CHAPTER TWO
( Of Curses & Glares )

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‎THE EARLY MORNING trees bristle with the soft breeze, hitting Daiyu's skin as she steps out of the house.

"Yes, Dad, I promise I'll be safe. Don't worry. Okay, love you too - Bye." She speaks into the phone for what feels like the millionth time before hanging up and sticking the device in her pocket.

"Was that your dad?" Seyeon asks as he shuts the door behind him, bounding down the steps of his house.

"Mhm. I told him I was staying with you guys and explained the whole situation, and he's chill with it as long as I'm not in danger." Daiyu hums, and they fall into sidestep.

"That's great. I was worried he might not agree because our grandparents were Mom's parents, but I guess your dad was okay with it." The brown-haired boy smiles.

It scrunches his nose and makes his eyes shine with a bright glimmer, and Daiyu stares at it for a long time, trying to find her reflection in his large eyes.

"He said that it would be safer if I stayed with your - our - grandparents." The word our feels foreign on Daiyu's tongue. She has never really been able to claim a relative as her own.

"They're good people," Seyeon assures with a bittersweet smile. "Grandma and Grandpa moved in and took care of me after my parents passed away, so I owe them a lot."

His smile falters slightly, and his eyes dim. The Chinese-Korean girl takes notice of the sudden change, but chooses to overlook it. It's not her place to comfort the boy, anyway.

She doesn't answer, instead adjusts the strap of her bag on her shoulder. She had left all the clothes she'd brought at Seyeon's house and only brought the money. No matter how kind he is, Daiyu knows better than to leave her things lying around where they can easily be taken.

"So, where is your school? I'm kind of excited. I've never been to a school in Korea." Daiyu peers over at Seyeon.

He grins. "It's not so bad. You just have to avoid certain people."

"Why avoid when you can get your hands dirty?" A devilish grin makes its way onto Daiyu's face, and Seyeon shoots the older girl an uneasy expression.

"Hey, seriously . . . there are some pretty persistent people at this school. It's better to just keep your head down and not make a scene." He whines, tugging at her uniform jacket.

"I thought an idol's job was to get noticed?" Daiyu grins, ruffling the boy's hair.

Over the course of last night, the two stayed up and learned more about each other. If anyone were to look at them, they wouldn't know they'd just met a few days ago,

"Okay, okay. I won't make a scene. but only because you asked so nicely." Daiyu says after Seyeon makes a noise of indignation, glaring playfully at her.

He breathes a sigh of relief, blowing his bangs out of his eyes jokingly. "Thanks."

"Oh! Here we are!" He points to the building excitedly, making Daiyu turn her head to follow his arm.

Daiyu's heart swells. Everything from the moss-covered brick to the rusty gate was so intriguing for a girl who'd never actually bothered to attend her own school back home. Her arm gets tugged, and Daiyu is dragged away behind her half-brother who begins walking towards the school.

"Come on, you have to meet my friends!" He urges, a smile painting his cheeks rose.

The older teen presumes it's just a Seyeon thing, to be so foolishly endearing to a fault.

"Okay, okay," Daiyu mutters, her eyes dancing around the exterior of the school.

Whispers course through the halls as she walks through, and once more she feels like a giant in a land of dwarfs, shoulders above most students.

Daiyu has always despised standing out; That is the main reason for her choice of friendships back home. She had never been the one who captured everyone's attention, and she liked it that way. Here, however, she seems to be catching the eyes of the entire school. That is something she doesn't quite enjoy.

She feels like a zoo animal, locked in a cage for the public to gawk at and croon over.

Where she walks, the whispers seem to follow. Perhaps she had long forgotten how to tune out the voices - Back home, nobody dared to utter a word when she was in earshot, but things are endlessly different here.

"Her legs are so long? Is she a model?"

"Wow, she's fucking giant."

"Her face is pretty, but she's got such a bitchy expression."

"Is she a foreign transfer student? Look at those sharp eyes."

She does her best to ignore it, leaving it to dissipate into white noise as she follows behind Seyeon, who leads her into a classroom. School has yet to begin ( Apparently Seyeon is an early riser ), so she has enough time to meet her half-brother's so-called friends before heading to the teacher's room to pick up her schedule and uniform.

"So, where are they?" Daiyu peers around the class, but no one interesting catches her eye; Everyone seems too unimportant to be friends with a person like Jeong Seyeon.

The boy lets his large doe eyes scan the classroom before they light up. "Ah, they're probably outside!"

And so, Daiyu finds herself once again trailing after the hopelessly energetic boy, feeling as though her energy and excitement for school have already begun to wear out.

once back outside, Seyeon visibly relaxes and smiles brightly, waving to someone Daiyu is too far from to see. It isn't until two tall boys emerge from another side of the building did Seyeon approach them.

Daiyu stuffs her hands into her pockets and slouches slightly - She feels out of place without Seyeon at her side.

"Guys, this is Zhao Daiyu! She's -" Seyeon pauses, thinking of a way to introduce Daiyu without revealing anything.

"- A transfer student who's living with Seyeon and his grandparents." the older teen finishes for him, eyeing the two boys up and down distastefully.

One seems okay, with neatly parted hair and a smile on his good-looking face. He dresses neatly, holding a notebook in one hand and the straps of his school bag in the other.

The boy to his right, who reminds Daiyu a little too much of herself, wears a scowl on his painfully handsome face. His hair is wild - Falling over his face and neck in a mess of thick black strands styled in a mullet. His eyes are piercing siren-like beacons of icy darkness, complete with a daggered glare. He seems to hold no regard for rules, because his shirt is slightly unbuttoned and his blazer half-hazardously tossed over his bag.

His hands are stuffed into his pockets, and he smells faintly of a woody cologne.

It hasn't been long since Daiyu met Seyeon, but she sure doesn't want him to get caught in the wrong crowd. Not that she is implying the boy before her is a bad person, but she doesn't like the way he glares at her. It's off-putting.

( Or maybe that is just her pride talking. Daiyu tends to get defensive over the people she cares for, so she's told ).

"Daiyu, this is Lee Suho," Seyeon gestures to the polite-looking boy, whom she deems a fine fit for the position of Seyeon's friend. "And this is Han Seojun."

Daiyu's eyes lock with fierce ones, but she holds her gaze with a stony glare, turning away only to dip her head politely in a bow towards the other boy.

"Nice to meet you." She tears her hungry gaze away from Seojun, smiling politely at the other boy - Suho.

"Seyeon never told us he was friends with the new exchange student," Suho observes quietly, with no hint of judgment in his tone. "Or that there was an exchange student at all."

"We just met a few days ago." Seyeon beams.

Han Seojun scoffs. "You idiot. What's your deal with wanting to be friends with everyone?"

At his remark, Daiyu's eyes harden to stone and she glares at the boy, finally drawing herself up to her full height. She had been slouching before, as to make herself look much shorter than Seyeon.

"Aren't you supposed to be his friend?" She snaps, her usually casual tone replaced with an icy one. "It doesn't sound like it, from the way you talk to him."

"He didn't mean it like that, Daiyu," Seyeon laughs nervously, standing in between the two. "That's just how Seojun is."

"Well then maybe he should learn to hold his tongue." Daiyu sneers, stepping closer to the sharp-eyed teen.

She is eye-level with him, but her aura is so menacing she could've been 10 feet taller than him. Grabbing his already messed up tie, she ya ma it harshly so Seojun is forced downwards. His eyes flicker down to her knuckles, which are calloused and scarred from street fights and even simple play fights with her friends.

"I don't care if you're Seyeon's friend or not, next time you speak like that to him I'll rip that tongue right out of your mouth." She snarls.

"Daiyu!" Seyeon gasps in shock.

"Who are you to tell me what I can or can't say to him? You haven't even known him that long, yet you're acting like a godamn guard dog, barking in my face. Get lost." Seojun spits with a roll of his eyes, slapping Daiyu's hand off his tie and straightening up.

"I haven't known you for that long, yet I still want to break your fucking nose." She scoffs, kicking a stray pebble expertly so that it lands squarely against Seojun's forehead.

With a huff, Daiyu stuffs her hands into her pockets, turns, and walks away. Out of class, out of campus, and away from school. Not too far though, otherwise she'd get lost.

( That's exactly what happens ).

"Man, fuck this." She curses in her mother tongue, dragging her feet on the pavement as she walks through the empty streets.

Once again, she plugs her earbuds in and blasts music, walking to who knows where. It isn't until she realizes she has no idea whatsoever where she is, that her feet finally stop moving.

The rush of her actions finally dawns on her as she stands all alone - Out of reach from school, and out of reach from Seyeon.

Who is she to talk to his friend like that? It's not like she's any better.

Her eyes flicker to her left knuckle, where the letter L is written in bold against her index finger. It is been a simple reminder, one her friends all share, that wherever they are, and no matter the struggle, they will always find a way to live. Live with no regrets; A sort of motto their little gang had adopted when the days had gotten too tough and the going felt more like a rocket than a stroll.

A bit hypocritical of her, Daiyu now realizes with a bitter taste in her mouth, to have that mantra yet criticize others for not fitting her standards.
Maybe it's because that boy, Seojun, is so strikingly similar to Daiyu, that the feeling of unease would not leave the pit of her stomach.

Though she doubts he could be any worse - It just goes to show that she is the worst friend a kid like Seyeon could have; Not Seojun. And she knows that well.

And yes, she knows it was wrong of her to say and act the way she did when she has no right to - Seyeon is nothing but a fleeting memory she would forget the moment it came to say goodbye and head home, and there is no reason for her to keep him chained to her side when it is her who will leave first.

As always, Daiyu is the one in the wrong. There is no one to blame but Zhao Daiyu and her selfish incessant need to covet everything she wishes for, once more.

"Daiyu! I found you!" A voice calls, out of breath and desperate and relieved - It drains away her loud music, and she feels her eardrums ring with the lack of pounding bass in her ears. "I'm glad you're okay!"

She removes her earbuds, glancing towards a now running Seyeon followed by a curious-looking Suho and a disgruntled Seojun. It is more than obvious the latter had been dragged along.

"Uh, yeah. Why wouldn't I be okay?" Daiyu asks blankly, storing her earbuds in her bag.

Seyeon flashes her a sheepish smile, wiping the sweat from his forehead. For someone so adamant about being an idol, the boy was too frail for his own good.

"I mean, you just walked off before school even started so I was worried your feelings were hurt or something, and you're brand new to here, so I didn't want you getting lost or anything . . ."He mutters, trailing off at the look on his half-sister's face.

"Ah." Daiyu feels the guilt claw at her lower abdomen. He is only worried for her, meanwhile she had stormed off in a fit of anger. "Sorry about that, it was really stupid of me to do that, wasn't it? Thanks for coming to look for me."

Her eyes flicker towards Seojun, who blatantly glares at Daiyu with a fierce intensity.

For once, she swallows her pride for the sake of being kind to Seyeon's friends, and allows a half-assed apology to leave her lips.

"Sorry for threatening you, I wasn't actually gonna cut off your tongue." In an aftertone, she adds, "That's usually Jianyu's thing."

"Kidding, kidding." Daiyu barks out a laugh when she catches sight of the trio's horrified faces.

"Yeah, whatever." Seojun clicks his tongue lightly and stuffs his hands in his pockets.

Not much of a forgiving type, is he? Daiyu rolls her eyes and turns away from him.

"Shit! School starts in 10!" Seyeon yells, eyes practically popping out of his head. He erupts into a sprint.

( Or at the very least he tries. He can hardly go faster than a jog ).

"Lead the way, sir!" Daiyu runs off after him with ease, her long legs carrying her farther distances with little turmoil.

The two boys standing share a look of confusion before breaking out into a chase after the two siblings.

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‎"OH SHIT, MY uniform!" Daiyu swears loudly in her mother tongue, stopping in her tracks before turning and running full sprint towards the teacher's office. "I'll catch up with you later, I have to get my schedule and uniform!"

Seyeon wipes the sweat from his brow and grins brightly. "Sure! Hopefully you're in our homeroom!"

Seyeon waves at Daiyu as Suho and Seojun surpass him, too focused on their race to turn around.

With one final wave and glance behind her shoulder, Daiyu uses the rest of her energy to sprint into the teacher's office, taking a few seconds to catch her breath before she knocks softly on the sliding door and lets herself in.

An elderly lady greets her with a wrinkled smile, and Daiyu does her best to return it.

"Hello ma'am, I'm here to pick up my schedule and uniform. Sorry for being late, I got lost." Daiyu bows her head slightly, lies spewing from her mouth as easily as breathing.

"Don't worry about it. Come this way, I'll have your schedule printed. Your uniform is over there, feel free to grab it." She points to a rack of clothes perfectly ironed. "Find the one with your name tag on it."

Daiyu quickly snatches the fabric up and follows after the lady, taking a short look around the room. She might as well familiarize herself with the layout, since Daiyu is sure she's going to find herself here on more than one occasion - And probably not on the best of terms, she might add.

"Here you are. I'll call your homeroom teacher and notify him you'll be a bit late, in case you lose your way again." The old woman gives Daiyu a wink, and the teen smiles gratefully. "There's a bathroom a few steps down from the teacher's office, you can change there. Good luck on your first day !"

"Thank you!" Daiyu bows one last time before exiting and making her way to the bathroom to change.

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"CLASS, PLEASE MEET your new classmate, Zhao Daiyu." The homeroom teacher is a short, bright man, and he introduces Daiyu to the classroom with a thick voice and a broad grin.

The entirety of the class erupts in whispers.

"It's the cute foreigner, sweet!"

"She's even taller in person . . . Look at the teacher standing beside her. He looks like one of Snow White's seven dwarves."

"I told you Daiyu was going to be in our homeroom!"

A familiar timbre whispers loudly and Daiyu's eyes stray to the back of the class. Seyeon eagerly waves at her, and she nods in his direction with a small smile.

"Tell us a little about yourself, Daiyu." The teacher smiles, clapping his hands together.

"Well, my name is Zhao Daiyu, I just turned 17 and I lived in China for most of my life, until I came here to Korea." She chuckles nervously, feeling uncomfortable under all the scrutinizing gazes.

"Very nice to meet you, Daiyu! Go ahead and take a seat behind Jeong Seyeon, right next to Han Seojun. Please raise your hands." The teacher nods towards the two boys, one who excitedly tosses his hand up in the air, meanwhile the other limply raises his to face level.

"Now, I expect you to all be kind to your new classmate."

A chorus of 'yes, sir's sounds through the classroom.

With a lazy grin, Daiyu bumps her fist with Seyeon's outstretched one on her way to her seat.

"I can't believe the four of us are all together! This is a sign." Seyeon cheers inwardly, his honey-brown eyes twinkling.

"I guess it's true that all good-looking people flock together."

"She fits in so easily with them . . . I'm so jealous."

"Daiyu!" Seyeon is not a good whisperer, Daiyu begins to notice as he leans in his seat to make his voice quieter but it only grows louder. "I was thinking, the four of us should eat lunch together! Me and Suho eat and Seojun plays soccer, but now that we're even we can do both!"

Daiyu shrugs, "Sure. I play basketball better, but I'm okay at soccer. Is the lunch here good?"

"It's the best!"

"It's nothing special."

Seyeon and Seojun both speak at the same time. Seojun gives the boy an inward glare, shaking his head.

"It's settled. Lunch and 2v2 soccer match." Daiyu nods, pulling out a lollipop from her bag and popping it in her mouth.

Seyeon smiles brightly before turning back around and finally paying attention to the lesson.

Daiyu reaches for her bag, about to write her notes when she realizes she doesn't have a notebook. School supplies are another thing she has to add to her list.

She taps Seyeon gently, whispering, "Hey, do you have an extra notebook? I don't have any supplies besides pencils."

He shakes his head apologetically. "Ask Suho, he always has stuff."

She nods and turns to look at the seat behind Seojun's. Using her long limbs to reach over to Suho's desk, she taps it to get his attention.

( It takes a few tries, as Lee Suho is the only one fully immersed in the lesson ).

'You got a notebook?' Daiyu mouths, making a book-opening motion with her hands. 'I need one to take notes.'

He puts up a finger, signaling to give him a second before digging through his backpack and pulling out a spiral notebook - It's red, Daiyu's favorite color.

She smiles and mouths her thanks before taking it and flipping to the first page. Thankfully, it is brand new too.

It may be hard to believe, but Daiyu can be smart if she wants to be. The only problem is that she never really wants to. Zhao Daiyu is content in the shadows of her friends' achievements, letting them have all the glory while she stands in the background, a supportive beacon that holds everyone together in the dark. It is just how she is.

She does not care for awards of high honor, or recognition for something she wants to do. And all she wants is to surround herself with people, to show those who condemn her that she can - Zhao Daiyu can be loved. She has friends who love her. She is no one's abandoned child.

Only now, those friends are miles away and she is considered someone different - Someone foreign - So what is the point in trying to blend in if she is always bound to stand out?

With a long sigh, Daiyu gathers the rest of her intellect on the language being spoken from the teacher's mouth, willing her brain to remember the characters for it. It had been so long since she last read Hangul that it grows hard for her eyes to properly make out sentences.

Even so, she takes it one step at a time, mostly just rewriting what is already on the board about the lesson. After what seems like hours to Daiyu, class is over and it is already time for lunch.

Popping her neck joints, Daiyu stands and slings her bag over her shoulder, joining Seyeon, Suho, and Seojun.

"So, where do you usually eat lunch?" Daiyu asks, trying to fill conversation as she and the three other boys walk towards the cafeteria.

"By the big tree at the end of the field." Suho hums, "It has shade and the goalposts are easy to bring over."

Daiyu only nods as she gazes at the interior of the campus. The interior is nice and clean - although rustic - Just as the exterior had been when she first laid eyes on it.

She grabs a tray and trails mindlessly behind Seyeon, piling food onto her plate; He was right, the food looked pretty delicious. Now it's just a matter of taste. As the four fill their trays with their food of choice, Seyeon makes idle chatter to fill up the spaces of silence.

"Let's go, my sidekicks!" Seyeon announces as he marches towards the grassy field, laughing as the blades of green tickle at his shins.

With one hand, Daiyu grabs her phone and snaps a quick picture of him, feeling as though the moment was necessary to preserve - It's simply an innate sense of natural beauty. Daiyu can tell Jeong Seyeon is made to shine.

( He is a star, and stars are forged to glow ).

She ups her pace, not enjoying the feeling of the grass against her legs as much as the smile on Seyeon's face.

The tree at the end of the field is, in fact, bigger than big. Its branches spread almost 5 times further than the width of the trunk, which is wide enough that the four of them combined wouldn't be able to wrap around it even if they tried.

The shade it provides is plenty, casting a pattern against the different shades of green grass in the fields. A citrine yellow glow of the morning sun casts a heavenly glow against the evergreen leaves of the tree, and Daiyu can see reflections of the burning sun in the eyes of the three boys in her company.

The Chinese-Korean girl flattens the grass she deems as the best sitting spot, preparing to sit down. With both hands steady on her tray, she crosses her legs and plops down. Discomfort etches onto her features as soon as she does, the grass poking at her legs from beneath her skirt. With a small mutter of curses, Daiyu places her tray on the floor and shrugs off her blazer.

To her right Seyeon plops down on the grass with a smile, and Suho follows after, taking the seat to Daiyu's left. Seojun takes a seat right beside the quiet boy. Similarly, they take a seat - Easing their clothed legs onto the prickly grass. Daiyu curses whoever invented gendered clothes, because she hates the feeling of the blades of grass digging in between her kneecaps and tickling her calves.

Seyeon is the first to take a bite out of his food, practically inhaling it as the other 3 watch him. Finally, after Seyeon stops eating and stares at them awkwardly, Daiyu copies his actions and picks up her own chopsticks, taking a bite of food in between the utensils and placing it in her mouth. It's still warm, and delicious. Though it didn't compare to the meals at home ( Even though most of those had been takeout since her father lacked any sort of cooking ability ), the food was good.

Daiyu makes a mental note to learn how to cook Korean dishes for her father and her friends when she goes back to China.

"Sho, wha do you fink?" Seyeon asks mid-chew, a few pieces of rice flying out of his mouth. He covers his face automatically and erupts in a choked sort of laughter afterward, mumbling incoherent apologies.

"It's really good." Daiyu comments, taking another bite.

"I told you!" Seyeon finally swallows his food, giving Daiyu a bright grin. "Seojun says his mom cooks better and that the food is nowhere near as good as hers, but he never proved it because he doesn't want us over at his house."

Daiyu laughs, sprawling herself out on the grass like a starfish.

"My dad loves cooking, even though he shit at it. But it's comforting to know he actually cares."

Daiyu mindlessly glances up at the tree branches, beginning to count the leaves. "It feels so weird being away from home."

"There's nothing wrong with missing your family." Seyeon smiles. "Seomtimes I talk to myself and wonder if my parents are listening, or if they're okay wherever they are now."

"Did you live with your father before you moved to Korea?" Suho asks, tray already empty as he watches daiyu carefully.

"Yeah. It's been just the two of us for as long as I can remember." Daiyu shrugs.

"Are we all sharing our life's story?" Seojun interrupts, finally taking his turn to speak after staying quiet the whole conversation. "Let's just play. My legs are cramping up."

Even though Daiyu doesn't exactly like Seojun any more than when she had first met him, she is glad from the diversion. Talking about her home is something she didn't feel like doing at that moment, and much less with people she barely knows.

"I hear whining." Daiyu taunts as she stands up, grabbing a ball and jogging to a goalpost.

She shoots Seojun an evil smirk. "Only losers whine."

He scowls, and her grin grows wilder.

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‎ ꩜ AUTHOR'S NOTE !

why am i just realizing now how cringe this fic is oh my god 😭 my 15 year old self was living out her baddie oc dreams i cannot

couldn't save daiyu from the embarrassing monologues but i tried my best 😭🙏 why did i think she was so badass HELP I LAUGJED SO HARD WHILE EDITING THIS CHAP

i really needed that laugh bc now im locking in and actually putting some effort into fixing the chapters ( this was my wake up call )

another 4k words of prewritten chapter for all u true beauty fans !! btw i don't know if i mentioned this here but this is pre canon so this vol is all about my fav group ( daiyu & the 3 s's ) and then the next volume is when the actual show starts !

other than that pls lmk if there are any mistakes in the spelling or anything so i can fix it !

also don't b afraid to vote or comment, i will probably (very likely) reply!!!! and if you don't understand something, plsplspls lmk!! i want yall to fully understand what's going on

happy reads!

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─── ANNIE