"It's okay." Sujin assures, "Thanks for checking in, anyways."
"Don't mention it." Heeseung shrugs, "Text me when you reach the boarding school? I'm actually kind of curious to see if they're actually anything like they are in the movies - I'm picturing, like, Downton Abbey type shit, y'know?"
"Downton Abbey?" Sujin bursts out laughing at the boy's pointless ramble, "I'm in Korea, Hee - not 1900s England."
"Yeah, but still-"
"Shhh! Don't you have places to be?" She urges him impatiently, "I'll be fine, I promise. We'll catch up later tonight."
There's a short pause, as if he's deciding whether to leave or not, before the boy gives in with a small nod, "Okay."
The pair exchange hurried goodbyes, and Sujin pockets her phone with a sigh of relief. The call certainly worked wonders for restoring her energy and lifting a tiny - but existing, nevertheless - weight off her shoulders.
Thank God for Lee Heeseung, she chants silently in her head.
As if on cue, a few seconds later the girl feels a sharp tap on her shoulder. She spins around to come face-to-chest with a middle-aged man in a dark gray suit, aviator shades shielded over his eyes.
This has her mother written all over it.
"Han Sujin?" The man confirms in a gravelly voice, tipping his sunglasses ever so lightly so as to get a better look at the girl before him.
"Yeah..." She replies slowly.
"Come right this way, Miss Han. Your mother called in advance, and your ride to Darisan Preparatory School is ready to go."
★
͏͏͏͏͏͏⠀⠀The 'ride' in question happens to be a jet black Escalade with tinted windows and a buttery leather interior.
Sujin doesn't even want to try and guess the obnoxious amount of money her mother dropped on this splurge. But judging by the array of sparkling drinks and finger foods on the pullout tray tables, and the way the driver hangs onto her every word as if she were a member of the goddamn royal family - it must have been a Hell of a lot, that's for sure.
"Are you sure you wouldn't prefer a... more calming instrumental, Miss Han?" He practically has to shout over the thrumming bass of the heavy metal beat currently blasting through the speakers, "We're nearing the countryside now, and I really think-"
"Nah, I'm good!"
Sujin stifles a giggle in the back of her hand.
Truth be told, the girl doesn't even listen to heavy metal. She just couldn't help but treat herself to pulling on the uptight driver's strings as much as possible for the duration of the car ride. Testing his breaking point, if you will. After he'd spent an excessive amount of time boasting about the SUV's 'one of a kind studio sound system' a little over an hour ago, Sujin figured she'd make up for those minutes of her life she'd never get back by purposely choosing the loudest, most eardrum-rattling music she could find.
She's honestly kind of impressed that he's managed to last an hour without going insane, or even kicking her to the curb entirely.
"You're the boss." He tears his eyes from the rearview mirror in defeat.
Poor guy, Sujin thinks, I guess I'll let him off the hook in a couple minutes.
She gazes outside the window curiously. For the lesser part of the last two hours, they'd been driving through the city. Seoul really is quite pretty, she's decided - a foreign maze of clustered buildings and colorful signs. Nothing like Los Angeles at all. She thinks she might even want to come back some day to enjoy it for what it really is, rather than as a part of her mother's life-altering punishment.
As they drive further from the heart of the city and into the eastern countryside, however, the buildings start to melt away into lush, rolling hills and grassy farmlands, with the occasional glimpse of a lake or river in the distance. The early September sun casts a glow over the land that makes it look quite welcoming - deceivingly so, in Sujin's opinion.
"You can turn the music down now, thanks."
She doesn't miss the relieved sigh that heaves out of the driver's chest as he mutes the volume down to a dull roar. It tugs an amused grin at the corners of her lips.
It's not long before the vehicle reaches a fork in the road, at which the driver chooses the rightmost path.
"The other road leads to Darisan - the actual town, that is." He explains, drumming his hands against the steering wheel, "Up this way's the school."
"Ah." Sujin replies half-heartedly.
She's noticed that the closer they get to her destination, the clearer the mountain ranges that were previously only gray blobs from the outskirts of the city become. They creep up from behind all the smaller, grassier hills that the vehicle zooms past, and it's not long before another grand structure comes into view.
A narrow, winding road bordered by tall trees peels away to reveal an extravagant iron gate with Latin script engraved into the plaque at the topmost part of its arch - some kind of motto, the girl presumes. And even beyond that, the very building she'd seen in her father's pamphlet all those weeks ago.
The Escalade rolls to a stop just before the gate's entrance.
"Han Sujin," The driver announces, turning all the way back in his seat to toss the girl an encouraging smile, "Welcome to Darisan."
SAGE'S SPACE! 🗯️
four chapters in and the love interests haven't even MET yet i'm sick for this... i'm sorry yall fr but i just love setting up sujin's background sm because i get deathly attached to my oc's LMAOOO and it'll just make her and jake's dynamic make that much more sense, so bonus !!! they are meeting in the next chapter though, so there's something to look forward to 👀
til next time, sage ♡
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