Lie Again! Chapter 85

<Chapter 85. Locking Away the Lies (1)>

 

“….”

 

“….”

 

Evan, spotting Jin, froze like a paused video and stared at her. Jin did the exact same.

 

The two stood there as time flowed—feeling both unnaturally long and incredibly fleeting. 

 

How much time had actually passed?

 

His eyes, fixed on Jin as if nailed in place, shifted to the person standing next to her. Even though only his back was visible, Evan seemed to have no trouble recognizing who he was.

 

Jin held her breath as she watched the boy clench his fists, his face completely stiff. Even though she had done nothing wrong, she felt strangely uneasy, as if she had been caught red-handed committing a crime.

 

While Jin struggled to calm her restless heart, Evan took a step, then another, drawing closer to them.

 

“…”

 

With his every step, her heart pounded erratically with nervous anticipation.

 

Just as he got close enough for her to distinguish every single strand of his softly lowered eyelashes, Evan tore his gaze away from her. And with that, he brushed right past Jin and James.

 

Jin blinked, feeling as though the blood rushing through her veins had instantly turned ice-cold.

 

“I’ll see you at the tennis club this afternoon.”

 

“…”

 

“Jin?”

 

“…Ah. Oh, yeah. See you then.”

 

Belatedly turning her attention back to James, Jin gave a blank nod.

 

* * *

 

“Let’s call it a day here.”

 

James, who had been feeding Jin balls, said as he lightly tossed a tennis ball into the air and caught it. In response, Jin nodded, wiping the sweat dripping from her chin.

 

Releasing the racket she had been gripping, Jin slumped onto the ground. 

 

James tossed her a water bottle, but instead of landing in her grasp, the plastic bottle flew past her and hit the floor behind her. 

 

“…Sorry.”

 

As Jin offered an embarrassed apology while watching the bottle roll to a stop, James let out a chuckle. He gestured for her to stay put as she tried to get up, retrieved the bottle himself, and brought it back. Jin gave a small word of thanks.

 

The clear water flowed from the bottle, and Jin gulped it down thirstily. James watched her, chin resting on his hand atop his knee, as her face glowed red from an hour of running. 

 

After soothing her parched throat with the cool water, Jin let out a long breath, “Phew.” Wiping her chin, she glared at the white lines painted on the court floor.

 

Since running into Evan earlier, she couldn’t even remember how she had managed to get through the rest of the day.

 

The only thing she knew for certain was that her hopes of pushing Evan out of her mind by keeping her body busy had been completely shattered. Gritting her teeth and running desperately after every ball James hit her way had seemed to clear her head for a bit, but it was only temporary.

 

The second she found a gap to rest, the boy returned to haunt her like a ghost, cluttering her head and making her emotions leap wildly. 

 

Anger would flare up, then anxiety would rise to her throat, followed by a creeping worry about whether he was physically okay, and then a sudden, heavy sinking in her chest. 

 

“….”

 

James, who had been quietly watching Jin stop drinking to once again flounder in the turbulent waves of teenage angst, stretched and stood up.

 

Jin turned her eyes toward him as he twisted his torso this way and that, making exaggeratedly playful noises intended to be heard. 

 

“Shall we start cleaning up?”

 

Feeling her eyes finally on him, James shrugged. Jin nodded, stood up, and together they began picking up the scattered neon balls, tossing them into the metal ball hopper.

 

Staring somewhat blankly at the balls scattered all over the court—they really had hit a lot over the past hour—Jin realized that the simple, repetitive task of picking them up was actually perfect for clearing her head, so she began to focus.

 

She did her best to ignore the thoughts threatening to invade her mind once again.

 

Thud.

 

Jin picked up the last ball and tossed it into the cart, dusting off her hands. Then she turned around with a puzzled expression.

 

She was certain she had just picked up the last one, yet a single neon-green ball was resting quietly right at her feet.

 

Assuming she had just missed it, she bent her knees to pick it up, only for another ball to roll in from somewhere and bump into the back of her hand. Immediately after, another one came rolling along.

 

When Jin looked up, she saw James crouching a short distance away like a mischievous kid, grinning playfully as he rolled the balls in her direction. Beneath his curly hair, his long eyes curved into happy half-moons.

 

“You silly boy.”

 

When Jin narrowed her eyes and lightly scolded him, James let out a low, rumbly laugh. Jin scooped up the remaining balls he had rolled over and tossed them into the hopper. As she carefully scanned the court to make sure they hadn’t missed any, James quietly called her name.

 

“Jin.”

 

“What?”

 

“My instincts are screaming at me that today isn’t the right day for this. But I’m saying it anyway, because if I don’t do it today, I feel like I’ll miss my chance again.”

 

Startled by his uncharacteristically serious tone, Jin turned to look at James. A faint smile lingered on his face.

 

He stared at her quietly for a moment before speaking.

 

“When I said I remembered you because your fed-up expression at the after-party was funny… I wasn’t just teasing you.”

 

At his words, Jin thought back to that first date she had gone on with him some time ago.

 

The beach bathed in warm sunlight, the people kicking back with relaxed faces, and their back-and-forth conversation about the reason for his sudden interest in her.

 

Jin remembered the confusion and bewilderment of that moment quite vividly.

 

“You were leaning against the railing back then, looking so utterly exhausted that anyone could tell you were at your limit. Even I could feel it from far away, looking up at you.”

 

James, who had spotted Amanda at the party after attending for the first time in a long while following grueling training, had approached his cousin and was pestering her relentlessly. The pleasant buzz of alcohol had made him laugh easily, and he had thrown his head back in laughter, finding his cousin’s usual look of disgust incredibly funny.

 

It was pure coincidence that the girl caught his eye.

 

The black-haired girl was leaning over the railing, scanning her surroundings with a bored look in her eyes.

 

Her calm and somewhat cold aura had left an impression. Standing among the tall, imposing crowd, the Asian girl seemed particularly out of place, and she stood out even more because she was the only one who seemed sober while everyone else was wasted.

 

A pretty girl showed up.

 

James had thought that and intended to move on, but his eyes were caught by a woman stumbling toward the girl.

 

The redhead, so drunk she couldn’t walk straight, was precariously holding a phone in one hand and a drink in the other as she clung to the black-haired girl, acting as if they were best friends.

 

Judging by her baffled expression as the redhead draped an arm over her shoulder and got all up in her personal space, it was clear they didn’t actually know each other. When the redhead shoved her phone in her face for a photo, the girl’s expression hardened in obvious discomfort, yet she ultimately couldn’t bring herself to completely ignore the drunken mess.

 

James found that rather surprising.

 

If she hates it that much, she should just shove her away.

 

Anyone could see the redhead was entirely too wasted to realize what she was doing, let alone remember the night. The girl could have easily brushed her off, and if the redhead complained the next day, she could have just feigned ignorance and said she didn’t remember.

 

She looks so cold, but she’s surprisingly bad at handling situations like this.

 

James was just clicking his tongue and turning away when the redhead, unable to stand still even while snapping a selfie, tripped over her own feet and wiped out.

 

The woman fell hard with a crash that pierced through the loud music echoing through the mansion, and she writhed on the floor having dropped both her phone and cup. She seemed unable to get up easily due to the alcohol that had rushed to her head.

 

While everyone else around merely threw a glance and ignored the scene, the one who hurriedly rushed to help her up was the very girl who had looked the most exhausted. God knows where she found the strength, but she even managed to locate the phone that had gone flying, supported the fallen girl, and hauled her over to an empty spot on the sofa.

 

The girl carefully checked on the redhead, who had flopped her head back against the sofa as if her circuits had blown, and only then did she let out a long sigh. Then she turned and walked away.

 

James found himself staring intently at the top of her head as she disappeared past the railing, smacking his lips with a sense of regret.

 

The thought of whether he would ever see her again crossed his mind. But instead of going after her, James thought about his upcoming matches, his packed practice schedule, and the rivals who were already beginning to make their pro debuts one by one, and shook his head.

 

If it’s meant to be, we’ll meet eventually. 

 

And it wasn’t long before James spotted the girl once again.

 

The girl he met the second time was…

 

Recalling a scene that only he knew about and Jin remained oblivious to, a soft chuckle slipped through James’s teeth. He then gazed warmly at Jin, who was standing just a few steps away.

 

Up close, the girl was much more resilient than he had expected, surprisingly playful, and even kinder than he could have ever imagined.

 

“Because I know. I know just how incredible it is to be considerate and take care of someone else when you’re dead on your feet yourself.”

 

Jin still looked like she didn’t quite get what he was talking about, but he liked that even more. To him, her actions had been incredible, but to her, it was such second nature that she hadn’t even remembered doing it.

 

“I’m only going to ask this once. If you turn me down, I won’t ask again.”

 

“….”

 

“Lee Jin, will you go to prom with me?”

 

His eyes, curving into gentle crescents, looked at Jin with undisguised affection.