𝑨𝒎𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒐𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 - 𝑆𝑘𝑦 𝐶𝑎𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑒

𝟐. 𝐅𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐬𝐡 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐟𝐭. 𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐯𝐞𝐭 𝐜𝐮𝐩𝐜𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬

━━━━━ PARK YOUNGJAE, THE MAIN STAR OF THE DAY HAD FINALLY ARRIVED AT THE VENUE. He took slow and graceful steps as he entered first, the spotlight shining on him as his parents, Lee Myungjoo and Park Soochang followed behind.

Everybody present there, stood up from their seats applauding for the Park family.

Looking around while clapping, Eunae saw Yeseo and her mother clapping the loudest out of the bunch. She discreetly shook her head in disappointment as it was not unsurprising for the mother-daughter duo to butter up to Myungjoo and Youngjae, for selfish reasons.

She wasn't a fool, of course. None of them were. Everyone knew that the party organised was just an excuse under the guise of celebrating Youngjae getting in, for the parents to get information about how Youngjae made it in from the Park family. The fake smiles on the adults' faces did little to nothing to hide their true motives.

Not being able to do anything about it, Eunae just focused on her hands, toying with her bracelet as the dinner was served.

Her attention was brought back again as she heard Cha Minhyuk clearing his throat and making a toast for the success of Youngjae. Sighing discreetly, she raised her glass of juice with others to toast.

She turned her head to glance at the said boy and found him looking in her direction. Holding the gentle eye contact, both smiled softly mirroring the other's actions.

Eunae slightly raised her glass gently towards him as a gesture to honour him which Youngjae replied with a genuine smile; the whole ordeal going unnoticed by the others.

Looking away from each other, Eunae focused on the food in front of her as she made small talk with Seojoon, drawing out the sound of the adults talking loudly, letting herself zone out of the conversation.

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After the main course, the adults stayed at the same table while the children shifted to another table for the final course of the night, desserts.

The lights slowly grew dimmer as the musicians began playing a calm melody again.

Eunae closed her eyes for a while, enjoying the calm yet melancholic music being played. However, her peaceful silence did not last much longer; as soon as the desserts were served, Yebin spoke up, asking a question to Youngjae.

"Do you really want to go to medical school?"

Before he could answer, Yebin spoke again.

"I heard you have to cut open countless mice and rabbits."

"Will you be able to do it? You love dogs though." This time Soohan interrupted from beside her.

"Are you a kid? Why does that matter? He got into SNU." Yeseo sneered at Yebin and Soohan, clearly annoyed by them.

As much as Eunae loved her best friend, at times like this, she really wished to strangle the living daylights out of her due to her attitude and behaviour. Trying not to show her clear irritation against Yeseo, she sighed softly before once again grabbing the glass of water in front of her to drink it.

All the while, Youngjae just sat there, face adorning a small smile, enjoying the banter in front of him. Hearing a soft, almost inaudible sigh coming from his left, he turned his head to look at Eunae who was busy trying to calm herself down with water.

She looked so cute to him that he couldn't control himself from ruffling her hair as he chuckled at her annoyed whines because of her messed-up hair. This was the first time he found himself to be genuinely happy in the entire day.