ETHEREAL | Han Seojun

𝟎𝟗

So enraptured in his thoughts, Seojun didn't even notice his feet were ever so slowly pulling him towards Natalia until his shoulder suddenly collided with her own.

000

Listening to music has always been Natalia's way of escaping from her reality. When she was feeling like shit, she listened to music to make herself feel better. When her parents were fighting, she blasted a couple of Bruno Mars songs at the highest volume to drown out their voices. And whenever the going gets tough, like right now, she listens to the playlist of songs she'd made ten years ago, way before she left Korea.

In short, Natalia enjoys listening to music just as much as she likes shopping online. If not, more. That was how much she loves music. Heck, she even wanted to become a singer once. Until she heard firsthand how awful her voice actually sounds. Of course, young Natalia wasn't the type to give up so easily and opted for learning how to play instruments instead.

She gave up half-way once she realized learning how to play instruments wasn't the same and as easy as learning the lyrics of a song.

Natalia yelped when a shoulder bumped into her unexpectedly. She held her arms out in front of her, barely stopping herself from falling face-first into hard concrete and what would've been one expensive nose job had she not steadied herself on time.

Ripping out her airpods from her ears, Natalia whirled around, her skirt brushing against her knees, mouth wide and ready to cuss out whoever her assailant was, only to connect gazes with⎯⎯"Han Seojun?" She spat, "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Seojun forced his lips to upturn into a pompous smile to hide the panic flaring in his stomach. Truthfully, he himself doesn't know why he approached her either, but he'll be damned before he lets her know that. He finds his 'saving grace' in the form of Lim Jugyeong moments later, who, much to the disappointment of his humor, no longer had a red stain on her face.

"Are Lee Suho and Lim Jugyeong dating?" is what he ends up blurting out.

Natalia couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you seriously asking me that?" She deadpanned. Her eyes wandered to a group of freshmen passing by. They whispered to each other as they pointedly stared at her and Seojun, no doubt conjuring up some scandalous stories they'd inevitably tell everybody else later.

Natalia glared at them; they immediately lowered their gazes and dashed away. Her eyes softened with satisfaction then, but the fire in them returned when she turned to face Seojun once more, regarding him with a much dirtier look.

Seojun tutted, "Just answer the question, princess. You're friends with Jugyeong, Sua, and Sujin, aren't you? You eat lunch together, hang out with each other..."

A cruel smile crawled up her face, "Woah, have you been secretly watching me or something?" Natalia says in a mocking manner, "It seems like you know so much about me now." Her tone was sweet, but her words, dripping with passive aggressiveness, gave away her malicious intent.

"Hardly," Seojun scoffs, Natalia doesn't believe him. He squints his eyes, as if coming to a realization, "You're quite full of yourself, you know that right? I doubt you've ever been told this before but⎯⎯not everything is about you, princess."

Natalia would have been offended had the words not come out of a hypocrite's mouth. "I think this is a bit of a pot and kettle situation, no?" She countered, recalling all the times he too had shown the qualities of a self-centered person.

Seojun merely arched an eyebrow in response.

"Listen," Natalia starts with a tired sigh, "I've already returned your helmet to you. You have nothing more to gain from me. Do us both a favor and let's never talk to each other again unless it's about school matters, all right?"

Silence.

Natalia took it as her cue to leave, though not before she said, "And if you're so desperate to know if Suho and Jugyeong are dating, here's a genius tip: go ask them yourself." And then she was off.

Left behind, Seojun was alone with his thoughts once more. He knows any 'interest' he has on Natalia should've disappeared at that. The girl herself made it very clear she dislikes him, hates him even, but for reasons Seojun himself cannot seem to decipher, her hatred for him only serves to intrigue him even more.

He lets out an annoyed groan as he slaps a palm over his forehead, irritated with Natalia and most especially with himself⎯⎯because for the first time in his life, he was stressing over a girl who was neither his sister nor mother.

author's note. . . short chapter cause it's new years eve where i live, but y'all got more natalia x seojun scenes so ig it's alright lol.

(chapters are unedited and will remain as such until i've finished the writing the entire book)