Chapter Text
“This was honestly the most awkward dinner, I’ve ever had! And I had dinner with my ex-boyfriend and his new girl once...“ A loud bang rang through Juhyeong's body as her head meet the table yet again, just slightly missing the food tray. Her food was long forgotten anyway; there were more urgent things to focus on and these were: self-pity and embarrassment.
“Now, now, Ju I bet it wasn’t nearly as bad.“ Kyungmin's face scrunched up in sympathy, her hand smoothing out the messy curls of her older friend's hair. “You tend to overthink things.“ To her right, Baekhee stuffed her mouth with Juhyeong's forgotten fries “Tell uff whaf happenf“, how the girl was still able to talk like that, was beyond the others but nonetheless all of them wanted to know the same.
Juhyeong was the most optimistic person they ever got to know. She always tried to be in a good mood, making others happy as much and often as possible, even on bad days. When the 18 year old was down, she saw the positive facets, smiled and laughed about it like it wasn’t anything serious even if it was.
When she told all her friends a week ago that her mother, older brother and herself were going to have dinner with her mom's new love and his children, she did seem nervous but positive that everything would work out fine, amazing even. Patchwork families were always a lot of work to keep together, especially when the children were already older, but Juhyeong still smiled brightly after hearing that there could be two new stepbrothers in the near future. Of course nothing was settled yet, both of the adults wanted to let their children make the final decision on that matter. And so, because the first time the -still two- families were meeting, Juhyeong wasn’t able to come because of a schools project, they wanted to go dining at the new Italian restaurant that opened just some days before, to make the final agreement.
“Chew properly before speaking up, Baekhee, seriously, you are disgusting. But yes. Juhyeong, she’s right. Tell us what exactly happened.“ The only guy on their table interrupted, having the decency to at least look interested while eating his own portion of cafeteria food. Juhyeong smiled a bit at Minseok and nodded after lifting her head from the hard plastic surface.
“I mean it’s the first time, meeting Sehun-ah and Sewon-oppa and so I -of course- didn’t expect to be fully warm with the two them but... I mean Sewon-oppa is a real gentleman and we got along quite well for the first encounter. He even pushed the chair for me when I sat down...“ Dreaming Aaahhs and Ooohs were heard when she said that, only Minseok sighed with a bemused expression.
“A- Anyway. Sehun-ah is going to be a problem...“ With the questioning looks that her friends gave her, Juhyeong only stuttered a bit more, clearly embarrassed and frustrated about what happened “I think he hates me. Like, really, hating me. He doesn’t look at me, doesn’t speak to me except for when I ask him directly and then he only ever says “Yes“ or “No“ or one-word-sentences. When our older brothers went out smoking and my mother and his dad were on the toilet, he couldn’t even stand to be alone with me! He made some stupid excuse before leaving me alone on the fucking table!“ Juhyeong's voice became louder. Baekhee stopped eating and Minseok stared at her with big eyes, both clearly freaked out by the smaller girl's outburst.
“Did.. Did you just swear? Did Kim Juhyeong, the class slash senior grade president and school representative, the Top 2 smartest student in school, the nerd of nerds and horrible dad jokes just SWEAR?! Who are you, demon! What have you done to our precious little mommy! Vanish out of her brain!“ Baekhee shrieked up, crossing her two index fingers and pointing them at Juhyeong. That gesture made the whole table laugh, except Juhyeong of course, who looked offended. After a whole of two or three minutes, everyone calmed down enough to let Juhyeong continue her story.
“Well... I mean Juho, my brother, said that Sehun was kind of cold the first time he had meet him too, but he also said that he warmed up easily and was later on acting like a spoiled brat... Honestly I would totally prefer a brat over an asshole!... Whatever... At the end he shook everybody hands with a polite smile but when seeing my outstretched hand, he literally took a step back and hurried to the car that they had come with... Like what? I can’t be that ugly or terrifying, can’t I?“
“You are everything but terrifying, Noona, don’t worry. Also, not everyone can be as beautiful as me but I wouldn’t exactly call you ugly either.“
“You think too highly of yourself. You remember the last time when that crush of yours, what was his name again? Kim Mingyu? Flirted with me after he rejected you just some minutes before? There you see how beautiful you are, but don’t worry, I wouldn’t exactly call you ugly either.“ At Baekhee's last remark, Kyungmi snorted unimpressed before throwing her own comment in, mischief playing in her eyes as the slightly older girl's head whipped towards her so fast it might have given her whiplash.
“He rejected me because he was going to the US in a few weeks and I was thinking about a serious relationship which wouldn't have worked out! Besides, I was just too tall for him anyway, he is more into midgets like you Kyungmi.“
“Excuse me?!” The youngest girl's smile twitched at an effort to keep calm, “I am not a midget you fucking sogging bacon boobs!“
“What did you just call me?!“ Baekhee screeched hysterically, standing up.
And with that, Juhyeong's little mental breakdown was totally forgotten in favor of a little quarrel that included flying fries and salad leafs.
“Are you still OK with your two families, moving together?“ Minseok had finished his food, leaning across the table to lay his hand on Juhyeong's shoulder in a caring gesture, which was almost irritating with the way he, at the same time, glared daggers at the other two girls in the background.
“Yes..“ Juhyeong nodded without hesitation, she had already made a decision.
“My mother looks so happy when she’s with Seongmin-shi. I don’t want to ruin it by whining about such a little thing. Besides, I get along with everyone except Sehun and what isn’t at the moment, can happen in the future right? We may get along when he gets used to me.. Also, he’s like 15 or something so he’s in that phase of puberty when girls become some weird phenomenon that needs to bugger off.“ Both friends laughed at that, carrying on with their conversation on other topics like Kyungmi's new crush, a freshman “but a tall, hot, sun kissed one with a shy smile“.
“Speaking of the devil.“ Along the conversation, the last one of their group of friends had joined the table. Chanyeol was in the same year as Baekhee, but still acted like a 5 year old; his big ears and even bigger smile was quite endearing and his deep voice had been Juhyeong's weak spot until she realized, after becoming friends with him, that having a crush on this dork would never end well.
“You said his name is Kim Jongin, right?“ Kyungmi nodded confused by his sudden appearance and let herself be pushed till the tail of the bench as the boy squished himself between her and Baekhee. “Is it that one?“ Motioning towards a group that just entered the cafeteria, Chanyeol subtly pointed at the guy to the far right. A high pitched cough told Juhyeong that it was exactly who they were talking about.
He was everything that Kyungmi had described and even more. A whistle escaped her lips, for which she received a hard punch of the smaller girls tiny fist. “He does look hot but also extremely friendly.. You don’t get a lot of those, especially not Freshman.“ She turned to Kyungmi with a big grin, the tiny girl looked down now, ears red and her huge, owl like eyes, blinking fast, a signature of nervousness.
“Juhyeong!“ The girl was ripped out of her teasing by a loud voice that echoed through the big room. The noise around them died down a little, some eyes around them either focused on her or the owner of the voice that was standing on the other side of the hall, next to Kim Jongin, who had a similar confused expression on his face like the students around them.
“Ohhh look who’s becoming friends with Kyungmi's new crush, well that means we’re going to see more of that Jongin freshman in the future right?“
“Kyungmi, you will finally have more chances than the one that you fucked up yesterday“ Juhyeong tuned out the voices of Baekhee and Chanyeol without knowing, she was too shocked and frustrated to even care what they were saying. Now, she had bigger problems.
“Juhyeong! So you are here. I was searching for you...“ Looking at the tall guy that stood in front of her now, Junhyeong's insides tugged themselves into knots. Not now! She still needed some recovery time!
“Yixing-shi. You were searching for me? What is the occasion?“ Still trying to sound polite, like a school representative should in front of the vice-school representative, Juhyeong tried to ignore the nosy stares plus the more than amused giggles of her friends.
“I... Is something wrong Juhyeong? Do you want to talk outside? I thought-“ The lack of honorifics that the captain of the schools basketball team, the Chinese, pitch black hair styled back, sharp and dark-eyed, handsome and everyone's high school crush, Zhang Yixing was using, made Juhyeong's blush deepen. No one needed to know how they stood to each other, or tried to stand at least.
“Can we talk later? The lessons are almost starting and I need to head back to our classroom early so that I can talk to our teacher about some important-”
“Do you feel awkward in front of me now?“ Hurt. Hurt was clearly written on Yixing's face as his expression fell. He had interrupted Juhyeong, but not with his usual confident voice but a quieter one.
Oh god, let’s not have that conversation right now! Not in front of everyone else! She needed to get out of this situation without making a scene but also not hurting the boy in front of her even more than she did already-
“Noona?“ The group behind Yixing had been hidden from Juhyeong since she didn’t pay them any attention with the drama that was going on right now. But when someone stepped out from behind the basketball player, Juhyeong's mind froze. She had already heard about this Kim Jongin, already spoke to Jongdae a few times in the past, but what she didn’t realize, had totally forgotten, was that there had been someone else, new to the group.
“Sehun?“
A clatter was heard on her friends table as Baekhee let go of her cellphone, swearing death threats as she picked it up, in hope it was still OK. “Se-Sehun?! That brat you told us about?“ She then continued, still a scandalized expression on her face.
“No way in hell? What?“ Chanyeol choked out loud, being his usual self as he almost fell of the bench laughing with his whole body.
Yixing's brows furrowed and he turned to the younger but slightly taller one. “You know each other?“ He seemed suspicious which made the whole situation quite ironic since Juhyeong already knew what kind of thought crossed his mind at the moment.
“My step brother.“ She corrected the senior, holding a hand in front of her mouth, desperately trying to hold the chuckle that left her lips. Yixing seemed relieved the second he understood. “Ah.. you told me about that.“ A short silence followed and then Juhyeong sighed in defeat. Everything be damned. “You wanted to tell me something? Let’s go outside, OK?“
“Didn’t you have some important business with your teacher?“
“That can wait and now come!“ She pointedly ignored his outstretched hand, only brushing the boy's shoulder with her fingers as she passed and the two walked towards the exit. What Juhyeong missed, though, was the sour expression on Sehun's face as Yixing and her walked out of the cafeteria, maybe a little too close to each other to be considered just friends, because they weren't, even if Juhyeong didn't want to think about it.
“Are they like.. a thing?“ Jongin had observed the Hollywood-worth Drama that had happened before them since the small group set foot in the school cafeteria. Everyone who was close to either the senior basketball captain or senior grade president, knew that the two indeed were in some kind of relationship, even if it hadn’t gone as long as some other thought.
“Yixing-hyung and Juhyeong-noona you mean?” Sehun's interest perked up at the topic of their conversation and he gazed around waiting for the others to answer his question.
“They are a couple since...“ Jongdae scratched his temple in thought. “Three weeks back or a bit less than that. But they were kind of dating since their sophomore year even if they wouldn't want to admit it. All the stares and touches, all the late nights they were out.. GOD it was driving us all against the wall to see the two of them so uncertain when it was so impossibly obvious!“ Baekhee answered for him. The two Freshmen had seated themselves with the six others now, Jongin not looking the slightest bit uncomfortable being left alone with people he had just met a minute or so ago.
“Why are you asking? Isn’t it quite obvious? But don’t worry, you’re her brother they said, right? Juhyeong isn't someone who puts her love before her family. She will love you as much as a big sister could, I bet.“ Jongdae continued with a friendly smile, patting Sehun's shoulder chuckling. Sehun looked down, his fist clenched while he tried to control the burning emotions.
The group of seven were now eating and talking, some throwing each other secret looks, in hope the other one wouldn’t see.
“So you are Juhyeong's stepbrother, huh... We already heard some things of you.“ Baekhee had supported her head on her hands as she put her elbows on the table, eyes becoming smaller as they looked the Freshman up and down. “Yes.. I am“ Sehun had seated himself next to Jongin and involuntary had a seat across from the older junior, who looked rather skeptical and not at all inviting. “She is a wonderful person, you should be a good brother to her is that clear, freshman?“
“I get it! God! Yes I am her brother and she is going to be my sister, you don’t need to mention that all the time! I get it, OK?!“ Sehun had stood up, everyone on the table looked at him in mild confusion.
Heat was beginning to crawl up Sehun's face in embarrassment and so his brain found the manliest and most adult like resolution a 15 year old could find in a situation like this one: He took his food tray, pushed himself away from the table and then stomped away, anger and fluster clouding his vision as he dumped his food in the trash and stormed out of the cafeteria.
“So he really doesn't like her, huh... Brat. Even if he's cute,” Baekhee pouted “Why is he being such an asshole?”
With the speed that Sehun had walked out of the cafeteria and out of the building, Sehun could only take a glimpse of Yixing and Juhyeong in the distance, sitting in the grass under a tree. The slightly younger boy had his arms around the tiny girl and she seemed to lean against him. The scene made Sehun even more upset, his steps fastening up until he was running, running, running until he reached an end, the other side of the school campus.
No one was there. Nothing was there actually, just the tall fence that cut off the boys escape and a big bush against the wall of the sports hall where Sehun settled next to, letting himself fall unto the unkempt lawn.
Damn it. Damn them all! Damn Juhyeong!
His heart ached.