4

Hara is in the middle of combing her hair when there’s a knock on the door. 

“Breakfast is ready, miss.” 

It’s Leeteuk, which is weird because, not to be a snob or anything, but Hara thought the maids were supposed to call her down for meals. 

“Coming!” 

She puts her comb away and jogs over to the door, smiling up at Leeteuk who offers her a polite bow before leading the way down the hall, and Hara clears before gently tapping his shoulder. 

“Uh, do you know where the girls, I mean, where’s the-the two wome-”

“The maids?” Hara nods, cheeks a little red in embarrassment because she doesn’t quite like calling them that. Leeteuk is very clearly holding back a smile when he says that “they are required for different tasks from now on, I personally do not mind doing this.”

She ing scared them yesterday with her vampire rant. Great. 

“Where’s mom?” Hara asks, wanting to change the subject. Leeteuk thankfully gets the hint and allows her to walk ahead of him down the stairs. 

“Your mother and master Jeon are both at a conference meeting right now, but the young master is going to be eating with you.” 

Hara frowns, and ignores the slight skip in her heartbeat at the prospect of facing Jungkook again. Whether it is out of nervousness or excitement is quite unclear. 

“Why did mom join him?” 

“I am afraid that is knowledge I do not possess as of yet,” Leeteuk answers, and Hara tries not to roll her eyes at his fancy wording. 

Did these workers go to Cambridge or something? 

“Here we are. Just call for the maids if you need anything. Have a pleasant meal.”

“Thanks,” Hara mumbles, ignoring Jungkook who instantly looks over in her direction when she enters the dining hall. 

Leeteuk bows and leaves and Hara keeps her head held high as she walks over to the chair directly across from Jungkook. 

She doesn’t feel hungry, but she busies herself with the strawberries on the fruit platter, and Jungkook very clearly keeps frowning at her lack of table manners because she grabs the berries with her hand. 

“Don’t you have forks where you come from?” he asks, finally snapping. 

Hara shrugs. 

“We usually grow our nails until they’re long enough to function as chopsticks. So no, not really.” 

Jungkook gives her a blank stare and then resumes drinking his coffee while reading whatever book he’s got in his free hand, and Hara rolls her eyes. 

He’s probably a perfect A-grade student. 

“Do you go to college here?” 

She doesn’t really wanna make conversation, but the tension in the air is palpable and Hara thinks she might as well extract some important information out of this boy while she has the chance. 

Or maybe she just wants to annoy him, sue her, it’s fun. 

“It’s not like you’ll ever be able to afford it,” is the reply, and Hara scoffs. 

“You do realize we share the same parents now, right?” Jungkook stops reading his book and looks over at Hara, his jaw suddenly clenching. 

He’s angry. Hara must have hit a nail head-on. 

“This is exactly what I was waiting for,” Jungkook says, shaking his head slightly, “you’re ing gold diggers aren’t you?”

“The rich boy knows how to swear.” Hara fakes a gasp. “I am surprised.” 

“Is that why your mother has invested in his stocks?” 

Now this does surprise Hara. 

“She what?” Jungkook scoffs and leans back in his chair, arms crossed over his broad, uniform-clad chest. 

“Don’t pretend to be so oblivious,” he says, “isn’t this what you two planned from the beginning? Marry the man, invest in his stocks, take all the profits and revenues and run off with the money?” 

“Maybe you should stop reading so many books,” Hara snaps, “you’re having a hard time discerning fantasy from reality.”

“You didn’t directly deny it.” Jungkook snarls. “If this truly is your agenda I suggest you both leave our lives before it’s too late.”

“Or what? What are you gonna do?” Hara challenges, arching her eyebrows, and Jungkook does that thing again, the thing where he pushes his tongue against the inside of his cheek.

“You don’t wanna test me,” is all he says, and Hara pushes her chair back and stands up. 

“I’m not the most patient person.” 

She drops the strawberry she had been nibbling on down on the table, directly onto the cover of the book Jungkook had been reading, the white cover now splattered with red, and Jungkook’s nostrils flare, his eyes murderous when he looks back up at her. 

“Apologize,” he says, tone harsh but low, and Hara feels a spark of fear in her belly. 

But she doesn’t wanna back out, not when Jungkook’s being a total . 

“No. You apologize for calling me and my mother gold diggers.” 

Jungkook scoffs humorlessly, but the anger is still on his face, and Hara finds it disturbing that he still looks handsome. 

“You’ve got to be ing kidding me,” he growls. “Apologize, right now.”

Clearly, Jungkook isn’t used to people standing up to him, and Hara loves that she gets to knock some sense into his thick skull. 

“You’re a special one aren’t you?” she says, arching an eyebrow, “what would your daddy say if I told him you know how to swear like a bloody sailor?” Jungkook’s jaw clenches, and Hara holds back a laugh because Jungkook is ing two-faced. “What if I told him you called his girlfriend and his step-daughter gold diggers?” 

Jungkook doesn’t reply, his eyes boring daggers into Hara’s, and she nods and scoffs. 

“That’s what I thought.” 

And then she turns around and starts walking away from the dining table, except she barely makes it to the exit before she’s whipped around by the arm and pushed against the wall next to the door. 

“.” She winces at the pain in her skull and glares up at Jungkook, but the pain instantly evaporates the second she sees his furious face. 

Damn, she’s good at riling him up. 

“You’re stepping over multiple lines here, birdie,” he growls, his voice sending shivers down Hara’s spine, and she wonders what Leeteuk or the maids would think if they found them like this. “It seems to me that you’ve forgotten your place.”

“I haven’t forgotten anything,” Hara snaps back, “and this is becoming a very bad habit of yours. Get the out of my face.”

“Not until you’ve apologized.” Jungkook narrows his eyes. “I’m being very kind by letting you two stay here. As for my dad, well, he is rather lenient when it comes to charity cases, you see.”

Hara’s blood boils and she tries not to punch the boy in front of her. 

“Move.” 

“Apologize.”

“ing move or I’ll scream,” Hara warns, her eyes getting a little teary because , Jungkook knows exactly what words to use. 

He probably used to bully people in high school. He’s probably used to receiving utter submission from his subjects. 

Hara hates him. 

“Get the off me, Jeon,” Hara barks, pushing against his shoulders, but Jungkook won’t budge. Instead he leans in even closer and arches an eyebrow. 

“Beg for my forgiveness and maybe I’ll consider it. Isn’t that something you and your mother should excel at? Begging for money? For charity?” 

Hara can’t help it. She slaps him. Hard. 

Jungkook’s head whips to the side and he scoffs in disbelief, slowly turning to look down at Hara who inwardly curses when a tear trails down her cheek.  

“ you,” she whispers, lower lip wobbling slightly, and she quickly slips through the gap between them before he gets to see her breakdown or something equally embarrassing. “ you, Jeon.” 

She makes it through the exit but a hand clasps around her wrist and pulls her back, and Hara decides she has had enough of this violent son of a . 

“Help! Help! Someone help me!” she screams at the top of her lungs, and Jungkook instantly lets go of her wrist, cursing as he backs away from her and then briskly moves down the hallway, but Hara managed to see the expression on his face before it was replaced by a grimace due to her yelling, and she blinks in surprise.  

Guilt. 

He had looked guilty.