9: Duets & Dating
It's Complicated.Regular - Korean | Bold - English | Italicized - Chinese
Narrator's POV
"Taehyun-ah, time out time out" Chaerin said as she drank some water.
"okay" he asked sitting down on his bed. The girl sighed and sat down on his computer chair, checking her phone "yah, has Daniel bothered you at all in the past week?"
"ani...I've been a bit on edge about it" she said "this isn't like him"
"if he comes back, me, Jooyoung, and Jaeyeol can always beat him up for you" the boy winked. She cracked a smile
"thanks, but I know I can take him just fine." Chaerin said
***
"good job Hyerin, good job Jooyoung" the vocal teacher said giving them slight claps "next up, Chaerin and Taehyun."
The pair stood up and gave each other high-fives before playing the music.
"assa!" Taehyun cheered as class finished "we owned that duet!"
"we did better than Joojoo at least" Chaerin said nudging the scowling boy "poor little Joojoo, all he kept doing was blush as Hyerin was singing to him"
"your face was hilarious Park Joo!" Taehyun clapped his hands "man I wish I got that on video"
"shut up" Jooyoung hissed "I will slap you if-"
"Jooyoung-ah" a girl said putting a hand on his shoulder "gwenchana? Your face was really red when we sang, are you sick anywhere?"
"a-aniyo, I'm fine" he said averting his gaze "y-you sang really well Hyerin-ah"
"komawo" Hyerin smiled "you did too. We should partner up more often"
"chincha?" Jooyoung's eyes bulged.
"mm" she nodded "we're a good team Jooyoung-ah. You guys did good too"
"thanks Hyerin" Taehyun smiled at her
"oh, I gotta go to physics. I'll see you guys later" Hyerin waved "bye"
Jooyoung waved back, a bright blush on his cheeks. Taehyun and Chaerin burst out laughing at his reaction, mocking his stutter and love-struck actions.
"-what the did you say?" a voice boomed in the next corridor, a crowd of students began to rush to see what was going on, Taehyun, Chaerin, and Jooyoung a part of them. The three gasped as they saw Jungho push Daniel to the ground. "try to say that to me again oh?"
Chaerin noticed how Jungho hesitated to punch Daniel, two weeks at this school and she knew that he didn't want to ruin his chic reputation by beating up people. Her fists clenched as she saw Daniel's smirk, saying a sentence in English that only she could understand. She pushed through the front of the crowd and pulled Jungho off Daniel. He stared at her and she only motioned him to back away.
"thanks Cherry-"
Daniel was cut off with a very painful looking blow to the face, falling to the floor.
Chaerin landed in a fighting position and straightened herself up, crossing her arms.
"I'm getting really tired of asking you why you're here" she said
"Chaerin-ah" Jungho said surprised, the crowd looking between the three of them
"I don't know what this little er did to you, but if you don't want to hit him then I will" Chaerin said coldly.
"you know him?" Jungho asked
"do I know him? he ing ruined my life" Chaerin said staring at the other students "don't you have anything better to do?"
"wah, look at her trying to act tough" Ahreum spoke up. Chaerin's head snapped to Ahreum and she glared
"yah Han Ahreum, do you wanna end up like him?" Chaerin said going over to her, the students parting as she walked "I'm not afraid to, you know. You don't scare me."
The girl did another trick, but she intentionally did not hit Ahreum. She kicked right above her head, earning a scream from the girl.
"You say something else and I might hit something lower" Chaerin said deadly. Jungho grabbed her wrist, dragging her with him as he walked away "I'm getting pretty tired of this too, stop dragging me around like a puppy"
"then follow what I say and I wouldn't have to keep dragging you around" Jungho said "tomorrow's the weekend and one missed class from Song saem wouldn't hurt, partner?"
"bwoh?" she stared at him
"it's time to take a field trip" Jungho said and he stopped in front of her locker
"I'm not missing a class-"
"then go ahead to dance where Daniel's joining us. He'll be your partner if I'm not there" he said. Chaerin glared at him and silently opened her locker, grabbing her backpack. "let's go"
"where are you two going?" Daniel asked as he saw them at the lobby. Chaerin ignored him and interlocked her right hand with Jungho's left. He stopped momentarily
"c'mon" Chaerin whispered dragging him out the school.
***
"so tell me, how did Daniel get on your ?" Chaerin asked as she followed Jungho around outside
"just came up to me and said how I'm talentless." Jungho said
"tch, as if he could even tell what singing is. He sounds like nails on a chalkboard" Chaerin grumbled "Daniel can dance, but he can't sing."
"how'd he get on your ?" Jungho asked
"he dumped me and then annoyed me about it ever since then." Chaerin said "you have no idea how much I hate him"
"why is he here then?" Jungho said
"his parents and my parents are good friends. They still believe that me and him are good friends and thought it was a splendid idea to let him come to Korea just because I did too" she said "part of the reason why I left LA is because of him. Just when I thought I was going to live a Daniel-free life, he comes back in. At least he's not going to hurt my brother."
"oh?" Jungho asked. Chaerin's eyes widened as she realized that she basically blabbed on about her life problems. "what about your brother?"
"n-nothing" Chaerin said "forget it"
"but-"
"whatever Daniel said about you being talentless, it's not true" she changed the subject "you're the most talented kid in school. Dancing, singing, rapping, academics, you're good"
"never knew you thought so highly of me-"
"but this is your problem." she crossed her arms "this is the reason why I probably hate your guts. You're cocky and self-centered and you think everyone likes you. Jeon Jungho, that's not true!"
"you seem exasperated" he said
"oh I am" Chaerin said as she stopped walking, sitting down on the meadow
"yah, are you not going to stand up?" he asked
"shireo, we've been walking for an hour already, a girl gets tired in heels" she said
"I'm surprised that you didn't break your ankle doing those tricks in heels and with a skirt on" Jungho said resorting to sitting down next to her "you're still annoyed"
"yeah, because there aren't any regular good natured people anymore. Everyone's either a jackass or a cocky or a and it ing annoys me!" she ranted
"look who's talking, it's not like you're an angel" he retorted
"and I acknowledge that fact" Chaerin said "I know I can be a heartless spitting psychopath, but that doesn't mean that I don't have any good virtues. I'm content with whatever I am."
"wise words" Jungho nodded looking up at the clouds
"I still don't like you" Chaerin said bluntly
"and I frankly don't care what you think of me" he scoffed "but this is what I like about you, you have fire"
"and I will burn you if you keep annoying me" she said answered a call on her sudden ringing phone "what?"
"where'd you run off to?" Daniel asked
"can you do me a favor and stop talking to me?" Chaerin said
"aw come on, don't you have to at least say sorry for hurting my face?" he asked
"why would I say sorry to you" she said "I was pretty impressed with my kick"
"I know how you're feeling" he said "I know you hurt people because you're afraid they'd hurt you first"
"that's how I used to think Daniel, I think you forgot" Chaerin said "you're the only exception when it comes to violence, remember? keuneo"
"if you still like me, just say so" Daniel said
"I don't like you, how many ing times do I have to say it so that it can process through that thick skull of yours?" Chaerin said
"I feel sad for you Cherry, you have a one-sided love, you're single, alone, you're going to die one of those cat ladies aren't you-"
"I have a boyfriend, you " she spat at him
"chincha?" he laughed "who?"
"why would I tell you?" Chaerin said
"you're lying" Daniel laughed "that's sad. I never thought you'd go that low, Cherry"
"who said I was lying?" Chaerin said her eyes meeting Jungho's, who was trying to process the phone call with all the English-Korean squabbles "Jeon Jungho's my boyfriend"
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