Ahyoung took her seat across Chanhee and eyed the platter of takoyaki before her.

“I’m assuming we don’t like him.” Chanhee said softly, the girl looked up and exhaled. Juyeon glanced at Chanhee cautiously; Hyunjae had just arrived with their drinks.

“Yes, we don’t.” She finally answered, Chanhee nodded with a grin. Chaerin halted when the older male took his seat across hers.

“What did he want?” Hyunjae spoke to his sister; Ahyoung grabbed a fork and stabbed one of the balls.

“He wanted to talk. I didn’t want to.”

He nodded along, he studied the look on her face briefly before smiling, clearly dropping the topic.

“Hyung, what brings you here? I thought you had a competition next week.” Changmin cleared his throat as Juyeon pushed the sauces towards the girls.

“I do. I have practice in a bit, but I decided to grab a bite before heading back.”

Kevin grinned at Chaerin as the girl stared at her plate, her nose scrunching.

“Is..it the big one? What do you call it again, oppa?” Ahyoung asked, Chanhee started to eat and nudged for Chaerin to do so as well.

“Finals, Young. I thought Younghoon asked you to watch. He’ll be competing as well.”

“He didn’t. Although, we made plans to hang out this weekend.”

“At home?” Hyunjae replied, his eyes going to Chaerin’s plate for a few seconds.

“Yeah. Oppa, can you help with Chaerin with this?” She spoke as she pushed the plate of takoyaki towards her brother; Juyeon hid his grin as Chaerin balked at Ahyoung.

“I don’t think she likes the other flavor. Filling. Whatever.” She continued, Kevin took a sip from his drink.

“It’s fine~” Chaerin paused as Hyunjae put a couple of pieces on her plate, the girl blinked at him, her cheeks going pink.

“You should eat. You witnessed something stressful, I would eat a lot.” Hyunjae smiled at her, Chaerin could only nod back.

“It was not that stressful, oppa.”

“Well, since I think your friends are all set on hating Jaehyun, then they need the energy for it.”

“Energy?” Ahyoung sighed in reply, the older male winked at her.

“I need them to hate him. I already made bets, you know.”

Kevin and Chanhee started choking on their food, Changmin smirked behind his glass.

“I’m going to pretend that I understand, but okay.”

“I have a game tomorrow.” Juyeon spoke softly, the girl turned to him and nodded.

“I know. We made plans, remember?”

“Yes, you and your plans.” Juyeon playfully rolled his eyes at her, the girl grinned at him.

“A horror house?” Ahyoung repeated over dinner, her brother nodded before speaking.

“It’s what the whole batch discussed, so, it’s like this interconnecting maze between sections.”

“Why didn’t we think of that?”

“But coordinating with the other sections can be a lot of work.” Hyunjae shook his head at her, Ahyoung glanced at her father and his woman.

“Of course, only Ahyoung would find a horror house interesting.” Mr. Lee commented as he refilled his bowl with more soup.

“Exactly, that’s why I rarely stay at home.” Ahyoung’s reply was dry, her father flinched and shut his mouth. Hyunjae grinned at the elder and continued eating.

“Right, Seonmi wants to have lunch with us this Sunday, are you two free?”

“No. I’m busy.” Ahyoung replied first without looking up, Hyunjae chewed on the insides of his cheek.

“Busy? It’s a weekend.” Mr. Lee continued, setting his chopsticks down.

“Yes. Abeoji, were you really thinking I’d say yes and join her for lunch?” She said with a sweet smile, Hyunjae grimaced at her words.

“Ahyoung-ah, she’s trying.”

“Then tell her not to. I’ve made it clear; I will not get along with her. And I don’t ever plan to.” Ahyoung explained as she poked the piece of chicken on her plate.

“She’s a part of my life now, Ahyoung-ah. The least you can do is~”

“The least you can do for me, father, is let me eat in peace. I already put up with her traipsing around this house and seeing her at family events.”

“Stop being unreasonable, Young-ah. Your mother and I~”

“Don’t drag eomma into this, abeoji. She was talking about you and Ji Seonmi.” Hyunjae calmly intervened.

“Oppa’s right. We weren’t talking about her. Anyway,” She quickly finished her plate and picked up her glass of water.

“I’ll be at my room, enjoying some peace.” She pointed out as she stood up and left the dining hall, Hyunjae eyed his father warily before quickly finishing his plate as well.

“I’ll check on her, abeoji. I won’t be coming this Sunday too.” He didn’t wait for his father to reply, he simply went up the steps and knocked on his sister’s door. He heard Ahyoung murmur from the other side and he stepped in the room.

“If you’re here to talk about~”

“What happened with Jaehyun?”

He saw the girl pause briefly as she leaned over to get her laptop, Hyunjae sat down by her desk and looked at her.

“We broke up. Well, I ended things without telling him, but you know, I think I didn’t make it clear enough, I guess.” She said with a shrug, Hyunjae’s forehead creased.

“I didn’t know things were bad between you two. Are you sure everything’s okay?”

“Yes, I just don’t like seeing him, oppa. That’s just it.” She stated, Hyunjae slowly nodded back as he stood up.

“You driving yourself to school tomorrow? Or is Juyeon coming?” He asked before leaning down to kiss the top of her head, Ahyoung blinked at him.

“I will have to drive myself. He has a game tomorrow.”

“Okay, good night, Young.” Hyunjae walked back to the doors but he heard his sister speak.

“Oppa,”

“Hmm?”

“Be nice to Chaerin.”

“I am always nice~”

“Your admirers aren’t.” She pointed out, Hyunjae turned to her, confused.

“All I’m saying is, my first few days as a new student, some girls were mean to me because I was being close to you. Get it?” Ahyoung sighed as she opened her laptop again.

“I guess. Sleep early.” Hyunjae mumbled back in reply as he headed out of the room.

Haneul was about to push her coins into the vending machine’s slot when her phone started ringing, she eyed the screen and paused.

“Who the hell is this?” She muttered, taking note of the time. It was barely eight in the morning, and she had stepped out of class just to get something to chew on.

“He~”

“I’m going to skip niceties, ‘cause we’re way past that. But,”

Haneul stilled, the coins slipping through her fingers, she would only watch as they rolled away from her.

“Are you skipping class again? Or, did you leave class to get something to eat? Why am I not surprised?” The bored voice continued.

“Y—Y—You…” Haneul pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at the number.

“Berry.” She breathed, the voice from the other side chuckled.

“You know, only one person calls me that. You find it childish.”

“Are..Are you back? In town? In the country? No, where were you?” She sputtered on, the male from the other end turned quiet.

“Sunwoo-ya.”

“I got back a few weeks ago, I had to..get my bearings straight first before going back to my old life. And, I have been tasked to decided which school to go to.”

“Don’t go here.” She blurted out, Sunwoo snorted.

“I’m so done with that place. That’s why I called, I can’t find Ahyoung. She’s deleted her Instagram and other stuff.” Sunwoo spoke, his tone turning soft.

“She transferred. It’s the same school where her brother is. Changmin too.” Haneul chewed on her lower lip, she glanced at the candy bar longingly before sitting down.

“I see.”

“Sunwoo, it’s…so good to hear from you, you idiot.” She blurted out, the male chuckled.

“I know, I miss you too, Sky.”

“Promise me you’ll reach out to Ahyoung, please? I won’t cringe if she calls you Berry, as long as you go see her.”

“Of course, I’m going to go see her. But, I was postponing it, you know.”

“Now, why would you do that?” Haneul groaned, stretching her legs before her/

“I have a feeling she’ll yell at me for disappearing on her.”

“Sunwoo, please, she won’t. She’s….She’s been blaming herself over things.”

Sunwoo grew silent again, Haneul her lips.

“Okay, I’ll look up the school. I kind of need to be back into one, you know.”

“Yes, you kind of do.”

“A bribe? Or, uncle did something that upset you and this is how he fixes it?” Changmin asked as he approached his cousin, he was eyeing the brand new white Evoque with interest.

“I actually don’t know which criteria it falls under, but I think he just wants me to start driving myself.” She said as she pulled out her Chucky backpack from the passenger seat.

“Jaehyun was being yesterday. I’m sorry you had to put up with that.” Changmin commented as they crossed the parking lot.

“Well, it’s not entirely his fault. I shouldn’t have gone out with the guy.” She muttered darkly, Changmin frowned and glanced at her.

“It’s not your fault, Young. What happened…it’s all on him, not you.”

“If it weren’t for me, then Sunwoo…Sunwoo wouldn’t be..not here. He’d still be around, messing around, causing trouble, giving me headaches…He wouldn’t have left.” She trailed off, her lower lip quaking.

“Still no news from him?”

Ahyoung shrugged and buried her hands in her coat pockets.

“No. I don’t even know if he’s still willing to be friends with me.” She frowned, Changmin was about to react when someone suddenly slung an arm around his cousin, he looked up and grimaced.

“Hi, Ahyoung!” Hongjoong crooned at her, his cheek almost touching hers, Ahyoung flinched and tried pulling away. But the male’s arm simply tightened around her, tugging her back to him.

“Hongjoong-ah, let her go.” Changmin tried to warn him, but the male ignored his words.

“I heard you were coming to watch our game today, I wasn’t expecting that the school beauty had the time for us.”

“Not for you.” Ahyoung muttered, still trying to shake him off.

“Oh, I know. I mean, we all know that you’re only watching for our famous stealer, but,” Hongjoong chuckled as he pressed his nose against her hair.

“You motherf~”

Hongjoong was removed off her before her foot could stomp down on his, the make was already groaning in pain behind her.

“Did he feel the pain before I hit him?” She muttered under her breath as she turned, Juyeon was eyeing his teammate with disdain while holding onto his arm.

No, Juyeon had twisted Hongjoong’s arm, not forceful enough to injure him, but just to keep him off Ahyoung.

Changmin grinned and looked away, Ahyoung met Juyeon’s gaze briefly.

“I need you uninjured for the game, Hongjoong-ah. Please don’t take this personally, but if I hadn’t pulled you off her,” Juyeon said flatly, he loosened his grip on the male and pushed him away, Hongjoong stumbled forward and immediately spun to him.

“You’d get hurt pretty badly. And, I’m not against that.”

“You!” He hissed as he grabbed the front of Juyeon’s uniform, Ahyoung’s brows went up but one of the school’s security guards were already marching up to them.

“I would suggest you throw that punch now, so I won’t have to see you at the game as well. It benefits me, so, I don’t think Juyeon would mind, right?” Ahyoung smirked, the guard was blowing his whistled at them. Hongjoong’s eyed narrowed at the male, and he pulled back.

“Prick.” He spat at Juyeon, the male simply turned to Ahyoung.

“You good?” He asked her, Ahyoung made a face at him before handing his bag to her. Juyeon grinned and followed her gaze, the girl was glancing over her shoulder, frowning at the sight of Hongjoong being dragged by the guard to the school office.

“I don’t think he’d be doing that again, Young-ah. It’s fine. We got you.” Changmin quietly said, the girl pursed her lips in response.

“Come on,” Juyeon spoke, stretching one hand to her, the girl made a face in reply before slipping hers in his.

“I always knew I’d hate him.” She said under her breath, Juyeon nodded along. Changmin decided to walk ahead of the two.

“Feel free to maim and injure after the game.” Juyeon mused as they went up the stairs, he paused, realizing that he was still holding her hand. But the girl was looking at the school courtyard, unbothered.

“Sure. I’m sure I have weapons in the car.” She shot back, Juyeon smiled and they made their way to their classroom.

“Are you sure you’re okay? I saw..how he was..sniffing you.” Juyeon tugged on her hand, willing the girl to look at him.

“I’m just a little…weirded out by it, but I’ll live.” She said as she let go of his hand and took her bag from the male.

“Tell me if he does that again.”

“Only if you guys don’t have a game.”

“Even if we have a game or exam. Tell me.” Juyeon pulled on her backpack’s strap, the girl scrunched her nose but she nodded back.

“Okay. Sensitive Juju Bear, not so fun in the morning.” She muttered to herself as she walked towards the doors, Juyeon exhaled and followed her.

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