Lie Again! Chapter 82

<Chapter 82. The Waves Head to an Unexpected Place Once Again (2)>

 

Gwen, caught off guard by the sudden attack, scrambled to avoid the water, but with the stream relentlessly tracking her every move, she eventually bolted to another sink. She twisted her faucet open and retaliated, dousing Jin in kind. 

 

“Kyaa!” As the cold water ran down her neck, a reflexive scream also escaped Jin’s lips. However, even as they screamed, the two didn’t stop spraying water at each other.

 

Even while getting hit by the water, sparks flew from their eyes as they glared at each other. Not only was water splashing everywhere in the restroom, but both Jin and Gwen’s clothes and shoes were becoming terribly soaked.

 

The sound of water only stopped after both of them were completely drenched from head to toe, looking like drowned rats.

 

Jin swept her dripping black hair back from her forehead and stared Gwen down. 

 

“Emily Gwen. So what exactly do you want me to do?”

 

A coldness emanated from Jin, whose expression had hardened. Her voice was low and calm, but she gave off an unapproachable vibe, as if she shouldn’t be messed with.

 

Gwen’s eyes wavered at the suddenly shifted atmosphere. However, with a look of wounded pride, she soon raised her chin again, acting as if she hadn’t faltered at all.

 

“…Just stay away from Evan.”

 

Her voice—flagging for a moment before she forced a sharp edge back into it—echoed through the restroom. At that, a derisive snicker escaped Jin’s lips. 

 

Gwen immediately looked infuriated, but Jin didn’t care. Jin was now wearing the same obnoxious expression Gwen had worn earlier.

 

“Ah, I’d do it if it were something I could actually control. But it’s not up to me, so what am I supposed to do?”

 

“…”

 

“No matter how hard I try to distance myself, he keeps seeking me out. That Evan you like so much.”

 

“What?”

 

“He came looking for me yesterday, too. He said he kept thinking about me. He said he likes me. Not you, Gwen.”

 

She knew she was acting incredibly childish right now, but the more she spoke, the more a certain sense of elation surged within her.

 

It felt as if a blocked dam had suddenly burst. Through the breach, everything she had been suppressing began to pour out. 

 

All the negative emotions and thoughts she had experienced over the little more than a semester since she arrived here swirled like muddy water and flowed toward Gwen.

 

It was no different from taking her anger out on her, but who cares? When had Gwen ever considered her circumstances before pushing her into a corner?

 

However, Jin, who had been pouring out words as if possessed by something, suddenly froze upon seeing Gwen’s face.

 

Gwen was glaring at Jin with eyes full of resentment, her pretty lips pressed tightly together. Jin’s gaze landed on her blue eyes.

 

Tears were welling up in her eyes, which looked like clear glass beads. Because water was dripping down her beautifully contoured forehead, it was hard to tell at first glance, but they were definitely tears.

 

A film of tears formed precariously over her blonde eyelashes, looking as if it would spill over at any moment, making her spiteful expression actually look somewhat pitiful.

 

Jin, unable to hide her bewilderment, quickly wiped the look from her face. 

 

She’s crying over just this? After all the horrible things she’s said? 

 

It felt as if an opponent who had been constantly beating her had collapsed powerlessly from a single punch she threw out of sheer exasperation. Because Gwen had become groggy so quickly, far from feeling refreshed, Jin had to face the feeling of her misplaced annoyance and anger fluctuating everywhere.

 

However, Jin didn’t have the wickedness to push even harder against someone crying in front of her.

 

The elation that had spurred Jin on earlier vanished in an instant. In the space left behind by the draining of emotions that felt like molten iron, a sense of emptiness crept in.

 

She could only now feel the discomfort of her soaked clothes clinging to her arms and back, and her hair hanging wet and limp like seaweed.

 

Why did she go this far over a remark asking if someone like her thought she was suited for him? It was just one phrase, after all.

 

Jin looked down at Gwen with eyes heavily laced with exhaustion.

 

“…So stop picking fights with me, and if you want to hold onto Butterfield, go tell him.”

 

“…What are you talking about? Butterfield?”

 

Gwen, who had been glaring at the general area of Jin’s face, relaxed her eyes and blinked. Because of that, a teardrop fell to the floor from her blue eyes, but Gwen didn’t seem to care at all.

 

Jin let out a long sigh at the girl making her repeat herself.

 

“I mean exactly what I said. If you like Evan Butterfield so much, go to him, not me, and confess your feelings, or complain, or whatever.”

 

“Wait a second. You… like Evan Butterfield? Not Evan Ruth?”

 

Gwen’s lips, which had been pressed between her teeth, fell open. No way. Gwen, her eyes wide open, muttered continuously.

 

Jin frowned at the mention of Ruth’s name, which appeared with absolutely no context.

 

“What on earth are you talking about?”

 

“No, what are you talking about!”

 

Gwen, who had suddenly stopped crying, shrieked with an expression that said she was about to jump out of her skin in frustration.

 

The two girls, completely drenched from head to toe, stared at each other wearing the exact same expression.

 

“So, to summarize, you and Ruth dated when you were in middle school, and you dumped him because people around you pushed you to, but recently you somehow started talking to Ruth again, so…”

 

“You’re partly to blame for that, too. You were chatting with Evan—I mean, Ruth—during Spanish class, so Mrs. Haide changed the seating.”

 

Gwen, who had been squeezing water out of her hair, interrupted and added. The stream of water falling from her hair splattered onto the restroom floor.

 

“…Because of that, you developed feelings for him again, and so the Evan you like isn’t Butterfield, but Ruth?”

 

Gwen nodded with a haughty expression. Seeing that, Jin buried her face in her hands, a headache coming on.

 

Every major and minor incident she had been involved in with Gwen since her first day as a transfer student flashed through her mind like a kaleidoscope.

 

“Then why have we been fighting all this time…….” 

 

How much stress had she consciously and unconsciously suffered because of this? The number of videos taken when they openly clashed in front of the other kids, the number of times she felt uncomfortable whenever they bumped into each other moving between classrooms—ten fingers weren’t enough to count it all.

 

A sigh escaped her lips naturally.

 

‘What exactly have I been suffering over, watching Gwen and Evan…’

 

Reaching that point in her thoughts, Jin suddenly lifted her face from her hands and asked Gwen.

 

“But if you don’t even like him, why do you keep trying to stick by Evan—I mean, Butterfield’s side?”

 

“That’s because he’s the biggest trophy in Crawford. If you’re next to him, attention and interest gather automatically without you even trying.”

 

Gwen answered nonchalantly while busily patting her face in front of the mirror to fix her ruined makeup. At her tone treating Evan as nothing more than a shiny certificate of achievement, Jin lost her words and just stared at her.

 

“Don’t give me that look. Butterfield is the same; he uses me too, even if it’s for a different purpose.”

 

Jin gave a half-hearted nod to Gwen, who raised her eyebrows as if it was unfair to treat her like a bad girl. She still didn’t understand, but she didn’t have the energy to argue, so she changed the subject.

 

“Still, you must have heard the rumors.”

 

She had no idea who started it, but the false rumor that Jin Lee had both Evan Butterfield and James Wood wrapped around her finger and was playing them had even reached her own ears. And through Pablo’s mouth, no less. Jin still remembered Pablo’s dubious face as he relayed the rumor to her.

 

“I thought the rumors were wrong… You were always with Evan—I mean, Ruth!”

 

Snap. Closing her luxury brand cushion compact loudly, Gwen hesitated with an awkward look before answering. Jin let out a deep sigh at Gwen, who was snapping at her as if placing the blame.

 

“Isn’t that obvious because we’re friends?”

 

“The girls who stay by someone’s side under the guise of being ‘just friends’ are always the most untrustworthy ones.”

 

That goes for you, too, doesn’t it?

 

Jin stared intently at the girl who was speaking so firmly, as if imparting a truth of life. It felt like someone who never left Evan’s side under the guise of being a ‘friend’ was standing right here.

 

“Butterfield and I aren’t friends. We’re just like business partners. It’s different from you being next to Ev—Ruth.”

 

“…I’ll say it again, I don’t have that kind of relationship with Ruth. Absolutely not.”

 

Shaking her head as if sick of it, Jin felt a sudden rush of fatigue and pushed herself off the wall she had been leaning against.

 

“Anyway, don’t worry about me and just do whatever you’re going to do.”

 

Jin pulled the shirt she had hung over the stall divider, threw it over her see-through t-shirt, and started to walk away. She still looked a mess, but more than anything, she wanted to get away from this pretty little paranoiac.

 

A sudden fight, her thread of reason snapping, dizzying misunderstandings, and facts she didn’t really want to know. The energy drain had been too massive. Jin was completely exhausted, to the point where she didn’t even have the energy to think about Evan and herself anymore.

 

“Wait a minute!”

 

However, just as Jin passed by Gwen and was about to leave the restroom with hurried steps, a hand with beautifully manicured nails grabbed onto Jin’s wrist.