Am I Strange - Lee Hi

Chapter 16: Insignificant Star.

“Hyung!”

Both Sehun and Tao immediately ran towards the stranger and tackled him into a big bear hug, which the man fortunately accepted. “Hey, Sehun, Tao!”

He was a stranger, no doubt—A handsome stranger. Judging from how Sehun and Tao called him hyung, he must be older than us, but surely younger than Lu Han. He was tall—taller than Lu Han but only the same level as Sehun. He was slim, his facial features are distinct and sharp, but the feel he was giving off was gentle and calm. If I don’t know any better, he might be a model. Albeit, that was also the first impression that I had of Lu Han, but it ended up being wrong. Nevertheless, he was wearing a white cardigan and denim jeans for his bottom which hugged his body nicely—not too fit and not too baggy. However, Even though they were unfortunately dishevelled from the sudden attack, the big smile that was formed on his handsome face never disappeared.

And for some reason, that smile made my heart beat a little faster than usual.

I was sure that I never met him prior to this day, but I don’t know why I have this feeling that I already saw him like we’ve known each other from way before. I know that I’ve never met anyone who has a slightly tanned skin except for my other friends from Jeju, but I’m sure they couldn’t go here, and even if they could, they won’t.

“Okay, that’s enough.” Lu Han interrupted, letting me break away from my train of thoughts as Sehun, Tao, and the stranger looked back at him with a smile. “You aren’t kids anymore so stop acting like one—“

“But you were worse than them awhile ago.” The stranger said, earning him a cold glare from Lu Han.

“Shut it, kid.” Lu Han hissed as Sehun and Tao only snickered.

“I was just saying—oh!” Turning his gaze away from Lu Han, the stranger looked at me curiously before prying Sehun and Tao’s arms away from him. With a very bewildered look, the stranger lifted his right hand and pointed to me. “And she is?”

“Oh sorry, we totally forgot about you!” Tao called, rushing over to me as I closed the front door shut.

I then walked over to Lu Han’s side and did a quick bow as the stranger did the same. “This is Jaera, Kim Jaera. She’s my—“

“Girlfriend?” The stranger asked, a lopsided grin forming on his lips.

Hearing the man’s accusation made me flushed. I could feel the heat radiating from my cheeks so I quickly dodged my head down to hide my embarrassment. There’s nothing to be embarrassed about, actually. I mean, so what if he did thought of us as a couple? That’s his opinion and I shouldn’t be affected over it.

Maybe I’m just embarrassed since Lu Han has to defend himself for the second time because of me.

“No, she’s not Lu Han-hyung’s girlfriend, you idiot.” I slowly lifted my head up and saw Sehun wearing his infamous poker face again.

The fact that Sehun defended us and said the truth made me relieved, but at the same time, disappointed. I don’t know what’s happening to me. Nowadays, even the smallest of things can make me feel so perturbed and upset.

“Jaera’s our classmate and she’s also Lu Han-hyung’s younger cousin.” Tao continued, dropping his bag over the couch before taking a seat beside it. He then fished out his phone and started pressing random buttons.

“But I thought Sehun’s your cousin?” The stranger asked, turning over to Lu Han in confusion.

“Sehun is indeed my younger cousin from my father’s side,” Lu Han said, placing an arm over Sehun before doing the same to me. “While Jaera’s also my younger cousin from my mother’s side. She’s staying for the meantime since her parents aren’t around.”

“Oh, is that so?” The stranger said, tearing his gaze away from Lu Han then to me. “I’m so sorry about that, I clearly thought that you were hyung’s girlfriend. I mean, this guy can be the ladies’ man, you know—“

“Kai.” Lu Han called, grabbing the man’s neck swiftly in a blink of an eye, thus causing for my eyes to widen in shock. I was about to stop him when the man suddenly chuckled.

“Just kidding, dude! Just kidding!” The stranger said, still chuckling as Lu Han’s grip on him slowly loosened with a sigh. “I get it. She doesn’t need to know what she doesn’t need to know.”

Hearing the stranger’s words made me truly believe that there’s more to Lu Han than meets the eye. There are still a lot of things for me to know about him. Although I already expected for him to be surrounded by women, it still gave me a little bit of surprise now that there’s someone who surely knows him. Sehun knows Lu Han really well, but I couldn’t possibly ask him those kinds of things. He might think I’m up to something since it’s not really necessary for me to know those kinds of things about Lu Han.

I do also think that I shouldn’t be poking my business in such things, but a tiny part of me keeps on getting curious about it. Being that said, I should just up and keep that curiosity to myself.

Nevertheless, I’ll make a mental note to keep track of everything that comes out of this man’s mouth.

Possibly noticing the visible discomfort on my face, the man regained his composure and tidied his clothes. He then turned to me with a bow while giving out his right hand. “Sorry for that, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Kai and as you can see, I’m their close friend.”

I obliged and took his hand for a shake. Upon receiving his hand, a small tingle of electricity suddenly ran through me. It was short and brief, but I was sure that I felt it. It’s not the type of spark I felt when I first saw Lu Han at the nightclub, but it was something different, like familiarity maybe?

Ignoring the weird feeling, I put on a smile and shook his hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you as well, Kai-ssi.”

“Kai’s fine. Likewise, I’ll just call you Jaera.” Kai said as I nodded in agreement.

 “Who said we were close?” As if on cue, Lu Han and Sehun suddenly interrupted in unison while donning an identical blank expression.

Looks like Tao isn’t the only one they bully.

“See! They really are bullies!” Tao hollered from the couch, turning away from his phone while pointing to the two. “They also did that to me!”

“Too bad for you, I’m already used to it.” Kai chuckled, taking the unfair treatment lightly as Lu Han and Sehun gave out a proud smile in return. “Though I really do think that you two would be able to pass as twins.”

“Nah, I’m far better than him.” Sehun said smugly as Lu Han just rolled his eyes.

“Whatever you say, kid.”

“Hey, don’t change the subject!” Tao yelled for the second time, but unfortunately got ignored once again, this time including Kai.

Sometimes, I do feel pity for him.

In a split of a second, Sehun suddenly raised his head and looked at Kai, giving him a questioning look. “I forgot to ask you, where’s Chen-hyung?”

“Yeah, about that, where’s that troll?” Lu Han asked, raising my curiosity even more.

Since I’m the supposed younger cousin of Lu Han, I assume I have the rights to know about his friends, right? Plus, I really do need to familiarize myself with his acquaintances just in case. “Uh, who are you talking about? Who’s Chen-ssi?”

“Chen-hyung’s my older brother who’s also a close friend of theirs.”

“We’re not close—“

“Friend. Also a friend of theirs.” Kai added, giving the two real cousins a nasty look. “There, happy?”

I inwardly chuckle at their interactions with each other. Sure, Lu Han and Sehun can be quite hostile towards their friends, but that’s just how they show their care for each other, I guess.

“And you still didn’t answer our question.” Sehun said, putting on a dissatisfied look as Kai just chuckled.

“Sorry about that.” Kai said, laughing over his own mistake. Looking at his easygoing actions, he seems like a nice guy. Well, thankfully, there’s finally a normal guy around. “Chen-hyung’s busy catching up with the things at the company. He’s helping mom and dad with the new administration since we just got back.”

Though it seems like this one’s rich too. Why do I always get to be surrounded by rich people? I feel so small.

“So that means she’s not here?!” Tao interrupted, dropping his phone on the couch as he stood up from his seat, showcasing a delighted look on his face.

In a split of a second, the infamous blank expression of Sehun also disappeared and was replaced with a relieved one. Lu Han, on the other hand, kept his face calm but I could see the edge of his lips threatening to curve upwards. They all looked and waited for Kai’s answer with such hopeful expressions that it made me way beyond confused.

At just one question by Tao, they all suddenly turned delighted and pleased. Who is the she that they’re talking about? Why do they seem like they don’t want to see that certain she? Could they possibly not want her here so badly that they didn’t ignore Tao’s question? Why so?

A number of questions were forming in my mind but not one could be answered unless I asked them. It was slowly killing me, the curiosity, but I have this feeling that I shouldn’t ask further about it. I could sense the sensitivity of the topic and seeing Kai’s unsure face right now made me sure of it.

Kai bit his bottom lip and heaved a heavy sigh. Though I don’t know the real situation, I’m guessing that wasn’t a good sign. “About that… Jongmi—“

Without being able to finish his sentence, the doorbell suddenly rang a couple of times before Kai gave us a sad smile. Lu Han and Sehun immediately groaned in response whereas Tao snickered mockingly like he just got his planned revenge successful. Tao continued on his streak of annoying laughter only to receive a glare from Lu Han. This silenced the tall Wushu expert as Sehun took the seat beside him, pleased that his irritating laughter stopped but still obviously downhearted.

“I guess I’ll go and get it.” Kai volunteered as I watched him walk towards the door.

I quickly moved over to Lu Han and saw him heaving a heavy sigh once more. “Who’s that? Is that the one you’re all talking about? Jongmi, is that her name?”

“Yeah, Jongmi. Whatever she’s called.” Lu Han said, irritated. He