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He seemed quite unimpressed when his eyes met Heeseung and the girl. "That's Arin. She moved here two years ago and visited your brother's class," Jungwon explained.
"You're talking about Arin?" a voice suddenly whispered from behind, putting an arm around me and Jungwon each. "She's hot, right?" Jay nodded at the redhead.
"Is Heeseung dating her?", I asked Jay, squinting my eyes, and he nodded. "For about 8 months now.".
"But I'm single. Just for your information. RIGHT SUNGHOON?" he replied with a grin and Sunghoon rushed over to me. "Do I really have to beat you up to make you stay away from her?".
"Can you please shut up?" I looked angrily at my brother. "I'm not a little kid anymore. So stop treating me like one.".
Many groans and whistles were heard from the team after my statement. Even though Sunghoon is the older one, that doesn't mean I can't tell him my opinion.
In the meantime, Heeseung also walked off the field to take a sip. My eyes stuck to him like glue when he opened his bottle.
"Hee! She asked for you!" Jay suddenly shouted and disappeared behind me and Jungwon.
Heeseung seemed confused as he walked toward the two of us. "What's up?".
I squeezed Sunghoon shirt in my hand like crazy, even though I was disgusted by it a moment ago.
"You're captain?", I asked him a random question, since I wasn't prepared for a conversation in my head. Jungwon looked at me strangely from the side.
"Recently, yes," he smiled. "That's cool," I nodded, noticing how my best friend's gaze became more and more piercing.
Not knowing what else to say, Heeseung patted my shoulder as he walked past us. "See you, Hyeona."
We waited a few seconds until he passed. "What the heck was this?", Jungwon raised his eyebrows. "
You were as nervous as I was before my first anesthesia."
"What?" I laughed. "Don't be silly, I've known Hee my whole life. We get along well.".
Sunghoon suddenly reappeared in front of me and finally took his shirt from my hands. "You came by bus, right?".
"Will you give us a ride home?", I begged him with puppy eyes. "Are you joking! I told you not to come, so you can see for yourselves how to get back home. Besides, I'm taking Heeseung and his girlfriend. So no more room". He also passed, leaving us behind.
We should get back home on our own? Well...nothing easier than that. My head spun around, looking for the two last persons next to the field.
"Jake!", I walked up to him. He raised his head, interrupting his conversation with Beomgyu. "Can you give us a ride home? Me and Jungwon?
Jake shouldered his bag before nodding toward the car with a grin. "Sure."
***
About one hour later, I was laying on one of our sun loungers next to the pool in our garden. It was really hot and sunny, so the best weather to cool off in the water and sunbathe.
I was just about to drift off for a nap when my memory drifted back to the car ride.
Jake is really funny. He's also one of the few friends my brother has who doesn't treat Jungwon like shit.
Sunghoon isn't as close to Jake as he is to Heeseung, so I couldn't really gauge him over the years. When the whole group of boys was at our house, I was usually at school.
"You have to leave later!", I suddenly heard my brother shout from the house. "I have invited some friends. The pool is ours then.".
Of course, I had understood him clearly, but why should I all of a sudden listen to him, when he consistently treats me like shit since I'm back.
"Hyeona!" he repeated my name, but I continued to ignore him. That worked until he finally approached me on my sun lounger after all.
"If you want me to stop treating you like a child, then act like an adult and stop ignoring me.".
Now I was finally at the limit, pushed my sunglasses onto my head and sat up a little. "Are you kidding me? Since I've been here, the only thing you've been doing is yelling at me and bossing me around. Why are you surprised I don't listen to you when you can't even communicate like a normal human.".
I lay back on the lounger and closed my eyes. Sunghoon was speechless for a brief moment. Hopefully he realized that his behavior currently sucked.
"How did you get home?".
"Jake drove me...", I answered curtly.
I perceived, from his sharp inhalation, that Sunghoon was about to drop a comment again, so I beat him to it.
"Listen. I don't know what's going on with you. But just let me live my life. I don't want anything from any of your weird friends. I'm not one to make out with just anyone like you do, okay? Now just leave me alone.".
To my surprise, Sunghoon actually disappeared, and I may have just fallen asleep at some point. Because the next thing I noticed was that our gate to the garden was opened by a large group of people, and now there were probably 10 people standing around.
"Hyeona, could you please go to your room or somewhere?". Sunghoon was standing right next to me this time, his arms crossed in a huff.
But suddenly Jay pinched his arm. "Why you don't let her stay with us, bro?". I nodded with a smirk and got up. That's the moment I realized a couple of eyes staring at me. Of course, my brother only invited his male friends. Me, standing around with a bikini only, would be the main attraction of the evening.
Sunghoon rolled his eyes and sighed. "Fine...".
Satisfied, i sat down at the edge of the pool to get used to the water temperature before i slid in with a swing. I dipped my head under the water to wet my hair before sitting down on one of the air-filled water donuts.
Little by little, more and more of his friends entered the pool, playing volleyball, and a smile appeared on my face when I finally saw Jake passing our garden gate. It didn't take him long to slip out of his shirt and jump into the water, causing me to plop down from my tire.
"Yaah you idiot.", I laughed, splashing him with water. "Wait. Now I'm an idiot?" he laughed now too. "I thought all of Sunghoon's friends were weird, at least that's what you said.
I stopped splashing for a second. "How do you know?".
"Hoon talked to us on the phone earlier. You were yelling at him in the background.
"This jerk...", I muttered to myself. "Anyways, then you are a weird idiot," I laughed.
Jake suddenly got out of the pool again. "I'm going to get a drink, you want one?" I shook my head in thanks. In America, I'd had some drinks at the one or other party and quickly realized how alcohol affected my body - in a very unpleasant way.
"Anyone knows where Hee is?", someone shouted through the whole garden area. It took some time before another guy approached the pool rim and bend down. "Not coming! He's busy with his girl or something.", he explained.
I listened to their words attentive. And I don't know why, but the fact that Heeseung won't appear, crashed my mood.
So I got out of the water a short time later and wrapped myself in my bathrobe, which I had left on the lounger. Since no one seemed to notice me anyway, as usual, I finally decided to go into the house and spend the rest of the evening in my room.
I was deep into my Netflix series when my phone vibrated and Sunghoon appeared on the screen.
"What is it?", I asked him, annoyed.
"Where are you?"
"In my room, where else...", I yawned.
"Can you come downstairs? I need your help with the drinks. There are so many people.". He was visibly uncomfortable asking.
I looked over at my watch. "It's almost 1 o'clock. Are you guys crazy to still be making such a racket?"
"Hyeo, please.". I rolled my eyes and sighed. "Fine...I'm coming.". Without letting him get a word in edgewise, I hung up and walked out of my room and down the stairs towards the garden.
Taken aback, I stopped in my tracks when the doorbell rang. More guests? At this hour? Why don't they simply enter the garden instead.
I opened the door and was a little startled when Heeseung suddenly appeared in front of me. "Hey Hyeo.", my soul dropped, as I noticed I'm still in my pajamas and forgot to change before going downstairs. "Heeseung? I thought you weren't coming today.".
Okay shit...I couldn't help but blush. He was obviously judging my great outfit.
"Well...I just broke up with my girlfriend half an hour ago, so I changed my mind.", he said before pushing past me into the house. Shocked, I closed the door behind him. "Oh shit, I mean...are you okay?".
"I'm fine.", he smiled slightly at me. "Ah and sorry for bothering you. Hoon must have already locked the gate to the garden.
I quickly waved it off. "No problem. I'm supposed to come outside anyway.", I explained, and entered the garden behind him.
When the boys recognized their friend, crowds were already heading towards him and greeting him loudly. 50 percent of them were already drunk as skunks.
I quickly rushed to my brother behind the bar, where many impatient of his friends were already waiting for their drinks. Of course, I noticed his shocked expression when he looked down at me. "Yeah. I know I'm wearing my pajamas. No need to tell me.".
FYI...they are a pink Snoopy set!
"Hee's here. I just let him in.", I informed him as I started preparing the drinks.
"Oh shit...I completely forgot to leave the gate open for him," he cursed to himself.
I frowned at him. "You knew he was coming?".
"He texted me about an hour ago. He just caught his girlfriend cheating with someone else."
I looked over at Heeseung with pity. "Fuck."
"This is why we don't have a relationship, right bro?", Jay suddenly fell around my brother's neck. "We can fuck with any girl, whenever we want..." he turned his head to me with a grin before slowly looking down my body as well. "Cute.".
"Thanks!", I playfully replied.
Sunghoon pushed him aside, causing him to stagger a few steps before colliding with Heeseung and being caught by him.
"How about water from now on?" he suggested with a teasing grin before letting go of his friend. By now, a girl or two had arrived at the party. However, I had never seen any of them before. Probably friends of friends of friends...
The next person who suddenly appeared between me and my brother was Heeseung. "What do you want to drink? I'll relieve you, so you can loosen up a bit too," he said to him, whereupon Sunghoon placed the mixing cup on the counter.
"Thank God. I'm going crazy here soon, man..." he complained. "Just give me a Long Island...I need something strong.".
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