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My heart was beating so fast when I got closer look at Lay’s family. They were looking at me suspiciously. While walking to them, I could see four persons who stood there. There were two young girls, one guy and one older woman.

“Hi Mom, happy birthday!” Lay hugged his mother as soon as we reached them.

The woman which Lay called Mom was very beautiful considering she had a son as old as Lay. She didn’t look like average women in her age. She had a gorgeous face and slim body which just looked like Lay version of woman. She wore an elegant purple gown with jewelries on her neck, hands and fingers.

The lady released Lay and now facing me. Her eyes were inspecting me from head to toe and it made me froze.

“Happy birthday, Ma’am.” I said suddenly.

 

I extended my hand but she suddenly turned to Lay again ignoring me. I didn’t know I should smile or not.

“Is she your friend?” her voice was soft but intimidating.

“No Mom, she’s Jihyun, my girlfriend. I’ve told you before.” Lay answered, “Don’t tell me you forgot!”

“No, no. I just thought she would be prettier?” she chuckled.

Two girls beside her giggled while a tall guy at the left smiled half-heartedly. I felt hot on my face and I didn’t dare to look at them.

“Oh my! Look, she’s so shy! Tell her I’m just teasing, Lay!” Lay’s mom laughed.

 

I raised my face again, feeling relieved because she was only joking. But when I looked at her, the lady had gone to other guests.

Lay patted my shoulder softly, “I’m sorry, my mom love to joke.”

“Really?”

I was sure that joking usually didn’t mean to make other party felt unpleasant. But maybe I was just insecure in this party.

Suddenly, one of the girls pulled Lay’s closer while leaning to him, “Oppa! How are you? I missed you so much,”

Was she his sister? Wow, she was really pretty! She looked almost like a doll with her blonde hair. She was tall and slim and… y. That cleavage was so-what should I say? Attractive? They sure had good genes.

Lay surely looked annoyed. Maybe he was too shy that his sister showed her affection in such a place.

 

The other girl stared at me and smiled, more like nonchalantly smile. This one had a long black hair and looked very graceful. I thought this was people meant with real beauty? Beautiful without effort.

“Hi! I’m Krystal!” she said while her hands still folded in front of me.

So I decided not to extend my hands again, “Hi! I’m Jihyun!”

“Aww, how rude you are! Shouldn’t you shake hands at first meeting?” the blonde girl intruded.

“Uhm- I-“ I stuttered.

I thought all of them didn’t want to touch my hands, like their mother before?

 

“It’s okay. It isn’t important anyway,” Krystal said with flat expression.

“By the way Unnie, you shouldn’t cling to other’s boyfriend!” she grabbed the blonde girl from Lay.

I smiled to them, they apparently seemed nice. Not like their mother.

“It’s okay. Sisters are allowed to show affection to their brothers, aren’t they?” I chuckled, “How could a girlfriend not allowing that?”

Then the three of them burst into laughter. They were very loud as people around started to looking at us.

 

“Oh my? So you think I was his sister?” the blonde girl still laughed, “Of course she didn’t feel insecure, ahahaha.”

“Stop it, Nana!” Lay scoffed.

“It’s funny! Sorry, Lay!” she replied.

Then she came closer to me, whispering in my ear, “I’m Nana. Lay’s ex.”

I gasped when she backing off. She looked satisfied watching my expression.

“Am I still allowed to show my affection?” she laughed again.

Damn! This girl!

 

“I’m Lay half-sister, by the way. He’s my older brother. His dad is my mom first husband.” Krystal spoke.

It diverted my attention from Nana, but I still felt uneasy. I wanted to know about her from Lay later. Why didn’t he tell me about his ex-girlfriend? In fact, he never told me about his past love lives. How if Lay had more than one ex? And if they were all like Nana…oh, no!

I looked at Lay with questionable eyes. He smiled at me like usual. Lay, didn’t you realize that I’m confused? I want your explanation! But it seemed like he didn’t think that I’m disturbed.

“Let’s go Unnie! Better find our friends!” Krystal pulled Nana with her while they walking away from us.

 

“Lay!” his mother called from afar.

Lay looked at me with slight hesitation, “I’m sorry Jihyun. My mother wants me. It looks like she wants me to greet some people.”

“Oh, okay!” I clutched on his hands and sorting out my dress.

“Uhm, Jihyun-ah…”

“Hmm?”

“Could you stay here with Tao? I’m sure he’ll take care of you.” he stared at me uncomfortably.

“Don’t come with me, it’s boring! I promise you it’ll be quick!” he added.

 

“B-but-“ before I could say something, he was gone.

Uh, Lay. What should I do in this party? I realized that it would be hard for me to go along with the guests. They were in a different class compared to me. My fruit cake was still in my hand. Right now, I wasn’t sure that I would be confident to give it to Lay’s mom.

“Not sure what to do, huh?” a husky voice startled me.

The one who called Tao approached me. As I said before Lay’s family indeed had good genes. He was tall and slender with slightly tanned skin. I didn’t pay attention to him earlier but apparently he was handsome. Not handsome like Lay but more like cool as bad boys that you often saw in movies.

Different from others, he wore a black leather jacket and ripped pants. It looked like only the two of us who didn’t fit in this occasion.

 

“Who are you?” I asked.

“Tao.”

His intense eyes bore into mine and suddenly I felt hot in my face.

“N-no, not your name. I mean, what’s your relation with Lay?” I stuttered.

“Step brother.” he answered.

“Huh?” I really confused now.

 

He looked at my creased forehead and decided to explain to me.

“Lay’s father is that woman first husband, Krystal father’s her second and my father is third and current husband. She’s their mother, not mine.”

“Oh?”

He sneered looking at my dumbfounded face, “Why? Is it hard to believe?”

“As you know, that lady is gold-digger. That’s why she chases dumb man like my father.”

I furrowed, why he said something like that about his parents? It was inappropriate.

 

“Don’t talk like that about your parents.” I spoke, “And I’m just a stranger, don’t tell something like that to strangers.”

He scoffed, “Don’t try to teach me like you’re an innocent.”

“Huh?”

“You’re approaching Lay because he’s rich, aren’t you?” he came closer to me.

“What? No!”

Of course I didn’t love him because his background. In fact I didn’t know anything except he was an architect until now.

 

His face now only a few inches from my face. I couldn’t look away from his intense eyes.

“Don’t lie to me.” he whispered.

“I’m not lying!” I pushed him as I couldn’t stand being stared like that.

He chuckled, “Uh-huh, let’s see your true color later.”

I could see Lay walking to us from afar, so did Tao. Lay waved his hands to us without noticing the tension between his step-brother and me. I hoped he come faster because I couldn’t stand this Tao guy.

 

“I see that you a bit plain for Lay’s taste. What you did to capture him?” he whispered again.

“Wh-what? I didn’t do anything! He’s the one who asked me out!”

My heart was beating so fast that I felt an urge to hit his face. What was wrong with this person? Why should he annoy me?

Realizing that Lay was closer, he chuckled as he said, “I think you should stop playing innocent if you want to stay longer with him. He loves y chicks, by the way.”

“But I bet you won’t stay long with him. If something happens, you can come to me. I like dumb girls playing innocents.”

He winked to me before he left.

 

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AN:

Hi! Finally the second chapter!

Would you like to tell me your thought about this chapter?