TOUGH ROMANCE || scoups || BOOK ONE

37

"Lee Mimi!!"

Apparently Hani wasn't done yelling when we returned to the parking lot, where Yuna and Mimi stood next to my mother's car.

"Now, Hani." Yuna began.

"Don't you 'Now, Hani' me, mum! Someone under five feet with blue streaks in her hair had better start explaining why I came down to discuss a situation with her teacher only to find my niece hiding in the coat room with a jar of mice! You're supposed to be at Jennie's with your grandparents!"

Mimi looked at the toes of her sneakers. They were the pink ones I'd bought her. She'd added a heart charm to the laces. There were two mice nestled on a cushion of dried grass in the jar at her feet.

"Mrs Kim was being a pain in the a-"

"Do not finish that sentence!" Hani said. "You're already in trouble."

Mimi's face went mutinous. "I didn't do anything wrong. I showed up to school on the first day, and she was mean to me. Like really mean. She yelled at me infront of everyone in the cafeteria when I spilled water. She took break time away from everyone and said it was my fault for not respecting what belonged to other people. Then, when she was handing out papers about some dumb bake sale to take home to our parents, she said I didn't need one since my mum was too busy in the bedroom to find the kitchen.."

Hani looked like she was about to have an aneurysm. "Get it together." I warned her, tucking her behind my back.

I put my hand on Mimi's shoulders and squeezed.

"Look. I think we all get that you're not used to having an adult around who has your back. But you need to get used to it. Hani's not going anywhere. You've got your grandparents too. And you've got me and Jennie and Jeonghan. But you scared the shit out of all of us running off like that."

She scuffed her foot on the asphalt. "Sorry." She said sullenly.

"What I'm saying is you have a lot of people in your corner now. You don't need to go it alone. And your Aunt Hani can do a hell of a lot more than leave some mice in a teacher's desk drawer."

"I was also gonna give her a computer virus. One of those annoying ones that adds extra letters and numbers when you're typing." She said, her cheeks pink with indignation.

I hid my grin by biting the inside of my cheek. "Okay. That's pretty good." I admitted. "But it's not a long term solution. Your teacher is a problem that you can't solve on your own. You need to tell your ain't this shit so she can deal with it like she just did in there."

"Mrs Kim looked scared." Mimi said, chancing a glance behind me at Hani.

"Your Aunt can be really scary when she stops taking her screaming into pillows."

"Am I in trouble?" Mimi asked.

"Yes." Hani said firmly.

Just as Yuna insisted. "Of course not, sweetheart!"

"Mum!!"

"What?" Yuna asked, wide eyed. "She's been through a traumatic few days at school, Hani."

"Your mother is right." Baekhyun said. "We should can an emergency appointment with the principal and the superintendent. Maybe they can convene a special school board meeting tonight."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I drove Hani to Lock's Glass on her own, whilst Mimi, Yuna and Baekhyun went out for some ice cream.

"She ran away from home." Hani said, staring out the window and clutching the bag of warm pretzels in her lap.

"She didn't run away. She snuck out." I argued.

"Either way, how does that make me look as a guardian? I let an 11 year old walk into town with a jar of mice and a computer virus."

"Rose, you need to stop getting yourself so worked up over this custody thing. Do you really think any judge in their right mind is going to decide Mi is better off with her mum?"

She turned flashing eyes on me. "How about when your life choices are under a microscope by the legal system, you can decide not to get worked up?"

I shook my head and turned onto a trail barely wide enough for my car.

"This isn't work." She observed.

"Not going back to work yet." I told her as we bumped along the rutted track.

"I need to get back. I have a shift that I should have already been working." She insisted.

"Baby, you need to stop obsessing about the things you should be doing and make some time for the shit you wanna do."

"I want to get back to work. I don't have time for you to murder me in the woods today."

The trees parted, and a field of tall grass opened up before us. "Cheol, what are you doing??"

I brang my car to a stop.

"You kidnapped me??"

I brang my arm around the back of her seat.

"Seungcheol-"

Leaning over, I released her seat belt, then plucked the pretzels off her lap and threw the bag into the backseat.

"You can't be serious. I have work."

"Darling, I don't joke about this. Besides, you work for me."

"This is ridiculous.." Hani said as she let me pull her onto my lap.

"Rose, the sooner you stop talking, the sooner I can drag you across this console and make you forget all about work and teachers."

She stared at me through heavy lids for a bit. "Okay."

"Did I mention how much I love your skirts?" I asked before smashing my mouth to hers.

She pulled away after a few seconds. "Actually you said you hated them. Remember?"

"I lied."

"This is very irresponsible of us."