Chapter Two
Azureus
I collapsed on my bed, tired after a whole day of shopping with Jaejoong’s mother. That lady had the drive of a jaguar. We walked for ours without stopping. My arms ached and my legs were killing me. I seriously did not know how she did it but I hoped that being a part of this family did not mean that this kind of outing was going to be a common occurrence. I wasn’t exactly sure I’d survive another one.
I dragged myself out of bed and into the shower. After I was done, I headed downstairs. Jaejoong’s mother had said that there was few people whom she wanted me to meet.
“Ah… Yeonhee. These are Jaejoong’s close friends. They are the richest students in the school. Their families and our family have been friends for many years. At school, you will most probably hang out with them so I thought that you should get to know each other.” With that, she left.
I was left with four [extremely good-looking] boys. Suddenly, one of them spoke up.
“Hey, I’m Jung Yunho. I’m glad to meet you.”
“I’m Shim Changmin.”
“I’m Park Yoochun.”
“I’m Kim Junsu.”
“Um, hi. I’m Lee Yeonhee.” I really didn’t know what to say to these guys.
Then one of them (Changmin?) spoke.
“So, you’re then new addition to the Kim family. Well, I’m happy. Maybe with you around, Jaejoong hyung might actually come out of that little ice shell and speak to us.”
“Yeah, it doesn’t seem like you’d have much difficulty.” Another boy (Yunho?) grinned, looking me up and down. I blushed at the attention he was giving me.
Thankfully, the dinner bell rang and we went to take our seats.
The next day, I spent the whole day being dressed up by Jaejoong’s mother. We were getting ready for the dinner that night. The welcome party for me. Sigh…. She really did go overboard with things.
At the dinner, I was seated next to Jaejoong. He ignored me. His four friends were also there. Yunho winked at me from where he sat two seats away from me. I grinned at him.
There was a crystal bowl in front of each of us containing a cluster of fresh, rich-smelling greens. It looked beautiful, too beautiful to eat.
Even though I sat back and remained quiet, I still felt uncomfortable. The meal tasted delicious, but each time I moved, I was afraid that one of my gestures might offend someone or cause an incident.
I fell to eating with quiet attention, savoring the delicious food… though it was far richer than what I was accustomed to.
The salad in the crystal bowl in front of me was crunchy and strange – some of the leaves were bitter and others stringy. At least they were fresh and I relished them.
The conversation around the table seemed to be empty, polite chit chat, and I, feeling like an irrelevant guest did my best to participate. I pushed aside the empty crystal bowl.
“Delicious salad, Mrs. Kim,” I said. That sounded good, a complimentary but neutral statement – enough to show willingness to take part in the dinner conversation, yet nothing that anyone could find fault with.
Suddenly, I felt all eyes turn towards me. I looked down to see if I had spilled anything down my posh expensive dress.
Junsu seemed full of disbelief. Jaejoong made no sign that he had heard my comment. Yoochun nudged me with me in a teasing way.
“That wasn’t a salad,” he whispered. “That was the bouquet. You weren’t supposed to eat it.”
I listened in horror but kept my face careful mask.
Suddenly, Yunho cleared his throat. “Yes, it’s a very nice salad, Mrs. Kim,” he said in a voice loud enough for everyone to hear, and pulled his crystal bowl towards him. He selected a frilly purple-green leaf and stuffed it in his mouth, munching contentedly. Changmin and Junsu stared at him as if he’d gone mad, then jerked as if they’d been kicked under the table. They began to eat their bouquet too. Yoochun winked at me and followed suit. So did Jaejoong’ parents. Soon, everyone at the table had devoured their “salads”. Except Jaejoong…
Because I've already written this out, I'm going to update pretty fast and regularly.
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