Chapter 24

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Hana is pretty used to dealing with surprise visits and guests. Usually, her father’s business partners arrive at the mansion in hopes of gaining favor with her father for a better contract deal, lugging along tons of luxurious gifts. But when Hana opens her front door this pleasant Friday afternoon, still in her school uniform, the last thing she expects is the sight of Suho, Chanyeol, Kyungsoo, Kai, and Sehun.

They all plaster on the brightest smiles they can manage, Kyungsoo’s upper lip awkwardly twitching, and say in unison, “Hey, Hana.”

As she leads them upstairs into the loft area, she carefully scrutinizes their actions as they sit down on the couch. Instead of their usual boisterous laughter, they appear uncomfortably silent. Hana sits down on the ground, covering her lap with a cushion, “So.”

“So.” Suho copies, smiling at the girl in what he hopes is an innocent expression. As she eyes him down, his grin grows even wider and he swears that his cheeks are gonna explode from how far out they are stretching. 

Hana crosses her arms and suspiciously looks at each of their faces. When her gaze lands on them, they immediately plaster on the widest smiles she has ever seen. She finally says, “You’re all acting kind of weird.”

“Are we?” Kyungsoo asks, his smile making Hana uncomfortable from the way his eyes widen as well. Sehun slaps his arm and whispers, “Hyung, you look kind of creepy.” The older drops the smile and glares at Sehun.

“Someone please explain why you’re all here and giving me creepy smiles,” Hana holds up her hands in exasperation. Finally, they all drop the act and return to their quirky states.

“This is all your fault, Kyungsoo hyung!” Kai slaps the older’s shoulder and Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, crossing his arms as he leans back against the couch, “Whatever, you guys just aren’t good at acting.”

Chanyeol leans forward, elbows on his knees, and looks into Hana’s eyes sincerely, “Come with us to Japan for spring break.”

Her eyes bulge out, “Huh?”

Suho smiles at the girl (normally, this time), “We’re leaving to Japan tomorrow and we want you to come with us.”

She scratches the back of her neck awkwardly. Is Baekhyun gonna be there? It’s been a few days and she just finally started responding to Baekhyun’s texts with one-worded answers. Although her anger has slightly subsided, she now feels slightly awkward talking to him, especially since they haven’t spoken to each other in person since the argument ensued. 

As if Chanyeol can read her mind, he says, “No, he’s not gonna be on the plane with us.”

After a moment of silence, Kai tilts his head and asks, “Is there something holding you back? Will your parents not let you come along?”

Hana releases a small laugh and looks down at her hands, “They went away on a business trip again. They forgot that it was spring break for me.”

The boys give her a sympathetic look. Although they had decided to go on a trip as a group, their parents had still tried to insist on a family trip before allowing them to embark on their own journey. Sehun frowned at the thought of the girl sitting alone in the giant mansion with no one around to play with her, “You have to come with us then!”

Hana uncertainly looked into the faces of each of the boys. Each of them encouragingly nodded and had a hopeful glint in their eyes. Her eyes landed on the face of Chanyeol and at the sincere look in his eyes, she found herself saying, “I’ll go.”

That’s how Hana finds herself at the airport at three in the morning the next day, mask covering the bottom half of her face and glasses on her eyes. She didn’t have time to put in her contacts because the boys arrived at her house early and Sehun had been whining at her to hurry up because he was craving overly-priced food from the airport.

As they were on the plane, waiting for take off, Hana was seated between Chanyeol and Suho. She closed her eyes and sighed, resting her head against Chanyeol’s sturdy shoulder. Within minutes, he felt her breaths become even and he knew she had fallen asleep. Suho glanced over for a second before continuing to scroll through his phone, “Why did you lie to her about Baekhyun?”

“I didn’t lie,” Chanyeol retorts, brushing a strand of hair away from the girl’s face, “He’s not gonna be on the plane with us. I never said anything about him being in Japan already, though.” The leader chuckles as he runs a hand through his head of hair.

Suho worriedly asks the taller, “Are you sure you’re gonna be okay?” Chanyeol ponders for a second before shrugging, his gaze focused at the girl on his shoulder, “I just want her to be happy.” The older sighs before putting his earphones in, “Love is so complicated, isn’t it?”

Chanyeol ignores his comment (which makes Suho sound like an old geezer, if he might add) and crosses his arms, closing his eyes for a short nap.

//

Baekhyun finishes his meeting and exits the conference room while running a hand through his silver hair. As he enters the elevator to go down to the lobby, he checks his phone and reads a few messages, mostly from his father and Mr. Kim. Hana has finally sent him a short greeting and he sighs. The boy leans against the railing in the elevator. Man, I ed up so bad that she still hasn’t forgiven me yet. What can I do to make it up to her?

When he steps out of the elevator, he immediately plasters on a polite smile as he bows to his father’s coworkers. Mr. Kim waves at him from one of the luxurious couches, and the boy totters over while loosening his tie, “How long was I in there for?”

Mr. Kim amusedly smiles at the boy’s expression, “Three hours.”

Baekhyun groans and sinks into the leather, “Thank goodness it’s over. Are we going to see father now?”

“I’m going to go see him, yes,” Mr. Kim nods but says, “But you have a meeting with some individuals at your favorite nearby ramen shop.”

Baekhyun sits up and frantically searches his phone, “Meeting? Wait, what? I don’t have any information ready! Who is it anyway?”

Mr. Kim holds back a laugh as he pulls the boy into a standing position, “Don’t worry about it. They said you’ll be fine without an outline.”

Baekhyun may be an idiot and a y boyfriend at this point in time, but he is never unprepared. That’s why, when he pulls into the parking lot of the ramen shop, he is running through his mind of conversation starters and ways to admit that he had no ing idea about this gathering (but in a polite and sophisticated manner, of course). He walks towards the front of the restaurant, head down as he’s typing out a message to Mr. Kim asking what the h