He had tried so hard. So very hard to keep away from the house. And if his friends insisted on coming around, he would have Lotus leave. But he didn't expect them to be so adamant about visiting before he had time to tell her to get the hell out. Maybe he shouldn't have told them about that new game he had managed to get off of some doofus.
'Motherfucker.' Chance thought to himself as he spotted the door to Lotus' room open from the corner of his eye.
He clenched his jaw, hoping that she would sneak past their attention and into the kitchen since it was next to her room anyway. When he did see that she tensed and paled as she looked over to them, it was a good sign. She wouldn't try to approach them.
It satisfied him even more when she began to quietly inch towards the kitchen, praying not to be noticed. Fate was against both of them though.
"Huh?" Kenny hummed, looking to the side after catching Chance side-eyeing something.
"Hey, Lotus!" He exclaimed, unknowingly and most likely helping her be led to her demise.
The others looked her way causing her to panic and force on a smile, giving an embarrassed wave. She quickly caught herself and slightly bowed her head instead, sweat beginning to form on her face.
"Aha, no need to be formal, Lotus!" He laughed out.
Chance groaned, throwing his head back while he internally screamed every swear under the sun. "Right, Lotus," He said in an abnormally calm voice, "Get some more chips for us."
That did not settle well in her stomach. It felt like it was flipping, in a bad way. That tone told of bad news. He was putting up a front in which underneath, he was fuming. She had heard it before when their parents were trying with all their might to punish him effectively and he had to apologize to her for making her cry. She hadn't heard it since until now.
She couldn't say she missed it because after those incidents happened, he was like a demon haunting her for a week. She would have rather been locked up in a cage with a real demon than face him. Lotus didn't look at them one last time before rushing into the kitchen.
'I might vomit.' She thought, clutching her stomach. Damn her nerves. They always made her feel like that.
When she was out of their sight, Kenny lightly elbowed Chance. "Awe, don't run your sister around," He nagged, "That's so mean."
"I don't do it all of the time," Chance dismissed, "It's not like I can. She's always gone when I get home."
One of his other friends, Jackson spoke up, "Where does she go? Isn't she the one that's a shut-in?"
"Hell if I know," Chance answered, "Does she even classify as a shut-in if she's leaving the house more?"
Ha-sun, the other friend gave a mischievous grin. "Has your wittle sister been seeing boys?" He taunted in a brief babyish voice, before laughing.
"What?" Chance scoffed, "No way in hell she'd be going out to visit anyone. She has the social skills of a rock."
"That's a shame. She's kinda cute...Hey, Chance, is she single?" Jackson asked only to flinch when Chance moved to punch him with a raised fist. Lucky for him, Chance stopped once he flinched.
"Chill out, dude! I was joking!" He awkwardly laughed out.
Chance clicked his tongue, "Disgusting. Why'd you even joke about that? She's weird as shit, I can't see how anyone would want to date her lame ass. Excluding you, you'd chase anything."
"It's all about the looks, dude," Jackson commented only to flinch again as Chance's fist got close to his face.
"It's good that she's going out more! Why don't you invite her to play soccer with us?" Kenny suggested, "Trust me, you're going to miss time with your siblings as they grow and get more distant."
In the kitchen, Lotus' forehead was leaning against the fridge. Her nausea hadn't left, but it had died down slightly.
'I should climb out of the window. But how am I going to get my shoes?' She thought.
She always had one pair at the front door and stored her other few in her room on their shelf. Either way, she would have to try to creep past them and it didn't work the first time.
She huffed, 'No! It's just getting them chips! That's all I have to do and then I can hide out in my room for the day! Or escape through my window!'
With newfound determination, she opened the pantry door and grabbed a large bag full of yummy, yummy octopus flavoured chips. Her nose scrunched up as she looked at it. Yeah, they could have these ones.
Hugging the bag to her, she slowly stepped towards where the boys were. That determination dwindled with each step she took. She didn't want to face them again but had to.
Unnervingly and silently, she set the bag on the small table in front of them and turned to leave.
'Good job, Lotus! You did it!' She cheered to herself.
"Lotus."
She paused, holding her breath as she turned back to them.
'I thought that too early.' She cried to herself.
"Wanna come with us to play soccer?" Kenny, the one who called to her, asked.
"I told you, she doesn't play sports," Chance butted in.
"What? She should get active." Ha-sun commented.
"Walking's enough activity for her." Chance grumbled.
"Obviously not."
"It is," Chance argued.
Kenny sternly stared at him, "She doesn't have to play. She can watch. Plus, my brother might be coming along. He could keep her company so she doesn't get too bored. What about it?"
"Okay." She answered for herself. This was a step to her goal! She didn't want to pass it up! Kenny was nice and brought her some kind of protection against whatever Chance would throw at her, and Chance would be too busy playing! Even if his brother didn't come, at least she took this chance!
"Great!" Kenny exclaimed.
Upon seeing the glare Chance was giving her, the nauseous feeling was coming back. She forgot that Kenny wouldn't always be there. She'd have to face Chance once they got home.
"Let's go then!" Kenny said, picking up the ball that was resting near them.
"Alright!" Jackson cheered as they all got ready to leave. Jackson made sure to grab the bag of chips that he was way too eager to open.
As he began munching on the chips, following Ha-sun out the door, a glower was burning into Lotus' side. The girl tried not to notice, but she had failed. This would be fun...
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The boys talked to each other carelessly as they walked to the field. Whatever topics they were talking about didn't interest Lotus as she trailed at a distance behind her brother. All she could do was rub her arms as she stared at the ground she was walking over.
She shouldn't have come.
He usually had this time for himself and she was crashing it, so she didn't blame him for looking at her with such a scary, terrifying glare when he glanced over his shoulder at times as if warning her of the bad choice. And she— only to be expected— felt out of place.
Despite growing up surrounded by boys, she still couldn't easily connect with boys unless they were her brothers. Unlike her with Haneul or her unnie Luna. And there was no way she had anything in common with anyone in this group, Chance included. Though, Kenny is the nicest.
Upon looking up, all she could see were the backs of the boys, blocking the view in front. If they weren't there, she would've been able to catch sight of the distant figure near the field. And the closer they got, the clearer they became. The waiting boy looked like Kenny with longer hair. That was no doubt his brother.
"Jake!" Kenny called out, speeding up and taking the lead in the group.
"I got a new friend for you," Kenny chuckled, gesturing behind him with the soccer ball that was in his hands, "She's Chance's sister."
"His sister?" Jake questioned, raising a brow before looking behind him at the group his brother left behind. He couldn't see much until the three began to run into the field. They had left the girl who was hard to spot and looked less than thrilled to be there.
Kenny chuckled after turning to look at her. "She's a little bit shy so you'll have to break her out of her shell. 'Kay?"
"Sure," Jake replied.
Kenny gave him a supportive pat on his shoulder before rushing off to start the mini-game between him and his friends. Jake peered at the girl, trying to get at least a small read of her. She didn't look like someone who was related to his brother's shady friend. She looked like someone his brother's friend would bully.
"Hey there!" He called out to her.
The way she looked up in a panic almost caused him to laugh. The girl cautiously walked to him.
"I'm Jake, Kenny's brother." He introduced himself.
"Lotus, Chance's sister." She greeted, giving a half-hearted smile.
He seemed nice.
'Don't get ahead of yourself! First impressions aren't everything!' She warned herself as they sat down on the bleachers.
"Do you know how to play soccer?" He questioned.
No, she did not. Sports never caught her eye. The competition just made her feel terrible. Kids weren't the best at sportsmanship, which she had to see for herself. And then there were the injuries one could get from sports. Those made her want to avoid them. If she had to witness another broken nose, she would cry...like always.
"Not really." She shyly answered.
"There's two teams. They score points by kicking the ball into the goal which is on their opponent's side. You win if you score more goals than your opponent." He told her.
"That's simple," She commented.
"But then there's the rules." He added.
He laughed when he saw her face drop. "Don't worry, I won't get into those."
Thank goodness. It was too early to be getting a headache! Early as in mid-afternoon, she didn't want a headache any time of the day.
"Do you read manga?" He questioned, watching as it piqued her interest.
"Yes, I do!" She answered, almost in a chirp.
Finally, someone asks! She waited to find someone who liked manga. Haneul was her girl, but she didn't like them even if she listened to Lotus go on and on about the ones she was reading.
"You do!" He seemed even more interested in the conversation, "Awesome!"
"Though, I don't know if you'd like the genre I mainly read." She awkwardly chuckled.
"Really?" He narrowed his eyes playfully, "How would you know?"
Could one put it past her to kind of assume that he wouldn't like cheesy stories like that? Even if he was a part of the demographic that josei catered to, a lot of them are an acquired taste.
"I–it–uh, it's more popular among women. That's all." She stammered out.
"Then what's your favourite one?" He questioned, playfully narrowing his eyes.
Oh boy! This was going to be good! She could barely pick just one!
"Ou-sama ni Sasagu Kusuriyubi!" She exclaimed, picking the first one that came to mind.
"I've never read that." He commented.
That sucked. But she still had a long list!
"Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai?"
"Nah."
"Gozen 3-ji no Muhouchitai?"
"Those are some weird titles."
What more proof did she need? She didn't want to whip out the ones like Coffee & Vanilla and Love Phantom... Especially not Coffee & Vanilla.
She crossed her arms childishly, "See, I told you."
"Dang, maybe you're right." He said, "What about...Two Piece?"
Oh geez.
"That's so long..." She deadpanned, "Even the anime is long."
"So you know Two piece!"
"I've only watched the first season." She pursed her lips.
She wasn't one to stick to one anime for a long time. That's why she stuck to manga. At least she could finish the whole thing before moving to the next volume or series.
On the field, the older boys were kicking around the ball in a small, depressing game of soccer with no goalies. It was more like practice for them!
"Were you aiming at my nuts on purpose?!" Jackson snapped in pain as he was kneeling over.
"Yeah, kinda." Ha-sun retorted.
Jackson slowly lowered himself to the ground, cradling his poor pp. "I'm sitting this out." He strained to say.
"You can thank me later, Chance," Ha-sun commented before running to get the ball that was rolling away.
"Looks like they get along," Kenny commented as he was watching the bleacher.
Chance turned to look, seeing the two. Lotus actually looked like she was enjoying talking to Kenny's brother. She looked passionate, too.
He clicked his tongue, looking back to his friend.
"Is he gonna follow you?" Chance questioned.
He could see the slightly tense of the orange-haired boy's jaw. His change in demeanour didn't go unnoticed by Chance, the boy who had befriended Kenny for years. But he didn't know how to interpret it. It could be a no that he didn't want to say or it could just be in distaste of the question.
There was no answer as Kenny stared at the scene of Lotus covering her face with her hands as his brother laughed.
"What do you think they're talking about?" He asked in place of an answer he should've given.
Sitting down at a distance away from the older boys, Lotus covered her face and shook her head, "That was so bloody! I had to put it down!"
"It's in black and white," Jake chuckled.
"The premise is still there!" She argued.
Even without colour, the way it's drawn was gory and scary! One didn't need it to be red to see a body being pierced!
"But you did make it past the scene where he's tortured by Yamori, right?"
"What?!" She exclaimed.
Uh... "Tortured"?!
"Where did you stop reading?" Jake asked, quirking a brow.
"When he woke up in the hospital with the weird eye."
"..."
"..."
"..."
"Is that bad?" She finally asked.
"I think it's best you didn't read anymore." He said.
She should've known by the title! Anything with 'Ghoul' wasn't going to be pretty! At least she was grateful she didn't continue reading it based on his reaction.
"The decision was a good one then." She sighed in relief.
"Not a fan of blood, okay. I can work with that." He commented, "There's plenty that doesn't have gore. Uh, what about Fairy Tail? You seem like the type who likes it."
"Fairy Tail is—um..." They both looked to her bag where the sound of a ringing phone was coming from.
"I'm going to take that." She took this chance to dive for her bag and check the caller ID.
Him?
Well, it's not like she could keep her oldest brother waiting. She answered and put the phone to her ear.
What she expected wasn't the voice of a woman. "Heya! It's your big sis!~"
"Why are you calling from Jeongsoo's phone?" Lotus asked.
But was she so surprised? No.
"He decided it would be a good idea to run around the sidewalk like an idiot and knocked into me," Luna explained, huffing in irritation as she had to think about her shattered device.
"Oh...So your phone's broken." Lotus slowly said.
"A car ran over it! The bastard ended up pushing me into the street!" She went on to complain, "I don't know how you survive with him!"
"He's not that rowdy."
She was lying. Jeongsoo was super energetic. Burnouts rarely came to him and he was always moving. Even in the morning, he acted like he had a litre of caffeine. He was the one non-morning people feared.
"Right. Enough about that peasant. Your unnie would like to ask you to bring Jeongsoo's uniform!"
Lotus rose a brow as she heard Luna gasp in disdain before hearing a struggle.
"Hey, don't yank the phone! I'm talking to your sister!" Luna yelled.
"Uh, I don't care." That was Jeongsoo, she could always tell.
After more aggressive scuffling noises, she heard his voice clearer than before. "Gimme!"
He took a few seconds to compose himself before clearing his throat and talking to her, "Lotus, I need my uniform. I go to work in an hour and I don't have it."
"Why can't you get it yourself?"
"Because!" He whined, "I kinda ended up breaking one of the table's chairs in front of dad and what if he's there? I don't wanna get in trouble!"
This dude...almost completed with high school doesn't want to get scolded by his own father whose lectures weren't as bad as their mother's. Not only that, he always found himself in the weirdest situations. She wanted to know how he broke one of the chairs.
"Please, Lotus! I asked Jin and Paz and they both told me no. And I don't wanna ask Chance!" He pleaded.
"I..." She sighed, "Okay, I'll bring you your uniform."
"Thanks! Ugh, this is why you're my precious sister! Love you!"
"Now give it back to me!" She heard Luna whine before the call ended.
Reluctantly, she turned towards her newfound acquaintance. This sucked, she was getting deep into their conversation, too. She never had someone to mutually talk to about this anime and manga stuff so this would be missed.
If she declined to get his uniform she could've kept talking to Jake, but she just couldn't tell Jeongsoo 'no' for something as small as that! Bros before hoes, ya know. Though, here it would be bros before...bros?
'Bros before bros doesn't make sense. But bros before ho—that isn't nice!' She sorrowfully thought.
"I'm sorry! I have to go!" She exclaimed to Jake, clenching the strap of the bag she put her phone in.
"Don't worry about it. Let's talk some other time." He waved her off.
"Bye!"
"I'll be sure to read Dame na Watashi ni Koishite Kudasai!" He called out to her as she quickly hopped to the ground.
"You don't have to!"
'You really don't have to.' She thought in a fret.
Her leaving form caught the eye of Kenny who turned more to watch the girl run away from the field. It didn't look like anything bad happened by the content look of Jake's face. However, it still left him wondering...
"Where's she going?" Kenny questioned.
Chance's eyes narrowed, kicking the ball that sped towards him. "I have no idea." He stated.
'Fucking finally.'
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