Don’t mess this up, understand? If it were my choice, you’d be halfway to America right now. Your mother’s plan for your education made more sense, but I’m taking a chance on you.

Luhan glares at her phone screen after reading her father’s text, her fingers violently clutch around the device as she tries to control the urge to throw the phone across the taxi cab. “How dare you, baba… Calling that evil witch my mother.” Luhan mumbles dangerously low in her native language.  

Ever since she was born, Luhan was known as the Bambi Heiress. Her father is a very wealthy man, thanks to his investing strategies and law degree from Princeton, he became one of the few very successful businessmen known in East Asia.

Luhan grew up living the dream, having expensive jewelry bought for her whenever she wanted it, or go to a different country if she was bored with China’s ‘boring’ scenery. She never worked at a minimum wage job or have to worry about saving money.

She was happy, that is until her mother was taken by the flu. The flu is not considered a death disease if a person follows the recommended way to get healthy. It was a minor thing to avoid. It wasn’t exactly life threatening. However, there was an exception for Luhan’s mother. She had a miscarriage a few months before she came down with the flu, and apparently, she was so depressed about the miscarriage that her body could not repair itself, eventually leading to her death.

Luhan was 17 at the time when the funeral was held for her dear mother. Luhan still remembers what she was wearing that day. She wish she could say the same for her father. He never attended.

A couple months later, he remarried some model named Lin. Luhan grits her teeth as she stares outside the taxi cab window, her eyes unfocused as her mind replayed some of her most devastating memories. Lin was terrible, being only 8 years older than Luhan, she treated Luhan with such a cold touch that has frozen the very core of her heart and soul.

Luhan knew Lin was looking for a way to push Luhan out of the picture and claim her father’s wealth all to himself. Luhan was the only child that could accept inheritance, that’s why Lin has been trying to have a baby for 3 years now. Fortunately, the is too old now to have any children. But that didn’t stop Lin.

After Luhan turned 21, she went out to nightclubs with girls she would later on have nights of passion with. She was in all the celebrity gossip magazines, reading writers calling her a party girl with daddy’s credit card. Her image plummeted and her father was certainly not happy with his daughter’s actions and behavior.

Being quite old school, her father scolded her for running around with girls and for not having a single interest in men. Luhan didn’t sleep with women just to spite her father, even though many reporters saw it that way. She was a lesbian, and her father couldn’t accept that. It was another reason why they hardly spoke to one another.

Since Luhan is now in university, Lin has been urging her father to send Luhan to America, attend the same university he graduated from with a law degree to take over his position. She was making it sound like she was helping him so her father could not see the ploy Lin was planning and he almost went along with it, but Luhan held the upper hand. She was not going to let Lin send her far away so she can get her slimy hands on her father’s wealth. Luhan showed her father a brochure from South Korea’s exclusive university so she wouldn’t be that far away and still keep an eye on Lin, and would fly back if she had to.

Reluctant at first, but her father agreed, deeming his blood’s word best over his second wife’s. The hurtful things she would say to Luhan…

“Uh, Miss?” The taxi driver calls, his eyes staring at her in his rearview mirror.

Luhan snaps out of it and puts on a ravishing smile. “Yes?”  

“We’re here. That’ll be 32.47.”

(-)

“Ohmergawd, its Luhan.” Taozi, a willowy yet extremely attractive nineteen year old, stares at the extraordinary goddess that has been her obsession since her early teens. Taozi would’ve fainted if it weren’t for tiny Junmyeon, her roommate, holding her up. “I’m Taozi and here is Junmyeon-unnie.” Taozi said, infatuation for the older girl written on her face.

“You know me?” Luhan grins, charming the two unsuspecting girls instantly. Taozi looked exotic, she was easy to spot in a crowded room. Her eyes, almost black, had a certain shine in the. Luhan sees the girl beside Taozi and she is already in love with the graceful beauty that exudes from the shorter girl. She was tiny compared to Taozi, but that didn’t mean she was Luhan’s height. Junmyeon was perhaps a good couple inches shorter.

“Are you kidding?” Taozi squeals, her hands fanning her cheeks wildly. “I bought the same Gucci bag that was given to you on your 15^th birthday. I bought it the very next day!”

Junmyeon knits her eyebrows and glances at Taozi, flummoxed. “Wait, you’re 2 years younger than her. How could you, a 13 year old at the time, afford a Gucci bag?”

Taozi refrains from rolling her eyebrows. The last thing she’d want to do is show a bad attitude in front of the woman who she has had a crush on for a very long time. She invites Luhan inside her and Junmyeon’s apartment before she kicks Junmyeon’s shin when Luhan is not looking.

“How fortunate are we, huh unnie?” Taozi squeals once again. “Out of all the university’s off-campus apartments, Luhan chose ours! I can’t wait to rub this in Baekhyun’s face tomorrow! This is so cool!”

Junmyeon nods, rubbing her shin. “Very.”

Luhan glances around the room, not the least bit impressed. Yes, it was nice for an average student, but Luhan was not average. A black leather couch took center stage of the living room, a flat screen TV sat in a reasonable entertainment center. Vases of carnations sat on almost every flat surface in the apartment, the colors of the flowers complimenting the wall’s neutral tone. “I like it.” Luhan shrugs, throwing her bags and single suitcase onto the floor. She normally brings more than one suitcase for her clothes, but hey, she figured since she’s in South Korea, she could go on a shopping spree. Which wouldn’t be such a bad idea right now.

Luhan faces her two possibly new best friends and grins wryly. “You girls wanna go shopping?”

(-)

The three girls were sitting at a Starbucks, chatting away. Well, Taozi provided most of the conversation and Luhan and Junmyeon listened to her excited jibber jabber.

Junmyeon glances at the pink Victoria’s Secret bag in her lap before frowning at Luhan. “Unnie, you didn’t have to buy me something. Really.”

Luhan shrugs, speaking after she sips a generous amount of coffee into . “Think nothing of it, Joonie.”

“I’ll repay it, unnie, I swear. My next paycheck will go to you.”

Luhan places a hand on Junmyeon’s shoulder and smiles. “Really, don’t worry.”

Taozi is miffed when she sees how Luhan is touching Junmyeon. She sips on her Frappuccino quietly, sending Junmyeon daggers.

“Enjoying your drink, Taozi?” Luhan asks, running her fingers through her shoulder length hair to get rid of the flyaways.

And just like that Taozi’s icy exterior melts. Junmyeon giggles to herself. She can see how Taozi is easily affected by Luhan and it’s just cute to see the younger girl falling for Luhan, her senior.

Taozi grins like a fool from the small smile she receives from Luhan. She turns to Junmyeon, beginning a new topic of conversation to calm the butterflies in her stomach. “Unnie, what’d you get?”

Junmyeon flushes, “A bra.”

“Ooh, lingerie?? Who is it for?” Taozi teases. “Is it for Sehun?”

“Oh, please. Sehun is a nuisance.” Junmyeon snaps. She really hates it when Taozi teases her, especially about Sehun. The two weren’t even dating! Junmyeon hated Sehun because of how he treated her. He , picked on her short height, her boring, straight hair. She got really frustrated whenever he was mentioned in her presence.

“Who’s Sehun?” Luhan asks, deciding to join in on the fun.

Taozi giggles at the agitated look of Junmyeon’s face. “Oh, just her boytoy.”

Junmyeon lets out a tiny ‘hmph’ before looking around the busy shop, looking anywhere else but Taozi’s knowing smile. She was not going to admit that she liked Sehun or his stupid face.

Speak of the devil and he shall appear…

Junmyeon narrows her eyes at the head of dark hair and familiar catlike grin. She is about to pick up her shopping bag and hightail it out of there before her worst nightmare can corner her, but it’s too late when Taozi notices him and calls him over.

“Sehun! Chanyeol, over here!”

Junmyeon would’ve hit Taozi if it weren’t for the dozens of people surrounding them. That would just be asking for more attention.

Sehun approaches Junmyeon with a cool walk that he has only reserved for her, he smiles down at her. “Hey, noona.”

Junmyeon clears , using that the only way she will acknowledge his presence.

Sehun and Chanyeol pull up their chairs to the table the three girls sat at. Luhan introduces herself to the two men and vice versa.

“What’re you two doing here?” Taozi asks. “I thought Chanyeol hated crowds.”

Chanyeol is about to answer but Sehun interjects. “Chanyeol-hyung heard Minseok was here at the mall with Baekhyun-noona.”

Taozi raises her eyebrows suggestively. “You finally gonna ask her, huh?”

Chanyeol leans in and pokes at Taozi’s nose with his index finger. “Mind your own business, Huang Taozi.”

Luhan and Junmyeon laugh at the annoyed expression on Taozi’s face after Chanyeol’s little demeaning action done toward her.

Sehun agrees, “Yeah, you’re always trying to get into other’s business.”

Taozi raises an eyebrow defiantly. “Well, I’ll try not to. Oh by the way, Joon-unnie bought something especially for you.”

Sehun’s eyes bulge, looking back and forth between Taozi and Junmyeon. “Really? What’d you get me?” Sehun turns entirely toward the object of affection. “Show me, noona.”

Junmyeon massages her temples. “Taozi, I’m gonna kill you when we get home.” Then Junmyeon faces Sehun. “And nothing. Taozi is playing with you.”

Sehun pouts. “No, for real. Taozi, what did she buy for me?”

Taozi shrugs with a winning smile. “You told me to stay out of other’s business.”

“And you decide right now to take my advice?!”

Luhan laughs her heart out with the good fun they are having. She’s never had so many people around her like this. For once, she felt quite normal. These new friends of her weren’t fawning over because she was rich. Apparently, these guys couldn’t care less about who her father was.  

“Noona, when are you going to go out with me?” Sehun weeps exaggeratedly.

Junmyeon rolls her eyes. “When you win the lottery, okay? So stop asking.”

Sehun looks hurt but is quickly gone when he blurts, “Are you afraid to date me because you know that our kids are going to be taller than you?”

Junmyeon gasps and shoves her chocolate croissant inside of Sehun’s shirt. Luhan, Taozi, and Chanyeol laugh at the miffed look on Sehun’s face. Luhan now knows that it’d be wise not to get on Junmyeon’s bad side. For such a short woman, she was a force to be reckon with.

While Sehun runs into the bathroom to clean his shirt (‘How could you get chocolate on my David Bowie t-shirt?’), Luhan turns to Taozi. “Who is Minseok and Baekhyun, by the way?”

“Oh, some more of my friends. You’ll meet them soon enough. I think you’re going to like them.”

Author’s Note

What will happen next??? Will Chanyeol get his chance to ask Minseok out? If he does, what will she say? Rushed chapter, I know but I just had to post before I left for my bus

OH AND BEFORE I FORGET, DOWN BELOW IS THE LIST OF CHARACTERS AND THEIR GENDER IN THIS STORY

FEMALE: Minseok, Luhan, Baekhyun, Tao, and Junmyeon

MALE: Jongin, Chanyeol, Yixing, and Sehun