OWNED

Located in the heart of Devonport, one of the popular tourist destinations in New Zealand, The Patriot welcomes people of different races and nationalities almost on a daily basis. Tourists come and go – men and women, old and young – and each and every one of them has a unique personality. Although some can be such a douchebag, most of them are actually pretty nice and friendly.

Today is nothing different. Many people have visited the pub, locals and tourists alike, since they opened at eleven this morning. The staff greet their customers enthusiastically, take their orders, serve them their food and drinks and maybe have a little chit chat in between until they are ready to pay their bills a couple hours later or so. It has already become a routine for them and so far, everything seems to remain the same.

Well, that’s about to change tonight.

A handsome Asian man, sitting all alone in the middle of the pub, has caught quite a lot of attention since he arrived. Although it isn’t a rare sight for the locals as tourists often visit the place, there is just something about this particular man that piques their interest somehow. Several women, attracted to his mysterious aura, have already approached him in just half an hour but none of them have been successful to elicit even the littlest of reaction from him. He would immediately shrug them away even before they could utter a single word, very much to their frustration.

“Arrogant bastard,” a blonde woman grumbles as she rejoins her two friends at the bar.

“He must not be interested in foreigners,” one of them comments, rolling her eyes in annoyance.

“Or maybe he’s just not in the mood,” says Genie, one of the waitresses on shift, shaking her head at their judgmental behaviour, “He doesn’t look alright, give him a break. Probably just jet-lagged or something.”

Taking a sip of his beer, Speight’s signature Gold Medal Ale, Sehun drowns out the voices of people shamelessly talking about him as if he did not even exist. He may not speak English really well but he surely understands it just fine. That was one of the reasons why he ignored the girls that came up to him earlier. All of them were just trying to get inside his pants. He is glad that the waitresses here aren’t like them. He really respects their professionalism.

Turning to look out the window, he lets his mind drift away to a certain incident that has transpired this afternoon. He wouldn’t have minded that much if it were just another tourist but the thing is, it isn’t just another tourist. It’s Gong Minji for crying out loud, one of the people he’s grown to detest with all his might. The worst thing is, she’s currently his next-door neighbour. So much of trying to get away.

He has come here to relax, to hopefully forget about all the problems he left in Seoul. He isn’t running away from his problems, not at all. He is merely trying to clear his head and get his conscience straight before making any bid decisions. He doesn’t want to be like some people. But obviously, he cannot do all that anymore, not with such a big distraction living right next door.

As if fate were trying to mock him, the doors then open to reveal a young lady, who seems to be a bit lost, and she is none other than the said distraction herself. This is why Sehun is very annoyed, the girl is just everywhere. She is such a hindrance to his supposedly soul-searching adventure. Not to mention that she is just like them – nothing but a selfish and ungrateful brat!

Minzy steps inside with a sigh, feeling relieved and tired at the same time. She has been walking for hours, taking pictures of the beautiful sceneries whenever she got the chance to. She even got snap some shots of some neighbourhood kids playing tag. Her day was going just fine until she lost track of where she was. And her phone just had to die on her at such a wrong timing.

She was contemplating going to a nearby police hut for help when she spotted the pub. Feeling rather famished, she decided to stopped and get something to eat and maybe borrow their phone to call for a taxi instead. She hasn’t expected to see a familiar face as soon as she enters, though. There he is, giving her the same look again. She cannot quite comprehend why but there’s just this hint of distaste in his eyes as he looks her up and down.

The girl cannot help but wonder what she did wrong to receive such treatment from the guy. It isn’t because she saw him almost , right? She would understand if he was embarrassed by the incident but for him to look at her like she just killed someone is just so puzzling. It wasn’t like she intended to see him that way, it was just an accident, for Pete’s sake! Or is it because of that one drawing of her ideal type on one of the interviews they did a long time ago? Nah, that cannot be.

Her stomach suddenly starts grumbling again and she decides to push the troubling thoughts aside for a while and order the most delicious dish this place has got to offer. The waitress recommends one of their steaks and a steak is what she’s chosen. To hell with all the diet plans. She is currently on vacation after all, so she should be able to enjoy herself fully without having to worry about the littlest of things. At the back of her mind, she reminds herself to ignore the glare a certain guy keeps throwing at her.

Time seems to fly so quickly, especially when you’re having fun. Well, in Minzy’s case, it’s when she’s enjoying her sirloin steak with mushroom sauce. It doesn’t take her long to finish everything. The waitress was right, their steaks are really to die for! She really wants to another portion, maybe with the black pepper sauce instead this time. But before she knows it, she’s been dragged to join some kind of a game.

“It’s quiz night!” she hears one of the customers shout excitedly.

A quiz? What quiz? The poor girl’s eyes widen upon noticing the situation she’s in. Does she even have enough knowledge to join the quiz? She rarely loses confidence in herself but this, this is one of those rare moments. All of a sudden, she finds herself plotting an escape plan in her mind. She needs to get out of here before she makes a fool of herself.

Looking right and left, it seems that everyone is too busy being all excited. This is the perfect timing if she were to escape without anyone noticing. So, stealthily, she pushes her chair back and stands up, ready to bolt out. However, luck doesn’t seem to be on her side tonight because in the next second, she finds herself face to face with a man’s chest. Looking at how sturdy it is, the owner must be one handsome lad as well.

Curious, Minzy slowly looks up, her mind already sketching a portrait of different faces that might go with the strong chest, only to have one of the biggest shocks in her life. The man is handsome, alright. But he also happens to go by the name of Oh Sehun, the one who has been giving her the cold shoulders ever since their rather awkward meeting earlier at the hotel. The thought of possibly meeting a hot New Zealand man like her mother said suddenly flies out the window.

“Trying to escape, I see,” Sehun says with a smirk, waking the girl from her stupor.

“W- What?” Minzy stutters her word in confusion and slightly blushes, embarrassed that she is caught red-handed for staring.

The guy chuckles at her reaction. He has only seen the confident and fierce side of the girl so this sight is completely new to him. He’s not sure whether to call it cute or funny. Probably both but he refuses to admit the first one, so he settles with funny and laughs a little more. His laughter only stops when the sound of a microphone fuzzing fills the room. He eyes the commotion behind her before turning his attention back to the girl. The shocked expression on her face is now replaced with a displease one.

“So are you joining the quiz or what?” he asks, that mocking tone still evident in his voice, “Or are you just too scared to join?”

The frown on Minzy’s forehead deepens and her eyes now glaring daggers his way. Sehun, however, doesn’t seem fazed by it and only continue challenging her with his eyes. “Why would I be scared? It’s just a freaking quiz, not the end of the world!” the girl counters, her fists clenched.

“I don’t know… Maybe because you’re too stupid? I mean, it is in English and the questions they’re going to ask are probably not on your level.”

“Did you just call me stupid? Who the hell are you to call me stupid?! You know what, I’m joining the quiz and you, Mister Oh-I-Am-So-Arrogant-I-Know-Everything is joining me! Let’s see who the real loser will be!”

With that, Sehun finds himself dragged by his hand and pushed to sit down with a group of boisterous college students. For a brief moment, he regrets his decision to tease the girl. He doesn’t even know where the courage came from. It was just a rash action that he did at the spur of the moment. Truth be told, he’s probably just as clueless as she is. Only then he realises that he’s just dug his own grave. He just hopes that he would answer more questions than her.

The famous quiz night starts exactly at 7:20 with the MC, who’s really just one of the waiters, introducing the event and explaining the rules. It is trivia night tonight, in which people are asked random questions about different topics. There are ten categories altogether and the first one is on politics, as chosen by a group of middle-aged men sitting by the corner. Dissatisfied groans can immediately be heard all around the room. Looks like nobody else is a big fan of the subject. And as expected, nobody except the man who chose the category gets the answer correct.

After three or four rounds, both Minzy and Sehun are still unable to get any points. Being a non-English speaker is a huge disadvantage to them, but they refuse to give up. In fact, they grow even more determined to answer, especially when their pride is at stake. Both of them want to beat the other so badly. Finally, Sehun is picked to choose the category. He weighs the different options he has. Really, there are only three topics that he is confident at: entertainment, cars and sports.

Entertainment is definitely out of the list because he’s sure that the girl would excel in that category as well, so he’s left with only two alternatives. Sports would have been a good choice but he’s not sure whether or not she is into sports. There is a high possibility that she is, looking at how fit she is. And he has read somewhere that she enjoys kickboxing during her free time. So in the end, he picks cars. She doesn’t look like someone who likes watching Top Gear, so why not?

“Ah, nice choice, young man,” says the MC with a smile, “I’m guessing that you’re a big fan?”

Sehun only nods as a response, confident that he would finally be able to score a point. The MC picks a piece of paper from a box labeled ‘Cars’ and unfolds it. “Aha! This is quite an interesting question. Say, how many of you ladies are into cars?” he asks.

Only a couple women raise their hand and the room immediately roars with excited yells and applause by the men present. Probably only Sehun keeps his pokerface on. He just cannot wait for the question and shows the girl who’s boss. He will not allow her to think that he’s stupid because he’s clearly not. “Ah, don’t get too excited, boys. There’s a big chance that these ladies are able to answer this question,” the MC laughs.

“Give us the question already!” shouts an eager customer from the back.

“Alright, alright. The question is, what kind of car does Dean Winchester drive in the TV series, Supernatural?”

“Dean who?”

“What’s that got to do anything with cars?”

Most of the men in the room begin to protest at the unexpected question, unable to accept it as a legit question about cars. That includes Sehun. In fact, he is one of the first ones to voice out his disapproval. Beside him, Minzy has a huge smile plastered on her face. Supernatural is one of her favourite shows and the Winchester brothers are one of her favourite ‘OTP’ of all time. Looking at how displeased Sehun looks, she’s a hundred percent sure that he doesn’t know the answer.

With a newfound confidence, she raises her hand. “It’s a black 1967 Chevy Impala,” she answers with a proud smirk.

“The answer is correct! Congratulations, miss, you just earned 10 points!”

Once again, the room turns into chaos as the men start to yells their disapproval. The ladies, on the other hand, give Minzy proud smiles and two thumbs up for kicking the guys’ butts. They should’ve known not to look down on women, now look who’s all bitter. Definitely not them. The game continues for another hour. While Minzy did not manage to score more points, Sehun did not get the chance to answer any question at all.

“Look who’s the stupid one, now,” Minzy laughs as she heads out the pub, leaving a very angry Sehun behind.

Only god knows how frustrated he is at the moment. He makes a mental note to get his revenge in the near future.

Author's Note

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Things will get more and more intense as the story goes on. If you didn't notice the tags, I put this under light angst as well. So it's gonna be a mizture of that and some comedy in between. I really hope you are enjoying this so far.

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Love, A.

Poster and Background by: Antidote Graphis Shop