Kang Nari
Kang Nari was having a good day.
Apart from the usual stares of the people at her school, nothing special had happened today. It had been a couple of days since she had dinner with Jandi's family. The pair accompanied by Gaeul had been hanging out lately. Nari felt herself grow closer to the two girls as the days went by. They were easy to be around with. When Nari was with them, she didn't need to worry about keeping up with appearances or worry about what they might think of her. She felt relaxed when she was with them.
A warm breeze blew by, making Nari smile as the wind caressed her figure and the sun kissed her face. She was in the usual Shinhwa uniform with her hair partially tied up with a ribbon, a couple of strands framing her face. She was in Shinhwa's garden, walking with Jandi and a new friend of Jandi- Oh Minji.
She observed as the girl ate her ice-cream while walking backwards, chatting away with Jandi. Nari didn't know how to feel about her. Nari hadn't tried making any new friends apart from Jandi. She supposed she had gotten too comfortable with it being just Jandi, Gaeul, and her that the possibility of someone else coming in scares her. She ostracized herself for judging Oh Minji and not growing fond of her for reasons that were not her fault.
Nari let out a sigh. She supposed it will take time until she grows comfortable around Oh Minji.
Nari was snapped out of her thoughts as she watched Oh Minji crash into someone and drop her ice-cream on his branded shoes. Nari's blood went cold.
Gu Jun Pyo.
He wasn't alone. He was accompanied by the rest of the F4. Nari watched as a look of disbelief took over Jun-Pyo's features which was then replaced by a look of pure anger. Nari could see him trying to restrain himself.
This wasn't good. Not good at all.
Nari's eyes widened in panic as her gaze moved from Gu Jun Pyo to other members of the F4, hoping for even a small possibility that the chaos that Nari anticipated would not ensue.
Nari caught Yoon Jihoo's eyes, only to find him already looking at her. The look on his ethereal face was calm and his eyes gave away nothing as they stared at her intently. Unable to handle his gaze, Nari looked away and focused on the situation with Oh Minji and Gu Jun Pyo and saw the girl apologize repeatedly.
"S...Su...Sunbaenim--" Oh Minji kept stuttering, her eyes close to tearing up. If looks could kill, Oh Minji would have ceased to exist by now.
"I am so sorry, Jun-Pyo sunbae-nim." Oh Minji hastily got up from near Jun Pyo's feet and kept bowing profusely.
"Sorry?" Gu Jun-Pyo asked, mockingly.
"If apologizing solved everything, why would the world need laws and police?" Gu Jun-Pyo added, standing tall.
Nari heard Jandi let out a scoff-like sound from beside her. Nari bit her lips to fight the urge to smile at her friend's antics. In Nari's defense, those words did sound like they were borrowed from a teen romance manhwa. Her enjoyment did not last long as all eyes now turned towards where she and Jandi were standing. Without even looking at Jandi, Nari could tell she had a scowl on her face as Jun-Pyo looked at her. Nari slightly elbowed Jandi in her ribs, hoping she would back down from the cold war so that F4's attention would stray away from them.
Much to Nari's luck, her actions only invited the eyes on her instead. Nari could practically feel all of F4's eyes on her. However, she only met Jun-Pyo's gaze without any expression on her own face. His gaze mirrored something along the lines of curiosity and irritation. Breaking away the eye contact, Nari tried covering up the sound of Jandi's scoff with a cough following it.
Yet her actions did nothing to either soothe the situation or to get the attention away from her. Nari was sure her cheeks were colored like a tomato under the F4's gaze. Her eyes shuffled over everything and anything, hoping the torment would end. Unfortunately, it only ended in her locking eyes with Yoon Jihoo instead, who, from what Nari could tell, now had an amused look on his face as he tried to bite back a smile. Looking away from his literal sparkle-like eyes, Nari looked at ground, trying to ignore the stares.
"I am sorry. But it was an accident." Oh Minji apologized once again, her gaze staying on the floor. The attention, once again, turned on Oh Minji.
"I will buy you the exact same shoes right away." Oh Minji offered, fearfully. Kang Nari felt sorry for the girl. Even if they weren't friends, it was normal for Nari to empathize with her as a decent human being.
"You..." Gu Jun-Pyo addressed Oh Minji.
"Are you richer than me?" He asked. Kang Nari sighed softly, already knowing where this was going. He was going to reject Oh Minji's offer, and he was going to do it in the most insulting way possible.
"Pardon?" Minji asked.
Don't play into his words, Oh Minji.
Nari found herself wishing her frozen figure would move somehow so she can help out. Yet the only movement from Nari was her hand clutching the bead bracelet around her wrist.
"Even if you had money, it would be impossible." Gu Jun-Pyo ended with an arrogant look on his face. Kang Nari assumed it would be a limited-edition shoes. She looked intently at his dirtied shoes, trying to figure out the brand.
"These shoes were made by a craftsman in Florence. How could you possibly buy me the exact pair immediately?" Jun-Pyo asked making Oh Minji shrink back in fear.
"I'm really sorry." All Minji could do is apologize.
Wait, Italy?
Kang Nari searched her brain for possible solution to this situation. If it was impossible to get him the same pair, shouldn't it be possible to get him another pair of similar value?
"I'll do anything I can to fix it." Minji declared.
Kang Nari paled at her words as her mouth fell open in disbelief. Minji just played into Jun-Pyo's trap. She could even feel Jandi stiffen next to her.
It seemed that Nari had let out a gasp because the attention was once again on her. She stared at Gu Jun-Pyo in horror as a small smirk formed its way on his handsome features as he held eye-contact with Nari.
"Anything?" Gu Jun-Pyo asked, still holding eye-contact will Nari.
"Anything." Confirmed Oh Minji. Kang Nari closed her eyes in defeat as she heard those words.
Gu Jun-Pyo then looked away from Nari, facing Oh Minji once again with a victorious look on his face.
Nari carefully observed Jun-Pyo's body language as he moved his leg forward, offering it towards Oh Minji.
"Lick it." Jun-Pyo ordered.
Nari looked at Jun-Pyo in horror as Jandi froze in disbelief. Even Oh Minji did not expect it as she stared up at him. Nari moved her eyes over the rest of the F4, trying to observe their reaction with a hope that maybe one of them will be sane enough to stop the insanity that is Gu Jun-Pyo.
Much to Nari's disappointment, Yoon Jihoo stood there indifferently while looking around as Song Woobin and So Yi Jeong observed the scene with amusement. Nari didn't know why she felt disappointed when she didn't even the rest three so she shouldn't have any expectations from them to begin with. Yet she couldn't help the sadness that took over her heart and her features.
"Pardon?" Oh Minji uttered as she finally managed to come out of her shock.
"I said lick it." Gu Jun-Pyo repeated.
"Sunbae-nim." Oh Minji's voice quivered as tears became visible in her eyes.
"Didn't you say you'll do anything?" Gu Jun-Pyo asked, unfazed by the fear the girl was in.
Oh Minji looked around desperately, trying to find a way out.
Nari felt disgusted by the man. She had seen many of his kind, entitled and rich brats who thought they owned the world. Sad part was that many of them did own many aspects of the world Nari lived in.
Think, Kang Nari, think!
Nari ostracized herself for not being able to come up with anything. Oh Minji may not be her friend but she was Jandi's friend. Even if she was a mere stranger, Nari couldn't just let someone get bullied like this. Nari couldn't be hypocrite and criticize for the rest of the F4 for not doing anything when she was doing the same.
"Can you just stop?" Came Jandi's angry voice. Nari could feel Geum Jandi shake with anger as she took a step towards where the group stood with the F4 following her moves. Jandi stepped down from the high platform from where Minji had fallen and stood in front of Oh Minji in a protective stance.
"Do you think she fell because she wanted to? Apologizing is enough, don't you think?" Geum Jandi asked, dropping all signs of formality as addressed Jun-Pyo casually, scoffing at Gu Jun-Pyo. Jun-Pyo stared at the girl in disbelief as the Yoon Jihoo's eyes watched Jandi with something that resembled amusement while Woobin and Yi Jeong watched in anticipation as if they were watching an interesting movie plot unfold.
"Who is this nosy person?" Jun-Pyo asked. It seemed he had forgotten the cafeteria incident completely when Jandi had almost confronted the group.
"Hey, second-grader." Jun-Pyo started.
"I'm guessing you're not from Korea. It seems like it hasn't been long since you've returned but you shouldn't be using American style here. Why are you speaking so informally?" Gu Jun-Pyo mocked. Nari knew. She knew that Jun-Pyo probably did remember them. Jun-Pyo was arrogant, but he wasn't dumb. He probably knows that Jandi is a scholarship student, yet he chose to attack her like that.
As if catching on to Gu Jun-Pyo, Song Woobin leaned into whisper something with an amused smile to Jun-Pyo.
"Ahh..." Jun-Pyo started with a mocking tone of a sudden realization.
"So, you're famous 'Wonder Bra' of Shinhwa?" Jun-Pyo let out a small laugh at Jandi seethed in anger. Now this was a news to Nari. She didn't realize they were calling Jandi with such crude names.
Why hadn't she said anything? Nari felt like a terrible friend.
"Since people were adding wonder in the front, so I expected at least a nice figure and a D cup." Jun-Pyo said, looking up and down at Jandi with a mocking look.
"How homely." He added with a smirk on his face.
This was it. This was the last straw for Kang Nari as she felt anger and disgust bubble at her chest. Uncharacteristically, she was ready to lash out. She may not have done so previously but Jandi was her only friend at this school and the least she could do was stand up for her friend instead of helping from the background like she did with other people.
"Gu Jun-Pyo." Kang Nari started, not necessarily calling out to him but stating his name. Taking small yet confident steps towards getting off the platform, she felt confident than she had ever felt before.
"Young heir of Shinhwa Group. Seeing as you're the heir of such a big corporation, I, too, expected at least an intelligent man who had no time to engage in such playful games." Nari's voice appeared colder than usual. She gracefully got off the platform as Jun-Pyo's eyes followed her movement. She knew that the rest of the F4 were probably staring at her like she is some type of zoo animal as well, but Nari couldn't bring herself to care.
"Yet here we are. Life is full of disappointments, isn't it?" Nari completed. She now stood right in front Gu Jun-Pyo, looking up at him with her arms crossed to her chest. Jun-Pyo was considerably taller than her as he looked down at her with a look mix of fascination and irritation. His height might have intimidated Nari before, but the adrenaline was too high in Nari to care.
No one said anything as Nari's words hanged in the air. Jun-Pyo looked down at her. If it was under normal circumstances, Gu Jun-Pyo would have admired her beauty and even complimented her for it, but his ego couldn't handle her talking back at him.
From the corner of her eyes, Nari could see Jihoo smile amusingly looking at her. She could hear Woobin and Yi Jeong snicker as Jun-Pyo said nothing and just stared Kang Nari.
Seeing his friend lost, Woobin, once again, moved to whisper to him about who she was when Kang Nari cut him off.
"No need. I can introduce myself." Kang Nari shot Woobin a look. Woobin held his hands up as he smiled charmingly at her and moved back to his place next to Yi Jeong who seemed to be having the time of life watching his friends get grilled.
"Kang Nari." Was all she said. It was all she had to say as a look of realization dawned on Jun-Pyo's face. It seemed he remembered her from the cafeteria.
Good.
"Ahhh..." Jun-Pyo made the same sound of realization.
"You're the so-called 'goddess of Shinhwa'. The one who has people at her feet." Jun-Pyo remarked.
"I have to say, you do live up to your title." Jun-Pyo smirked, maintaining the eye-contact with Nari.
Kang Nari was shaken at his words. This was not the response Nari expected. She had expected him to bite back like he did not for him to throw her off the script she had mentally prepared for this conversation. Despite the situation, Nari could feel blood rush to her face as she scrambled under his intense gaze.
Yet the heat was gone in the next moment when a realization dawned upon Kang Nari.
He was doing it on purpose!
This little rascal knew Kang Nari had observed the situation and had expected him to argue back. He said those words to throw her off and take the control of the situation away from her.
Gu Jun-Pyo let out a small laugh as Nari's brain made that realization.
Trying to take back the control, Nari changed the topic. "What's your size?" She asked.
Now it was Gu Jun-Pyo's turn to be bewildered. Nari enjoyed the look on Jun-Pyo's face as he gaped at her like a fish.
"I meant your shoe size. What were you thinking, Sunbae-nim?" Nari asked, a look of fake confusion decorating her features as she mockingly uttered the word Sunbae-nim, referring to the comment he had made towards Jandi earlier. She heard So Yi Jeong choke back a laugh and Song Woobin not even bothering to hold back his. She was sure Jihoo had looked at her in bewilderment as well. Jandi, on the other hand, was cracking up from behind Nari as she couldn't believe the words that had just come out of her innocent friend's kind mouth.
Nari was kind, not stupid. She knew how to say certain things in certain situation. She wouldn't hold back when it came to people she cared about.
In the moment of confusion as Gu Jun-Pyo gathered himself, Nari took out her phone and browsed through something. She then showed her screen to Gu Jun-Pyo who stared at it in confusion.
"Prada. Men's limited edition 2005. Part of the special collection of Prada products. Not easily available in the market." Nari stated as she held the screen to Jun-Pyo's face.
The figure of 6,101,525 Korean won stared back at Jun-Pyo as he looked at the screen, irritation slowly making its way to his features.
"Well?" Nari asked, waving the screen in front of him, waiting for him to mention his shoe size.
In the silence, only thing that could be heard was Jandi's snicker. It was then that Jun-Pyo finally snapped. He was done humoring little girls who thought they could get away with insulting him.
Showing Nari's hand out of his face, he glared at Geum Jandi. Nari furrowed her eyebrows as she watched Jun-Pyo's attention turn to Jandi once again.
"Is it your concept to not consider your status and be nosy?" Jun-Pyo snapped at Jandi before turning towards Nari once again.
"Why are you butting in on other people's business?" He addressed Nari, glaring at her.
Before Nari could open her mouth to answer him, Jandi beat her to it.
"She is not a stranger. She is my friend." Jandi answered, referring to both Nari and Oh Minji.
"I guess in other rich people's dictionaries, there are no words such as 'friend' or 'friendship'." Jandi said, putting a protective arm over Nari's shoulders.
"Friendship?" Jun-Pyo repeated the word with a bitter tone.
"Let's see how great this friendship is that you're referring to." Jun-Pyo announced, looking Nari dead in the eyes. Nari felt the dread written again. She felt her skin crawl at his statement, an impending sense of doom shadowing his words.
Gu Jun-Pyo looked away from Kang Nari and looked at Geum Jandi.
"Lick it." He ordered; all signs of amusement long gone from his voice as he stared at her scaringly.
Jandi looked up at Jun-Pyo in disbelief as scoffed at his words. Nari, on the other hand, froze in her spot. The rush of confidence long gone as she stared at the tall man in horror.
"What?" Jandi reflexively said, almost as if she had heard the wrong thing.
"I will forget about all of this if you lick it instead." Gu Jun-Pyo said, hands in his pockets with the infamous smirk returning to his face.
Nari looked at Jandi, panic lacing her features.
Should she and Jandi just make a run for it?
She mentally slapped herself for such cowardly thoughts. She knew Jandi would never do it. Despite not being as rich as Jun-Pyo, Jandi had her pride. Her grazed over the other F4 members as they, too, had stopped snickering and were observing the scene with anticipation.
Nari, unexpectedly, found Jihoo already staring at her intently as she made eye contact with him. Nari figured the panic must have shone through her eyes as she saw Jihoo's intense eyes relaxed and looked at her warmly, almost in a comforting manner. His face, too, was no longer aloof but held a trace of warmth.
Nari's heart skipped a beat as he continued staring at her with that look. So much so, she had almost forgotten about the situation she and her friend were in.
She was pulled out of her trance by the sound of a loud thud. Her eyes turned back to the scene in panic. She let out a gasp, worrying for Jandi. Instead, she found Gu Jun-Pyo laying on the ground, his face smudged with ice-cream. She looked towards Jandi in panic, only to see the girl looming over Jun-Pyo with her ice-cream in her hand, a victorious look on her face.
Nari had completely missed how the situation got to the point it did and how Jun-Pyo ended up on the ground.
Looking at Jun-Pyo's nose smudged with ice-cream, she fought back the urge to smile as she saw Jun-Pyo look up at Jandi in disbelief. The other members of F4, too, looked at Jandi with a look mixture of disbelief and fascination.
The look on Jun-Pyo's face was something. The ice-cream on his nose and his mouth agape made him look no less than a child was unexpectedly hit in an ice-cream fight. Dare she say, he looked adorable, in normal circumstances.
"What do you think you're doing?" Jun-Pyo asked, his voice raising in pitch.
"Showing you your place." Jandi replied, taking a step closer.
"Does she have more money than you?" Jandi repeated Jun-Pyo's words from earlier.
"What does it matter? You talk as if you made all that money by yourself." Jandi scoffed. Gu Jun-Pyo shot her a look.
"What?" Jandi snapped. Nari could see Jun-Pyo almost shrink back at Jandi's voice. Almost.
"Is it my concept to be nosy?" Jandi continued, as she repeated other things Jun-Pyo had said.
"It is my concept to not overlook jerks like you who act the way they want just because they have rich parents supporting them from behind." Jandi yelled. Jun-Pyo could only stare at the girl as she dug into her pocket and took out a few bills.
Nari could see she pulled out three 1000 Korean Won bills. Jandi started throwing the bills towards Gu Jun-Pyo, one-by-one as he stared at her audacity. Nari saw a look of humiliation take over Jun-Pyo's features as she noticed other members stare at Jandi in astonishment.
"At our place, it's only 100 Korean Won. But I calculated the rate according to Gangnam standards. I hope that's okay." Jandi clarified. Jun-Pyo looked at the bills that had fallen on him in sheer anger and humiliation.
"Oh and if you still can't get the stains out, come to my laundromat." Jandi said as she dug something else out of her pockets and walked towards Gu Jun-Pyo.
She pulled out a sticker-like paper of her laundromat and sticked it on Jun-Pyo's forehead.
"We'll even do it for free, Sunbae-nim." She mocked Jun-Pyo one last time as she turned towards Oh Minji. Jandi took Minji's hand and turned towards Nari.
"Let's go Nari-ya." Jandi called out to Nari, forwarding her other hand.
Nari only nodded at Jandi in response, signaling her to wait for a moment. Jandi stood there patiently as she watched Nari walk closer to Jun-Pyo.
Gu Jun-Pyo took off the sticker from his forehead and clutched it in his hand as he carefully watched Nari walk towards him.
Upon reaching where Jun-Pyo laid, Nari knelt down beside him, careful enough to tuck her skirt to make sure everything is covered.
A gust of wind blew by, making Nari's hair shuffle and few of the strands cover her face. Jun-Pyo took a deep breath as Nari inched her face a bit closer to him.
She softly took his hand and opened his palm. Nari could feel Jun-Pyo freeze at the contact. Ignoring the shocked sounds of the F4, Nari softly placed a napkin in Jun-Pyo's palm. It was a different napkin and Nari felt her soul cry out as she gave away her favorite napkin to Jun-Pyo. She berated herself for her kindness and not being able to see the look of humiliation on his face.
Nari shook her head at her thoughts and abruptly got up, without even uttering a word to Jun-Pyo. She caught Jihoo's eyes for a second as he stared at her in amusement. Breaking the eye-contact, she turned around and gracefully walked towards where Jandi was waiting for her. Grabbing the hand Jandi had offered earlier, the trio walked away.
Author's rant:
And dun dun dun!
Another chapter. How was it? Not much of Jihoo happening in this chapter but how was Jun-Pyo? Not gonna lie, my dude is written to be smart in the manhwa, I wonder why the live versions didn't do justice to his intelligence. I tried to show some of that here. But as always, his intelligence is overshadowed by his arrogant nature.
Coming to the chapter, Jun-Pyo and Nari finally talked face-to-face. More like a confrontation but you get my point.
Our little flower is finally showing her thorns. Kang Nari finally stood up for something. I am so proud of her. Obviously, the development isn't going to be sudden, so it was only for a while that her confidence lasted.
I hope you guys liked the chapter. Let me know your thoughts on it. I planned on waiting a couple of days before posting this chapter, but I couldn't wait to share with you guys, so I ended up posting it earlier.
Another thing, I also have another book going on. It's called Kannika and it's an F4 Thailand FF. So, if you're interested, check it out. I will update both of these books interchangeably. Obviously the stories are different.
I don't think I've mentioned this before, but the covers are my own. I created the covers for both of my books and will usually create it for any further works I may have unless stated otherwise. So, if you ever need someone to make a cover or a banner, I'd be happy to help.
Thank you so much for showering your love on this book. I am forever grateful for your kind and encouraging words.
Until next time,
much love.