8: Stalker?
It's Complicated.Regular - Korean | Bold - English | Italicized - Chinese
Narrator's POV
"there you are!" Taehyun shouted as he spotted Chaerin walking over towards him and Mei
"why did saem talk to you and Jungho?" Mei asked
"nothing, she's just pairing me and Jungho permanently" Chaerin said
"lucky, Jungho's the best dancer in the school." Mei said "and he's cute"
Chaerin checked her phone, 2:45. "anyway, who are we waiting for and what are we gonna do?"
"I texted Jooyoung and our cousins - Chanmi and Jaeyeol, they're twins - to meet up at the coffee shop near school" Taehyun said, his phone starting to ring "oh aigoo"
"wae?" Mei asked as they started walking
"nae appa" Taehyun said answering the phone "yeobosayo? oh appa...jigeum? I'm hanging with some friends"
"annyeonghaseyo samchun~" Mei chirped in the background
"ah ani appa! I do have friends, not just the cousins! Why don't you believe me?" Taehyun whined making the girls laugh "heol, appa how dare you say that your only son is a loser? Oh Mei-ah, he said hi"
The girl smiled and Taehyun went back to his fighting
"appa keuneo, I'll be coming home with Mei and the twins" he said hanging up
"man I love Baekhyun samchun" Mei laughed "the amount of shade he throws at you Taehyun-ah"
"Jongdae samchun and Chanyeol samchun do it too" Taehyun frowned "oh the hard life. Jongdae samchun doesn't do it to you?"
"aniyo, appa absolutely loves me" Mei said "and besides, mama would hit him if he does"
"well you're awfully quiet" Taehyun spoke to Chaerin after his little whine fight with Mei "is everything okay?"
"yeah, it's just I have nothing really to say when it comes to my parents" Chaerin shrugged "umma's working most of the day and appa's overseas a lot, but I love them unconditionally don't get me wrong"
"what do your parents do?" Mei asked
"my appa's still active in GOT7 with Jooyoung's appa so he's either here or on tours. The most time he spent at home was probably 3 years, then he comes and goes" Chaerin said "my umma's the owner of the K-T chains"
"chincha?" Taehyun asked "the hotels, restaurants, car company, fashion company, everything?"
"mhm" Chaerin nodded "here we are"
"are you lonely at home then?" Mei asked
"ani, if I'm not hanging out with my friends, I'm home with my siblings. I have an oppa and two namdongsaengs." she said "I'm the only girl"
"ah..." Taehyun nodded "you girls go find a seat, I'm gonna order. What do you want?"
"you know my usual Taehyun-ah" Mei said
"I'll have a caramel flan frappe" Chaerin said "I'll pay you back"
"arasso, find us the usual table upstairs Mei-ah" Taehyun said and she nodded leading Chaerin up the spiral staircase. The two chatted a bit, Chaerin learned that Mei was the daughter of Kim Jongdae - aka EXO's Chen - and Zhang Liyin, making her Kim Mei
"Taehyun told me that you sang mama's song today" she said and Chaerin nodded "I really hope to hear you sing it once, maybe my mama can listen too"
"I'm too shy for that" Chaerin said sheepishly "maybe"
After approximately 5 minutes, Taehyun came up with Jooyoung, Chanmi, and Jaeyeol trailing him. The twins introduced themselves to Chaerin, who she learned to be the kids of EXO's Park Chanyeol.
"so you guys are cousins in the same aspect as me and Joojoo" Chaerin said and they nodded
"but we grew up together" Jaeyeol said "Chaerin, Jooyoung told us that you only met about a month ago?"
"deh" she nodded "Joojoo's like the twin brother I always wanted. I want to stab him, but he's my best friend"
"I don't know if that's a compliment or..." Jooyoung said
"it's a compliment" Chanmi smiled "I feel the same way with Jaeyeollie"
"it's great to know you want to stab me" he scoffed
"now you also know that you're like my best friend" Chanmi patted her twin's shoulder.
"there's going to be duets next week in vocals" Taehyun said and nudged Chaerin's side teasingly "wanna be my partner?"
"sure" she smiled giving him a high five
"yah, what about me?" Jooyoung frowned
"you can partner up with Hyerin~" Mei winked and he hit her arm "ow! apo!"
"who's Hyerin?" Chaerin asked innocently
"Jooyoung's soulmate" Jaeyeol said earning an elbow from the boy
"yah!" Jooyoung glared
"Jooyoungie's had a crush on her forever" Mei said
"why don't you go ask her out then?" Chaerin said simply "surely, she'll say yes to the school's Kingka"
"yah, I told you not to call me that" Jooyoung whined
"I have a question" Chaerin said ignoring his whining "are you all training to be an idol?"
"deh" Chanmi nodded "all 4 of us are training in a group"
"wahh" Chaerin nodded
"what about you? why'd you move to Korea?" Taehyun asked
"my umma and appa told me that I should go study here, either it be to be an idol or a doctor" she answered
"why do you wanna be a doctor?" Mei asked
"ah...I wanna study about blindness and help find a cure for it, whether it be genetic or traumatic" Chaerin said
"why blindness specifically?" Jaeyeol asked and Jooyoung stepped on his foot, giving a small shake of his head in disapproval "I-I mean, you just want to focus on that field? optometry?"
"deh" Chaerin said quietly "no matter who you are, you deserve to see and visualize the world in colors, not try to imagine when all you see is a dark abyss of nothingness"
Jooyoung comfortingly put his arm around her, rubbing her shoulder. All of a sudden, her phone rang, showing a foreign caller ID
"jamkamman" Chaerin said turning away slightly to answer the call "hello? who is this?"
"chesunghaeyo, I don't speak English" the voice said
"you have an LA caller ID" Chaerin rolled her eyes "idiot, nuguya?"
"dammit" the voice whispered. That cursing sounded oh so familiar to her
"Daniel? Where are you calling me from-Wait no, why are you calling me?" she said with hostility
"I can't call a friend?" Daniel asked
"we're not friends" Chaerin said "what do you want?"
"eodiya?" he asked
"in Korea" she said "keuneo"
"where in Korea?" Daniel asked
"why would I tell you?" Chaerin said
"just to make sure that the girl I'm looking at right now is you" he said and hung up the phone
"nuguya?" Taehyun asked
"my ex boyfriend" Chaerin said putting her phone on the table "I don't know if he's drunk or if he's high, but he called me from LA"
"I'm not in LA though" a voice said coming up the stairs. The 6 of them turned and Chaerin's eyes turned hard.
"neo...what the are you doing here?" Chaerin gritted her teeth as she stood up, taking a fistful of Daniel's collar
"getting fiesty right when you see me Cherry? no hi?" Daniel asked
"you don't deserve a hi" she spat on him "now answer my question, what the are you doing here?"
"dad and uncle Mark were talking a week after you left, they said how I should study in Korea too" Daniel said
"that's stupid. You're stupid" she glared at him pushing him away
"our parents still think we're friends, Cherry" Daniel said
"we're not friends!" Chaerin yelled at him "I don't want to have anything to do with your !"
"Rinnie-ya!" Jooyoung called out as Chaerin grabbed her backpack and rushed down the stairs
"Rinnie?" Daniel raised an eyebrow
"you must be Daniel" Jooyoung said "Chaerin told me about you"
"is she still in love with me?" Daniel smirked
"ani, she told me how much she wanted to kill you" Jooyoung stood up "guys kaja"
"do you know where Chaerin's going?" Chanmi asked and he nodded. Jooyoung stared at Daniel blankly before giving him a punch
"yah-"
"that was just in case he follows us" Jooyoung said "kaja, ppali"
***
Jooyoung led them to the K-T hotel where he went up to the top floor, knocking on Chaerin's door. "Chaerin-ah, it's us"
A few seconds later, the girl opened the door, her eyes still flaming with rage. "come in"
"wah" Jaeyeol said looking around the place
"it's so big" Mei muttered
"gwenchana?" Jooyoung asked her
"aniyo, I have the strong urge to punch something" Chaerin clenched her fists hitting the couch repeatedly. Jooyoung told the others Chaerin's story between Daniel as she was busy finding stuff to beat.
"Chaerin-ah, your phone" Taehyun said handing it to her
"yeobosayo?" she gruffed
"noona?" Nathan said from the other line. The girl immediately softened
"Nae-ah" Chaerin said gently "w-why are you calling?"
"I missed hearing your voice noona" he said "noona gwenchana? You seem mad"
"aniya, it's nothing" she said "how's your summer so far Nae-ah?"
"good, Jason hyung always goes swimming with me and Luke, we play a lot too, and hyung cooks for us" Nathan said. Chaerin smiled when she heard the happiness in his voice "I just wish you were here with us too, noona"
"nado, but I'm attending school now here" she said "I like it, plus I also made good friends"
"it's good to know that you're enjoying it there" Nathan said
"what about umma? or appa?" Chaerin asked
"appa helps umma with work so they come home earlier, around 3. Instead of 7" he said "at least that's what time Jason hyung says it is"
"ahh...that's good Nathan" she said gently "himnae, oh?"
"noona, can you sing for me?" Nathan asked "jebal~"
"jigeum? y-yah Nae, I'm with my friends" Chaerin said
"wae?" Chanmi asked
"my dongsaeng wants me to sing for him, all of a sudden" she said shyly
"go ahead" Taehyun said "we don't mind"
"can we look around actually?" Mei asked "this place is huge"
"go ahead" Chaerin shrugged watching them explore "so what song do you want me to sing?"
"anything" Nathan said. Chaerin thought for a minute before clearing and singing a soft melody in Mandarin. She finds that Chinese songs are always good as ballads. When she finished singing, she heard a light snoring in the background
"ah that's right...it's midnight there" Chaerin muttered, giggling a bit "good night, uri dongsaeng~"
She hung up, grinning. The girl thought it was actually cute how her 12 year old brother wanted a lullaby. Chaerin went outside to find the group playing in the swimming pool
"woah...what I miss" she said
"come on in here" Taehyun said getting out of the pool and picking her up by the waist
"yah! yah Byun Taehyun! Let me down!" Chaerin thrashed her hands around. He only laughed and jumped in the pool with her. "yah!"
"mehrong~" Taehyun beamed splashing her with water
"Byun Taehyun! neo jugulae?!" she shouted pouncing on him and dragging him down under the water. The other 4 laughed in response
"man aren't I glad that she's not attacking me" Jooyoung sighed in relief, clutching his stomach and doubling over in laughter as Taehyun flailed his arms around
"okay okay! I give up! I give up!" Taehyun pleaded hitting Chaerin's arm that was wrapped around his neck. "mianhe mianhe mianhe"
"aigoo" Mei clicked her tongue spraying water at Taehyun as Chaerin released him "pabo-ya, aigoo"
"I'm getting out" Chaerin said swimming towards the edge
"aye Chaerin-ah" Chanmi whined "play with us for 5 minutes oh?"
"5 minutes" Chaerin sighed in agreement. That 5 minutes, turned into 10, which eventually turned into an hour of playing in the water
"ah baegopa" Jaeyeol whined patting his stomach
"do you guys wanna eat here before you leave?" Chaerin asked "we can always do room service, that's what I do when I don't feel like cooking"
"if it's fine with you" Mei said "we don't want to impose"
"we don't?" Taehyun asked and Mei slapped the back of his head
"it's fine, right Rinnie?" Jooyoung asked and she nodded
"we can dry off in the sauna" Chaerin said "Joojoo, show them where it is while I order"
"did she just say sauna?" Jaeyeol asked running mindlessly to the left
"it's the other way" Jooyoung called out to him leading the other 3 to the bathroom/sauna
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