed my bag and quickly left the park, holding Shine’s hand.

After that, I went down the stairs.

It was hard to go up the stairs, but I was able to go down without getting tired.

It was a little past lunchtime.

I stopped in the hallway for a moment and looked in the direction of the restaurant.

If I went now, I would be able to eat a delicious meal.

But Shine was the problem.

She leaned against me with unsteady steps, as if she was very tired.

I made an embarrassed expression at the sight of her rubbing her soft cheek and whining at me.

“I want to eat…” I had no choice but to return to the room with Shine.

As soon as we entered the room, Shine went straight to the bed and collapsed, burying her face in the blanket with a thud.

She seemed to have no intention of getting up.

“Shine?”

“Yeah…” Shine’s voice, which came out with difficulty, was listless.

“Does something hurt?”

“I’m just a little tired.”

I went over to the side of the bed and touched Shine’s hand.

Her soft, warm hand wrapped around mine. Before I knew it, my body had fallen over. When I came to, I found myself in Shine’s arms.

“Shine?” I twisted my body and escaped from her arms.

Shine had her eyes closed, looking relaxed and asleep. I put my ear to her face.

I could hear small breathing sounds at regular intervals. It was the same rhythm as Shine’s breathing when she was asleep.

I got out of bed and took off the yellow bag I had been carrying on my back, setting it in the corner.

I had to organize my sketchbook and crayons, but for now, food came first.

I left the room right away and ran to the convenience store.

My goal was to get the sandwich I couldn’t eat earlier and food to eat with Shine when she woke up.

Amy’s credit card allowed me to buy a lot of things without worrying about money.

I looked at the large basket full of food, finished paying, and picked up a large bag.

It was quite heavy, but I couldn’t lift it by myself because I didn’t buy any drinks.

I returned to my room, dragging the large bag, and immediately unwrapped the sandwich.

Lunch alone. It was a quiet meal, just like before, but somehow it felt empty.

I filled my mouth with a sandwich, then turned my gaze to Shine.

I didn’t feel the hunger that I had felt so badly until just now. No, it would be more accurate to say I had no appetite.

I put down the sandwich I was holding in my hand.

The convenience store sandwich I usually ate often. I wasn’t picky about food because I had a hard childhood.

I just realized that food tastes better when you eat with someone you like, rather than eating alone.

I looked at Amy and Shine’s empty seats.

“It’s not tasty,” I mumbled quietly, and the words dissipated into the air.

I jumped down from the chair and put the large convenience store bag in the refrigerator.

Soon, when Shine wakes up, I’ll eat it with her. It’ll taste better.

I went over to the bed where Shine was lying and laid down next to her.

Immediately after, I pulled a soft blanket over Shine and covered my body. I was wrapped in the soft blanket.

I carefully moved my hand under the blanket and grabbed Shine’s hand.

A small, soft hand. Maybe because I was covered with a blanket, the hand I was holding felt a little hot.

As if to avoid the heat, my small fingers moved.

I dug between her fingers and held on tighter.

Our hands were tightly pressed together. I could hear her heartbeat through my hand.

It was a long time later that Shine woke up.

She opened her eyes with blurry vision and blinked in surprise at the sight of me lying right in front of her.

Her slightly opened mouth immediately formed a smile.

Her wide eyes curved gently like the smile on her lips.

Seeing that, I smiled as well and opened my mouth.

“Did you sleep well?”

“Yeah.”

I immediately let go of her hand and sat up. The hand I was holding loosened, creating an empty feeling.

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“I’m hungry!” Shine answered my question with a smile and sat up vigorously. Shine jumped out of bed.