C h a p t e r   3

A  e     S  o  o 

“Ouch..” I wince in pain finding myself on the floor. I fell from the bed. I sigh sitting up and make my bed. It’s seven so maybe they’re getting ready for breakfast. “I better hurry so I can help with the set up.”

After tying my hair up and changing my clothes, I open my windows and see Sehun in front. “Oh, good morning!”

He stops from his morning jog. “Good morning.” He mumbles. Oh good! We're talking now!

“Are you on your morning jog?”

He nods. “We just finished. On my way to the dining hall.”

“Oh! I’m on my way too. Let’s go together.” He nods again and I turn on my way to my door when he calls me. 

“Where are you going?” 

“I’m going out of my room.”

“Just jump from there. It’s faster.”

“W..What?! But I’m not that good with reflexes! I might break my bones!” He started to laugh and opens his arms wide. Whoa, it’s a first that I saw him smile like that. He’s always quiet. 

“I’ll catch you so don’t worry.”

“Y..You promise? You’re not joking?”

“My Dad and your Uncle will probably kill me if something happens to you.” Well that was convincing. I climb the window and brace myself to jump.

“Well...here I go.”

“I’m ready if you are.” I nod and jumped. I felt Sehun’s hand on my waist. “You can open your eyes now.”

“Whoa, you really caught me.” He stares at me nodding. I don’t know if we’re playing the staring game but we are just staring at each other and he’s not putting me down either.

“What are you both doing so early in the morning?” We both look to our left seeing Baekhyun and the others with a huge grin on their faces. “Aw, you’re quick to act Sehun! And here I was thinking that Ae Soo’s cute!”

Sehun places me down and sighs. “Let’s go.”

“Huh? Uh yeah.” I follow him behind but I feel like I have to to explain what they saw or a misunderstanding will happen. “Oh what you saw just now, he just caught me because I jumped from my window. Well then.” I excuse myself and headed to the kitchen.

₰₰₰₰₰₰₰

I told Ahjumma that I can handle the grocery shopping from now on but she said that she still wants the boys to go with me to help me carry stuff. So for today, It’s Baekhyun and Jongin that are assigned.

“Now that I think about it, Ae Soo, this is the first time we’re together right?” 

“Mm. Let’s do well together from now on okay?”

“Sure thing!” Baekhyun smiles back at me.

“Uh, excuse me? I’m here too you know?” 

“Oh you are? Sorry. I was too preoccupied with this cute girl beside me. You can actually go now little one.”

“HYUNG! Will you please stop calling me that?!” 

“Fine, fine~” Baekhyun grins patting Jongin’s head which makes him even more annoyed. I chuckle seeing how close they are. When the bus arrived, we all enter and took the seat at the back since they prefer seating that way. “Oh right, I have a question for you Ae Soo.”

Baekhyun turns to face me releasing a grin. “What is it?”

“What’s going on between you and Sehun?”

I look at him confused. “What do you mean?”

“He’s different when he’s with you isn’t he?”

“Isn’t he normally that way? He’s a nice person. But at first I can say that he scared me because he almost strangled me to death. But I get him though, I’m an intruder which is why he did that.”

Baekhyun and Jongin exchanged looks and laughs. “She said he’s nice?”

“Hahahaha! He’s anything but nice! He’s rude and all Ae Soo!”

“Really? When I met him, he was nice though... But he really doesn’t talk much I can say that.”

“It’s because he’s distant.” Baekhyun smiles.

“Distant?”

“Yep. He’s an heir to the Master that’s why. Sehun really respects his father and for him, being close to someone is like having a weakness and he hates that. He needs to protect the entire clan after all.”

“Is that so?” After I heard about why Sehun’s like that, I realize that he has a lot in his plate. “But isn’t that lonely though?”

Jongin sighed. “Yeah, but we all love him. We’re like brothers you know? If he reach the point where he realizes that having someone who means a lot to him is inevitable, well, we’ll just protect him and so that Sehun can be happy. Even though he's the youngest of all of us, he's the most protective out of all of us you know?”

I smile. “You’re all good people.”

Baekhyun chuckles ruffling my hair. “Aw, that smile just now was so cute. Say Ae Soo, care to date me?”

“No thank you.”

“Eh? Direct rejection huh? You’re one tough girl to crack.” I laugh.

We reach our stop so we all got off and started the grocery shopping in the market. Today’s menu was Japanese food so we all started with the fish first. They both told me the fish that they all prefer to eat so we got sea bream. Then next are the vegetables and the fruits for dinner. Before we leave for the market, we checked the list one last time and headed for the bus stop.

“Oh? Want some ice cream you both?” Baekhyun asked.

“Sure.” We both replied.

“Alright! Wait here~” we watch as Baekhyun cross the street to bring us ice cream. “Here we go, one for you and one for you.”

“Thanks Baekhyun.” I say. We continue walking until I felt something drop on my hand. “Hm?” I look up then realized that it’s getting dark. “Oh! It’s raining!”

“Run!” We rush to the nearest shade that we can find. “Wah, we nearly got wet!”

I laugh in agreement. “But it doesn’t look like it’s going to pass soon..” 

“Oh? You’re right. It’s getting darker.” I scan around to look for a convenience store but there isn’t any. The last one is where Baekhyun went to buy our ice cream but that’s not near from here. Guess I’ll have to run there so I can buy us some umbrellas. “Wait here you two!”

“Huh? Wait! Ae Soo-“ the moment I jump out from the shade, I see a figure in front of me. I look up and see Sehun holding an umbrella for me. 

“What are you doing?”

“Oh! It’s Sehun!” I say pointing at him. 

“Sehun!” Baekhyun and Jongin said in unison. He sighs facing Baekhyun and Jongin.

“What are you doing here?” Baekhyun asked.

“It suddenly rained. Mom told me to rush here since you don’t have any umbrella with you.” He gave the umbrellas to Baekhyun and Jongin. 

“Yeah, but you realize that you only brought three?”

“Mm. One for you each. Why?” Baekhyun bursted laughing and I sigh. Sehun didn’t realize that he didn’t bought one for himself. He literally just brought the umbrella for us. He faces me confused.

“Oh um.. it’s because you didn’t bring one for yourself.”

“Oh.” He realizes the thought and I chuckle. 

“It’s alright. Let’s just share this umbrella.”

“Hm? Now now Ae Soo, you wanted to share with Sehun?” 

“Yes, why?” 

“Hm.. nothing~ let’s get going!” Baekhyun gives us the playful smile and walks ahead of us. 

When I started walking, I felt my hand lighten. I realize Sehun’s carrying the bag for me. “Oh, you don’t need to do that really! It’s not that heavy-“

“It’s fine.” 

“Oh- Then I’ll hold the umbrella for us.”

“Okay.” 

Sehun’s too tall for me so holding the umbrella is much of a struggle for me and I don’t want him getting wet. I hold it a little more to his side. Because I was too occupied with the umbrella thing, before I knew it, he’s gone. “Oh!” I take two steps back and hold it up again. “Is something wrong?”

“Hold it for you. You’re shoulder’s getting wet.”

“Hm?” I turn to my right and noticed that he’s right. “Oh? You’re right.” I let out a laugh. “I’m alright. Right, you know earlier, it was really hilarious when Baekhyun was almost hit by the fish’s tail because his face was too close! Jongin and I laughed so hard- Whoa!” I gasp in surprise when he suddenly pulled me against him.

“Just stay close then we’ll both get dry.”

“A..Alright.” We continued walking but his hand is still on mine and it’s so awkward. I haven’t held hands with a guy before..

“Why are you silent?”

“H..Huh?”

“You’re in the middle of talking about something right? How Baekhyun Hyung almost got hit by the tail of the fish earlier.”

“You’re listening?” 

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I smile cocking my head to the side as I look at him. “What is it?”

“Nothing. I’m just happy that you are since I thought you weren’t interested.”

“I am. Just keep talking.” 

“Alright.” I smile as I continue my story. This is nice Mom, I think I found myself a new friend already.

₰ ₰ ₰ ₰ ₰ ₰ 

After lunch, I helped ahjumma with the laundry. I was actually surprised seeing that she does the laundry alone. “Hm? The sun is shining bright so the laundry will dry fast.”

“Yes! I think so too ahjumma.”

“Ae Soo.” 

“Yes?”

“Say, would you mind going in the storage with me? I think I have clothes that will fit you when I was still your age.”

“Oh it’s fine Ahjumma! There’s no need-“

“Nope! You’re a girl so it’s nice if you’ll wear a dress once in a while right? Now let’s go.” Defeated, I follow ahjumma to a small storage room and I watch her fiddle with some boxes. “Ah here it is. Come here Ae Soo.” 

“Alright.” She holds the dress in front of me giving me a smile. 

“This will do. Take these. It’s yours now.”

Taking the dresses from her hand, I feel uncomfortable. “Um..are you sure?”

“Of course! I always wanted a daughter you know? But I got a boy for an heir instead.” She releases a laugh and reaches out touching my cheek. “Ever since you came here it’s like I’ve got a daughter. So don’t feel burdened by anything okay Ae Soo?”

I smile back. “Thank you very much!”

She nods. “Change into that okay? I wanna see!”

I chuckle nodding. “I’ll be back!” I head back to my room placing the dresses down. “Hm, maybe I should shower first since I sweated a bit.” I grab the towel and one dress that ahjumma gave me just now then headed to the bathroom to take a shower. Before I enter, I remove my clothes and wrap myself with a towel when, “Let’s take a nice sh-“ I freeze after opening the door and see Sehun half-. “S..Sorry-“ I gasp when he grabs me by my wrist and shut the door close. W..What is this situation?!