True Beauty: An Alternate Universe

Chapter Three

Soojin:

"So everyone," Sooah started as we sat down with our trays, "As you all know, this is Jookyung, she will be joining our group from now on!" Jookyung waved shyly as everyone greeted and welcomed her. Hyunkyu spoke loudly, "Hey, Jookyung, what brings a pretty girl like you to Saebom High?" everyone laughed loudly back and Seojun punched Hyunkyu playfully on the arm. We all chatted and I noticed that Jookyung steadily got more comfortable and engaged in our conversations. I smiled at the table, completely forgetting about my father and the events that had occurred. I went to take a bite of my lunch, which consisted of white rice, Korean curry, Korean meatballs, seasoned spinach, kimchi and apple juice. I lowered my head and attempted to scoop some rice and dip it in the curry but my hair slid away from my ear and nearly fell into my rice.

Suho:

I turned away from laughing with my friends to look at Soojin who was sitting on my left. It was great seeing her smile, even after what she had to endure everyday with her family. It was also nice seeing her eating, I've noticed she's been getting skinnier lately and she looks burnt out. Soojin dipped her head, going in for a bite of food, but her hair fell down with her and nearly landed in her rice. I reacted quickly and gently stroked the hair out of her face, tucking it carefully behind her ear.

Soojin:

I felt a hand brushing my face and tucking the loose hair behind my ear. I looked up to the only person next to me, Suho. He smiled at me softly, "Be careful when you eat, you don't want to get food in your hair," I became acutely aware that everyone on the lunch table was staring at us in silence, Sooah barely stifling a scream of excitement. Her boyfriend, Taehoon, was staring with furrowed eyebrows, a look of suspicion floated over his face but disappeared. Still looking, he tried to deflect the situation by changing the subject, "How about tonight after school we go down to Namdobunsik Ikseon and get tteokbokki to celebrate the arrival of our new student, how does that sound?" everyone cheered and immediately looked away from us and got back to their food, but Sooah and Taehoon kept glancing at us then each other and smirking.

"You want to walk to the restaurant together?" Suho asked as we both waited for the bus at the station. "Yeah, what time were you thinking?" I asked. Suho thought about it for a moment, "I could come over at around 6? The meetup is at 7 and it is about a half an hour walk so we can get there early and order for everyone," he suggested. I nodded, "Sounds good, I'll text the group chat for their orders," I replied, pulling out my phone. When I opened the texting app I saw that Jookyung was added by Sooah, I clicked on her profile and added her number as a contact before sending a text asking for their orders. Everyone said tteokbokki but that was already a food of choice from the start, so Sooah asked for a large bowel of ramyun to split between everyone and the others told me their drink orders.

The bus pulled up to our stop and Suho stepped back so I could get on first. The bus was extremely full with students and people coming home from work so we ended up having to stand on the bus. Suho stood next to me, holding onto the handles above us and looked out the window. I pulled out my phone again and decided to text Jookyung, "Hey! It's Soojin Kang, I got your number from the group chat if you don't mind, save mine so we can chat!" the bus suddenly stopped abruptly, causing me to lurch forward. My phone flew out of my hand and I was about to topple over until I felt strong arms wrap around my waist, stabilising me. I looked up at Suho who pressed me up gently against his chest, looking concerned towards the front of the bus.

"Is there something wrong sir?" he called to the bus driver. The bus driver turned around, disappointed and shocked at the same time, "Someone wasn't watching where they were going and drove out in front of me. They were speeding as well so now there is a car accident," the students on the bus groaned, "I can't get around at the moment but you kids can get off now if you need to be home in a hurry," the bus driver opened the doors. As students and adults started to file out, Suho leaned down to talk in my ear so I can hear past the bustling, I tried not to blush when I felt his warm breath on my neck, "Let's just get off now or we'll be late to the meet up, besides, our stop is only a few blocks away," I nodded and picked up my phone from the ground. The screen had smashed but still worked. I placed it in my pocket and followed Suho off the bus, nearly freezing when his hand gently slipped away from my waist.