Hush - APink

Splatter

“You?!”

Aerin's and Sehun's similar looks of surprise made Luhan and Sena uneasy. As far as they knew, it was the first time for the youngest member of their family to have met the girl, yet seeing the shocked expression on his face made it seem otherwise.

“Have you two met before?” Sena asked curiously, giving the two teenagers a gentle smile.

Sehun’s mouth opened, about to answer honestly when Aerin quickly answered, “No," while giving him an indifferent look, making him stop and frown.

Aerin's lie and apathetic attitude made Sehun feel a bit vexed, but he quickly brushed the feeling off. It was something that shouldn’t really be given much attention, but a part of him wondered why the girl had to lie. “Yeah, what she said.”

“Oh, then let me introduce you to each other!” Sena clapped her hands in glee, obviously delighted to introducing her youngest son to Aerin. She had always been a proud mother to the point where her sons didn’t bother to care anymore; before, it used to annoy them greatly. “This is my second and youngest son, Sehun. I presume Luhan had already told you about him before?”

Thinking about it now, Luhan did show her a picture of the said male before. It was a long time ago so Aerin wasn’t sure, but Sehun must have been the one in the photo since he looked oddly familiar to her when they first met. Both Luhan and Sehun had chestnut brown hair and pale skin, and although the younger one was taller, they looked very similar. From their looks, one would immediately believe that both of them came from a family with good genes that included possessing unearthly beauty and charms. “Yeah, he did…but that was a long time ago so I don't really remember.”

“Yeah, that was a long time ago, Mom,” Luhan said, gaining Aerin's attention. “Sehun was still in Seoul back then.”

Hearing Luhan’s words made Aerin unconsciously raise an eyebrow. Sena noticed Aerin's confusion and immediately explained. “You see, Sehun lived with his cousin back in Seoul since he wanted to try studying there, but since his cousin got relocated here for her job, he also came back. Sehun just came back recently, just a few months before you arrived.”

So that’s why he sounded different; his accent sounded off. Aerin eyed Sehun but decided to just nod and keep shut. She thought it wasn’t necessary  to respond in a way that they were possibly expecting her to. Her thoughts were interrupted when Sena patted her shoulder fondly. “And before I forget, this is Aerin, Heegun’s daughter.”

“Kang Aerin?” Sehun asked Luhan to which the older male nodded in response.

“Aerin only comes back here every summer which was why you haven’t seen her before,” Sena explained before she heard her name being called by her circle of friends. She then made a few gestures towards them before turning back to the three with an apologetic smile. “Well, I’m going first. Aerin, you’re almost eighteen, right? That means you are only a year younger than Sehun. Get to know each other better and be friends. Luhan’s here too, so don’t worry. Just ask them if there’s anything you need. Enjoy the party!”

In a matter of seconds, Aerin found herself left alone with the two Oh brothers, a moment to which she felt unsure of what to do. Thinking about the situation, she should be talking to Sehun since they were closer to one another age-wise, compared to Luhan who was older than them by four to five years. However, Luhan was the only one she really knew out of the two, the one she’d spend most of her summers with, but she couldn’t also say that she didn’t know the younger one. It was just that their first impressions of each other weren’t that pleasant that it made things awkward between them. First and second meetings were bound to be awkward anyway.

“So,” Sehun finally said, getting fed up with the awkward atmosphere. Both Aerin and Luhan, who were busy eyeing each other to even remember that he was around, looked at him. “Nice to meet you, Aerin-ssi.”

Eyeing Sehun’s outstretched hand for a few seconds, Aerin eventually took it and shook it with hers, putting on a strained smile. “You’re older than me by a year so just call me Aerin. Likewise, I’ll just call you Sehun, that is, if it’s okay with you.”

“Sure, that’s cool with me,” Sehun said, still shaking Aerin’s hand vigorously. It was only when Luhan spoke that Aerin withdrew her own hand back, startling Sehun a bit.

“Did you perhaps know each other prior tonight?” Luhan stared at Aerin and Sehun in interest, the curiosity very apparent in his eyes.

Aerin and Sehun looked at each other for a split second before turning back to Luhan to answer. “No.” “Yes.”

“Uh…” was all Luhan said, bewildered at the two different answers. “What?”

“The answer’s yes, okay? We met before outside the school yesterday. She was about to run me over with her truck while I was crossing the road,” Sehun answered, eyeing Aerin with creased eyebrows while Luhan’s eyes widened in surprise.

Aerin opened to speak, wanting to clear things up with Luhan but closed it again with a sigh. There was no point in defending herself anymore since it would only create more unwanted tension between her and Sehun. For all of the times that she’d been under such similar situations, Aerin had learned how to pacify herself internally and take things as they were. Plus, knowing Luhan, he would only start worrying needlessly, and she didn’t want more nagging from him.

Letting out another sigh, Aerin shrugged and walked past the two brothers, but not before telling the older male where she was heading off to. “I’m just going to take some fresh air by the back porch.”

Putting faith in her faint memories of the Oh house, Aerin managed to find the porch leading to the backyard. It was quiet; it was a place where no one would want to stay at during a party. It was a mystery to Aerin why none of the visitors even thought of staying outside when it had gotten dark and the summer night winds made the now-cooled air more tolerable. Aerin hated summer; she disliked how sweaty she got because of the heat, but the cool, summer nights like tonight's pleased her, enough for her to like summer just a tiny bit.

“So that’s why you were late in coming home last night.” Luhan's sweet voice sounded behind her, followed by the sound of a sliding door. Aerin moved a bit from her place to make a space beside her. “Why didn’t you tell me though?”

“I didn’t think it was really necessary for other people to know about something as trivial as that,” Aerin said, raising her head to meet Luhan’s eyes as he sat beside her on the small staircase leading to the grassy backyard. “And I didn’t want to deal with your irritating nagging.”

“You know I wouldn’t have done that—“ Before Luhan could even defend himself, Aerin shot him a knowing look which made him shrug. “Fine, I would have done that, but it’s only because I would have been worried.”

“And I didn’t tell you because I didn’t want you to get worried.”

A small and appreciative smile appeared on Luhan’s face. “Really?”

“Really,” Aerin replied back, returning the male’s smile with her own before turnin