Hearts in Seoul ✧

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Kayleigh caught all six of them having lunch together once, sitting at a table together, nodding in agreement with whatever statement they said. He-Jin and Roisin were there as well, so she decided to join the rest of the group.

"Hey, guys," she greeted, taking the free seat next to Jacob, who smiled at her, briefly, before engaging back at the six's conversation. The rest of the group continued to speak to each other, nodding aggressively whenever one of them spoke. "Are you guys friends again?" she whisper-shouted at Jacob, despite being of close proximity to him.

"Yeah, kind of. We all hate Hans," Jacob nodded. "We're all chill now."

Kayleigh hummed, looking at Justin, who had already been staring at her prior, and then consequently tearing his gaze away from her. Lucas witnessed the exchange, cleared his throat and then proceeded with the heated debate, "All I said was true. No matter what we go through, even if we change our name, regardless if we use the name J-Alpha or not, we will always be the J-Alpha nonetheless. Not because of our names, but because it is us. We make up the J-Alpha, the name J-Alpha does not make us."

Noah nodded. "Hans is just leeching off of our name. He doesn't know that we yield the power, not the other way round. So, to more important matters, are we friends now?"

"Are we?" Levi looked up at the ceiling, as if in deep thought. "I think we are."

"Do we have a choice?" Justin laughed, as he held out his hand to Lucas for a handshake. "Let's leave the past behind us. I still love her. As John Lyly's said, all is fair in love and war. It's only fair if we do it together." Jacob patted his shoulder.

"Alright. Friends," Lucas agreed. He took Justin's hand, shaking it as he patted his shoulder back. "I'm sorry. I was childish. It was my fault."

"It was all of ours. Don't be too hard on yourself," Jacob added.

"Thank you, Levi, Noah and Joseph for staying."

"We got you, man," Levi laughed.

"So, are we still the J-Alpha or...?" Noah trailed off.

"Yep. No matter what we still are, anyway," Lucas deadpanned. "Thanks to you, girls, too. You kept those two lover boys sane."

He-Jin laughed. "No problem. It's not like it's hard to make Joseph sane," she pointed at Joseph, ruffling his hair.

"Tch." Joseph rolled his tongue.

"Lucky you, He-Jin. This man is the one that is driving me insane — for all the wrong reasons! He cannot shut up about quantum physics," Roisin hit her palm on her forehead, groaning.

All of them laughed. The tension was no longer present among them. "I'm sorry we had to come to this in order to be friends again," Lucas apologised.

"Don't worry, Lucas. We realised how boring it was without a bossy leader. Kidding," Levi joked. "Anyway, Kayleigh how about we be honest with everyone about us?"

Roisin looked at Levi then at Kayleigh, then back at Levi again. "You... you're dating?"

Kayleigh was flustered. "No! Roisin!" she rolled her eyes. "Everyone, I just wanted to let you know that Levi and I were... well, we were childhood friends and... you know, almost a thing. Never an official thing, though, don't worry. But we're good now, right?" Kayleigh looked hopefully at Levi.

"Right."

The group laughed, talked and ate together, as the topics jumped from taking down Hans to Kayleigh's smouldering relationship with the J-Alpha, to quantum physics, to a parallel universe, to animes and even to K-Dramas — they talked about anything under the sun. No one seemed to care about the time, no one dared to break it to them either, as they all basked in each other's presence, as if they had known each other since birth.

"Alright, we'll see each other at BBQ Olive Chicken, then? Have some chicken and soju? Y'all up?" Lucas asked, standing up, grabbing his bag. Lucas was a man who naturally radiated leadership, and it was evident with the way the rest seemed to follow his lead, unconsciously, even Kayleigh. "We're gonna discuss how to take down Hans. Don't worry, nothing physical."

"I bet he won't even hold up. Have you seen how he crumbled with what you said, Lucas?" Justin mocked. "Sure, I'm in. Kayleigh, I'm picking you up."

Lucas threw his hands in protest. "Not fair!"

"I'm going with Roisin and He-Jin," Kayleigh turned to her friends. "You guys coming?"

"Sure will! As long as Lucas pays," Roisin winked.

"Aight! Will do. See y'all," he waved, as his dark hair gleamed under the sunlight, walking away.

For dinner, the group had their classic Fried Chicken, perfectly paired with bottles of soju, at around seven o'clock. The first to come were Joseph and Jacob, who carpooled together, then Lucas, Levi and Noah and then finally Justin. He-Jin, Roisin and Kayleigh came in last.

"Toast to our friendship. No one shall take us down," Lucas raised his glass of soju, urging others to do the same as they toasted. Their glasses clinked, the burning liquid sloshing slightly over the rim as they did. "Now onto business. Hans Oliver Choi."

"I've done a background check, courtesy of being Mr Park's son," Levi muttered, revealing a crisp manila folder filled with Hans' documents. Lucas took it in his hands, studying the files intently. "My father told me he has quite a family background. He's Korean by birth, but he was born and raised in the United States, in Los Angeles, California. Both his biological father and mother are Koreans, but his mother is an American citizen. His mother, Georgina Choi," he showed a picture of a beautiful woman in her late 30s, "is the CEO of a large fashion company. His adoptive father, Alexander Sung, is the CEO of a banking business. A rich brat, I must admit."

"Adoptive?" Noah asked as he noticed his misuse of the Sung last name.

"Well, it's quite complicated. Alexander Sung was Georgina's long-time fiancé and Hans is Georgina's biological mother. He was in the process of getting adopted when Alexander found out that Georgina had two more kids, younger than Hans, in Korea with Hans' father, behind his back. They broke up, and well, Hans is back here. His mum will follow soon," Levi explained, leaning into the table as he whispered. "Apparently, Alexander has a long-lost son somewhere, with a Japanese woman. Oi, Sato. Could it be you?"

"Impossible," Joseph shook his head. "I've never seen him nor have I heard his name."

"Valid."

"What about Hans' school reputation back in the US?" Jacob asked, taking a bite off his chicken.

"Quite notorious. He was a bully. Since Georgina and Alexander never actually married, Alexander never really thought of Hans as his own child, and Hans grew up with an identity crisis. He let out all his anger at school, beating people up, bullying them and whatnot. Georgina paid his school a large sum of money to not let it out in the media, as his behaviour — if ever leaked — would potentially cause the downfall of not only Georgina's company but also Alexander's."

"So why are they here?" Noah asked.

"They're looking for Hans' real father and well, Georgina's real husband."

"Perfect!" Lucas chided, taking a big gulp of soju. "We're going to use his past to take him down."

"No, Lucas. That's disgusting. You can't use family matters. That's very sensitive," Jacob disagreed.

"No. We won't leak it. If we tell the Student Council Head and the Head Coach of the Soccer Team of Hans' past actions, do you think they'll let him continue? It'll be bad for the school's reputation! So, technically, we aren't really using his family issues to our advantage, but his habits as well. We can all agree that he hasn't changed."

Everyone nodded in agreement, as the J-Alpha planned carefully how to take Hans down, with Kayleigh, He-Jin and Roisin sneaking glances at each other nervously.

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