Chapter 16
Seoul, South Korea
~Kim Taeyung~
School couldn't come fast enough.
I haven't been able to get her out of my head since I saw her last.
She was driving me crazy and didn't even know it.
These feelings, I've never felt them before.
And I didn't know what to do with them. I wanted to be around her all the time. Smell her perfume, hear her laugh, see her smile. Everything. She consumed all my thoughts.
I spent an hour in front of the mirror checking my looks, making sure I looked good.
*RING*RING*RING*
No one but Park Suho calls me this early in the morning.
"What?"
"Is that anyway to greet you longest best friend?" His voice betraying fake hurt.
"Fuck off, what do you want Suho?"
"What's your plan?" He asked.
"Plan for what?"
"To make that girl you're feelin' yours?" Suho asks.
"She is mine." I corrected him.
"So, there's no plan?" He asked, disappointed.
"Aniyo, I don't need one." I was confident.
"Whatever you say, Bro."
"We will eat lunch with her today." I informed him.
"Does she know that?" he laughed.
"I told her I'd find her for lunch." I told him flatly.
"You didn't ask her? You told her?" I could practically hear his head shaking through the phone.
"You don't know a damn thing about women, do you?" He chuckled low.
"I know enough. I've never had a problem before." I reminded him.
"You've never had to work for a girl. They fall in your lap." He mentions.
"Oh, and it's different for you, yeah?" I rolled my eyes.
"Yes, because I make women fall in love with me. You sleep with them and dump them the next day." He wasn't wrong. I've never had a girlfriend before. But then again, I've never cared about a girl before. Except Mimi and my Eomeoni.
"So, what do you suggest, mister love expert?" I mocked his self-proclaimed expertise.
"Start with just buying her lunch. And inviting her to sit with us." He advised.
"I did invite her." I reminded him.
"Aniyo, you told her to come, you didn't invite her." He said.
"Is that not the same thing? I'm pretty sure it is."
"You've got so much to learn." He chuckled into the phone.
"Annyeong, Suho." I hung up on him.
I know what I'm doing.
I didn't even have class until 15:00.
*Knock*Knock*
"Come in."
"Ayea, look at my handsome young man getting ready for school." My Eomeoni said to me walking through the door with breakfast, "I haven't seen you care this much since you were a child. Is it for a girl?"
"Ye, I have a girlfriend."
She practically dropped the tray caring my breakfast at the mention of me having a girlfriend.
"And you are just now telling me, when do I get to meet her?" She asked enthusiastically.
"When she accepts that she's, my girlfriend." I answered with a smile.
"Wait, what do you mean wjhen she accepts it?" She crossed her arms and lifted an eyebrow at me.
"I met her on the plane home. She's a student at SNU, a freshman." I avoided her question and added, "She acts a lot likeHalmeoni."
"Really?"
"Ye, she's different. She's sugar and spice. She's got this fire that burns inside her, and I've never thought being burned could feel so good."
My Eomeoni has never made that face, I can't even put words to it. Like a cross between surprise, shock, disbelief and excitement. It's like she had a kaleidoscope of emotions going on in her head.
"I am just at complete loss for words. My son is in love! I have a future daughter-in-law." She started jumping up and down clapping.***
"Don't tell Mimi. She gets jealous easily and I don't want her scaring off my girlfriend." I looked at her with all the seriousness in my voice.
Mimi wasn't someone to be underestimated, she was a genius. A little six year old genius. She's never been a fan of any girl whose ever paid attention to me. Spilling juice on dresses, stepping on their toes, calling them Ajumeoni (Auntie) insulting them and calling them old. She was a devious little girl, always causing trouble, and being too cute to punish.
"I know that she's a ruthless little girl, like her Abeoji. Eat your breakfast and remember to be nice to her. The girl you like that is."
"I got it Eomeoni."
She left and shut the door behind her.
I checked myself in the mirror one more time before leaving. I had her schedule. Mr. Jin will have that background check soon.
I need to know what she she's hiding.
By the time I got to school she was in second class, she had lunch after and then another class at the same time I have mine.
Sitting down at our groups lunch table. Jung Younho looked at me and said "That new girl has jumped to the number one spot on the campus beauty ranking. And I have to say, I agree. She's fucking hot. I haven't seen her in person, but this candid shot of her this morning is fire."
"Let me see that." I snatched his phone.
She was ranking higher than any girl has on this sight, even the girls are obsessed with her.
"I think I'm gonna shoot my shot." He added; I shot him a murderous glare; anger radiated from me.
"If you so much as look at her in a way I disapprove, Younho, I will kill your family's business, and you will live in poverty for the rest of your miserable life." I growled my threat.
He shut up instantly. He could tell I wasn't messing around.
"Damn why are you being so scary of a girl?" He sounded a little offended and nervous even.
"Because, she's mine. She just hasn't realized it yet."
Younho's brother Yoongi joined us next, followed by Suho and Yang.
"Annyeong." Suho sounded more cheerful than usual.
"Why are you so happy?" I asked him.
"Because Cherry texted back, and she's down to be study buddies." He winked at me.
I was about to respond but then I saw her. Her long wavy black hair shined under the fluorescent lights. She was dressed cute, but not formally. Even with barely any makeup on, she stilled looked like a goddess and walked without a care in the world.
When she entered the cafeteria, I decided to take Suho's advice, and I would buy her lunch.
When I came up behind her, I was close enough again to smell her floral shampoo. I noticed how she tensed up the minute she sensed me close to her.
"What are you doing?" She spoke sharply in English.
"Paying for lunch." I responded in Korean.
"Well, don't, I appreciate it, but I'm no one's charity case." She sounded more annoyed than grateful.
"I don't do personalized charity work. I do what I want. And I want to pay for your lunch. Suck it up and take a seat at my table." I pointed at the direction where my friends were sitting. Inviting her to sit with us.
But to my surprise she took her tray and walked to a table at the other end of the cafeteria by a window and sat down, started eating a rice ball. Acting like I wasn't even there.
Like I was invisible.
Fuck that.
I walked over and dragged the chair letting is screech echo through the cafeteria. Silencing everyone.
Everyone turned to look at us.
Let them see, she was mine.