Heartstrings || Joshua Hong

Chapter 4

Rina POV:

Beep beep. Beep beep.

I read the alarm clock, "10:00 AM" and remembered it was Sunday. Sunday morning in my household meant going to church, no matter what we were doing or where we were in the world. Within a week of moving in, my parents had already reached out to the Korean-American community in LA and found us a new local church. Rubbing the sleep out of my eyes, I got up to get ready and put on a nice flowery blouse and white jeans. My parents were already downstairs eating breakfast and I heard my mom yelling at me to hurry up.

"Yes, yes, I'm coming", I yelled back, heading downstairs.

—

We arrived to church a few minutes before service began so we could park and find the English ministry. We walked into a large room with pews facing a make-shift stage up front where the praise band was currently setting up. I chose a spot to sit in the back row while my parents went around the room exchanging introductions and greetings, being the social butterflies they were. Soon service began with the praise team leading worship in song.

My heart nearly stopped when I saw who was right next to the worship leader. Joshua freaking Hong, sitting on a stool, resting a guitar on his knee, harmonizing perfectly into the mic.

Why. Do I run into this guy. Literally. EVERYWHERE. I had to try my very best not to shriek right there in the sanctuary. My mom must've sensed my sudden panicked state and turned toward me, mouthing "What's wrong?" I shook my head, assuring her it was nothing and tried to regain a calm, neutral expression on my face. I was on edge for pretty much the rest of service, completely missing the message the pastor had preached on. When it finally ended, I bolted straight out of my seat and tugged on my parents' arms, wanting to get out of there as soon as possible before Joshua saw me.

A few seconds later, I felt someone tap me on my shoulder. SHI-I mean, SHOOT. I turned around, face already reddening, ready to face my demise. No, I didn't hate him, but meeting someone you know outside of school is just too awkward. Especially if it's this guy.

"Uh Rina, are you sure you're not just stalking me at this point?", Joshua said in a mockingly sarcastic tone.

"Wha- Okay no, I can say the same to you then", I replied defensively, still trying to get my parents out the door ASAP.

"I mean not really, I've been at this church much longer than you have. Plus, I was at the practice rooms before you the other da—", he began, before my mom of all people cut in.

"Omo, omo! Rina-yah, you didn't tell me you had a friend here! Are you two classmates?", she asked with an excited expression. I opened my mouth to say no, but then Joshua started introducing himself.

"Hello, you two must be Rina's parents, Mr. and Mrs. Song! My name is Joshua Hong, and it's such a pleasure to meet both of you. Rina and I are in the same homeroom. She's really a wonderful classmate to be around", he replied, a little too enthusiastically for my taste.

"Wow, what a polite young man! You should learn from his manners, Rina", my father said, obviously pleased. Turning to my mother, he suggested, "Why don't we let Rina hang out with Joshua here while we go back and continue unpacking at home."

"That's a great idea!", my mom replied and before I knew it, the two of them headed to the car and pulled out of the parking lot. Now they decided to be in a hurry?

I glared at Joshua and said, "This is all. your. fault." He smiled triumphantly, saying, "Aww, don't be like that. You probably haven't even had time to explore LA since you moved, right? C'mon, I'll show you around", and dragged me out to his car. Sighing in defeat, I decided to go with it for now.

—

Once we were on our way, Joshua turned on the radio and started singing along. That reminded me of one thing that had bothered me since Friday afternoon.

"Hey, Joshua, can I ask you something?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Why are you so against people calling you a gentleman? That's not really a bad thing, is it? I mean, my parents probably think you are one considering what you just did back there."

Joshua stayed silent a bit before answering. "No, the gentleman image isn't really the problem. It's when people think that they've got me all figured out based on how I look that gets me. And then they try to get close to me based on their misconceptions. I guess that's why when you walked in as the new kid, I tried my hardest to avoid playing into that gentlemanly role. I generally just like roasting and messing around with people as good friends, but sorry if I made you feel like I was being a complete jerk..."

I just sat there in silent awe, one, because Joshua had just confessed probably years worth of insecurities with someone he'd met barely a week ago, and two, because he looked quite cute in his slightly embarrassed state at the moment. I laughed to myself, thinking Oh man, my first impression of him was completely off.

"Dang, I didn't know there was a whole story behind it. Sorry for labeling you as a jerk right off the bat, too, but did you have to go that far with the roasting??" I teased. He shrugged sheepishly, and I smiled widely, not used to this new, shy Joshua. Gosh, what a tsundere. 

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A/N Had to throw in a little Jisoos in there, I'm sorry ^^

(For those of you who aren't weebs, tsundere = character who comes off cold but is actually warm/friendly inside)