disposition; joshua hong

c h a p t e r 5

They began to round the corner when a woman appeared before us. She smiled warmly, "Oh, hello."

"Hi, Mrs. Xu." The boys chorused in different variations. Of course, the woman was Minghao's mother- and she looked the part! They definitely have a lot of similar features.

She chuckled, "Let me guess, Chan, it's leftover night?"

"Yep." Chan nodded with a sour look, "I think my parents are trying to torture me."

She shook her head and laughed lightly. "Well, let your parents know that you're always welcome here! And that- oh! Who's this?"

Mrs. Xu's gaze landed on me and she cocked her head to the side quizzically.

"I'm Yoon Faye." I bowed quickly, shooting her a smile on my way up. "I just recently moved into the building."

She chewed the inside of her cheek thoughtfully, "You're new around here?" She furrowed her eyebrows, "Why do you look so familiar?"

"I'm Yoon Jeonghan's sister, if that helps." I shrugged, "Some non-intellectuals think we look similar."

"You're Jeonghan's sister? No kidding." She chuckled, "You don't look too much alike. I don't think that's it."

Before I could reply, Minghao cleared his throat and announced, "Alright, Faye, we'll be in the living room." Then he, along with the other boys, made his exit.

I nodded, following them with my eyes as the left. I was able to scan their living room, which was full of warm colors and had a comfortable atmosphere, and caught a glimpse of their balcony door as I did so.

Then it hit me- "I know!" I exclaimed, "I've seen you hanging clothes on your balcony in the mornings. I think that's where you know me from?"

Mrs. Xu's eyes lit up with realization, "That's exactly it! What a coincidence that you're friends with Minghao."

I nodded in agreement, satisfied that I had figured it out. It was a coincidence, indeed.

- - -

I had found the boys in the living room, deeply invested in a video game. Unfortunately, it only allowed four players, so I couldn't join in.

Though watching them aggressively press the controller's buttons was so very entertaining, I ended up helping Minghao's mom cook dinner instead.

She chatted with me about school and  I pretended like I was interested in my classes, for her sake. Adults always want to believe that deep down, kids enjoy school. But really, "It is the main reason for our internal suffering."- in the words of Boo Seungkwan.

I was happily chopping up a carrot, when she asked the question I had been waiting for. It's definitely another popular conversation topic among adults.

"So Faye, do you have a boyfriend?"

I couldn't help the obnoxiously loud guffaw that I made. When I had settled down, I answered with "No, I don't."

"Why's that funny?" She glanced at me with a smirk.

"Well, I'm not exactly 'girlfriend material'" I explained slowly. "Jeonghan says I'm too plain-spoken, whatever that means."

"Of course you're girlfriend material!" Mrs. Xu set the spoon down she was using to stir the rice. She turned toward me, lowering her voice as she leaned in, "I wouldn't mind Minghao dating someone like you, that's for sure."

I laughed inwardly. "Thanks, Mrs. Xu. I really appreciate that."

She smiled in response and, after lowering the temperature on the stove, persisted on the topic. "Are you at least interested in someone?"

For some reason, this question stumped me. I repeated it in my mind several times, my thoughts going blank.

The pause was embarrassingly long and I did my best to be nonchalant.

I felt almost defensive as I responded. I spoke quickly, my voice wavering. "No! No, I'm not."

"Doesn't sound like it." Mrs. Xu said slyly, her eyebrows raising. "There are a lot of nice boys around here, I wouldn't be surprised if it was someone in our building."

I trained my eyes on the cutting board in front of me, grabbing a carrot with one hand and the peeler with the other. "Really, there isn't anyone."

Though she wasn't totally convinced, she dropped the subject with a sigh of defeat.

- - -

I kicked at my apartment door, since my arms were occupied with the leftovers Mrs. Xu had insisted on sending me home with.

A few kicks in, the door swung open and my foot connected with Jeonghan's leg instead. He winced, shaking his head in disapproval. "Next time, put down what you're holding so you can use your hand to knock like a regular person." He took the containers of food out of my hands and turned to set them on the kitchen table.

With a shrug, I sidestepped my brother, making my way towards my room. I was beyond happy to be changing out of this stiff uniform and into my pajamas.

"Hi, Faye." Someone called out before I reached my bedroom door.

No other than Hong Jisoo, was propped up on the couch, the television blaring behind him.

As my eyes followed the curve of his soft smile, my mind travelled to Minghao's mother.

"Are you at least interested in someone?" Her voice echoed in my head.

A.N -

why do i make all the characters salty as fuck?? ahaha i'm dead. idk my writing is so weird rn i feel like my writing style randomly changes during the chapter and it really salts my apples.
anyway, hope u enjoyed this chapter. love ya'll : ))))

-paisley