Hearts in Seoul ✧

xiii

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"Where's Justin?" Lucas inquired, as Noah, Jacob, Levi and Joseph filed into their dugout.

"Didn't you send him out to find Kayleigh?" Levi nonchalantly said, shrugging. "Shoot. Jacob doesn't know."

"Lucas, what is this all about?" Jacob asked, anger laced in his tone.

Lucas shrugged. "Well, now that you're here, there's no point in me hiding, yeah? I sent Justin out for Kayleigh."

Jacob twitched his eyebrows. "For what? We have her. She agreed to be our muse. What else is there?"

"I don't know. I want to annoy her. She doesn't deserve to be here," Lucas argued. "You've gotten on her good side, you will be hopeless in driving her out of our school."

"LUCAS! YOU ARE UNBELIEVABLE!" Jacob spat. "DO YOU REALLY THINK IT'S OKAY TO BULLY HER OUT OF THIS SCHOOL?"

"Uh, yeah? I mean, her face annoys me."

"LUCAS!"

"Chill, Jacob. I know you're fond of that baby-faced brat. We aren't. I do not want her here," Levi chided, agreeing with Lucas. "And besides, you should be the one making sure we stay intact. Look how that Kayleigh changed you."

"Levi, she hasn't even done anything to you!" Jacob waved his hand in frustration. "And also, she changed me for the good, Levi. Shut your filthy mouth."

Levi stood up, ready to attack Jacob with his fist. "You don't know the whole story," Levi spat.

Noah stood in between, stopping the imminent fight. "You two! Chill. I personally disagree with Levi and Lucas and I am in shock that you want Kayleigh out of this. But Jacob, being the most mature out of all of us, I expected you to be better."

"But Lucas is in the wrong! Do you expect me to sit down and watch Kayleigh's lifelong dream spiral downward because of my friends? Is that really what you make out of me?"

Joseph spoke up, a rare feat for a shy guy like him. "No, but Jacob, you're the mature one. You should've spoken to Lucas in a better way."

"Thanks, Joseph. I appreciate it. But imagine if this was He-Jin, would you have let Lucas ruin her life?"

"No," Joseph replied, almost too quickly.

"Exactly!"

"Lads, let's just call Justin. He's outside in the storm and we do not even know if he's safe," Noah surmised.

Lucas took out his phone and dialled Justin's number, but unfortunately, the user was unavailable.

"Lucas, if you won't change your habits, then I can't be your friend anymore," Jacob walked out the door, ready to leave once again. "I'll be the first one to leave this group if you continue. I am warning you. Leave Kayleigh alone. Or I will leave the J-Alpha."

The storm raged the whole night, trapping Kayleigh and Justin in the comfort of the hotel room. Kayleigh sat on one end of the bed, while Justin sat on the couch that was placed in the opposite corner of the room.

"You freezing?" Justin asked, taking off his coat. "You can wear this. I love the cold."

"Thank you," she stammered, taking his coat.

Silence enveloped the room, the only sound was the strong howls of the wind and the pattering of the rain, clashing with the hotel's windows.

"You know I'm not going to do anything to you, especially after... what happened," Justin said, almost delirious.

Kayleigh cried at what he said, tears ran down her cheeks as she sobbed. Tonight had been the scariest day of her life. Of course, she still wanted to buy the makeup and shoes but after being straddled by a man she did not know... scary would be an understatement.

"Hey, did I say something wrong?" Justin approached her, alarmed at her sobbing.

"NO! DO NOT COME NEAR ME!" she screamed, trembling in both fear and the cold.

"Hey, I'm sorry. I'm glad I came there early. I wouldn't forgive myself either if something happened to you."

Another silence.

"The only man I've ever been with was Levi. But we were never that intimate. I always thought he and I would end up together, married even, but... he didn't show up one day when I was finally ready to tell him how I felt," Kayleigh said in between sobs.

"Oh."

"I loved Levi. But now, I just lost faith in him... in us. That was what led my father to put me in an arranged marriage with a man I don't even know," she looked at Justin who was now caressing her hair. "He saw me cry my heart out every night. He saw me break. He put me in an arranged marriage because of that but that did not work out either. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have let out my frustrations on you."

"It's okay. Don't apologise. After what happened, you should... let it out."

"Thank you."

Kayleigh laid her head on Justin's broad shoulders as she cried. Justin didn't dare try to move, despite feeling neck pain. He lifted his shoulders, craned his neck and welcomed Kayleigh once again.

"You should introduce yourself, you know. I'm sobbing in front of a stranger. Can it get even more embarrassing than that?" Kayleigh laughed, brushing her tears away.

"Is that what you seriously think of me? A stranger? I'd rather be called a bully, rather than a stranger."

"Oh? A bully?"

"I bullied you a couple of times because of Lucas, you know."

"Well, you're not Lucas..."

Another silence.

"Come on, Justin!"

"Okay, sure... Uhm what do you want to know?"

"Anything."

"Uh. That helps narrow down everything, yeah?"

"Oops. Hmm. Okay. Let's start with, who's your bestest friend from the J-Alpha?"

Justin laughed at her use of the childish word. "Bestest? Is that even a word?"

"I don't know. But you know what I mean."

"Hmm. All of them are my best friends. We came a long way. But if I had to choose, I'd go with Jacob. He and I are native Mandarin speakers."

"That's it? Like no deeper meaning as to why you chose him?"

"Nah. Not really."

Justin chuckled. The storm started to calm down now, but neither seemed to notice. "Oh."

"What about you? Who's your favourite member of the J-Alpha?"

"Are you really going to ask me that? I hate all of you!" Kayleigh laughed.

"What?!? We aren't too bad!" Justin defended.

"Of course you'd say that. I mean you are a part of the group. No, but in all honesty, it has got to be Jacob. He's the only one who managed to atone for the J-Alpha's sins," Kayleigh jokingly shot Justin a glare.

"Ha! Okay, sure. Valid. But what am I doing right now?"

"Uh annoying me?"

"Okay, Kayleigh," Justin huffed, jokingly.

"Whatever, my turn. Hmm, do you have a confession to make?"

Justin stopped at that. "What kind?"

"Anything really," Kayleigh yawned.

"Hmm, let's just say that I'm jealous of Jacob," he paused, taking a deep breath. "I'm jealous of him because he got to see how beautiful your soul is before any of us could."

Justin smiled, his last line barely above a whisper, as Kayleigh wandered off to sleep.

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