IASHCY 10

Chapter 10 …

Harry ignored the sensation of every hair on her body standing on end and focused only on tying the bow tie.

But she could feel his gaze against her skin far too vividly.

Even though he had not touched her, it felt as though she were being caressed.

And then there was his unique scent.

As his distinct fragrance—one unlike anyone else’s—grew stronger, her nose began tingling as though she might sneeze at any moment.

‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

Was he surprised that a girl knew how to tie a bow tie?

Or maybe…….

The moment she cautiously lifted her eyes, their gazes met.

“What?”

“Nothing.”

The unexpectedly bland answer eased Harry’s tension, and she let out a small laugh.

A beat later, Aymus struck while her guard was down.

“I was just thinking you must’ve tied JJ’s bow ties for him too.”

Again.

Aymus kept suddenly bringing Jesse into things.

She could not understand his intentions.

‘Maybe he and Jesse actually aren’t that close?’

Maybe that was why he kept comparing himself to Jesse and acting competitive toward him.

Harry was frowning slightly as she looked up at Aymus when—

Click.

The sound of a camera taking a picture came from beside them.

“You two look good together.”

“Mom…….”

Just a moment ago, the camera had been in her father’s hands.

But somehow, her mother was now the one taking pictures of the two of them.

“What? It’s not like I said anything wrong.”

“Mom, please…….”

“I’m just saying it feels refreshing seeing you with another boy for once instead of always stuck to Jesse.”

At her mother’s words, Harry pressed a hand to her forehead while Aymus laughed quietly.

Thanks to that, her mother became even more triumphant.

“See? Even Aymus likes it.”

“……Please just hurry and take the picture.”

Harry wanted to escape this place as quickly as possible.

Not even knowing whether she was laughing or crying anymore, she absentmindedly took the pictures.

She did not even have time to check how they turned out.

“We’ll be going now.”

“Have fun!”

Harry grabbed Aymus by the wrist and practically fled the house.

“So where are we going now?”

She let go of his wrist as she asked, only for him to grab her again.

“You’ll see when we get there.”

“…….”

“Get in the car first.”

This better not be boring.

Harry glared at Aymus before climbing into the car.

Even if he ended up taking her somewhere weird, she did not really care.

It would simply give her one more thing to complain to Jesse about later.

She heard Aymus walk around the hood of the car and sit in the driver’s seat, but Harry stubbornly kept staring out the window.

No matter what they did today, she had already decided she absolutely would not enjoy herself.

Unlike the students heading to the school gymnasium to enjoy the homecoming party, Aymus and Harry arrived at a live music club tucked away in an alley of the entertainment district.

“You want us to go in there?”

At first glance, it definitely did not look like a place high school students would frequent.

Seeing Harry hesitate at the entrance, Aymus reassured her.

“It’s fine here. My uncle owns the place.”

“No, that’s not…….”

That was not the issue at all.

Harry squeezed her eyes shut as a headache began pounding in her temples.

Then, after taking a deep breath, she made up her mind.

“Fine. Let’s go in.”

After coming all the way here, turning back now would be ridiculous.

At the very least, she wanted to see what the inside looked like, so she stepped into the club.

“Well? Better than you expected, right?”

Annoyingly enough, Aymus was right.

Unlike the shabby-looking sign outside, the interior was clean, and the atmosphere was not bad at all.

On the stage at the very back of the club, a singer with a guitar was performing lively country music, while customers sang along with drinks in hand.

“There’s even a rodeo ride here.”

Aymus leaned close to Harry’s ear and whispered conspiratorially while she looked around the club.

‘Like that’s some incredible secret.’

It was ridiculous, but Harry played along anyway.

“If there’s something like that, you should’ve told me earlier. I would’ve changed clothes before coming.”

“I guarantee you wouldn’t even last one minute before getting thrown off.”

Harry immediately took the bait at Aymus’s mocking challenge.

“Oh really? Then let’s see how long you can stay on.”

She was just about to challenge him further when someone approached them cheerfully.

“Well, well, handsome boy. What brings you here?”

“Uncle.”

After greeting him with a fist bump, Aymus introduced Harry.

“This is Harry Lee. Harry, this is my uncle, Ben Huntington.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too.”

As Harry shook Ben’s hand, she secretly smiled to herself.

Both Ben and Aymus had black curly hair.

‘Must run in the family.’

She had not met Aymus’s father yet, but she felt like she would recognize him instantly even on the street.

“But what’s a beauty like you doing with my nephew? Did you commit some crime and get sentenced to community service or something?”

“Is that really something an uncle should say?”

Watching the two men bicker, Harry burst out laughing.

It was almost embarrassing how she had confidently declared earlier that a day without Jesse could never possibly be enjoyable.

“I didn’t commit any crimes. Aymus said he’d show me a good time, so I came with him.”

At Harry’s answer, Ben playfully raised an eyebrow.

“Then why bring you here? Is he dumping the responsibility of entertaining you onto me?”

“What kind of nonsense are you talking about? Out of everyone I know, you’re the most boring person.”

Aymus delivered the ruthless remark without even blinking.

“You little brat…….”

The comment hit hard, especially since Ben had previously been dumped by ex-girlfriends who complained that he was too serious and boring.

Having taken a major hit, Ben hurriedly changed the subject.

“Anyway, pick a drink. What do you want?”

Aymus looked toward Harry, signaling for her to choose first.

She hesitated since she did not know what was on the menu, but Aymus ordered for both of them instead.

“Two root beer floats.”

Harry’s eyes widened.

Despite the name, root beer float—a non-alcoholic root beer topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream—just so happened to be Harry’s favorite drink.

“Root beer float, my ass. You can drink water.”

Ben snapped at Aymus before turning to Harry with a friendly smile.

“I’ll bring them right over. Go sit wherever you’d like.”

“Yes, thank you.”

“What a two-faced hypocrite.”

Aymus grumbled toward Ben’s back as he headed off to make the drinks.

“I didn’t know you liked root beer too.”

Harry was not upset that he had ordered for her without asking.

Even if he had not, she would have chosen the exact same thing anyway.

More than that, she was simply surprised to discover something in common with Aymus, someone who otherwise seemed completely different from her.

Aymus slowly turned his head to look at her.

“Really?”

His reply came a little late.

But since Harry was lost in thought, she did not find anything strange about it.

“Come to think of it, you only ate salmon sandwiches at lunch too, didn’t you? Your taste is really similar to mine.”

“What a coincidence.”

Aymus said that with a smile.

For some reason, he looked like someone who did not want to continue talking about this topic.

‘Does he dislike having things in common with me?’

Harry had thought they had become somewhat close, but maybe that was not true after all.

‘He really is impossible to figure out.’

Sometimes he seemed to think of her as a friend, and then moments like this made her unsure again.

Then again, when she really thought about it, even the idea that Aymus and Jesse were actually close friends had always been a little questionable from the start.

Suddenly, Harry found herself curious about the boy named Aymus Huntington.

And she also needed something to focus on so she would stop thinking about Jesse standing her up.

“You seem really close with your uncle.”

After taking a seat at a table not too far from the stage, she asked the question.

Aymus shrugged.

“Aren’t you?”

“Not really. All my relatives are back in Korea.”

“Ah…….”

He looked apologetic, as though he had not considered that.

“It’s okay. You don’t need to feel bad. It’s not like you said anything wrong.”

At Harry’s words, he nodded and tapped his fingers lightly against the table.

Thinking he was focusing on the music, Harry stopped talking, but this time he asked another question instead.

“The other day, you said your younger brother wants to go back to Korea.”

“I said something along those lines, yeah.”

“What about you? If you could go to college in Korea, would you want to go back?”

“Hmm…….”

It was such an unfamiliar question because she had never seriously thought about it before.

After thinking for a while, Harry shook her head.

“No.”

Even though Jesse lived in the same city, it was already difficult enough to see him.

If she moved to Korea, their phone calls and messages would gradually become less frequent, and eventually their friendship would naturally fade away.

“I’d still stay here.”

After hearing her answer, Aymus relaxed the fist he had been clenching tightly and leaned back against his chair.

“I see.”

For someone who had asked the question first, it was a surprisingly insincere response.

Harry was glaring at him, wondering why he had bothered asking in the first place, when Ben returned carrying their drinks.

“What’s with the mood? Did you two already get into a fight?”

“We didn’t.”

Harry denied it, but Ben clearly did not believe her at all.

He smacked Aymus hard on the back.

“Then go join the couple’s dance competition later. Don’t sit around making miserable faces and ruin the atmosphere in my club on such a nice day.”

“……What competition?”

Harry wrinkled her nose.

They had gone through all the trouble of avoiding the homecoming party, only to be told to dance here too?

“By the way, first place gets an incredible prize.”

But Harry became slightly interested at Ben’s additional comment.