CHAPTER NINETEEN

If he had a rock, he could have thrown it on the glass window just to halt their happy little gathering, but he didn’t want to make a commotion when he’s outside of the café. He would rather make it inside, when they all know that he was there.

And that’s what he did. He wasn’t noticed until he spoke though.

“Having fun without me, wifey?”

Soojung froze by hearing his voice. She didn’t have to turn around to see who that was. She knew it was Jongin, and even though he spoke in a cheerful tone, she knows that he wasn’t really happy to see her there.

One by one, their heads turn around and everyone had the same reaction seeing an Imperium Academy student. But this wasn’t just an ordinary student. This was the infamous Kim Jongin. He had both his hands on his pocket and was frowning. Seokjin immediately stands up to confront him, but was stopped by both Mark and Taehyung.

“Oh, so I’m not welcome here but she is?” Jongin gestures at Soojung, who was the only not looking at him. She felt as if she was caught cheating.

“What brings you here?” Namjoon asks in the politest way just because Soojung was there.

“I was just really bored at my penthouse so I thought I could walk around Seoul, since you know, I’d probably won’t have the time to do so once I enter college next year.” He explains, looking around the said café. He must admit, it looked nice. “What a progress. You guys used to hang out at the trash can, but now you have this fancy looking café. Nice.”

Taehyung looked at his captain. He didn’t say anything, but it was like he was asking permission to beat the out of him. Namjoon just shook his head.

“Please, leave. We do not welcome you as a customer.” Mark says harshly.

“Oops. Am I being too honest? Sorry, I am the type to tell the truth and not lie about things.” He chuckles. “Unlike somebody who lied about stealing-”

“Why you-” Jackson, even though he was literally standing beside Soojung, didn’t even think twice on what he did. He immediately grabs Jongin by the collar and was about to punch him.

“Please, stop.” Soojung says, and finally looks at Jongin. Her voice cracks as she speaks. “Don’t do it.” Jackson does what she pleases, though he had already had his fist up and is tempting to punch him.

Glares from the Ehra High students followed Jongin until he finally leaves the café, with Soojung dragging him outside. Before she could even explain, Jongin has already spoken first in a firm, cold voice.

“We have to talk. Get in my damn car.”

Not even the voice of John Legend can soothe Soojung’s mind while Jongin was driving beside her. She had no idea where he was taking her as he hasn’t said any word since he drove off. He hasn’t even looked at her and just had his eyes on the road.

She must admit, it does freak her out the fact that Jongin is probably mad at her for hanging out with the school’s rivals. But as seconds pass, she realizes that she doesn’t have to be scared. She shouldn’t be. If she wants to be friends with someone, nobody can stop her to do what she wants to do, especially not Jongin.

 When he pulls over in front of the Jungs’ mansion, Jongin doesn’t unlock the car door until he finally says a word to Soojung.

“I know that I promised that I won’t be giving any s about your social life, but today will be the last time that you will ever see them up close.”

Instead of going out of his Porsche, Soojung scoffs at what he said and rolled his eyes. “And what if I still do? Are you going to beat the out of them just like what you did to them?”

After hearing what she just said, Jongin looks at her, shocked. “S-Soojung, I can explain-”

“No, Jongin. I don’t need your explanation anymore!” She exclaims angrily. “You wanted to take revenge by hurting them just because you lost a ing game. It’s just a ing game! I can’t believe-”

“You don’t understand, Soojung! You don’t even know the whole story so shut the up-”

“Unfortunately, I do know Jongin! I heard everything from Taeyong! He was kicked out of the team because he was the only one caught by the police! But you boys didn’t do anything to his defense-”

“What happened between the football team and Taeyong has nothing to do with this!” He shouts in frustration. He felt like as he should have talked to her about that.

“You’re right. It doesn’t. But the fact that you’re making me stop doing something that I want to, just because of a stupid rivalry of two schools doesn’t mean I will be doing it.” She frowns. “Just admit it, Jongin. You and the whole school are acting this way towards Ehra High is because you can’t accept that fact that someone who isn’t from our social class is as good, or perhaps much better than you are. You feel like you're superior than them, but you're not Jongin.”

Jongin doesn’t say anything. Instead he let her speak up and listened.

“If you lost against a foreign school, would you still act the same? Would you sneak out and try to take them out just because you wanted to win?”

He bites his lips. He didn’t like hearing those words come out from .

Never would Soojung imagine Jongin beating up someone just because he lost a match. He was, and still is, an idiot for her but she would never think he would do this. And seeing him very quiet made her a lot more upset because all of it was true.

“I am so disappointed in you, Jongin. I can’t believe you would do something so stupid… something so vile.” Soojung sighs in discontent. “Talk to me when you’re done being an .”

Mornings weren’t really Soojung’s favourite time of the day. She wasn’t really a morning person, and even if she was joking around the maids as she ate her breakfast in the kitchen, she’d rather continue sleeping. But when Youngji suddenly entered the kitchen, followed by her childhood friends (all of them except for Kris, Tao and of course, Jongin) who all had a worried and concerned expressions on their faces, she suddenly doesn't feel very sleepy anymore.

“Er, have you guys eaten breakfast?” She asks them, offering her bowl of cereal.

“Why are you eating in the kitchenwith the maids?” Chanyeol asks after the maids had excused themselves and went back to their jobs.

“You sound like my sister.” She mumbles. All of them have made themselves comfortable and sat either at the chair or at the countern when Sehun picks up a tangerine in a basket to eat as a snack, Joonmyeon hits his hand and whispers that they weren't there to eat.

She feels like she knows what happening. Her friends have never visited her in the mansion. Not this early, at least. “He told you guys about what happened last night, didn’t he?” Soojung asks, and her friends slowly nod. “That .”

“Soojung-ah, you know that I’m always at your side, but this time I actually think Jongin is right.” Luhan says in the nicest way as possible. He doesn’t really want to scold the younger girl. “Actually, we all think the same. We cannot let you hang out with those people. They aren’t like us-”

“Because we’re richer than them? Because someday we’re going to earn a lot more than them?” She snaps. “What is with you people? Just because they don’t own Ferraris and have more than 8 rooms in their houses doesn’t mean they’re less than a human being!”

“It’s not that, Soojung.” Joonmyeon joins in. “These people don’t want your friendship. What they want is everything that you have that they don’t: your money-”

“That’s bull!”

“You don’t even know what they’ve done.” Luhan adds.

“Yes, I do oppa. I also know what your precious football club has done, unfortunately.” She frowns. She doesn’t understand why her friends were acting this way towards the lower class.

Jinri was also in Jongin’s side, but has decided not to say anything about it. Instead, she kept comforting Soojung as she argued with everyone. She didn’t like the fact that she was hanging out and has become friends with the students from Ehra High, but she didn’t want to fight with her either.

“Can you all stop fighting with me this early?”

“It’s 11 in the morning, it’s not that early anymore.”

“It is for me.” She stood up, and searched something in the the living room. When she came back, she had brought a lot of invitations that were sealed in black envelopes to give to them one by one. It was an invitation of her sister’s upcoming fashion show on Wednesday night. “My sister wants to invite all of you. Go invite Kim Jongin as well, I don’t care. Just tell him to not make any scene ‘cause I will surely not appreciate that.”

“Why is your bestfriend so stubborn? Like seriously?” Jongin asks Jinri, pinching the bridge of his nose. He decided to tell them the truth just so they could talk to her and convince her to stop what she was doing, but it turns out worse than he thought.

The group has decided to meet up for lunch after the unsuccessful talk with Soojung to discuss what they could to do for her to stop. He knew that if the whole school finds out about this, they wouldn’t be too happy.

“Maybe somebody else could talk to her?” Junmyeon suggests. “Maybe Jaejoong hyung? He knows all of this, doesn’t he?”

“But Jaejoong hyung probably doesn’t care about our school.” Chanyeol answers. “He never went to our school, remember? I don’t think he even knows about our rivalry with Ehra High honestly.”

“Yeah. Because if he does he’d probably already talked to Soojung about it.” Sehun says, and everybody agrees. "I think she's like this because the kids from Ehra are all party animals. Just wait until the school's winter ball and I bet she would forget about them after."

Luhan has actually stayed at the Jungs’ mansion to talk to her a little more even though she practically kicked all of them out. But he insisted, and she had no choice but to listen to him scold her. So far there isn’t still any call or messages from him.

The boys have looks over Jinri, who hasn’t said any word ever since they arrived at the restaurant they were having lunch at. She just sat there, drinking a cup of wine silently.

“I swear to God, if you boys ask me to talk to her-”

“Do it.”

“No! We’re just going to fight if I do!” She shouts. “You do it, Jongin.”

“Did you even listen to what I said? I’ve told you guys that I talked to her and it didn’t end up well.” He sighs. “She said that she won’t talk to me until I change, but I really don’t care.”

Sehun chuckles. “Let’s see how long will you survive without Jung Soojung.”

“More like how long will she survive without annoying me?” He drinks his own glass of wine and swallows it nervously. He hasn’t actually of that before.

Where else could she enjoy her Saturday and feel happy?

At a club, of course.

But that night was different. She wasn’t enjoying herself at all.

Was it because she knows all of her friends are mad at her? Or was it because the boys in the club keep on annoying her? Maybe both of it. All she wants to do right now is dance, but she can’t continue without a drunken boy trying to flirt with her every 5 freaking minutes.

“ off, flower boy.” She says, shoving one away as she heads to the bar to order a drink. But the moment she sat down, she hears another boy try to flirt with her again.

“What's a pretty girl like you doing here alone? Would you mind if I-”

“She’s with me.” Both Soojung and the guy turn around to see Namjoon. His eyes immediately widen seeing Ehra High’s football captain in front of him. “Leave her alone, yeah?”

“A-Alright, man. Sorry.” He gets up, apologizes and then leaves them alone.

“You don’t look too happy.” Namjoon chuckles. “Wanna go out and have some fresh air?”

Without having second thoughts, Soojung agrees. “Yeah, I would like that.”

Namjoon leads her at the back of the club. It was empty, not a single person outside, but the music was still audible. There, he pulls out a box of cigars and lights one of it. Soojung just watches him curiously so he thought that she wanted one.

“Want some?” He offers, but Soojung refused.

“My brother once saw me smoking. He scolded the out of me and made me cry. Ironically, he’s a heavy smoker.” She chuckles at herself. “So yeah, thanks but no thanks.”

He was about to remind her that her brother isn’t around, but he just let it slip. He didn’t want to sound like he’s forcing her to do something that she doesn’t want anyways.

“Let me guess, he asked you to stay away from us, didn’t he?” He didn’t say any name, but she knows exactly who he was talking about. “Is that why you look so pissed?”

Soojung nods. “It’s not just him. Basically, all of my childhood friends know now and they all asked me the same thing.”

It took him quite a while to say something. He really doesn’t know what to say to cheer her up.

“They’re just trying to protect you, I guess.” Before continuing to speak, he blows the smoke coming from his mouth. “I would probably do the same if I didn’t know who you are exactly. I don’t know what I will do especially to Mark and Jackson who are in the same football team as me, honestly.”

“What do you think should I do?” She asks his opinion.

“Do what you think is right. Do what makes you happy. If you like hanging out with us, then stay with us. But remember,” He smiles, “I cannot assure you that we’re nice influence for you.” Soojung watches as Namjoon drops his cigarette into the floor. His worn out sneakers steps on it and causes the smoke to dry out. “We, the students from Ehra High, don’t have a really good reputation.”

Jongin cannot stand what was happening.

First, Soojung has been sitting and hanging out with her other friends apart from their usual clique at school. He has forgotten about that, and seeing how chill she is about the fact that he was ignoring her was just unacceptable to him. He had wished that this girl wasn't just so damn friendly.

Lastly, she was currently sitting at the same table with Kim Jinwoo – his captain. Sure he should respect him and all, but he was pretty sure that she mentioned once that he was quite cute. He didn’t want her to sit beside him, knowing that her complimenting him might become from ‘cute’ to ‘really attractive’.

“Mate, are you alright?” Chanyeol asks as he watches Jongin eat his lunch angrily. He couldn’t continue eating his without feeling uncomfortable.

“Yeah, never felt better. Thanks for asking.”

“Just go there and talk to Soojung, jeez.” Sehun mumbles. "If you keep on acting like this, you would probably get distracted at the your most important game." He was refering to Imperium Academy's most awaited match against their rivals that was coming up soon.

Jongin doesn’t react in the nicest way though. “Are you an idiot, Sehun? Why would I talk to her? I am perfectly fine without her!”

“You sound very mad right now-”

“No I am not!”

“Stop shouting then-”

“I am not shouting!”

Both Sehun and Chanyeol sighed. If Jongin thinks Soojung was stubborn, somebody has to tell him that he was the same.

It was when she got out of the car when Soojung realizes that this was going to be her first public appearance after almost a decade. Unlike her siblings, she has never been to a public event to represent her family’s company. She didn’t mind, really. She and the flashing lights never got along anyways.

Dressed in a black collared dress, she finds her sister at the red carpet, posing for the cameras. Soojung could see by her huge smile that she has been waiting for that night for so long. Upon seeing her little sister finally arriving, she immediately pulls her into a hug.

“Oh my… is that little Soojung?” One of the paparazzi asks.

“Yes, it is my younger sister.” Jessica announces.

“Oh, how beautiful has she become!” Another one exclaims.

Jessica had to eventually leave Soojung at the red carpet when one of her assistants told her that somebody was searching for her. She advises her sister to continue posing as she had to go, so Soojung did exactly what her sister told her to do. Except that she didn’t really know how to pose and just stood there smiling.

“Oh well, atleast my baby pictures aren’t the only pictures of me in the internet anymore.” She thought.

She expected Jongin to come, but what she didn’t expect was their arranged seat being practically next to each other. Jinri was also expected to sit beside her, but Jongin was assigned to seat at her left side. But who was she to complain? Besides, the fashion show will only last for a little while. She can handle sitting beside him for an hour or so.

“Tao really wanted to come, but his school works are preventing him to come to Seoul.” Sehun, who was sitting at the other side of Jongin, tells her.

But Jongin being the that he is, cuts off their conversation by literally blocking them. She takes a deep breath and calms herself down. She didn’t really want to fight Jongin that night, not at her sister’s most important night. She turns to her left side to start chatting with Jinri and Chanyeol, until a photographer comes up to them to ask for a picture of the heirs.

The group smiles for the camera, and Soojung even puts up a peace sign which Jongin thought was childish. But he kept quiet and just smiled. While a reporter asked Jinri if she could do an interview regarding her ending sitcom and her future plans in the entertainment industry, the same photographer asked a picture of the future husband and wife, which caught Soojung off guard. She thought Jongin would refuse, but then she hears him suddenly speak.

“Sure. Why not?” He says, laughing a bit. She feels his hand slip into her waist, pulling her close for the picture. Before the camera flashed, she felt him whisper something into her ear. “Smile, traitor.”

Soojung was stunned. Her shocked expression was even caught on the picture

“Oops, sorry. It’s my fault.” Jongin apologized. “Let’s do that again.”

The two poses for the camera once again, Jongin still had his hand on her waist. Rapidly, she turns to his cheek, planting a kiss onto it. The paparazzi capture it perfectly. This time, it was Jongin who was surprised.

“What a lovely couple.” The man says, looking at the picture he just took with in awe. “Thank you sir, ma’am.” When he finally leaves, Soojung turns to her fiancée with a smirk.

“Remember this traitor’s smile, my dear Jongin. Because she’ll be having the same expression this weekend once she’s out with your favourite Ehra High students.”

author's note: 

I don't even know what this chapter is. I'm just quite lonely that I had to write and update.

So yeah, Jongin and Soojung are fighting right now. But it's not their typical brickering. This time they're actually fighting for real. *Taylor Swift's Bad Blood plays in the background*