Lessons From Romance

The Untouched Line

For a second he'd forgotten he wasn't the only person Namjoo probably tended to specially. For another second he wondered who that person was.

"You're here?" A voice broke his thoughts.

Luhan turned to see Chae Yoon standing not too far away. Seeing her irritated him almost at once. Shifting away from her he fixated his eyes elsewhere.

A mock smile grew onto her face, "Why? Are you jealous you got ditched?"

Luhan gave no reaction so as not to please her, but Chae Yoon went on nonetheless.

"Don't worry," Chae told, "he's her step-brother, but on the other hand; maybe you should worry a little. They're only siblings in name, so far as I know he's never let anyone near her. What a protective brother he is, right?"

The irritancy inside him was growing even more and it was bothering him the longer he stood there listening to her stupid words. Shrugging her off he side stepped away, but turned when he heard someone call out for Chae Yoon. Another tall man dressed semi-formally was headed toward them looking a little excited.

"You're here already?" Ki Chan greeted.

"Yes," Chae Yoon replied and Luhan was ready to leave them, but Chae Yoon stopped him. "Ah...I heard you wanted to meet Luhan. He's the friend I was telling you about."

Biting his tongue Luhan turned to see Ki Chan looking him over in a way that he should be cautious of him.

"Hi," he greeted with an extended hand, "I'm Lee Ki Chan."

Luhan stared at his hand before forcing himself to shake it.

"You look familiar," Ki Chan commented. "Have we met before?"

Chae Yoon answered for him, "Namjoo said you already met each other. It was that night when Luhan went to the hospital to look for Namjoo, right?"

Luhan shot Chae Yoon a glance before looking at Ki Chan.

"Ahh..." he nodded, "so that was you. It's nice seeing you again. Wow, Namjoo really knows a lot of people. By the way, where is she?"

"Over there with her brother," Chae Yoon nodded her way in Namjoo's direction.

She was still enjoying herself amongst the group of old men.

"We were just talking about how close they were, right Luhan?" Chae Yoon asked.

Luhan glanced at her wondering what she was hinting.

"Ki Chan!" They turned to see Namjoo headed toward them, pulling her brother along. "You're here?"

"You look nice today," Ki Chan complimented to which Namjoo smiled.

"This is my brother I was talking about, Kai," Namjoo introduced. "This is Ki Chan and Luhan."

"Hi," Ki Chan friendlily greeted shaking Kai's hand. "I went to school together with Namjoo."

"We also work together," Namjoo added before looking at him. "And this is Luhan."

When Luhan met eyes with Kai he almost took a step back from the intimidation he felt.

"The one you told me about?" Kai asked.

"You're a hot topic," Chae Yoon commented shooting him an eyeful.

Luhan glanced at her before Namjoo said, "It's not like that. I just thought it'd be nice for them to meet each other and become friends."

"You sure it's not because you're interested in Luhan?" Chae Yoon implied.

In the blink of an eye Luhan felt them all shift to look at Namjoo. He felt even more uncomfortable when both Ki Chan and Kai turned to look at him. It was as if they were scanning him to see if he was hiding any ulterior motives.