A/N
Hello y'all, I'm baeck! I know i'm late but what else is new
I'm laughing bc i found this gif and under it was this pic of minseok:
me too, Seokkie.
~
"Get in the car, loser, we're going to hell!"
I snorted and slid into the passenger seat of Jane's beloved mini cooper, balancing my backpack and large canister of coffee. "Was that a take on Mean Girls? Because you can do better."
She waved me off, snatched my canister and took a long gulp. In turn, I routinely opened our shared collection of lipsticks in the glove compartment and picked out a glossy clear lip.
Looking at me, she made a face. "Jesus, Eunnie, what grave did you crawl out of?"
I sighed at my reflection's baggy eyes and pale complexion, pinching at my cheeks before applying the gloss. "The college level one."
She shrugged apathetically, putting my canister into a cup holder."Should've taken average level like me- it comes with premium advantages like getting eight hours of sleep." She glanced over at me proudly. "Being a dumb bitch pays."
I scrunched my nose, "Until you live in my basement and start calling me your sugar mistress. Now drive, we're gonna be late."
She pouted at me, giving me her best aegyo impression, "But sugar mama, Jane doesn't wanna drive! Jane wants to go home and nap!"
I flipped her off, both of us laughing while I leaned forward and bumped up the sound on Red Velvet's "Red Flavor".
"Hit it!"
- meanwhile -
-ok moving on-
-
"Dunun dun dun..." Chanyeol intensely sang on my left, which I ignored.
I glanced at the clock frantically, sweat forming on my brow as I frantically copied down each equation.
"Dunun dun dun dun..." Baekhyun's voice chimed in on my right. My lips pursed.
I panted slightly upon hearing the tall black heels of Mrs. Robin clack against the floor. My eyes widened and I began to write 10x faster, crouching down so the beady-eyed lady wouldn't see me.
"Dunun dun dun... Dunun dun dun dun," Kyungsoo leaned forward in his chair behind me.
My pencil's led broke, and I cursed under my breath, feeling the amused gazes of the three dumbasses around me.
Last question...
The clock ticked three... two...
"It's the final countdown!" Kyungsoo, Chanyeol, and Baekhyun all burst into air guitars as the bell rang. They laughed together and began to show off their air instrument talents, and I waved them off.
I grabbed the pen of the girl's desk next to me in pure desperation, earning a loud "hey!" in objection. I fiercely glanced up at the girl's framed eyes, then kept writing.
Nothing is getting between me and this AP curve, not even-
"Okay! Those of you who completed the extra work for this test's AP curve, pass your papers up. Otherwise, clear your desks and prepare for the test."
"Not today, satan," I hissed quietly under the noises of people and paper shuffling and shifting.
A smile grew on my face as I scribbled down each number and symbol. Suddenly, a small, tan hand with red, chipped, manicured nails slammed itself on my desk. I gulped, looking up at the raven-haired maths teacher. I gave her a nervous smile.
"Kim Jae Eun," She raised a thin brow at me, "did I not ask you to finish this before class began?"
I made a "yikes" face, shifting in my seat as my eyes observed the empty space on the last question where I had almost finished writing the answer. "You did, ma'am."
Mrs. Robin nodded, then slid the paper off of my desk, "I'll take this, as it's no longer valid. However, if you'd like to work for the curve..," She glanced at the three dim plastic boards she had on her walls, "You may stay after class and clean my white boards."
I winced, thinking about the last time I'd experienced the bleachy nightmare as she'd watched me. "Y-Yes ma'am."
As she clacked away, Baekhyun clucked, "Should've done your homework."
Watching sourly as the hag collected the assignment from everyone else, I crossed my arms. "I couldn't because I'm employed." For good measure, I added, "Unlike you three ragged bums."
"Yahhhh," Chanyeol held a hand over his heart in fake pain.
Kyungsoo spoke up from behind me, making me turn to face the owl-eyed boy. "I can't believe the Devil's Mistress is letting you have the curve, though! And you just have to clean the boards, too!"
Baekhyun nodded his head, "You're really her favorite, Jaebird."
I looked down at my dainty hands, already wincing at the small cuts and burns all over them. The cost of being a barista. They were fresh from the other night. My lips pulled into a frown.
"Yeah, her favorite..," I muttered sarcastically, but my voice was pushed down under that of the teacher's telling us that we may begin our test.
-
I winced and strained back a yelp as the clear, acidic liquid splashed onto my already scalding cuts, tears biting at the corners of my eyes. It was now pushing on 30 minutes after class, and, after having to rebleach the second board twice, I was just finishing the last board.
I scrubbed with gritted teeth, my breathing ragged as I ignored the feeling that was like a thousand wasps stinging at each pink crack in my skin. Leaning back, my shaking red hand wiped my brow. "M-May I please be finished now?"
Mrs. Robin glanced up from her computer, giving me a once over before nodding curtly, a wickedly sweet smile on her- crustily- painted red lips as she sat back. "Yes, dear, you may go. Take a slip for the teacher in your next class. This won't be happening again, right?"
I bowed expressionlessly and, before she could call me back to reclean one of those damn boards again, grabbed my black bag and darted out of the room.
My white nike air force 1's slapped against the floor as I scurried down the large hallway. Usually, I'd be worried about the huge shit Miss Johnson was going to have on her own desk chair at how late I was, but I was instead rubbing my stinging hands in hopes that I would be able to pick up a pencil in the next class.
-
I bowed deeply at Miss Johnson at having interrupted her lecture, laying my excuse slip on her desk. She nodded and continued droning on in English, so I took that moment to quietly slide into my seat.
I could feel the eyes of Sehun on me as I quietly pulled out my English textbook, trying to ignore the feeling of mini fires igniting on my hands.
"You're late," Sehun's deep voice hummed at me.
Without looking at the menace, I blew a breath out that pushed my hair out of my face. "I noticed."
"Oh Sehun and Kim Jae Eun, please listen to me while I'm talking," Miss Johnson gave us a brief look of annoyance before averting her gaze. "For now we're going to practice our consonants, because I've been hearing weak pronunciation lately. Remember, the English tend to stress their hard noises over the vowels, letting the consonants decide the sound their vowel is going to make. For example: accent. Repeat that word, class: accent."
"Accent."
I looked down at my blistering hands in thought, my lips pursed.
How in god's ass am I supposed to pull espresso shots with my hands like this?
I remembered the last time I'd bleached Jones's boards for an entire hour, and I'd had to take off work for a week. I'd only had to bleach her boards three times this year, each time for the sake of my grade in her class.
"Hey," Sehun whispered next to me, his brows pulled together. "Try to pay attention."
I made a face and turned my head to send him a look, "Whether I pay attention or not is-"
My face slackened as a thought occurred to me: Sehun's in charge of schedules for the week. If I want to get off of work, he has to approve.
Sehun's face twisted in confusion as a sweet smile suddenly spread on my lips. "Sehun, my friend, my pal, mi amigo," I patted his arm awkwardly, and he leaned away from me with an increasingly disgusted face. "Thank you for that suggestion. I really wanted it, I did."
Feeling his arm muscles shift under my hand, I awkwardly withdrew it, my cheeks gaining color. "Ahem. So, about this weekend."
Sehun wasn't impressed with my sudden kindness. He raised a brow suspiciously, "Kim Jae Ruin, what are you-"
"Oh Sehun, what did I just tell you about you and Miss Kim not listening to me?" Miss Johnson's voice practically shouted in our direction, causing the both of our heads to whip to the front of the room, where she was pointing a marker at the two of us.
The giggling of (mostly female) students erupted around us and my face flushed with horror as she continued, "Just leave my room. You're disrupting class and I don't have time to sort you two out."
Sehun glared at me deeply as we both packed our bags, making my cheeks red.
"Go to the janitorial closet. I happen to need windex from there, and if you two would so kindly save me the trip I'll consider not giving the two of you detention."
"Bye Sehunnie!" A chorus of girls (along with a cheerful Tao) called out behind him. Kris just waved at us both. Tao went back to working, ignoring my gaze at him.
Thanks, Tao. I scowled.
As the door closed behind us, Sehun sighed, "If you wanted to flirt with me, you could've waited until after class like the rest of the girls." He brushed his brunette hair out of his eyes. "There's enough time for everyone, sweetheart."
I snorted, shifting my backpack on my shoulder and beginning to walk in the direction of the janitorial closets. "In case your overwhelming ego was blocking your ears, I wasn't flirting with you. I need to take off work tonight."
I glanced over and up at the tall, catlike man to scope out his response, but his face didn't tell me anything.
Finally, his dark brows furrowed. "You can't work tonight?"
I nodded, talking slow so he'd understand, "No... I can't."
His dark eyes glanced over at me, his brown hair flopping slightly against his forehead as he walked in sync with me. "Not even to close?"
Aish, this man is thick.
"Did you hit your head this morning? No, I can't."
We stopped in front of the janitor'a closet, and he looked at me, deep in thought. "Why?"
I groaned in exasperation, pushing the door open (with difficulty) using my shoulder, "Sehun."
He held his hands up, an amused look coming over his cat-like features as he ushered into the small closet behind me, "I just want to know, Ruin. As your boss-"
"As my co-worker."
He scrunched his nose, looking down at me with furrowed eyebrows as I looked way up to him challengingly. I mentally cursed him for being a foot taller than me.
Fucking salt mine.
"As your boss, Jae Eun," He murmured slowly, his dark brown eyes boring down into mine, "As the son of the owner of Ikoro's enterprises and Co., I think I deserve to know why you won't be able to work all of a sudden tonight."
Oh. So that's what Jane meant when she said the Oh Sehun.
I took a slow breath of his hazelnut scent in, now overly aware of the lean man's half foot of distance from my face, and turned away from the giant to avoid letting my cheeks redden.
But they burned.
"Let me," Sehun breathed against her neck. I suddenly remembered my dream- nightmare, and internally wished to die when goosebumps rose on my skin.
"Whatever," I replied, trying to sound cool, as my eyes searched the dusty shelves for Windex.
Maybe I could spray Sehun with it and wipe him away with a paper towel.
I tried to ignore the fact that Sehun had stepped closer to me, now only a coffee cup's distance away from my back. "I just can't come in tonight, Sehun." and there's no way in hell that I'm letting you make fun of me for the next year about cleaning a teacher's board in order to get a good grade.
"Ooh," I chirped all too cheerily, happy to change the subject. "Here it is!"
My nikes squished quietly as I got on my very tip toes, reaching unsteadily for the blue cleaner. My hand shot out to hold onto the rusting surface for support.
"When the shelf falls on you, don't expect me to catch you," Sehun snorted behind me. I whipped my head in his direction, narrowed my eyes at the amused man who had stepped back and crossed his arms.
"If the shelf falls, it's coming down on the two of us, cat shit."
I gripped the shelf tighter for more support, and was met with the burning heat of a thousand suns, making me cry out in pain, yanking back with so much force that I stumbled back into Sehun, who wrapped his large hands around my elbows and easily steadied me. I cradled my hands in my chest, tears biting at the corners of my eyes at the pain of rust cutting into my bleached wounds.
Large, rough hands pulled at my own searing ones, making me turn around. I looked up at the brunette, whose darkening eyes were closely examining my beat up hands. I tried to stay still when they burned into my own dark orbs. "What is this?"
I suddenly felt hot all over, rather than just my hands. I opened my mouth, but he pulled my hands closer and uncurled my fingers in examination, his forehead only a couple inches away from my lips.
"Did you do this to yourself?"
His fluffy, coffee scented hair brushed against my lips, and I stuttered awkwardly, feeling stupid all of a sudden. "I-I don't-"
I hissed slightly as he gently squeezed the blistering calluses, yanking my hands rapidly out of his grasp and stepping back against the shelf. I meant to look pissed, but my palms and knuckles burned at the careless action of sliding my hands against and out of his, so my bottom lip wiggled pathetically.
Fanfuckingtastic, Jae.
"Would you quit invading my personal space? It's not your business!" I bit out quiveringly, but danced around awkwardly when the pain didn't subdue, laughing humorlously. "SHIT, it burns!"
I clumsily knocked my shoulder into the shelf, giving myself a new aspect of pain as I tried to hold it with my burning hand. "SHHHHHHFFFFFFCNT."
"Are you done yet?" Sehun sighed, his brows raised slightly at my crippled body.
I bit back venomous curse words, glaring darkly at the man while fondling my hands.
"Thank you," The tall boy turned to the old First Aid Kit, yanking it gracefully off the wall. I watched him blankly.
Taking out a couple of wraps, he shook his head, "You're so fucking clumsy, Ruin. Give me your hand."
I made a face.
He huffed and grabbed my arm in a way that would've seemed rough to anyone else, but was strangely gentle. With his other arm, he took off his uniform jacket and rolled up his white button-up sleeves.
"Your breath stinks," I lied lamely. "Go... Chew some gum or something."
He snorted, taping up the first wrap before starting the next. My wrist looked like a doll's in his large grasp. Without looking up, he asked, "So what happened to your hands, Jae?"
I swayed side to side uncomfortably. "Since when do you call me Jae?"
He looked up at me impatiently, and I sighed. "Mrs. Raw-trash-bin made me scrub her boards for a grade with bleach."
His head whipped up so fast that I could almost taste his hair. His eyes were wildly livid, but his voice was strangely calm. "You said this was Mrs. Robin?"
I nodded slowly, concerned at his angry eyes.
He taped up my second wrist. "I-"
The door suddenly opened, both of our heads whipping to see a disheveled Yixing. He looked at me with his mouth agape, but his smile grew as he glanced at Sehun. He laughed, looking back to me again. "Oh, Kim Jae Eun- ah!"
I straightened up, my cheeks burning with embarrassment at how this must have looked. "Wait, Yixing, I-"
"No! You guys get back to it!" Yixing winked at me, closing the door before I could get another word in.
A part of me curled up and died inside.
Sehun turned to me, his brow raised, but only said, "Come by work tonight."
I furrowed my brows and opened my mouth, but he interjected quickly with, "Just come by. I won't make you work or anything. Just... be there."
With that, he turned and left, the scent of hazelnut and coffee hanging in the air behind him.
~
Ok listen it's been a tough few weeks and my birthday happened and i'm sorry this is sloppy i swear i'll be back to edit my entire story and do a lot of good things and changes to it asap and try to update more. i really am sorry
Anyway, i love y'all lots. thank you for your support and patience.
See ya later