╰┈➤ ❝ [Luck of the draw only draws the unlucky] ❞

"MY GOSH. GOODNESS GRACIOUS. HOW ON EARTH CAN SOMEONE BE SO HANDSOME?" The woman, addressed as Hyun-sook, clapped, nodding to herself in approval as her eyes trailed over Han Seo-jun's figure. She seemed to be overly impressed with the young man's appearance, guessing by the large smile that took over her lips.

Seo-jun smiled, thanking his mother's friend for the compliment while the woman kept gushing over his looks. Kim Ji-an was sure that all those compliments would make his ego even larger if that was even possible. But guessing by the smug look he sent her way, she knew the woman's words had already done their effect, which only left Ji-an to suppress the usual eye roll that seemed to constantly come out when she was around Seo-jun.

Just when Ji-an thought the woman's smile couldn't grow even bigger, it did. "And you." She looked at Ji-an, her eyes sparkling with praise and wonder. "You look like you just came off of a magazine."

Ji-an's cheeks turned red at the compliment as she sent the woman a polite smile. No matter how many times the Kim girl would receive compliments she still had trouble reacting to them. It was a strange thing considering the girl was a part time model who more than time to time got praised by her looks. Either way it never stopped her from feeling awkward.

"Wow, even your smile is pretty. What's your name?" Hyun-sook asked, feeling like she had seen the girl before.

"Kim Ji-an, ma'am." She bowed.

Hyun-sook frowned. "Your name sounds familiar."

"Oh, her family owns one of Korea's most important companies and she's a part time model so that's probably why you've heard her name before." Mi Hyang explained, not being able to stop herself from showing off the girl's reputation. She had always considered Kim Ji-an as another daughter and just like any good mother would, she had to express her child's achievements even just a little bit.

"That's great." She looked between Seo-jun and Ji-an. "The two of you are utterly gorgeous. Are you both dating? Because if you are, I'm sure you'll have the most beautiful babies to exist."

Now this was new.

Ji-an knew that once the dating became official, many people would make comments alike to the one the woman just made. Nonetheless, Hyun-sook's words made Ji-an blushed furiously, her cheeks almost matching the red color of the hoodie she was wearing. She was about to entirely deny the situation until Seo-jun spoke from beside her. "We aren't. Not yet at least."

Shooting him a look the Kim girl sneaked a glance at Mi Hyang who was standing beside her in complete shock by her son's words. Once Mi Hyang snapped herself out of the surprise she turned to Ji-an, silently asking her if Han Seo-jun meant what he said. All Ji-an could do was smile awkwardly, only shrugging in response not really knowing what to say.

Hyun-sook on the other hand seemed delighted by the boy's answer. "You better ask her out soon. A girl like that probably has many admirers wanting her attention."

Seo-jun smiled as he pulled Ji-an closer, much to the girl's distaste. "I will."

Hyun-sook smiled knowingly at the two before turning around. "There's my second daughter." No one was standing where Hyun-sook had pointed to, leaving the woman to share an embarrassed look with her guests, mentally scolding her daughter for making her do a fool of herself.

Before the four of them knew what was happening, the sound of wood breaking with something sliding against the floor following suit startled them. The four looked at each other before slowly moving their eyes to the new figure laying on the floor.

And there she was, Lim Jug-yeong in all her glory, laying on the floor with a gray face mask on her face and an uncomfortable smile that screamed somebody kill me.

Hyun-sook wasted no time to start scolding her daughter. "Are you out of your mind? What are you doing?" Walking over and kneeling down in front of Jug-yeong, she said. "Get up Jug-yeong!"

"Lim Jug-yeong?" Seo-jun stared at the girl in bewilderment before turning to Ji-an and noticing the girl was just as confused as he was.

Ji-an wanted to slap herself for not realizing Hyun-sook was Jug-yeong's mother, sooner. It made sense given Jug-yeong had talked about her mother owning a beauty shop.

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷

"You look better now that you're not on dialysis." Jugyeong's mother said, rubbing Mi Hyang's arm comfortingly as she looked her over. The two friends were now sitting on a couch while Ji-an stood a couple of feet away, watching them. She wondered if her friendship with Soo-ah and Soo-jin would last as long as their friendship had.

She liked to think so. The thought of years later still having her two best friends by her side, backing her up, gave her comfort.

Seo-jun's mother smiled. "Surgery went well thanks to the doctor. I got lucky." 

Ji-an tried to focus on the woman's conversation and ignore Han Seo-jun taking pictures of poor Jug-yeong in the back of the room but the repetitive sound of snapping pictures was starting to irritate her. So, removing herself from the position she had against the wall, she walked over to Seo-jun and snatched the phone from his hands before he could keep on bothering Jug-yeong.

"What are you five?"

"Hey—give me my phone back!"

Jug-yeong gave Ji-an a look of appreciation for stopping Seo-jun from continuing with his assaults. The Lim girl was already fed up with the boy but she couldn't bring herself to tell him off. Standing up from the mattress she had been laying on for the past five minutes, and not paying any attention to the bickering pair, she turned to her mother. "Mom, I'm going home."

Her mother sent her a look. "Will you frighten the neighbors at this hour? Go wash your face first." She said, not taking a no for an answer as she urged her daughter with her head in the direction of the bathroom.

Ji-an could only watch Jug-yeong walk away, wishing she could do something to help her knowing the girl was going to have to put make up again if she wanted to prevent Seo-jun from seeing her bareface.

Taking advantage of Ji-an's momentarily distraction, Seo-jun snatched his phone from her hands and ignoring the glaring daggers she shot his way, he started taking a look at the pictures he had taken as he started laughing to himself.

Shaking her head disapprovingly, Ji-an said, "You should erase those pictures." This was the only thing she could do to help Jug-yeong. She knew the girl wouldn't like the idea of her face being on Seo-jun's phone.

"Why? I'm sure if Lim Jug-yeong had any problem with it she would've told me."

"Did the glares she sent your way not enough to let you know she didn't like it?" She scoffed, "Nobody likes having someone shove their phone in front of their face and take embarrassing pictures of them. So, do me a favor and erase them before I do it myself."

Seo-jun sighed, "Fine, party killer."

The Kim girl raised her eyebrows. "What did you just say?" 

"Nothing."

"That's what I thought."

Jug-yeong finally came out of the bathroom, making Ji-an follow after her and towards the two chatting women. Jug-yeong's renewed look caught Mi Hyang's eye as she said. "Being that pretty must make you popular at school." She smiled, "You three must be close since you're classmates."

"I'm pretty close with Ji-an but Seo-jun on the other hand..." She trailed off, receiving an offended look from Seo-jun. Jug-yeong didn't feel like going into detail on their relationship. The whole helmet issue was still fresh in her mind.

Hyun-sook frowned, "Well you could start today! You need to make more friends."

Pouting, Jug-yeong said, "But I have friends!"

Not paying any mind to her daughter's words, Hyun-sook turned her attention to Seo-jun and Ji-an. "Since both of you came over, you guys can come over tomorrow. I'll cook you a meal." Ji-an and Seo-jun both bowed as a thank you before Jug-yeong intervened.

"But Ji-an and I are studying with friends tomorrow!"

Seo-jun shook his head, for some reason feeling like he had to expose the truth, so then pointing at Jug-yeong over Ji-an's head, given the Kim girl was shorter than the other girl, he said. "She's going on a blind date."

Hyun-sook's eyes widened before narrowing them, "A blind date at your age? Now, I get why you desperately wanted a facial."

"Come on. You only get to be young once. Seo-jun never had a girlfriend because all he loves is riding his motorcycle." Noticing Hyun-sook's look of worry Mi Hyang added, "Although he quit recently, and now he might even get a girlfriend."

The last part was directed to Ji-an, making the girl smile nervously. From her peripheral vision she could see Seo-jun looking down at the floor in shame, obviously feeling guilty about lying to his mother. But Jug-yeong didn't seem to notice or care for that matter, her only thought in mind most likely being, getting even with the boy.

"He rides it all the time! He sped-" Seo-jun tried to stop her by putting a hand over her mouth but the girl slapped it away. "He sped past me and almost hit me too."

The smile Seo-jun's mother had on her face vanished. "Are you kidding me? You promised."

And there it was, the look and tone of disappointment. Just what Seo-jun had dreaded and tried to prevent for the time being.

His fault for exposing Jug-yeong, Ji-an thought.

Seo-jun tried to push away his guilt with logic. "How can I not ride what I own? Riding the bus is a waste of money."

"You leave me with no choice, Seo-jun." She turned to Ji-an. "Ji-an could you do me a favor and stop him from riding his motorcycle? Let me know immediately if you ever spot him on it."

Why me of all people?!

The Kim girl looked at Seo-jun, not really knowing what to say before deciding to give a simple nod as Seo-jun said. "Mom there's no need to-"

"So you'll break our promise." Mi Hyang looked at Ji-an. "Could you do that for me?"

Ji-an sighed, she guessed she didn't have much of a choice. "I promise."

↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷

"Why is everyone staring at us like that?" Ji-an asked, as she walked alongside Seo-jun. It was the next day and the two had just arrived at school. Like the day before, everyone was staring at them but this time it was different.

Something was off.

"They're always staring. You should get used to it." Seo-jun brushed off her worries not really minding the attention or noticing the change of it.

"No, this is different." Just when she finished saying that, Soo-ah came running towards them. She was breathing heavily, her short hair was disheveled, sweat droplets were running down her forehead making her thick bangs stick to her skin. The poor girl looked like she had just run a whole marathon.

In between pants she tried to speak. "Did you? Have you? I-I can't—sorry." She put a hand up as she leaned down in a bending position, obviously trying to regain her breathing causing Ji-an to stare at her in worry wondering what the hell was going on and what had caused the girl to run all the way from inside the school and back outside.

Seo-jun stared at the poor girl impatiently. "What is it?"

"Don't ever ever let me run again. I really need to exercise more often. God, I can't feel my lungs. I should've listened to mom when she told me to go to the gym. Man it hurts-" Soo-ah rant was interrupted by Ji-an.

"Soo-ah what's going on? Why is everyone staring at us?"

The short haired girl sighed, "Did you guys see the pictures?!"

Seo-jun and Ji-an shared a confused look. They had no idea what the girl was talking about. "Pictures? What pictures?"

"If I tried telling you guys, you wouldn't believe me. So, let me just show you." Soo-ah quickly scrolled through her phone before finding what she was looking for and shoving the device in front of their faces.

Whatever was displayed on Soo-ah's phone screen was nothing that neither Ji-an or Seo-jun had anticipated.

There in the screen or more specifically in the school webpage.

Multiple pictures had been posted.

Photos of Han Seo-jun and Kim Ji-an...

kissing.

——————— ↶*ೃ✧˚. ❃ ↷ ˊ——————

——Joy

You guys weren't expecting that did you?

Anyways, thank you so much for helping this book reach 5k you're honestly the best and receiving notifications from it never fail to make my day so thank you again for always putting a smile on my face.

Bye bye loves! ❤️