"But then Soo-young ended up having to cut her hair and now it's super short. It didn't fit her at first but then she began to grow into it and she's pulling it off! I'm kind of jealous, I'd never be able to pull off such short hair! Only chin-length for me." Haneul rambled on the other end of the phone.
"Even if she did end up pulling it off, that girl was so mean! How was she even able to chew gum in class?!... In front of your teacher?!" Lotus' cheeks puffed in frustration.
Soo-young, whoever she was, could've kept her hair if only the teacher stopped the other girl from chewing gum or if the girl sitting beside them alerted Soo-young or...or something! This made her so frustrated! She knew she shouldn't be getting upset over gossip, but it was hard not to.
Haneul giggled and continued, "Speaking about hair~ In-na~ How has your older brother been?~"
Lotus could practically see Haneul flustered as she thought about Jeongsoo. Ever since a year ago when Lotus posted a selfie with Jeongsoo on her sunstargram, Haneul has been smitten. It was funny to tease her when Jeongsoo interrupted their conversations at times. Once he had even taken Lotus' phone mid-video chat and said a few words to Haneul, unknowing to just how much he had broke the poor girl. When the phone was handed back to Lotus, Haneul could barely form a sentence, it felt as if her soul had left her body.
It was weird at first, her friend having a crush on her brother, but she got used to it. It wasn't so weird anymore as much as it was amusing. It was only expected, especially since many people commented how similar Jin and Jeongsoo were when Jeongsoo had his hair shorter. Which made sense since they were fully blood-related brothers. And, honestly, Jin seemed to frequently go on dates...with many different people. So he had to be a little bit good-looking, or just charismatic.
"Did you see his new post?" Lotus teased, a smile gracing her face.
"I did no–Yes, I did!" Haneul quickly switched up and told the truth, sounding eager to get it off of her chest.
"I knew it." Lotus hummed out.
"Just so you know, I happened to stumble across his account...again... And when I did, I just so happened to see his newest post, that by the way, he looks cute in. Seriously, he has no right looking that hot! Especially not when you're beside him! Dishonour I tell you! Dishonour!!"
"All he was doing was tilting his head to the side..."
Haneul almost choked, "Yeah! Tilting his head to the side and sticking his tongue out and doing that little hand through his hair thing and just aaaah—" She began to word spasm.
But she suddenly stopped, "Oh, I was going to ask, who's the busty woman that was hugging you?"
"That's Luna, she's my new big sis, I suppose." Despite Haneul not being there to see, she gave a shrug with her words.
"Big sis?!" Lotus winced at the scream.
Lotus hummed in confirmation as she recovered, "Yeah, she wants me to call her big sis. She's a friend of Jeongsoo."
Haneul gasped in horror. "Does that mean...wait...Ah! Why does life have to be so cruel?! She was so pretty and good looking and—he's going to be snatched up! No-ho-ho-ho-ho! Lotus, why didn't you tell me when you met her? Wha-ha-ha-ha!"
"Calm down Haneul, it's not what you're thinking! Luna's not dating him and he can't date her. She just wanted me to call her big sis because she's always wanted a sister! I've texted her from time to time these past two weeks and I've concluded that she's not interested in Jeongsoo and that she's nice! Eccentric, but nice."
Eccentric for sure. Luna quite liked to rebel against what societal standard was put against her. She mentioned that she didn't want to settle down and have kids by 30, wanted to keep her simple job which didn't require her to go to university— for the most part— and was for sure going to wear what she wanted despite looks from the older people on the streets. There was more to that list which scared Lotus at first, but she was growing fond of her new big sis.
"Hmph..." Haneul huffed through her nose, "Fine, I believe you. It's just that he's so, so, so cute and I would've thought he'd be more like your other brother."
Lotus rose a brow, "Which one?"
"The one with so many girlfriends! You know the one who is dating another girl right after another broke up with him?"
"Jin! You mean Jin. Nope, Jeongsoo's not like that!" Lotus chirped, "He's hasn't really been into other people—oh...um..."
She trailed off as she made eye contact with one of the people she passed. She slowed down, wide eyes looking elsewhere frantically.
"Uh, Lotus, what were you saying?" Haneul asked after she went silent.
She had looked for too long. She had acknowledged him on accident! Or he just wanted to poke fun, because he stopped.
"If it isn't the little kitten." The boy commented.
"Little kitten?" Lotus heard Haneul question before she lowered the phone from her ear.
"Hi!" She squeaked out.
This was—What? The ninth time they had run into each other? Lotus would've thought texting him on occasion would be enough for the universe to let her off the hook, but no. They once again were in front of each other.
Yes, she would have liked to befriend him but she kept forgetting being friends with someone who lives near you, you'd have to see them physically eventually. Not saying they were friends. They knew the smallest details about each other: names, ages, grades, but she was sure he didn't see her as anything but some entertainment. Though, that's kind of what friends were, right? Companions that made your life livelier by keeping you amused and busy?
"I thought you were avoiding this neighbourhood." He commented.
"I wasn't," She uttered, beginning to fiddle with the corner of her phone case, "I was just over here a few days ago. I could've sworn I had run into you then..."
"I'm joking." He stated, "I've been seeing you more."
"I don't know why," Lotus said, gazing at the sidewalk.
She didn't know if that was a curse or a blessing. There was no hint to which it was! On one side, she got to get more interaction which would definitely help her in the long run and on the other side, she had to constantly embarrass herself.
"Maybe it's a sign from the universe!" Haneul piped up, her voice faintly reaching Lotus' ears and hopefully not Donald's.
"Haha...I need to sit down..." Lotus awkwardly laughed out once she looked at the smirk that appeared on his face right after she heard Haneul. He heard her too. Just her luck, right? She needed to turn down that volume on her phone.
'I might need to throw up, too. Haneul...' Lotus thought and hunched over a little, setting her hand on her stomach.
To think she thought she was spared for the day. At first, she was thrilled that she finally felt okay with being forced outside because she got to walk around chatting with her friend over the phone, away from the bustling house that held a few more additional rowdy boys. Now those quaint butterflies in her stomach were ravenous beasts, eating at her lining in return for the spike of [negative] energy. She has to get used to it now that it was the small break during semesters and this was going to happen until everyone was back to school. This was a great way to start.
"Sit down before you vomit on the sidewalk," Donald said, sitting against the front of the building they were next to. He gestured for her to sit down as he did.
As much as she didn't want to loiter, she didn't want to hurl in front of people. Especially not someone who knew her personally and wasn't a very close friend or immediate family member! She sat next to him, however, leaving a big gap between them. Firstly, because she felt more comfortable that way and secondly, in case she did end up throwing up.
"I ruined it, didn't I? Awe, I'm sorry In-na!" Haneul exclaimed as Lotus set her phone to her ear, giving a hum before Haneul spoke to let her know that she could talk.
"Don't worry!" Lotus reassured her, "No harm done!"
Obviously, there was harm done. But she didn't want her friend to feel bad. No matter what difficult situation the girl had put her in.
"Then~" Oh no, she's up to something. Lotus quickly glanced at Donald before pressing the lower volume button on her phone before Haneul could speak more. She didn't have Haneul on speaker, but the volume of the call was loud. Her phone was a few years old so the quality slowly deteriorated. Mainly just the volume quality so she had her's high enough where she can easily hear whoever she was talking to. And usually, she was walking so no one could hear much of the conversation and be bothered, but when she was standing still with someone so close, the other person could hear them talking as well. Just ever so slightly. Whatever Haneul was about to say, she doubt she wanted Na to hear it.
"You wouldn't mind telling me who has got you so flustered?!" Her friend sang out.
"Uh...um...do you remember—" She began to hum out the rest of the sentence as to not directly mention the boy beside her, hoping that Haneul would understand.
"Ah...Oh...Oh! Lotus! This is even better! I'm going to end this call right now. Okay, little kitten?!~"
Lotus flushed as Haneul teasingly called her by that blasted nickname she already picked up from Na. "Haneul—!!" Lotus was about to scold her friend before the girl ended their call. Lotus puffed out her cheeks and stared down at her phone before her eyes flitted to the boy.
She couldn't see how Haneul was so excited about this. This was putting her into an embarrassing situation.
"You seemed more comfortable talking to whoever that was than you do around anyone else." He pointed out, noticing she was finally off of the call.
"I've known her for almost a few years now..." She murmured.
"That makes sense." He commented, his head leaning back, touching the wall behind them.
She couldn't help herself, the tattoos on his neck had captured her attention. They looked nice now that she was beginning to separate tattoos and piercings from her brother. They weren't coloured like the rose tattoo she saw on Ava's hand, but they were certainly works of art. All of the pain it must've been to get those tattoos seemed like they were worth it.
Maybe she would get a tattoo in the future, but she didn't quite know if that was a good idea. She could take a shot from the doctor's, but that times 50 or whatever?! She didn't know if she could do that. And what would her parents think if she were to get one?!
She almost jumped out of her skin as she saw that his eyes moved towards her. Her face began to feel warm and she quickly looked somewhere else. She was caught staring! Dang it.
"What? Like my tattoos?" He knowingly goaded.
"Yes! They're, um, they're nicely done!" It wasn't like she could try to deny that she liked them. He would see through that lie. Plus, what's complimenting them going to do? Nothing.
"Thanks, kitten~" He grinned as she gave him a reaction by burying her face in her hands. She was going to hate that nickname. It was almost as bad as Tteok. That silly name that she...used to hear.
He finally stopped trying to tease her and went back to leaning his head against the wall, pulling out a small box and a lighter. Lotus was lucky she was used to the smell of cigarettes thanks to Chance. But, she still couldn't help but cringe a little when he lit one.
They stunk and there was nothing appealing about smoking to her. She didn't know why so many delinquent kids would do it. Maybe it was to break more rules. Or maybe she was just biased because Chance does it. She bit her tongue, despite sitting against a wall, her stance was oddly tense.
"You're still nervous," Donald sighed out, still looking up towards the sky.
Her brows rose and she stammered, "I–Wait–Uh–I am?"
"Yes," He looked to her from the corner of his eyes once more, "Even after you've gotten to know me."
Know him? She barely knew anything important about him. But then again, he barely knew anything of that stature about her. But maybe he was right about her being nervous still.
She was maladroit, even more so around him. She had come to realize that despite having seen Kingsley a select few times, she held fewer nerves. But with him—with Donald, she was a mess. It was just that he was still so...scary. Unpredictable, unnerving, scheming... One second he could be emotionless, in another, he would be charismatic, and then a jerk!
"I never realized." She finally uttered.
He didn't respond this time. Unlike usual, she didn't have to think over why he said nothing and if she said something wrong. The silence wasn't awkward, it was kind of nice to her.
And— She looked over to see his attention wasn't on her currently— being next to him wasn't so bad. She didn't know why she dreaded seeing him at first. He wasn't that bad. Correction: he wasn't that bad at this moment.
The small appearance of positivity on her face was shortly replaced with disgust as more smoke drifted to her. He had look towards her again, amusement sparking in his eyes as she turned away.
"It caught me off guard." She puffed out, releasing the breath she held in.
"You should sit on the other side so it doesn't keep bothering you," He commented.
She shook her head, "I can deal with it."
And she could, but getting a big cloud of cigarette smoke to the face? She doubt many people could handle that. It was like a second of suffocation!
"I didn't take you as someone who would willingly be outside so much," He began talking again, "What are you doing here?"
Lotus compressed her lips, pulling her knees to her chest. Right, that. He guessed right. Most of the time she went out on an order or because she was forced outside. Going out was simply hell for her in one way or another. Somethings go wrong and make her feel embarrassed. She could get hurt and then she would have to do a walk of shame home. There were mean people who could target her or snap at her and make her feel like crying. Oftentimes, she loathed having to face any of that. But things happen.
"Chance wanted me to stay outside again," She finally uttered.
"He's your brother from before, isn't he?" Na questioned.
"Huh?" Lotus paused as she recounted her memories before nodding once realizing he only came across one of her brothers, "Yeah, him."
Na released a quick laugh from his nose, "He seems like a real big asshole."
"He's not. He's just...He...He is one." She finished with a sigh, resting her chin on her knees in a sort of sulk. There was no point defending him for that. She couldn't even deny it.
Na gave her that cocky smirk. "You ran out of luck there," He said.
She huffed with a pout. That was sadly true.
"I just don't get how a scaredy-cat like you has a guy like that as a brother." He commented, watching for her reaction, of which was still amusing to him.
She furrowed her brows and puffed out a cheek.
He was kind of rude.
ns 15.158.61.6da2
