True Beauty: An Alternate Universe

Chapter Six

Soojin:

After Suho locked the door to his house we started walking to the restaurant. The night was cool and breezy, I smiled as the air gently licked my face, soothing it. "How's your cheek," Suho asked, staring far off into the distance. "It stings but luckily he didn't hit the same one as this morning," I sighed. A small ping came from my bag, it was a notification from my phone. I pulled it out to see a text message from Jookyung. "Hey Soojin! Sorry for not replying earlier, I can't wait to get to know you and the others!" she said. I liked her message as we turned the corner. "Here we are," Suho said, opening the door to let me in. We bowed and greeted the people at the register and sat down at a big table. I opened up the group chat and Suho called over the waiter. We ordered a large serving of tteokbokki, ramen, sodas, a small plate of kimchi, dried seaweed snack and Korean fried chicken.

Suho and I waited for the others to arrive and I told the group chat that we had ordered the food. I looked up when I heard the door of the restaurant open and saw three scruffy looking men sit down at a table not too far from us while laughing loudly. I could smell them from where I sat, they had been drinking. I also noticed that one of the guys seemed familiar, "Hey isn't that the guy that nearly crashed into our bus?" I whispered to Suho, tapping him on the shoulder. He looked up and followed my gaze. "Indeed it is, do they have no shame? Causing an accident and they are still drinking. I hope none of them are planning to drive," he sighed. At that moment Sooah and Taehoon walked in, arms linked. Sooah waved to me enthusiastically and dragged Taehoon to our table.

"I am so hungry! I wonder when the others will get here," she said, sitting down, "On the other hand you two look amazing are you matching outfits?" she squealed. I shook my head violently, "This was an accident, I mean, black outfits are very common there was always a chance-" I began. But whatever I said next was blocked out by Sooah's shriek, "Aww! How cute, she's denying it. It's obvious girl why don't you two date already we saw what happened in school today!" she waved her arms and smiled brightly. I rubbed my head, Sooah was always an overexcited person. Luckily for me Jookyung came in and not too long after, Seojun and Hyunkyu. The food was brought out and so were a couple of small bowls, utensils, plus tall glass cups filled with ice. We all dug in and I happily slurped up the spicy ramen.

It felt like my body was being revived, I don't remember the last time I had a meal like this. The fatigue I felt was washed away and replaced with a lively energy as the air around me buzzed with excited conversation. Suho helped me reach the tteokbokki as it was far away and he took my bowl to serve me some of the food. I looked around the restaurant, taking in the interior and my eyes fell on the three drunken men who had previously walked in. They were sipping on beers and a few empty glass bottles of alcohol laid strewn on their table. The man who had caused the car accident was looking directly at me, smirking. His face was slack due to the amount of drinks he had and his eyes were drooping. But other than that I noticed that his eyes were drifting slowly from my face, down to my legs, chuckling and licking his lips while he did so.

I took a sharp intake of breath and started tugging on my dress, wishing I brought a jacket. The men were laughing at me noticing his gaze and they all turned their attention to me. Suho finished serving my food and placed the bowl in front of me. As he picked up his chopsticks I urgently tapped his side under the table. He turned to me confused and noticed that I was frightened. I flicked my eyes to the men and he turned to look at them. He followed their hungry looks and understood their intentions. I looked down in fear, not wanting to face them. Suho grabbed his blazer which was in the seat beside him and unfolded it, gently placing it over my legs. Then he proceeded to wrap his arm around my waist, pulling me closer to him, giving the men a death stare while doing so.