Fate

29

"Was that better or worse than yesterday?" Vernon asked me while we were sitting in their dressing room. They had just finished preforming, and now we were just waiting for kcon to end.

"I think you guys seemed a bit more confident today. That was the main thing I noticed." Vernon nodded at what I said, and he relaxed into the couch. His comfort was quickly abolished when Seungkwan came over and sat on him.

"Ah come on hyung!" Vernon complained as he pushed him off, and Seungkwan ended up falling on top of me. I winced at the added weight, but Seungkwan didn't make any effort to get off of me.

"Hyungggg." Vernon whined again, which only called Dk over to sit on Vernon. I adjusted myself so that Seungkwan was sitting in the gap where my leg was supposed to be, but he just ended up leaning back onto me.

"I feel a motherly need to protect this child." I whispered to Vernon, just in case anyone understood me, and he started laughing.

"He's like... Three years older than you, Doe." Dk and Seungkwan looked at each other in confusion, and Vernon kept laughing.

"Mentally though? That's debatable." Vernon translated something to Seungkwan, which only caused Seungkwan to wrap his arms around me with the brightest smile on his face. I looked at Vernon quizzically for an explanation, but he just laughed along with Dk.

"I really need to learn Korean." I muttered, and Vernon smiled.

"It's not the worst to learn. Let me go find something." Vernon turned to get up, but was met with Dk's back since the older still hadn't gotten off of him. The two went back and forth for a bit, but Dk eventually got off of Vernon. The English speaker quickly walked over to Wonwoo after spotting him across the room, and then ended up having to go to The8. Vernon then returned to me with a book in his hand, and Seungkwan got off of me so I could thoroughly see what was going on.

"Welcome to Korean class 101. I am your professor, Hansol Vernon Chwe, and today's lesson is on reading Korean." I laughed, and Seungkwan immediately raised his hand to ask a question to our "professor."

"How old are you? You look young." It seemed as though Seungkwan and Vernon had already fallen into a skit, and I decided to play along.

"Yeah, aren't you a little young to be a professor?" I asked, and Dk chimed in with something in Korean.

"I graduated high school early and got through college quickly. Can I start my lesson now?" Vernon asked, and Seungkwan straightened his back and raised his hand in salute.

"Yes, sir!" Vernon sighed and opened the book to the first page. He started pointing out the different characters and how words were arranged. Occasionally having me repeat certain things after him to work on pronunciation. I was soon able to read in Korean, but I had absolutely no idea what I was saying. Some of the other members would pop in and give their own advice just to help me. Which I was extremely grateful for.

"Can we stop? My brain has become numb." We had been doing this for almost an hour, and I was mentally exhausted. Vernon laughed and closed the book before returning it to The8. I think Wonwoo was reading his at the time or something.

"You're doing good!" Seungkwan exclaimed, and Dk nodded aggressively.

"Thanks." I replied, and Vernon sat back down next to me with a smile on his face.

"That was the easiest part of the language, sis." I sighed, which only made him smile brighter.

"I know, yet I can barely handle that."

"You'll get there one day. And then only the China hyungs can say something behind your back." He leaned closer to my ear to whisper to me. "But they do that to everyone." I looked across the room to see Jun and The8 actually in a conversation. And The8 didn't look too weirded out by his hyung. Which, as I have noticed, is a rarity.

"I think I can live with not understanding them. But not understanding you and Seungkwan? That's a no." I stuck out my tongue at my brother, and he pulled my cap over my eyes so I couldn't see.

"You're lucky I don't tell Mom how mean you are to me." He smiled cheekily, and my brain paused for a second. Mom?

"Did you just refer to your Mom as our Mom?" I asked, and Vernon thought for a second before nodding.

"Do you not want me to?"

"No, its fine. I just wasn't expecting that." He smiled and leaned his head on my shoulder and closed his eyes. Vernon was probably exhausted from everything, since some of the other members were actually asleep around the room. I felt kind of bad for keeping him up.

"I figured I could share my own Mother with my sis."