"No way!"
Unexpectedly, not only Hwang Jaejin but also Lee Minho were shouting in denial, clearly refusing the idea of Choi Sujin became Hwang Jaejin's younger sister.
Choi Sujin stepped out from Hwang Jaejin's back and politely bowed her body to greet the woman in front of her.
"Hello, my name is Choi Sujin. I'm Lee Minho's friend." She said calmly.
"Omo, so it's you." Lee Kyunghee put a hand on her mouth gracefully, her eyes widened in surprised for a second. She glanced at the two boys, then smiled playfully.
She lowered her head slightly, smiled til her eyes turned into slits, then said, "I'm Lee Kyunghee, Lee Minho's cousin. Nice to meet you, Choi Sujin-ssi. Can I call you Sujin?"
Choi Sujin was slightly taken a back with her directness. But, then she nodded.
"Great! Call me eonni[1], then!" Still smiling brightly, Lee Kyunghee took her hands and vigorously shook them.
The other people arched their eyebrows and stared at the overly-excited woman in surprise. Lee Kyunghee was a proud woman, things and people that could attract her were few -even though she could easily be attracted to cute and adorable things or people, but to let a person she barely knew to call her eonni... Choi Sujin was the first.
Is that a clue that Kyunghee eonni approves my relationship with Shorty?
Lee Minho couldn't help but think about it.
If either Choi Sujin or Hwang Jaejin knew about what he was thinking, he would be bashed to dead!
"Su-sure?" Choi Sujin replied in confusion, not knowing whether to accept it or not.
Lee Kyunghee grinned happily, ignoring the stares two men were giving her. Stuck in the middle, Choi Sujin awkwardly smiled back.
"Hey, Shorty, where is my food?" Saving her from the awkward situation, Lee Minho called her.
"Ah, it's here." Choi Sujin walked passed her to Lee Minho's bedside. Hastily, she took out the food she bought on the table in front of Lee Minho.
"Well, you guys have fun, I need to get back to my post." Lee Kyunghee said. "Bye, Sujin-aa..." Winking to the younger girl, she waved her hand and walked out of the room.
The room fell into silence into a good two minutes as soon as the door was closed. Blinking her eyes, Choi Sujin snapped into reality and got back to what she was doing.
"Let's eat." She said, as soon as she finished arranging the dishes on the small table for Lee Minho, and bigger table for her and Hwang Jaejin.
"Oh..." They replied in unison.
Obediently and quietly, they picked up their chopsticks and started eating. No one talked. Each one of them drowned in their own thoughts, in which they would never say out loud.
At least, not now.
...
Choi Sujin had always wanted to find a part-time job to support herself and her little sister. Even though her aunt had never asked for money and willingly supported the siblings, she thought she should not burden her aunt too much.
Not too mention her aunt was still young and had not married yet. Maybe she should find a good man for her aunt in the mean time.
After browsing through the job vacancy in internet and campus forum, she finally got two separated part-time jobs that could keep her busy and distract her from unnecessary details in her life.
Such as, how she felt her self-claimed best friends were driving away her supposed-to-be-future boyfriend.
Yes. She didn't voice it out, nor did she ask them. But, for her keen eyes, she could see the way they behaved around her. Sometimes, she caught them glaring to men who were caught taking a look at her and she felt bad for them.
What if those poor boys only looked at her because they were thinking that it was weird to see two handsome men around a plain looking girl like her?
She admitted that the picture of her short body and two handsome supermodel-like bodies created an odd sight. Therefore, it was not strange for people to stare. But, Hwang Jaejin and Lee Minho made it clear for other people not to stare at her for too long.
Dealing with two grown-up men was really exhausting. She really needed to stay away for a bit from both of them. That's why she was overjoy when she found out she got the jobs she wanted.
Moreover, she didn't even tell them that she managed to land two jobs at once.
Humming joyfully, she headed to administration office in campus. Not to work there, of course. The head of Language Laboratory, Prof. Shin Ayoung, asked her to come and meet her in the administration office to pick the key to the lab as well as her list of job as her assistant.
After getting the key and listening to her description of work, she skipped to the laboratory while happily humming. She only needed to check on somethings in the lab, to make sure everything was fine even before she came. She didn't have to worry about her classes because Prof. Shin Ayoung had made it clear that she could go back to class to follow the lecture.
Choi Sujin enjoyed her time in the lab, checking on the devices needed for listening skill. She worked hard and in no time, she got immersed in her new job.
While Choi Sujin was taking her sweet time in the lab, her two best friends were busy looking for her. They tried to call her, but she didn't pick it up which frustrated them further.
"Damn that Shorty! Just wait! I'll make her pay for today!" Growling in dissatisfaction, Lee Minho tapped his phone to call Choi Sujin again.
Beside him, Hwang Jaejin was frowning as he stared at his phone, as if the phone was insulting his intelligence for not finding her. Tapping his slender fingers on his phone several times, he sent a message to his classmates in the group chat, asking about Choi Sujin's whereabout.
He rarely sent messages to the group chat, unless it was necessary and lecture-related. It was the first time he was using it to ask about someone.
Minutes later, replies came. Most of them said they had not seen her even though she had never been late for class -it was minutes away from their class. Only one reply that lit his eyes.
"Found her." He whispered.