______

JUNGWON held the door open for the girl, allowing her to step in and for him to follow shortly after. The bell above the door chimed throughout the building, as soon a tall boy emerged from the back of the shop, wiping his hands on a hand towel.

He took notice of Jungwon, making eye contact with the boy before averting his gaze to the amazed girl, who was currently admiring the decor of the shop. It had a very comforting feeling, in her opinion.

"Wait, is that Eunhee? Woah..!" The male exclaimed, a large smile growing on his face.

"Wow, you didn't even say hi to me.. thanks, Heeseung." Jungwon sighed dramatically, shaking his head.

Heeseung snickered, shaking his head and reaching his hand out to ruffle the younger's hair.

"Eunhee, welcome! It's so nice to finally meet you in person." Heeseung smiled sweetly at the girl, who bowed slightly and returned the smile.

"Ahh, yes, it's nice to meet you, too. You're a lot taller than I imagined.." she chuckled.

"Eun.. don't say that, it'll go straight to his ego.. even though Ni-Ki is literally taller than him." Jungwon mumbled, a small pout on his lips.

Heeseung shook his head at the younger's comment, rolling his eyes slightly. "Ahh, Eunhee, don't listen to him. He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Hey, I heard Eunhee's name?" Another boy emerged from the back, his eyes brightening at the sight of the girl.

"Woah! You're really here! It's nice to see you, Eunhee. I'm Jake, by the way." The boy spoke, a puppy-like smile spreading across his lips.

"Hello! I really like how you guys decorated, by the way." The girl hummed, eyes wandering around, admiring the fairy lights hung up around the walls.

Jake placed a hand on his heart, as Heeseung copied his actions. "Wow, thank you.. I don't think someone has actually expressed their appreciation for our beautiful decorating skills." Jake spoke dramatically.

"Hey, I did!"

"Okay yeah.. but you literally just said, 'the place looks nice'." Heeseung huffed, mimicking the boy's voice. Jungwon rolled his eyes, shaking his head.

"Anyways, what brings you both here?" Heeseung questioned, tilting his head as he leaned against the counter.

"To eat.. we were going to eat at a café, but the employee there was being really weird." Jungwon explained, pressing his lips together.

"Really? How so?" Jake perked up, furrowing his brows slightly as he looked between the two teenagers.

"He was like.. making me uncomfortable and stuff. He kept asking me about my love life, my age, and he wrote down on a piece of paper his number and stuff and said he wanted to take me on a date and to text him, even after he found out I'm underage. He's twenty-six." Eunhee explained, watching as looks of disgust formed on the two boys' faces.

"What café? We'll go and beat him up." Jake spoke, making a fist with his hand as he punched the air.

"Nah.. I don't want to start something unnecessary and have you both get in trouble. But, thank you." Eunhee shook her head, as Heeseung hummed.

"Hm.. fair enough. Anyways, go ahead and take your seats. There should be a menu for you to look through on the table, Eunhee." Jake spoke, giving the two teens a small smile.

"Okay. Thank you. Come on, Eun." Jungwon spoke, leading the girl to his go-to table.

_____

"Here you go, enjoy the food. As much as I'd love to stay and chat with you both, we've got some more customers filling the shop.. but, luckily Jay is coming to help out." Heeseung gave a small thumbs up, earning nods and small thank you's from the two teens.

Once the boy disappeared, Eunhee looked at Jungwon with interest. "How many of you work here?" She questioned, tilting her head in curiosity.

"Honestly, all of us.. we all kinda come in and help around. But, as you can tell, it's mainly Heeseung and Jake, and Jay comes around and helps a lot since he likes cooking." Jungwon replied, earning a hum from the girl.

Taking her chopsticks, she used them to take a bite of the noodles, to which her eyes immediately lit up and she let out a hum in satisfaction. "Woah.. this is the best ramen I've ever tasted.." she muttered in amazement, earning a laugh from Jungwon who nodded in agreement.

"I know, right? They're kinda obsessed with ramen, so they know how to make it perfect and taste really good."

"I'm literally going to give them a five star review after this.. I'm not even kidding. Anyways, where are we gonna go after this?" The girl asked, as Jungwon paused before shrugging lightly.

".. honestly, I'm not too sure. I didn't really plan this out at all.." he chuckled nervously, earning a small smile from the girl.

"That's fine. I mean, we could just walk around the city for a little while, and maybe find something to do in the midst of it." She suggested, earning a hum in agreement from the boy.

"Yeah, that sounds fun. I don't really walk around in the city much.. I mean, I've only really been to a few shops, and that was with Ni-Ki and Sunoo.. and then, one time I went with my sister."

"You have a sister?" Eunhee perked up, as Jungwon hummed.

"Yep. An older one."

"Woah, that's nice. I'm an only child." She let out, taking a sip from the glass of water she had gotten.

"Hey, honestly, she'd be delighted to meet you. She'd probably take you in and treat you like a sister, to be honest." Jungwon pointed in.

"Ehh, that'd be nice. I've always wanted a sister.. but, it's alright tho because my friends are kinda like sisters to me." She hummed, a smile gracing her lips at the thought of her friends.

"Yeah, I get that. My-- no, our friends are all like brothers to me. I've known them since I was little." Jungwon smiled fondly, leaning back in his seat.

______

"Guys?" Jungwon called out, standing beside Eunhee at the counter. All three boys walked out from the back of the building, "we're leaving now." Jungwon finished, earning nods from the three.

"Ahh, already? Well, Eunhee, it was nice seeing you." Jay smiled at the girl, who hummed in agreement.

"Thank you for the food." Eunhee bowed towards the three older boys politely, a soft smile settled onto her lips.

"Of course! Come back anytime. You can literally get free food, since you are, afterall, my newly adopted child." Jake spoke, as Heeseung chuckled and nodded.

"So true. Anyways, we'll let you both go. Have fun, and be safe, alright? Don't lose each other. The city can be dangerous sometimes." Heeseung pointed a finger towards the two, as Jungwon groaned in response.

"Please.. we're eighteen, not eight." The boy grumbled out in frustration, as Heeseung rolled his eyes.

"Okay? You're still children. Now go on, have fun." He waved them off. Jungwon snickered, but nonetheless waved at his friends goodbye, grabbing onto Eunhee's hand gently and tugging her alongside him.

The girl's face flushed at the contact, but followed his head and held onto his hand as they exited the building.

"I swear, they won't stop treating me like a kid." Jungwon mumbled, a pout settling into his lips as Eunhee let out a small laugh.

"Hey, it's cute.. plus, it really does show me how much they care about you." She pointed out, as Jungwon hummed slightly in acknowledgement.

"Yeah.. I guess. They were really happy to see you, by the way." Jungwon said, as Eunhee tilted her head.

"Really?"

"Mhm. Part of me is kind of glad we came here instead of eating at the café.. if I had known they'd be so happy to finally meet you in person, I would've brought you sooner." The boy sighed out.

"Now, they're definitely going to flex to Sunoo and Sunghoon that they met you, since they're the only ones who haven't now."

"Ayy, you all are treating me like I'm some celebrity or something. They could literally meet me anytime they wanted, to be honest.. I'm not really busy, besides school and stuff." She spoke, gaze shifted down to her shoes as she walked in sync with the boy.

"Hey, we all really like you. You're really cool, so meeting you is like a privilege." Jungwon chuckled at his own words, as Eunhee furrowed her brows and smiled slightly.

The girl lifted her head, looking around before her eyes fell on something. Atlas, she broke the contact between them, pulling her hand away from his and pointing at a shop from across the street.

"Woah, look at the squishmallows.. they're so cute.." she gawked.

"I take it you like squishmallows?" Jungwon laughed, as Eunhee nodded her head.

"Of course.. they're so soft and cute, and also really cuddly. I'm gonna be honest, I can't sleep without them.. I need to be hugging something." She chuckled, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Oh, really? That's cute. I'll keep that in mind." Jungwon giggled, imagining her all cuddled up with the plush.

Eunhee blushed, rolling her eyes playfully. "Hey, let's go there. Maybe, we can get matching ones or something to remember today." He suggested.

Eunhee nodded her head in agreement quickly, feeling a rush of excitement wash over her.

Jungwon smiled at her excitement, sighing in content.

"Cute.." he mumbled under his breath.

_______

AUTHOR'S NOTE
wOW another chapter??

and it's long??

i'm feeling very motivated to write for some reason

it's raining outside right now and it's so calming i could cry :')

i wish it would storm tho tbh lol

i really want to listen to thunder AND rain at the same time

it's so satisfying bro

anyways

i need to stop talking lololol
january 25th, 2023 -- 1:52am

not proofread