winter flower ; zhong chenle

ten

"ya! nana! give me back my drink!" areum demanded, trying to take back her drink from a laughing jaemin. they were at lunch with all of their friends. it had been a month since the dance, and everything was normal.

areum had a steady friend group, a steady relationship, good grades, no drama. overall, she felt amazing. boy, was she in for a roller coaster.

once she finally got her drink back, areum began noticing a lot of people staring at the door. out of curiosity, she did as well. she was shocked by what she was seeing. her brother, lee donghyuck, kissing chunhua, and he pulled away as soon as the door opened.

she thought she had seen the last of chunhua a month ago but here she is kissing her brother. areum was angry. chunhua humiliated her at the dance and donghyuck knew that. "areum..." chenle said, trying to convince the girl not to go up to them but it was too late.

areum was making her way to the two and donghyuck looked shocked, "areum, i swear it's not what it looks like." she scoffed and looked at chunhua,

"who the fuck do you think you are? you can't just come in here and decide, oh i don't like this bitch so i'm going to humiliate her and then steal my best friend, dump punch at me at the dance in front of everyone, and then come out of nowhere and kiss my brother."

chunhua smirked, "i think i very well can." that pissed areum off and donghyuck knew the look in her eye. he knew she was about to do something she'd regret.

and he was right.

areum punched chunhua in the face and grabbed her by the collar, "stay the fuck away from me, my friends, and especially my brother."

she grabbed donghyuck's wrist and dragged him to the table angrily. "areum, she kissed me." donghyuck explained but areum didn't care. she was beyond pissed. jaemin gave her a kiss on the cheek to try and calm her down but it didn't work.

"i can't believe that bitch! i've done nothing to her and she just- ugh!" she said angrily, putting her head in her hands. but soon, after many kisses from jaemin, a cookie from chenle, and a free punch pass from jeno, she felt better.

the group decided to skip the way since it was friday and nobody would really notice anyways. they walk out of the school to the cars; jaemin and areum, donghyuck and yangyang, renjun and jeno, and chenle and jisung.

they went to the mall, going straight to the food court. they all chatted amongst themselves, thinking of things they could do. "we could go see movie."
"that's boring yangyang."
"then what's your idea renjun?"
"anything besides that."
"do you want to fight?"
"i'll beat both of you up if you continue this."
"i have an idea!"
"we're not stealing mannequins chenle."
"i no longer have an idea."
"oh i have one!"
"we're not tying donghyuck, chenle, and yangyang to street lamps renjun."
"bitch, why not?"
"oh my god. let's just go play mini golf."
"okay."
"alright."
"why do you guys agree with areum but not us?"
"because you and renjun's ideas are illegal chenle!"
"and what about it?"
"i hate you people."
"no you don't jisung. you told me you loved me yesterday."
"noona!"
"he's never told me he loved me!"
"because i don't."
"lies."
"okay shut up!" jeno said and everyone looked at him.
"we're getting weird stares."

they all looked around and jeno was right. many people were looking at them weirdly. they all started whispering and areum noticed a guy around their age sitting alone. she went over to him and smiled, "hi! mind if i sit?"

the boy nodded and smiled at her. "i'm areum." she smiled, extending her hand and he nodded, "i'm shotaro." he shook her hand she asked, "if i may ask, why are you sitting alone?" he shrugged, "i'm new here so i don't have many friends and being japanese, it's a bit harder."

areum frowned, "no! i'm sorry. welcome to seoul, though, shotaro! if you'd like, i know they're chaotic, but you can sit with my friends and i! they're chaotic but they're sweethearts, i promise." shotaro thought about it and nodded, "okay."

she smiled and guided shotaro to their table, "guys! this is shotaro! he's new! i want to be his friend! shotaro, this is renjun, jeno, chenle, jisung, yangyang, my brother donghyuck, and my boyfriend jaemin!" they all waved at the boy and areum made donghyuck scoot over so she could sit in between jaemin and shotaro.

"so, shotaro, what school do you go to?" jeno asked and shotaro thought for a second, "hanseong high school. i'm a senior."

"no way! we're all seniors at hanseong. well, except chenle, jisung, and areum. they're juniors." donghyuck said and shotaro smiled, "wow! it's a small world."

the eight befriended and got along with shotaro very quickly and soon, he felt like he belonged there. he felt included. they were his first friends since he moved to korea and he was very grateful for areum inviting him over.