"Oh don't be so crude, Mari," Jaerin scoffed, fastening her pace and putting her hand on her shoulder to emulate the feeling of fake comfort. "I don't really need to guess to know that you've been sneaking around with the boy from our school." She told her, making Mari freeze in place almost immediately. "Yunho, Seonghwa, Mingi, and especially Hongjoong, that entire posse of boys. I didn't strike you to be for multiple men at once but you just continue to surprise me."
Mari's eyes widened at the mention of their names, shrugging the girl's hand aggressively and turning to face her. "What did you just say?"
Jaerin laughed, nearly turning red from the Seo Faction girl's reaction. "If only you could see the look on your face! I'm only joking, why would any of them even like you of all people? I mean you are...," The girl stepped back to get a good look of Mari, an extremely judgmental glint in her eyes as she glanced at her from head to toe. "Well, you are you after all. I mean look at you! Do you really think they're impressed? They have such high standards! I don't even understand how Hongjoong could look at you for more than two seconds."
Mari felt several emotions bubble instead of her, banging on her chest like a beast trapped inside of a cage. If only there weren't people walking through the hallway every few minutes, she would have clawed the girl's eyes out by now. "What do you want, Jaerin? Clearly you're not here just to see me after my absence from the manor." She replied, crossing her arms and beginning to get slightly defensive in the girl's presence.
Jaerin gasped, clasping her hands together as a mocking laugh escaped her mouth once more. "Don't tell me? You really think he likes you, you must be out of your goddamn mind!"
She placed her hands on Mari's shoulders firmly, refusing to budge no matter how many times she shrugged to snatched her hands off of her. "I feel so sorry for you, being stringed along like a moth to a flame. You're only gonna get your feelings hurt in the end I can already see it! You aren't like me, you know nothing about him. Naively following behind him like a puppy is going to get you hurt."
"Why should I listen to the girl who spiked my drink because she was too jealous of someone getting more attention than her?" Mari questioned her, shoved her away from her with a little more strength than she intended. The girl yelped when she tumbled to the ground, hitting the floor with a heavy thud that was a slightly louder than either of them had expected. "Why should I listen to the girl who had Jongho so frightened of his own faction that he thought he was going to die by the hands of the Lees? Everything that comes out of your mouth is just some silvery lie that I refuse to fall victim to."
Jaerin's eyes widened for a moment, the shock from Mari's words slowly morphing into an angry glare. The girl's petty threats weren't working on her like she had planned, especially when Mari was right at home on her faction's territory. "I see how it is... I see very clearly," She responded, lifting herself off of the floor and dusting off any dirt that collected on her clothes. "Keep on walking down the path you're on then, please continue I won't stop you anymore then I already have. Get your little heartbroken by a boy you barely even know! You're nothing more than a pawn in his chess game, too easy to snag up and use for his own purposes."
Mari laughed, forcing a tight smile on her face as her jaw clenched even tighter with every passing second. "I've been trying to keep my composure this entire time yet you continue to pester and annoy me to no end," the girl swore, cracking her knuckles as she began to walk towards the Lee Faction heir. "And frankly I'm beginning to run out of patience with your attitude in my territory of all places."
"Our," Jaerin hissed, putting as much emphasis on the word as she should muster. "I believe you mean our territory, according to the Seo-Lee alliance."
thirty one ▋viper queen
Start from the beginning
