A/N: Just to clarify things, Xi Han is NOT Lu Han, NOR are they related to each other. Meaning, they are two entirely different characters. Remember that in this world, it's only natural that there will be people who'll have the same given name. Sehun's cousin and Lu Han have the same case, and there aren't any hidden meaning behind that. I just happened to like the name Han, that's why I used it again.

This fic is also NOT a sequel/spinoff to 'My Foster Guardian Lu Han', Nor is it an angst/drama, cheating fic. I apologize for the misunderstanding.

Beautiful Stranger - SNSD

Chapter Three

Encounter

“Oi, answer me!” Sehun’s voice continued to blare from the phone, causing both Juno and the boy to look at it. “Juno!” he called out. “Jung Juno!”

Once she deemed that Sehun was already enough attention, Juno quickly grabbed her satchel and phone from the ground and sent a quick message to him.

I’ll talk to you later.

“I’m sorry for suddenly crashing into you.” she said, turning back to the boy. Albeit, definitely different from the reaction that she had expected, the boy only looked at her wide eyed and in shock.

“Jung Juno?” he asked as he stared at the utterly confused Juno. “You’re Jung Juno?” Totally clueless, Juno nodded hesitantly as she stared at the boy whose eyes grew even bigger. “Seriously? Your name’s Jung Juno?” he asked once more, in a state of utter incredulity. “I mean, Juno’s a very, very rare name, especially for a girl—“ noticing the growing creases in Juno’s brows, the boy stopped and blinked his eyes innocently, “or so I’ve been told.”

“Er… yeah, it really is, but uh… I’m really Juno. Jung Juno.” she said, taking a chance to look at the boy before retreating back after a mere two seconds of making direct eye contact. Despite how obvious the discomfort she was having though, the boy still didn’t budge and continued drilling his eyes onto her. Is there something on my face? Why the hell does he keep on staring?!

Unable to stay put any longer, Juno decided to end the random and weird meeting. “So, I guess—“ though before she could even speak, the boy had already grabbed hold of her arms and pulled her closer, gaining her and the other passersby’s unified attention.

“Juno, it’s me!” the boy exclaimed, grinning widely. “I’m Han, Lu Han!” He then hugged Juno abruptly, causing for her to get wide eyed in utter shock and embarrassment—shock from the sudden closeness and embarrassment from the unwanted attention they were having.

What the hell? He didn’t even call me noona!

Juno pushed the boy away from him and smiled weakly. “Lu Han,” she called. Hearing his name from her, the boy’s eyes sparkled in delight.  However, Juno knew better than to be tricked by such acts. “I’m sorry but I think you’ve mistaken me for someone else.” she said still with a smile. “I don’t remember meeting you or anyone with the same name as you, so if you’ll excuse me…” taking one step backwards, Juno gave him a bow before running out of the scene, leaving the dumbfounded boy alone.

Running as fast as she can, Juno eventually stopped and held onto her knees once she deemed that she was already in a pretty far distance away from the place. Her heartbeat rate tripling, Juno felt herself becoming light headed—partly due to the sudden run and mostly due to the unexpected skinship. It’s not like she hadn’t experienced getting hugged by the opposite gender before. She had plenty of shares with Sehun, but the fact that a random person—a very beautiful random person who happened to also be a member of the male species—just suddenly hugged her out of nowhere, Juno felt like fainting from over exhaustion.

And as much as she hated to admit it, she was almost caught up by the boy. She would be lying if she said that she wasn’t interested in him, even if she believed—assumed—that he was just trying to pick her up. No matter how many times she had already said it, Juno still thought that he was the most beautiful boy she had ever seen in her entire life.

Being a er for such type of guys, Juno hesitated for about half a second, thinking of just riding on to his whim. But then again, her rationality was much greater—one trait that she was so grateful of inheriting from her father, Joonyoung.

I know you’re happy and all by getting picked up by a really cute guy, but you’re better than this, Juno. Don’t fall for such traps.

Standing upright, Juno breathed heavily and made a mental note to herself: never ever put the phone on loudspeaker again.

“Juno, is that you?!” an all too familiar voice called out, making Juno snap her head up. Seeing the owner of the voice, a wide smile suddenly appeared on her face as she immediately approached the gazebo where two girls and a boy were seated.

“You little—why didn’t you tell us that you’re already back?” the tall boy with big under circles whined, causing for Juno to chuckle. The girl beside him on the other hand, only rolled her eyes and snorted.

“Shut up, Tao,” she snapped before turning to Juno with a smirk. “Juno, I see you’re still as lively as ever.”

“Soyeol, Tao,” she greeted back, wriggling her eyebrows playfully. “I see that you’re still as sweet as ever.”

Park Soyeol and Huang Zitao—Soyeol and Tao as Juno would call them—were her classmates back in her freshman year. Like how it was with Sehun, the two went to the same high school as her but they were placed into different sections, so it wasn’t until they reached college that they had really gotten to know each other, being as they were taking the same major.

“Oh, shut up!” Soyeol hissed, slapping Juno’s arms and causing for everyone to laugh.

“Don’t worry,” the other girl beside her said, smiling at Juno knowingly. “She’s just shy about her and Tao becoming a CC[1].” Tao nodded triumphantly whereas Soyeol glared at him, ensuing another round of argument. Leaving the two to bicker by themselves, the girl then turned back to Juno and opened her arms. “Juno, welcome back.”

Wrapping the girl into a tight bear hug, Juno chuckled. “I’m back, Haeri.”

Lee Haeri, Haeri for short, was one of Juno’s college friends—best friend even. Actually, she was taking up a different major—Medicine—but being also one of Sehun’s friends and classmates back from high school, Juno had gotten to know her as well.

Juno could say that she was much closer to Haeri than to Soyeol and Tao despite being in different departments. It