!! 4.3k words ahead !!
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a table that consisted of three people quitely stared at the grill on the center of the table that was full of light brown colored meat sizzling in heated oil with seriousness and impatience on each face.
"sunghoon. flip them right now," seola said to the boy sitting beside her, all impatient with the savory aroma of meat coming through her direction.
sunghoon shook his head while holding the metal tongs up, "give it more time," he responded, believing that the meat should be cooked more.
seola gave him an obvious look of disagreement, "dude, the meat would literally burn," he shook his head once more, "trust me. it won't," he patted his chest with a confident expression.
"it's gonna burn,"
"no. it won't,"
hana looked at the two of them in front of her, back and forth with an awkward smile as they continued bickering. seola's face was full of doubt as she crossed her arms on her chest, "pres, the meat would burn right?" she asked the girl in front of them, who was quietly observing them.
she shrugged, unsure of the outcome herself as she wasn't that knowleagable with meat unlike the two of them for some reason.
"i'd say we flip it after thirty seconds since it's been around two minutes when we started grilling. both sides of the meat should be balanced after all," she said in a gentle, almost elegant manner that seola and sunghoon looked up to her with focused eyes to make sure she was still talking about the meat.
sunghoon turned his head to face seola with a smug look, "heh. i told you-"
he was about to tease her but was interrupted when she immediately picked up a piece of lettuce with her chopsticks from the wooden basket the owner gave them upon ordering and stuffed it on his mouth to refrain annoying her any further.
seola watched him cover his mouth while struggling to wholely chew on a large piece of lettuce with a smile mixed with satisfaction and evilness on her lips, "don't forget to eat your greens, kiddo!" she happily reminded him before patting his head as he returned a silent and softened glare while finally flipping the meat one by one as he chew.
hana chuckled at their interactions which she's seeing for the first time in front of her, "it's good that the two of you are close now. i was really worried before that you don't get along with each other," she sighed, wearing a small smile.
seola hummed while pretending to think to herself, "i think we get along pretty well. and we could've been friends long before if he didn't ignore me," she straightforwardly pointed at the boy who was currently staring at the meat with innocent eyes, as if staring at them intently would help speed up the process.
the boy looked at her direction again with a frown upon hearing her claim, "i swear. i never ignored you before," he put up both of his hands up out of nowhere and looked over hana with a deadpanned expression, "pres, you can be the star witness. please testify that, i, park sunghoon, has never saw the accuser, aka ms.ahn, talk nor look at my way for the past months that we've been together in the student council," he recited in one go without any pauses and focused back to the meat that was practically almost cooked.
the two ladies looked at him with pure confusion written on both of their faces given his lengthy speech.
sunghoon trimmed the meat into smaller, bite-size pieces with the scissors that was given together with the other utensils and distrubuted one piece to seola's plate before noticing her expression, "why?" he snickered. "you don't like the meat?" he asked with a playful smile.
"as if," seola scoffed as she put the newly cooked meat without letting it cool down on her mouth. although instant regret crashed through her body along with the burning feeling on her tongue the meat had brought. she immediately swallowed the food but the sensation of fire on her tongue still remained after doing so.
hana faced her, all worried as she handed her a cool glass of water, "are you alright?" she asked with a kind and concerned tone while seola greatly accepted the water while nodding, "thank you.."
hana replied with a smile, "eat carefully so you don't get burned," she advised with seola carefully nodding in agreement.
suddenly, a muffled ringing tone was heard around their table and hana took out her phone from her pocket, "oh, it's heeseung. i'll just talk to him. go ahead and eat without me," she said with a smile and stood up, answering her phone as the ringing stopped, "where are you?" was she said first to the caller before going out the restaurant.
with the two of them left on the table, seola watched sunghoon adjust the heat of the grill to a lower temperature and cut another meat in half with the scissors. she was about to get a piece from the grill with her chopsticks but he blocked it with the tongs, "wait a second," he calmly said, leaving seola confused once again.
"uh, sure thing," she muttered and placed her chopsticks back down to her plate, trying her best not to be impatient. sunghoon grabbed one piece of the steaming meat with his own chopsticks and started to cool it off by blowing by his own.
seola stared at him trying to chill down the meat with his breath cluelessly, "is he trying to torment me or something?" she thought inside her head while also slightly pouting, wanting to snatch the good-looking piece of meat he was holding.
he noticed her heavy stare and stopped what he was doing after seeing another opportunity to tease, "say ah~" he taunted while he put up the chopsticks with the savory piece of beef right in front of her, the aroma fully making its way to seola.
his plan was to annoy her at the first place and give her the meat after seeing a worthy reaction probably a glare or some sort, but he was caught off-guard when she grinned at him as if she was waiting for this moment her whole life.
"mind if i do," she said and leaned a little forward to eat it directly off his chopsticks.
"you ate it?!?" he exclaimed, eyes all wide.
"you said 'say ah' didn't you?" she questioned while chewing. "i was joking though-" yet again, his words were interrupted when seola excitedly clapped her hands as she smiled satisfiedly after getting to taste the full flavor of the meat without getting burned, "it's really good! you cook them well!" she complimented full of sincerity on her bubbly tone.
he forgot what he was about to say and got distracted at her all smiley about a piece of meat, his hand holding a lonely chopstick that got stolen of it's contents.
sunghoon blankly faced back the grill and suddenly picked up more cooked pieces of meat one by one and put it on her plate, stacking them like a tower.
seola chuckled and put some back on his plate as well, "leave some for yourself and hana. i can't keep on stealing food that's supposed to be shared with all of us," she reminded before also placing back some on hana's plate, emptying the grill. "should i order more?" he mumbled with a serious voice, calculating inside of his head.
"oh?" she muttered after noticing his ears staring to turn a little red. seola rested her chin on her hand, seeing an opportunity. "sunghoon-ah. you did well cooking the meat," he chuckled proudly at himself, "well.. i'm good at anything," he stated.
seola nodded right away in agreement, "yup. you really are," she complimented once more with a softer tone.
"..huh?"
"hm?" she smiled at him almost innocently, her eyes smiling upwards as well.
right exactly at the moment, hana came back to the table with heeseung standing behind her while waving his hand. seola and sunghoon were both shocked to see him after he left his girlfriend to their care randomly a few hours ago.
although, he seemed to misunderstand their sharp stares and nervously avoided their looks while hana sat down, confused on why he wasn't sitting down. she patted the sit next to her, "hey. sit here," she said as heeseung silently obliged and sat quietly in response.
"excuse me, two more orders please!" sunghoon called out once he realized that the food won't fit for the four of them.
he looked back to the others, "should we also order drinks?" he asked them to make sure. hana nodded while taking a bite, "order five. sunoo's coming soon too,"
hana tilted her head with the mention of sunoo's arrival, "then, we should order four sets of meat," she suggested with calmness as if she wasn't making a vague suggestion.
"hmm, you're right. i'll order more," sunghoon agreed with her opinion swiftly, rather unfazed while their two seniors stared at them in awe with how much they can eat, "um, i don't think we can eat all of that?" hana worriedly laughed it off, thinking they were joking.
"we don't have to worry. sunoo and seola can handle them," seola nodded positively with a big grin to what sunghoon was saying.
"excuse me, we'll take two more orders and five cans of coke!" the employees quickly responded with a quick yes to confirm their orders and within a minute four plates of raw meat was served on their table along with their coldened drinks.
once they thanked the servers in unison, the grill was yet again back in service with sunghoon being the lead cook unanimously. he carefully lined up the slices of meat one by one with each of them sizzling on the blistering oil when placed.
the group fell quiet while watching the meat go from a slightly reddish color, to a browner color with the aroma making them full with only the scent.
"how dare the four of you not notice my prescence?!"
they all looked up from the busy grill and saw sunoo standing in front of them, sulking with his hands on his waist.
"oh. you're here,"
"took you long enough,"
sunoo faced them with disappointment obviously written all over on his face due to their bland responses and stood still with a slight pout on his lips.
the four of them exchanged chuckles with sunoo's mood drop which made him more upset. seola patted the stool in the middle, signaling him to sit.
"sit now. the meat's about to be done," sunoo followed still quite sulky, "hmph. of course, i will now take a sit," he mumbled while seating in between the sit of heeseung and seola.
sunghoon started cutting the first piece of meat that was cooked fully brown to smaller pieces in the grill with the same scissors he used a while ago.
the other remaining four eyed the meat carefully as sunghoon finished, "you can eat these first," he pointed at the pieces he cutted.
sunoo and seola were about to rush and get some meat but hana suddenly spoke, causing them to stop and freeze.
"wait. i have something to say before we eat."
sunghoon looked up from grilling with hana's serious tone as sunoo and seola quickly drop down their chopsticks to listen to what hana was about to say.
"um so.." hana muttered, flustered and at lost of what to say next with the attention all towards her.
she felt a hand intertwine with hers under the table, warming up her hand that was cold due to the nervousness.
hana looked beside her to see heeseung smiling and giving her a small nod as a way of encouragement, comforting her as well by drawing circles on the back of her hand with his thumb.
with his reassurance, she cleared her throat and her demeanor changed, "this is the first time that we have a meal all together outside of school activities in the few months we've started becoming one family- no. that sounds cringy," she suddenly talked to herself, interrupting her formal speech.
she shook her head and went along, heeseung still holding her hand dearly while nodding to everything she said with a smile.
"anyways. i've always been thankful to all of you ever since the four of you agreed to be together for election. even if we lost, i'll still be thankful. since our first major event that we will handle is coming soon after exams next week, i hope that we can all unite to create the best- wait, that's too much of a burden," she sighed once more a little frustrated, after halting her speech in the middle.
hana titlted her head to figure the proper wordings as the rest of the members stare at her with anticipation, waiting for her to continue her speech. she smiled at them after a short contemplation by herself, "actually, let's plan together the best school festival that us students can experience!" she said with enthusiam, giving up her supposedly formal speech.
"let's go!" sunoo excitedly yelled first and followed by the mix of laughter and giggles of all of them. although the atmosphere was light and warm, one remained a tad serious in the midst of all of it.
seola was about to eat when sunghoon signaled her to stop by shaking his head as she take a bite.
sunghoon looked at heeseung suspiciously across the table who seemed bothered while sunoo and hana talk about another subject, "wait. i think there's another announcement from another person over there," he whispered to her.
seola nodded and placed down her chopsticks, joining sunghoon on trying to not look suspicious by looking around the interior of the restaurant.
although truthfully, it made them look more obvious.
"will you be okay though?"
seola scrunched her eyebrows at the question sunghoon whispered to her. but, even before she was able to question him, heeseung cleared his throat to gather everyone's attention, "ahem. i also have something to say," he started off, a smug look on his face.
hana raised an eyebrow, clueless on what he was about to say. "what's it about?" sunoo asked out of curiosity. sunghoon noticed him hesitate which makes himself certain with his prediction on what he was about to say.
"me and hana are dating. sorry for not saying it before,"
he proudly stated, finally dropping the bomb he's been waiting to release.
seola and sunghoon, who knew that they were dating quite some time ago, slowly clapped their hands to share their joy with seola starting first and sunghoon glancing before copying her actions.
"congrats!" she gave them a big smile while congratulating them earnestly.
"so, that's what he meant," seola thought inside her head, glancing at sunghoon, who joined in on congratulating them, "have a happy life together," he firmly said.
heeseung nervously laughed at sunghoon's strange greeting, "i believe you say that to a couple that's about to be married, but we appreciate it,"
sunoo, who seemed to be the only one that actually late to the news, was genuinely shocked. he covered his mouth with his hand, his eyes widened, "wait, i didn't expect that at all!" he exclaimed, both excited and happy with the news. he gave them a look full of mischief, "the two of you make a good pair though~ congrats~" he cooed.
hana, on the other hand, didn't expect him to tell the news earlier than she expected and was lightly blushing with the support they were giving to the two of them. "thanks for, uh, everyone's positivity," she said, hiding her slightly reddened face with her hair, her grasp on heeseung's hand tightening.
heeseung quietly chuckled to himself when he felt her hand getting warmer and warmer the more she got embarrassed.
when she looked back straight she noticed sunoo and seola side-eyeing the meat as if they were waiting for a go signal to eat without being interrupted, "go ahead and eat up. the three of you must've been hungry," she smiled.
"hm.." was a small mumble that came from heeseung when she loosened her grasp from his hand and let go of it completely.
"thank you for the food!"
as expected, sunoo and seola started eating right away with delighted expressions on their faces as they eat.
sunoo's face lit up while chewing, full of joy, "this is really good!" he said, with beaming eyes and pointing towards the meat.
"it's really juicy and tender, right?" seola quickly agreed to his side, sunoo immediately nodding as if she said exactly what he had in mind, "yeah! this is one of the best i've tasted before," he commented, taking another piece but with the sauce given to them this time.
sunghoon listened to their conversation with an idea popping on his head. he took a piece of lettuce and put in meat, garlic, kimchi, and a a small amount of side-dishes on top before wrapping if slowly to not spill out the contents.
he handed one to sunoo that was staring at the wrap he made since he started making it. "here, try it," he said, handing him the wrap, which sunoo greatfully accepted with a wide smile.
sunoo thanked him with a surprised look, expecting that he would give it to seola instead, who was too busy munching by herself to notice sunghoon making a wrap.
"i thought you'll give it away to seola, but thanks anyway!" sunghoon raised an eyebrow with his assumption, "why would you even assume that?" he rolled his eye, also while making another wrap switfly at the same time and handing it to seola.
seola's face lit up in an instant and took the wrap from his hands, "that looks good. thank you," she smiled, thrilled.
sunghoon smiled back with a look of relief on his face and looked back to sunoo, who was giving him a face that was almost as if he was making fun of him.
"what?"
sunoo shrugged and continued on eating, "nothing," he sighed, feeling helpless for his friend.
their meal continued on without difficulty as they eat and converse comfortably with each other, exploring topics upon topics until the amountful of meat slowly disappeared from their table.
"ah, i'm full!" sunoo stretched out his arms in the air while him and hana exit the restaurant with satisfied stomachs. hana simply smiled with sunoo's comment, "that's good to hear. we should eat lots of nice food especially with exams coming up," she mentioned.
sunoo grumpily shifted his mood with the mention of exams and let down his hands, "that time of the year again.." he muttered dreadfully. hana chuckled and patted his shoulder, "mhm. we can go through it," she encouraged.
heeseung followed hana out with seola and sunghoon following behind him as well.
hana turned around when she felt a tap on her shoulder and saw heeseung smiling at her, "what took you so long to pay?" she asked, eyeing their two juniors who avoided her looks, seemingly flustered.
he replied with a sigh, "those two insisted in paying for so long that we had to take turns in the cashier to give our payments seperately," he explained, upset that seola and sunghoon had to open their wallets when he was supposed to settle their payment instead.
hana blinked, seeing her boyfriend getting all sulky, "i don't see anything wrong with that?" she asked, trying to pry while sunoo, seola, and sunghoon talked with one another in the side.
heeseung stood quiet for a second before deciding to tell his reason to hana, "i.. i wanted to pay and look like a reliable senior though," he scratched the back of his head, embarrassed.
"i forgot to mention. me and heeseung hyung talked to some members of the photography club today. oh! and they said the two of you know them-"
sunoo's chit chat to seola and sunghoon was interrupted when a hyena like laugh was heard right beside them. they all turned their heads to see hana laughing uncontrollably next to heeseung, "absolutely.. adorable.. must protect.." she mumbled in between her laughs.
heeseung shook his head when he met the puzzled and concerned stares of their three juniors. "she's alright, really," he assured them with a nervous chuckle, eyeing hana begging her to not tell them the reason she was laughing.
she was about to open her mouth to speak but heeseung quickly covered her mouth with his hand, his ears slightly red.
"w-we'll be going now! bye!" he stuttered while hana's words were muffled through his hand on her mouth.
he removed his hand, still embarrassed and turned around, walking or sprinting away. she grinned at the three, "bye bye!" she waved her hand energetically and ran towards heeseung, linking arms with him.
"bye! take care!" seola said as they walk away while still teasing each other. "well, i'll guess i'll go too as well," sunoo cleared his throat after they saw hana and heeseung left.
sunghoon caught sunoo winking at him, and gave him a weird look in exchange. seola was surprised that he was leaving first, "don't we take the same bus stop?" she asked, referring to the bus stop the three of them walk to after school.
sunoo gave a bright smile in return, "oh, just some errands to run," he said, with a huge grin. he signaled them to lean forward, "you know, i saw a small food market over there," he whispered to them as if he was telling them about something suspicious.
he pointed at the street across, their eyes following his finger and noticed that he was pointing at a street where there was quite a crowd of people going in and out of.
sunghoon raised an eyebrow at him, "and so?" he questioned rather sassily, not getting the idea of bringing it up.
sunoo beamed as she shook seola's hands with excitement, "seola. don't you love desserts? there's a lot of sweets over there~ all your favorite treats!" he tugged her blazer with a big smile.
"hey, hey. stop encouraging her," sunghoon sighed while trying to stop sunoo from baiting her futhermore when she just ate tons of meat.
but, it was too late when seola's eyes were all focused at him, clearly interested.
"hehe.." sunoo joyfully stuck his tongue out at sunghoon's direction. however, sunghoon wasn't able to bicker back when sunoo suddenly whispered something on his ear.
seola tilted her head to the side when he saw sunghoon's eyes widen and hitted sunoo's arm instantly, "just go home!" he pushed sunoo away, who was giggling all by himself.
sunoo waved his hand at seola, "don't forget to empty sunghoon's wallet! bye!" he said before running away, hopping a little in between, his loud laughs easily heard.
without even getting to say goodbye to sunoo, the two were left all alone. seola faced at the guy beside her who was avoiding her gaze while mumbling something incoherent.
she shrugged, thinking that it was due to sunoo's teasings again, which was already a common sight she sees almost everyday.
"maybe i'll just go check out the food market real quick.." seola slowly turned around and was about to run across the street when sunghoon caught her wrist from behind.
sunghoon chuckled, upon seeing her surprised reaction. he let go of her wrist and leaned a little closer to her face with his arms crossed on his chest, his resting face at sight.
seola stared at his face, clueless on the sudden close distance between them.
"shouldn't we go together?" he sneered.
the girl thoughtlessly nodded, "uh.. yeah, sure," she quietly replied. sunghoon studied her blank look and gulped at the way her eyes were almost piercing through his soul.
he immediately retreated back to his original standing and looked away all ashamed, "s-sorry. i must've lost my mind," he uttered with a voice that was almost quivering.
"oh. it's fine. i don't mind," she replied almost instantly after seeing him looking down to the ground. sunghoon sighed of relief, "then, it's alright," he gently smiled at her.
though, there was a hint of disappointment behind his eyes while he smiled.
he seemed to move on quickly as he gave her another smile, more sincere this time.
"let's get going. it's getting dark soon," he said before turning around and walking ahead first. but, he was confused on why he doesn't sense a person walking behind him and turned his head around to see seola on the same place as where they were standing before.
"seola?" he called out her name, seeing that she was almost zoning out of the ground.
she snapped back to her thoughts and looked up, surprised to see sunghoon already a few steps ahead her.
seola quickly ran to his side, nervously chuckling. "oops. i'm sorry, hehe," she said, showing him a peace sign.
sunghoon quietly observed her expression again, however he was thankful to see her all relaxed and not uncomfortable, "it's fine. don't worry," he said, patting her head and laughing when she attempted to reach for his head as well to seek revenge, however he was quick to dodge and snickered at her instead.
unbeknownst to sunghoon, who was effortlessly laugh right now, beneath seola's supposedly relaxed face was a highly intellectual mind, that was always calm and well organized, going crazy and a heart that was weirdly racing fast similar to the rate if she ran a marathon.
a feeling of something unfamiliar, that would eventually be the cause of her sleep depriveness in the next few days.