Sweet Rejection | seongjoong

Eight

"Oh, I don't think I've heard that name before then." Seonghwa shakes his head. "Well... you two are here." He tells them when he stops the car at the school. "And Hongseok, if you ever need a ride to school, you can always count on us, okay? I take Seongyoon to school every morning anyway."

"Really?" He smiles. "Okay, thank you. I'll have to tell my mom. What's your name by the way?"

"I'm Seonghwa."

"Oh okay. Thank you for the offer! I'll let my mom know." He gets out of the car and rushes towards school.

"What do you think you're doing?" Seongyoon asks him. "Charity work?"

"Oh come on... I take you to school every morning anyway. What's the difference?"

"Whatever." He's about to get out of the car, but Seonghwa stops him.

"By the way... the first time I saw him, he was getting bullied. Would you mind keeping an eye on him?"

"Why do you care so much about him anyway?"

"He just seems like a good kid." Seonghwa shrugs. "Plus, I saw him getting bullied, so of course I had to do something about it."

Seongyoon just rolls his eyes and gets out of the car.

"I'll buy you those expensive shoes you wanted to buy."

"Really? You're not kidding?" He asks and Seonghwa shakes his head.

"I'm being serious."

"Alright then. I'll put the bullies in their place. Bye." He waves at Seonghwa before walking away.

-

As Hongjoong's standing behind the jewelry stand, he looks down at his expensive necklace and feels guilty. With this money he could've bought something his family really needed. He could've saved up in case his brother needs any other medicine.

But he reminds himself that he never asked Seonghwa to buy it for him, so he shouldn't feel guilty.

"Hongjoong, why are you so zoned out?" His mother finally arrives and Hongjoong quickly turns around and hides the necklace from her.

"Nothing... sorry, ma'am." He tells the woman across from him who wanted to buy some jewelry. "What would you like?"

"Oh, I was just looking for-" She starts, but Hongjoong's eyes widen when he sees Seonghwa.

"What is he doing here?!" He whisper yells.

"What are you talking about?" His mother asks him and Hongjoong quickly looks around, trying to find a place to hide.

"Mom, I have to go to the restroom!" Hongjoong tells her and quickly runs away to hide.

-

"Where's your mom?" Seonghwa asks Hongseok.

Since Seonghwa went to pick Seongyoon up after school, he also brought Hongseok with him.

"She's right there!" Hongseok points and runs towards his mom. Seonghwa smiles and follows him.

"Mommy! This is the nice guy I told you about!" Hongseok tells her. "He's the brother of one of my classmates."

"Hello, ma'am." Seonghwa smiles and bows at her. "I'm Seonghwa."

As Hongjoong's hiding behind a tree, a confused look forms on his face when he sees Seonghwa with his little brother.

"Nice to meet you, Seonghwa. Are you the one who defended my little one from his bullies?"

"It was nothing." Seonghwa smiles. "I just wanted to ask you if it's okay for me to give Hongseok a ride to school. He and my brother are classmates so it'd be no problem for me."

"Really? But we don't really have the money to pay you. Why would you-"

"It's totally fine, ma'am. Like I said, I already take my brother to school anyway, so it wouldn't make a difference for me anyway."

"Wow, I really appreciate it then. I guess there really are good people in the world."

'My brother was getting bullied? And Seonghwa stood up for him?' Hongjoong thinks to himself. 'Why didn't I know about this?'

"Where's Hongjoong?" Hongseok asks his mom and Hongjoong's eyes widen.

"He had to go somewhere real quick."

"Oh, what a shame. Hongseok was talking to me a lot about him. I would've loved to meet him." Seonghwa tells them.

"It's okay. He should be back in a few."

"That's alright." Seonghwa tells her. "I actually have to go right now, but please give me your address so I can pick Hongseok up for school tomorrow."

"Oh, sure." His mom gets a small piece of paper and writes their address on it, then gives it to Seonghwa.

"Thank you... Goodbye, ma'am. And I'll see you later, Hongseok." He waves before walking away from them.

After he's gone, Hongjoong comes out of his hiding spot and his mom hits the back of his head.

"You just missed something important! It turns out a really handsome guy is offering to take your little brother to school."

"Do you even know him? How do you know he's someone you can trust?" Hongjoong asks, pretending he's never seen him before.

"I just know he's a good guy." She shrugs. "But you should've come back sooner! He was really handsome. What if you two would've-"

"Oh, no mom. I'm sure he already has someone."

"True..." His mom frowns. "Plus, he seems to be really well off. I'm sure he wouldn't be interested in someone that doesn't have as much money as him."

"You're right." A frown forms on Hongjoong's face.

'As soon as he finds out who I really am, everything will be over.' He thinks to himself.