A/N: Random facts about Myeong Dong that everyone should know: Myeong-Dong is one of the most popular places to shop in Seoul, it's also pretty expensive and is listed as the 9th most expensive place to shop in the world. Myeong-Dong is home to all the big brands, international and national, it also has a series of awesome street foods that you would see your idols munching down.

 

Hana hadn’t expected the news to be so sudden, her parent’s had been too excited to explain anything and had left without saying much, other than the fact that they were glad four airline tickets, in their names, had popped up at the right time. Hana had remained silent as her parent’s packed, remembering to take cameras and notepads so they could record their experience for the 'International Festival,' there was nothing she could say when she realized that it really wasn’t a joke and that they would really leave her alone so they could celebrate Diwali in India with Mr. & Mrs. Oh. Hana was upset and angry with them but still refused to tell them why because they’d failed to notice.

Tao groaned inwardly as he bade Mr. and Mrs. Kim good-bye with a smile tapered across his face. Hana’s parents were leaving a day early so they could arrive in New Deli in time for the festivities. Tao couldn’t believe they’d forgotten something so important, he swung his arm around Hana’s shoulder, “We should celebrate our own Diwali, in fact lets have a big double celebration, how about it?”

“There’s no need to celebrate anything,” Hana replied coldly.

“You should have said something to them if you didn’t want to spend your day being hurt!” Tao muttered in a low voice, it was still unbelievable for him to think they forgot but there was nothing Tao could do about it because Hana didn’t want him to say anything.

“Still, we should do something! We should spend a day out together and just have fun! We haven’t done anything since I came to Korea and now that your parents are gone we finally have a chance to do something without being told off, so let’s celebrate!”

Hana laughed and imagined how her parents would feel if they found out what Tao was really like, “You’re a bad influence!”

“I know!” Tao stated with a grin and pinched Hana’s cheek playfully, “You’re a worse influence!”

“Am not!”

“We’re both pretty bad influences. Think about it, you’re a bad influence on Sehun, because of you Sehun’s starting to act like he’s got a back bone.”

Hana smiled unknowingly at the mention of Sehun’s name, “He’s a nice guy, even though he doesn’t like me, he still looks out for me, he’s just feeling guilty about being mean to me.”

Tao shook his head and glanced at Hana whose smile had simmered, “That’s not true, Sehun likes you, he just doesn’t know it yet,” Tao explained and ruffled Hana’s hair.

Hana recalled Sehun’s words when he had been explaining the nature of the male character from their short story, “Just because he’s nice doesn’t mean he’s got to like me romantically, he could just be a nice person.”

Tao considered the idea, “Yes, to a degree, it’s fine to be nice to someone but Sehun takes extra measures to look after you, which he doesn’t need to do.”

“That’s because the two of you made that agreement!” Hana protested, she hated having the same argument with Tao, especially when Sehun had made it clear he didn’t like her.

“I don’t take as much care of Seryung as Sehun does for you. Trust me, he watches out for you like a hawk, he even frowns at anyone who he assumes is looking at you strangely.”

“Now you’re just exaggerating…”

“I got it! Let’s go to an amusement park tomorrow!” Tao clicked his fingers and cheered, “We haven’t done anything fun at all so let’s do that!”

Hana made a face, she didn’t want to celebrate anything yet Tao was persistent and persistent Tao persistently always got his way. He was looking at her with glittering eyes that Hana was unable to say ‘no’ to.

“We could rent a movie later,” Hana suggested pretending to be invested in the new conversation.

“We can do anything you want!” Tao declared nodding his head enthusiastically while he planned his own version of the festivities. Tao pouted, he wanted to set up his perfect plan but to do that he needed someone to distract Hana long enough for Tao to design what he hoped to do. “Are you going to invite the Oh’s?” Tao asked knowing Hana would but just in case, he decided to add something extra to tease Hana, “I can try and find out if Sehun is crushing on my Hana by making him jealous.”

Hana poked Tao’s cheek, “There is no way Oh Sehun would spare me a glance in a romantic way.”

“I bet he’d glare daggers at me if I did this,” Tao patted Hana’s head and hugged her, “There’s no way I’m going to share my Hana with Sehun because Sehun will want to keep her for himself.”

-

Later that day Tao had decided to invite the Oh siblings anyway despite his long, lamenting rant on having to share Hana. Tao smirked, he wanted to send Sehun a long text message at 2 a.m. just to spite him but decided to safe the draft message for a later time because Sehun would surely cheat and tell Hana what Tao did just so Hana could frown at Tao. Tao didn’t want to invite Sehun on his own because that would make Tao either the extra wheel or the tragic second lead and Tao wanted no nonsense on such an important day. The wee hours of the morning told Tao that it was Diwali and that he still hadn’t managed to Google anything about what the festival was about so he decided to sacrifice a few minutes of sleep for knowledge.

-

“This one’s nice!” Tao remarked removing the dress from the rail. He imagined Hana wearing it first before making her try it on. Tao had decided to go shopping and brought Hana with him to Myeong-dong, Tao liked shopping in Myeong-dong because it was the most popular place to shop - it helped to ease Hana’s mood and provide the perfect distraction from painful thoughts. Hana smiled but said nothing, he was spoiling her, or at least trying to but Hana didn’t need to buy new clothes because she’d already bought so much on her last shopping trip with Seryung - Hana had too many unworn clothes sitting in her closet and she didn’t want to add more to the list.

“My sense of fashion is too great,” Tao boasted as Hana modeled his latest choice, she arched an eyebrow and hid a knowing smile.

“Is it? I feel like it’s a bit much…” Hana surveyed herself in the mirror, the black dress with scattered red flowers was cute but Hana felt as if it were a little too cute - it had short almost puffy sleeves, it’s shape accentuated her waist-line and it reached to cover her knees.

“But it’s for an occasion,” Tao countered, “And I’m paying for it, wear it later today.”

Hana tilted her head, she sensed he was planning something, she could almost see the clockwork ticking in his head yet his thoughts were blurred by her own. ‘A party?’ Hana frowned, ‘But there’s no need to hold a party that no one’s going to attend...’

“Well hurry up, your fairy-god mother doesn’t have all day!”

Hana pouted, ‘He’s really going to go for it…!’ And although Hana didn’t want any plans, other than to just sit home and relax her mind in her sprawled on the couch in her pajamas, watching a random movie with a tub of ice-cream but Tao had his own plans which Hana knew would require a lot of energy but to make up for that she knew he would plan something enjoyable so despite herself she decided not to dwell on it too much and try to enjoy herself by pushing the thought of her parent’s to the back of her mind.

Hana stopped Tao from buying too much, he turned into a shopaholic if the mood was right and that tended to result in chaos. “But I have a part time job, I can afford these!” Tao protested making a cute face in hopes that Hana would let him do as he wished.

“No Tao, you need to stop!” Hana declared eyeing the Gucci jacket in his hands.

“But it’s on sale!” Tao whined childishly as the jacket was wrestled from his arms, he gave it one last pitiful look before Hana shooed him from the designer shop. Tao grumbled to himself after that and took to staring at the ground as they walked. Hana sighed when he became unresponsive and stopped walking, she watched him pace forward and stop too. Tao waited for her to catch up and when she didn’t he turned around to give her a questioning look. Hana gave him a small smile and hurried towards him, he continued to look at her suspiciously, “What is it?” Tao asked eventually. Hana averted her gaze and shook her head, “Nothing…”

Tao rolled his eyes at her response, “Something is wrong and if you don’t tell me I’m going to leave.” Hana lowered her head and quietly muttered, “Something’s been wrong for a while... About the jacket, are you mad?”

Tao shrugged and brushed of the question with a laugh that illuminated his features, “Why would I be mad at you for something so small?” Tao shook his head and shook her lightly, “Pabo! I’m hungry, let’s eat something.”

Hana nodded and walked behind him slowly pacing her steps until he turned around to link arms with her, “You’ll get lost,” Tao warned. The streets of Myeong-dong were always busy but exceptionally busy on weekends as it was the peak time to shop. Hana made a face as Tao led her through the crowded street, she hated heavy crowds and Myeong-dong’s shopping district was no exception however Tao seemed to have forgotten that as his head was filled with food.

“That looks good!” Tao pointed out, his eyes were gleaming and if they could, they would have drooled like his mouth was threatening to do. Hana nodded in agreement, the scent of tteokbokki (spicy rice cake) filled her nostrils as Tao tugged at her arm.

“Ahjusshi, can we have two portions of that,” Tao asked pointing at the street food. The ‘ahjusshi’ in question didn’t reply with words, instead he filled a boat-plate with a spoon full of tteokbokki that Tao gladly paid for.

“Aaaah, this is sooo good!~” Tao cheered as he lavishly gulped his food and rushed over to another stall. Hana looked down to her plate, which was still half full and then at Tao who was eager to fill his stomach to the brim.

“Ahjusshi, can I have one of these?” Tao asked pointing at hot-dogs that were coated in fries. Hana furrowed her brows as Tao continued to use his stomach to test each and every stall until she couldn’t stand the sight of food. He’d been sure to share with her knowing that she wouldn’t want a full portion, this had created misunderstandings as the street vendors labeled them as a ‘couple.’ Tao had only laughed in response whereas Hana had smiled politely.

“You don’t seem to get annoyed anymore,” Tao commented as he dipped a spoon into his patbingsu. Hana shrugged in response as she scooped herself an offering of the shaved ice desert.

“It would have bothered you two years back,” Tao continued and when Hana didn’t reply he pulled the desert cup out of her reach and held it above his head. Hana pouted in response and stared at the sweet dish that had been cruelly separated from her. She gave Tao an injured look and then proceeded to stare at the patbingsu until it eventually returned to where she could taste it.

“You’re not listening to me,” Tao complained as Hana popped a spoonful of shaved ice and fruit into , she smiled at him and raised her hand, asking him to wait until she finished.

“I am listening!” Hana retorted as she hurriedly tried to finish the sweet desert that caused her insides to swell with delicate happiness that nothing else could bring.

“You’re not responding though!” Tao complained and rolled his eyes when Hana grabbed his hand before he could repeat his previous stunt. “It’s melting,” Hana cried and slapped Tao’s arm.

“We can just get another one.”

“No!”

Tao snorted and pressed the cup into Hana’s hand, “Your love for all things sweet is scary, did you know that?”

“Is not!”

“There’s something I don’t understand though…” Tao began and waited until he was sure she was half listening to him. “You like sweet things but Sehun is far from sweet, he’s the most sour person I know. When and why did you start to like him?”

“He’s not sour, he’s actually a good person once you get to know him.”

“Yeah, like an overdose of vinegar.”

“Vinegar smells bad, Sehun doesn’t.”

“Nice argument.”

Tao smirked knowingly because she would no longer ignore him.

“Sehun’s not bitter, he’s just a bit distant that’s all.”

Tao clapped his hands together, “On a hot summer day, you have a choice between choosing patbingsu or Sehun, which would you go for?”

Hana raised a questioning brow and ran a hand through her short hair, ‘He doesn’t seriously want me to answer that does he?’

“Well?” Tao pressed for an answer now that he had her attention, he was sure she would choose the former rather than the latter.

Hana furrowed her brows, “Wouldn’t patbingsu be the obvious answer especially on a hot summer day?”

Tao grinned, “So you’d choose shaved ice over Sehun…? I thought you might, there’s nothing you like more than sugar.”

“Erm… Everyone would pick shaved ice.”

“Not really…”

“Yeah!”

“Whatever you say!~”

“It’s not like Sehun likes me anyway…” Hana replied sourly, she crossed her arms, ‘Does someone actually like me?’ Hana scoffed and ran her fingers through her hair.

“They forgot…” Hana reminded Tao, “I didn’t think they would but they did. Isn’t that weird? I’m their only child but they still forgot… People… People, tend not to like me so why shouldn’t I pick shaved ice?”

Tao scrunched his nose and ruffled her hair, “Are you saying I don’t qualify as a person?” Tao teased poking her forehead, ‘I didn’t forget, Hana.’

“Sehun likes you too, in fact we should make a bet and then test out our hypothesis!” Tao slung his arm around Hana’s shoulder, “We should make him jealous and see!”

“How?” Hana asked looking up at Tao who had a mischievous look on his face.

“By pretending to be a unofficial couple!” Tao replied as they walked aimlessly, weaving their way through any openings they found.

“That’s kinda weird…” Hana pursed her lips, it was weird enough to be called a ‘couple,’ but acknowledging that as a ‘fact’ would surely be weirder.

“It is but it’s an experiment.” Tao insisted, stating the obvious. He didn’t understand why Hana couldn’t agree to the opportunity that was being presented to her.

“What if Sehun finds out?” Hana asked nervously, she’d planned to ‘seduce’ him once before with Seryung and that plan had backfired on the both of them. Seryung still wasn’t talking to her and Hana didn’t want to fight with Tao too because Tao was the closest thing to ‘family’ that Hana had.

“Pfft, he knows nothing except books, do you really think he’ll catch on?” Tao asked sarcastically, in Tao’s mind Sehun was unable to assess real-life situations because all he did was study, Sehun had no experience of how real world relationships worked.

“I don’t know… He might, if we act strange.” Hana massaged her temples, she didn’t like to talk about Sehun with Tao because Tao ended up making strange suggestions.

“Yeah, sure. I’m willing to bet against that too. We won’t act strange, we’ll act normal but we can exclude him, to make him feel like the third wheel and see how he reacts.” Tao explained hoping Hana would agree because Tao wanted Hana to see that Sehun did care for her because Tao thought Hana was in denial.

“That’s mean.” Hana spoke aloud, she didn’t want to distance Sehun further from herself especially when he’d just regarded her as someone he could talk to. Hana didn’t want to ruin the relationship she had with him. He was her project partner too and if he dropped out then Hana would have no one to rely on.

“Hana!” Tao whined, she’d just ruined the perfect plan Tao had been composing in the depths of his mind.

“What?” Hana snapped half-heartedly, she knew Tao meant well but she was also aware that’s Tao’s mind only worked on one thing at a time. Hana didn’t want to give Tao too much to think about.

“Forget it, then.” Tao mumbled and removed his arm from her shoulders opting to hold her hand instead because holding hands made it easier to walk without being separated.

“Are you going to invite him? You said you would.” Hana asked interlacing her fingers with Tao’s, she peered at him curiously wondering what he outrageous plan he had in his head.

Tao smirked, “Why? Change of mind?” He asked wriggling his eyebrows comically at her. Tao had planned to send out invitations regardless of whether Hana agreed or not because once the guests arrived Hana wouldn’t be able to turn them away.

“It’s not that, it’s just…” Hana trailed off at a loss of words, she liked Sehun - that much was true – she wanted to be around him – that was also a fact – but Hana didn’t want to become someone who clung to him – a burden.

“’Just,’ what?” Tao asked, he sensed she was thinking too much and squeezed her hand to snap her out of it before she became a slave to sad thoughts.

‘I want to see him now that you mentioned him.’ Hana pouted, she could feel her heat beat react to an imaginary Sehun that would come to celebrate a forlorn Diwali. Hana sighed, “Nothing.”

“You miss him?” Tao asked tenderly, he didn’t know when Sehun had managed to embed himself into Hana’s heart but Tao didn’t like it, he was wary of Sehun.

“Maybe....” Hana replied quietly she wondered, if she’d ruined the atmosphere Tao had tried to create, with her depressing mood.

“A lot, it’s written all over your face.” Tao remarked as if stating the obvious, his tone left a trail of bitterness that made Hana wince inwardly.

“Do you think Sehun would remember, if he knew?” Hana asked, she held her breath as she waited for an answer, hoping it would be the one she wanted to hear.

“Pfft! That guy’s mind is built for storing information, he’d never forget.” Tao teased and tried to mimic a robot, out of spite. Tao laughed and dodged when Hana tried to swat him.

“You’re siding with him even though you don’t want to,” Hana revealed and tickled Tao’s side making him squirm as he laughed.

-

The street market was one of the places Seryung knew she wouldn’t run into any acquaintances. She was in no mood to strike a conversation and wanted to spend her time in her own thoughts. Seryung managed to blend in with her surrounding in her short-sleeved, royal-blue dress with contrasting yellow flowers, dark denim, fitted shorts, matching blue sandals and a navy cross shoulder bag hung at her shoulder.

Seryung wore a frown on her face, her eyebrows knitted together, she was thinking hard about everything yet things didn’t seem to add up whenever she thought of her brother and Hana. Seryung wondered why Sehun had chosen to visit the graveyard again, she wanted to know how to remove the attachment Sehun had made with it - Seryung pushed her out of her face and onto her left shoulder - she wanted Sehun to stop and move on, onto anyone, anyone at all as long as he stayed away from the graveyard and stopped acting like a widower.

Seryung continued to frown, the idea of having Tao make Sehun jealous came to mind but she quickly dismissed it knowing that she’d boil over with jealousy before jealousy even touched Sehun.

From there, Seryung’s thoughts shifted to Tao, her heart beat began to surge, she felt warmth and safety stand by her side by side, it gave her the urge to have him by her side. She wanted him to walk with her, made her laugh, ease her troubles and tell her that things would be okay.

Seryung shook her head and smiled secretly to herself, she was taking her fantasy world outside of school, in school, he was her bodyguard but Tao had made it clear that he was only helping her because in exchange Sehun was taking care of Hana. Seryung envied Hana, knights were popping up everywhere just to protect her.

Seryung was still in deep thought, she reckoned her bullying was going to subside because there was no way someone could harness the passion to hurt her when Tao was there by her side. Seryung also knew for a fact that Sehun would make sure Hana was free of harassment for as long as he was in school. ‘But then why?’  Seryung clenched her teeth, she’d thought there was an improvement in Sehun and Hana’s relationship but that thought had been put under suspicion because Sehun had still made his way to the graveyard. Seryung was frowning heavily now, her thoughts were traveling in a cycle of confirmations and doubts – she didn’t like that, she needed for them to be clear!

“Ah!” Seryung jumped back, “Sorry!” She bowed at 15 degrees - the street was busy - and kept her gaze low.

“Who do we have here?”

Seryung blinked, ‘That voice!’ She’d wanted to keep away from everyone who was related to school but the owner of that voice had managed to find her anyway. She raised her head, her eyes widened and her jaw slackened. She took a step backwards tried to balance her legs not knowing whether to run away or to cry quite literally because the owner of that voice was in front of her. She’d been thinking about him – he was here. She’d wanted to walk with him – a chance had come. ‘He looks good,’  is what she’d thought but then, so did the girl whose hand he was holding. Seryung heard her heart crack soundlessly.