chapter nineteen: xix. a repayment

“Oh sh*t.”

A week had passed from the fateful day of my brother’s first meeting with the boys. He had tried some more intimidation, gave up, and decided to go all bro on them, which… had freaked them out at first. I had explained about the intimidation test, and then they’d all become homies or something. He’d left with twelve new numbers in his phone. And now…

Junmyeon smirked—more like, tried to smirk—at me. “Don’t think I forget what’s owed to me.”

“So… what do you want?” I asked nervously. At the time of the deal, it had sounded ideal. It had sounded great, actually. But then I remembered that Junmyeon was a teenage boy with flaring hormones… which my mother had warned me about too many times.

“You have to be my girlfriend for the day.”

I blinked. Oh no. Was he going to ask me to—

“I won’t kiss you or anything like that, don’t worry. But you have to go on a date with me and pretend you’re my girlfriend. And also… lie to my umma about being my girlfriend.” He sighed. “She is currently questioning my uality because of the clothes I wear and also because I haven’t ever had a girlfriend before.” He blushed, realizing that he’d just exposed something about himself.

I thought for awhile. “Okay.”

He blinked, much like I had done a minute ago. “That’s all? Okay?”

“Why, what did you want me to say?”

“No, I just thought you’d protest or something…” Junmyeon trailed off.

“Why? I think it’ll be fun. And besides, I know you’re straight and if it’s to help prove it to your umoni… of course! It’s not like I hate you or anything.” I said the last part quickly, hoping he wouldn’t draw any conclusions.

“Are you saying that you like me?” Junmyeon asked, a smile growing on his face.

“I can still pull out of this, you know!” I threatened, and that smile fell off his face.

“Okay I’ll stop bothering you!!” replied Junmyeon, putting his hands up defensively.

But I could tell that he’d noticed. I hadn’t answered his question, and most of all… I hadn’t denied it.

“So… use aegyo and be kind of clingy and—”

“Yes oppa, I know how being a girlfriend works. I’ve been one before, you see,” I reminded him, a smile on my face. This nervous side of Junmyeon was very cute to see.

“And remember our story. We met through math class and then I fell for you and confessed to you and you liked me too so then we started dating. Simple as that.”

I rolled my eyes. “Yes oppa, you’ve told me a million times.”

“Okay, are you ready?” Junmyeon asked, as the taxi pulled to a stop. “Let’s go.”

We got out of the taxi, and we got into the apartment building. The apartment building was very new, and frankly, looked very expensive. When we got into the elevator, Junmyeon oppa pressed the button that said P. Penthouse. Junmoney was really rich.

He held out his hand and I took it, nervously. I knew it was part of the act but it also gave me comfort. With my other hand, I adjusted my cardigan anxiously. I knew that this was just make believe, but I was nervous nevertheless. I could only imagine how Junmyeon felt himself. He was very pale. I squeezed his hand, smiling at him when he glanced over at me in surprise.

The elevator door slid open and he led me to the unit. Nervously, he knocked on the door. The door practically flung open, a lady who did not look like the rich mom I had imagined at all standing there.

“You must be Jooeun, my Junnie’s girlfriend! Come in, come in.”

I bowed 120 degrees—if my hair was still long it would have swept the floor but no more.

“Ah, no need to bow like that,” she said, laughing. “I’m not that old, am I? Come in, come in.”

She hugged Junmyeon and I, and ushered us to the fancy looking living room, sitting us down together on a couch.

“What would you like to drink? Water, banana milk, strawberry milk, regular milk? Or perhaps some tea? Barley tea? Jasmine tea? Green tea? Sorry but I don’t have coffee here, because my poor boy needs to grow. Haha, I bought a lot of things after hearing that you were coming.”

“Umma, relax,” said Junmyeon, an amused smile on his face.

“Oh no I’m babbling again, aren’t I. I’m sorry.”

“No no, it’s okay, um…” I trailed off, unsure of what to call her.

Seeing my dilemma, she spoke up. “Call me umoni! I hope to become your si-umoni anyway.” She giggled. “Oh, and let me take your jackets.” She took our jackets and quickly hung them on a rack.

(a/n: si-umoni/시어머니 means mother-in-law)

I glanced at Junmyeon, whose ears were turning red.

“So, what would you like to drink?” she repeated.

“Um… I’ll have strawberry milk, if that’s okay with you.” I smiled at her.

“Of course! My my, my myeoneuri is so polite!”

(a/n: myeoneuri/며느리 means daughter in law)

With that, she went off to get my strawberry milk. I glanced at Junmyeon, before chuckling. His ears were as red as they could possibly be. “I like umoni. She’s totally awesome, I have no idea how she’s related to you.”

He stared at me in shock, and I laughed at his expression. “I’m kidding, oppa, I’m kidding. I see where you get your awesomeness, more like.”

I let go of his hand to link my arm with his. “Let’s do this well, okay?”

He nodded, and I caught a glimpse of longing in his eyes.

She came back with a glass of strawberry milk (with a straw), a glass of chocolate milk (also with a straw), and a glass of what looked (and smelled) like barley tea (without a straw). She handed the strawberry milk to me, and handed the chocolate milk to Junmyeon.

We both thanked her, and I took a sip from it.

“So… how’d you fall for Junmyeon?”

I almost choked on my strawberry milk, before getting it down my throat somehow and getting a breath of air so I could breathe again. Junmyeon rubbed me on the back a little. I smiled sheepishly, about to start speaking when Junmyeon spoke first.

“Well… I fell for her first, and I confessed first,” Junmyeon explained.

“And it took a lot of persuasion from Junmyeon oppa to finally get me to go on a date with him,” I added, grinning as if remembering. “But he didn’t stop trying and… I eventually did start falling for him.”

“What attracted you to him? I mean, you’re obviously beautiful and have a wonderful personality, it’s not weird at all for boys to fall for you. I wouldn’t be surprised if a dozen boys fell for you-” Junmyeon and I both glanced at each other, feeling the irony, “-but what about Junmyeon? What made you fall for him?”

I laughed. “Well I’m sure you know the strengths of Junmyeon as his mother, but I guess a mother’s view and a girl’s view is different. Well… first of all, he’s handsome. That’s undeniable. But that’s not what made me first decide to give him a chance. He’s stubborn, and he’s also compassionate. He’s loyal to those he loves and will protect those who need protecting.” I smiled, thinking about how he always protected Tao being bullied and annoyed by Baekhyun. “He’s smart, and helped me with my math homework when I was in the hospital. He’s trustworthy, and whenever I was having a hard time, he was always there to lean on. He’s strong, and although he’s strong outwardly too, I mean inwardly: he doesn’t falter in his decisions and is really emotionally strong. Which I’m not; I used to think that I was strong emotionally but I really doubt that lately and maybe that’s what makes him so perfect for me.

"I guess, even as I first fell for him, which was on our first date… after that, I just kept falling for him more and more because there were so many other things to like. Sometimes he’s trying to leader the boys and they’re not even listening and it’s helplessly cute, and sometimes his leadership and charisma is amazing and that really impresses me. And sometimes he makes mistakes, because well, he’s human and that’s normal, but he always apologizes and acknowledges his mistakes. And maybe that’s what I love most about him. Because the majority of the world doesn’t like apologizing and doesn’t acknowledge their shortcomings, but he does, and he works harder to fix them.”

That’s when I realized that Junmyeon’s hand was still in mine, as Junmyeon squeezed it tightly and I automatically glanced at him, smiling. He smiled down at me, using his other hand to dishevel my hair.

“Oppa!” I mock glared at him, before smiling and fixing my hair.

“You sound like you’re really in love!” she squealed, clapping her hands. Was she really… fangirling about us? I couldn’t see my mother doing that in the near future.

I drank some more of the strawberry milk.

“Junmyeon, show her your room and all your One Piece posters!” She practically skipped away, humming something to herself.

I turned to see him grimacing. I smirked at him. “One Piece posters, huh?”

“Oh shut up, Kyungsoo cried over Prince of Tennis, okay?”

“Hey, I actually like Prince of Tennis! And besides, I wasn’t saying One Piece was a bad thing… to be honest, I’ve read and watched all of it and was up to date until school started.”

His eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

I nodded, grinning. “I was a total weeaboo for awhile and after I kind of got out of my anime phase, I just kept up with the ones I really liked. Meaning One Piece, Fairy Tail, and Attack on Titan. Wait, what kind of posters do you have? Back at my house in Canada I have a couple WANTED posters, for Ace, Shanks, Luffy, and Bon Clay.”

He frowned. “How’d you end up getting one for Bon Clay?” He started leading passed the kitchen.

“Hey! I love Bon Clay!” I defended, as I followed him. “He’s so freaking loyal throughout everything and he’s my role model. Minus the flamingo outfit.”

“Yeah, but he’s such a side character. I thought you’d have at least Zoro or Sanji, you know, girls usually like them the best. Or Chopper, they think he’s cute!”

I glared at him. “Don’t stereotype me, Kim Junmyeon! And besides, you know how Sanji’s WANTED poster looks like…” I thought about it, shuddering. “It gives me nightmares. Bon Clay’s still way better than all of them combined.”

“I’m more of an Ace guy, to be honest,” said Junmyeon, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly as he led me through the hall.

“Don’t even mention Ace to me, or I might start crying again.” I turned to face him. “Wait, you said Soo oppa cried watching Prince of Tennis, right? Are you implying that YOU DIDN’T CRY WHEN ACE DIED? BECAUSE THEN YOU ARE A HEARTLESS MAN INDEED!”

“I cried, okay?! But you can’t tell anyone!” Junmyeon warned.

I smirked. “Well, don’t you remember what Pandtao said? In Rome, if a soldier in the Legion didn’t cry when his comrade died, he was deemed heartless and unmanly. Unhuman. And Ace… he was our comrade! Our companion!” My eyes teared, remembering how he had died. “No, but when it showed the back story of Ace, Luffy, and Sabo, and how Sabo died… god I cried there again. And when I found out that Sabo was alive—”

“I KNOW I WAS SO SHOCKED I was like WHERE DID THAT COME FROM?? But I was so happy and Luffy-and-and-it was just so beautiful!” He smiled at me. “Oh, and we’re here.”

He opened the door neatly labelled Kim Suho (who labels their room? Apparently Kim Junmyeon) and I gaped at what lay behind the door. The room was… huge, to be honest. Okay, it wasn’t HUGE huge, but it was still twice the size of my dorm (which wasn’t exactly small, as it housed two people). There was a washroom and… was that… a walk in closet?

The walls were plastered in One Piece posters, Pokemon posters, Hunter X Hunter posters… there was a wide variety of anime posters… and was that… a 2NE1 poster? I laughed, pointing at it.

He blushed, quickly going over to cover it. “My friend gave it as a gift and—”

“Yeah yeah, it’s okay. I have my fair share of boy band posters in my room in Canada, anyway. My room in Canada is a mix of B.A.P., GOT7, Attack On Titan, One Piece, Fairy Tail, Harry Potter, Doctor Who, The Mortal Instruments, me, my friends and my family.” I walked over to his desk chair and sat on it, twirling myself around on it.

“That’s… a lot of posters.” He walked towards his bed, lying down on it.

I laughed again. “My room isn’t that big but there is no part of the room minus the ceiling that has more than ten cm free of poster. Even the door is plastered. I’m pretty proud of it, actually. It’s beautiful. If you ever visit Canada later on, I’ll show it to you.”

“Wait… after high school, you’re going back to Canada?” he asked, face falling.

“Well… that’s what I planned. I mean, maybe I’ll stay here for university… but umma and oppa are there… and… so is appa. Family is where home is, for me. I never really imagined staying and living somewhere other than Canada, to be honest. I didn’t expect to make so many friends… like you.” I looked away. “I’m kind of scared, to be honest.”

Even if some of them did like me, would them liking me ever be enough to move countries, learn a new language? It was impossible imagining a future with any of them, because I couldn’t ask them to give that up, and I didn’t expect it either. The only one who it seemed plausible with was Kris, but that was only because he spoke English and lived in Canada. But I’d heard that his mother was in China right now…

“I… I kind of want to take the courage to leave umma and oppa behind and start my own life. But at the same time, I’m scared. Family is where home is, and eventually I’ll start my own family and wherever we go, that will be home. But… as of now…” I trailed off.

He nodded. “I understand. For now… we still have one and a half years of school left together, and I’ll still visit you a lot even when I have university. But don’t you dare fall out of contact with me. You have to go on a lot of dates with me, okay?”

I rolled my eyes. “Of course, oppa.”

He bounced a bit on his bed, and that’s when I realized… “Is that a water bed?!”

I practically jumped from my chair onto the bed. “OH MY GOD I’VE DREAMT OF SLEEPING ON ONE OF THESE!!”

“Well… my power is water…”

And that’s when I realized. “HOLY SH*T! Su. Ho. Water. Su. Water. YOUR NAME NOT ONLY MEANS PROTECT BUT IT ALSO MEANS WATER!! I knew I actually remembered stuff from my Chinese characters class!”

Junmyeon smiled amusedly at me, rolling his eyes at me from his new position: lying on the bed rolled onto his side, looking at me as he cushioned his head with his arm. I, on the other hand, was facing him on the bed, in a similar position.

(a/n: In Chinese characters, also known as hanmun/한문 in Korean, su/수/水 means water)

“Well… I probably didn’t remember it from my Chinese characters class. I probably remembered it from when I was practicing my Kanji,” I said, laughing sheepishly. “I had this whole Japanese phase. You know, if I went to Japan, I could probably survive! I know basic Japanese and I can kind of read it, though I’ve forgotten most of it.”

“Oh really? Introduce yourself,” Junmyeon dared.

“Okay. Konichiwa, watashi wa Jooeun desu, anata wa…?” Hello, I am Jooeun, and you are…?

Junmyeon grinned. “Suho desu. Watashi wa sugoi desu.” I’m Suho. I am cool.

“Junmyeon-san? Baka desuka?” Junmyeon? Are you stupid?

“Ie, watashi wa honto sugoi desu. Anata wa baka desu.” No, I am very cool. You are stupid.

I scowled at him. “Urusaii! Watashi wa kawaii desu! Anata wa taemae desu. Baka! Konayarou!” Shut up! I am cute! You are a bastard. Stupid! Idiot! Yes, to be honest, my Japanese was quite limited. Things like ‘how was your day’ and ‘welcome home’ didn’t really apply to this conversation either. I had a thing for learning swear words (‘swear words’) in different languages. I could go at you in Mandarin, French, Japanese, Turkish, German, Korean, English, Spanish, and Scottish. You could say I was a bit of a polyglot in swear words.

“Jooeun-chan… honto honto suki desu.” Wait whAT? Jooeun… I really really like you.

“Um… nande-I mean-nani?” Um… why-I mean-what?

He shuffled in a little closer on the water bed. “Jooeun-chan… honto honto suki desu,” he repeated, smiling at me.

He closed his eyes and started leaning in closer-what had happened to the ‘I won’t kiss you or anything like that’-not that I minded—and I closed my eyes too, slightly leaning forward. Suddenly, we heard the door creaking open and both jumped (more like bounced) away from each other, Junmyeon almost falling off of the bed in the process.

Junmyeon’s mom giggled. “Oh, did I ruin something? Don’t mind me, go on.”

“O-oh, we weren’t doing anything, umma,” Junmyeon quickly said, getting up from the bed. Smooth, Jun oppa, smooth.

“If you insist,” said Junmyeon’s mom, rolling her eyes before giving both of us not-so-inconspicuous winks and leaving the room, closing the door quite firmly behind her.

I couldn’t stop the chuckle from bursting from my mouth. “I really really love your umoni. She seems awesome, Jun oppa.”

“She is awesome,” said Junmyeon fondly.

Then, there was an awkward silence.

“I… like your Sanji WANTED poster…?” I tried to fill up the awkward space. I got up from the water bed and sat back down on the twirly chair. “Though I don’t know why you’d possibly want that in your room. Or on your ceiling, in which you’d have to see it right before you went to sleep. Like I said, nightmares.”

“Jooeun, if you’re uncomfortable being with only me, you can tell me.”

I blinked. Where did that come from? “Where did that come from? Do I seem uncomfortable to you?”

He sat down on the edge of his water bed, seeming like a guest even in his own home. “Well… you seem to be really close to the other boys, and I feel like I’m the one who you’re least comfortable with.”

I stopped twirling in my chair and narrowed my eyes. “Is this about the competition? Why, do you feel like you’re losing because you think you’re not as close to me as the other boys are? Is everything about that stupid competition?”

“No Jooeun, it’s not about—” He stood up, trying to placate me.

I stood up from my chair, so that he wasn’t hovering above me like that. “You know, I just really really wish that that competition didn’t exist in the first place. Because without it, I wouldn’t have to feel so stupid all the time. You guys keep telling me, that you think you really like me. Well guess what? Because of the competition, I can’t even trust you. I can’t even believe what you’re saying and I don’t even know how I’m supposed to feel! What if I’m really in love with one of you, too? But I can’t even let myself because the chances of them liking me back… I keep on making myself believe that they actually do like me but you guys probably don’t it’s just for the competition and I don’t know what to feel.” I glared at him, breathing hard from my speech. “I just really wish that the competition didn’t exist in the first place and that we could just start like normal people. You know, sometimes I wonder if your personalities you’re showing me are your real personalities or if you’re just faking them. Sometimes I wonder if our friendship, what I think is the most vital to a relationship, is fake too. If all the time you’re around me you’re faking. And that’s why it hurts so much.”

He stood there, staring at me with his mouth wide open.

“I just… don’t come after me for today, okay? I’ll get home by myself and I’ll tell umoni that we had a fight and that we’ll probably be back together soon, don’t worry.”

I opened the door and closed it behind me, before going to the living room. His mother was sitting there, reading a book.

“Umoni, I’m leaving for today… Jun oppa and I had a little fight, but don’t worry, it’ll be all good by the time we see each other again. I have something else I have to go to anyway, so I’ll be leaving before him. Thank you for the great stay, and I’ll be sure to come back.” I smiled at her.

“Oh, are you leaving? Don’t forget your jacket dear,” she said as she got up from her seat and rushed to the rack. She unhooked my jacket and walked over to me, handing it to me. “I’ll give Junmyeon a talk, don’t worry… boys have a hard time understanding girls sometimes. You can come to me to talk and complain about him anytime, okay?”

I smiled at her. “Thank you, umoni.” I bowed, and left. I put my jacket on as I was leaving the building. I sighed, a white puff of my breath showing how cold it was. Winter here was almost as cold as in Toronto, just… much shorter.

I shivered, zipping up my jacket. I waved a taxi over and got in, embracing the warm air that blasted from the taxi’s heater.

A/N: Oooh lots of drama and cute fluffy stuff this chapter :3 Next chapter is a lot more drama and also the feature of Yoongi from BTS (because I love him to bits and he's my bias wrecker T_T) and a lot more backstory... OH and a certain Jin ahjumma might be in the next chapter as well... hehe

Anyway, hope you liked this chapter ;)

~Jinny out