While the teaching of reading in many English as a Foreign Language (EFL) context are commonly focused on identifying the formal aspects of the text, the textual responses on emotional and sociocultural level are rarely touched upon during the reading activities. Furthermore, reading is commonly treated as a mechanistic process devoid of both cultural and/or intercultural influences. Thus, a two-week Virtual Book Club (VBC) between 21 students from English Education Programme in Malmö University and 25 students at the English Department in Sanata Dharma University was established to explore the extent of student’s intercultural competence and awareness in reading a discomforting story of sadness. This descriptive research investigates students’ process of constructing the understanding and meaning making of sadness based on a picture book entitled Sad Book based on Hoff’s (2016) concept of intercultural reader and the three levels of communication. The students’ written reflections, the group discussion scripts and interview results were analysed and the implication of the research for the teaching of reading in the EFL context is discussed.