chapter fourteen
Of Bullets and Red Converse
A/N : So hey guys! Finally I've updated... I know it's been long and I did say I wanted to update before but I ended up in a writer's block and just got stuck. Which explains this crappy update but I hope to make it up in the next. Now before you continue, do take note that Moon Saera is a 15-year-old Korean and Moon Chaekyung is 17-years-old. Just want to get you guys a bit familiar with the age so no confusion comes between. I'll try to get back on track with this story and I hope you guys still enjoy it as much. I hope I won't disappoint! Thank you for staying and do not hesitate to drop comments and subscribe and upvote.~ xoxo
The luggage were loaded into the car and before anyone knew it, Chaekyung and her cousin sister along with the excited Jimin were headed off to the airport. The airport was packed with people that Chaekyung felt suffocated and wished she could just stay at home, curled up on her reading chair and read to her heart’s content. Jimin could not hide his huge grin as he dropped the baggage at the check-in counter while Saera went in and out of the duty-free stores, hands already full with bags of cosmetics. The brat made some airport attendants to help carry her bags of purchases up the flight to the first class seats which Chaekyung’s father had booked for them. Jimin, who clearly had never flown in first class, stared in awe at anything and everything. He carefully sat in his seat as if the seat was made out of the finest materials on Earth. He tugged and pressed the buttons on his armrest, marvelling over the different things that revealed itself after each button being pressed. Saera already started painting her nails, bullying the flight attendants to get her the best food and beverages they had on the aircraft. Chaekyung could only sigh before pulling out her book that she had managed to slip in her backpack before leaving and stuffed the earbuds to her iPod in her ears, enjoying the great background music she had chosen to go with the current happenings in the book. She was so into the story where the assassin was getting ready to kill the Crown Prince when a light tap came to her arm. She turned to face a gorgeous stewardess who politely pointed at the ‘Fasten Your Seatbelt’ sign, signalling that they were landing shortly. She nodded a small apology and kept her book and iPod into her bag when Jimin caught her eye from his seat. His feet were tapping to an inaudible beat and the smile on his face had not faded one bit since they left home. He was actually swaying and wiggling in his seat, expressing his happiness with his body even though the seatbelt had restricted him from completely jumping out of his chair and started dancing on the aisle.
The plane touched down and all Jimin could do to refrain himself from screaming out in joy was by biting down on his inner cheeks. Chaekyung burst out chuckling, making Jimin turn around facing her direction. His brows were raised as he mouthed, “What’s so funny?” Chaekyung stopped short in her chuckle before her lips formed a soft smile, saying nothing but a light shake of her head. Jimin’s eyes were still filled with slight suspicion but when the pilot announced their arrival in Busan, he snapped back into his child-like expression and unfasten the seatbelt, already going to the overhead compartment to claim his backpack. Chaekyung pulled the strap of her bag over one shoulder before making way down the aisle towards the exit door which a joyful Jimin had skipped through, leaving a line of flight attendants with weird looks on their faces. Chaekyung’s 15-year-old cousin was again, making a fuss and grabbing her handbag from the cushioned seat and storming out of the aircraft. Chaekyung approached the sour-faced steward cautiously. “Hey. Hi there. Was everything alright with that one? I mean, what was the fuss about?”
The steward groaned before massaging his throbbing head. “Miss Saera was mad at us since we did not wake her up sooner so she could fix her makeup.” He mumbling under his breath before clearing his throat, straightening his tie and bowed at the female, wishing her a pleasant visit in Busan before returning to his cabin crew.
“Oh I’m so killing that girl the next time I obtain the chance!” She hissed between clenched teeth as she followed the line of passengers to the baggage claim. She was just about to catch her bag when a pair of strong arms hoisted it up and onto a trolley for her. Her heart leapt at the closeness their sides were. Jimin’s sleeves brushed against her arms as he moved to catch their other bags for the week’s stay in his hometown. “Thanks!” Chaekyung blurted before the bodyguard went off to help a struggling Saera who couldn’t even catch her bag when it passed right under her nose. Jimin managed to flash his charming y smile over his shoulder and shot her a wink that Chaekyung swore made her heart stop for a solid minute or so. Her insides fluttered as Jimin volunteered to push the trolley out to the arrival hall, standing closely next to her as he scanned the surrounding. He looked as if there were threats lurking at every corner of the place. His hand would always have a reason to come close enough to the small of her back. Although Chaekyung wore only a simple white tee and faded blue jeans with her regular pair of classic Converse, she felt truly like an heiress with the presence of her bodyguard by her side. Saera, on the other hand, played Diva even since before they the Moon Mansion. With her shades and too-fancy-for0airport clothes, she looked more of a princess than Trixtal Holdings’s CEO’s daughter (which to the little girl meant then same thing considering how pampered like a princess she was back at her household).
As soon as they got outside the airport, Saera looked up and down the waiting line of cars. “Is our ride here yet, Jimin oppa?” Chaekyung too looked at Jimin, anticipating his answer. As his finger rose to point, the two girls followed the direction until they landed upon a silver Kia parked at the end of the lane. Right then, a tall man stepped out of the car and almost burst into a full Usian Bolt speed towards them. Before Chaekyung knew what to expect, she was being crushed into the embrace of Park Jimin’s uncle. Her own laughter erupted as she wrapped her arms around Mr. Lee’s neck.
“Moon Chaekyung! It’s been such a long time! Look how beautiful you’ve gotten.” He gave the girl a little twirl in the air, making her laugh even more, before setting her on her feet lightly. Chaekyung took the opportunity to get a quick scan of her father’s ex bodyguard. Mr. Lee was still as handsome as ever, wrinkles however had managed to appear on certain areas of the perfect sculpture of his face. His once ebony short hair was now streaked with white that grew over the years. His bodyguard body now vanished, leaving a slight potbelly under the dark brown shirt he wore. He still had the strength thanks to all the amount of training he did back in his bodyguard days though, Chaekyung thought to herself while admiring the man before her. After Jimin’s father passed, Mr. Lee had decided to resign from his position and head back to Busan to take care of his sister, Jimin’s mother, and their youngest son while Jimin remained in the Moon Mansion. Now a restaurant owner, the Park family lived rather well and healthy.
“So, how was the flight? Jimin’s mother had so much prepared for you kids. She wanted everything to be as special as possible since her beloved son and the beautiful Chaekyungie and… Who’s this one?”
Saera flashed her dazzling celebrity smile while batting her eyelashes at the older man. “Uncle Lee, don’t you recognize your adorable Moon Saera anymore?”
A blink, then two blinks. Finally it cleared in Mr. Lee’s mind. “Saera?” his eyes widening. “My, you look different. A lot different! I mean it is only logical since it has indeed been around 8 years since I last saw you. You were still in elementary school back then.” He gave the girl a top-to-toe look, not believing what had happened over the years of his absence. Saera flipped her blonde locks, a fox-like smile creeping onto her face. “Well uncle, I’m not 7 anymore.” Her voice sounded raspy all of a sudden to the point of sultry that Chaekyung felt a little shiver slither down her spine. Clearing , she faked a loud yawn and stretched her limbs in the air. “Man, I’m in dying need of a bed and some good Jimin’s mother’s cooking. Can’t wait!” That was sufficient to send the two men up and about, one hurrying with the trolley and one getting them into the car.
Saera took one look at the vehicle and an instant frown form on her pretty little face. She lifted a leg to poked at the Kia’s tyre, questioning its very existence before her. “What on Earth is this? Where’s the limousine? You don’t expect me to travel in this, don’t you?” Jimin and his uncle shared a look before averting their gazes to Chaekyung. The girl lifted a finger at herself as if saying, “Me? What am I supposed to say?!” Before the poor girl could protest further, the two gentlemen had already entered the car, starting the engine. The blue-eyed heiress let out a long, tired sigh before turning to face her frowning cousin sister. “Look, there were no limos available so this is all we could get our hands on. Besides, it’s new!” She tried sounding as excited as she could manage, hoping her pseudo enthusiastic tone could snap the spoiled brat out of it. But Saera was still frowning which had taken Chaekyung a whole lot of willpower to not scream in frustration there and then. She relaxed her fists beside her before easing into the bait she had decided to use.
“Jimin oppa wanted to impress you, you know. He bought this with his own salary and had it picked out in your favourite colour.” Which was partly true, Chaekyung noted. Jimin did send the money for his uncle to get the new car so that they could get rid of the old and rickety one. While lying, Chaekyung even remembered to make her eyes as sparkling as possible.
The frown on Saera’s face disappeared slowly. She took the bait. She mumbled under her breath after a few moments of thinking it through. “My favourite colour is gold, not silver. Jimin oppa is so forgetful,” she signalled her older cousin to open the car door for her as if it took every ounce of energy in her body to do it herself. “Remind me make a new list of my likes and dislikes for him okay, cuzzy?” The younger reached out to pinch Chaekyung on the cheek, like how a grown up would when dealing with a 4-year-old, before sitting inside the car. She didn’t even bother to slide further in for Chaekyung, claiming that princesses never slide. As Chaekyung shut the door a little too hardly, she walked all around to the other end of the passenger seat door with a mumble escaping her lips. “My favourite colour is gold, not silver.” She uttered in a mocking tone, spitting the words as if it were poison before getting into the car, shutting the door after.
The car rolled into a housing area which seemed only too familiar to Moon Chaekyung. From her window, she could see children running about and playing in their front yards. The playground nearby was flooded with families, some paying with their kids and others just sitting near the benches around and catching up with the other neighbourhood friends. The sky was almost dark, the blue already mildly infused with blank ink. Soon, everyone would return to their respective houses to have dinner and spent the remaining hours of the day with their love ones. At the thought of home, Chaekyung’s tummy growled faintly. She placed a hand over her belly and coax the little tiger inside it to be a bit more patient.
Just then, the Kia made a right turn and they drove up the porch to Jimin’s house. Before Mr. Lee could turn off the engine, Jimin was already out and yelling for his mother. His uncle only could chuckle and at the sight of his nephew and sister reunited, wrapped in each other’s arms and tears streaming down the lady’s face. “Well, I’ll go grab the bags then.” He turned the engine off and clicked open the but to get the baggage out. Chaekyung then turned to her left and snickered lightly at her sleeping Saera who drooled like no tomorrow in her deep slumber. Lightly, Chaekyung reached out to give her cousin’s shoulder a shake. “Moon Saera, wake up. We’re here!”
Saera sat up with a jolt before frantically looking at their surroundings. It dawned her at the moment that she had slept through the entire journey to Jimin’s house and now they were about to greet his mother at the front door. With a panicked look, she started scrambling for her bag below her feet and pulled out her portable makeup set before applying it hastily. For someone in a rush, she certainly did an excellent job in looking prim and perfect as if she were off to walk the runway. After she admired her work in the rear mirror, Saera tossed an angry glare at Chaekyung before tossing her handbag onto her cousin’s lap. Chaekyung gaped at her cousin, stomping away before fixing herself as she approached Jimin’s mother at the entrance. “What the hell did I do?!” The blue-eyed heiress frowned as she took her own step out of the vehicle, helping Mr. Lee with the bags. She dragged her own and her cousin’s bag up to the steps when a pair of arms took her small frame in and crushed her in a bear hug.
“Oh, my little angel! It has been so long! My, my… look at you. Stunning, just like your mother.” Mrs. Park scanned the female in her arms from head to toe, aware that her eyes are again starting to brim with fat tears. Chaekyung chuckled, reaching out to wipe the tears of the lady’s face with the heel of her palms.
“It’s good to see you too, Mrs. Park.” Chaekyung beamed but the said woman creased her eyebrows while shaking her head, placing her hands onto her hips.
“Now, what have I told you about calling me that, Moon Chaekyung?”
“To…call you Aunt Mina?” Chaekyung sheepishly lifted her shoulders before giving an apologetic gaze at Jimin’s mother.
Smiling as bright as the sun, Aunt Mina once again pulled the girl into another warm embrace. “That’s my girl. Oh, how I’ve missed you.” She cooed, rubbing her palms up and down Chaekyung’s back, making the girl lean into her hug even more. Chaekyung smiled to herself as she remembered the first time she met Jimin’s mother which was when she was a very small girl and they went on a short trip to Busan. Jimin’s mother had insisted on calling her Aunt Mina in English since it would make the neighbours look at her even more poised. Well, not every families’ sons get such a fancy job in the city which required him to wear such sophisticated and shiny uniform. Serving the wealthy Moon family made things even more interesting that the neighbours have gone to the extend trying to pair their eligible daughters with Park Jimin. Aunt Mina was like an idol herself, earning adoring glances from the elder single men around the block. She was a charmer, like mother like son. I guess that was why Mr. Park asked for her hand in marriage in the first place. If this was the lady he had met years ago, I bet he would have fallen head over heels for her at first sight.
The family rejoiced, all seated at the table with mouth-watering home cook food already being devoured by the big crowd. Jimin was smiling way more than he usually was, and Chaekyung would kill to have him maintain such a blinding smile even after they’ve gone back to Seoul. Aunt Mina and Mr. Lee were laughing and reminiscing the days when young Jimin and young Chaekyung would run wild around the house, in the backyard and just everywhere. Aunt Mina was wiping the tears of joy that were leaking from the corner of her eyes when she suddenly said, “Man, how back then I would always tell myself that I had to prepare a speech to convince Mr. Moon to accept my son as his future son-in-law. I just had that major feeling that Jimin and Chaekyung would marry each other, then of course bring into this world my beautiful grandchildren.”
Jimin choked on his juice, spraying juice all over the place in front of him. A spoon from Chaekyung’s end clattered to the floor, the girl bending to pick it up embarrassingly. Saera who was not once pleased by the fact that she was so out of the conversation from the moment she sat at the table just went still, expression even more darken than it already was when she heard what Aunt Mina had said. Mr. Lee, completely unaware of the surrounding, reached out to push his sister playfully on the shoulder and laughed along as If it were some old joke that did not sound one bit embarrassing for the two teenagers involved. Chaekyung used her chopsticks to push her food around the small plate by the side of her bowl, taking the risk to peek at Jimin for a short second through her hair that dropped to cover her blue eyes. She froze instantly when she met the gaze of the latter who went rigid when he got caught staring too long. The both of them turned away almost at the same time, clearing their throats and stuffing more food down their oesophagus.
After the hearty meal, Chaekyung and Aunt Mina were in the kitchen washing dishes while the two boys were in the living room watching a good football game. Mr. Lee was surprisingly an Arsenal flag and when they scored, he cheered as loud that even the heavens could hear before going on and on about who and how they were playing the game to Jimin who listened with great interest. Chaekyung turned at the sound of Aunt Mina’s tinkling light laughter. The girl’s cheeks burned slightly, wondering if she were caught red-handed staring at Aunt Mina’s son in the living room. “It’s been so long since I’ve heard my brother so animated before. Jaehyung was never into whatever his uncle was. They were just completely different.” Chaekyung let a silent sigh of relief before nodding. So I wasn’t discovered…
“Wait, Jaehyung? Who’s that?” Chaekyung stopped her soaping when she inquired.
“Oh, my youngest son! I suppose you’ve never met him before. He used to go to boarding school so he was mostly away. Now that he is in high school, he moved back so he lives here. I think he’ll be back soon from football practice so you’ll see him.” Aunt Mina nodded once, finishing up the last of the dishes and ushered the girl to go and freshen up.
Chaekyung entered the spare room Aunt Mina had prepared for her and found a sour-faced Saera sitting on the floor, a pile of clothes in front of her. The older female tilted her head, coming up to her cousin slowly as if approaching a sleeping tigress. “Saera? What’s wrong?” Saera wrinkled her nose at the pile of clothes before her which Chaekyung realized at that point that it were the girl’s clothes which she had pulled out of her luggage. Saera had a towel wrapped around her hair and a pink robe over her body. Saera looked up at her cousin, still with a deep crease between her eyebrows. “I can’t seem to find anything appealing to wear.” Chaekyung gaped at the young girl. “Moon Saera, you’re being ridiculous! Do you see the amount of gorgeous garments before you? You have almost every designer brand I can think of right here in this pile and you say you can’t find anything appealing to wear.” She lifted a beautiful floral sweater that probably costed way more than it looks and handed it to Saera. The girl just swatted at the cloth as if getting rid of an annoying fly before kicking her legs around like a child throwing a tantrum.
“There is nothing Mrs. Park-approve in this pile of junk! If I had known that Jimin’s mother would not like me as much I would definitely pack something that you would have worn. Considering how much she adores you…”
There was a slight bite at the last sentence when she said it and Chaekyung couldn’t help but feel bad for her cousin. That was until the girl rose to her feet and started rummaging through Chaekyung’s bag. She pulled out Chaekyung’s most favourite pair of Hawaiian pants and a white shirt that looked rather baggy on herself, skipping to the toilet to change. “Yah! Moon Saera! What do you think you’re-,” Chaekyung banged on the toilet door but as quickly as she got in, Saera got out already dressed in Chaekyung’s clothes. The young girl tugged on the loose hem of the shirt and tucked it into the shorts, answering casually. “I hope you don’t mind but I’ll borrow these for today! I’m sure you have tons of other stuff to wear. You can wear some of mine if you want. If you’ll excuse me…” Saera pushed Chaekyung shoulder hard enough to make her stumble to a side, making way through the door and shutting it behind her. Chaekyung could sense her time bomb ticking seconds away and was sure she would just burst through the door and hunt down the brat, but all she could do was maintain her cool and rummage through her duffel bag for something else to wear.
“I’ll just have to hold in for another day or so. Then she’ll be gone and it’ll just be me and Jimin, same old days again.” Chaekyung mumbled it like a mantra as she functioned normally around the house.
It was just about 8 o’ clock when Chaekyung heard someone come in through the front door. A loud thud of shoes landed on the wooden platform before the entrance signalled Jimin’s younger brother’s arrival. There was a strong smell of sweat and grass when the boy walked into the kitchen. As Chaekyung turned away from the fridge she had been raiding through, she saw the boy rooted to his spot, blinking at her with big brown eyes. Jimin’s eyes. The boy didn’t look any closer to wanting to break the awkward silence so Chaekyung took the cue to introduce herself first. “Hi there! You must be Jaehyung, Jimin’s younger brother? I’m Chaekyung.” She raised her hand in a friendly wave before remembering that the proper greeting would be bowing instead. But the latter didn’t waver one bit. He just stood as still as a statue, a football between his left arm and his side, blinking at her. When she started feeling rather uncomfortable with the staring the young boy was doing, she cleared loudly and waved her hand to catch his attention.
“Uhm… Jaehyung? Park Jaehyung? You alright?” She called out to him, still waving her head until she saw something flashed in his eyes and he just shook his head lightly, waking from his little daydream.
Jaehyung shifted the ball to his right side, brushing his messy hair back with one swipe of his hand in a boyish charm manner that probably had all the girls in his school swooning over, before dipping into a little bow. “It’s nice to meet you finally, Chaekyung noona. My mom had mentioned you a couple of times and I have always wondered how the angel she kept described would look like in real life. Today must definitely be my day then.” He looked up from his bow, shot the girl a flirty wink before whistling away to his room. Chaekyung was left dumbfounded with her cup of juice slightly tipping over, juice spilling a little onto her feet and wetting her bunny slippers. With a light curse, the girl looked around for a kitchen towel to wipe the orange juice stain off her shoes while trying to get the similarities of the young boy and his older brother out of her head.
When they all ended up in the living room after getting distracted by an interesting fight scene in Aunt Mina’s current favourite drama, Jimin noticed how his younger brother kept stealing glances at the blue-eyed heiress. Chaekyung was too engrossed with the drama along with his mother that she did not take notice of the attention she’s receiving. The 16-year-old Jaehyung had a crush on Moon Chaekyung, Jimin concluded. My Moon Chaekyung. Wait… did I just say ‘my’? He saw by the way Jaehyung would just sigh away in a dreamy sort of way when Chaekyung showed any reaction to the drama, whether she was happy or shocked or sad or excited. When Jimin turned to look away for a short moment, he realized not only his brother was doing the staring but the company that had tagged along on this Busan trip from Seoul. Saera noticed that Jimin was looking right at her and instantly she fixing her hair, tossing it over her shoulder and gave a little princess wave while crossing her legs. Jimin could only return a mere nod and a small smile before the drama become all too interesting that he had to look away from Chaekyung’s cousin. But at the back of his head, it still bugged him how Jaehyung would not stop trying to get Chaekyung to talk or notice him by asking a million and one questions about the drama and occasionally dropping some personal questions.
“The guy is so stupid. He should have went after the girl. Don’t you think so, Chaekyung noona?”
“Noona, if it were you, would you go for such a guy? Would you prefer roses or chocolates on your birthday?”
“I know a perfect waffle place around the area. We could go there tomorrow! What do you say, Chaekyungie noona?”
Chaekyungie…? The nickname was the one that triggered Jimin to jab his elbow hard into Jaehyung’s side. The boy howled in pain before giving the older a rough shove, resulting into a little cushion fight. Aunt Mina was too distracted by the suspenseful scene where the CEO finally reveals his mistress to the first wife that she did not bother breaking up the two boys. It was Jimin’s uncle who reached out to whack both the boys on the back of their heads that they ended up stopping, not before exchanging angry glares at each other. When it was commercial break, Aunt Mina stood to get herself a refill of chips which left Chaekyung’s side empty. When Jimin saw his brother shift, immediately he reached out to pull the lad back down with a tug on his hoodie and hopped into the seat next to the heiress. Chaekyung leaned away when Jimin was about to whisper something into her ear. She gave him a weird look as if asking him he were high on something. Jimin wore a hurtful look which earned a little nudge from Chaekyung who smiled at him, indicating that she was kidding and urged him to continue with whatever he had wanted to say.
“What’s up?” She raised her eyebrows, munching on a cracker she had opened between the commercials.
At the sound of her voice, Saera and Jaehyung turned towards them, hoping to hear what they were sharing between themselves. Jimin mentally wanted to reach out and knock the girl on the head for asking aloud. He had initially wanted to ask if tomorrow she wanted to go sightseeing since it was a long time when she last came over and he wanted to do so without the two others but now that everyone around was on alert, he had no choice but to voice out his suggestion. Saera, in a heartbeat, had invited herself to the tour and Jaehyung had said he did have an ‘important’ meeting with his football team but would cancel it if it were for his ‘Chaekyungie’ noona. Jimin was still upset over that nickname even after his mother had returned and shooed her son back to his original seat, allowing them to go touring around Busan tomorrow before focusing back onto her drama. Jimin massaged his temples that night when he was in bed, a snoring Jaehyung sprawled on the lower bed. ”Why can’t it just be me and Chaekyung… Now I have to not only look after Saera but also this idiot.” Jimin picked up an extra pillow from his side and slapped it onto the sleeping form on the floor. Jaehyung didn’t wake but merely steer in his sleep, snoring even louder. It sounded almost like an army tank driving pass the house to Jimin. Without Jimin knowing, he had already drifted off to dreamland in the midst of coming up with a plan to get rid of Saera and Jaehyung when on their tour tomorrow as safely and as accidentally as he could.
casually going to drop this here for you guys ( a weird minjoon )
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