Cigarette Smoke and Leather Jackets

Chapter Four

Today was the opening of 'The Snap Dragon'. It was all lit up and pretty looking. Yuna put on her prettiest dress, a dark yellow long sleeved dress that came down just past the knee, a black leather jacket on Her shoulders.  Her and her mother had put up fliers all around the city. The opening started an hour ago. Nobody was here. The food lay untouched and the music played a lonely tune. Yuna sat there, her fist propping her face up.

"Mum, nobody's gonna come" she sighed. "There's no-" Yuna was cut off by 5 boys laughing a shoving each other. Yuna's head shot up as she recognised one of them as one of the boys who saved her the night before. Jin. Jin saw her gaping at them and smiled at her. His smile didn't fit the tough-guy image he seemed to portray. He nudged his friend, Jae, who turned around and gestured for her to come over. Sceptical, Yuna glided towards them.
"What are you doing here?" Jin asked her

"I live here."

"Oh cool!" Jin turned to his friends. "Guys, this is Yuna. Yuna this is Dae-Jung, Seo-Jun, Bon-Hwa and Juwon." Jin gestured to each of the boys of which smiled at her brightly, apart from Seo-Jun who studied her calculatingly. Yuna bit her lip. "Hi" she smiled at them all.

"This food is amazing" one of the boys, Bon said, with his mouthful. Yuna grinned. "Thanks. My mum makes it."
Bon grinned and hurried off in the direction of Yuna's mother. The smallest boy, Juwon smiled reassuringly. "Bon can be a bit much sometimes"

Seo raised his eyebrows. "Rich coming from you"
Juwon grinned and did he...blush? "Yeah. I only speak sarcasm. And swearing. That too"

Seo chuckled and cuffed him on the back of his head. Yuna noticed the small boy blush for definite this time. Yuna smiled knowingly.

"What?" Juwon asked, quickly. Nervously. Yuna shook her head. "Nothing"

Out of the corner of her eye she saw two girls walk in. Her gaze instantly fell on the younger girl who was smiling and talking with Yuna's mother. The girl's eyes flicked briefly to Yuna and their eyes met for what felt like an eternity before a tall, awkward, slightly familiar boy blocked their gaze. Yuna recognised him as the boy from the cafe. Yuna made her way over to him, aware of the girl's eyes on her the entire time. The boy, Min-Jun, She thought his name was, smiled in recognition when he saw her. "Did you drink that coffee?" He asked her with a shy smile. Yuna gave him a lopsided smile. "Yeah."

"So uh, this place is really nice" Min-Jun said. Yuna smiled. "Thanks"

They walked over to the buffet and Yuna's eyes once again, met with the girl's who was sat with the older girl across the room.
"Do you know her?" Min-Jun asked. Yuna shook her head. "No"
Min-Jun grinned at her. Yuna rolled her eyes. "Oh shut up"
"What?! I didn't even say anything!" 

Yuna and Min-Jun were met by all five boys reaching over to grab handfuls of food, deliberately nudging the two and making "oohs" and "aahs"

Yuna laughed at their behaviour, encouraging Min-Jun to laugh too. Soon, they were all laughing hysterically and when Yuna looked up, the girl was gone.

"Oh come on Keet, I liked it in there. It's not everyday you get free food" Jhang Mi-Cha whined as her sister pulled her out into the dark, cold night. Her sister, Kyta, sighed. "Mimi, we've been over this, we won't find anywhere to stay if we stay up too late, all of the accommodations will be closed"

Mi-Cha huffed. "You mean whore-houses?"
Kyta spun her around and glared at her little sister. "You're lucky we've got anywhere to stay at all" she growled. Mi-Cha looked down. "You're right. I'm sorry"

Kyta's expression softened. "Come on"
Mi-Cha followed, silent, knowing that anywhere they ended up staying would be better than that.

Yuna and the six boys sat around a table laughing and joking.
"So, how old are you?" Juwon asked her.

"14" Yuna replied. Juwon looked taken aback. "Really?"
Yuna nodded. "How old are you?"

"17"

"17?!"

The boys laughed at Yuna's reaction.
"My sister's 17" Yuna spoke.

Seo grinned. "If she's as pretty as you, I'd like to meet her"
The other boys chimed in with words of agreement.
"She's - She's not here." Yuna mumbled.

"Why not?" Jin's honey-like voice spoke up. Yuna was quiet for a while. "She uh, she goes to school in Seoul" Yuna saw Min-Jun glance at her out of the corner of her eye, looking worried.

"Do you miss her?" He asked. Yuna nodded. "So much. She was-is, is like my best friend. So being without her is kinda hard."
The boys all gave her sympathetic looks apart from Min-Jun who looked like he was trying to figure her out. See through the lies. See how she was cracking.

Yuna said goodbye to the 5 boys and all that was left was Min-Jun. Despite his awkward nature, the two got on well.
"I best be going" he said. Yuna nodded and walked him to the door.

"I'm sorry about what happened to your sister" he mumbled.
"She's not dead, Jun."

Jun sighed. "But the way you talk about her-"
"It doesn't matter" she snapped. A guilty feeling swirled in her stomach when she saw his hurt expression. "Goodnight, Jun" she said softly, then turned and closed the door, leaving the boy out in the dark, alone.