3

She somehow remembers the road back home and enters through the gates, her teeth chattering, cheeks rosy red and nose a little runny from the cold. 

Leeteuk opens the main doors and gasps, quickly rushing over to her, but Hara holds up a hand and awkwardly laughs. 

“I just had a small accident, is all,” she lies, “got too close to the fountain.” 

“But that is a brown stain, miss,” Leeteuk cries, hands still outstretched in her direction, but Hara steps away and shakes her head. 

“Don’t worry about it, have the moving company stopped by?” 

“Yes,” Leeteuk says, still frowning, “the maids have just started sorting your clot-”

“I’ll do it!” Hara kicks off her shoes and moves past Leeteuk. “I’ll do it myself, it’s okay.”

“Miss, it is their job, you do not have to wor-”

“It’s okay!” Hara ignores him and mentally thanks god when she finds the living room empty.

She reaches the stairwell and takes two steps at a time to get to the second floor, all but rushing down the hallway to her bedroom. 

The door is open and Hara peeks her head in, offering the startled maids a sorry smile before fully entering the room. 

“Uh, I-I can do this myself.”

“Miss, it’s okay,” one of the maids says, smiling, “we have been tasked with-”

“I kinda have a special way of sorting my stuff.” Hara awkwardly clears .

“You can give us instructions,” the other maid says, putting away a spiderman t-shirt she had very obviously been staring at. “We will arrange them however you please, miss.” 

“No, you don’t get it.” Hara swallows the nerves. “I-I, uh, I like to sort everything in an alphabetical order.” 

One of the maids frowns slightly, but smiles nevertheless. 

“We can do that.”

“Reversed.” Hara nods, coughing. “Alphabetical order, but reversed. Without ‘W’. I don’t like the letter, it freaks me out sometimes. Looks like fangs. I hate vampires, they’re scary. Oh, werewolves as well, they also have fangs right?”

Hara shakes her head, eyes wide.

“Isn't it weird how they’re not portrayed as frightening as vampires in movies and tv-shows. I personally find it stupid and kind of disrespectful."

One of the maids arches her eyebrows in surprise and the other frowns in worry. Hara decides she's already in too deep, there's nothing to lose. 

"I mean, shouldn’t they also be intimidating? They're huge, like enormous and they can tear apart bears, like those huge ones in Canada! Wouldn’t you expect them to be portrayed like the beasts that they truly are? No, instead they’re portrayed like fricking puppies."

Hara shakes her head for extra effect.

"Absolutely sickening.”

Mission freak the out of your maids and appear as if you’ve just escaped a mental institution: successful. 

“W-we’ll be in the kitchen.” 

The maids rush out of the room and Hara locks the door after them, waiting a couple of seconds for the sound of their footsteps to disappear before groaning loudly.

No one would hear it anyways, the house is so damn big. 

“Way to ing go,” she mutters, stomping over to the suitcases on her carpeted floor. 

She peels off her wet hoodie and cringes at the stickiness on her belly, fingers rubbing at the skin. 

Realizing that she needs to shower, Hara groans and starts stripping out of her clothes, leaving her undies on before entering the huge bathroom next to the walk-in-closet.

She eventually finishes gawking at the sheer size of it and takes a quick shower, relishing in the sweet scent of the strawberry scented shampoo already placed there before wrapping a towel around herself and entering her room again. 

After putting on another pair of sweats and a hoodie, Hara ties her slightly damp hair up in a messy bun and starts sorting her stuff.

She turns on her playlist after a while and starts jamming along while folding her shirts, and before she knows it she’s done and tiredly plops down on her bed. 

She goes through her social media feed and smiles at the pictures her friends have sent her on snapchat.

They both moved out from their family homes during summer vacation because unlike Hara they didn’t take gap years, so she’s kind of the only one out of them still stuck at home.

Hara just couldn’t decide what to do with her life, that’s why she settled for the only plausible solution, a gap year, which would allow her some time to think and earn some money so she would be able to afford it in the first place.

While responding to a snap from Mina, her best friend, asking if she has met any hot guys yet, there’s suddenly a knock on her door, and Hara frowns. 

“Just a moment,” she calls, jumping off her bed.

She opens the door to find one of the maids from earlier awkwardly smiling at her. 

“Uh, the dinner has been presented, miss. Master wants you down.” 

Hara holds back a snort at the choice of words and nods, following the maid out of the room. 

The dining table has been decorated to the nines and Hara wonders if they’ve ever served reheated food in this house.

Yunho is sitting at the head of the huge table with Hara’s mother to his right, and Hara frowns a little because there is a person sitting across from her. 

After walking a little closer to the table, she realizes it’s a boy, probably her age, and she can’t help but feel like she has seen him somewhere when she settles down next to her mom who instantly tells her to place a napkin in her lap in case she forgets rich people etiquette and makes a fool out of herself, again. 

“Hara, you must be wondering who this is,” Yunho says, grinning at her while nursing a glass of wine, and Hara nods, offering him a quick smile before looking over at the frowning boy across from her. “This is Jungkook, my son. Jungkook, this is your new sister, Hara.” 

It’s the guy from the mall.

The boy who had watched the commotion from afar, the one who had been frowning at her. 

Hara blinks in realization and Jungkook seems to also have put the puzzle together, the crease between his eyebrows disappearing.

His expression turns icy and stone cold, and Hara feels a little uncomfortable, but she doesn’t show it, instead plastering on a fake smile and extending a hand over the many dishes lined up on the table. 

Clearly, it’s a wrong move because her mother audibly sighs into her glass, but Hara ignores her and keeps waiting for Jungkook to shake her hand. 

“Nice to meet you,” she says when he reluctantly leans across the table and shakes her hand. 

“Pleasure is all mine.” His voice is nice, Hara thinks, but emotionless. He looks constipated. 

“Why, isn’t this nice,” Yunho gushes, clearly liking that they’re getting along.

And Hara can’t mask the surprise on her face when Jungkook looks away from her and smiles at his dad.

Clearly, something isn’t right. 

Hara leans back in her seat and pretends to eat her food while Yunho starts talking about the weather and other random conversation filler , she’s not really paying attention because Jungkook is weird. 

He smiles and replies to whatever questions his father and Hara’s mother asks him, but when Hara tells him to pass her one of the dishes on the table, his jaw clenches in annoyance, and his grip on the expensive china is tighter than it should be.

And yet, he forces on a smile which clearly is more meant for the parents than it is for Hara.  

“I’m done with my meal,” he says after a while, gently wiping his mouth with a napkin before pushing his chair back. 

One of the maids instantly come by to take his plate away, and Hara watches in curiosity as Jungkook bows his head slightly. Yunho grins and Hara’s mother dreamily watches Jungkook leave, and then Hara pushes her chair away and drops her napkin in her plate. 

“Yeah, me too.” 

She ignores the look of disappointment on her mom’s face and offers Yunho a curt nod before leaving the dining hall, trying very hard not to rush after Jungkook who for some reason has vanished. 

Hara frowns and enters the hallway leading out of the dining area.

She could have sworn he turned the corner just seconds ago.

Entering another hallway, Hara starts feeling a little lost and jogs down the length of it, lip caught between her teeth as she enters another hall except a hand suddenly clasps around her wrist and she’s pulled inside a room she didn’t even notice. 

“Ouch,” she winces when she’s pushed against a wall, but Jungkook doesn’t seem to care as he closes the door after them and turns towards her. 

“Why are you following me?” Hara ignores him in favour of taking a quick glance around the room and frowns, because she’s in a supply room full of washing powder and detergents for some reason. “Hey, I’m asking you a question.” 

“I wasn’t following you,” Hara says, but Jungkook scoffs and crosses his arms over his broad chest. “This house is rather big. I got lost.”

“You’ve received a tour.” 

“I was barely awake,” Hara snaps, and Jungkook narrows his eyes. 

“Why did you do it?”

“Do what?” 

“At the mall,” Jungkook clarifies. “You insulted Sunny.” Hara can’t help but scoff in surprise.

So he’s friends with that low-life snob. Fan-ing-tastic. 

“I insulted her? She literally threw hot chocolate on me, completely unprovoked!” 

“But you made a scene. I don’t know what people are like back where you’re from,” Jungkook steps closer and Hara has to crane her neck to look up at him, “but we don’t make scenes here.”

“Why? You could definitely afford it, if that’s the issue,” Hara bites back, and the corner of Jungkook’s lips twitch a little. 

“Money will never be a problem.” Hara wants to smack him. “But name and dignity - they’re rather important here.”

“Well, I can already tell which one Sunny lacks,” she says, and Jungkook looks to the side for a moment, his tongue poking against the inside of his cheek, and then he’s staring down at Hara. 

“Things are clearly a little different here.” He tilts his head to the side, almost threateningly. “I appreciate the attitude, but it won’t get you far here. Don’t pick fights you can’t fight.”

“I didn’t pick a bloody fight,” Hara snaps, “you would’ve known had you seen the whole ordeal.”

“I don’t really care for details,” Jungkook retaliates equally harshly, and Hara suddenly finds herself wishing for a younger and more snobby step-brother who looks less intimidating than the male in front of her. “Just make sure not to cause any scenes in the future. My father is an important man, and I don’t want you ruining anything for him.” 

Jungkook leans in closer, suddenly, face barely an inch away from Hara’s, and she feels her eyes widen in surprise, lips parting to release a soft gasp. 

“I don’t know what my father has told you about me,” he murmurs, voice dropping an octave, “but I’m not very fond of people who annoy me. I usually find an easy way to… dispose of them.” 

His eyes slowly move from Hara’s lips up to her wide eyes, and Hara hates that she gets lost in them for a moment, which is enough time for him to tilt his head to the side and arch an eyebrow, clearly knowing he has the upperhand.  

“I suggest you stay out of my way, for the sake of your own name and dignity. Is that clear?” 

Jungkook is probably one of those guys, Hara thinks while taking in his sharp features and dark, dark eyes, one of those guys who get everything they want. Who have people kissing their asses and following them around with bent necks. 

Hara has met her fair share of such people, and she knows exactly how to treat them. 

“Yes,” she whispers, averting her gaze for a moment to give Jungkook the illusion that she’s nervous, humiliated even,”it is very clear,” and when she notices a smirk forming on his lips, she looks him dead in the eye and tilts an eyebrow.

"But what can I do? I am not very fond of people who order others around.” 

Jungkook doesn’t have time to respond because Hara pushes him away, as roughly as she can, and Jungkook thankfully takes a step back, surprise written all over his handsome face. 

“I never pick fights with people, I only fight back. If you have a problem with that, wait in line for your turn."

Hara opens the door to their right and gives Jungkook a quick glance over her shoulder.

"Just a heads up though, I'm currently booked for the next three months dealing with absolute bull that I never ing asked for.” 

She doesn’t wait for a reply and leaves the room, surprisingly finding her way back to the living room where she rushes up the stairs, kicking her legs into taking two steps at a time.

Once she’s inside her room, the door locked and secured, Hara stops and stares ahead of her for a couple of seconds, mind blank and lungs burning a little.

And then she slides down against the door and drags in a shaky breath. 

Yeah, this isn’t going to be easy. At all.