Pinocchio (Danger) - f(x)

Chapter Four

Lucky Party

“Ew Juno! What the hell?!”

All eyes from the surrounding students were suddenly on Juno, curious of what the sudden commotion could be. Though as much as the students wanted to continue watching the fuss made by the aggravated Tao, Soyeol had already made her intimidating presence known by snapping at them, causing them to return back to their own businesses.

Likewise, even though Tao was her boyfriend, the tall male wasn’t excused from being a victim to her temper. “Oi, you,” she slapped the back of Tao’s head, earning her a glare from the male. “Would you please just stop acting like a baby?”

“But she spat soju all over my shirt!” Tao whined, utter aggravation seen on his face.

“And so? It’s not like it was done on purpose,” Soyeol said, taking a few napkins from the table. “Right, Juno?” she asked, wiping Tao’s shirt. Receiving no response from the female, Soyeol halted her actions and looked at Tao before the both of them turned to Juno, only to see her still in a shocked state.

“Juno, are you—“ Tao was about to ask her but got interrupted when Sehun ran past them and got to the girl’s side.

“Juno, are you okay?!” Sehun asked frantically, taking some tissues from Soyeol to wipe Juno’s face.

However, even with the presence of Sehun right beside her, Juno still couldn’t bring herself to snap from her daze. Supposedly, she should’ve been relieved, knowing that Sehun was already there after waiting for a long time. Yet the fact that he just came with the person that she had been expecting the least to see, Juno didn’t know whether to actually feel relieved or not.

Holding her face, Sehun asked her once more. “Juno, is there something wrong?”

Pulling off a rather stiff smile, Juno shook her head. “N-nothing’s wrong. Everything’s perfectly fine.” she answered, pulling Sehun’s hands off of her face before peering over towards Soyeol and Tao who were simultaneously getting up from the floor. “I’m sorry about that Tao, I was just…” she trailed off, her eyes constantly switching to her left side where Sehun’s friends were seated. “I was just surprised that Sehun finally came.”

“Clearly, you were.” Tao huffed, one hand placed on his hips in a lazy manner. “But don’t worry about it anymore, we’re cool. Sorry if I overreacted.”

He wanted to lash out at Juno for ruining his shirt—his favourite, expensive shirt at that—but then again, he was the one who insisted her to come. Not to mention, the way the female looked so anxious, obviously fearful of what she had done, he couldn’t possibly want to add more tension to her already growing uneasiness.

And besides, he could always just ask for a compensation from Sehun—the girl’s acting guardian.

“Don’t say sorry,” Juno said while shaking her head. She then gave out a small smile. “Thanks, though.”

“But I think we should clean you up first,” Soyeol said, putting on a disgusted expression while tugging on Tao’s shirt. “Your shirt’s already sticky.”

Tao nodded. “Yeah, we should do that.”

The couple nodded towards Sehun’s friends before looking back at Juno and Sehun. “Excuse us then.” Soyeol said, waving her hand dryly. “We’ll be right back.” The two of them then went out of the room and made their way towards the restrooms.

Once the two were out of sight, Sehun immediately turned back to Juno in worry. “Are you really okay?”

No, I’m not. “Yeah, really.” Definitely not. “Don’t worry.”

Juno handed Sehun his chopsticks and smiled, placing a few pieces of beef on the fryer for the male. She didn’t really know how to act in place, given that three pair of eyes were staring too much onto her, as well as the ones owned by a few female students who seemed to be admirers of the three.

And especially including the large doe eyes which she just happened to stare at that morning, the ones owned by the person with a cherub-like face, Juno just wanted to dig up a hole and hide.

But then again, what if the person she met that morning just happened to look exactly the same as the one in front of her now? Seoul has quite a large population for a city that isn’t so big. There’s only a ten percent chance that she’ll meet the same exact person twice. It would be so coincidental as well, if that person also happened to be one of Sehun’s friends.

Surely, her mind must just be playing with her.

“Uh Sehun,” Juno whispered, flipping the beef cautiously on the fryer. “Who are they?” she asked, pointing to the three men in front of her with her eyes discreetly.

Confused, Sehun raised his head up only to finally remember the already forgotten presence of his friends. “Oh, I forgot!” Sehun clapped his hands with widened eyes, getting the attention of the three males. “Guys, this is Juno. Jung Juno, my best friend.” Sehun introduced Juno, placing a hand on her shoulders. “We’re of the same age, so feel free to talk to her informally.”

“Is it okay with her though?” the smallest out of the three asked, looking at Juno in query.

“Yes, feel free to do so.” Juno nodded with a small smile. “As far as I can remember, you’re one of our sunbaes, right?” she asked, trying to recall the time of when she was still a freshman.

The male grinned at her in glee. “That’s right! I’m already a senior this year.”

“Yeah, I remember seeing you one time in our college building.” Juno smiled.

“Ah by the way, my name’s Kim Joonmyun, but just call me Suho.” The smallest male introduced himself, reaching out across the table to shake Juno’s hands. “Nice to meet you, Juno.”

“Nice to meet you too, Suho-sunbae.” Juno responded, earning her a gentle smile from the male. Usually, Juno disliked associating with the seniors since most of them always had this vibe of superiority to everyone else, but Suho was an exception. For some reason, he reminded her of Kyungsoo, having the same brotherly aura in him. One of which is a definite plus since that only meant that she was not intimidated by him and was instead, comfortable with his presence.

Albeit, it wasn’t enough to mask the uneasiness that she was feeling coming from the person right in front of her. Only when her eyes unconsciously darted towards the person seated to Suho’s left did her nervousness break.

“You’re…” Juno trailed off, recognizing the face of the fairly tanned male who she was looking at. The male raised an eyebrow at her in return. “You’re Jaera’s brother…” she mumbled, turning to Sehun for confirmation, only to receive a nod from him.

“Wow, you know me?” the man asked, surprise written all over his face as his other friends looked the same. Remembering his question, the man then rephrased it. “You know my sister, Jaera?”

I know her, of course.

She was Sehun’s… first love.

Juno bit her bottom lip, her eyes subtly wandering off towards Sehun who only continued eating. Putting on a small smile, she then turned back to him. “Yeah… Sehun told me a lot of things about her.”

“Is that so?” the male asked, rubbing his nape awkwardly, as though fully aware of the situation. Finally noticing the confusion in his friends’ eyes, he then grinned. “Anyhow, you may already know me as Jaera’s brother, but I don’t think you know my real name. I’m Kim Jongin, but just call me Kai.” he said. “I’m actually majoring in Music but Minseok-hyung, the host of the party, is also my friend so he invited me here as well.”

“Yeah, talk about being the neighbourhood’s parasite.” Sehun remarked. “Always going to different welcoming parties just to hog all the food—“

“Oi, watch it.” Kai hissed. “I’m so not a parasite.”

“Uh, yes you are.”

“No, I’m not!”

“Yes, you are.”

“No, I am not!”

“Yes—“

“Guys, stop it!” Suho exclaimed, eyebrows furrowed as he pointed towards their other friend. “Han hasn’t even introduced himself yet.”

Almost all of