Love; Lock It! | Treasure

TWENTY; Slave For A Day

"Can I speak now?"

"I told you to wait till the movie's over."

"I've to let this out, Lee. Besides it's the interval break."

"What's got you so edgy today, Haruto? Can't you wait?" Sihmin demands, sick of the boy pestering her for the past hour.

"I just wanted to apologize to you." Haruto shrugs nonchalantly although he was feeling guilt ridden.

"What?" She questions, still unsure of what he said.

"I want to apologize, for my behavior. Yoshi hyung told me that you didn't do anything. In fact it was Nori who pushed you first. I shouldn't have assessed the situation so quickly." Haruto heaves a sigh, getting the burden off his chest finally.

"Is this real? Is Watanabe Haruto really asking me for an apology? I must be dreaming, phew." Sihmin jokes but stops once she sees Haruto expressionless.

"It's okay, it's okay. Apology accepted. Besides, I would have done the same if I was in your place. You don't have to feel bad." She adds sheepishly.

"Well I agree with you there, Lee. Junkyu and Nori matters more to us individually than we can ever, to each other. We'll always choose them over each other. That's what we're together for. Right?" Haruto asks cockily.

"Yeah, right." These words shouldn't have stung. What Haruto said was nothing but mere truth and it shouldn't have saddened Sihmin. Then why did her heart clench upon hearing those words?

Probably because she forgot about their plan for a moment but on the other hand Haruto was still focused on their plan, eager to have his best friend back to himself. Shrugging off the weird feelings, Sihmin passes a smug look to Haruto as she hits upon an idea.

"Still if you're truly repentant about what you did, I've a deal for you."

•••

"Hamburger." "No, chinese." "Hamburgers-" "I said, chinese!"

"Quit it you two!" Yoshi snaps causing Jeongwoo and Sihmin to shut up finally.

"Let's just vote. Those who want to eat hamburgers on the left while those who want to have chinese on the right." Yoshi proclaims, signalling to left and right with his hands.

"You're coming with me." Sihmin orders, dragging Haruto to the right side.

"But I want to eat hamburger-" "You're my slave for today. Forgot that?" She cuts him mid sentence while Haruto groans in defeat, remembering that he agreed to be her slave as an act of repentance.

Meanwhile Yoshi and Junghwan join Jeongwoo on the left side leaving the fake couple to themselves once again.

"Yeah! The boring couple's going to have chinese while we hot and singles will have hamburgers." Jeongwoo pokes his tongue at Sihmin while the latter rolls her eyes in exasperation. Before she could take a step towards him, Haruto holds her hand and begins to pull her outside.

"Let's meet in an hour or two guys." He shouts towards his friends, exiting the cinema's corridors with her. Haruto chuckles at her sulky expression.

"You can murder Jeongwoo later.  I'm starving right now. Hurry up and lead the way. Don't forget, I voted for chinese." He pouts and swings their intertwined hands, trying to cheer her up only to add to her distress.

"Don't act like you would have voted for it even if I didn't force you, Watanabe Haruto. Anyway I saw a good chinese restaurant at the 3rd floor. Let's go there. And you're paying. Remember you're my slave for a day." Sihmin sasses, pulling her hand out of his grasp and walking in a haste.

Haruto watches her in amusement and catches up to her. But before he could add anything further, Sihmin halts in her steps and turns around with a frown.

"What happe-" Cutting Haruto mid sentence, she drags him behind the pillar nearby and clamps her hand over his mouth, pining him to it. Closing the gap between them, she mouths something to him.

"Q." The stunned boy narrows his eyes, unable to get her.

"It's Junkyu." Sihmin mutters.

"We didn't need to hide from him." That's what Haruto wanted to reply with but thinks against of once he hears the familiar voice nearing them. It was Junkyu's.

"It's okay. Besides I'm just going back home."

"Did Yuna and Ryujin arrive? Give my hello to them."

"Have a fun night, babe." These were the three sentences, Haruto and Sihmin were able to hear as Junkyu passes by them holding his cell phone to his ear, unwary of the pretend couple's presence.

Sihmin was frowning, bewildered as to why Nori was hanging out with the mean girls of TIAH cause in her understanding they weren't even acquaintances. On the other hand, Haruto was bewildered as well but it  was because of the way their bodies were pressed, close enough to feel the heat radiating off their skins. Even Nori didn't make his heart thud like this.

Noticing his gaze on herself, Sihmin registers their position and seperates herself from him the very instant.

"Let's go and eat. We can talk about it later." Clearing her throat to smooth over the awkwardness, she gives a suggestion to which Haruto agrees without much reluctance, still in daze.

"Umm did you know- about Nori hanging out with the mean girls?" Sihmin initiates the conversation in the middle of having a wholesome meal. Haruto shakes his head in denial, contemplating on how much to share.

"Are you thinking what I am thinking?" After a baffled silence of 10 minutes, Sihmin breaks it catching Haruto off guard.

"To be honest, she seems suspicious to me as well. She doesn't hang out with us like before. We thought she wants to spend more time with her boyfriend. But now mean girls coming into the scene?" Haruto scrunches his nose in confusion.

He thought of Moons as the only friends of Nori but now he was doubting it. He just couldn't digest the newly gained information. Mean girls out of all? They were the sly foxes of TIAH. Suns and Moons were the bad and popular kids but Lia, Ryujin and Yuna were evil and experienced in tarnishing students' reputation.

"There has to be a reason behind this out of nowhere friendship, Haruto. We just have to wait till the new semester. Besides I've a perfect someone in mind who'll be able to solve the mean girls' mystery without much of a trouble." Sihmin smirks, taking a sip of her cola.

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Enjoy the chapter, precious readers💜