[SJFF] Real Face - Chapter 16
Title: Real Face
Characters: Donghae, Heechul, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst
Type: Novel
Summary: She finally managed to escape from the one place that she hates the most in order to begin a new life in Seoul, but is still unable to get over the hatred for the male species. Would her heart be softened eventually?
~ * ~
16
"For the millionth time, guys, I am not gay! How many times do I have to repeat myself to the both of you?" Donghae claimed exasperatedly at Hyukjae and Youngwoon, planting his head exhaustedly on the surface of his desk. Around him, his group of friends was howling out in laughter, and the two people in question exchanged high-fives with each other.
"I don't see why you're still denying it, Donghae. You even skipped classes just to go look for Sanghee when he didn't turn up for school for one day," Hyukjae commented snidely, deftly dodging the hit that Donghae had aimed the back of his head. He gleefully flashed a peace sign in Donghae's direction, much to the younger male's dismay.
"That's because I know for a fact that I'm perfectly straight, thank you very much. You don't see me hitting on any of you for as long as I've known you, have you?" the victim of the conversation frowned. He had half the mind to pull Youngwoon close to him in order to pretend that he was about to kiss him, but aborted the idea soon after because they were definitely going to tease the hell out of him. He needed a new plan.
"Honestly, I think that Donghae has a point. If he were gay, we would have been a victim of his harassment by now," Sungmin commented, causing Donghae to nod satisfactorily in response until he picked up on the second part of his words. The older one of the pair flashed a saccharine sweet smile and shrugged nonchalantly at Donghae, whom yelled out indignantly, asking whether Sungmin was standing on his side or attempting to tease him subtly along with Hyukjae and Youngwoon. If anything, Donghae was actually glad that Siwon wasn't taking sides, though he would have very much preferred if he helped him instead. Damn his impartiality at times like these.
Youngwoon, whom finally stopped snorting from laughter, put on a straight face and launched yet another question at his friend. "Seriously, though. I'm still curious about the reasons why you're so interested in that guy. Sanghee's asocial as hell, yet you're somewhat attached to him even though he ignores you most of the time when you attempt to initiate a conversation. I really don't get you anymore, Lee Donghae," he said, fiddling around with the pencil that he had discovered on said person's desk.
"I have my own reasons for that, Youngwoon. Don't worry; I'm not ditching you guys for Sanghee. You know I could never do that to you," he replied, batting his eyelashes adorably at his friends whom shuddered at his actions.
Nevertheless, before Youngwoon could sneak in yet another word, Sungmin gave them the signal to scram, as the person that they were talking about had just walked into the classroom. Judging by the dark look she had on her face, her mood wasn't all full of sunshine for the day, and there was a huge chance that Sungmin, who had been occupying her seat earlier, was going to bear the brunt of it. The four of them quickly wished their friend good luck, before escaping back to their seats before Sanghee reached their group.
Donghae, who was still extremely bothered by the slap she had given him on the previous day, mustered up his courage to approach her even though there was a huge chance that she would be ignoring him. The way that she merely pushed past him when he stood up to greet her without giving him a single look was more than adequate to tell him that she wasn't remotely interested in talking to him. He sighed a little at her coldness, but decided that it was his fault for saying something out of line on the previous day, and attempted to get her to talk to him once again.
"Hey, how are you feeling today? You didn't look too well yesterday," Donghae commented in a low voice, pretending as though she wasn't currently in the foulest mood ever. Around them, several of their classmates turned around to look at them, wondering what was going to happen. They went back to bothering about their own business when the member of the student council narrowed his eyes at them.
"Why do you care?" she shot back, her intonation as biting as it could get while she continued to stare out of the window at nothing in particular. Even though it was an irate reply more than everything else, Donghae couldn't care less about it, because he was half-expecting for her to flat-out ignore him.
"Because I'm worried about you, that's why. You're not helping my cause by snapping at me at every single chance you get, you now," he frowned in response, only to receive a disbelieving scoff from his seatmate.
"Oh, really now? I don't recall you channeling that vibe yesterday. I'm not even going to remind you about what you've said," she growled, before gathering her things and walking over to Sungmin, who was chatting animatedly with Hyesu. Donghae looked on curiously as Sanghee exchanged some words with his friend, whom looked in Donghae's direction with an amused smile for a split second, before giving Sanghee a slight nod. When Sungmin started to walk over to the back of the class with his bag, Donghae realised that she had actually switched places in order to sit with Hyesu instead.
"Sorry man, Hyesu literally begged me to switch with Sanghee because they wanted to talk and 'catch up with lots of things', or so she says," Sungmin mused as he settled into the vacant seat next to Donghae, replying the small wave that Sanghee had sent in his direction.
"I honestly want to strangle you right now, Ming," he muttered darkly, lamenting the fact that his friend was messing around with him and his plans. Sungmin merely replied to his comment with a saccharine-sweet smile.
* * * * *
The students looked up from their books at the speaker bolted above the whiteboard when it started to crackle a little, all curious about what was happening. The speaker was almost never used, except if the principal decides to do announcement over the airwaves. Moments later, their attention was completely diverted towards one of their classmates, whom looked as bewildered as she could get.
"Kwon Sanghee, you may be excused. Whoever that is who wants to see you during school hours must have something important to deal with you," her calculus teacher said, and she was forced to give a hesitant smile. Sanghee had half the mind to stay in the class, because she knew full well that there wouldn't be anyone significant looking for her at school, because her aunt had her phone number if there was anything important she needed to convey to Sanghee about.
Reluctantly, Sanghee excused herself from the classroom, and started to head for the administration office, wondering who on earth was looking for her. She lowered her head in an attempt to ignore him when she caught Donghae's eyes trained on her, watching her every move.
* * * * *
Heechul's head snapped up in surprise when he heard Sanghee's name being called out on the speakers which connected the administration office to the rest of the school, suddenly having a bad feeling about the turn of events. It has only been two days since Sanghee had stepped into his house after running away from her brother whom had ambushed her at her apartment, and Heechul suspected that it might be Gyeongjin himself at the office. But what Heechul feared was that there were some other people that Sanghee didn't want to see together with her brother. Since Gyeongjin found out where Sanghee lived, there was a large chance that he already knows where she was attending school at.
Putting on a nonchalant expression, Heechul walked up to his teacher, and informed her that he had to settle something related to the student council. It took him no more than five seconds to receive his permission to leave the class, because honestly, most of his teachers adored him to bits. Perks that came with his position as the vice president of the student council. Piece of cake, he thought, as he walked in a fast pace towards the office.
* * * * *
It has only been ten minutes since Sanghee had left the classroom, but the uneasiness kept on growing in Donghae's mind. He didn't know the exact reason behind it, but he felt that something was very wrong. And if he wasn't imagining things, Sanghee oddly took extra time to get out of her seat, as if she didn't want to see whoever it was that was looking for her.
Just as he was about to return his focus onto the lesson at hand, something occurring downstairs caught his attention from the corner of his eye when Sungmin leaned backwards in his chair. He narrowed his eyes a little in order to get a better view of things, and when he recognised the figures making the way towards the school gates, he immediately threw himself out of the classroom doors, completely disregarding the hollering coming from his teacher. He couldn't even be bothered that he was definitely going to get at least a weeks' worth of detention slapped on him for his actions.
* * * * *
Sanghee dragged her feet behind her as she walked towards the administration office, where her alleged 'visitor' was supposedly waiting for her. As if being called out from one of her favourite classes wasn't enough, the identity of this visitor of hers was one that she could not figure out, causing her to feel extremely annoyed. However, she did have a nagging feeling about something, leading her to wonder whether she was just being completely paranoid over the entire matter.
The moment she arrived at the door of the office, she hesitated a little and tried to peek into the room, attempting to find out about the person who was looking for her before she even walked into the office. Nonetheless, she frowned when she realised that there was no way to fulfil her intentions, as all she could see were the staff burying their heads in their work. Sighing in resignation, Sanghee pushed past the doors and stalked over to the receptionist, quietly mumbling her name to the woman to announce her arrival.
The woman fussed over her a little, nagging at her for taking such a long time to make her way to the office and something about having to entertain her guests on Sanghee's behalf. The girl merely muttered a half-hearted apology, and followed the middle-aged woman whom led her to another room located in the corner of the administration office. Nevertheless, the moment one of the people in the room turned around, Sanghee literally paled when she recognised him.
Before she could even run away from the room, another person, whom she realised was Gyeongjin, grabbed hold of her arm and whispered into her ear, warning her not to utter a single word. She bit her tongue at his threat, mentally cursing herself for being so docile in front of him and everyone else in the room that had ruined her life.
Once the clerk left them alone and closed the door behind her with a click, Sanghee immediately wrested herself free from Gyeongjin's grasp, putting maximal distance between him and whirling around to glare at all four humans who were in the room with her. "What are you doing here?" she hissed with all of her might, trying hard to prevent her voice from trembling. She hated how her entire body was grappled with fear the moment she saw them, wishing she was at least mentally stronger than this.
"Is that how you should be talking as someone who ran away from home, Aeyoung?" another man questioned sternly, returning her glare with one of his own.
"I don't need to have any form of respect of any one of you," she spat, evidently disgusted by the fact that they were trying to induce the guilt in her by using one of her actions against her. Over my dead body, she thought.
"Aeyoung, you've changed so much since I've last seen you. Please, stop being so stubborn and come home to Suncheon with us," a younger man around her age stepped forward and rested his hand on her shoulder gently, only to blink in surprise when she shrugged his hand off roughly, shrinking further into the corner.
"You have no right to neither call my name nor step into my business, Shinjun. When will you stop being such a puppet for this screwed up family?" she snapped back sarcastically. Even though Shinjun wasn't as bad a person as the others who were standing in the room, Sanghee still couldn't swallow the sight of him, because he allowed himself to be manipulated by her parents, and helped them to ruin her life for the sake of their greediness.
"Don't speak to your fiancé like that. I thought we've taught you well enough to place proper respect where it is due?" the petite middle-aged woman in the room finally voiced out silently, though she remained partially hidden behind the first man whom had spoken earlier. She definitely did not look pleased at Sanghee's behaviour, but Sanghee really couldn't bring herself to give a damn.
"Like I've said earlier, I don't see a point in respecting any of you, especially when you can't even respect my decisions as a person. You've given me nothing but misery," Sanghee put her point across bluntly, casting a subtle look in the direction of the door. A frown creased her forehead when she noticed how Gyeongjin was standing right in front of the only exit of the room. She was evidently trapped in here with the four people that she hated to the deepest core of her soul.
"Mom, dad, I told you that there's no point in trying to talk some sense into her. We should just bring her back to Suncheon forcefully," Gyeongjin suggested, and wasted no time in wrestling Sanghee into his strong arms when their father gave a slight nod at his words. When Shinjun also stepped up to lend Gyeongjin a helping hand, Sanghee started to struggle and tried to get out of their grasps, but to no avail. Her brother even clamped her mouth shut with one of his hand to prevent her from shouting out loud and alerting the others.
The hot tears started to roll out of the corner of her eyes when they hauled her out of the meeting room as inconspicuously as possible, greeting every single person that walked past them with a smile on their faces. Gyeongjin also occasionally ruffled her hair to pretend that he was consoling her, causing Sanghee to feel completely revolted at the superficiality of his actions. She wanted to scream so badly, shouting that they were trying to abduct her, but when she thought about it, what were the odds of these people actually believing her? Her parents were fully capable of refuting her claims by simply whipping out her birth certificate, that much she was sure of.
As they neared the school gates, Sanghee had already stropped trying to put up a struggle, much to her parents' satisfaction. She practically felt like dying the moment she saw the familiar black car parked right outside, knowing that there was no way she could escape from the past that kept on haunting her repeatedly. And judging by her parents' characters, Sanghee was sure as hell that they would lock her up in the house and home-school her, impounding several guards to monitor her movements at the same time. Simply put, she was going back to hell.
However, just as she thought that all hope was lost, the grip around her arms suddenly loosened up, causing her to fall flat on her stomach because her legs did not have adequate time to prepare themselves. Sanghee winced a little when she tried to prop herself up, because apparently she had scraped her palms when she tried to avoid her chin from hitting the ground earlier. When she turned around to see what had happened, Sanghee's eyes widened in response when she registered the image of Donghae and Heechul standing in front of her, creating a barrier between her and the people who were trying to forcefully take her away. And she had never seen the pair being so angry before.
"With all due respect, sir, I'm afraid that I can't let you take her away from the school compounds at this hour," Heechul said assertively, not carrying that the group of people in front of him were all older and probably more authoritative than he was. He vaguely recognised the oldest man of the lot, but couldn't put a finger on when or where he had seen him before.
"Kim Heechul-sshi, I'm surprised that you're doing this. Do you have any idea that your father is my business associate?" Sanghee's father replied curtly, the displeasure crisp in his intonation. Sanghee's attention immediately shot towards Heechul's expression, and noticed that he was as confused with her father's words as she was. Evidently, her senior has not met her father prior to this.
Even though she wasn't precisely part of the higher societal class, Sanghee has had her fair share of experiences that children who belonged to wealthy families would succumb to the words of an older person whom had business dealings with their own family, all for the sake of cordiality. She initially thought that Heechul was going to back down after finding about the relationship between their families, but mentally reprimanded herself for thinking so lowly of the person whom had just helped her out the other day. She was relieved when she found out that Heechul stayed true to his own principles, and was fiercely loyal to his friends.
"I don't care if you're an acquaintance of my father - heck, I won't even give a damn if you're my father - I still won't let you do anything to her," Heechul reiterated, narrowing his eyes at the middle-aged man.
"Heechul-sshi, step aside. This is our family matter, and I would appreciate it if you would pull your nose out of it," the man shot back, only to have his words interrupted by the other boy who was observing the exchange.
"I'm sorry, even if this is your family business - or so you claim - I can still call up the police. The way you're forcefully taking her away constitutes as kidnapping, I believe," Donghae shot back, causing Sanghee to gasp in surprise at the things he said, and how cold his intonation came across to her as. It scared her a little, but she quickly shook it off.
However, Sanghee's chain of thoughts was interrupted when she noticed her mother whispering something in her father's ear. His expression turned contemplative for a short moment, before he ordered both her brother and her supposed-fiancé to return to the car. They looked as if they wanted to protest against his words, but docilely stalked back to the vehicle without raising their objections.
"I'll let this slide for today. But rest assured, your parents will definitely hear about this matter, Heechul-sshi," he warned the older boy, before he walked back to his car with his wife in tow. That was when Sanghee finally released the breath that she didn't even realise she was holding all this while.
Characters: Donghae, Heechul, OC
Rating: PG-13
Genre: Romance, Drama, Angst
Type: Novel
Summary: She finally managed to escape from the one place that she hates the most in order to begin a new life in Seoul, but is still unable to get over the hatred for the male species. Would her heart be softened eventually?
~ * ~
16
"For the millionth time, guys, I am not gay! How many times do I have to repeat myself to the both of you?" Donghae claimed exasperatedly at Hyukjae and Youngwoon, planting his head exhaustedly on the surface of his desk. Around him, his group of friends was howling out in laughter, and the two people in question exchanged high-fives with each other.
"I don't see why you're still denying it, Donghae. You even skipped classes just to go look for Sanghee when he didn't turn up for school for one day," Hyukjae commented snidely, deftly dodging the hit that Donghae had aimed the back of his head. He gleefully flashed a peace sign in Donghae's direction, much to the younger male's dismay.
"That's because I know for a fact that I'm perfectly straight, thank you very much. You don't see me hitting on any of you for as long as I've known you, have you?" the victim of the conversation frowned. He had half the mind to pull Youngwoon close to him in order to pretend that he was about to kiss him, but aborted the idea soon after because they were definitely going to tease the hell out of him. He needed a new plan.
"Honestly, I think that Donghae has a point. If he were gay, we would have been a victim of his harassment by now," Sungmin commented, causing Donghae to nod satisfactorily in response until he picked up on the second part of his words. The older one of the pair flashed a saccharine sweet smile and shrugged nonchalantly at Donghae, whom yelled out indignantly, asking whether Sungmin was standing on his side or attempting to tease him subtly along with Hyukjae and Youngwoon. If anything, Donghae was actually glad that Siwon wasn't taking sides, though he would have very much preferred if he helped him instead. Damn his impartiality at times like these.
Youngwoon, whom finally stopped snorting from laughter, put on a straight face and launched yet another question at his friend. "Seriously, though. I'm still curious about the reasons why you're so interested in that guy. Sanghee's asocial as hell, yet you're somewhat attached to him even though he ignores you most of the time when you attempt to initiate a conversation. I really don't get you anymore, Lee Donghae," he said, fiddling around with the pencil that he had discovered on said person's desk.
"I have my own reasons for that, Youngwoon. Don't worry; I'm not ditching you guys for Sanghee. You know I could never do that to you," he replied, batting his eyelashes adorably at his friends whom shuddered at his actions.
Nevertheless, before Youngwoon could sneak in yet another word, Sungmin gave them the signal to scram, as the person that they were talking about had just walked into the classroom. Judging by the dark look she had on her face, her mood wasn't all full of sunshine for the day, and there was a huge chance that Sungmin, who had been occupying her seat earlier, was going to bear the brunt of it. The four of them quickly wished their friend good luck, before escaping back to their seats before Sanghee reached their group.
Donghae, who was still extremely bothered by the slap she had given him on the previous day, mustered up his courage to approach her even though there was a huge chance that she would be ignoring him. The way that she merely pushed past him when he stood up to greet her without giving him a single look was more than adequate to tell him that she wasn't remotely interested in talking to him. He sighed a little at her coldness, but decided that it was his fault for saying something out of line on the previous day, and attempted to get her to talk to him once again.
"Hey, how are you feeling today? You didn't look too well yesterday," Donghae commented in a low voice, pretending as though she wasn't currently in the foulest mood ever. Around them, several of their classmates turned around to look at them, wondering what was going to happen. They went back to bothering about their own business when the member of the student council narrowed his eyes at them.
"Why do you care?" she shot back, her intonation as biting as it could get while she continued to stare out of the window at nothing in particular. Even though it was an irate reply more than everything else, Donghae couldn't care less about it, because he was half-expecting for her to flat-out ignore him.
"Because I'm worried about you, that's why. You're not helping my cause by snapping at me at every single chance you get, you now," he frowned in response, only to receive a disbelieving scoff from his seatmate.
"Oh, really now? I don't recall you channeling that vibe yesterday. I'm not even going to remind you about what you've said," she growled, before gathering her things and walking over to Sungmin, who was chatting animatedly with Hyesu. Donghae looked on curiously as Sanghee exchanged some words with his friend, whom looked in Donghae's direction with an amused smile for a split second, before giving Sanghee a slight nod. When Sungmin started to walk over to the back of the class with his bag, Donghae realised that she had actually switched places in order to sit with Hyesu instead.
"Sorry man, Hyesu literally begged me to switch with Sanghee because they wanted to talk and 'catch up with lots of things', or so she says," Sungmin mused as he settled into the vacant seat next to Donghae, replying the small wave that Sanghee had sent in his direction.
"I honestly want to strangle you right now, Ming," he muttered darkly, lamenting the fact that his friend was messing around with him and his plans. Sungmin merely replied to his comment with a saccharine-sweet smile.
* * * * *
The students looked up from their books at the speaker bolted above the whiteboard when it started to crackle a little, all curious about what was happening. The speaker was almost never used, except if the principal decides to do announcement over the airwaves. Moments later, their attention was completely diverted towards one of their classmates, whom looked as bewildered as she could get.
"Kwon Sanghee, you may be excused. Whoever that is who wants to see you during school hours must have something important to deal with you," her calculus teacher said, and she was forced to give a hesitant smile. Sanghee had half the mind to stay in the class, because she knew full well that there wouldn't be anyone significant looking for her at school, because her aunt had her phone number if there was anything important she needed to convey to Sanghee about.
Reluctantly, Sanghee excused herself from the classroom, and started to head for the administration office, wondering who on earth was looking for her. She lowered her head in an attempt to ignore him when she caught Donghae's eyes trained on her, watching her every move.
* * * * *
Heechul's head snapped up in surprise when he heard Sanghee's name being called out on the speakers which connected the administration office to the rest of the school, suddenly having a bad feeling about the turn of events. It has only been two days since Sanghee had stepped into his house after running away from her brother whom had ambushed her at her apartment, and Heechul suspected that it might be Gyeongjin himself at the office. But what Heechul feared was that there were some other people that Sanghee didn't want to see together with her brother. Since Gyeongjin found out where Sanghee lived, there was a large chance that he already knows where she was attending school at.
Putting on a nonchalant expression, Heechul walked up to his teacher, and informed her that he had to settle something related to the student council. It took him no more than five seconds to receive his permission to leave the class, because honestly, most of his teachers adored him to bits. Perks that came with his position as the vice president of the student council. Piece of cake, he thought, as he walked in a fast pace towards the office.
* * * * *
It has only been ten minutes since Sanghee had left the classroom, but the uneasiness kept on growing in Donghae's mind. He didn't know the exact reason behind it, but he felt that something was very wrong. And if he wasn't imagining things, Sanghee oddly took extra time to get out of her seat, as if she didn't want to see whoever it was that was looking for her.
Just as he was about to return his focus onto the lesson at hand, something occurring downstairs caught his attention from the corner of his eye when Sungmin leaned backwards in his chair. He narrowed his eyes a little in order to get a better view of things, and when he recognised the figures making the way towards the school gates, he immediately threw himself out of the classroom doors, completely disregarding the hollering coming from his teacher. He couldn't even be bothered that he was definitely going to get at least a weeks' worth of detention slapped on him for his actions.
* * * * *
Sanghee dragged her feet behind her as she walked towards the administration office, where her alleged 'visitor' was supposedly waiting for her. As if being called out from one of her favourite classes wasn't enough, the identity of this visitor of hers was one that she could not figure out, causing her to feel extremely annoyed. However, she did have a nagging feeling about something, leading her to wonder whether she was just being completely paranoid over the entire matter.
The moment she arrived at the door of the office, she hesitated a little and tried to peek into the room, attempting to find out about the person who was looking for her before she even walked into the office. Nonetheless, she frowned when she realised that there was no way to fulfil her intentions, as all she could see were the staff burying their heads in their work. Sighing in resignation, Sanghee pushed past the doors and stalked over to the receptionist, quietly mumbling her name to the woman to announce her arrival.
The woman fussed over her a little, nagging at her for taking such a long time to make her way to the office and something about having to entertain her guests on Sanghee's behalf. The girl merely muttered a half-hearted apology, and followed the middle-aged woman whom led her to another room located in the corner of the administration office. Nevertheless, the moment one of the people in the room turned around, Sanghee literally paled when she recognised him.
Before she could even run away from the room, another person, whom she realised was Gyeongjin, grabbed hold of her arm and whispered into her ear, warning her not to utter a single word. She bit her tongue at his threat, mentally cursing herself for being so docile in front of him and everyone else in the room that had ruined her life.
Once the clerk left them alone and closed the door behind her with a click, Sanghee immediately wrested herself free from Gyeongjin's grasp, putting maximal distance between him and whirling around to glare at all four humans who were in the room with her. "What are you doing here?" she hissed with all of her might, trying hard to prevent her voice from trembling. She hated how her entire body was grappled with fear the moment she saw them, wishing she was at least mentally stronger than this.
"Is that how you should be talking as someone who ran away from home, Aeyoung?" another man questioned sternly, returning her glare with one of his own.
"I don't need to have any form of respect of any one of you," she spat, evidently disgusted by the fact that they were trying to induce the guilt in her by using one of her actions against her. Over my dead body, she thought.
"Aeyoung, you've changed so much since I've last seen you. Please, stop being so stubborn and come home to Suncheon with us," a younger man around her age stepped forward and rested his hand on her shoulder gently, only to blink in surprise when she shrugged his hand off roughly, shrinking further into the corner.
"You have no right to neither call my name nor step into my business, Shinjun. When will you stop being such a puppet for this screwed up family?" she snapped back sarcastically. Even though Shinjun wasn't as bad a person as the others who were standing in the room, Sanghee still couldn't swallow the sight of him, because he allowed himself to be manipulated by her parents, and helped them to ruin her life for the sake of their greediness.
"Don't speak to your fiancé like that. I thought we've taught you well enough to place proper respect where it is due?" the petite middle-aged woman in the room finally voiced out silently, though she remained partially hidden behind the first man whom had spoken earlier. She definitely did not look pleased at Sanghee's behaviour, but Sanghee really couldn't bring herself to give a damn.
"Like I've said earlier, I don't see a point in respecting any of you, especially when you can't even respect my decisions as a person. You've given me nothing but misery," Sanghee put her point across bluntly, casting a subtle look in the direction of the door. A frown creased her forehead when she noticed how Gyeongjin was standing right in front of the only exit of the room. She was evidently trapped in here with the four people that she hated to the deepest core of her soul.
"Mom, dad, I told you that there's no point in trying to talk some sense into her. We should just bring her back to Suncheon forcefully," Gyeongjin suggested, and wasted no time in wrestling Sanghee into his strong arms when their father gave a slight nod at his words. When Shinjun also stepped up to lend Gyeongjin a helping hand, Sanghee started to struggle and tried to get out of their grasps, but to no avail. Her brother even clamped her mouth shut with one of his hand to prevent her from shouting out loud and alerting the others.
The hot tears started to roll out of the corner of her eyes when they hauled her out of the meeting room as inconspicuously as possible, greeting every single person that walked past them with a smile on their faces. Gyeongjin also occasionally ruffled her hair to pretend that he was consoling her, causing Sanghee to feel completely revolted at the superficiality of his actions. She wanted to scream so badly, shouting that they were trying to abduct her, but when she thought about it, what were the odds of these people actually believing her? Her parents were fully capable of refuting her claims by simply whipping out her birth certificate, that much she was sure of.
As they neared the school gates, Sanghee had already stropped trying to put up a struggle, much to her parents' satisfaction. She practically felt like dying the moment she saw the familiar black car parked right outside, knowing that there was no way she could escape from the past that kept on haunting her repeatedly. And judging by her parents' characters, Sanghee was sure as hell that they would lock her up in the house and home-school her, impounding several guards to monitor her movements at the same time. Simply put, she was going back to hell.
However, just as she thought that all hope was lost, the grip around her arms suddenly loosened up, causing her to fall flat on her stomach because her legs did not have adequate time to prepare themselves. Sanghee winced a little when she tried to prop herself up, because apparently she had scraped her palms when she tried to avoid her chin from hitting the ground earlier. When she turned around to see what had happened, Sanghee's eyes widened in response when she registered the image of Donghae and Heechul standing in front of her, creating a barrier between her and the people who were trying to forcefully take her away. And she had never seen the pair being so angry before.
"With all due respect, sir, I'm afraid that I can't let you take her away from the school compounds at this hour," Heechul said assertively, not carrying that the group of people in front of him were all older and probably more authoritative than he was. He vaguely recognised the oldest man of the lot, but couldn't put a finger on when or where he had seen him before.
"Kim Heechul-sshi, I'm surprised that you're doing this. Do you have any idea that your father is my business associate?" Sanghee's father replied curtly, the displeasure crisp in his intonation. Sanghee's attention immediately shot towards Heechul's expression, and noticed that he was as confused with her father's words as she was. Evidently, her senior has not met her father prior to this.
Even though she wasn't precisely part of the higher societal class, Sanghee has had her fair share of experiences that children who belonged to wealthy families would succumb to the words of an older person whom had business dealings with their own family, all for the sake of cordiality. She initially thought that Heechul was going to back down after finding about the relationship between their families, but mentally reprimanded herself for thinking so lowly of the person whom had just helped her out the other day. She was relieved when she found out that Heechul stayed true to his own principles, and was fiercely loyal to his friends.
"I don't care if you're an acquaintance of my father - heck, I won't even give a damn if you're my father - I still won't let you do anything to her," Heechul reiterated, narrowing his eyes at the middle-aged man.
"Heechul-sshi, step aside. This is our family matter, and I would appreciate it if you would pull your nose out of it," the man shot back, only to have his words interrupted by the other boy who was observing the exchange.
"I'm sorry, even if this is your family business - or so you claim - I can still call up the police. The way you're forcefully taking her away constitutes as kidnapping, I believe," Donghae shot back, causing Sanghee to gasp in surprise at the things he said, and how cold his intonation came across to her as. It scared her a little, but she quickly shook it off.
However, Sanghee's chain of thoughts was interrupted when she noticed her mother whispering something in her father's ear. His expression turned contemplative for a short moment, before he ordered both her brother and her supposed-fiancé to return to the car. They looked as if they wanted to protest against his words, but docilely stalked back to the vehicle without raising their objections.
"I'll let this slide for today. But rest assured, your parents will definitely hear about this matter, Heechul-sshi," he warned the older boy, before he walked back to his car with his wife in tow. That was when Sanghee finally released the breath that she didn't even realise she was holding all this while.