▬「:CHAPTER ⊹ S I X T E E N ▫ ▪

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        sugar and spice . day and night . white and black . sweet and sour . present and absent . hot and cold . shy and bold . love and hate 
              ⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯⋯BITTER && SWEET⋯⋯

“Will there be people running on rooftops?”

Baekho laughed and shook his head. “Not in broad daylight! Ninjas move at night!”

“Awesome!” Em gushed with eyes wide in excitement.

All the second year students had just arrived at Jeju Islands, the place for their overnight school excursion. It was where Baekho was born and raised before he moved to Seoul for high school, and was thus very happy in sharing all he knew about the place to his friends.

“Are there dojos? Ninja temples?” Aron asked this time.

“Yeah!... But just ordinary temples,” he explained. At Aron and Em’s dejected faces, he quickly added, “But my clan has their own training area for ninjas!” They quickly brightened up again.

Ren glanced at them warily. “Don’t humor them so much, Baekho.”

“Don’t ruin our fun! You’re just irritated that you didn’t get into the group you wanted to get in!” Aron said with a grin.

All the students were gathered in front of the bus and their teacher was announcing the group assignments. The groups that had already been formed had one consisting of Yun Hee, Hyuk and Minhyun, another had Ren, Aron and JR, and the latest one had Em and Baekho.

Em and Baekho had went with their group and were already heading off, the latter leading them excitedly - even going ahead of the tour guide.

“We need some guy time, right?” Aron said, placing his arms over Ren and JR. In the blink of an eye, the two shoved his arm away and Aron was down on the floor.

“Hands off! She’s my cuddle buddy!” The suddenly heard off to the side. The voice had come from their taller friend, Minhyun.

“FYI, she was my cuddle buddy before she landed in Seoul!” Hyuk argued while pulling the girl they were fighting about back and forth.

“Can I please get some sane people in my group?” Yun Hee complained.

“Let’s go.” Ren said a bit grumpy, trying to ignore the scene nearby.

Aron groaned for the umpteenth time that day. “Boring~!”

Ren yawned and nodded in agreement.

JR wasn’t even listening and was just scoping out girls from other schools.

The three were behind the group that had stopped in front of a monument. Their tour guide was energetically explaining and had easily caught the attention of the other members of the group… but the three were particularly hard to please.

As Ren and JR were busy contemplating over their existence in the universe and fried chicken, Aron was looking around, noticing the two different school uniforms on the other people in the area. One was most likely on a field trip too, as they were travelling in groups as well, but the other school was probably local, as they were few in number and just scattered about loitering.

“I said no, didn’t I?!”

Aron’s gaze landed on a particular group from the local school. They were a bunch of guys crowding around a pretty girl.

“... Wait,” Aron said, quickly focusing on them. The boys were from another school, but the girl was wearing the Pledis High uniform… “Isn’t that… Raina?” he asked, tugging on JR’s sleeve.

JR glanced at where his friend was staring. “... No, I think it’s Lizzy.”

Ren turned to the group and sighed. “No, geniuses. That’s Nana. What’s she doing away from her group anyway?... Where are you going?”

Aron shoved his hands in his pockets and smirked at them. “Hero time~!” he announced before heading over to the girl.

“It was nice knowing you.”

“Can I have your PS4?”

Their request for his will was ignored as Aron went over to group of delinquents. He quickly took hold of the male’s hand on Nana’s wrist and gripped it tightly. “Let go of her,” he said with a glare.

The taller guy glared at him, but relinquished his grip anyway. “Oh? I didn’t know you had a friend with you.”

Aron quickly went in front of her and used the same glare Em used to scare away other delinquents.

“... He’s not with me. Let’s-” Nana muttered with a frown.

But she was interrupted. “She’s with me. I’d rather you not take her,” he said with a confident smirk.

“Only lift one corner of your lips.”
“Tilt up your chain and look down at them!”
“Act like you’re the strongest guy out there - even if you’re an actual wimp on the inside!”

His friend’s advice (and insult) was particularly helpful at the moment… especially when he saw his opponent hesitate a bit.

“And when worse comes to worse…”

But that hesitation was only brief. The other members of his group went behind him. They were all smirking and looked a lot more confident (and tougher) than Aron did in his lonesome. “Sure! I’m sure you can wait, Nana! We’ll have fun with you first then!”

“One moment!” he said, turning around quickly to face an irritated Nana.

“Run!”

Aron took hold of Nana’s wrist and they ran off. “What the-?! Let go-!”

“Hey! Come back here!” but their voices trailed off quickly as the two ran into a large crowd. Once they were on the opposite side of the large mass of people, Aron let go of the girl’s wrist and placed his hands to his knees, panting.

Nana was panting as well, but her tired self didn’t stop her from glaring harshly at her savior. “You idiot! You could’ve at least let me talk!”

“Talk about what? They were clearly ganging up on you-!”

“They’re my friends!” she exclaimed.

“... But you looked like you were arguing-”

“They wanted to go to the arcade, I wanted to do karaoke! That’s a perfectly normal argument!” she replied hotly, still very irritated at him. Her eyes widened when she caught sight of her group not too far off. The tour guide caught sight of her and waved at her. She groaned and directed her glare at Aron. “Damn it! And it took so much effort to get away from my group too! Thanks a lot, Aron!”

“... I prevented you from getting into trouble, at least!” he said in defense. “You can hang out with those scary looking guys after the day’s activities, can’t you?”

“They have cram school after!”

His eyes widened. They were good scary looking guys. “... Sorry,” he said, laughing sheepishly. 

“Damn it…” she cursed before frowning as her group was getting closer to them. “Ugh…” she sighed, before turning on her heel and heading off.

He frowned when she suddenly stopped. “... Yes?”

She turned her head slightly to face him. “... It was totally unwanted… but thanks… for going to the trouble of trying to help me out,” she said before she continued off to her group.

“... Bipolar woman,” he said with a chuckle.

“I heard that!”

“For the last time, we are not in Japan!”

“But this is where ninjas are born!” Em said to the tour guide, the 'ninja' being Baekho.

“Anyway, continuing on… this temple was where the royal…” the tour guide began explaining, gesturing to the large building they were in front of.

Em unconsciously drowned out the lesson and leaned on the railing of the bridge, looking down at the fish in the river. Baekho leaned beside her, still facing the tour guide though. “... It’s a secret society, Em. Of course he wouldn’t know of our shinobi roots.”

She brightened up. “I understand. I’ll make sure not to mention it.” When the tour guide led them inside the temple, she grabbed onto a brochure on the rack they passed. As he began explaining about the ancestry and artifacts present, she looked through the list of various tourist spots in Jeju Islands.

Her eyes landed on a particular park called Jeju Love Land.

She shoved the brochure - picture of the park clearly seen - into Baekho’s face. “Let’s go here, Naruto!”

Baekho quickly covered his eyes as if she had thrown acid into his face. “I saw nothing! I’m still a pure soul!” he cried in despair.

The picture was of two statues in a very intimate position… She hovered the brochure in front of Baekho’s face still, so that when he opened his eyes, it’d be the first thing he saw. “No, you aren’t! We’re in high school - none of you boys are pure! Let’s go there! Come on!”

Baekho removed his hands briefly to respond, but then wailed and covered them again when the ographic material was an inch away from his face. He quickly ran off to the other side of the group. “Noooo!”

Their classmates glanced warily at the tall boy that was cowering behind them. One of them turned to scold Em… but she was nowhere to be found.

The group turned to Baekho… the only sort-of friend Em had among them.

Baekho whimpered and grabbed the offered map. “... okay.”

“Isn’t that Yun Hee’s group?” JR said when he caught sight of her

Ren quickly followed JR’s gaze.

Aron was too busy staring down at the brochure he got from a random tour guide in the area. He looked up at his two friends. “Guys… we’re going here,” he said, showing them a particular page.

Jeju Love Land

JR gave a thumbs up. “Now?”

“Now,” Aron answered. He glanced at the other members of their group and at the speaker - none of them were paying attention to the three. He had gotten JR’s approval, so he grabbed Ren’s arm instead. The blonde was still searching for Yun Hee in the other group of Pledis High students. “Let’s go!”

“No,” he said.

“There’ll be free food.”

“No.”

“Lady Gaga’s gonna have a concert there.”

“No.”

“Are you even listening to me?” Aron asked.

“No.”

Ren had clearly not seen the brochure either… He’d probably not want to come as well if he knew…

Aron smirked.

“Yun Hee will be there.”

That quickly caught the blonde’s attention. “Let’s go.”

“Love Land?”

“Yeah I’m sure it’s just a park full of hearts and couples. Let’s go!” Hyuk grinned, pulling on her arm.

“But we shouldn’t leave the group like that!” She began to worry.

“Yah, don’t turn her into a troublemaker!” Minhyun protested.

“Come on, it’ll be fun. You know Disneyland, Love Land is probably the same, just with love!”

At the mention of Disneyland, that got the two thinking.

“Maybe we can just check it out for a few minutes then?” She looked up to Minhyun with an indecisive look.

“I guess it wouldn’t hurt to check it out… we’re only here until tomorrow.”

“Oh? You followed me, Sasuke? I knew you wanted to come!” Em said with a grin as they were in front of the entrance to the Jeju Love Land. Her grin widened further when she caught sight of the sleeping guard. They could get in with no problem!

“I’m here to bring you back!” Baekho said, covering his eyes. “My parents said I’m never allowed here. I don’t want to disobey them. So let’s go!” he reached for Em’s arm, but was met with thin air. “Em!”

“You’re not going to catch me if you can’t see me!” he heard her faint voice say.

He followed after her into the park filled with statues in ual positions… eyes still covered.

Em was several meters ahead of him. She frowned. “How are you not tripping?!”

“I can feel nature’s chakra.”

“How convenient, a sleeping guard.” Hyuk smiled quietly.

“We’re not allowed. It says must be 18 to en-” Yun Hee stopped, getting a bad feeling about this Love Land park...

“Just what is this place? Disneyland doesn’t have an age limit.” Minhyun looked around for any clues.

“Let’s go in!” Hyuk pulled both of them in quickly.

“Why would Yun Hee be here?” Ren asked as they came in front of the entrance. He caught sight of the age limit sign. “In fact, none of us should be here.”

“Just texted Minhyun - they’re here all right!” Aron said with a grin, passing by the asleep guard without any hesitation.

JR followed after him, giving Ren a smirk. “What? You too much of a kid to come in here?”

Ren glared and fell for his goading. He fell in step with the two. “I don’t even know what’s…”

They saw the first statue.

“... .”

“You can say that again.”

“Yun Hee! Wait!” Suddenly Ren heard someone calling her name. He turned quickly to see Yun Hee running his way with her hands covering her eyes. He couldn’t step away in time and she ran into him.

“What the hell?” He glared at Minhyun who caught up seconds after. “Did you bring her here!?”

“Listen, I know this looks bad, but it wasn’t me! It was that damn Hyuk! He tricked us!” Just then said person showed up behind Minhyun.

“You! I knew I didn’t like you from the very beginning!” Ren pointed at him.

“Ren?” Yun Hee suddenly asked. “What are you doing in here too?!”

“Uh... because, uh...” JR talked me into it, “I heard you were in here and came to rescue you from that .” He directed his glare to Hyuk.

“Why does such a place exist?” Yun Hee dared peak from her hands only for Ren to cover them again.

“There are a bunch of different statues over here, Sakura!” they heard a voice say.

“That’s enough!... And why am I girl now? Sasuke and Naruto were okay!” another one stuttered out.

“... I am not surprised,” Minhyun said when he caught sight of Em heading towards them, Baekho following behind - eyes still covered.

She grinned at them. “Oh? What’s this? I knew it! Birds of a feather flock together!”

“We’re not all erted!” Ren said in his and Yun Hee’s defense. Em frowned when he saw his hands over Yun Hee’s eyes, but disregarded it. She figured he’d quickly side with anyone as innocent as him in this not-so-innocent place.

Her grin didn’t waver. “Riiiight…” But then her voice died own when she saw a nearby statue in a ual position. She tilted her head… “... That’s possible?”

Aron went beside her and tilted his head as well at the statue. “... Want to try?” He winced at the harsh jab to his side.

“Try what?” Yun Hee asked, pulling at Ren’s hand that wouldn’t budge.

“I’m leaving and taking Yun Hee with me, you guys out all you want.”

“Wait for me!” Baekho hurried over to them, seeing as how the other guys would be with the girl he was tasked to get.

“Minhyun?” Yun Hee asked, when she heard no reply she sighed. “Figures… Dirty Robot.”

“Right, we don’t need him.” Ren laughed.

Em frowned when she saw him turn to leave. “But there’s this really cool statue a bit to the back! You gotta see it! It really contrasts to all the others-”

“I’m good,” he merely said, facing her… and quickly turning away when he caught sight of the anatomically impossible statue beside her. “Go back to your groups soon…”

Baekho won’t look… Yun Hee can’t look, so that left Ren to lead the way for his two blind friends.

“Don’t look.” Ren warned.

“I’m not!” Both Baekho and Yun Hee replied like a child to their annoying parent.

“You think I wanna loo-!?” She was saying until she nearly tripped. “Well can I at least look where I’m walking?!”

“NO!”

“You’re being so ridiculous right now, I’m pretty sure it’s safe to look at the ground.” She laughed. She could feel the hold on her hand tighten, and thought… maybe it was a hint. Maybe he just didn’t want to let go of her hand… if she could see, she wouldn’t need his help anymore.

Figuring that was what the hint was, she squeeze his hand back, remaining silent.

“Just trust me, I’ll lead you on the right path.” He said softly. More hints… she could feel her heart flutter.

“Instead of favoring Yun Hee at the moment, how about helping me out too, Ren!” Baekho complained a few feet behind them. He had lost his hold of Yun Hee’s shoulder when she nearly tripped. Mood Killer… Ren thought, annoyed.

“What statue were you talking about?” Aron asked as they continued walking through the park. JR and Minhyun had took a different path, leaving the two.

Em sighed. “I really wanted Ren to see it… Holy-!” Seeing another statue, she pointed at it wordlessly, glancing at Aron then at the statue than at Aron again. She muttered out gibberish.

Aron gave her thumbs up. “I like that reaction!”

“That’s not what I want you to notice! How is that...  That can be done?!”

“... Want to-?”

“Offer to try it again and I’ll kick you so hard you won’t be able to do any of their positions.”

He kept his lips closed tight.

She turned a sharp left and Aron followed after her. “This was the statue I wanted him to see!” In contrast to every other statue in the park, the male and female in this were fully clothed. They were both bent down and kissing - the guy with a heart box behind him. “It’s really nice, huh? I mean, everywhere you look is , but then...” She gestured to it and grinned at him. “Real sweet, huh?”

Aron glanced at the statue and then at her smiling face.

“Want to try it?”

She had planned on using those same words on Ren. Even if she didn’t like to admit it, she knew he’d reject the idea. So it’d be fine if she shot Aron’s suggestion down just as easily, right?...

… but she did quite enjoy seeing him unusually embarrassed and uneasy. She smirked at him. “... Maybe?” she muttered, gaze down before looking up at him timidly.

His eyes widened at her words and expression. He was not blushing. He was not blushing.

He was most definitely blushing.

“Wha-?”

Em’s smile grew at his reaction. “Just kidding~!”

“You devil...!”

She laughed and gestured around them. “This is no place for angels!”

“Here…” Minhyun handed a small note over to Yun Hee while looking around, acting suspicious.

“What is this?” She looked down at it, curious. It was lunch time by now, a couple of hours after the awkward trip to Love Land.

“Just open it.” He smiled, giving her a pat on the shoulder before leaving to get in line. They were at one of the nice restaurants for lunch at the moment.

Opening up the note, a smile came to her face almost instantly.

Let’s eat lunch together…

;)

L♥ve Ren

She looked up and scanned the nearby tables for the blonde, not seeing him inside, she thought to check the outdoor area. Before she really could make it out, a few boys from another school had stop her. Really?This is so cliche… She thought annoyed, it wasn’t like she had a lot of time on her hands, and now these boys were preventing her from seeing Ren.

“Whatever it is you have to say, save it for another girl. I’m not interested, sorry.” She held her hand up stopping one of them from speaking.

“Wow, straight forward, I like.” One smirked. She looked at their uniforms to recognize they were from her high school back in Busan.

“Jung Taekwoon.” She merely said. There was slight hesitation from them now. “Lee Jaehwan…”

“Sorry for bothering you, we’ll get out of your way.” One apologized, forcing the other two out of her way. Her brother and Kenjumma were known around the high school boys from when the two attended the same high school, you could say they were legends(strong word), or maybe just well known.

“Thank you.” She passed them and made it to the outdoor section, finally spotting Ren, she headed over to him. “Yo.” She smiled.

“Sup?” He replied back with a small laugh. She took a seat while he pushed over some food he had already ordered beforehand.

“At least I don’t have to wait for my food now, huh? Thanks.”

After about a minute or so… Ren decided to ask her something.

“Yun Hee?”

“Yes?”

“I was thinking… tonight let’s-” But he was cut short when a familiar face joined the conversation.

“Sunflower~!” Ken smiled, walking up to their table. “I’ve been looking all over for you! Come, let’s talk before your lunch break is over.” He pulled her up out of her seat, basically ignoring Ren’s presence yet again.

“But I’m eating-” She was pulled away not even able to get her sentence out. She looked back to Ren with an apologetic look before being dragged off around the corner out of sight.

“What’s the story about that guy anyway?” Ren thought out loud as he watched them disappear around the corner, leaving him behind at the restaurant’s outdoor table. He finally managed to get Yun Hee to have lunch with him only for Kenjumma to steal her away. It looked like he wasn’t going to spend any time with the girl on this school trip. If only we were in the same group...

“Do you really want to know?” Suddenly he heard Hyuk’s voice. He had joined him at the table, eating Yun Hee’s food that got abandoned.

“Don’t just show up and start eating other people’s food out of no where!”

“They met a few years ago-”

“Are you ignoring what I’m saying?!”

“Kenjumma used to be a bad person…” Hyuk continued, his expression turning a bit serious. “He hung out with the wrong people, trusted the wrong people…” Instead of continuing to complain about Hyuk ignoring him, Ren remained quiet, now interested in what Hyuk was saying.

“Was he in some sort of gang, back in Busan?”

“You could say that…” Hyuk nodded. “He was in the same tae kwon do classes as Leo, that’s how they became friends… they even attended high school together. Ken’s actually two years younger than Leo.”

“So that means he’s a senior now?”

“He already graduated, his smarts made him skip a year, so he was able to graduate with Leo and Hakyeon. If it weren’t for Yun Hee, I don’t think he would have finished high school.”

Curiosity filled the air by now as Ren tried to think of what could have possibly happen.

“The gang he had joined basically betrayed him and messed him up pretty bad. Yun Hee was the one who found him in one of the alley ways, all banged up. At first, Ken rejected her help… he wouldn’t trust anyone, not even a young innocent girl…”

“Are you okay?! You’re hurt!” Little thirteen year old Yun Hee exclaimed, voice full of worry as she stood before her older brother’s school mate. He looked pretty bad, as if he were hit by a bus, the cuts and bruises were so bad it hurt to look at. The gang hadn’t done much damage to his face, giving others a chance to recognize him, sadly the rest of his body wasn’t spared.

“Go.. away.” Ken managed to spit out.

“We should get you to a hospital!” She ignored his words, reaching out to help him up when he slapped her hand away.

“Didn’t you hear me, I said go away!”

“I’m not leaving you here like this! I’ll call for help!” She was being stubborn. As expected from the Jung family. He smirked on the inside.

“You don’t have to do that… just get out of here. It’s not safe, I don’t want your brother killing me if anything were to happen to you because of me…”

“Get up, I’ll help you to the hospital.” Yun Hee got closer.

“No, I don’t need your help! I don’t need anyone’s help!” He snapped. She froze, the glare he was giving her sent chills throughout her body… He’s scary!

“B-But… if you stay here like t-this-”

“Who cares! I’m dead anyway, always had been.” He looked away. “No one ever really cared about me anyway…”

His parents never really paid too much attention to him, always too busy with work, they never checked up on him either. Joining his gang, he saw how everyone looked out for one another, they had each other’s back, like they were family. That was something he longed for, for someone to care enough to acknowledge his existence, look out for him, have his back… check up on him.

But that was only short lived, he wasn’t sure how or what caused his fellow members to turn against him. He only got his answer once they had finished beating the living daylights out of him… “You’re a threat, you’re too strong, we can’t risk you going against us…”

“Why would I ever go against you guys!?”

“Your friend Leo…” One mentioned. Ken paused.

“What about him!?”

“Other gangs have tried to scout him out, but he’s declined every request… could he be starting his own gang? You’d be the first invite to join… then you’d be betraying us! Might as well get rid of you before you do anything stupid…”

“The only stupid one here is you! Leo isn’t into this whole gang business! He has a little sister, he’d never get into something dangerous such as a gang!”

“Little sister, you say?” The leader grinned. “Come on boys, let’s get going. We’re done here.” He simply turned around, motioning for his followers to follow him. Ken was left there, badly hurt in the dark alley way.

Shortly after, Yun Hee had found him on her way home from a friends house. Immediately Ken remember that unsettling grin that leader gave once Ken mentioned Leo had a sister. She wasn’t safe here, or anywhere near Ken.

Yun Hee only ignored his demands of getting away, and instead helped him all the way to the hospital. She stayed with him while they treated his serious wounds, all the kicks and punches to his stomach cause some internal bleeding, had Yun Hee not helped him here in time like she did, he most likely would have died in that alley way by the end of the night. She was his hero now.

After surgery and being treated, he woke up to find his parents still hadn’t come to the hospital, but he was a little happy to see Leo sleeping at the side of his bed in a chair. Perhaps he did have someone who cared about him, actually, more than one person. He could see little Yun Hee sleeping  on the mini couch by the wall of his hospital room, clutching onto a sunflower. It was a little confusing on why she had one with her at the moment but he shrugged it off.

Her eyes fluttered open moments later, she sat up quickly once she saw he was awake. “You’re alive! Thank goodness!” She rushed over, happy tears falling from her eyes. “I was so worried!”

Ken frowned… She was worried for a bad guy like me? Last I checked… we barely know each other. Could the fact of me being friends with her older brother be enough to cause her such worry?

“I’m fine… you can stop worrying.” He looked down. I’m not worth it…

“I’m so glad you’re okay.” No you’re not… “I was scared, they said you could have died…” I should have just died… “Ken…”

He looked up to see how close she had gotten. “Something tells me you’re thinking pretty negatively…” She frowned. “Whatever you’re thinking… stop. Be happy you’re alive.” She smiled, holding out the sunflower she was clutching onto earlier. “Whenever I feel down, I look at the sunflowers in mom’s garden. No matter what happens, they always stand up tall and strong.”

He took the long stemmed sunflower from her, looking at it with a conflicted expression. “You telling me to be a sunflower?”

“Yes! You’re tall and strong, you can get through anything! I believe it.” She smiled brightly. “Had anyone else been the victim to those scary guys, they surely wouldn’t have made it, but you did! You’re just like a sunflower, enduring through a terrible storm!”

A small smile appeared on Ken’s lips… “You really think so?”

“I know so! My brother doesn’t befriend weaklings.” She gave a thumbs up.

“You’re so cute!” His smile grew wider at the compliment as he ruffled her hair a bit. She’s okay… I can… I can trust her. He thought, feeling relieved. She’s my hero after all, I owe her my life! I vow to protect her from her until the end of time… my little sunflower. He thought, watching her smile brightly at him. She too resembled a sunflower, a small sunflower. She may not endure the storm physically, but mentally, she held up just fine. She was strong too with her positive personality. It was what he needed most right now. She saved me.

“Yun Hee and Leo are like the family Ken’s always wanted, the people who care for him and check up on him…” Hyuk smiled, seeing the impressed expression on Ren’s face. “Yun Hee helped him through his troubles then and even up until this day. She’s special to him, being the only one who encouraged him at his lowest time.”

“Amazing…” Ren said, staring out into the distance… he could feel himself falling even more in love with the kind positive selfless Yun Hee. She was someone everyone should have in their lives, there really wasn’t too many of her kind, sadly. He really longed to have her in his life permanently.

“There’s the story, so maybe you’ll be more understanding when Kenjumma get’s all protective again?”

“Of course!”

“Good.”

“What’s your story then?” Ren suddenly asked.

“That’s a tale for another time, my friend!” Hyuk smiled.

“I am not your friend.”

“Of course you are! If you weren’t I wouldn’t have just told you that entire story! I only tell friends those kind of things… important things…”

“Fine… but I still don’t like you.” Ren sighed, returning back to his food.

“That’s good enough for me!” Hyuk laughed. “Hey, is that rice cake? Share!”

“You already ate all of Yun Hee’s food, you’re not eating min-” Already Hyuk reached over and took what he wanted. “You little…”

“I’m back!” Suddenly Yun Hee showed up to the table with a bright smile.

“Oh!” Hyuk froze.

“Yah~! Did you eat the food Ren bought me?!” She pinched his cheek with an annoyed expression.

“I didn’t know you were coming back!” He defended getting up. “I’ll go buy you a replacement then!” And he ran off, away from the restaurant.

“What a liar!” She stomped her foot watching him disappear. Ren laughed, finding their antics funny. “What are you laughing about?” She pouted at him. “You let him eat it!”

“Here!” He quickly handed over a Choco Pie, her irritation left instantly as she accepted her favorite snack.

“Thank you~!” She beamed taking her seat again.

“You’re so adorable.” He smiled, leaning forward watching her snack away.

“I just got gushed over for the past 10 minutes, please don’t say that right now.” She sighed resting a hand on her forehead.

“What did Kenjumma want, anyways? Why is he here, too?”

“Ah, apparently Leo came to Jeju with his girlfriend for a vacation, he invited his friends, too. I had no idea, he didn’t tell my parents or anything. Something exciting happened, and since they knew I’m here on this trip, he came and fetched me for my brother.”

“Something exciting happened?”

“My brother proposed to Hana!” She said happily. “They wanted to tell me and take pictures. Kenjumma got a little carried away while taking the pictures though and started gushing…” She sighed, not really amused by that part.

“Congratulations to your brother, good for him.” Ren smiled sitting back in his seat. “I guess I need to figure when I should propose to you as well, then.”

“Ren!” She blushed at his comment.

“Should I do it here in Jeju, too?”

“Stop!”

“Should I do it now?” He took her left hand in his.

Her face was bright red at his marriage joking again.

“Ah, you’re so cute.” He squeezed her hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll do it at the perfect time.”

◞* ✄ — END CHAPTER ⋮S I X T E E N