Chapter 29

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Even thousands of miles across the globe, the golden trio still manage to turn heads on Hana’s campus. As they’re walking away from the math building and heading towards the parking lot, she releases small chuckles at the sight of girls discreetly (not really) aiming their phones at them to snatch some shots of Kai and Sehun. Unfazed by the attention, the boys continued to animatedly explain their wondrous journey of defeating the others in rock-paper-scissors.

“So obviously Suho hyung got eliminated first. But then, Chanyeol hyung and Kyungsoo hyung kept tying with each other!” Sehun exclaims, so immersed in his story that he accidentally ignores a girl who tries to approach him. The girl’s shoulders drop in defeat and she sadly walks back to her group of friends.

Kai nods in agreement and holds up his arms with wide eyes, “It was crazy! It was, like, five rounds!”

Hana laughs, her eyes focused on Sehun’s deep breath as he prepares to continue his story. However, a tall male stands in front of their path and Hana barely turns back in time to gasp and take a step back in surprise. Hana recognizes the blonde-haired boy as a classmate from her calculus lecture who sits in the back of the room. Sehun and Kai unconsciously straighten up and eye the male, sizing him up. Sehun thinks he could totally take him down in a second. Kai actually knows that he could take the new guest down in a second.

“Hey, Hana right?” The male asks in English. Hana plasters a polite smile on her face and nods, “Yup, that’s me. And you are?”

“Aaron,” the boy responds. He glances at Sehun and Kai for a second before smirking and turning his attention back to the girl, “I saw you in class and I thought you were cute.”

Even with their minimal English skills, Sehun and Kai can totally understand that this guy was hitting on Hana. The two met eyes and gaped at each other.

“That’s kind of you to say. Thank you.” Hana says, tightening the strap of her backpack. Before she could excuse the three of them, the boy holds out his phone, “Can I have your number?”

Sehun rolls his eyes at the audacity. Kai scoffs at his boldness. Before the duo could step up and tell him off, Hana’s soft voice fills the air, “I’m sorry, I have a boyfriend already. Thank you though.”

The two are stunned at the girl’s automatic and lighthearted response, sounding as if she’s dealt with this situation hundreds of times. They’re a little surprised, too, because the boy was pretty attractive (definitely not as much as himself though, Sehun thinks) and Hana could’ve easily had him if she so wished. Actually, she could probably have any guy on the face of Earth.

Hana glances at the two before switching back to her native tongue, “Let’s go!” She laughs at their blank expressions and loops her arms with theirs, dragging them away from the scene and leaving the blonde boy standing alone in dejection.

Kai glances back at the boy before asking, “Does that happen often?”

“Does what happen often?” Hana asks, fishing for her car keys in her backpack.

“Do guys hit on you often?” Sehun asks, running his hand through his hair. Hana flushes red, “I don’t know.” 

The boy mutters under his breath, “Damn, and I thought Chanyeol hyung was the only one we had to worry about.”

As soon as Hana unlocks the car and has her hand on the handle, the trio hears another timid voice call, “Excuse me?”

Kai groans and slaps a hand over his face, “Not again. How do they keep finding her?”

This time, a brunette boy with bulging arm muscles (emphasized from his choice of bro tank) approaches Hana. Similarly, he hits her with the usual “cute” and “number” lines, but Hana rejects him in the same manner. Hana nonchalantly gets into her car as the male awkwardly retreats to his own vehicle. 

The girl rolls down the window and raises a perfectly sculpted brow, “Are you two gonna get in?”

Kai and Sehun snap out of their daze and slip into the car, Sehun in the passenger seat (he called “shotgun” and ran to the car as fast as he could) and Kai in the back. They stare at the girl in amazement as she reverses out of the parking lot and speeds away to the comfort of her apartment. She glances at the two out of the corner of her eye, “Why are you two looking at me like that?”

“Tons of guys are into you, Hana!” Kai announces.

Sehun nods in agreement, “And it’s not like they’re ugly, either. I know you’re with Baekhyun hyung, but how do you stay so strong when he’s thousands of miles away? Aren’t you tired of the distance?”

Hana merges lanes smoothly before glancing at them and smiling, “Of course it’s hard. But those boys can’t compare to Baekhyun after all we’ve been through together.”

“It’s hard not talking to him often and feeling like we’re drifting apart,” Hana admits, “But Baekhyun has a special place in my heart and I don’t think anyone can replace that.”

//

It’s around 6 PM and Hana is locked up in her room attending to a conference call with her father and the company. Sehun and Kai are sprawled across her couch in the living room, playing on their phones and patiently waiting for the girl to finish so that they could go eat out for dinner. Sehun scratches his head and sighs, checking his watch, “I’m bored.”

“Hey, let’s call the others!” Kai excitedly suggests. Sehun clicks his tongue in agreement, “You’re a genius.”

Within seconds, the two are connected with the other four in a video call. “Hey, let me see them!” Chanyeol whines in the background while Kyungsoo and Suho’s faces take up the entire screen.

“Hi guys!” Sehun chirps, “What’re you guys up to?”

“We just woke up an hour ago. Baekhyun’s paying for breakfast.” Suho happily replies. Baekhyun’s distant voice calls, “I didn’t say that.”

Ignoring Baekhyun’s words, Kyungsoo asks, “What about you two?”

“We’re waiting for Hana to get off her business call so she can take us around town,” Sehun pouts, “It’s taking a while.”

Baekhyun snatches the phone away and his wide eyes appear on the screen, “How’s Hana doing?”

Kai gasps and snaps his fingers, “Right! Hyung, tons of guys are hitting on her over here! You should’ve seen it!” Sehun fervently nods, “They were all over her, left and right! Even when we got the car, some guy came up and asked her for her number again!”

Kai taps his finger against his bottom lip, “We don’t really know what was being said between them ‘cause they were speaking English really fast. But we got the gist of it.”

“Did she give them her number?” Chanyeol pipes up from the back.

Before the two could answer, the door behind them opens and Hana pops her head out, “I’m done! Are you two ready to go?”

The two shoot up from their seats as Hana grabs her purse, “Gotta go, hyung! Talk to you guys later!” They immediately hang up the call as Hana approaches, checking her purse to make sure she got all of her belongings, “Who was that?”

“We just called the others for a bit,” Kai waves off the topic before his eyes glisten, “Where are we going to eat?”

“Can we go shopping after? Oh, what about a club?” Sehun excitedly asks.

Baekhyun’s a little less than thrilled when Chanyeol’s question is left unanswered with the sound of the call ending. Frankly, he hadn’t really considered the idea of guys hitting on her. But of course they would, she’s beautiful! He wholeheartedly trusts Hana but the prospect of not being there to fend off guys makes him uneasy.

Kyungsoo rolls his eyes, “Of course she wouldn’t. She’s Park Hana, for goodness sakes.”

Suho nods in agreement, “Plus