NOVEL NEXT Lie Again!
Chapter 16
<Chapter 16. Evan Butterfly (2)> Jin’s face heated up like the tomato smell coming from her body. She covered her mouth with both hands, staggering backward in embarrassment.
‘Covering my mouth won’t make the smell go away.’ Evan watched silently as Jin struggled. She quickly lowered her hands from under his arm, furrowing her brows as if she were about to pout, then forced a smile. Jin, who had shown such a range of emotions that it almost seemed like humans couldn’t express so many, let out a robotic-sounding laugh, “Ha, ha, ha,” and then opened the back door, running out. As he watched her retreating figure, Evan couldn’t help but feel a sense of amusement. Every time he managed to shake off the cold mask she wore, pulling out those raw, unguarded expressions, it was something he found utterly enjoyable. It was a new hobby for Evan since Jin came to Crawford. Evan remembered his first encounter with Jin. He recalled the expression she wore when their eyes met as she turned around, following the lost schedule. He could still feel the thoughts he had and the emotions he experienced in that moment. ‘That’s right.’ In the conservative American South, she was a rare Asian. However, unlike in some places where you might spot a few while driving around, Crawford was particularly lacking. Of the 8 billion people in the world, about 3 billion are Chinese and Indian, but in the less global Crawford, there was only 0.5 Asian, Evan Ruth. In such a place like Crawford, an Asian he had never seen before, and a woman doing something unusual. As Evan approached her, he couldn’t help but feel a small hope that he might find some new entertainment. The girl seen up close was peculiar. Her pitch-black hair, which seemed to absorb all light, her white and delicate face with neatly arranged features, and her wide, horizontally elongated eyes were captivating. Her slightly cloudy, pale face resembled an Eastern painting. Even Evan, who had encountered countless people, had never come across a girl like her before. However, when his gaze met her jet-black eyes, the feeling that arose within him was something quite familiar to Evan. Admiration for her appearance, fondness and shyness, a vague sense of anticipation. In reality, these were things Evan could see in the eyes of most girls his age who looked at him. “I guess my appearance works anywhere on Earth,” he nodded to himself, but on the other hand, there was a slight deflation. What was familiar was easy, and what was easy was boring. Evan quickly classified the new student in his mind. There was no need to be rude, but she wasn’t someone he would get involved with. If he just smiled, it wouldn’t affect his reputation. In fact, the category that included almost all of the Crawford students was something vague in Evan’s mind. It was a perception of ‘Oh, there was someone like that.’ It wasn’t long after Jin officially became a Crawford student that something began to prickle out of his hazy mass. * * * “Hmm. I think I’ll have one more drink, Taylor? Straight.” Evan lifted the red plastic cup and said. Inside the cup, three dice were lined up, showing 4, 5, and 6. “Nonsense!” Gasps erupted around him. Some eyed Evan with suspicion, wondering if he was cheating. It was his third straight in a row. Evan playfully raised both hands and claimed his innocence. “Ev.” Amid the chaos of the game trying to uncover the truth, someone interrupted and called out to Evan. It was Jonathan Hanson. “Taylor, let’s go to the pool.” Julia quickly stood up and gestured toward the pool. However, Taylor, distracted by Evan, didn’t step aside but instead motioned for her friends to go ahead. “I’ll stay a bit longer…” “Goodbye, Taylor.” Evan cut off Taylor’s words. Taylor looked at him anxiously, but instead of meeting her gaze, he only stared at his phone screen. Every time his long fingers swiped across the screen, all the accumulated alarms on his phone were cleared away. “Ah… Mhm. I’ll see you later, Evan.” The cold attitude made Taylor feel uneasy as she stood up and hesitated to say goodbye to Evan. When Evan smiled brightly and waved, the anxious expression on her face relaxed. She glared at Jonathan Hanson as she walked between the sofa and the table. Jonathan, who got a glare for nothing, shrugged with an expression of injustice. “Does it look comfortable? Some people are dying from clowning around.” As soon as Jonathan sat down in Taylor’s place, he started a fight. “In the next life, pray that you’ll be able to seduce a woman just by sitting.” Evan paused and looked at Jonathan from head to toe with a serious expression before adding, “Looks like it’s not happening in this lifetime.” Jonathan silently raised his middle finger to the brightly smiling face. “What is this?” Jonathan picked up the dice from the desk, tossing them in one hand and catching them as he asked. His eyes were scanning the people coming and going through the door, searching for someone who might be worth his attention. “A German drinking game.” Evan, who noticed the strange expression as if asking where he learned about this, calmly gave an answer. “The fifteenth man of dear Ms. Warren, or was it the sixteenth, was German. This is the only thing he left behind for our family.” Jonathan nodded with an expression that said he understood. “When did you get the dice?” “If you don’t want to play the clown, you gotta have something like this up your sleeve.” Evan snickered. “Why are you staying around without complaining about going home for once?” “I can still see home right in front of me, Johnny.” Evan whined to Jonathan, but Jonathan didn’t even pretend to listen. His friend had a knack for avoiding the attention of others no matter where he went. Just a while ago, he had been having fun with everyone, but if someone went looking for him, they’d find out the next day that he had simply gone home without a word. Jonathan took a sip of what he had brought, vowing not to take his eyes off this bastard. Since he had come in Evan’s car, it would be Jonathan himself who’d be in trouble if Evan suddenly disappeared. “Taylor will be next soon enough.” Jonathan, seemingly losing interest, shifted his gaze away from the people entering through the door and scanned the first floor. His eyes caught on Taylor in the corner of his vision. Taylor and Julia, who had headed to the pool, were now mixed into a noisy group playing a game, laughing loudly. “Well.” Evan followed Jonathan’s gaze and glanced at them, saying dryly. “I give it a week.” “I hope it lasts longer than that.” “I’m sure it will.” Jonathan treated Evan’s comment as a joke, but he was half serious. It was too much trouble to find another suitable person. American high school students had a peculiar way about them—there were numerous conditions to meet in order to maintain a so-called “cool” status. Excelling in sports was a given, but keeping up good grades was also a requirement. Another essential factor was how popular one was with the opposite sex. Boys were labeled cool based on how relaxed they were with girls and how well they didn’t act like nerds. The same applied in reverse. For the girls, their status was often measured by how impressive a trophy they had by their side. And in Crawford, Evan Butterfield was the biggest and most dazzling trophy of them all. In other words, it was a mutually beneficial arrangement. The girls needed a trophy, and Evan didn’t particularly reject the role. After all, they were also a necessary condition for maintaining his own reputation. It was a hassle, but not something he couldn’t go along with. ‘They like me, so there’s no reason for me to be disgusted and reject it.’ And Evan knew very well that the attention they gave him was not some kind of pure affection. Sometimes, when playing games like a child’s play, there were those who wanted the relationship to progress. These people would throw questions like, “We’re serious, right?” while wishing to claim each other and have control over the other. For Evan, it was an offer he truly wanted to decline. When he politely pushed them away, they would act as if they had never expected it, wearing a hurt expression. Along with that expression, they’d also ask, “Then why did you act like that all this time?” This kind of reaction always made Evan laugh. It was no surprise—nine out of ten who had brought up a “serious relationship” with Evan were kissing another guy by the following week. As for the one exception, within a month, they were announcing a “serious relationship” with someone else. As a series of events occurred, Evan’s thoughts gradually became more certain. The whole “lo-” whatever is nothing but an illusion. It’s just a hormonal reaction—neither eternal nor an emotion that will take responsibility for me. So, don’t be fooled. “Want to bet? I’m putting $100 on a week.” Jonathan made a bet about Taylor. Evan looked at Jonathan and smiled. “You have a lot of money, don’t you?” “You’ve got plenty of money. Ah, are you in or not?” Jonathan pressed Evan for an answer as he sneered. “Deal. I’ll do it for a month.” * * * Four days later, Evan and Jonathan’s bet ended in Jonathan’s victory. With a slightly tired feeling, Evan watched the hand moving towards his hair. It hadn’t even been a week since he made the bet with Jonathan, yet Taylor was bravely moving her hand toward Evan’s hair. Evan also knew the rumor going around Crawford. ‘Evan Butterfield only allows his favorite people to touch his hair.’ The first time he heard this, he and Jonathan had laughed so hard their stomachs hurt. He felt sorry for the girls who were lost in their fantasies, but Evan’s reason for not letting me touch his hair was far from romantic. Whenever someone touched his hair, a certain face would flash through his mind irresistibly. A beautiful woman with brown hair and green eyes, whose age was hard to guess. A face that had once stroked his hair while drunkenly shedding tears, the compulsion to smile clashing with the overwhelming scent of lilies. All of it made Evan uncomfortable. In an instant, it felt as if the ground beneath him had disappeared, leaving him feeling like a powerless little kid again. Just before Taylor’s hand could touch his hair, Evan grabbed her wrist first. Taylor, frozen with her wrist caught, met Evan’s gaze. His face still held a charming smile, but the eyes looking at her were cold. ‘What are you trying to confirm?’ Evan, not bothering to hide his displeasure, turned away from Taylor. Jonathan, who had been playing with a basketball nearby, chuckled at the sight. It seemed that the easy $100 was making his lips curl into a smile. Evan walked over to him, threw an arm around his shoulder, and exaggeratedly sniffled in a dramatic voice. “I don’t have any money, Johnny.” “Stop talking nonsense and give it to me.” The heartless Jonathan Hanson, not caring about his friend’s difficulties, poked him in the ribs and urged him to give up his money. “….” Evan, who was leaving the cafeteria while giggling, stopped in his tracks at the strangely unpleasant gaze poking his back. It has been a familiar gaze lately. Evan turned his gaze to find the source. This routine was starting to feel familiar. Sure enough, at the end of that gaze, he spotted black hair. The transfer student who had stirred up Crawford at the beginning of the semester. Her name was Jin Lee. A look that seemed to say, “I can see right through guys like you.” It was the very expression that had been irritating Evan for the past few days. ‘What do you know?’ The eyes that had initially looked at him with shyness and affection gradually turned into pitifulness and disappointment. If she didn’t like him, she could just look away—but even as the transfer student wore an expression of disapproval, her eyes kept trailing after Evan. Thanks to that, he got to watch exactly how her gaze shifted over time. But there was one thing the transfer student didn’t know—Evan Butterfield, after enduring an exhausting amount of attention, had become exceptionally skilled at reading people. The deepest emotions that the transfer student couldn’t hide were clearly visible to Evan. A girl who made it obvious she didn’t like him but couldn’t look away. A girl who tried to deny her own interest in him but failed to hide it properly. A smirk mixed with irritation appeared on Evan’s face. He was eager to uncover the things the transfer student was desperately trying to hide, wanting to see her admit with her own mouth that she liked him. Evan found something fun after a long time. Next chapter will be updated first on this website. Come back and
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