Consequences

"Unni. Let's try that one" Aaerin pointed excited at the Gyro Drop. Turning around to look at her unnies, as she finished her command, Aaerin saw how tired her company looked. Since moment they entered the theme park, two hours ago they had queued, but only tried a few of the many rides and games Lotte World had to offer, as a result of the overflow of families, couples and children, who had decided to visit the theme park this Saturday. In contrast to the over energetic Aaerin, who had set the goal to try every single game and ride Lotte World had, her two unnies had grown a bit tired as a result of all the walking, and the massive crowd of people.

"Or maybe, we should take a break first" Aaerin smiled.

 "Finally, I never thought that you would say it. Where do you get all that energy from!" Mari teasingly exclaimed.

"Yah, don't try to give me a guilty conscious. You could just have said that you wanted a break. It's not my fault that you're an old lady" Aaerin shot back.

"What? So I guess you are calling Haru an old lady too, since she and I are the same age?" Mari smiled lifting one of her eyebrow.

"Of-of course not! Don't drag unnie into our discussion. Besides she didn't complain, like someone" Aaerin replied. She then looked apologetic at Haru, who immediately caught and understood her look.

"It's fine, I didn't get offended. But I really wouldn't mind a little break." Haru gently admitted

"See, she's tired too" Mari pointed out, wanting to tease Aaerin a bit more.

"Yeah. But it wasn't a complaint, only a claim" Aaerin replied.

"One really can't win against you huh" Mari claimed, only intended for her own ears, but somehow it had come out a bit louder that expected.

"What did you say?" Aaerin asked

"Nothing, nothing" Mari hurriedly defended herself, not wanting to start a new discussion with the younger girl, even though she found her stubbornness and boldness cute. Seeing the two girls interaction made Haru chuckle, catching their attention.

"What about you two go over to that bench over there, and I get something for us to drink and some snacks?" Haru asked in between her chuckles and pointed at the bench a bit further away from they were standing.

"No wait, you paid for the tickets, so let me pay for the drinks and snacks" Mari said, remembering back to two hours ago, where they at the entrance getting ready to pay for the tickets and the timid and shy girl suddenly had become very insistent and persistent.

"No, let unnie get the drinks and snacks" Aaerin cut Haru off, and held on to one of Mari's sleeves. Her sudden claim, made both of the other girls look confused at her.

"Then you can pay for dinner,” Aaerin continued cheekily.

"That's fine by me,” Mari quickly claimed. Before Haru could intervene and eventually decline, the two girls had walked over to the bench. Giving up on a discussion, she knew was going to be hard to win, Haru went over to the little snack shop, and once again queued.

"So, besides wanting me to pay for dinner. What do you want to ask me?" Mari asked Aaerin, as they reached the bench. She had from the beginning sensed that there was something else behind Aaerin’s suggestion. Surprised that Mari had caught in to her hidden agenda, Aaerin starred at her for a few seconds before answering her question.

"I just wanted to know, whether or not you know what happened to Haru-unnie? You know, since you go to the same school. She told me that she slipped, but I don't believe her,” Aaerin truthfully admitted.

"I really want to answer your question, but I don't know either. I asked about it too, but she gave me the same answer. I have my suspicions though" Mari replies seriously. To be honest, until know Mari had only found Aaerin cute, but her question and genuine worried tone had made Mari come to like Aaerin as a person, a bit more.

"What kind of suspicions?" Aaerin looked at Mari worried and curiously.

"Nothing your pretty head should worry about" Mari replied and ruffled Aaerin's head. Mari's suspicions were after all only suspicions, and she didn't want to blame anyone for anything, if she was not sure in her case.

"Yah! Of course I worry, what kind of respond was that" Aaerin shot back annoyed and straightened out the hair in the area Mari had ruffled. 

"Fine, fine. I'm not sure on anything, yet, but whenever I am sure, I'll promise that I'll tell you. In the mean time I'll try to look out for Haru in school, and if anything happens, I'll report back. Happy?" Mari chuckled, as she looked at Aaerin who replied with a satisfied nod. By the snack shop, Haru finally got what she ordered. Ordering too much, she had borrowed a tray to carry the drinks and different type of snacks, she had bought. With too many things, Haru directed all her attention on balancing everything, so they would not fall off the tray.

"Haru?" a familiar voiced suddenly called out catching her attention. Turning around too quickly, to confirm that it was the person she believed it was, the things on the tray were about to fall off. But luckily a couple of hands steadied the tray, as they grabbed on to hers. A bit shocked by how his hands had closed around hers, Haru instinctually pulled her hands back, leaving him with the tray.

"You sure can eat a lot" he looked amazed at all the snacks and drinks on the tray.

"Kai-ss-....uhm I mean Kai, what are you doing here?" Haru looked puzzled at him. Jongin smiled at how she corrected herself, before he answered her question.

"Oh I'm here with my friends and suddenly saw you. So I just wanted to say, hi" Jongin nonchalantly admitted.

"So do you want your tray back, or?" He continued teasingly

"Oh, I'm sorry. Thank you" Haru said, a bit embarrassed, as she took back the tray. Chuckling at her actions, Jongin was about to ask her whom she was here with, but got cut off.

"There he is" Jongin heard Baekhyun say loudly from afar. Turning around to where the voice had come from, he found his group of friends walking towards him.

"Yah, Jongin! You can't just run off like that. If you were hungry you could just have said so" Chanyeol said loudly. The group of friends had been on their way over to the Gyro Drop, when they noticed that one of their members had disappeared.

"You know, since you mother is the owner of one the biggest electronic company's in Asia, one would've thought that you would know what a phone can be used to. And for the record not everyone thinks of food all the time like you do. I thought I saw someone I know, and it turned out to be her, so I wanted to say hi,” Jongin answered indifferently. Ever since they entered the theme park, Jongin had thought that there had been something seriously wrong with him, as he occasionally thought he saw Haru. When he encountered her familiar petite figure again for the sixth time, by the snack shop he had automatically walked towards her without telling his friends, to confirm that he had not gone completely mental.

"Her? Her, who?" Chanyeol asked confused, as neither of his friends could see anybody besides Jongin. Confused Jongin turned around, only to realise that he had been standing in front of Haru and by that his body had hidden hers.

"This is Haru, and even though I'm a bit embarrassed to admit it, Haru these are my friends; Chanyeol, Beakhyun, Kyungsoo, Kris, Luhan and of course you know Sehun" As Jongin stepped aside the petite girl was revealed to his friends, who immediately politely bow and greeted them. Before they could return her greeting, Luhan's voice interrupted them.

"Haru?" Luhan asked surprised to see her standing beside Jongin.

"Annoyghaseyo, Luhan-ssi" Haru greeted again knowing that she was busted. 

"Jongin, this time you've taken it too far. She's a middle-scholar, for god's sake!" Luhan looked at his friend in disbelief. It took a few awkward minuets before Jongin decompressed what was going on and let out a genuine laugh.

"No she's not. She's our age, she goes to our school,” he laughed. Confused, Luhan looked at Haru, who confirmed Jongin's statement with a few nods.

"I'm...wait...but you told me that you were in you second year of, of, of..." Luhan's voice trailed off, as he was about to say middle school, but remembering back to their conversation, he realised that she had never said that she was in middle school. She had only told him that she was in second grad and it was only his own assumptions that had placed him in this embarrassing situation.

"I-I I'm sorry for the misunderstanding" Luhan admitted embarrassed, while rubbing his neck. Even though the group of friends could only laugh at Luhan's misunderstanding, they didn't blame him, since they had also thought the girl standing behind Jongin surely looked young for being a high scholar.

"So who are you here with?" Jongin finally asked Haru, and as if in cue Mari and Aaerin walked toward them.

"Unnie!" Aaerin called out making the whole group turn their attention to her and Mari.

"What do you think you're doing to my unni" Aaerin fearlessly said. She and Mari had wondered why it had taken Haru so long to buy some snacks and went back to find her. The only thing they had registered when they finally found Haru, was that she was surrounded by a group of boys, before storming towards them.

"You and You again?! What are you doing here?" She said, as she got a better look at the boys and recognised two of them.

"Easy there bodyguard. We just wanted to say hi to Haru, nothing more and nothing less. What is it with people today? Why do they all think that I'm up to no good?" Jongin let out a fake sigh.

“Maybe it’s because just by looking at you, one can deduct that you’re up to no good 80% of your time” Aaerin scoffed, as she crossed her arms.

“I like her!” Beakhyun claimed happily and joined his friends’ laugh-outburst.

"Mari?! You're here too?" Sehun looked surprised Mari. Sehun had not said a word, ever since they stepped inside the theme park, so his sudden claim, when saw Mari made his friends surprised and exchange suspicious smiles with each other. 

"Annoyng everybody! Yeah, I came here with Haru and Aaerin" Mari waved

"Wait, I'm a bit confused. So does everyone know each other?....Who knows who?" Kris asked confused.

"Why don't we find a table first, so we don't stand in the middle of everything and in the way of people?"  Kyungsoo said, as he noticed the big group had gotten a few glances from people around them. Spotting a table big enough for the ten of them, Chanyeol and Baekhyun ran ahead and reserved it by seating themselves at the table, while some of the other boys bought some more snacks and drinks, before heading to the table. The atmosphere at the table was not as awkward as Haru had feared. Each of them introduced themselves, and from there small conversations seemed to form naturally. Everyone seemed to get along, even Aaerin had seemed to let a little of her guard down, and had in a not-ill-intended-manner ganged up with Chanyeol and Beakhyun against Jongin. While Haru found herself repeating that she was not angry about how Luhan had mistaken her for a middle-scholar, as he had kept apologizing for his misunderstanding.  

"Where are you heading next?" Jongin asked, as they had finished their snacks and drinks.

"Oh, uhm Aaerin wanted to try the Gyro Drop, so I guess the Gyro Drop” Haru smiled.   

“Let’s go together then. We were also going to try that too” Jongin sent a smile back. He observed how she then looked at Aaerin and Mari for some sign of agreement.

“Well I don’t mind” Mari smiled

“Since we’re heading the same way, I guess I don’t either.” Aaerin said. With that the small group of three turned into a group of ten. After trying the ride, they had automatically stayed together and went on trying the other rides and games in the theme park. On their way to another ride, Aaerin really got a look at the group of boys, who had joined them, and she had to admit that none of them were unattractive. What she was most fascinated of; was the boy, who was walking beside Mari. She had never thought that blond hair and Asians was a good combination, but it seemed like she had been proven wrong today, because he surly did not look ugly with that blond hair of his.           

"Which school allows their students to bleach their hair?” Aaerin asked fascinated, looking at Sehun. When the hairdresser had told him earlier that day, that they would have to bleach his hair before they could dye it back to black, Sehun had complied with her professional knowledge, believing that he would walk out of the salon black-haired the same day, but when she had told him that they would have to wait a week, before they could dye is hair again, after she had dyed bleached, his anger against Chanyeol and Baekhyun, which had dropped significantly since their little prank, once again rose to its highest. Sehun was about to defend himself, but was cut off by Baekhyun.

“If you think that hair-colour is something. You should’ve seen his rainbow-coloured hair” Baekhyun stated proudly, earning death-glares from Sehun.

“I think I have some pictures” Mari said innocently and whipped out her phone to show Aaerin, seeing how the girl’s eyes grew big, at the mentioning of rainbow-coloured hair.

“You didn’t! I told you to delete them!” Sehun starred at Mari in betrayal. Mari froze in place, when she realized that she had been busted. Looking at Sehun, she noticed how he slowly walked towards her, as if he was a predator and she was his prey, as if, if he made a wrong move, he would frighten her and she would run away. 

“Run Mari, run!” Chanyeol suddenly yelled. Within seconds Mari ran off, with Sehun on her tail.

“He let her take pictures! Argh I want one as a souvenir! Come let’s follow them, before he catches her and deletes them” Baekhyun gestured Chanyeol, and with they followed the predator and his prey.  

“I’ve got to see this” Kris simply stated before he went in the same direction the others had run off to.

"I'll go make sure they don't kill each other" Kyungsoo sighed, as he informed his friends before running off too.

"Then there were four. So where were we headed again?" Jongin asked, looking at Aaerin, Luhan and Haru.

"Shouldn't we go after them or wait?" Haru asked confused.

"No, they'll call us when they're finished. Besides I don't think that we can find them in this crowded place, and I doubt that they'll be able to pick up the phone right now" Jongin smiled and received Haru's nod of understanding as a reply. The four of them decided that Gyro Swing was going to be their next destination, and began to move in the direction of the ride, but at one point they got separated because of the many people. Haru had just ended her call to Jongin, to inform of their whereabouts, when a girl ran into Aaerin's wheelchair with so much speed that Aaerin had fallen out of it.

"Aaerin are you ok?" Haru ran over to the Aaerin, who was trying to get up.

"Yah! Aren't you going to apologise?" The girl, who had run into the wheelchair said loudly

"Yah! What do you mean by "aren't you going to apologise" you were the one running into me genius! And it wasn't like we were standing in the middle of the way was it?! Maybe you should consider change those blue contacts of yours" Aaerin shot back in disbelief. Her comment made the girl and her friends mute for a minuet or two. In that time Aaerin could see how her sarcastic answer had made them flustered and angry at the same time, as they tried to come up with a good comeback.

"I…You..Argh…I don’t care if you weren’t standing in the middle of the way or not, but your chair-thingy was taking up the whole path. Why do you even bother coming here in the first place, with that that conditi-“ the girl angrily replied, but was interrupted by Haru, who had stood up and protectively stepped in front of Aaerin, who was still on the ground.

“I’m sorry if you hurt yourself running into Aaerin’s wheelchair, but Aaerin’s right, we weren’t standing in the middle of the way, and her wheelchair did not take up the whole path. I’m sorry that you’re angry, but your anger doesn’t give you the justification to tell her what to do, or what not to do. Nor does or should her disability decide where she should be or where she shouldn’t be, but once again I’m sorry if you’ve hurt yourself” Haru said determined and bowed lightly. To the outside world she had seemed calm and collected, but inside her adrenaline was pumping on high speed and her heart was beating so fast that it felt like it would explode. She had not wanted to say anything in the first place, but when she saw how Aaerin had stiffened by the girl’s reply, Haru had instinctually stood up and defended her friend. It was first now that the angry girl had noticed the crowd that had gathered around them. She saw how people were looking down at her and whispering about her. Looking back at Haru, the angry girl saw her bow, but she had only seen Haru's bow as mockery, which only added fuel to the fire. Furious and embarrassed, the girl turned around and was about to go, when she saw one of her friends was holding a slush ice. The girl did not want Haru to get so easily way from making her a laughingstock, so she angrily ripped the blue drink out of her friend's hand, turned around towards Haru and threw it mercilessly on the petite girl.

"Maybe that'll teach you to stay out of other people business" the girl smirked satisfied, but her satisfaction was short-lived, when she heard a male voice behind her.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" Jongin yelled, as he and Luhan pushed the girls out of the way to get to Aaerin and Haru. He and Luhan had arrived at the scene, at the time when Aaerin had replied the girl sarcastically, but had only gotten through the crowd too late to prevent the girl's slush ice attack. While Luhan went over to help Aaerin up from the ground, Jongin went over to Haru.

"Are you ok Haru?" He asked worriedly, as he tried to help get the blue drink off her face. Too shocked by what had happened, Haru didn't know what to answer and stayed silent, as she kept trying to keep the ice out her eyes. Haru's pitiful state made Jongin even angrier, than he already was. Looking up towards where the other girl had stood, Jongin found the perpetrator to have disappeared. Furious, he was going to find them and get them kicked out and banned from the theme park, but he was stopped by Luhan's voice.

"Jongin, stay. Haru needs you help. We can take care of the other girls afterwards" Luhan said determined, placing Aaerin in her wheelchair. With that Jongin went back to Haru.

"Come, let's go get that washed off" Jongin said gently, as he took her hand.

"But what about Aaerin?" Haru asked worried. Still in shock and caught up in her worries, she had not noticed that Jongin had grabbed her hand.

"Luhan is taking care of her." Jongin assured. With that the two of them went in the direction of the restrooms. They walked in silence for and when they reached the restrooms, Jongin suddenly turned around to Haru.

"Stay, don't go anywhere ok?" He told to her, and waited for an affirmation. His request was affirmed with an understanding yet curious nod. Jongin had noticed how the blue slush ice not only had hit her face, but it had also soaked her jacket, as well as t-shirt. Running to the nearby gift shop, he grabbed a light pink t-shirt for her and a blue one for himself, as his white t-shirt had also suffered from blue slush ice stains; a the result of helping Haru. Reaching the restrooms, Jongin found Haru in the spot where he had left her.

“Here take this” Jongin handed her the newly bought shirt and a plastic bag, where she could place her own t-shirt.

“Thank you” Haru said almost inaudible and went in the girl’s restroom, while Jongin went in the boy’s. It did not take long before Jongin was out again, since he only had to change his shirt and wipe away some stains on his leatherjacket. As he was standing there waiting for Haru, his phone shortly vibrated

From Luhan to Jongin:
Aaerin seemed a bit down by what happened, so we are by the restaurant La Paloma. I’ve texted the others, so you guys can just come when you’re done

To Luhan from Jongin:
Ok. We’ll see you there

Luhan’s last message made Jongin remembered back to a moment ago. It had surprised him that Haru had stood up against the other girls, and to him it had seemed like she completely went against her timid and shy personality and character. A smile appeared on his lips, as he thought of how different Haru's well-thought and well-articulated respond was in comparison to Aaerin's direct and sarcastic respond. And how she bravely had protected her friend from the other girl's words. *I guess you also have that side of you huh* he thought and chuckled, but his smile and chuckle disappeared as fast as it came, as he mentally moved to the next scene, where Haru was completely covered in the blue drink. Seeing her pitiful state made Jongin grow angry and worried at the same time. Angry at the perpetrator, but worried for Haru. Absorbed in his own thoughts, Jongin did not notice Haru in front of him.

"Uhm Kai?" Haru called, looking at him. Haru had quickly changed to the shirt Jongin had bought to her and tied her now sticky hair up in a bun. Her jacket was drenched in blue slush ice, as it had taken the worst of the girl's revenge. Haru had placed it in the plastic bag together with her own shirt. Since it was not summer and it had become a bit late, she was cold standing there only in a t-shirt.

"Oh you are ready" Jongin smiled, as her voice pulled him back to reality. Looking at her, he could see that she was freezing. Instinctually he took of his own leather jacket hand held it ready for her to slip into it

"Here. Your freezing" he gestured.

"Oh...uhm it's ok, it's not that cold" Haru lied with a smile

"Don't lie. I can literary see that you’re shaking" Jongin chuckled and once again gestured her to wear the jacket. A bit taken aback that he had caught her lie it took Haru a few long seconds before she spoke again. 

"I can't take your jacket. Then you'll be cold" Haru tried to, argue.

"Of course you can. I'm fine; I'm not cold anyways, and besides how would I look when we meet the others again? So by wearing this you're actually saving my pride" Jongin patiently counter-argued. He was amused by how Haru took her time to rethink his argumentation. He was not sure whether it not it was because of his argumentation or if it was because of the chilly weather, but she finally gave in and slipped into his leather jacket, as he was holding it ready for her. The jacket was of course way too big for Haru, but at least she was warm. As soon as she got the jacket on, a pleasant smell of leather mixed with something else she could not define hit her.

"Thank you" Haru sincerely looked at Jongin

"No problem. Now shall we find the others?" Jongin gently smiled, and started to walk in the direction of the restaurant. One would be both blind and dumb if one could not see that something was bothering the petite girl, and of course Jongin was neither one of those things. Haru had not uttered a word on their way over to the others. Jongin had tried to start a conversation a couple of times, but failed miserably as she would only give him single-word answers, while her eyes was fixated to the ground. A bit frustrated by his failed attempts, he was rummaging his mind in his hunt for something to make her talk to him, because for some unknown reason he was irritated and flustered by the fact that she was not, and the fact that he could not make her talk. The silence grew between them, but as they neared the restaurant, Jongin noticed that Haru had suddenly stopped. He was about to ask her why, but she answered his question, before he could even ask it.    

"Do you think she's angry with me? Aaerin I mean, do you think she's angry that I didn't stay out of her business? Do you think she angry at me because I meddled and made things worse?" Haru asked almost inaudibly, her eyes darted to the restaurant and back to the ground. Under normal circumstances Jongin would have laughed at her, but her genuine naivety, seriousness, worry and sadness in her speculations, made him answer in an equally genuine and serious manner.

"I can't see why she should be angry with you. You didn't do anything other than stand up for your friend, right?" He asked and turned around to face her.

"I guess that's true" Haru agreed

"But then again I don't know Aaerin that well. What do you think? Is Aaerin such a petty person?" He continued and she quickly shook her head.

"Then I think that you don't have anything to worry about" he smiled satisfied, as she finally looked at him. His words had made her a bit at ease and she followed him into the restaurant, where the eight others had already conquered a table and was about to begin to eat their food.  As soon as Aaerin saw Haru enter the restaurant she quickly and skilfully manoeuvred past the chairs and the people and stopped in front of Jongin and Haru.

"Unnie are you ok?" She worried looked at Haru.

"I'm fine don't worry about me. The one you need to worry about is yourself. Did you get hurt when your fell?" Haru asked, kneeling down and took Aaerin's hands in hers, but as she turned them around to examine Aaerin's palms she only found a few band-aids here and there.

"Nothing that can't be healed" Aaerin smiled, but Haru did not miss the tiny hint of sadness in the girl's eyes. Haru looked back down at Aaerin's hands to examine it once more, just to be sure that nothing serious had happened. Satisfied, she laid Aaerin's hands back on her lap, when she noticed a little unknown teddy bear keychain resting on the girl’s lap. Both Aaerin and Jongin noticed Haru's fascination of the little keychain.

"The pretty boy won it for me" Aaerin stated, as she gently showed Haru the keychain.

"Pretty boy?" Haru thought out loudly, as she for a second was confused about whom Aaerin was referring to.

"Yeah. The other one with the weird name. Lu-something" Aaerin replied honestly, as she mistook Haru's loud speculation as a question.

"I guess that'll be me. I can take it back if you don't want it" Luhan said in a teasing manner, suddenly popping up behind Aaerin.

"You can't just take something back you've given to someone,” Aaerin hurriedly argued, before she quickly rolled away, as if she was afraid that he would take back the keychain. Leaving behind three chuckling second-years. 

"Thank you for taking care of Aaerin. I hope that she wasn't to too much trouble" Haru sincerely bowed.

"Don't worry about it. It was actually quite fun. We didn't known when you were coming so we've ordered our food first. Why don't you and Jongin go over and buy something to eat too" Luhan suggested with a smile, before he went back to the table, while Haru and Jongin went to the desk, to order their food.

“Hi welcome to La Paloma, what can I help you with?” the employee’s smile only seemed to grow wider, when she realised who she was asking.

“Do you have anything with chicken?” Jongin asked unaffected by the employee’s reaction.

“Oh..uhm…yes…uhm We have the Grilled barbeque chicken” the employee stuttered

“Great, then I think I’ll have that and a coke. What do you want Haru?” Jongin smiled, as he turned around facing her.

“Oh uhm… can I have the Rice topped with grilled pork cutlet and a glass of water please” Haru replied.

“Are you paying together?” the employee asked still with a smile on her lips, which had seemed to have decreased the moment Jongin had revealed the petite girl behind him.     

“Yes” Jongin smiled at the employee making her cheeks flush to a deeper pink. Before Haru could intervene, Jongin had already paid. 

“Uhm Kai how much do I owe you for the food and the t-shirts?” Haru asked, as they were waiting for their food. Confused and surprised by her question Jongin looked curiously at her for a few long seconds before answering.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s my treat” he smiled. Usually whenever he had paid, girls had either thanked him, or just assumed that he was going to pay for everything. Never had any girl asked what Haru just asked.

“But I can’t just let you pay. If you didn’t meet me, your shirt wouldn’t have been ruined and you wouldn’t have had to buy those shirts or pay for dinner. So how much do I owe you?” Haru determined argued and asked. 

“It was my choice to help you, so the ruined shirt is my own fault, but seeing that you’re so persistent, how about as payment, you’ll ask Mrs. Park to make one of those lunchboxes for me too, for this Monday?” Jongin looked not fully convincing Haru

“But-” Haru started before she was cut off

“No “buts”, if you want to repay me, that’s the only payment I’ll accept” Jongin crossed his arms determined.

“So I guess I’ll come over to the library on Monday by lunch then?” Jongin teasingly lifted his eyebrow looking at Haru.  

"Uhm you don't have to come over to the library-" Haru wanted to say that he didn't have to come over to the library and pick up the lunchbox, but she could just give it to him in one of the small breaks, so that he could enjoy it with his friends at the cafeteria. But before she could continue, Jongin cut her off again

"Oh so you're joining me and my friends for lunch at the cafeteria?" Jongin’s question made her quickly shake her head. She was not going to risk being seen with them in school more than necessary.

"So it's settle then. We'll meet in the library by lunch" and by that their conversation ended, as they went over to get their food. When they reached the table, another wave of concerned questions from Mari hit Haru, who repeatedly had to assure Mari that she was fine, before she was allowed to eat her dinner. After finishing, the group spent another hour in the theme park, before they went home.

"I'm sorry that we can't give you a ride home, but we promised Kris to drive him to the airport" Luhan apologised, as they stood outside Lotte World

"Why are you apologising? It's not like we expected you to give us a ride home". Aaerin said dryly

"And a polite translation of what Aaerin said would be: thank you for you consideration. We would've taken the subway home anyways, so you don't need to be sorry and apologise" Mari teasingly looked at Aaerin

“I don’t see the big difference, only a lot of unnecessary words. Besides he understood what I said, right?” Aaerin looked challenging at Luhan, who just chuckled and nodded. With that the group parted and went their ways. Sitting at the airport and waiting for Kris to check-in, Jongin's phone vibrated shortly. A smile crept upon his lips, as he saw who the caller was.

“Hello Jongin speaking” he greeted The smirk on his face and his sudden announcement made Sehun and Luhan look curiously at him, wondering who was on the other end of the line and made their friend use his real name.

“Uhm hello is this Kai?” Haru asked confused.

“This is Jongin” he kept on teasing her.

“Oh, uhm ok. I’m sorry to disturb, I think I’ve got the wrong number then” Haru replied and hung up. She did not know that Jongin was his real name, nor did she notice it, when his friends, Woobin and Mrs. Yoon had called him by that name, so when she had hung up the phone she had genuinely been so sure that she must have dialled the wrong number.

“No stop, wait wait wait don’t hang up. It’s me Kai,” he shouted at the phone, as he realized that his little way of trying to be funny and did not go as he planned. In his eager to stop her from hanging up the phone he had stood up from his chair and raised his voice, which had caught the attention of all his friends. Realising that Haru had hung up on him, he let out a chuckle, before calling back.

“Uhm hello this is Haru speaking” Haru greeted cautiously.

“It’s Kai, you just called me” Jongin trying to sound as casual as he possibly could.

“Yes…but this is the same number as before…then who…It’s just before a Jongin answered the phone…and…I…I think I’m a bit confused” Haru replied puzzled.

“No need to be confused. You got the right number and person, it was just me who tried to be funny and tease you a bit” Jongin admitted with a wide smile plastered on his face.

“Oh…uhm…ok. I’m sorry I hung up on you. The reason I called was that I wanted to apologise for forgetting to return you jacket and ask if you needed it now, because if you do, I could get a cab and give it to you?” Haru suggested sincerely.  

“That’s not necessary. I’m still at the airport and we’re waiting for Kris to check-in and board. You can just give bring it to school on Monday. Or if you don’t want to hold on to it you can give it to Mari, we live in the same apartment building” Jongin teasingly replied.  

“Oh, uhm. Actually I’m home right now, so Mari and I aren’t together at the moment, but if you need it now, I could call a cab and-” she suggested once more. She had only noticed that she still had Jongin’s leather jacket, when she arrived at home and saw her reflection in the mirror. Feeling immensely guilty at the thought that Jongin was only wearing a t-shirt in the chilly weather, She had immediately called him.

“Then don’t worry about it. Just bring it on Monday” Jongin gently cut her off.

“Are you sure?” Haru asked not fully convinced

“Yes I’m sure. Kris is about to check-in, so I have to go. I’ll see you on Monday and don’t forget your payment” Jongin reminded her.

“Ok then. I wont forget, I promise. Oh before you go, uhm could you wish Kris-ssi a safe flight from me. I forgot to tell him when we parted at the theme park,” Haru said sincerely.

“Sure” Jongin smiled at the girl’s genuine sincerity and consideration towards a person, whom she had only met today. As he ended the call, he found six pairs of curious eyes on him.

“Haru told me to wish you a safe flight Kris” Jongin nonchalantly tried to shrug off his friends’ stares.

“What?” he asked, as his friends’ stares were still fixated on him.

“Is this some kind of new strategy you’re trying out? Because if it is, I think you should try it on somebody else” Sehun stated indifferently, knowing how fond Mari had grown of the petite girl Jongin had just spoken to.

“I agree with Sehun here, she seems a far too kind to become one of your experiments” Kyungsoo followed. It had surprised Jongin how Haru, in such a short amount of time, had had such an effect on his group of friends, who had seemed to see what he saw in her.

“What is it with people today? Why do they think that I'm up to no good?” Jongin acted hurt by his friends’ comments     

“Maybe it’s because just by looking at you, one can deduct that you’re up to no good 80% of your time” Luhan teasingly repeated Aaerin words and gave Jongin a gentle clap on the back.

“And how is being a gentleman and offering a cold girl, a warm jacket, an action of indecency? For the record, you can stop being worried, I’m just nice because she’s nice, and that’s all, I swear. You’ve only met her once and you’re taking her side, I’m hurt” Jongin turned his hurt-act up at maximum and clutched his chest.

“You know Jongin. I’m still amazed how those girls fall for you acts” Kris commented with wide eyes, as he shook his head in disbelief.

“Yeah I have to agree here. You can with no regret delete ‘actor’ as a carrier-choice, since it seems like no amount of practice, lessons or good-looks can help you” Beakhyun shrugged. Their comments made the group burst out in laughter. Jongin was about to let out a counterargument, but only a sneeze came out instead.

“God bless you” Luhan said, as the laughter died a bit down, but rose again by Chanyeol’s following comment.  

“See. Even God doesn’t believe you so-called “decent” actions. So now his punishing you, by giving you a cold” Chanyeol said, before joining the others laughter.

“Ha ha ha. Very funny. And you Kris, why you don’t you go and check-in before the plan takes off and you’re stuck here for another day?” With that comment Sehun jumped out of his seat and took Kris’ luggage and he started to walk towards the check-in desk, because that was something that Sehun was not going to let happen. It was not because he hated his friend or anything near that. Sehun just liked and needed the alone time when he got back from school, a time where he could clear his head and think of nothing, but the week that Kris had stayed over, every day Sehun was met with non-stop questions about Mari and him, as he came home from school.     

“Aren’t you coming” Sehun asked emotionlessly.

“Now I’m the one hurt” Kris mimicked Jongin’s actions a moment ago, as he together with the rest stood up and followed Sehun. Together they went laughing over to the check-in desk

 

                Soon the weekend past and Monday came. Haru had early in the morning ran down stairs to Mrs. Park and helped her make the extra lunchbox, she was going to bring with her to school today. When she arrived at the school, she went over to the locker to place the books she did not need and Jongin’s leather jacket, she was going to give back to him. Like the other days, sh