Chapter Seven

“Ready for our date, baby?” Jinyoung asked once school had let out and his fingers were already lacing together with hers. He pressed a small kiss against her cheek as they walked out of the school building together, pushing through the crowd of students.

Haneul smiled and gave his hand a small squeeze before poking his shoulder. “Very ready. What are we going to do, mister?”

“Hm, do you really want to know now? It’ll spoil the surprise.” A grin tugged his lips up almost mischieviously and while it made her insides flutter, it also made her slightly suspicious. Usually, Jinyoung would tell her within a heartbeat and they would be excited about the date together. It was rare for him to be so secretive about it and half of her wasn’t sure if she liked it.

The last time Jinyoung kept something from her, the both of them ended up in a small spiff and Haneul wouldn’t talk to Jinyoung for a whole hour or so before reconciling. It was hard to stay mad at him, but when he dragged her off to a fortune teller to see how bright their future together would be with the results being the exact opposite, she was too frazzled and let it get to her. Of course, she had never really believed in fortune tellers and all that stuff before so she quickly pushed it aside as rubbish.

“Yeah, tell me. I would like to know what I”m getting myself into.” She nuzzled his shoulder and gave him her best puppy eyes she could muster. And maybe if the sun wasn’t beaming in his eyes, he would be able to see it properly. But he just grinned even more and ruffled her hair up.

“You’ll like it. I promise.” His thumb brushed against the back of her hand and before long, they were swinging the hands together.

“Well, if you say. I’ll trust you then.” A light blush dusted over her cheek and she pressed a little closer to his side before suddenly remembering something. “Oh yeah! I have something else to ask you.”

“You’re not going to ask me to buy you a puppy again and keep it since your mother’s allergic, are you? Don’t be silly, baby.” Jinyoung chuckled and it made something in his eyes twinkle. It made her a little dazed for a second before she shook her head. “No? What is it?”

“Sunggyu seemed to be missing today and Miseul’s kind of lost without him. I was wondering if you heard anything from him or not because it’s really weird to see Miseul without Sunggyu.” She scrunched her nose up at the thought since it didn’t sit well with her at all.

Jinyoung hummed in thought and shrugged after a moment. “I haven’t heard anything from him. Maybe he’s just sick.”

“Yeah, but usually he’d tell her. I don’t think he’s texted her at all lately.” A small frown pursed her lips and Jinyoung was quick to kiss it away.

“Hey. I’m sure everything’s okay with Sunggyu and he’ll check in on Miseul soon so no pouting or frowning on our date, you hear me missy?”

Haneul let out a laugh and stuck her tongue out at him before brushing her nose against his. “Yes, mister.”

“Good girl because we’re already here at the first place I wanted to take you and it has a strict no frowning policy.” A small bell dinged as Jinyoung pushed the door open and Haneul blinked, looking around and taking in the scenery.

“You took me to a jewelry store?” Haneul bit her lip and shuffled closer to Jinyoung, torn between crying from joy and punching him for such a surprise. But instead, she wrapped her arms around him and smiled.

“Yeah. It’s been awhile since we’ve been dating so I wanted to get you a promise ring, but I want you to pick it out. You know I’m no good at this.” Jinyoung smiled back at her, cupping her cheek. “We can get couple rings, if you want.”

Haneul perked up and nodded, tugging Jinyoung over to a glass case with numerous rings on display. “That’s a really good idea. I like that a lot.”

They spent a good hour picking out the rings before Jinyoung whisked Haneul away for dinner at their favorite cafe. It was a cliche date, wrapped up in a moonlight walk through the park but Haneul wouldn’t have it any other way.

And the moment he dropped her off at her house, Haneul sent a few texts to Miseul and Aeji about her small date with a picture of her ring and as many smiley faces and exclamation marks she could send. As she went through her night routine of getting ready for bed, she sent an extra text to Miseul asking about Sunggyu as well.

-

Haneul wasn’t the type to be riled up so easily. Being angry took a lot of energy she would rather spend on being happy. After all, it took less muscles in her face to smile than it did to frown. But she could feel the burning anger rise up in her when she heard about Sunggyu and what he had done to Miseul.

It was ridiculous and she had half a mind to go track his new house down and slap him silly. Instead, she stomped up to Miseul’s house and bowed politely to the butler who answered the door. He offered to take the tub of chocolate ice cream in her arms but she shook her head and clutched it against her chest tighter despite how cold it was.

Miseul could be a handful and she knew that from experience. But Miseul was still young and vulnerable and Sunggyu knew that too. How he could ever be so cruel was beyond Haneul. “Just wait until I get my hands on him.”

She puffed her cheeks out and too lost in her thoughts, she bumped into someone and immediately apologized. But when she looked up and got a face full of a smirking Sehun, she bit down on her tongue. She was always bumping into him lately and she was a little grateful that she didn’t end up on the floor this time.

“Well, well if it isn’t Haneul. You haven’t come to see me again, have you?”

“Of course not. I barely know you Sehun, and anyway, I need to get to Miseul so if you’ll excuse me.” She tucked her hair behind her ear and readied herself to push past Sehun because somehow he took up a lot of the hall. But then he grabbed her hand and stared at the silver band around her finger.

“Engaged? Aren’t you a little too young to get married? Hm, your hips would bear a few good children, huh?” He smirked and let her hand drop to her side.

She narrowed her eyes and scoffed softly, “ever the gentleman huh, with your words you could sure make a few girls blush,” she rolled her eyes. “Now please excuse me,” she tried to go past him again when she found the bag of ice cream being taken out of her hands.

Ignoring the glare that Haneul was giving to him, Sehun simply opened the bag and held out the small tub of chocolate ice cream. “Wow, Miseul’s favorite huh. Must have costed you a lot,” he commented, an amused smile on his face.

Haneul narrowed her eyes, not quite sure what he’s getting at and held out her hands towards him. “Give back the ice cream.”

Shrugging he simply put the ice cream back into the plastic bag and gave it back to her. “Of course I will, since it’s something you spent so much on just to keep my little cousin Miseul as your friend.” He smirked and folded his arms across his chest. “People like you always try to get into our good books.”

A scoff left her lips as she stared on at Sehun, flabbergasted at how he could even think that she was that type of person before shaking her head. “You’re pathetic. Not everyone wants money like you think and money doesn’t always make someone happy.”

That amused expression and smirk still on Sehun face as he looked at Haneul. “Are you sure money can’t always make someone happy?” Raising an eyebrow, he leaned in close to Haneul, so close that she could almost feel his breath on her lips as she clutched the ice cream tighter to her chest.

“Yes,” she said defiantly, her eyes still narrowed as she glared on at Sehun, refusing to let him win whatever game he was trying to play.

“We’ll see then,” his smirk became a smile as he moved back. “You should show me how people make others happy without using money and,” he cocked his head to one side, “I’ll show you how money can make you absolutely ecstatic.”

She snorted and was about to say no when Sehun simply grabbed one of her hand and held it like a handshake.

“That’s a deal,” he said before turning around and walking off, leaving Haneul to stare on at him, mouth agape and totally lost on what’s happening.

“What the hell…” she stood there for a moment trying to process what just happened when the wetness around her chest reminded her that she had something to do. “Oh , the ice cream is melting. Miseul-ah!” she shouted as she headed up towards Miseul’s room.

-

Haneul and Miseul were sitting on the latter’s huge bed, having just hung up a phone call with Aeji whom had called to ask about Miseul, and stuffing themselves with the chocolate ice cream. There were still tear stains on Miseul’s cheeks and the sight of her made Haneul’s heart wrench.

“I’ll show him that I’m not just that little girl he kept saying I was!” Miseul stabbed the ice cream with more force than needed as she stuffed another mouthful into while Haneul nodded eagerly along with her.

“Yes, he’s such a for saying all that. I can’t believe him,” Haneul scoffed as she wrinkled her nose as if she smelled something disgusting. “I’ll seriously slap him if he does anything more.”

“Yeah,” Miseul’s eyes narrowed as she glared on at a sweater that was laying near the edge of the bed. “I’ll rip his balls off and make sure he wouldn’t have a father day next time,” she cursed before sighing loudly and lying down on her bed. “But what should I do!”

“Ah,” Haneul pouted as she laid down beside Miseul. The both of them staring at the ceiling in silence before sitting up at the same time.

“WE SHOULD JOIN THE STUDENT BODY CLUB!”

-

Sehun walked to the backyard of the Lee’s Mansion, toying with his phone in his hand before settling down on a swing. Now that he’s back in Korea, it seemed like lots of stuff happened while he was gone. An amused smile flitted across his face again as he thought of Haneul, Miseul and even the girl that the rest had bullied earlier that day. He probably should do something about this, and especially that guy that hurt his precious cousin.

Dialling a number on his phone, he didn’t wait very long before the other picked up the call.

“Good evening Mr Sehun, is there anything I can do for you?”

“Yes,” his lips tilted upwards into a smirk. “I need information on a few people. Kim Sunggyu and Yoo Haneul for now.”

“Okay, I’ll email you the information by tomorrow,” the person said and Sehun simply hung up the call. He slid his phone into his pocket and leaned back, folding his arms behind his head.

“Looks like school wouldn’t be so boring here after all.”