♠ 𝙄𝙆𝙄𝙂𝘼𝙄 ♠ | F4 Thailand

一

It was the first day of school again. Haruka was finally starting her first day of school in Thailand after spending the whole summer arranging her new bedroom and exploring the city with her father's designated bodyguards. 

Despite growing up in Japan, Haruka was fluent in thai. Her parents had always enforced the belief that the more hobbies you have the more enriched your life will be and due to so, Haruka had learnt several languages and musical instruments at a very young age. These were the times she wished she didn't speak thai. As her family's luxurious limousine pulled up to the market, many people started to stare in awe, not used to seeing a car so lavish in their neighbourhood.

Haruka mentally thanked her father for installing tinted windows on the car, the attention was everything she didn't desire. At this point she was ready to go home but the bodyguards thought it would be best to show her the area so that she wouldn't get lost in case she decided to walk home from school. The moment she stepped out of the car, loud gossiping immediately overwhelmed her senses. Although people didn't know who she was, from the ostentatious car she possessed to the very chanel bag she carried on her arm, they could rightfully assume she came from old money and it surprised them nonetheless. Why would someone like her visit their humble market?

Haruka ignored the stares and followed her bodyguard Solo who guided her through the crowded street, occasionally looking over at what each stall was selling and making a mental note of where to find which in case she wanted to bring some produce home. Haruka noticed Solo stop in front of a grey building with an old tattered signage over its entrance, she stopped a couple of steps behind Solo and squinted her eyes to read the signage. Xu's tea.. sh..op? Why are we here? she wondered. 

Solo entered first and looked back at her silently, she could read from his gaze that he wanted her to follow him inside. Min, her second guard who followed after her as they were walking, also rushed her to enter by reminding her of the curious eyes of the public. Haruka entered the shop and was immediately overwhelmed by the strong scent of tea leaves, the walls in the shop were hidden by wide mahogany cabinets, each one containing a wide range of tea leaf bundles and tea powder jars. As she followed after Solo, she noticed that the front of the shop connected to a back room, her eyes instantly zeroed in on the innumerous plants present, some hanging from the ceiling, others on the walls and some on standing planters. If she didn't know any better she would've assumed that this was an indoor greenhouse, but the obvious presence of white patio tables proved her correctly. This room was a tea salon. 

They sat down at the nearest table and the owner rushed to take their orders. Since Haruka wasn't familiar with the place, Solo ordered what he thought she would like. After a couple of minutes, the owner placed a porcelain 3-tier cake stand on the middle of their table, with a variety of tea sandwiches, fruit tarts and colorful macarons sitting prettily on each tier. As customary to a tea salon, a porcelain tea set was placed next to the cake stand, Haruka instantly recognized its familiar aroma.

Min poured her a cup of tea first before pouring one for himself and his partner. Haruka straightened her posture and decided this would be the best time to address the elephant in the room. Why was she brought here? Why didn't she just eat at home like usual?

"Why did you bring me here?" she asked in a stoic tone. 

Solo momentarily stopped stirring his tea, leaving his sugar cube to still be dissolved in the rich orange substance. He tapped the spoon on the rim of the tea cup three times to shake off the excess liquid before laying it gently on the matching saucer. He set his elbows on the table and intertwined his fingers with his chin resting over them, his wrist tattoo was promptly exposed as his sleeve rode up a bit. He tilted his head and gave her a lopsided grin.

"Guess?" he said, right before he was smacked upside the head by Min who was rolling his eyes at his buffoonery. Solo cried a silent ow before sitting upright on his chair and whining towards Min.

"I can't believe you just smacked me?!" he asked flabbergasted. Min rolled his eyes again and pinched the bridge of his nose. 

"Maybe if you weren't acting stupid, I wouldn't have had to smack you" said Min. Solo gasped loudly and turned his chair to face Min as he berated him for treating his own twin like that, wild gestures were thrown around as Solo spewed words at his brother. If Haruka hadn't known them and were to simply pass by the two, she would've guessed that Min had been sleeping with Solo's girlfriend behind his back like your typical telenovela just because of his explosive nature. This time around both Haruka and Min rolled their eyes.

"Can you be quiet for once? We're working right now" he said while glaring at him. Solo grabbed his chest and pretended to have been wounded by his brother's words. He looked back at her while still grabbing his chest and it was like a switch was turned on in his brain and he immediately sat upright and put on a professional facial expression, acting as if he hadn't thrown a fit not even 5 minutes ago. 

What even is this dude? she thought. Haruka proceeded to eat another fruit tart as Solo avoided her gaze and sipped his tea. An awkward ambience settled between the three and Min fakely coughed to bring the attention towards him.

"Since it's your first day of school today, we thought we could introduce to a place where you could bring your friends to and hang out after school" he said while awkwardly scratching his neck. Both twins avoided her gaze, too embarassed to look her in the face after saying such corny words. Haruka remained stoic but deep down she appreciated their actions, so she quietly thanked them and drank the rest of her tea.

After they paid the bill, the twins led her back safely in to the limousine and set off to her school. Haruka watched the streets pass by and the people walking by boredly as she rested her head on her hand. She wasn't looking forward to her first day like usual. Because of an issue with her father's business, they had to delay leaving Japan and once again Haruka was starting school a lot later than the other students. She knew everyone was going to be staring at her the moment she was to enter class, because they were not acquaintanced with her but it didn't make it less annoying. She snapped out of her thoughts when she noticed the wall-mounted lettering facing her field of vision. Köcher High School Bangkok, salt of the earth and light of the world.

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Can you guess which characters I based the bodyguard twins on? :)