"Believer" - Imagine Dragons

| Chapter 3: First Impressions... Can Be Quite Deceptive |

The sudden appearance of Himchan shocked everybody, but it was the angry, frustrated look on his face that piqued everybody’s interested.

“Himchan, what are you…”

Five faces stared at him in awe. Himchan was basically a man on a mission as he bee lined straight towards the half-full glass of whiskey, not caring whose it was, and downed in all in one gulp.

“More,” He croaked out, the burn from the whiskey affecting him more than he let on. “I need more.”

The five other men in the group all shared a glance with one another before Daehyun eventually shrugged and stood up, heading towards his hyung.

Slapping him on the back, Daehyun cheered, “Alright! Another round!”

And with those words, everyone seemed to snap out of their stupor and decided to have fun. It wasn’t often that Himchan came out ever since he started working at his father’s company, so why not?

It was the start of the night of chaos. For Himchan it was the continuation of an already chaotic night, but the only way to get out of any messy situation?

Get drunk enough until you can’t stand anymore – at least, that’s what Himchan believed in.
 

~♥~

“Hyung! Get up! Your phone’s ringing nonstop! Hyung!”

“Ya! Kim Himchan! Wake up!”

Thwack!

“Did… did you just hit him?”

A shocked Yoo Youngjae stared with wide eyes as Daehyun gave an innocent shrug.

“He’s gonna kill you!” Youngjae continued to exclaim.

“Yeah, but do you see him? He didn’t even budge!” He defended. “I could probably hit him again and he still wouldn’t wake up.”

At that moment, Himchan shot up causing both Youngjae and Daehyun to give a startled shout.

“Will you two shut it?!” The newly awakened man shouted out only to grasp his head and groan in pain a second later, causing him to lay back down on the bed. Daehyun had to hold back his laughter as he watched his hyung suffer. It was always funny when you weren’t the one swearing off alcohol during the morning-afters.

“Does your head hurt?” Youngjae asked. “You drank a lot last night.” His only response was another groan.

The two non-hungover inhabitants of the room shared a bemused glance. Youngjae slid a glass of water and a pill cautiously to the older as if he was a lion just waiting to pounce, “Here’s some water and medicine for you to take.”

Again, the only response was a pained moan, but a second later the lone iPhone that sat on the side table lit up as a familiar ringtone rang throughout the room.

“Shut it off!” came the unmanly whine that was slightly muffled by the pillow Himchan had pushed his face into. “It’s too loud!”

“You sure?” questioned Daehyun. “It’s your dad, and he’s been calling nonstop since earlier.”

At those words Himchan finally lifted his head back up again, this time ignoring the dizziness. Why was his father calling him and multiple times too? He never did that unless it was urgent or he was mad. Did something happen –

…Oh

.

Memories of last night trickled into Himchan’s mind.

“Turn it off!” He quickly hissed at his two friends. “Turn the phone completely off!”

“What?” The two questioned at the same time, confused at their hyung’s behavior, but the murderous look in the elder’s eyes caused Daehyun to swiftly do as he was told.

Himchan slumped back onto the bed with a drawn-out groan.

“What happened last night? How did I end up here?”

Daehyun and Youngjae shared an amused glance. “Well,” started off Youngjae, “we didn’t even think you were coming at first, but you came halfway after we started drinking already.”

“And you were so upset!” continued Daehyun, waving his hands animatedly. “We all asked what was wrong, but all you did was keep muttering about some ‘gold digger’ and something about ‘your angel’ and how you’re really unlucky? Hyung, we were all so confused – we still are.”

Youngjae nodded enthusiastically at the other’s words, indicating that he agreed completely. However, there was a certain glint in his eyes that Himchan would’ve normally caught if he wasn’t so hungover at the moment. “And then you just kept drinking until you passed out on us.”

“You’re so heavy,” quipped Daehyun, “It was so hard to carry you.”

Youngjae gave him a scathing look, “You didn’t even help. It was Yongguk and Jongup that did all the work!”

“I let him sleep over, didn’t I?” He shrugged back. “I even gave him my bed.”

“You complained so much,” retorted the other. “We put him on your bed, and you were like ‘why?! There’s a couch right there! Not my beeeeed’”

Himchan almost laughed when the sassy Youngjae did a horrible high-pitched impression of what Daehyun most likely did not sound like, but nevertheless it proved to show how whiny the latter could get.

“That’s – That’s not how I sound like!” yelled Daehyun.

As the two continued to bicker, Himchan was left alone to his thoughts because he knew there was something he couldn’t keep ignoring.

He sighed as one named drifted into his mind admist all the clutter and chaos.

Yeon Ah.

 

14 Hours Earlier…

Yeon Ah regretted not setting an alarm when she took a nap because by the time she woke up, she only had a limited amount of time to get ready and get to the restaurant on time for the dinner, and with her track record, she most likely would not get there on time. Hopefully no one would really mind that much.

Yeon Ah quickly put on a dress, did some light make up, and fixed her hair before booking it out of her house in record time. It seemed like today was just a lot of rushing to get ready, unfortunately.

Already admitting the fact that she wouldn’t make it in time, she inputted her mom’s number into her phone and hit dial. It was better to let her know than have her wonder where her daughter was.

“Yeon Ah,” Her mom’s voice greeted her once the call connected. “Don’t tell me you overslept.”

Wow. Her mom knew her too well.

Yeon Ah let out a nervous laugh, “How’d you know, Mom? Heh heh heh…”

She could practically feel her mom rolling her eyes at her. “You’re my daughter so I should know. I’d be surprised if you didn’t oversleep actually.”

“I’ll be there soon!” She quickly said. “I’m already on my way.”

“Take a cab,” Her mom suggested. “It’ll be faster than walking, and you’re wearing heels aren’t you? Don’t hurt your feet.”

Yeon Ah smiled at her mom’s worry. “Don’t worry, Mom. I’ll be careful. I’ll see you soon, okay?”

“Alright, honey. Take care. Don’t get distracted on your way here!”

Now it was her turn to roll her eyes.

“I know, I know.”

Really, her mom did know her too well. Guess it’s true what they say about mother-daughter connections. Following her mom’s directions, Yeon Ah quickly hailed a cab and gave the driver the name of the restaurant she needed to go to, and in about fifteen minutes she finally reached her destination.

Not wanting to waste more time, she lightly ran towards the entrance of the building as soon as she got out of the cab. However, running in heels – even in short ones – was definitely not her forte, and it seemed like the gods confirmed her thoughts because the next thing she knew she had accidentally tripped and slammed right into a stranger standing right in front of the same restaurant she was trying to go in.

Strong arms caught her and in her shock and confusion she could feel a hard chest. Embarrassment quickly filled every crack and slip of her body.

“Why?!” She internally yelled at herself. Why does this always happen to her? She always had the worse luck at the most unfortunate times.

Her senses were screaming at her to move, to get out of this person’s arms, and lessen the embarrassment that continued to grow as each second passed. But the only thing she did (because the rest of her body just wouldn’t follow her mental directions to move) was quickly shot out apologies.

A deep, husky voice, however, cut through her rambling.

“Get. Off. Me.”

If this was any other situation, Yeon Ah probably would’ve taken the time to appreciate this man’s strangely appealing voice, but the blatant, obvious anger in his tone scared her off. For a short moment she felt scared because she knew he was angry, and you just never really know what someone might do when clouded with their emotions, especially anger.

It did, however, succeed in finally knocking some sense into her body as she shot out of his arms (when did she even wrap her arms around him?) and quickly did a 90 degree bow in an attempt to ease the other’s anger.

She straightened back up and her eyes finally met the stranger’s, and for the second time that night she was momentarily thrown back into shock.

“…”

Who gave God permission to create such a perfect looking human being?

Wait – was he God himself?

She quickly shook her head to get rid of those thoughts. This was definitely not the time to think like that! Unbeknownst to her, the unknown man was also staring at her in shock.

Yeon Ah looked down at her watch. She cursed in her head. She was so late now. She bowed one more time at the man in front of her.

“Sorry, I really didn’t mean to bump into you! If you’ll excuse me, I’m really late so I’m going to go now.”

She quickly walked inside without sparing another glance at the other.

Once inside an employee greeted her. “Do you have a reservation?”

Yeon Ah racked her brain for the information her mom had given her. The family name of her mom’s boyfriend… what is it again?

Oh!

“Party of four for Kim,” She provided.

The worker gave a smile and a nod as he motioned his arm towards a certain direction and started walking.

“This way, miss.”

As she followed him, Yeon Ah looked around the restaurant. It was her first time here, and she had to admit it was really fancy.

‘I wonder how much the food costs here,’ she couldn’t help but think. Her thoughts were interrupted, however, when her mom finally spotted her.

“Daughter!” Her mom greeted warmly.

“Hi, Mom,” Yeon Ah replied and, keeping manners in mind, turned to her mother’s companion and bowed. “Nice to meet you. Park Yeon Ah-imnida.”

To Yeon Ah’s surprise (and relief if she was being honest) the man sitting next to her mother was not an old man that a part of her kept believing he would be. In fact, even she had to admit he wasn’t bad looking. He seemed to be about her mom’s age, maybe just a few years older? In the back of her mind, she couldn’t help but think that he looked slightly familiar but she couldn’t exactly place when and where she’d seen a face like his before.

“Yeon Ah, it’s nice to finally meet you. I am Kim Hyun Woo,” He greeted in a deep voice. “Your mother’s told me a lot about you.”

As a response, she lightly chuckled and said a well-known reply to such a statement, “Hope it was all good things.”

The loud, joyful laugh he let out surprised Yeon Ah but also succeeded in easing her nerves. He didn’t seem like a stuck-up, stiff man either. This was going better than expected.

“Sit, sit!” Her mother said, motioning towards the chair next to her, and Yeon Ah almost forgot she was still standing.

However, before she could even sit down a new voice appeared, one Yeon Ah quickly recognized because she just heard it not less than five minutes ago.

“Sorry I’m late.”

Yeon Ah turned around, and as soon as her eyes landed on the newcomer, she let out a small gasp.

“You-!” She couldn’t help but exclaim as she couldn’t help but point a finger at him.

At this, the two adults at the table looked at her in confusion.

“You two know each other?” Yeon Ah’s mom asked.

“N-no!” Yeon Ah quickly denied, and a sheepish expression formed on her face. “I, uh, I was in a rush to get here earlier, and I wasn’t looking where I was going and I tripped and I bumped into him. He was really mad…” The last four words were muttered in a quieter voice, but she was still heard.

“Leave it to my son to get worked up about minor things,” Hyun Woo said.

‘Son?!’ Yeon Ah internally yelled. Her middle name should just be Misfortune since it seemed to follow her around anyways.

“Abeoji,” The handsome stranger retorted in a disgruntled, husky tone. “I do not get worked up easily. And you,” He briefly paused to turn towards the startled girl with eyes she couldn’t decipher, “I wasn’t mad. I was annoyed, but it doesn’t matter anymore.”

But his next action surprised her even more. He moved to pull out the chair that was next to Yeon Ah’s mom – the seat she was going to sit in. For a second, Yeon Ah thought he was going to take the seat for himself, which would have been really weird, but then he turned towards it and motioned to her,

“Sit down.”

Shocked at the unexpected act, she couldn’t help but be rendered almost speechless, “O-oh… ok. Thank you.”

Yeon Ah’s mom turned to Hyun Woo with a smile on her face. “Your son is such a gentleman.”

A proud smile fell on the man’s face, “Of course. Himchan here is my pride and joy. He has a lot to live up to, but he takes it all in good stride.”

‘Himchan…’ Yeon Ah filed the name away in her memory. ‘…but why does that name sound familiar?’ She thought about it for a few more seconds, but when she couldn’t figure it out, she moved on.

The dinner continued normally – or as normal as it could be – as the two younger inhabitants of the table got to know their respective parent’s new significant others.

“Yeon Ah,” Himchan’s father spoke up.

Quickly swallowing the piece of steak in , Yeon Ah looked up as her name was called.

“This is your last year in school right?” He asked. “Where are you planning to go to for college?”

A thoughtful look crossed over her face as the list of colleges she remembered discussing with both her mom and Daehyun popped up in her mind. After a moment she quickly replied with her top choice.

A contemplative look crossed over the older man’s face. “Good choice. I’ve heard you’re your mother that you’re quite a good student. What are you thinking of studying?”

At this, Yeon Ah blanked. Although she had given this thought before, she had never came across a subject in which she was entirely passionate about and wanted to study in all the years she would be in college for.

A laugh came out of the older man’s mouth, but it wasn’t a laugh meant to make her feel inferior. Instead it served to ease her nerves.

“That’s okay if you don’t quite know yet,” He paused as he seemed to be thinking of something. “I think you’d do quite well in Management and Business, don’t you think?”

At those words, both Yeon Ah’s mother and Himchan stiffened, and all Yeon Ah could do was wonder why his statement caused such reactions.

“Hyun Woo-ah – “

“Abeoji – “

The two said at the same time, but Yeon Ah’s mother stopped as Himchan spoke up, and he continued, “Why are you bringing that up – “

“Relax,” His father cut him off before turning towards his companion on his left, “It’s about time we tell them.”

The look on Himchan’s face hardened and his next words had a darker tone to it, “Tell us what?”

Worried, Yeon Ah turned to her mother, “Umma, what’s going on?”

Her mother turned towards Hyun Woo who shot her a reassuring smile before they both turned towards their children.

“This dinner isn’t just to introduce us to each other,” Hyun Woo stated and paused a few seconds before continuing, “but we’ve decided to take our relationship one step further…”

“…and we’re going to get married,” finished Yeon Ah’s mother.

The look on Yeon Ah’s face could almost be considered comical, all shock and bewildered as kept opening and closing because she wanted to say something but she didn’t quite know what exactly to say. Sirens and red lights flashed in her mind, though, because surely, her mom did not just say she was getting married… right?!

Before she could form any words, Yeon Ah jumped in surprise as a loud CLANG! resonated from her right, and she looked to see Himchan standing up from his seat with his plate and food splattered all across the floor.

“This is ing crazy,” He cursed at his father. “You can’t marry her.”

“Himchan.” All warmth was gone from his father as he stared his son down. “Sit. Down. You are being disrespectful – “

A cold laugh came out of the younger man’s mouth, causing a chill to go up Yeon Ah’s spine.

“Abeoji, you want to talk about being disrespectful?” His face contorted into an outraged one. “You bring me to meet this-this gold digger – “ SMACK!

A gasp escaped both Yeon Ah and her mother’s mouth as Hyun Woo slapped his son across the face. Out of instinct, Yeon Ah shot up and pushed herself between Himchan and his father. Out of the corner of her eye, Yeon Ah could see the commotion at her table catching the attention of other people in the restaurant, and people were beginning to point and whisper.

She turned around and shot a glare at the handsome man behind her, who had a shocked expression on his face from being slapped and to see her moving in front of him to act as some sort of shield.

“First of all, my mother is not a gold digger!” She hissed at him and then turned back around, “Secondly, he’s your son! You should never, in any situation, hit your own child!” She shot a glance towards the rest of the room before muttering, “We’re also causing a huge commotion, and everyone’s staring.” 

Her eyes caught Himchan’s and for a second she was glad his anger seemed to have slightly dissipated but now he was staring at her with an unreadable expression.

And try as she did, she couldn’t quite pull her eyes away from his. Surprisingly, it held a calming effect on her and all her surroundings faded away but him. His eyes were dark, some emotion she couldn’t decipher swirling within. She was curious what was going through the other’s mind to make him stare at her like this – and why? Why was she so easily captivated by his gaze – but all too soon, he ripped his gaze off of her and she was suddenly very aware of her surroundings again.

She watched as Himchan angrily grabbed at his coat that hung over the back of his chair before stalking out of the restaurant, not even bothering to spare another glance at the three of them. Yeon Ah awkwardly moved to sit back down in her chair, and there was a moment of uncomfortable silence as they all collected their thoughts.

“Married?” She questioned as she looked up at the both of them. “Don’t you think it’s too soon? Didn’t you two just start dating a couple months ago?”

Her mother reached over to grab her hand, but it did little to reassure her.

“Hyun Woo and I love each other, honey.”

‘Love?’ Yeon Ah mentally scoffed.

How could you know you loved someone after just 3 months of dating? How do you know you’ll still be happy with each other another 3 months from now?

Silently fuming, she watched as her mother turned her gaze towards her fiancé, and although she disliked the situation, that’s when she saw it. The genuine love that poured out of her mother’s gaze… and it was mirrored in Hyun Woo’s look of adoration that he focused back on her. It was the type of love that many dream about, and Yeon Ah could only faintly remember the last time she saw that type of love in her mother’s eyes.

It was directed at her dad before he passed away.

Yeon Ah took a deep breath before slowly getting up from her chair. Her mother shot her a startled glance, “Yeon Ah…”

“I just need some time to process this. I’m just going to head home first, okay Mom?” She gave a bow. “It was nice meeting you, sir.”

Before either could response, she was already walking out of the restaurant.

 

Back to the Present…


It was Friday, and when it’s Friday, you should be happy because it’s the end of the week. But-

You know that feeling when you’re there… but you’re not really there?

That’s how Yeon Ah felt the whole day at school. She hadn’t spoken to her mother since last night because she was holed up in her room as soon as she went home, and by the time she woke up to get ready for school, her mom was already off to work.

She still didn’t know how to feel about the whole ordeal. A whole range of emotions seemed to be fighting within her.

First was sadness. Sad because how could her mom let her know in such a way? Marriage, a new stepdad, and a new stepbrother were three really huge news! And to just spring it on her during dinner? It was like she didn’t even take her own daughter’s feeling into account.

Second was anger. Anger because how dare that Kim Himchan call her mother a gold-digger?

“Just because we don’t have money flying out of our asses doesn’t mean we’ll go chasing after it,” A fuming Yeon Ah muttered angrily to herself as she stalked down the hallway at school. Now that she had plenty of time to replay that moment in her head, it only got her angrier, and she was disappointed that she didn’t get the chance to make him apologize for saying.

“I swear, the next time I see him… Oof!”

She was forced into an abrupt stop in her path as she collided into someone.

“Ow…” She moaned as her head bumped into the other person’s. What was with her and running into other people lately?

“…you should be more careful…”

“Huh?” She looked up to see a familiar brown-haired student stood in front of her.

“I stopped when I saw you, but you just kept walking,” He explained.

Slightly flustered, she blushed and said, “O-oh, sorry. I was a bit preoccupied.” She inwardly cringed. She wasn’t usually this absentminded.

“Jongup-hyung, there you are!”

Yeon Ah blinked in surprise as she saw Junhong round the corner.

“Oh! Yeon Ah, you’re here too,” The blonde-haired boy greeted as soon as he saw her.

“Annyeong, Junhong-ah,” She replied back, giving a small wave. Jongup only nodded in greeting.

“What’re you doing here?”

That’s when Yeon Ah finally noticed her surroundings. She had wandered into an area of the school she didn’t usually go to, more specifically near the dance rooms that Junhong had showed to her yesterday. She must’ve just randomly ended up here when she was too lost in her thoughts.

“She bumped into me,” Jongup simply stated.

“It was an accident!” She quickly defended herself. “And you have a hard head.” She pouted as she rubbed the part of her forehead that bumped into his.

“Not my fault.”

She scoffed at his monotone answer and the disinterested look on his face. Ignoring him, she turned her attention towards the younger boy.

“Anyways, what are you doing here?”

He grinned as he motioned towards himself and Jongup, “We have practice!”

Oh right. They were both on the dance team.

“Do you have time to come watch us today, noona?”

In the corner of her eye, she saw Jongup look at Junhong in surprise, as if he didn’t expect the younger to ask her to come watch them practice.

Yeon Ah debated whether she should go or not. On one hand, she didn’t really have anything else to do since school was done for the day and it was officially the start of the weekend. On the other hand, she could go home and just relax… but then she didn’t really want to see her mom just yet.

“Sure,” She agreed but shot a quick glance towards Jongup. “If it’s alright with you all…”

He briefly looked at her before shrugging. “I don’t care.” Then he proceeded to walk away.

She raised an eyebrow at him before turning her gaze towards Junhong. “Is he always this…” She racked her brain for the right word. She didn’t want to say rude because he wasn’t necessarily that but… “…aloof?”

Junhong shrugged. “He’s always been like this.”

“Alright then…”

The two walked into the dance room, and Yeon Ah instantly recognized the song that was playing on the speakers. This time she saw many more members of the team, and she was amazed as she watched them stretch, practice, and do dance moves on the side.

She blushed when she saw one of the guys shirtless, though, but she looked at him in appreciation.

‘Abs~’ Her inner fangirl squealed as she continued to eye the handsome man’s broad shoulders.

Unbeknownst to her, Jongup was watching her and caught her eyeing his shirtless dance teammate, and he rolled his eyes.

‘Typical,’ He thought before looking away.

Sungjae, who was in the middle of mid-stretch, saw her and caught her attention by waving at her.

“Yeon Ah, you’re back already? Thought you didn’t start cleaning until next week?” He asked.

She shook her head and told him that Junhong had invited her to come watch.

Overhearing this, Jongup spoke up, “You’re going to be cleaning the floors?”

She nodded in confirmation, but she was curious why he asked except she didn’t need to ask because his next words answered it for her.

“Do it properly,” He ordered, and once again without waiting for a response he walked off.

Taken aback, she gave Junhong a bewildered look, wildly gesturing towards the dancer’s receding figure as if to say “what the absolute hell?”

It was Sungjae who had to excuse Jongup’s behavior this time. “You’re going to have to forgive him. Last person who had to tidy up the dance rooms as punishment didn’t do as well a job as they should’ve.”

“Jongup-hyung ended up slipping when he was doing a backflip,” Junhong explained when the confused look still stayed on her face.

She winced inwardly as she pictured something like that happening. Ow. That sounded like it must’ve hurt. Before she could ask the extent of his injuries, the leader, or whoever she assumed was the leader, yelled out that practice was going to start, and everyone started moving towards the center of the room.

“Noona, you can sit on the benches over there,” Junhong motioned to the side. “Be sure to watch me, okay?!”

Laughing, she shot him a thumbs up and reassuring him that she’ll do just that.

 

Author's Note

Hi, all! Thanks for patiently waiting for the new chapter. The story's slowly heating up, and in this chapter we finally see Yeon Ah interact with some new people that will soon have big parts in her life ;-) 

Again, sorry for the long wait but I hope you continue to enjoy reading! I'm still on winter break, so hopefully I can get a bit more writing in. Thank you to all who subscribe/comment. Tell me how you think the story's going in the comments! I'll be going off to start the next chapter now, hehe ^-^