Chapter Four

For the thirty eighth time I glanced over at my cell phone that laid still on my bed.

I shook my head and tried to concentrate on the Mr. Simple music video that was playing from my laptop.

My focus only lasted for seven seconds where Donghae appeared for his solo, and again I started to think about my father’s new assistant.

I let out a frustrated grunt and grabbed the phone off my bed.

“Lee HyukJae…you better pick up this time” I mumbled to myself.

I listened to the never ending tone as the other end failed to pick up.

“YOU STUPID BLONDE HEADED THING. PICK UP THE DAMN PHONE!” I yelled pointlessly at the wall in front of me.

That’s it.

Something must have happened yesterday afternoon after I left my father’s store.

 

I knocked softly on the door to the study and heard my father curse crudely under his breath.

“What do you want?!”

“A-Appa…I have something I want to ask you about…”

“You may enter, but make it quick”

I nudged open the door and stepped into the room.

My father was hunched over the desk, tapping at the calculator and scribbling down several figures on his monthly profit chart.

After completing one week’s worth of calculations he rubbed his temples and let out a loud sigh.

He lay back in his chair and took off his glasses.

“So what is it? I’m busy here you know”

“Well I was just wondering about-“

“HyukJae, right?”

I casted my eyes down and nodded.

He laughed coldly.

“Well it’s none of your business”

“So it does have something to do with you…”

He scoffed.

“So what if it does? It still has nothing to do with you”

I knelt by his desk and held his arm with both hands.

“Appa, please tell me what’s wrong with HyukJae…”

He shook me off aggressively.

“IT’S NOTHING! Why do you care so much about that kid anyway?! If it weren’t for me you would have never met him in the first place!”

I bit my lip and tried to fight back my emotions.

Why is my father like this?

 

“No, no. That’s not how you do it, remember what I said before? You have to balance the chemical equation like this, put this next to oxygen and that next to calcium nitrate” the old tutor lectured.

I sighed.

“I would have understood this long ago if you had been HyukJae…” I murmured to myself.

“Hm? What was that?” the elderly man hummed, studying my unbalanced equation.

“Oh nothing, uh…hold that thought Cho songsaenim, I need to go to the bathroom” I said quickly before leaving my seat.

“W-Well come back soon, your appa isn’t going to be happy with you if you take too long!” he called after me.

I nodded and waved my hand at him before pushing the door open into the bathroom.

 

I scanned the bathroom. It was empty.

I stepped into one of the cubicles and locked myself inside before pulling my cell phone out of my back pocket.

“Yeoboseyo appa?”

“What are you doing calling me? You should be with Cho songsaenim”

“I am…but I really hate this! I can’t concentrate and I don’t understand a thing!”

“Just listen to me. Stop thinking about HyukJae”

“B-But I’m not…”

“Don’t lie. Now stop wasting your tutoring time, do you know how expensive Cho songsaenim’s services are?! So just try harder”

“Well okay, but only on one condition!”

“What is it now? You want Super Senior’s album? Deal”

“Appa, it’s Super Junior...but anyway, no I don’t want that. I will work harder if you let me talk to HyukJae”

“I can’t. He’s not at the store”

“WHAT?! He didn’t turn up to work?!”

“No, I sent him out on an errand just now”

“Thank god…then when he comes back can you tell him I called?”

“Just leave it. I’m not going to be the third wheel, now don’t keep Cho songsaenim waiting. Go back and revise”

“Yah appa…when did you become the third-“

*beeeeeeeeep*

 

“Thank you Cho songsaenim, please drive safely. I’ll see you next week!” I said, waving goodbye to the old tutor.

“Young lady, I’ve been a tutor for a long time and I know when you children aren’t happy. If you really don’t enjoy my services I can try to talk to your
father for you”

“I’m sorry songsaenim…you are really very wise, but I just find it easier with my previous tutor”

“Don’t worry, I will talk to your father. You’re an intelligent girl so don’t waste any opportunities”

“Yes thank you songsaenim, I will”

“And that boy over there, I think he’s looking for you”

I raised my eyebrow and turned around.

There was a desperate looking blonde peering into the library, breath fogging up the glass every time he exhaled.

“Yah HyukJae!”

His whole body froze and his face stiffened.

Ignoring my call he his heels and started down the opposite way, pace growing faster.

I rushed after him, “HyukJae! Stop!”

Reaching out I grasped onto his hand.

I hunched over and tried to catch my breath again.

“H-HyukJae…w-why are you like this?” I puffed.

He pulled me up so I stood upright again.

Avoiding my eyes, he apologised.

“I’m sorry…”

“Don’t say sorry, just tell me why you’re avoiding me. I thought something serious happened, I was really worried about you”

“It’s nothing like that…”

“Then WHAT?!” I shouted in frustration.

“I think it’s better we leave things like this”

“No please, do you think I like it like this? HyukJae, you can’t avoid me forever. I won’t let it happen”

“Please learn to avoid me too, your appa thinks I’m a distraction to you”

“You’re not a distraction…”

“Then tell me, did I ever cross your mind during your tutoring session just then?”

“I-I…that was only because you went missing!”

“Missing? The last time you saw me was less than twenty four hours ago!”

“Well that means I missed you, you idiot…” I murmured to myself.

“Hm?”

“Nothing. So what about you then huh?! I must have crossed your mind more than once, at least enough times for you to have the nerve to lie to appa and come to the library during work”

HyukJae parted his lips to retort but none of his comebacks were of any use.

I smirked.

Lee HyukJae, I’ve won this battle.

“So…that makes us even right? I’m your distraction, you’re my distraction. Deal?”

A smile crept upon HyukJae’s flawless face and he slipped his hands into his back pockets.

“Deal”

 

“Umma~ I’m home!” I called, shutting the door behind me and slipping off my shoes, one hand on the door frame.

My mother sped down the hallway and almost collided into the shoe cupboard.

“Thank god you’re home, what took you so long?! Your tutoring with Cho songsaenim ended two hours ago, I thought you hated the idea so much you ran away from home!”

I laughed and put my hand on her shoulder.

“Please umma, don’t be so dramatic. Do you really think your daughter is like that?”

My mother followed me to my room, nearly stepping on my heels more than twice.

Very subtle umma, very.

I sat down on my bed and my mother remained obediently at the doorway.

“Umma, come in! What are you doing just standing there?”

She stepped inside and settled down on my computer chair, spinning around to face me.

“H-Honey…”

“Come on umma, I know you want to ask me something. Spit it out”

“W-Well I know you don’t like me asking you where you’ve been and who you were with etcetera, but…”

“I was with HyukJae, we bumped into each other at the library after tutoring and he took me to Starbucks for a little while”

My mother pounced forward and grabbed hold of my hands.

“You were really with HyukJae?! Oh my, was it a date?!”

I rolled my eyes.

“No umma, it wasn’t a date. You think too much!”

She sat down on the bed next to me.

“But there’s gotta be something right?!” she teased, nudging me.

“There’s nothing, trust me, nothing! Besides, appa would kill HyukJae before anything could even happen”

“Well that’s true…but hey, don’t let your old man get in the way, umma will support you!” she said, bringing up a clenched fist.

I laughed a little, “Umma, you really are a joke”

 

“No hold on! Umma, you pick it up!”

I glanced once at the number displayed on my phone.

It was my father calling from the store.

“It’s just your appa, and it’s your cell phone. He’s expecting you to pick up!”

“But if you answer it’ll be more believable!”

“Make what more believable?!”

“Just answer the call first, I’ll explain later!”

She let out an agitated sigh and spoke into the phone.

“Yeoboseyo? Ah yeobo, it’s you…w-why am I answering our daughter’s phone? Well she uh…”

I pointed towards the kitchen and mimed a flat surface with my hands.

“The kitchen bench!” I mouthed.

“Yes, she left it on the kitchen bench and since it was convenient I decided to pick up the call seeing it was you, yeobo”

I gave my mother a thumbs up and encouraged her to continue.

“You’re asking about when she came home? Well she came home not too long ago”

I waved my arms about and shook my head.

“No! Not that!” I growled through clenched teeth.

I brought my hands together and opened them again, as though I was reading a book.

She hovered the phone slightly above her ear as my father's voice boomed through the speaker.

"No no, that's not it, calm down a little! What I meant was I just came home a little while ago…from uh…grocery shopping. Our daughter came back straight after tutoring, really"

I breathed out a sigh of relief.

"W-What? No, HyukJae wasn't with her when she came home. Why would you think that? He would've been working at the time"

I mimicked a running pose, pretending I had a clip board under my arm and a toolbox in my other hand.

"H-HyukJae must have been out on a…run! Oh no wait, I mean errand! How could he have been with her? Stop worrying, yeobo. Come home soon, dinner will be ready when you arrive"

My mother quickly hung up the phone and looked seriously at me.

"Why is your appa like this? He's being all HyukJae this and HyukJae that"

"Well...I don't think appa is very fond of HyukJae"

"For goodness sake, if your appa didn't like him he wouldn't have been hired"

"It's not really that, appa doesn't like the fact that HyukJae is being a 'distraction' to me"

"Oh my...that appa of yours, who is he to decide who your friends are?! Wait until he comes home-"

"Umma, don't. We don't want to enrage appa any more. You know what his temper is like"

"Well...well what can we do?"

"This isn't something for you to ponder over umma, just leave it to me and HyukJae. We'll work something out, and appa won't find out a thing"

"Well okay, I'll leave it to you two children then, and I promise I will keep my mouth shut. I can't afford to lose this perfect future son-in-law of mine!"

"Umma, I told you once and I'll tell you again. You really are a joke!" 

A/N: Sorry for not updating within a week >_< Skip Beat/Extravagant Challenge has just come out and I'm helping with subbing so please bare with me! Anyway back to the story...do I see a little love spark here hm? Each others' distraction eh...and little fan girl really is good at winning arguements! Oh gosh...her/your father is getting irritatiting isn't he?! What's so bad about Hyukkie?! But your mother is HILARIOUS. Let's see what this conflict will bring to the story...

@purplekpop: Thank for double commenting~ I love reading them! Thank you for telling me how to space out my chapters more, it makes writing it easier too! I don't know why I didn't do it in the first place! I was on a high when I was writing Hyuk's description...I swear I was drooling to myself lol. Hyuk is beautiful and that's why I love writing about him. Thank you ^^ I try my best to write well. err yeah about that...he's IS a HUGE obstacle as you can see in this chapter...not even old umma is pleased!

"My god the way he stares...his jawline is killing me, really..."