Page 72

“It’s fine.” Miyoung shrugged off the girl’s kindness.

“It’s not,” Somin said. “With all of the rumors Hana is spreading, you know how mean the kids can be. I’ll teach you to fight. It’s the fastest way to get them off your back.”

“They’re not rumors. I pushed that girl off the bridge.”

It felt good to say the truth—freeing. Was this why Jihoon did it all the time?

Somin looked Miyoung up and down, taking her measure. “Was it on purpose?”

“Why does it matter?” Miyoung asked.

“It matters to me.”

Miyoung sighed. “No.”

“Okay,” Somin said. “Well, the offer still stands if you want it.”

It was not what Miyoung had been expecting. “Why would you do that when I told you what I did?”

“We all make mistakes. My mom says we should always get a second chance. How else will we make up for them?”

Somin’s words made an uncomfortable flush rise in Miyoung’s chest.

“I heard Hana tried to make you into a walking bindaetteok,” Somin said.

“Such a waste of good food,” Miyoung muttered.

Somin snorted out a laugh.

“I heard what Jihoonie did, too. He better not get hurt because of you or you’re dead.”

“Do you like him?” Miyoung blurted out the question before she could stop herself.

“Of course I do.”

“You know what I mean,” Miyoung said, annoyed at herself for starting this conversation. What did she care how Somin felt about Jihoon?

“He’s just my friend, nothing more. I love him like a brother. He’s my best friend. How else could I hate him so much half the time?”

Miyoung let out a bitter laugh. “Is that what being a friend is like? Then I have a hundred friends here.”

“The kids are just jealous because you’re so pretty and you don’t care what any of them think.”

Miyoung almost admitted how wrong that was, how she cared too much what everyone thought of her. Instead she asked,“Will you make up with Jihoon?”

Somin’s brows disappeared under her choppy bangs. “Is that concern I hear from the Ice Queen?” She let out a chuckle at Miyoung’s look of disgust.

“Come on, you have to know that’s what the kids call you. You’re so frosty, I wonder if you have an icicle stuck up your—”

“I get the picture.” Miyoung couldn’t quite hide her smile. “And yes, I’m concerned. Despite myself. A little bit.”

Somin grinned. “Wow, I feel so unworthy of such words of deep affection.” She laid a hand on Miyoung’s shoulder and gave it a squeeze. “The good thing about friends is that even when they fight, they still care about each other.”

Somin turned back to her paper and began writing.

Miyoung took a moment to clear her tight throat before doing the same.

26