chapter one / life is not picture perfect
intertwinedchapter one / "life is not picture perfect"
Sunghee looked toward the front of the class, where she saw the person she was trying to escape. Her pen fell out of her hand and rolled down from her desk to the floor and the sharp noise of her pen made him perk his ears toward her. Forgetting to introduce himself to the class in English, he pointed at her and happily spoke in Korean to her.
"Ah! Sunghee! You’re here?”
Sunghee looked at her friend Sophie, to the desk the right of her who looked at her in shock.
"Is he your friend?" She whispered to her as she gave Sunghee her pen back before cracking a smile as if making a joke. "He's hot.”
He looked at her expectedly and she replied in Korean. "I wanted to be here, that's why I studied." She then looked at the teacher who looked at her expectedly for clarification and she finally spoke. "I'm his classmate back in Korea. I'm not sure about his fluency in English, but in Korea, I remember him being top scorers in English, so I think he's quite fluent."
"That still doesn't change anything if you're trying to weasel your way out. Tell him you're going to be his seatmate."
"But what about Andrew?" She asked the teacher.
At that, it seemed obvious to everyone, was trying to not be with him, which they secretly laughed at, as it seemed to be a real life rom-com for them to enjoy, and none of them wanted to be a part of it, they could tell by his clothes he isn’t one to be messed with.
"He changed his major again, so he's now your partner. Now tell him to introduce himself."
To Jungkook who was smiling at her, the classmates who whispered how hot he was, and her, who wanted nothing to do with him, looked at him.
"Introduce yourself in English." She said sighing in defeat.
"Ah? Kay." He smiled and then cleared his throat, and spoke in a heavy Korean accent, but with a cheery tone. "Hello, I am Jungkook Jeon, hope you treat me well!"
"Okay, let's clap for him." The class clapped on cue and gave an eye smile. “And Jungkook, you'll be sitting next to Sunghee."
He heard his name and her's and looked at her for clarification and she looked at the clock hanging to the right of her and rested her chin on her arms, which were crossed. "You're sitting next to me."
"Heads up Sunghee, there's a lot to learn in class." The teacher said.
"Yes ma'am." She said as she rose her head and looked at the guy who she pretty much disliked.
Despite his rather perfect appearance, he wasn't as perfect as he seemed. He wasn't as friendly as he seemed. He's wasn't as innocent as he seemed. She should know, her cousin who lived with them, dated him in high school. When he was alone in their house, she got bad vibes and sometimes would peer from her room to the living room where she saw a different Jungkook that nobody else has seen, except for her cousin. He was cold and distant, and barely ever smiled.
But her cousin though ended up gone after a day with a mindless fight one day at their house. Ever since then, she put him as the prime suspect. She didn't even try to worry since she knew Jungkook had a part in this and with his power, could conceal it, and concealed it he did. When she didn’t see her and saw the room cleared the next day, she asked her parents who just said she moved to the States. She had a feeling her parents knew what was going on, but even now they never told her.
He greeted her in Korean. "Hello Sunghee."
"Hey Jungkook." She spoke in English exasperated and sighed as she listened to the teacher's lesson and tried not to think of the guy next to her who was smiling too much.
Time passed and she was soon out of the classroom, where luckily Jungkook wasn’t in. As she got out of class and walked to the school cafeteria, she heard her name once before being glomped from the back, by nobody else but Jungkook. His arms were wrapped around her, and she was happy her backpack saved some space between her and him. But she still was able to feel his warmth and her cheeks turned slightly warm.
"Jungkook, there are people around, get off me." She says in Korean as she jabbed his chest away from her and before she could hit him, he moved away slightly and he pouted.
"Hey, how can you say that to someone you haven't seen in a long time? I studied real hard to get into this school."
She turned to him suspiciously. "Why did you go here? I heard from an old friend Seoul University wanted you."
"Why here?” He looked at the sky and thought for a second before giving her a reply. “Because I didn't want my parents to nag at me."
"Really?" She eyed him uneasily. "Then how did you afford your clothes?"
His clothes from head to toe were designer that seemed to be meticulously picked and he replied hesitantly, his friendly facade flickering for a few seconds as he looked at her, his eyes darkening. "Doing favors, there's no such thing as free lunch."
She sighed and pressed down on her temple in slight annoyance. "I know you're rich, and as a smart kid, you should know that flaunting wealth isn’t smart, wear some normal casual clothes. Especially when you'll be hanging around a few gold diggers."
He seemed to be listening to her words, and she felt a bit hopeful until he spoke. "Then... can I have lunch with you?"
Stunned, her shoulders tensed up and she replied surprised, loudly in English. "No!"
"Please?" He asked her.
Sophie saw this from a distance, though not knowing much of what they're saying, it was painfully obvious he liked her. But she smiled at the cautiousness she gave him, which was pretty high compared to when she's with her other male classmates. As she purposefully walk past them, she felt Sunghee grab her with an immense amount of strength she never knew she was even capable of. Apparently love does works.
Sunghee then turned to Jungkook. "I promised Sophie lunch."
"Can't I come?" He asked her again.
"Let's go for lunch," Sunghee tells Sophie and looked at Jungkook to leave. "Don't mind him."
"I’ll pay!" He said in English.
Those words made Sophie turn her head and pointed at him. "You're coming along." She turned her head to Sunghee. "No but’s, and's, or if’s."
"Fine." She then looked at Jungkook and spoke in Korean. "You don't mind if I spend more than a thousand dollars?"
"Anything for you." He smiles at her and grabbed on to her left hand, which she was very quick to pull her hand out of his grasp. "I'll carry your bag for you!"
Sophie looked at the two of them confused, but then pulled Sunghee's right hand with her to the restaurant she chose as Jungkook followed along, speaking in Korean, making Sunghee speak both in English and Korean to two different people, making her mix words up on the way there and in the end, when they approached the restaurant, made her really mad and embarrassed, with Sophie making small talk and Jungkook wanting to know what's happening. So as Jungkook wanted to know what Sophie was saying, while Jungkook and Sophie wanted to talk with only her translations, Sunghee was in the middle of it, fuming, her head spinning.
"I can't believe I'm with him." She growled as she sat down at the table.
"Order whatever you want!" He says, smiling.
"Order what you want, he'll pay for everything," Sunghee says as she puts her head down, trying to quell her anger.
Sunghee's only been to this restaurant once when she talked to a professional producer for a song she was currently working on. Though he paid that time, she was too nervous to buy anything expensive and just bought normal coffee, but now, coupled with her anger and hunger, she was ready to eat to her content with his money. After all, he said he would pay. He won't mind and she won't care.
"I'll take that salad, this soup, this roll, iced water, and 3 plate-sized pancakes."
The waitress looked at her and then Jungkook, then Sophie then blinked and smiled nervously, and then the waitress confused, but happy about the future tip, wrote it down. Sophie and Jungkook though had less than half of her order combined. As they finished ordering, Sunghee opened her backpack and took out her computer and headphones.
"Huh? What are you doing?" Sophie asks.
"She said it would be a long time, and I want to do my own thing, you can use Google Translate, it's not perfect to say in the least, but it gets the main point across. You can download it now, and you can learn some basic words, I can do what I want to do now." She then repeated that in Korean for Jungkook.
She then put her headphones on and opened up one of her songs. It was a synth beat for a song a client of hers requested. Jihye, her client, wanted a song that felt like "a peaceful grassland beginning intro" for a game she was planning. Though she had experience and liked audio engineering, it wasn't her major, so she could only do it in her spare time. It was also a good way to earn income while in college, with people buying some of her songs and others commissioning songs. But it was definitely a good idea, especially as a college student with loans.
As she started editing it and focused more and more on it, rather than the environment, he watched at her in amazement, he's only seen her this focused when she was learning English, and he couldn't help but fall in love with her more. So this must of meant she wanted to put in a lot of effort in what she is doing right now. Though he was really curious what it could be, he wrote it down instead. Copying and pasting a translation and rearranging it to look like a Korean English sentence, he showed it to Sophie, who then looked at what she's doing.
She looked at his handwriting and wrote it down in English. "She's making music."
He looked at it for a few seconds and he nodded. The only thing that came to mind with those words was Yuri and Yoongi's school performance for the competition back in high school. He then turned bright red remembering high school, and he shook it out of his head and looked at Sunghee. As she finished editing the song and snapped from reality, she couldn't help but notice Jungkook's staring at her weirdly.
"What?" She said in an angry tone before putting her computer back in her backpack.
"Nothing." He smiled.
It creeped her out. Especially when he was such a 2 faced man. He seemed so innocent, but she knew he was really different. Especially the look in his eyes changes from the innocent guy she's seen from far away, to a distanced, glassy look of coldness, void of all emotions. All the food soon came in, and as she ate the food, ignoring Jungkook speaking to her, and spoke more to Sophie. As she finished most of her food, Jungkook looked at her wide-eyed as none of it was touched by anyone else. Once she wiped her hands and mouth, she was kicked softly by Sophie.
"What?" She asked her in an annoyed tone.
"Say thanks."
"Why?"
"He treated us to lunch, c'mon!"
"Fine."
Jungkook looked at her expectedly, as if to say something, and she frowned and she then opened and quietly said in Korean,"Thanks."
"I can't hear you~!" He in Korean and he smiled.
"Oh, you heard me the first time!" She grumbles in Korean.
Sophie took her pocketbook and stood up at the table. "Well... I have a class to go to and don't want to miss it, so I'll see you later."
Sunghee then rose her hand, as if in class. "I also have to go, see you later Soph."
He looked at her, and his chapped lips and sighed. He was now left alone with the waitress and the bill.
"Will you be paying by cash or credit card?" She asked hesitantly, not knowing if he understood or not.
"It'll be credit." He said in perfect English as he held his black tinted credit card between his middle and pointer fingers.
He got this out of a favor. Unlimited purchases until they go broke. But, he won't fall with them. As he then paid the bill, he left, the girls away from him, he was at a loss on what to do. He could follow Sunghee, but he thinks that he pulled the limit. He doesn't want to follow Sophie because he doesn't want to make her jealous. But, as he looked at his clothes, he decided to buy new clothes. Something more casual, something like what Sunghee was wearing.
As it was autumn, she wore a grey wool shirt, dark blue ripped jeans and white sneakers. As the school was in the city, it was easy to find a department store for clothes. As he looked over the clothes, nothing really caught his eyes. That was until he found a white turtleneck with blue stripes halfway down the shirt. As he took it, he searched for pants that would go with it. His eyebrows creased, wondering if this really was a department store. He found navy blue pants and he bought them. Holding the bag, he decided to buy a necklace for her.
As he bought an exquisite ruby necklace, he saw the time was 1:57 on his phone. Seeing he had some time, he decided to go to his apartment his father bought for him in exchange for some favors. It was a bit far to the school but closer to Sunghee. A street apart to be more precise. He walked quickly to the subways to get to his apartment fast so he could change. It also could be some exercise for him.
When he walked into his apartment, he kicked the door shut with his foot, took his clothes off and changed. Looking at his reflection on his phone, he combed his hair with his fingers, fixing it. His icy eyes peered through the phone as he looked at himself in a lot of angles and he breathed in slowly and blew out as he looked at himself. He thought that he looked good, and he opened the door, where he almost hit someone.
Comments