Shades Of Hwa

Chapter Eight

Finally, the last day of school had at last arrived, and Seonghwa got the day off from work this Friday, so he was celebrating with Hyosonn, Munhee and Yunho's closest friends who are now also his: Mingi, Youngjae, Daeshim and another named Jaesang.

They were at a Korean BBQ restaurant to celebrate not failing school.

Nobody could drink beer with the scrumptious meat, but Coca Cola did okay as a second option. The guys were all chattering so loud and fooling around at the table, while Munhee, who was next to Yunho, and Hyosonn was beside her, they tried to understand what the heck the joke was. Boys can be so weird sometimes.

Munhee's phone made a notification for when news come up, and when she checked what it was, she sharply gasped, a hand shooting to cover her mouth. Her eyes were big and glanced to Hyosonn.

"What is it? You look horrified, Mun-ah." She looks back at her with concern.

"Hyosonn, I know you might not want to read this now, but I think you should..." Munhee showed the online article to her, and Hyosonn blanched when she read the headline along with the information.

Kim Hajoon wasn't on house arrest anymore since Monday, the sentence shortened somehow, but the news was posted today. Somebody did probably an illegal deal or however it's done, and he isn't serving a sentence, just free as if what he did wasn't a crime at all. This cannot be...

Seonghwa had been absorbed with his friends in their animated conversation, but he glances at Hyosonn and saw how her face turned extremely pale, her expression of terror.

"Babe, what's wrong??" he questioned immediately, placing both hands on her shoulders, realizing she's trembling now.

Munhee reluctantly hands her phone to him, she already had an idea of what his reaction will be to the news.

"Fuck. How the hell...?" he cursed in a low tone, and gave the cell phone back to Munhee, so he can hold Hyosonn. "Baby, it's okay. He can't get close, remember? He's far away, and I would never let anything happen to you. I'll keep you safe always," he crooned, kissing her hair and squeezing. He hid his expression of worry inside of it.

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The next day, it was February 14th, and Seonghwa decided to be creative, so Hyosonn gets her mind off the bad news she'd read yesterday. The plan wasn't only because of this, though. He'd had it about a month and a half. Either way, he would do anything to make her smile again, since he hates seeing her so distraught. The rest of the celebration she turned quiet and left most of the food on the plate thanks to the damn bastard of Hajoon.

Seonghwa already imagined that money was involved here and that's how the sentence got taken away. Incredible how if you have the resources, you can get out of serving for your crimes like the rest of the people.

But he is determined to distract his girl, and this plan had come conveniently for them. Hyosonn didn't have a clue about it, since this'll be a surprise.

He hates lying to her, but there was justified reasons for this occasion. He told her that today he'll be super busy and needed to do extra hours in the shop because of it. Only Hyosonn's mother knew what's going on, because she had to keep Hyosonn from going out anywhere.

He wanted to do a Valentine's Day, even if this is South Korea, not the United States. It'd be fun to enjoy it as if this were truly America.

So, as soon as he got off work, Seonghwa raced to get home and cleaned up. His aunt was finishing the preparation of arranging the bouquet of flowers he'd bring Hyosonn when he surprises her at the door.