As the clock ticked down to midnight, the tense silence was broken when Yongguk banged the dining table, eyes wide. “You got harassed?! By who?” The man hissed angrily.

Suhee quickly shushed her older brother by placing her hand over his mouth. Everyone in the house besides them was already fast asleep. She had expected this kind of reaction from Yongguk, of course. The girl was not planning to divulge the day’s dodgy events to their overprotective parents. If her normally calm oppa would blow his top like this, their mother might actually have a violent fit. Or worse.

“Some delinquent from English class with her gang,” Suhee muttered, clasping her fingers nervously. “A friend from Illa happened to pass by and help me out of the situation though, so it’s fine now. I’ll be more careful from now on. Sorry for making you worry oppa.”

The girl knew Yongguk probably felt like beating some heads in at the moment, but as far as she was concerned the matter was over and done with. From the stricken look the Jungin girl gave Youngjae when she recognized him, Suhee was fairly sure they wouldn’t look for her anymore.

“Yonggukkie oppa,” she whispered, tugging at his sleeve slightly in an attempt to convince him, “I’m fine now. I’ll let you know first thing if they come and pester me again, okay? Just don’t tell umma and appa, they’ll flip out.”

Sighing, the sinewy man furrowed his eyebrows and leaned back in the chair in defeat while rubbing his temples. “…I’ll take your word for it. I’m glad you told me about this. Just remember to stay safe, and try not to walk alone so much.” Voice now gentle, Yongguk eyed his sister curiously. “Who helped you, was it Daehyun?”

The girl shook her head, blushing slightly. “No, it’s the new waiter at Illa… his name’s Youngjae. He walked me home after that. H-he’s a decent guy, oppa,” Suhee added hastily when she saw Yongguk’s cynical expression. “He works with Daehyun. Himchan knows him as well.”

Nodding, the man thankfully relaxed and squeezed Suhee’s shoulder comfortingly. “I know you feel that I’m being overbearing, Suhee-ah… Oppa still needs to get used to the fact that you’re an adult now. Mian.” The younger girl shook her head and wrapped her arms around her brother’s neck in a loose hug. “I understand,” she soothed him.

Since she was a child, Yongguk had always unhesitatingly stepped in to protect her whenever she got bullied. Eunyoung was always jealous Suhee had an older brother while all she had were michievous younger ones.  Although Suhee did find it cumbersome to have to report her actions in detail, she was definitely thankful to have a caring brother like her own.

“Or tell you what… I’ll take up martial arts classes at university if that would make you feel better.” Suhee put her arms around Yongguk’s shoulders and hugged him tightly, making him grin. “I’ll take better care of myself from now on, I promise.”

As Youngjae wore his bowtie and adjusted his neatly swept-up hair in the mirror, he became aware of a pair of eyes boring into him intently. Turning around, he met the gaze of his colleague head-on, raising a succinct eyebrow for added emphasis. “What is it, Daehyun?” The other chocolate-haired waiter merely shook his head and smiled cryptically, eyes still trained on the boy that had just finished changing.

Under Youngjae’s calm exterior, all the staring was beginning to unnerve him. It was as if the man was mentally surveying him against some kind of unnamed checklist that existed only in his head. He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know what it consisted of. So the plump-faced waiter did the next best thing he could think of. “Daehyun, you’re creeping me out. If you have something to say, then say it. If not, then quit staring. I’m not used to it like you are.”

The older waiter’s grin grew wider at Youngjae’s ultimatum, and he lowered his gaze obediently to brush lint off his dark slacks. “Haha, don’t be like that Youngjae. I was just thinking about how our café regular seems to prefer your service over mine now.” Before the brunette could defend himself, Daehyun had already pulled a chair over to him, resuming his blatant staring as he popped some of the mini crackers on the table into his mouth. “So, spill the beans? Himchan-hyung said that Suhee-sshi actually worked with us, the very day I called in sick. How’d that go?”

Youngjae opened and closed his mouth, not really knowing where to start. From the time when she recognized him as an ex-Kyunghee student? Or just the day she worked? How much should he reveal? He didn’t feel that telling Daehyun about having walked her home was a good idea, somehow. Daehyun was friendly with him, but Youngjae couldn’t be sure if he was putting on some pretense and was actually angry at him for receiving her tip instead. He decided on a brief recap of the day itself would be sufficient.

Daehyun nodded, satisfied when the boy added a bogus explanation about them having known each other while in university. “That would make a lot of sense,” the sitting boy sighed fondly. “I was thinking Suhee must have been something of a loner in university, but if she can make a friend from a different course altogether, she must be quite sociable after all.” His eyes lit into crescents as he spoke. “Anyway, you guys actually look pretty good together!”

Youngjae merely pressed his lips together into a thin smile and nodded. If it could quell Daehyun’s curiosity then he had no problems with lying. “We’re not too close, to be honest. It’s time to go out now, we’re going to be late for our shift if we don’t and the manager will raise hell. Again,” the boy reminded, grabbing a rag from the table and leaving the back room. Daehyun followed not far behind, tutting lightheartedly.


Suhee flipped her pen in her hand restlessly as she checked her phone for new messages. Nothing. The lecture hall was only half-filled, but the class was about to start. Eunyoung had went to get them some snacks from the mart downstairs to munch on between classes, and had convinced her that she’d be back as soon as possible. It had been 10 full minutes since she’d left. If it was Suhee, she could have brought half the store back by now.

“Eunyoung… come on…” Suhee muttered and checked the time again. Any minute now, their Criminal Law lecturer was about to walk through the double doors into class, and Eunyoung would be locked out for the entire hour. Not to mention detention the same evening. Lecturers here are not to be messed with.

The sound of knuckles rapping against her table snapped the girl out of her reverie. It was Minhwan, the sturdily-built heartbreaker in her intake. She blinked at him questioningly. “Um, sorry to interrupt but can I have a look at your assignment homework for a bit? You know, to see if I did it right and all?” The boy in the checkered shirt cocked his head to the side, smiling warmly at her.

“Sure, why not?” Disarmed momentarily by the grin, Suhee took out the essay she’d worked on the night before and passed it to the boy. Minhwan took the paper and promptly snapped a photo of it with his smartphone, smirking once he was done. “Oh, thank you Suhee-dear. This will help a lot.” He winked and made his way back to his friends at the front of the auditorium.

It took Suhee a moment to process that she’d just been played. It was obvious that they didn’t do a shred of the assignment and were just going to plagiarize off her work. The feeling of being insulted spreading through Suhee like wildfire. Clenching her fists under her desk, she forced herself to show no emotion. They wanted to irk her, and the brown-haired girl wasn’t about to let that happen.

As if on cue, Eunyoung burst into the lecture hall, panting as she clutched onto an armful of snacks. She was about to apologize when she caught the barely-concealed annoyance on Suhee’s face. It clearly wasn’t directed to her, either.  Biting her lip, Eunyoung plopped herself on her seat and squeezed Suhee’s arm. Before Suhee’s friend could speak, the doors opened again to reveal their lecturer, hair coiffed into a no-nonsense bun and moving to the front. Shooting her friend a pitying glance, Suhee responded with a quick shake of her head. I’m fine. Don’t worry, I’m used to this.

“Good morning, class.” Ms. Kim began as the class sat up straighter in their seats. “Today we are going to learn about a part of the syllabus that, from my experience, had most intrigued law students since time immemorial. Welcome to the chapter of ual offences, ladies and gentlemen.”

Almost immediately, the class exploded into immature whoops, cheers and giggles at the words. Suhee let out a snort of disbelief, her hand twitching involuntarily under the desk.

Today was turning out to be a horrible day.

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Do you guys think my chapters are too short? Q____Q