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chapter 18: ▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄▄
"jiji, let's eat. the food is here." jihyun heard her brother say, his head poking through her bedroom door. "yay! i'm starving."
"you haven't eaten anything since morning, and then you and yeosang were so busy studying, you guys forgot to eat! at least yeosang had something with us before we reached home, you didn't anything since breakfast. take care of yourself, ji. i don't want you getting sick or anything. you're the only one i have for now." seonghwa whispered the last part hoping his sister didn't hear, which she didn't, as he looked at his one and only sister with a look of concern.
"okay, okay. that'll be the last time, i promise. stop worrying too much, you look like you've aged ten years already." jihyun laughed and her brother did so too. the siblings then slowly trailed down the unnecessarily fancy stairway in their unnecessarily huge house that usually had barely anyone inside except the two of them and the few non live-in house maids that come by occasionally to tidy up the house, also seonghwa's friends on certain weekends.
jihyun on the other hand, never has friends over, the reason being that she doesn't want them to know that she lives in a mansion. she has always noticed how fake the girls in her school were. even her "friends" were, she had long known that.
it wasn't fair. the rich always gets better treatment, she experienced that first hand. she used to come to school purely for the sake of studying. she didn't have actual friends, she only had classmates who most of the time never even cared about her existence.
however, when the school had found out that the park siblings turned out to be the children of the owners of one of the biggest clothing company in south korea, it was as if the girl was the princess of the school.
she suddenly had these random girls stick around her constantly, sat with her at lunch, and somehow always asking the girl if they could come over. she knew they only cared about her because she was filthy rich. that was the only reason they stuck by her.
and for a year, it stayed that way. jihyun was stuck in a friend group she didn't even agree to be in. she had to listen to their pointless boy drama and gossips that she knew she didn't want to hear about.
she was never the one to approach them, it was always them who came to her. asking her to buy them lunch or go shopping with them just so they could take advantage of her credit card.
when she started becoming friends with the boys, she finally felt what it was like to be genuinely friends with someone. she was never able to keep her friendships lasting, she always had to move away when they're finally attached. but seoul is where she belongs and she somehow had a feeling that with these boys, it'll last long.
"you guys haven't started eating?" her thoughts were interrupted by her brother's voice. she looked around to see that the boys are gathered around the table full of pizza and chicken, some on the floor and some sitting on top of bean bags. "we were waiting for you guys."
"ahh, sorry 'bout that. my brother and i were talking and i also stopped by the kitchen to wash my hands first. let's start eating now!" jihyun cheered, a bright smile plastered on her face as she sat down on the floor next to jongho.
yeosang melted seeing her smile and the boys felt warm seeing the girl that happy. they rarely get to see her smile that brightly in school, even when she sits with her friends. her smile always seemed so forced when she was with them.
reaching out for a slice of pizza in front of her, she froze when she felt her hand brush against another, her tutor's, to be specific. he was reaching out for the slice next to hers.
she looked up to see him blushing as he took the slice. the group then started to sing some cheesy romantic drama ost as they teased yeosang. the boy kept his gaze down, too shy to look up.
"so, noona! i heard you're going to the dance with this loser. if he tries anything funny with you, hit me up and i won't hesitate to finger flick an asshole." jongho assured jihyun, trying to look tough with his cheeks filled with food making him look like a cute hamster.
"oh, no. not the finger flick, please! anything but jongho's finger flick! that shit hurts like a bitch." mingi cried out, looking like he's experienced it before in the most traumatising way possible. well, if one has experienced jongho's finger flick, they'd know not to mess with the boy.
"you act like you won't be there around them 24/7 throughout the whole dance. chill, we're all going together, remember? we're going to stay together throughout the whole dance." hongjoong reassured the youngest.
"oh no, unlike you losers, i have a date. i'm not sticking with you guys because i'm sure you guys will scare her away. jihyun noona is lowkey a crackhead too, that's the only reason she's still friends with us. so uh, noona, on friday if you need me to come to the rescue, just scream my name and i'll be there in ten seconds max." jongho says, taking a sip of his cola.
jihyun chuckled at the boy's antics while his hyungs only sighed, seemingly done with him.
jihyun was thankful to have met these wonderful boys and she prayed that she could maintain their friendship for a long time.
