"Round and Round" - Heize (ft. 한수지)

| Chapter 2: I Am You, You Are Me |

“Yeon Ah! Ya! Yeon Ah! Get up!"

A brown-haired Jung Daehyun roughly shook the slumbering girl

In the background, the melody to a loud pop song could be heard, which was shut off mid-lyric as Daehyun slammed his hand on the alarm whilst continuing to shake his sleeping friend.

“YA! WAKE UP ALREADY! YOU’RE LATE!"

Park Yeon Ah shot up, finally being startled away by the yelling.

“I’m up! I’m up – AH!”

As her eyes focused, she let out a shout of fright as she caught sight of her best friend’s face that was only a few centimeters away from her. In the midst of her shock and sudden scare, she accidentally slammed the palm of her hand against his cheek, successfully pushing him away.

“What the fu – OW! YEON AH!”

Cue a high-pitched yelp from the only male in the room.

Not expecting to be suddenly clobbered as a result of his wake-up call, Daehyun clutched his cheek in shock as he stared at Yeon Ah in bewilderment. She mirrored the same expression back at him before suddenly bursting into laughter.

“That was the most girliest scream–“ She paused to laugh some more. “–I’ve ever heard!”

Pride hurt, he spluttered, “Wha – this is the thanks I get for waking you up?! Do you even know what time it is?”

At those words, Yeoh Ah stopped laughing and dramatically gasped as she looked at the clock. School started 5 minutes ago!

“HOLY MOTHER OF ALL GODS – I’M SO LATE!” She yelled as she scrambled to get out of bed… which only led to her getting stuck in the layers and layers of blankets she had.

Daehyun laughed at the flailing girl as he pointed a finger at her, “HA! That’s what you get for slapping me earlier.”

She glared accusingly back at him, “I don’t care who it is, whether it’s Lee Soo Hyuk or Seo In Guk, but anybody would be scared if they woke up to somebody’s face that close to theirs!”

Daehyun raised an eyebrow in response, “Really? Even if it’s Seo In Guk,” He lifted two fingers up from each hand, imitating quotes. “Your supposed husband?”

Yeon Ah momentarily froze as she turned back around to face her friend, “Okay, fine, yeah. That’d definitely be a blessing, but you – you’re just ugly.” She stuck her tongue out and quickly dodged the pillow the brown-haired boy flung at her as she ran out of the room cackling.

Daehyun glared at the spot she previously stood before laying down and making himself comfortable on her bed. He pulled out his phone in order to look at his reflection.

"'Ugly’?” He scoffed as he swiped a hand across his bangs. “I’m the best looking guy she’ll ever meet.” A smirk grew on his face as he continued to check himself out.

Indeed, a bustling morning such as this was actually of the norm when it came to the Park household.

~♥~

15 minutes later, Yeon Ah found herself still in a rush to finish getting ready so that she could get to school. Daehyun, who was busy eating a sandwich he had made while the other continued to fuss around, watched amusedly.

“You know, you’re already late,” He said with a mouthful of food, “Why’re you still freaking out? If it was me, I would just skip the rest of the day.”

“Yeah, if it was you, which – if you haven’t noticed – I’m not, fortunately,” retorted Yeon Ah. “And why didn’t you make me some food, too?”

He motioned towards the other half of the sandwich that was still on the plate, “Eat that. Besides, I ate the rest of your leftover macaroni earlier. Pretty good by the way.”

“What! Daehyun that was supposed to be mines! Stop eating all of – wait.” She suddenly turned around and glared at him. “You mean to say you were here earlier this morning, and you didn’t bother to wake me up? You were just eating my food while my alarm was going off?!”

He had the decency to give her a guilty look as he shrugged. “Like I said, the macaroni was good?”

“You’re an , Jung Daehyun!”

A cheeky grin appeared on his face, “But I’m your ~”

“Shut. Up.”

There was a moment of silence as Yeon Ah was finally able to pack her backpack comfortably–

“Don’t forget your homework, it’s on your desk. By the way, also brush your hair. It’s a mess,” quipped the older boy in what Yeon Ah perceived to be an annoying tone.

She sighed before reluctantly muttering a thank you and proceeding to follow his advice.

And five minutes later Yeon Ah was finally ready to leave her house... only to get sidetracked again.

As she was slipping her shoes on, she made sure to instruct her best friend.

“Don’t forget to wash the dishes before you go.”

Sighing, Daehyun nodded. “I will, don’t wor–“

“And don’t forget to lock the door before you leave!”

“Yah! Yeon Ah, stop telling me all this stuff! Don’t you think I’ve been here enough to know?”

The 18-year-old shrugged, “By the way, why are you even here? Don’t you have class?”

The other shrugged in return, “Not today, it got cancelled. Want me to come get you when you’re done with school?”

She gave him a perplexed look. “Ew, no. You sound like you’re my caretaker. Besides, since when do you ever pick me up from school? You’re usually too lazy for that.” She paused as a thought popped into her head and continued, “And besides, I can’t today. Mom has that whole fancy dinner planned, remember?”

It was like a light bulb went off in Daehyun’s head, “Oh yeah! Aren’t you finally meeting her boyfriend and his son?”

Yeon Ah nodded. “It’s so weird. I think it’s actually serious if she’s having me meet them.”

Daehyun hummed in agreement, and silence overtook them both as the two got lost in their thoughts thinking about what Yeon Ah’s mom’s new boyfriend and his son were like since neither of them knew anything about them.

“Wait… shouldn’t you be going to school?”

Yeon Ah widened her eyes in shock as she quickly turned around and opened the door.

“Shoot! I’m even later now!” She yelled as she ran off.

Bursting into laughter, Daehyun shook his head as he watched her figure grow smaller and smaller into the distance.

“Kids these days…” He chuckled, as if he wasn’t only just a few years older than her.

School had always been so-so for Park Yeon Ah.

It was normal, nothing special. It was just a place to learn. It wasn’t like in the dramas and movies she often watched. She didn’t know whether it was just the schools she happened to go to, but she had never witnessed a “Queenka” or “Kingka.” It just didn’t exist in her world.

In fact, it seemed like everybody just didn’t feel like making the status quo such a big deal. Everybody just dealt with their own issues.

In other words, everybody just stayed in their own lanes... which was very nice.

When Yeon Ah first arrived at school, she was reluctant to walk into the classroom. One, because she knew once she walked in everybody would stare at her, and she dreaded that large amount of attention.

Secondly, well, she knew she would be asked for the reason why she came to school so late, and frankly she just didn’t have a good enough reason.

‘It’s because I slept through my alarm and my stupid best friend wouldn’t wake me up because he was too busy scarfing down my macaroni,’ Yeah. Like that excuse was going to work.

And surprise, surprise. It didn’t.

Though she did leave out the whole ‘best friend not waking me up because he was too busy eating’ part.

Turns out sleeping past your alarm is your own fault and must therefore be punished accordingly so.

All in all, it was a y situation.

Yeon Ah sighed as she unlocked her locker. She was stuck mopping and cleaning the dance rooms during her free class starting next week.

“That’s just such an overkill for a punishment,” She grumbled as she threw in her unneeded books in an unorganized manner and grabbed the notebooks she did need for her next class.

“I didn’t even know we had dance rooms,” Yeon Ah continued to mumble to herself.

“Of course we have dance rooms!” A voice suddenly spoke right next to her.

Yeon Ah let out a surprised yell that sounded suspiciously more like a squeak, and she looked to her left to see a blonde-haired boy laughing at her.

“Junhong, don’t do that!” She yelled as she automatically slapped the younger lightly on the arm. “What is with people scaring me today?”

Choi Junhong leaned against the lockers as he grinned down at her. He was a tall guy – Yeon Ah hated it and loved it at the same time. Hated it because he continuously towered over her in an almost ridiculous manner, seeing that she was quite shorter than him. Loved it because she secretly had a thing for guys and height.

However, he was a year younger than her, and the only reason she had met him was because he needed a tutor in a math and his teachers had recommended her.

Junhong grinned, “Somebody else also scared you today? Tell them good job for me, will ya?”

She narrowed her eyes at him as she leaned against her locker too, “Stop being so cheeky, or else I’m not going to tutor you anymore.”

“You don’t have to.” The other shrugged. “Remember? I finally got an A on the last test, and I’m understanding the new material pretty well.”

Oh, yeah. He did mention that a while back but she forgot.

“Good. I won’t have to see your annoying face anymore,” Yeon Ah joked, causing a pout to appear on Junhong’s face.

“Aish. Did you know you’re really mean sometimes?” Suddenly, his face brightened up and he straightened up with an excited glint in his eyes. “So what were you saying about the dance rooms earlier?”

Yeon Ah’s shoulders visibly slumped as she was reminded of her predicament.

“It’s my punishment,” She sighed. “I was late to school today, and knowing how Song-seonsaengnim is a simple detention just isn’t enough. He’s making me clean up the dance rooms for the next week.”

“Wow,” Junhong said in surprise. “All by yourself?”

“Yeah, but technically I just have to mop the floors and wipe down the mirrors. It’s not that much work, but it’s still a hassle,” explained Yeon Ah. “I didn’t even know we had dance rooms to be honest.”

The blonde-haired boy stared at her in surprise, “Really? But you’re a senior now – you’ve been here for years!”

She gave a guilty chuckle as she raised her hands in mock surrender. “I guess it’s safe to say I don’t take part in many extracurricular activities. Who uses those dance rooms anyway?”

“Me!” Junhong excitedly grinned at her.

“What?”

“I’m on the dance team,” He stated like it was nothing new. On the other hand, this was completely new to Yeon Ah.

“Our school has a dance team?” She questioned in disbelief.

Junhong raised an eyebrow at her, “Wow. You really weren’t kidding when you said you don’t pay attention to any of the extracurricular, were you?”

She shook her head to indicate ‘no,’ and then she looked down at her watch.

“Class is starting soon. I’m going to grab a quick snack from the vending machine first, so I’ll see you later.”

“Alright, noona. It was nice talking to you.”

Yeon Ah waved to him as she turned around to start walking down the hall, but a sudden thought popped into her head causing her to quickly turn back around.

“Oh yeah! Can you tell me where those dance rooms are? I have no idea,” She admitted. Though, it was probably somewhere near the gyms, but since she was already talking to someone who definitely knew, it was probably easier to ask Junhong instead.

At this, the excited grin reappeared on his face.

“I can do even better. The team always practices after school, so I’ll show you. I’ll find you after your last class, okay? See you later!”

“W-wait–“

Yeon Ah was going to tell him that it was fine and that he could just tell her where it is because honestly she didn’t feel like going, but after his last words he quickly waved and ran away.

She watched him disappeared as she sighed.

“Man, that kid got way too excited for no reason."

She had to admit though, it really was nice to be able to talk to Junhong because she hadn’t seen him in a while, and after she graduated she most likely wouldn’t see him much either.

A sudden shiver ran through Yeon Ah’s body as she pushed her coins into the vending machine.

“Why do I get the feeling today’s just going to get crazier?” She sighed.

And to think, school wasn’t even over yet.

~♥~

The final bell signified the end of the last class.

“Alright, everybody! Remember that your English essay is due tomorrow. Have a good rest of the day.”

The class said their good-byes to the teacher as they all started to pack their things up and socialize with one another.

Yeon Ah yawned as she stretched her arms up. Despite having missed a partial of the school day, it still felt like a long day. The whole idea of meeting her mom’s boyfriend and son also continued to weigh on her mind.

Truth be told, it was a bit nerve-wracking because she didn’t know what to expect at all.

How old was the boyfriend? How old was the son?

Her mom would often go on dates and have the occasional boyfriend, so it wasn’t anything new. For some reason though, Yeon Ah got the feeling that this current boyfriend was different than the others, and it worried her because change was not something she adapted to easily.

“Agh,” Yeon Ah shook her head. “Don’t think that way, Yeon Ah! You tend to overthink too much. It’s probably nothing.”

She nodded her head. Yeah. No big deal. Her mom just probably thinks this guy is charming and wants her daughter to see what a good guy he is. Nothing big.

“Nothing special,” She kept telling herself.

Feeling a new sense of confidence, Yeon Ah finally finished packing up all her stuff and got up to leave.

“Noona!”

Junhong’s familiar face appeared around the corner as soon as she stepped outside her classroom.

“Junhong-ah,” Yeon Ah greeted, surprised to see him. “Oh, right. I forgot you were going to show me where the dance rooms are.”

A grin appeared on his face. “Don’t tell me you were planning on leaving already? Come on!”

He placed both hands on her shoulders, spun her around, and began to steer her in the direction of the – well, she guessed it – gyms.

“You know, this isn’t really necessary–“

“Nonsense, noona! This is important!”

After a few minutes, Yeon Ah was actually pretty glad Junhong was showing her the way. After a few turns here and there, she wasn’t even sure where she was anymore. Or maybe she was just directionally challenged?

Either way, when the two finally arrived at their destination, Yeon Ah looked around in surprise.

“Wow, I didn’t even know this part of the school existed!” She mused, which prompted the other to shake his head in amusement at the older girl.

The door opened only to show…

“Sungjae-ah,” Yeon Ah greeted. “I didn’t know you were on the dance team.”

The brown-haired boy smiled at her in surprise from his position on the floor where he was currently stretching out his long limbs.

“You two know each other?” questioned Junhong as he set his bag down in the corner.

“Yeah,” answered Sungjae. “She’s the same year as me. We’re not in the same class, but we see each other around.”

Yeon Ah nodded in affirmation before looking around. The room they were all in wasn’t that big but it wasn’t small either. Two sides of the room were basically two giant mirrors, which made sense that the dance team practiced here. Overall, it was a decent space, but one thing she noticed was that it was currently lacking people.

“Where’s the others?” She asked. “Or is it just you two?”

The two boys laughed. “Of course not. Ya, you make us sound like we’re a sad little club that no one wants to join,” Sungjae answered.

“The others will be here soon,” Junhong added. “They sometimes take forever.”

“Especially Jongup,” laughed Sungjae. “He’s either here really early or he’s not. There’s never an in between.”

“Jongup?” That’s another name Yeon Ah recognized. “Moon Jongup?”

“You know him too?” Junhong questioned before a thought popped into his head. “Ah, right! He’s also your guys’ age too.”

“Yeah, I’ve seen him around since my first year.” The brown-haired girl recalled. “Never really talked to him though.”

“Junhong and he are really close,” pointed out Sungjae. “Them and a few other guys actually. It’s weird, but it reminds me of a boy band.”

The tall 17-year-old glared at the older boy, “Ya, shut up! You’re just jealous.”

Yeon Ah laughed at their banter. “I’m just finding out so much new stuff about you today, Junhong-ah.”

He wiggled his eyebrows at her as he scooted closer, “Am I getting more attractive to you, noona?”

“Ya!” She slapped his arm. “Get away from me!”

“Ow! That hurt!”

“Good.”

Both her and Sungjae laughed at their friend’s pouting face.

After surveying the dance room for a little bit longer and having small conversations with the other two, Yeon Ah concluded that it shouldn’t be too much of a work to clean the room. Though, after cleaning for about a week, she might regret thinking that.

“Alright. I think it’s time I go,” She stated. “I have plans later on so I should start heading home.”

The two waved bye, and she turned around to leave.

The walk back to her house was a calm one, unlike in the morning when she was rushing to get to school.

This allowed Yeon Ah more time to think about the dinner she’d attend later that night. A part of her almost wished that Daehyun would actually go with her because at least she had someone if everything went south.

Should she shoot him a text to tell him to come? He probably would because it was free food anyways.

But then he might crack some kind of joke that could offend the boyfriend and his son, and although Yeon Ah and her mom were already accustomed to Daehyun’s ways, that didn’t mean everyone else was. From the little description that her mom did give her, they seemed like they were higher class people.

She sighed. The more she thought of it the more her active imagination got the best of her.

“What if he’s an old man?” She whispered in a mortified voice as she unlocked the door to her house and stepped in.

She quickly shook her head. No way! Her mom had better standards than that, and from what she learned in dramas, the only time you married an old man was for his money or for some other ulterior motive.

“Unless you’re genuinely in love, but what are the odds?” She mused as she jumped onto her bed, determined to take a nap to calm her nerves before having to get ready later.

And unfortunately for Yeon Ah, her nap was plagued with dreams – or were they actually nightmares? – of her mother together with a faceless, horrible man.

Kim Himchan was running late.

It had been a long time since he arrived to any kind of meeting or arrangement late – joining his father’s company at the bottom had taught him that. He was at the scrutiny of all that people that saw him as nothing more than a boy than got handed everything that he had, not earned.

He had something to prove.

Because he was more than just his father’s son, and he just needed everyone else to see that.

But today – just for this little dinner – Himchan quite frankly did not give a flying about showing up on time or impressing whoever it was that his father brought to the table.

That was how much he dreaded going to this meetup, or whatever it should be called. The reveal of his father’s most recent gold-digging ?

The black-haired man snorted. If his dad heard him say that out loud, he’d probably kick him out into the streets regardless of whether he’s supposed to be the sole heir to the company or not. Scratch that. Not the streets because then everybody would know and that would be bad for the Kim name. He would probably be shipped off to somewhere in the states with the excuse of “learning the business in a more international setting.”

At the beginning, he had attempted to cancel this dinner because why did he need to meet this woman if she was probably going to be gone after a few more weeks? That was, however, mistake number one.

Mistake number two is most likely what he's doing right now – being late.

Himchan exited his car right when his phone rang. Looking at the screen, he sighed as the words “Jung Daehyun” flash on his screen. He doesn’t exactly want to deal with the endlessly gluttonous (when it came to food) boy right now, but if it was an excuse to prolong his attempts at staying away from the restaurant he currently stood in front of, then so be it.

“Hyung~” The familiar voice of the brown-haired boy brought a smile to the older man’s lips and some of his bad mood dissipated. Come to think of it, it had been a few weeks since he saw Daehyun or the rest of his friends actually. He had been really busy with work lately.

“Daehyun-ah,” greeted Himchan into the phone. “What is it?”

“Are you busy right now? Jae and I want to go out to eat and maybe get a drink afterwards.”

At those words, Himchan shoots a glance at the restaurant. If only he can just leave and go out with the others instead, that'd be great. Fantastic even, but as fate would have it, that couldn’t even be considered an option.

“Hyung? Pleaaaaaase. We haven’t seen you in a while!” whines Daehyun after he doesn’t hear the other give a response yet. “Yongguk-hyung’s gonna come, too! And we could even get Jongup and Junhong to come – we could get them drunk, you know how fun that is!”

A deep laugh rumbles out of Himchan’s throat as he pictures what his dongsaeng just described.

“Ya!” He scolds while still lightly chuckling. “Don’t you dare! Stop corrupting the kids.” He paused before continuing. “I can’t go tonight, sorry.”

A drawn out groan could be heard through the phone. “You’re always working! You never have time for us anymore.”

Himchan let out a scoff. “Shouldn’t you be focusing on studying instead?”

“Hyuuuuuung,” came the same whine again causing the older to sigh.

“I’ll see,” He finally relents, “if I can make it later.”

Daehyun cheered. “I’m holding you to that! We’ll see you later!”

"Wait, I said maybe–“

Before he could even finish his sentence, Himchan heard the click that indicated the other had already hung up on him.

“Aish, that little brat,” He muttered but he couldn’t hold his anger, not at Daehyun or any of his friends that he really did miss. He decided he would try his best to see them tonight because although his dad made it clear that he had to show up tonight, he didn’t say how long he had to stay. Making an appearance should appease him enough.

Mood slightly lightened, Himchan decided he should finally go into the restaurant instead of just standing –

“Oof!”

A sudden force knocked into Himchan, catching him off guard and forced him to take a few steps back from the impact.

…while also catching him a handful of a… person?

Greatly befuddled, Himchan looked down to see a girl pressed up into his chest. Not one for liking anyone to touch him or even get anywhere near his personal space if it isn’t someone he knows and likes, annoyance quickly trickled into him and he was about to snap at the stranger when she spoke up first.

“I’m so, so sorry!” The mysterious girl said in a horrified voice, frozen in her position most likely out of embarrassment.

“I didn’t mean to run into you! I’m just really, really late so I was rushing and then I didn’t see you, and I swear I didn’t mean to knock into you! I’m really late, and I must be even later now. My mom’s going to kill me,” She rambled on, which only annoyed Himchan even further.

“Please…” He started off in an oddly calm voice, except his next three words were practically growled out in anger.

"Get.

Off.

Me.”

Honestly, anyone would probably feel sorry for the poor girl – or any person – who had to face the wrath of Kim Himchan.

The girl paused for a moment out of shock – or maybe she felt his sudden murderous vibe? – but quickly pulled away right after.

Now it was Himchan’s turn to freeze.

In fact, he felt as if the breath was knocked out of him as he saw the face of the girl. He would never say it out loud but the words "Oh my god" ran through his head in shock as he stared.

That face. The same face he had been seeing for the past year now.

The one who always caught his attention.

The one who he could never keep out of his mind for too long.

The one who he could only see from afar, and now all of sudden she was right there in front of him. In his arms, even, just moments earlier.

Well damn.

Now he really didn’t want to go into that restaurant.

Author's Note

I'm back with Chapter 2! Sorry it took so long, and I really have no excuses, but everytime I saw someone new subscribed, it really motivated me to go and finish this chapter! Hopefully, the next one won't take so long? ^____^

Did anyone go to BAP's World Tour Party Baby Concerts?! I'm honestly so so sad the US ones are already over. It seems like it went by soooo fast T____T I still feel like I'm in post concert depression tbh LOL. I went to the LA one and I swear the boys were AMAZING. Words cannot describe how I felt during the concert, and I even got to briefly talk to Himchan after during the photo op (and stand next to him and Daehyun hehehe). 

Anyways, hope you like this chapter and continue to read this fic! Stay tuned, and I'll be working on the next chapter! :)