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Chae-soo's POV:
Break-ups were such a drag. But at least Myungho had the decency not to cause a scene and advertise that we were currently separated. I loved Gyeo-Wool like a sister, and Minho was super sweet and all, but he seriously needed to learn the definition of subtlety and silence.
I wasn't deluded, I didn't believe in star-crossed lovers; seriously, Romeo and Juliet was incredibly toxic and cringy, how could anyone think that it had been a love story? And I also knew this was just high school, which is why I never obsessed over the student cliques and hierarchy. But I couldn't help it that they all naturally gravitated towards me, it's like they could sense that I was just above it all, and headed great places after graduation. It's also why Myungho and I worked so well.
I was self-aware enough to admit my shallowness—anyone who said they weren't were liars—in certain areas. And Myungho was hot, he had already caught the attention of national and international teams. He was the son of a greatly respected, international business tycoon. And I'd already done a spread in Vogue, which was gaining attention in Europe, and Delphine had personally invited me to Louis Vuitton's upcoming fashion show. I wondered if she'd make me a brand ambassador. Star athlete and heir to what was basically modern royalty and a model plus luxury brand ambassador? It was perfect.
Speaking of deluded, I tried not to roll my eyes when I left the nail salon and saw Yeona and a couple of her little sycophants coming up. Myungho and I might not have been together right now, though she was chasing a guy that was never hers. I was honestly so happy for Haemin and Y/N.
But I had class, so I smiled and politely greeted Yeona. Back when I'd been an immature pubescent, I had actually considered her a friend.
"Hi Chae-ah. Wow, your nails look amazing. Chic as always."
"Aw, thank you Yeona. And you have to tell me your hair care routine, it always looks so vibrant." I knew Marina and Xiulan were buying some extra products, but if that store clerk could hurry up and find the extra stock, that would be lovely. Or even if Gyeo-Wool could accidentally drive up onto the path between us, I'd also appreciate that. Of course I wouldn't want Yeona to get hit...though maybe just shocked enough that she loses bladder control for a second.
Yeona smiled sweetly. "I know this is super random, but me and the girls were just talking about Y/N."
And once again I battled an eye roll. God her obsession with Y/N was pathetic. And speaking of Y/N, another thing I liked about her was that she wasn't enamoured with popularity and attempting to leech onto me for the association. It's like she understood and respected my superior status, but never made it obvious.
"Yeona, sweetie, I know you and Haemin used to have something, but you're so beautiful and amazing you could literally get anyone else. Or just own being single."
That elicited a clear crack in Yeona's composure, though she again plastered on a smile to cover it. "I'm so glad you think that, Chae-ah. But it was actually totally about something else. I just watched the craziest thing, and I emailed you the link, thought you'd find it interesting. You still have the same address that we made in middle school, right?"
"Yes of course." Finally, the unhinged girl left. Really, I felt sorry for her, she needed therapy.
"Ya, Chae," said Gyeo-Wool, walking over after Yeona left. "What was that about?"
"Nothing, just a poor girl who needs to move on for her own sanity." I looked back as Marina and Xiulan exited the salon, a customer picture catching my eye. The anonymous hand photo showed a custom set of acrylics with a pretty sunflower design. It seemed familiar for some reason.
☆★☆
Y/N's POV:
I'd come home to quickly get my things before swim practice. No one was home but it was fine as Heiko's mum was going to drive us, but when I opened the door after she knocked, I realised my mistake. It wasn't Heiko.
"Yes Haemin?" I said flatly. Even though he had been at school today, I had admittedly avoided him.
He certainly looked taken aback. I'm surprised his mum didn't tell him about our conversation. "Y/N, what's going on? Were you avoiding me today? Did I do something?"
Was he kidding?
"I hope you liked the present I got you, Haemin."
"Yeah, I loved it—"
I kindly cut him off. "So your mother called during the party. I asked if she wanted me to get you, but your mum's really sweet, and thought you might get embarrassed. She was really happy to talk to me though."
A look of dawning realisation grew on Haemin's face.
I continued, "I really hope that candy ring was worth dragging me into all this unnecessary drama."
"Please, Y/N, I swear I was going to tell you at the restaurant, but then we went to the party instead and I couldn't—"
I cut him off again. "Really? You were going to tell me on our birthday date, months after this all started? That's so selfless and considerate of you. It's not even the fact that I let you act like that with me in public, do those things with me, or the fact that you're a coward who literally couldn't just tell Yeona to her face that you weren't interested. Or even the fact that I actually started to wonder where we stood and thought I maybe wouldn't have even minded if you wanted to make things legit."
I took a breath, and he thankfully had the sense to shut up for the moment. "It's the fact that one of the main reasons I left my old school was because of lies and petty drama and now you've probably brought me into another one that's waiting to boil over. Because no offence, Haemin—actually, you know what, I hope you get offended by this, but Yeona's clearly a sociopath and you should've cut ties with her immediately after you started seeing the signs. And by how you spoke about her to me, I know you did."
Haemin looked utterly guilt-ridden and I forced myself to feel satisfied. I was glad he looked like that instead of having the gall to try and turn this on me, but I still didn't like sounding like such a bitch to someone who I wasn't sure I could hate.
Whatever, I didn't care, and when Heiko's mum pulled up to the curb and my Japanese friend waved at me, I hauled my duffle bag over my shoulder and passed Haemin without another glance. "I won't say anything, but you better come up with a good reason why we broke up. And it damn well better paint me in a good light." I resumed my pace and put a smile on my face when I neared the car.
"Babe, if I knew Haemin was going to pick you up—"
"No, it's fine," I said, fastening my seatbelt. "Haemin's actually busy."
☆★☆
Changhoon's POV:
"Thanks Uncle, that information you got helped a lot," I said. The two of us sat in a fancy restaurant. It wasn't really my scene, but the food was nice and Uncle Helios seemed to love this place. My parents were boring, and my dad didn't like it when I hung out with his brother. Actually, he hardly ever talked about him at all. It was annoying, the man was clearly just jealous of his younger brother being so successful.
"I'm glad I could help my boy. But tell me, why are you concerned with this Y/N girl? Do you like her?"
I snorted. "She's an uptight bitch. The information was for another girl. Though I'd help her out."
"How altruistic of you. I hope you're not letting this whole baseball matter get to you, though. Just remember, allowing obsession to control you will only lead to mistakes. You're a progeny pitcher, but no matter how good you are, there's always going to be someone to challenge you. Let it go and accept that you are still one of the elite, just not the only one."
My uncle was the smartest person I knew and I always appreciated his advice. But he just didn't understand here. Myungho was a fake and a self-obsessed asshole who didn't even have to try to get an easy ride. He was probably telling his dad to pay international teams to scout him.
But one thing I knew about Myungho was that he was somehow connected to Uncle's gang. Even if Uncle never went into detail about White Dragon activities with me—something dumb like him not wanting me to be a part of it—I'd seen that asshole talking with Won-sik at the game, and Yeona had told me about how that hippy's number had even called Myungho during her birthday.
But I knew Uncle Helios wouldn't just tell me, so I'd have to find a way to convince my uncle that I could be trusted and was ready to be brought into the fold.
"H-here's your entree, Sajangnim," offered the waitress, trembling slightly. Uncle had that effect on people.
He smiled graciously and thanked the young lady. He tipped her. "Please go and tell the chef that as always, his dishes look immaculate."
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Myungho's POV:
I was walking into the cinema with Jae and some of the team when I saw Y/N. She was hard to miss. Standing with Heiko at the counter, they must have just gotten off of swim practice judging by their slightly damp hair.
"Hey Heiko, Y/N," called Yeonseok before me as we went over.
They both turned and returned the greeting.
It was probably good that Yeonseok spoke first, because I almost told Y/N how pretty she looked without thinking. Jae side-eyed me with a knowing smirk and I thought about punching him.
She looked past me, her gaze only catching briefly, and spoke to Jungnam. "Your arm looks great by the way. When did you get the cast off?"
Jungnam grinned and tapped his simple sling and I felt minutely less guilty.
"It feels great. Doctors say just a couple more weeks of taking it easy and I should be good to rejoin practice."
We talked for a little more until Heiko interrupted us. "Well, love you all so much, but Y/N and I have a Barbie movie to go experience." She looked us, me included, up and down. "Let me guess, ya'll have to go get your alpha on and watch The Roundup: No Way Out?"
Pretending to act offended at that judgemental, personal attack Jae, Yeonseok, Jungnam and I couldn't actually argue.
We went to our movie and sat down near the back, though before the movie had even started I texted Y/N. Hopefully, she hadn't put hers on silent yet.
Me:
Has ur movie started?
☀️:
You're weird.
We forgot snacks so I'm back at the counter.
I smiled but realised I'd also stood. My stupid legs had a mind of their own, apparently.
"Guys, Myung's getting more snacks, want anything?" said Jaeyun, giving me an excuse to leave.
They called out requests and I left, though not before catching another annoying smirk from Jae as he uttered, "Yeah Myung-ah, go for the...snacks."
I really wished my best friend was stupid sometimes.
I descended the stairs and caught her leaving the counter.
"Let me carry those for you." There were other people milling about, though there was nothing wrong with being nice and offering to carry things for people.
Y/N narrowed her eyes at me, but the budding smirk sort of cancelled it and she gave me the packets. Her cinema was under the main staircase, allowing more privacy for me to open one of the three disabled bathrooms and offer for her to go first, because I was keeping things classy.
Looking as flattered as possible, Y/N took the invitation and I locked the door behind us.
"God you're so romantic, Myungho. First the janitor's closet, now the toilet?"
"Don't forget my car in the lake. Why drop a good theme?" And I leaned down and kissed her. Determined to act with more restraint this time, I dropped what I was holding and gently cupped Y/N's face, keeping my hands there. I parted her lips with mine and she let me deepen it, and honestly, I could've gotten lost in the sensation, the taste of her, but—and I sort of hated myself for letting logic and morals cross my mind then—I needed to say something. I should've manned up and talked with Y/N about this sooner.
I grudgingly drew back, still letting my hands linger for a little longer. "Y/N," I began, trying to figure out how to put this. "I hope you don't think I'm trying to keep you on the side like some secret hook-up? I want nothing more than to be able to go out with you like normal, do normal couple stuff—" I halted. Wait, did I just blurt out way too much? Did Y/N even think of us like that? Am I just assuming things I have no right to?
"Myungho, I get it," Y/N's voice cut through my internal panic session. "Pretty much no one else knows about you and Chae-soo breaking up yet, right? I don't really want to be considered a homewrecker either, you know?" Y/N tried to say that teasingly, in an attempt to lighten the mood, and I wanted to kiss her again just for that.
But I had to get this out. "If it was that simple, I'd tell everyone and we could just move on with things. But right now, with things how they are, if Chae-soo, my dad...if it somehow got to Changhoon, who might tell Helios..." I muttered that last part. "If anyone found out about this—" I planted a quick kiss on her lips "—it'd only cause issues for you. I don't care about me, but I don't want to put you in the middle of that shitstorm. But once I sort all this out, fix it and just—do you think we could make this work, Y/N?"
I looked down at her, and even though my brain was getting oxygen, it felt like I was holding my breath. But then her pretty lips split into a small smile, and I felt better.
"Thank you." I wasn't exactly sure why Y/N thanked me, but she resumed, "And I'd like that." Then I was momentarily stunned when she sort of jokingly hit my shoulder. "And I told you to get help with all your problems. Stop pretending to be Batman, you idiot."
But all I did was smile. I couldn't believe it. She wasn't calling it quits and dropping me and all my dead weight. She wasn't walking out the door and she wasn't sweeping all my faults under the rug like they were dirty inconveniences.
Maybe she'd be up for ditching the movies?
Wait, the boyfriend. How had I completely let myself ignore that? God I'm an asshole. "What about you and Haemin—"
Y/N scrunched up her face at his mention. "There is no me and Haemin."
I probably should have asked more about it, but it was good enough for me now and I kissed Y/N again, letting myself enjoy soaking her warmth in before we would probably have to start thinking about leaving the bathroom.
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Sajangnim = a respectful way to address a boss/leader in Korean
The Roundup: No Way Out = is actually a recent, popular Korean gangster/cop movie released in May, I believe (It's a great movie btw, if you don't mind not understanding Korean well and having to read the subtitles)
Damn, another 2500 w/c. Anyway, I've actually FINALLY made a legit, more detailed chapter summary in my drafts, so from here on out, expect the next and last 10-ish chapters to be a whole lot of drama, violence, romance, gang-related f**kery, possible kidnapping (lol)...and no one forgot about the murder/dead student on the beach part, right?
~ Daci