Coming clean about the broken phone wasn't so bad. Her parents did scold her and told her to be more careful, but it went well! It was just another moment of overreacting and her mind getting too ahead of itself. She would have liked to thank Kenny, but when he was over, he was always very busy hanging out with Chance. Which made sense since he and Chance were friends, not her.
Even so, Lotus had promised herself that she wasn't going to go out for the rest of the month. There was no way she wanted to stumble across another fight. No way!
Then her mom forced her to go with her outside just to get the phone fixed. Yeah, she knew it was her phone and therefore it was her responsibility, but she didn't want to socialize more after what happened. Yet she needed to swallow all those meddlesome feelings. She at least had her mother by her side so there was absolutely no way she would run into trouble.
The wait for the phone was an excruciatingly long thirty or so minutes. There was nothing to do but be dragged around to do the quick errands that needed to be done around the area. She was just happy to have not run into an embarrassing nor dangerous situation.
By the time they went back to pick up the newly fixed phone, she felt a tiny bit better to be out. Her good mood continued into the supermarket where her mom dragged her to get groceries. Not the best task for her when she was forced to go, but not the worst nonetheless.
Her phone was in her hands since her dress didn't have pockets and she didn't think to bring a bag. She didn't bother turning it on as she trailed after her mom, grabbing whatever she was told to grab for the woman. They had started with the dry goods and ended up in the snack aisle because her mom would always leave with something for Jin and Paz so they kept up their good work in school.
Honestly, it was probably because she didn't want them to end up like Chance and Jeongsoo. Chance was a barely passing student who always got in trouble and was basically a lost cause while Jeongsoo had dropped out to try to pursue his dream as a hairstylist. She just wanted sons who could be average citizens.
While her mom was deciding on what snack to get Jin, Lotus turned to the other side of the aisle, staring at the selection of candies that had begun on the shelves in the aisle. There were so many delicious looking ones and each package was attention-grabbing. Maybe it was just her candy-loving heart causing her to almost be love-struck at the sight of them lined on the shelf.
Her index finger tapped the fresh screen of her phone as she stared at each one, contemplating what to get if her mother allowed it. She had narrowed it down to a peach candy and a chewy milk candy. Yet, she couldn't choose just one out of those two.
'I haven't had peach flavoured anything in a longtime...' She trailed off in her mind.
She turned to ask her mom which candy was better only to slowly blink as she was staring at the back of a dark brown coat which was very much different from her mom's plain business casual fit. It was concerning to her that her mom was suddenly replaced by another person. She looked to the side before looking back.
One of the boys had turned his head, briefly glancing at her. All she had to say that he was tall. Tall enough to cause her to want to be in the next aisle over.
She almost twirled on her heels so she could speed walk away. Almost. A chuckle caused her to pause in her movement.
It wasn't just a chuckle of amusement, no, it sounded of cognizance. The tone was slightly hubristic, she had also noted. It confused her to the point she looked back towards them.
The other boy she took notice of this time. Blonde hair, tattoos peeking from his collar, those red eyes. He was that scary boy who she had seen fighting. This was enough to ruin her mood, changing it from okay to consternation.
"You got a new phone," He stated as if they were acquainted.
By now she was sure she looked like she had seen a ghost with her wide eyes and slightly agape mouth. She brought her phone to her chest as if it would give her protection. Perhaps it was just an unconscious move to protect it instead.
"Um... Uh, just a new screen," She reluctantly corrected.
Her breathing hitched when she noticed that he still wasn't leaving. Her mind raced with thoughts such as 'What did I do to get this much bad luck?!' and why the world had to be so small.
"Oh," He hummed out, "Good for you."
It was as if he was entertaining himself by spooking her like this. It wouldn't be far from him. Who didn't enjoy scaring someone so spineless?
The tall boy grabbed something from behind him, causing the blond to seem less interested in her as his head slightly craned to the side of him to look at what the boy had gotten. He was unnerving, but at least he got the blond boy to not be so invested in her. She had to at least appreciate that in her moment of panic.
He plucked the noodle chips from the tall boy's hand before leaning towards her. It was most likely her mind, but she could feel the searing heat from his hand as he patted her shoulder. It was probably just her, but she could swear the heat would set her dress on fire.
She sweated as he gave her a 'parting'. "Be careful next time," He had said before walking away.
Even if he had finally decided to put an end to messing with the poor girl, she couldn't help but stay in her spot until she couldn't see them. But once they were gone, she ran from the other end of the aisle to search for her mom, forgetting about the candy.
She glanced down each aisle, hiding her perturbation as she passed any other shoppers. There were a few times she had almost tripped over the white tiled floors as she took a sharp turn or almost ran into someone as she gazes the other way. She was just about to give up and call her mom, and maybe get ignored by her regardless, when her mom appeared near the checkout.
"Where did you go?" Her mom questioned, seeing her walking over.
Lotus gave a moment of silence before shrugging, not in the mood to tell her that she plain left her in a different aisle. Her mom hummed and continued looking over the shelf, allowing Lotus to take the basket from her, just in case her mom wanted to wander away again.
The day had slowed down even more since then. The dread of life shoving what she didn't want onto her caused everything to become that boring enervation. Getting home didn't come fast enough.
Walking through that door and being met with the walls of safety knowing that there was no way any rowdy strangers would be there was blissful. Then again, there was a chance that Chance was there. Usually, he was out a little after sundown, not having many punishments because of it due to their parents almost entirely giving up on him.
Lotus got to putting up the items they bought as her mom left to get ready for her late shift. Her father usually had normal 9-5 hours since he had an office job, so her mom handled late hours as a mortician. However, that really depended on the day since she was available at all hours and had a crazy schedule sometimes.
"Are you going to break your phone again?" Jin questioned, causing her to jump.
She gave a small huff and shook her head. That little boy always appeared out of nowhere. It was kind of concerning.
"No, I'm not. It was an accident," She sighed out.
He only gave an amused smirk and began looking through the remaining bag. The bag rustled over Lotus as she gave one more sigh. She was glad it shielded her sharp exhale or else he would've noticed her trouble.
Even so, it was hard not to notice her contorted features. Small wrinkles appeared on her forehead as her brow unconsciously upturned and her lips dipped down. He either didn't bother looking at her or just didn't care as he snatched a package of cream wafers out of the bag.
As he grabbed the carton of milk to pour, Lotus shift her weight to one foot and bit one of her nails. Jin was in year 8 and knew some kids from other schools because of primary school, so there was no reason for him to not know anyone outside of his current school. And what if by some chance the boy was in his school?
"Hey... Just curious, but, have you ever seen a boy with blonde hair and tattoos?" She asked with slight hesitance.
Jin stopped what he was doing, quirking a brow. "Why do you want to know?" He questioned back.
"No reason..." She trailed off before shifting to standing on her other foot, "I've run into this boy a few times and wanted to know if you saw him. He's kind of scary."
"Okay..." He trailed off, "I'll keep an eye out for any 'scary' looking tattooed guy. But almost every single hardass has some now so."
"Oh."
"I mean, look at Chance."291Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX5P7PmV0dD
