The Love Scandal ♪ Nishimura Riki

30 ♪ a warm welcome

Chapter thirty

A chorus of fond laughter came soon. "We know."

They appeared kind, with genuine grins and not falsified smiles. There was no mocking tone present in the unison of their voices at all, and Jihyun was relieved by the fact that they all seemed nice.

"Come in," his friends stated, extending a hand leading in like creating a walkway to saunter right through. She rounded the corner and remained careful of stepping onto the carpet until she toed her shoes off. A hand stopped Riki when Jihyun stepped right past them. "Fine, I guess you can come in too," the same guy said in a joking manner.

As Jihyun looked around, she noticed that the interior was adorned with gilded artwork organized across the walls in different patterns, where simple splatters and streaks of paint–that have probably gone for hundreds–were put in frames. Other photos were perched on top of dressers or tables that were of the family, but only a few. And a vase of white-colored flowers beside one of them.

The gentle aesthetic left a warm and comforting feeling under Jihyun's skin.

She turned her head to wait for Riki, feeling like she shouldn't be wandering around without him since she was still a stranger. And like he knew of her discomfort, his hand gently came to hers and their fingers crossed over. She smiled at him and he returned it, and only then did she walk forward to observe the room further.

Riki stopped his feet abruptly. "So are you guys going to introduce yourselves or what?"

"We were going to let you two look around first, brat."

"Terrible first impression, Jungwon," Riki said with a false frown and a disapproving shake of his head.

Jungwon; the boy crossing his arms like a parent; the boy with a pointed essence to his stare, the boy who ignored Riki's comment replaces his expression with a slight smile to introduce himself. "Well, I'm Yang Jungwon. Same year as Riki but I major in Neuroscience."

Jihyun cast him a cordial grin and dipped her head once. Jungwon stepped aside from where he was slightly blocking the boy behind him, and the guy introduced himself next. "I'm Jake. Engineering major and 21 years old."

Jihyun unintentionally winced at the slight age difference and directed her somewhat concern to Riki. "All they all older than us?" She whispered.

"Yeah. All of them. So no more acting all high and mighty, Jihyun." He teased and triumphantly placed his arms over his chest as he tipped his chin up. "You're the second maknae now."

She drove her elbow into Riki's unguarded side, yet Riki stayed still and concealed the small jab's effect.

"This is going to get redundant so—I'm Sunghoon, 21. That's Heeseung, 22, This is Sunoo, 20, and that's Jay—the person whose parents own this house, he's also 21 like Jake and I. And Jungwon is 20."

He's terse, Jihyun briefly considered. Nonetheless, she gave them the same treatment as the other two and leveled her head respectfully. "I'm...18, but I'll soon be 19 in a few weeks."

"Ah, our second maknae."

Soon Riki would titter, and Jihyun would partially glare at him while Riki got his fill of amusement from the repeated phrase.

"I'm still mature even though I'm one of the youngest," Jihyun firmly protested.

Riki eyed her, his head cocked to the side and incredulity scribbled all over his face. Jihyun already knew he was going to say something in retaliation, all that awaited now was the time it'd take for him to say whatever it would be.