I wish he would not be so kind to her.

As expected from her, she accepts, and he leaves us to go towards her. I am now alone with Joonha at the table.

I do not want to make a mistake by bringing up a topic that might make him feel uncomfortable, so I keep quiet, but he leaves his phone on the table, locks it, and his big eyes meet mine.

For a few seconds, we both stare at each other without saying anything, and he puts one elbow down to rest his head on his hand. "Have you finished the drawing you were still working on last time we came here?"

He has not forgotten about it. That means so much to me.

"I finished it last night, but I'm not satisfied with the result, so I'll probably do it all over again," I tell him the truth, and he purses his thin lips. "Don't feel like that. You put so much effort into it, you should be proud of yourself. I mean, I'd be if I was you. You're a great artist."

"You think so?" I nervously laugh, the fluster, that a compliment causes, taking over me. "Of course I do, girl. Trust me. All the drawings or paintings that I saw from you were amazing," he affirms. "I'd love to see it now that it's done. I'm pretty sure you're putting yourself down for no reason again."

I smile but move my legs in an anxious manner. "It's in my room, it will take a few seconds if you want."

He stands up without even thinking twice. "Let me see it," he nearly leads me to my own bedroom, so I leave my chair as well but see him wait at the bottom of the stairs, so I walk them up and head to the right once I am on the first floor. I open the door, and with no fear to show him my personal space, I let him in then proceed to my desk, where the drawing is.

"Here it is," I point my finger at it, and once his eyes land on it, his lips curve up, and he tucks his hands in the pockets of his grey trousers. "I fucking knew it," he chuckles, the exact same way his father would do it. They sound so similar. "This is so pretty."

"Thank you," I say, not knowing what is the right way to react. "I'm happy to know you find it good."

"I find it amazing," he shakes his head, scrutinizing my artwork for a little longer. "I wish I was as good as you are at drawing."

"With practice, it's easy," I shrug, not understanding why he talks as if I was a professional. "Easy," he gives me a dull look, his smile not making an appearance anymore. "Sure. That's what they all say, then once you try, you realize that 'easy' for you all means 'hard as fuck' for people like me."

"Stop emphasizing so much," I roll my eyes, but he laughs. "I'm not. For real, you don't even realize how good you are. You could sell all those and earn so much money. Like, honestly," he gets one hand out. "My dad loves art so much, and I can assure you that he'd pay to hang them on the walls of our house."

"You're so funny," I take it as a joke. I cannot believe this, Mister Jeon has such rich and good taste, he would never want to waste money on this type of amateur art. He glares at me, not standing me anymore. "Let me take a pic of this," he gets his phone out and opens his camera.

This is a simple action, but this makes me feel touched.

I watch him capture a memory of my drawing in his phone, then he checks how it looks on his screen. "I'm gonna show this to my dad," he walks away at a fast pace, so I run after him. "Don't! I don't want him to see this!" I try to stop him without making too much noise, feeling the rush of blood hit my brain at the thought of Mister Jeon, an Art teacher, seeing my work, but he giggles and runs down the stairs before I could stand before him. "Dad!" he calls him. "Look at this."

I slow down, knowing what is going to be happening if I am around them. I go back to the table but cannot help gazing at Mister Jeon, whose sleeves are rolled up to his elbows to expose his tattoos and caramel tan.

I dart my eyes up to his face out of nervousness and fright but get a glimpse of a soft expression. He keeps his eyes on the screen and smiles at it. "Where is this from?"

"Y/n's bedroom. She's the one who drew it," he exposes me, even though I told him not to, and Mister Jeon instantly casts his eyes in my direction. "You're a real artist, y/n. This is so beautiful."

"Thank you," my body behaves the same way it did when Joonha complimented my work, and I grip the back of the chair on my left, without even knowing why. "I told her that you'd definitely pay to get those in our walls, but she doesn't want to believe me."

He will never shut up.

"I'd pay to have them for sure. This is professional art," he does not mince his words, making it difficult for me to be indifferent to what he says. "See," Joonha looks at me and comes closer. "I told you," he walks past me to go back on the chair he was occupying some minutes earlier, and Mister Jeon takes me by surprise with a sudden physical contact.

An unwanted one.

He bends over the table to place some dishes down on it, so I step to the side since he bumped into me because I moved right when he came here without making a sound.

I cannot pretend, I do like to feel the warmth of his body against mine. Even for a small and insignificant second, this feels thrilling.

"Sorry for being in the way," I apologize after what felt like an eternity, but a reassuring smile forms on his face. "No worries," he turns his head once my step-mother says something to snatch his attention away from me, but he stays by my side, and I sit down.

I end up with my face at the level of his lower abdomen, and his forearms. Those big ones that seem under a lot of pressure with all the veins jutting out of them to give contrast to his tattoos.

I stay still on my chair while hearing the sound of his soothing but masculine voice on my right, and his hand indicates one of the dishes as a question left his mouth. I glance up at him, wondering what is the problem, but my mind only makes me think about the position we are in.

I nibble on my inner cheek while the lewd thoughts are running through my head, and I grip on the bottom of my dress. I also focus on something else to not look suspicious in front of Joonha, but someone puts an end to this moment and gets on my nerves. My stepmother. She nudges her way between me and Mister Jeon, doing everything to have her body against his.

"Can you not push me?" I sigh and tilt my body to the left to not receive a hit from her elbow in my face, but she ignores me, and the only one that reacts to it is Joonha. He scoffs at me and looks down at his phone.

She is forty but does not even know how to flirt with a man the right way. She only knows how to rub herself on them.

I keep calm to not make our guests feel uncomfortable, especially Mister Jeon since Joonha always finds a way to laugh about it. I wait for her to leave, but unfortunately, Mister Jeon follows her.

"You're the one taking a lot of space," Joonha comments in a lower voice. "Look, you have the whole table, but you still sit there where my dad is," the sarcasm in his voice burns and confirms what I thought. He does not like her. "Oh, true. My bad."

He laughs but remains quiet now that my step-mother is back.

•••

8 pm.

< is Mister Jeon still at your house? ]

[ yes, why? >

I answer Jimin's text, wondering why she is so obsessed with this man when she never even met him.

< just like that:) curious to know ]

< do you think he's into girls with short hair? A bit chubby? ]

[ I don't know, but what I know is that he's not into annoying girls, so give up >

< ah, okay:') ]

< you could let me try my luck tho, date your boss who likes you ]

[ shut up! He doesn't like me! And stop talking about Mister Jeon. Leave him alone >

< says the one who fantasize about him 24/7 🙄 ]

[ that's not even true... >

< freaking liar ]

I smile at this text since she is right but hear the one, who we were talking about, speak. I look up at him as they are all eating dessert while I cannot even stand the smell of the chocolate cake because of what it reminds me of.

"You are an amazing chef, Harin," Mister Jeon compliments her after licking his lips, and he puts his spoon down. "Thank you, I tried my best."

"Don’t you eat yours?" Joonha wipes his mouth, and I shake my head. "You can have it if you want," I touch the dish but move my eyes to his father. "Unless Mister Jeon wants it."

"Oh, so I can't have it if he wants it?" he takes offense, playfully, so I annoy him. "No. Your dad comes first."

"Alright then," he leans over the table and grabs my dish, but I do not even stop him, seeing how hungry he is. Mister Jeon watches him take the food away from me. "You really have no manners," he chuckles but takes a sip of the wine he finally got, and for some reason, he makes eye contact with me. I do not break it, and he holds his glass down. "Don't you like chocolate?"

I lie with an 'I just don't like chocolate cake', and his features express some astonishment. "Really? It isn't often that a woman doesn't like that."

"She's not like other girls," Joonha says with sarcasm, and I smile but put my eyes back on Mister Jeon. "She is just picky. Like a kid," my step-mother dares to speak as if she did not know about the reason for this, so I bite the bullet and ignore her unnecessary remark.

"Well, everyone has different preferences," Mister Jeon defends me, his lips curved up in a gentle manner. "Exactly," I rub my fingers over my neck, not feeling confident, and he takes his eyes off of me.

"By the way," Joonha swallows the cake he has in his mouth and addresses me. "Would you like to join me and my friends this Wednesday? You seemed to want to come with me when I told you about skating."

"How many friends will be there?" I think twice before answering with my decision, fearing there might be too many boys over there. "Two guys, but they're fun and cool, so no need to be worried."

"I'm not worried...just shy," I tell him the truth but from the corner of my eye, notice Mister Jeon chuckling. "No, don't be," he smiles at me. "They won't bother you and just talk to me if I tell them you're not comfortable. And even if they don't listen, they'll do their best to make you feel at ease around them. They're both like me, so that'll be fun."

"Are you implying by this that you're fun to be with?" I point his confidence out, and he sneers. "Exactly."

"I'm slowly getting used to it, so I'm not even surprised," I lower my look to my thighs, and I hold my hands on them. "End your dessert and stop talking so much, you sound arrogant," his dad quietens him, and he leans back to put his arm over the back of his chair.

•••

8:40 pm.

"Have a good night, y/n," Mister Jeon bows to me after doing it to my step-mother, and I do it back. "Good night, Mister Jeon. Hope you'll sleep well."

"Thank you, I hope the same for you," he smiles, in the most attractive manner, and he tucks his hands in the pockets of his trousers but turns towards his son, and this tall one tells me goodbye, but in a one-of-a-kind way. He lifts one hand up and shows me a peace sign. "Bye, see you this weekend," he grins, softly, and he briefly glances at the woman next to me to bow to her and step out of the house, getting his dad to scoff but tell us goodbye again.

As expected, my step-mother follows him to get out with him and probably talk in private, so I leave and head upstairs to finally take my dress, accessories, and makeup off. I feel so much better in my pajamas, with no makeup, nothing annoying. I close the door behind me and get undressed, lay my dress on the bed, and I let my jewelry in a box that contains all of the others.

I need to take a shower, no matter how lazy I am.

20 minutes later...

Feeling free and good, I drop my body on my bed and grab the dress I left on it to throw it into the laundry basket. Then I get hold of my phone to check my notifications but send a text to Jimin.

[ I'm gonna skate with Jungkook's son next wednesday :> I can't wait >

< you serious? You can't even skate-_- ]

[ he's gonna teach me >

< oh, I see. You need to decide tho, who do you want? The man or his kid? ]

[ shut up. >

< just asking bcs I'm curious :) ]

< I was wondering tho, you always talk about them like they're giants but what's Jungkook's height? ]

[ idk, I think he said 6'4" when he was talking to Harin who asked him. She was interrogating him about literally everything, his height, his weight, the time he spends working out, the fragrance he wears because she likes it, and all that personal stuff >

< is she gonna ask him his dick size too? Bro, I'd feel uncomfortable if I was him. She doesn't know what boundaries are ]

[ ikr, and today, I felt like Joonha doesn't like her. It feels like it >

< I understand him. She's a witch. I won't ever forget the day when I was in your room and she kept on pissing us off because she wanted someone to help her ]

[ at least you don't have to live with her every day >

< true, I'm lucky :) ]

[ yeah, I'm gonna sleep now, I'm tired >

< alright, have a goodnight. I have an exam tomorrow so I'll text you in the evening ]

[ okay, good night and good luck for the exam, hope you fail, but you're lucky, so you won't :) >

< freak you:) ]

I laugh but leave my phone on my bedside table, but someone knocks on my door, and since it cannot be anyone but my step-mother, I tell her to come in, against my will.

Once she hears me, she walks inside but stays at the door frame. "Y/n. We gotta talk."