WITH GRACE.

3장

not really.

i initially thought sitting with them would only leave me out of the conversation, but it ended up the other way around.

with my chocolate drink on hand, i took a seat between jungwon and dongkyu.

"noona, these are our club members: heeseung hyung, jay hyung, jake hyung and sunghoon hyung. hyungs, this is my sister ㅡ eunhye noona."

i got to converse and know them for a short while, with jay the one doing most of the talking. they were fun to be with, honestly. however, the guy who ordered earlier ㅡ sunghoon ㅡ seemed rather reserved unlike the other three. he only smiled and spoke occasionally as i sat with them.

i was already eating my second share of chocolate lava cake which was jungwon and dongkyu's orders. the two darlings barely consumed their cakes so they instead gave it to me. i was more than grateful for their graciousness.

"you're not eating your shares?" i asked at the two while the other four people looked at us curiously.

"we already ate some, as you can see from the portions and it's not like we don't do this almost every time, noona. besides, you enjoy all things chocolate better than we do." jungwon commented to which dongkyu corrected.

"it's more like obsessed, honestly."

seeing that situation, the rest of the boys sitting with us also offered their shares to me. like the two, theirs were also barely consumed. didn't they come here to eat? i don't understand why anyone would not consume their orders. it's a waste of money.

"no, no. those are your shares and you ordered them for yourselves! you better consume them and appreciate such masterpiece!" i exclaimed, putting my arms in a cross while shaking my head.

still, they insisted and  i don't get why.

"it's alright. we already had our fill. would you rather have these go to waste?" jay interjected.

did they get satisfied with just a few bites?

"jay's right. besides, you don't have to be shy around us anymore. at this rate, we can as well be friends. you're daniel's sister and daniel's our friend... you know what, scratch the explaining. you get what i mean right?" jake added.

daniel is dongkyu's english name. outside our home, it was the name people got accustomed to call him. i can faintly recall dongkyu telling me about how no one except jungwon and i uses his korean name as using his english name in school got stuck with most people there.

"alright, but you're not obligated to treat me as a friend, you know. it's kind of weird." i said in a small tone, munching on the several portions of cake in front of me.

"weird?" heeseung inquired.

"yeah. i don't mean to offend you guys but it almost sounded as if you're befriending me out of obligation. it makes me feel sad." i say, looking up to them with all honesty.

"you're still quite honest." sunghoon, who was sitting across me, murmured.

it was barely audible, but i was able to make out his words. what's with the familiarity?

before i can even ask, jake was already speaking.

"isn't that how you make friends?" i flinched. "no offense, i'm glad to know you're an honest person, but don't you make friends that way? through mutual connections?" he continued.

"well, i wouldn't know. it's been so long since i socialized with people on a close level," i smiled awkwardly.

jay gasped, heeseung looked at me with curious eyes, jake's mouth hung open, daniel and jungwon looked at me with sad smiles, and sunghoon focused his gaze on me.