“And we’re done, should heal up in about a week.” The first aid officer said as she took off her gloves. She then turned to Chorim and sternly said, “Unless you’ve had plastic surgery done on your nose…?”
“I haven’t.” Chorim had a feeling the officer had to deal with a lot of people who have gone under the knife.
“Good then! Shouldn’t give you too much pain but if it does, just some painkillers will do, okay dear?” The lady patted Chorim on her back and left the room. Chorim took out her phone and checked her face out in the front camera. F*ccckkkkkk my life.  There was bandage across her nose and vivid bruising under her eye across her cheek. I look ing wrecked. Chorim was mortified when she saw Jin walking into the room. He was the last person on Earth she wanted to see.
“How are you feeling?” Jin asked, tilting his head to take a look at her scraped knees and then her face. She made a futile effort to hide her face by looking down at first but the temptation to have a close up look at Jin’s face was too much to handle. Jin’s face was always too gorgeous not to look at.
“I’m feeling fine.” Chorim forced a smile even though she was screaming internally. Why did Jin have to be here? WWWHHHYYYY!?
Jin leaned forward and gently brushed his thumb across her bruised cheek and then tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Suddenly, the door was pushed open and Hoseok frantically came running in.
“ARE YOU OKAY!?” Hoseok shook Chorim’s shoulder, clearly quite worried, and her nod wasn’t enough to convince him. “How did this even happen?” He pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes as if he was in deep reflection, “Was the machine faulty?”
“No, I was just being careless.” She would have said seeing Jin scared the living daylights out of her but she knew that would sound like she was blaming him. Hoseok then firmly cupped her hands with his.
“If you need further medical attention or anything, let me know. I will handle the costs.” Chorim felt uncomfortable from the intense look in Hoseok’s eyes.
“Sure…” She averted her eyes to avoid staring back at him.
“I didn’t mention it before but it seems like you’re back Hoseok.” Jin said in an unimpressed tone and crossed his arms. Hoseok sheepishly laughed and flashed a stupid and innocent smile back.
“Yeeeessss, Jin. Hello. Long time no see. Ummmmm...” Hoseok looked like he was about to beg for mercy, “I can explain.” They know each other? Even though she was very curious about their relationship, she had other things to worry about. Why am I still here? I want to go home...

As if one worried Jin and one panicking Hoseok wasn’t enough, another person burst through the door and caught everyone’s attention. Namjoon, who was unfortunately also at the gym, had heard the commotion from Jin and stopped by the room. Oh for ’s sake. With his wet hair slicked back, he walked in like nobody’s business, wearing nothing but a white bathrobe and slippers, and held a glass of red wine in one hand.
“Holy sh*t, what happened here?” He exclaimed.
“Just an accident.” Chorim softly laughed. Get used to it Chorim...this will not be the last time someone will ask...
Namjoon gently lifted Chorim’s chin up to closely examine her face and then shook his head, “This hurts me deeply.” He held a hand to his chest. “You have to be more careful, Chorim. You can’t take nature’s gift for granted.”
“Nature’s gift…?”
“Your face.” Namjoon grinned widely and patted her head.
“I didn’t know you two came here to work out.” Chorim was referring to Jin and Namjoon and was making a desperate attempt to steer the conversation away from the topic of the embarrassing accident.
“Oh no, please,” Namjoon laughed out loud at Chorim’s absurd question, “I’m only here for the excellent spa facilities and world-class massages.” He then started patting Jin’s pecs, “Seokjin is the only one here to ‘work out’.” Namjoon abruptly shot a deadly glare at Hoseok and then pointed at him, “And you! Jung Hoseok! You have a lot of explaining to do.” Namjoon put his arm over Hoseok’s shoulder in a threatening manner and shook his head, “You’re finally back in Seoul and here you are giving out Diamond membership passes to beautiful girls to your gym.” Namjoon’s hand naturally gestured towards Chorim as he was talking. Diamond membership? His gym...?
“I wanted to settle down first before I told you guys. You know, surprise you.”
“What the hell, it’s been a year and…”
Chorim listened on cluelessly as Hoseok and Namjoon got into a heated conversation with each other. Finally, after a minute of being completely silent, she gave in and asked how they all knew each other.
“Oh, he’s our close friend from high school,” Namjoon playfully put Hoseok in a headlock, “Well I don’t know about ‘close’ friend since he didn’t even tell us he was back in Seoul after living in Japan for a year. Can you believe him?”
“I already told you…” Hoseok and Namjoon continued their argument. Jin sat down beside Chorim and just smiled, amused by their bickering.
“He’s actually in the same course as us but he deferred a year.” Jin explained to her. Chorim gulped and tried to swallow the bad feeling she was getting. If Hoseok was such a close friend of Jin and Namjoon, it could only mean one thing.
“And this gym is owned by…?”
“His family’s company, the HOPE group.” Jin replied, “Wow, he really didn’t say anything, did he?”
Chorim stared at Jin for a bit, not because he was beautiful, but because something just didn't make sense in her poor little mind. The HOPE group. That sounds waaaaay too familiar...hopeu...hope...WAIT, THEE HOPE GROUP!?!?!? The HOPE group was one of South Korea’s biggest conglomerates. Jin’s family business of technology and electronics was on a different level only because it was a global company but domestically, Namjoon and Hoseok’s family businesses didn’t lose in terms of power, dominance and influence. Namjoon’s family owned a lot of the media, entertainment and fashion industry from production companies to broadcasting stations whilst the HOPE group had taken over lifestyle categories such as shopping centres, restaurants, hotels and, as Chorim had found out today, gyms. She looked up at Hoseok who was being dragged around by Namjoon. No matter how she looked at it, the way he carried himself wasn’t that of a well-off person like Namjoon for instance. He did wear branded clothes but almost everyone in college were tryhards and spent all their savings on branded items to look good whilst surviving on a diet of ramen (perfect example: Chorim). Compared to the flamboyant Namjoon and the elegant Jin, Hoseok was more lively and down-to-earth. Well, that explains the reward money for Taetae. Chorim couldn’t get over the fact she was in the same room as the sons, and potential heirs, of the three most powerful families in South Korea.
“And how do you guys know Chorim?” Hoseok asked them whilst Chorim was still trying to process everything. Jin was going to let Namjoon answer but he was too busy chugging down the rest of his wine in celebration of Hoseok’s return.
“She’s…” Jin smiled to himself, thinking that Chorim shying away from his gaze was cute, “a good friend of ours.” You’d think Chorim would be upset about being ‘friendzoned’ but it was quite the opposite. It was the result of Chorim's hard work, effort and time to move up the ranks to become his friend. Good friend, close friend, girlfriend. Chorim forced a smile even though her face ached. Still really wanna go home...

~

Jimin and Taehyung stared at Chorim with blank faces as she grumpily stood at the door. Jimin’s lips slowly curled into the slightest smile whilst Chorim continued to glare at them. It wasn’t odd that Chorim didn’t hide from them. She was so comfortable with them that it didn’t even occur to her to avoid them. They had already seen her at her worst on a daily basis so a face injury wouldn’t have made a difference.
“Don’t even ask about it.” She grumbled and stormed her way through to Taehyung’s couch. The only thing she wanted to do after such a horrible day was treat herself to some manga.
“Oh come on, you can’t expect us not to ask.” Jimin was already chuckling, “What happened?” Chorim flinched when he lightly poked her cheek for fun.
“I fell on the treadmill…” Chorim mumbled quietly.
“What?”
“I said I fell on the treadmill, okay!?” Chorim turned her head away, embarrassed. Jimin bursted into boisterous laughter and rolled on the floor, holding his stomach. Chorim angrily threw a cushion at him and returned to her fetal position on the couch. This only made Jimin laugh even harder and Taehyung couldn’t help but join in.

After what seemed like a long night at Taehyung’s place with Jimin constantly teasing Chorim about her falling on a treadmill, she was finally back to her own place and rolling around on her bed. Hrm, I wonder where Seulgi is…on second thought, she’s going to laugh at me too… Feeling that the room was too stuffy, Chorim opened the balcony door wide open and stepped outside to get some fresh air. As she was stretching her arms out, she heard another door slide open. Oh dear lord, it better not be Yoongi.
“Miss treadmill!” Thankfully, it was undeniably Taehyung’s deep voice. All Chorim could manage was a little wave. She was too angry and focused on dealing with Jimin before that she didn’t take notice of Taehyung who was quietly occupied with something in the corner at his desk. Even though it had been a few days, she was still getting used to his new short hair and his striking face caught her off guard every time she saw it.
“Stay there.” Taehyung rushed inside for a few seconds and then came back out and abruptly threw something to her. She untied the warm bundle of cloth and saw the hard-boiled egg that was inside.
“Um...what am I supposed to do with this?” She raised a brow at Taehyung, urging him to explain what it was for.
“It’s a hard-boiled egg for your bruise.” He said, then badly demonstrated how to use it in the air with his hand. Apparently, rubbing hard-boiled eggs on bruises was an ancient remedy thought to quicken the discolouration of bruise. Copying Taehyung, Chorim had started carefully rubbing the egg on her bruises across her cheek.
“The world can’t handle you looking uglier than you already do.” Taehyung grinned at Chorim as she glared at him and poked her tongue out like a brat.

~

“Don’t you have morning class soon?” Seulgi hugged Chorim from behind as she was at her desk on the laptop. It was the next morning and without even deeply thinking about it, Chorim knew there was no way she would be showing her face around campus even if she had compulsory classes.
“What? I’d rather die than go to class with this face.”
“People know that being pretty doesn’t make you immune to getting injuries, Chorim. No one will care.” Seulgi smiled and then looked at what Chorim was searching up, “Diamond membership for the HOPE gym?” Seulgi snickered, “What? Do you want one?”
“Wait, you know about it?” Chorim had recently been feeling like she had lived under a rock.
“Yeah, doesn’t everyone? It's the highest membership class for the famous HOPE gym but you can only get one through direct invitation from the HOPE group.” Seulgi said, not knowing Chorim had the very pass she was talking about. Chorim couldn’t help but be amused by the thought of Hoseok just passing out these ultra exclusive memberships out to people he barely knew because he was so naively nice to people. Ah, what to do with you, Hoseok...? Coincidentally, as soon as Seulgi left her side, Chorim’s phone buzzed.

Jin: Are you going to class?
Chorim: I don’t think I can
Chorim: Not with my face like this
Chorim: ^^”
Jin: Come
Jin: I have something for you
Chorim: haha, what is it?
Jin: :)

Chorim slammed both her hands on the table and stood up, “SEULGI, I’M GOING TO CLASS!“

~

With two very obvious band-aids on her nose, the best look Chorim could put together involved wearing big bulging sunglasses to partially hide her bruises and letting her long hair messily obscure the face of her shape so she could disguise herself. Even if she had been adamant on not going to class in the morning, there was no way she could refuse Jin’s request to see her. As promised, Chorim saw him in front of a quaint little cafe on campus and he was as radiant as ever with his hands tucked into the pockets of his longcoat, patiently waiting for her. How can someone always look that good?
“You came! I was worried I wouldn't be able to see you today.” Jin warmly smiled at her. Chorim could already feel her heart flutter just knowing he genuinely wanted to see her.
“I guess I didn’t like the thought of missing classes.” Lies, lies, lies.
“So how are your bruises?” Jin leaned in slightly as if he was trying to see them through the lens of her sunglasses.
“Not any better…” Chorim was startled by Jin taking her sunglasses off all of a sudden. Chorim felt vulnerable as he examined her bruises up close and was very glad that she hadn't slacked off on doing her makeup, especially for her eyes and lips. He leaned in even closer towards her face and out of reflex, Chorim shut her eyes. Ohmygod, is he going to kiss me? Does he secretly have a bruise ? Chorim felt something touch her ear and cautiously opened one eye to assess the situation. Jin was actually putting a face mask on for her. She shyly averted her eyes, hoping he didn’t catch on to what she was expecting. He then straightened up and let Chorim take a look at the face mask in a mirror from her bag. It was a white with a pale pink cherry blossom branch on one side and petals scattering across, all embroidered on. The soft material melted under Chorim’s fingertips as she touched. It’s so pretty!
“I had it custom-made for you yesterday. I hope you like it.” He said before flashing his pearly whites at her. Nooooo, stop, it’s too blinding. She chuckled and just hoped her eye smile was still pretty enough.
“I love it!” She exclaimed, even though her voice was muffled, “Mmm I’m curious though, why cherry blossoms?” He did mention it was custom-made so it seemed strange that he would choose it, considering they had never gone to see cherry blossoms together before. Jin’s lips parted slightly, showing his hesitation to answer, but then his expression melted into a soft endearing gaze and smile.
“You remind me of cherry blossoms.” He pushed her fringe out of her eyes with his fingers and then locked eyes with her, “Overwhelmingly pretty.”

*Mentally dials 119* Hello, yes, I would like to report an emergency. I think my heart just exploded into confetti.
 

A/N: And thus, the great divide begins (except for you Kookie, it is not your time to shine yet, hahaha).



Aaaahhhhh, my hearteu. (●´□`)♡

Thanks for reading! ♡♡♡