c h a p t e r 24
"Wow. Their americano's really good." Jeongin intervened when he noticed that Minho looked nowhere near to coming in between the two girls. The latter remained enjoying the matcha cheesecake. "'Kinda tastes like coffee, you know?" He chuckled awkwardly when the two girls kept their stares, both refusing to look away.
"Americano is coffee, Jeongin." Minho said flatly.
Jeongin softly tapped his forehead, as if he just realised. "Oh, duh. You learn something new everyday, huh?" He smiled, closed lip.
Aria was first to tear her eyes by looking at Minho instead. "So, seven?" She raised her eyebrows.
He lifted the sleeves of his hoodie. "Can't." He mumbled, checking his wrist watch. "Busy with my cats." He finished seriously.
Gyeoul failed to stop herself from laughing which resulted to spluttering noises. She found it satisfying that he did not even think of a better excuse. Then again, it might not have been an excuse. Minho was evidently satisfied by her reaction and responded by smiling innocently at her. Gyeoul immediately stopped laughing and wiped her expression blank. She felt pitiful towards the demonic vessel in front of them and decided to stand up.
"I hate to cut this get-together short but If you all would excuse me, I would literally kill to be somewhere else other than this pathetic atmosphere, so..." She did a curtesy before beginning to walk away. As she was passing the table, the she-demon "accidentally" spills her coffee with her elbow, staining the bottom of Gyeoul's pants and white shoes. Fortunately it was iced, if not, Gyeoul would have taken the cup and spilled what was left of it on Aria.
"Omo! Sorry. I am such a klutz." Aria pouted, looking everything but apologetic.
Gyeoul snickered, shaking the ice cubes off her feet. "It's fine. You got that trait from your mother?" She asked.
Aria simply replied by raising her brows in wonder.
"She probably dropped you on your head when you were a baby too." Gyeoul said before finally leaving the hellish place. She heard Jeongin's reluctant whimpers but decided to ignore it as she was feeling the heat rise to her head. She marched away with a scowl, her damp hem hitting her ankles ever so often. She was gritting her teeth so hard that she took a mental note to visit the dentist soon.
She was not surprised with the figure that caught up and was then marching next to her. "Class?" Minho asked a little too calmly.
"She lacks." Gyeoul deadpanned.
He chuckled. "I meant do you have class?"
"Damn right, I do."
Minho was fighting his smirk. "Are you going to class?"
Gyeoul kept quiet as she suddenly felt irritated by him. For what reason? She doesn't know. Maybe she does but is again, ultimately ignoring it. It was the feminine urge to blame all things that is going South to men.
"Cold shoulder, huh?" Minho wondered out loud. He was a little too skippy to her liking. "Is this my cue to grab you by the wrist, spin you around, and stare lovingly into your eyes while I assure you that there is no one else but you?"
Gyeoul was both baffled and embarrassed at how the most ridiculous question made her heart jump. "This is your cue to leave." She does a sharp turn and enters a public restroom, leaving him outside. She rested her hands on the sink and put her entire weight on it while looking down. Thankfully, she was alone.
To say that she was mad was the understatement of the century. Gyeoul was close to applauding at Aria's impressive ability to be such a headache at a young age of... she didn't even care to know.
After specifically three deep breaths and four minutes of meditation, she lifted her head before staring at her reflection. She eased the deep crease that formed between her eyebrows. Another deep breath and then she was smirking. "Damn, these bitches don't even come close." She murmured. With that final thought, she rinsed her hands, fluffed her hair before sashaying back out. Her catwalk was cut short when she suddenly tripped but was tugged upright immediately. She caught sight of the boy's outstretched leg. She poked the inside of her cheek with her tongue as she met Minho's mischievous eyes. "So, this is what you meant by girls falling at your feet." Her head craned, feigning wonder. "Manufactured." She smiled mockingly. She kept her composure as Minho pulled her closer.
"Effective, isn't it?" He scrunched his nose in a teasing manner. He bent lower and lightly nuzzled the tip of his nose with hers. He chuckled upon seeing Gyeoul's complicated expression. She was frowning but glowing pink. "Let's go." And off they go.
"I have class." Gyeoul said, not bothering to yank her arm back. She was rather comforted by the warmth.
"This will only take a few minutes."
Indeed, it took only a few minutes.
Minho found an empty stone bench and forcefully sat Gyeoul down. He whispered something along the lines of 'good girl' before sitting on the ground right in front of her. It was only then she noticed the paper bag he had been carrying. He took out a pair of the most childish looking sandals Gyeoul had ever seen. It was impossible to mask the horror in her face.
"Bizarre taste. Will it fit you, though?"
Minho pursed his lips. "I think it's adorable."
"I agree. It matches your coat."
It was a pair of pink sandals, decorated with flowers that were made of foam with plastic jewels in the middle.
He laughed lowly before pulling her ankle, placing her shoes over his bent knee. She just sighed, letting him remove her coffee stained sneakers. "Couldn't you have chosen a less ghastly pair?"
He shook his head. "It was either this or Elsa." It was quite fitting for her, actually, he had thought.
She sighed once more. It was better than getting ants, she figured. She felt the cold between her toes as soon as Minho took off her socks. "You're due for a pedicure." He clicked his tongue, poking her big toe.
"Are you aware that I can and will shove my foot down your throat with this position?"
"Maybe later." He said, unaffected by the threat.
She rolled her eyes and decided to let him serve her as he should. It was partly his fault anyway. If only he hadn't been so perfect, maybe Aria wouldn't be so obsessed with him. Yeah. It was his fault. Of course. She grew quiet and decided to pay her attention to the students walking to their classes. If it wasn't already obvious, she was actually bothered by Aria's comments. Gyeoul was just good at feigning indifference. It didn't help that Minho provided no explanations whatsoever apart from the fact that she was just a family friend. She refused to demand clarifications. Yeah, it was the toxic feminine urge in her to make men guess why she was upset.
"I was out for a run." Minho's voice broke the growing silence.
Gyeoul turned her attention back to him, still quiet.
"That day you met her back at the house. I was out for a run that's why I was sweating. She followed me inside my room because clearly she doesn't have anything better to do." He explained flatly. He was rather preoccupied with the Tide To Go marker. He was vigorously rubbing the stain on her pant's hem. "I should have gotten the McQueen joggers as well." He muttered under his breath, still tracing the stain.
Gyeoul bit the insides of her cheeks, finding the serious top of Minho's head more captivating than it should. "Leave it. I'll just roll it up."
He rolled it up himself.
He lifted his head to meet her eyes. "I'm shit with social cues." He finally stood up, placed the paper bag which had the stained shoes and markers next to her. "But you should know that there really is no one." He lifted his right brow in the slightest manner before walking away.
Gyeoul followed his figure until it was out of her sight. She stretched her legs out front, giving her toes a wiggle.
She wasn't sure if she was smiling because of the ridiculous sandals or Minho.
•••
"What is the purpose of you asking me to get coffee together if you were just going abandon me?" Jeongin asked comically with exaggerated hand flourishes. As if it was a colossal betrayal and is impossible to comprehend as to why.
Gyeoul ran a hand through her hair, already have heard his cries for the nth time. "Like I said, I'm sorry. It won't happen again." She said flatly.
"You better make sure." Jeongin gave a what's supposed to be a stink eye.
Ironically, he looked cute. And so she said, making the younger blush.
"I didn't expect for you to hate her so much." Gyeoul started while cutting a heart out of orange paper.
"Excuse me, can I borrow some of your construction paper?" A senior crouched next to Gyeoul, pointing at the set in front of her.
She nodded. "Yeah, go ahead." She said absentmindedly as her her eyes were set on the paper in her hands.
It was a day later and their professor had already sent an e-mail out to the groups of which stalls are approved. Was it still a surprise that their group was one of them? They just had a meeting earlier that day wherein Jeongin and Gyeoul was assigned to do the decorations. They didn't complain. It was either paper hearts or getting groped by strangers for 1,000 won.
No shame though.
They were comfortably seated on the floor of the common area in their campus where several students were making decorations of their own.
"I don't hate her per se." Jeongin mumbled as he pasted a purple heart on the cartolina. "Just her entire... presence?" He said, a little unsure.
Gyeoul was visibly confused. "Is that not the same thing?" She lifted the orange heart for review.
Jeongin's face contorted in disapproval. "It looks like Darwin Watterson's head if he were in a car accident."
Okay, ouch.
Gyeoul crumpled up the poor excuse of a heart and threw it on the progressively growing stack of defective hearts. She decided to focus on the lettering instead. She began squeezing the paint tube for the huge H that she had outlined earlier.
"She wasn't always that displeasing." Jeongin shook his head. "It all began when the father wanted to arrange her with Minho." He snorted.
Gyeoul's hand paused from squeezing. "Minho's father?"
He hummed as a yes. "After all the rendezvous, it was as if she marked Minho as her territory." He lifted a pink heart, satisfied with his work.
"Arranged marriage. Didn't know that was still a thing." Gyeoul mumbled, painting the H with a bright red.
Jeongin nodded, agreeing. "Minho's dad is big on expanding the empire or something like that." He shrugged. "I can only imagine the surprise and-or the anger in Mr. Kim's eyes when Minho downright refused to get married with Aria. And that was in his senior year of high school." He pursed his lips, impressed.
"His father sounds like a power hungry, non-bullshit, you must do everything I say or my foot will end up deep inside your rectum type of guy." She carefully traced the edge.
"Oh, he is."
"Where did Minho find the balls to say no? Or is there still remnants of his father's toes up his ass?"
Jeongin paused from pasting the pink heart, deep in thought. "I don't exactly remember but I think it was because he already had--"
"Hey, here's the papers, thanks." The senior placed the set next to Gyeoul with 1,000 won on top.
Gyeoul saw the bill. "Oh, it's fine you don't have to pay for it." She lifted the paper bill for him to take back. Her head toppled to the side in confusion upon seeing him smirk before walking away. She turned to Jeongin who gasped scandalously. She scanned the money in her hand and then the set. She saw something scribbled on the first paper.
I'll be claiming that hug.
(a/n: not proofread. i was too excited to update. i suggest rereading the book bc i myself kind of need to HDJSJEKSKS stay safe and healthy everyone !!! missed u.)