Sweet Rejection | seongjoong

Twenty-One

The next day, Seonghwa gets to Hongseok's house to take him to school. He gets out of his car and knocks on the door.

After about a minute, the door opens and he sees Hongseok. "Hi Seonghwa!" He smiles and looks extra cheerful today.

"Hey, ready for school?" Seonghwa smiles and is about to turn around but his eyes widen when he sees Hongjoong behind Hongseok.

"I'll go get in the car!" Hongseok rushes towards the car to say hi to Seongyoon and Seonghwa turns to Hongjoong.

"What are you-" He starts, but then realizes what's going on. "Oh! So that's where I had heard your name before! You're Hongseok's brother?"

"Yeah." He nods and smiles.

"But how come I hadn't seen you before? I'd come by a lot."

"I always knew when you were coming, so I'd just lock myself in my room or I was already at work."

"Do you work today?"

"No, today's my day off." Hongjoong tells him.

"Then go get ready so we can go somewhere."

"Huh?"

"I'll come pick you up after I drop the boys off at school." Seonghwa tells him and rushes to his car before Hongjoong can say anything.

Once Seonghwa gets in his car, Hongseok and Seongyoon give him weird looks as he starts driving.

"Is there something wrong?" Seonghwa asks them, confused as to why they're looking at him like that.

"Do you know my brother?" Hongseok asks him. "It seemed like you two are close, but last time you told me you didn't know him, so I'm confused."

"Oh..." Seonghwa smiles nervously. "Your brother works where my best friend works at, so I met him there."

"Oh." He nods understandingly.

"But you look really happy today, Hongseok. Did something happen?"

"Oh..." He tries hiding his smile and Seongyoon playfully rolls his eyes and smiles, then looks out the window. "Actually... yesterday after school I got an apology from the boys who bullied me. They promised not to bother me again, so I'm just happy. I always felt scared on my way to school, but that feeling isn't here today."

"Wow, that's great, Hongseok. But remember, if they don't keep their word, just let me know, okay?"

"Got it." He nods and smiles.

Once they get to school, Hongseok is the first one to get out of the car. He says goodbye to Seonghwa and quickly rushes towards the school. 

Before Seongyoon can get out of the car, Seonghwa stops him. "Did you have something to do with this?"

"Yeah... I told them to stop bothering him, but they still ended up picking on him, so I ended up punching them after school."

"Good." Seonghwa nods. "Next time, try not to use violence, but if there's no other way, just know I'll get you out of trouble, okay?"

"Got it." He nods and is about to get out of the car.

"Here." Seonghwa reaches for a bag that's in the back seat and hands it to Seongyoon. "I had already bought them."

Seongyoon opens the bag and sees a box with a new pair of shoes. The shoes he had wanted for a while now. "You really got them for me?! Wow, thanks!"  He smiles before getting out of the car.

Once he walks into the school, some boys try talking to him, but he ignores them. He already knows everyone in this school wants to be friends with him since he's the one with the richest parents.

He looks around and sees Hongseok by his locker still looking extremely cheerful.

Seongyoon stops walking and looks down at Hongseok's shoes from afar. He sees how worn out and ripped they are.

He looks down at the bag he's holding and walks over to him. "Here." He hands him the bag, making people around them gasp.

"What's this?" Hongseok looks down and opens the bag. "What? Are they really for me?!" His eyes light up as he opens the box and sees the shoes.

Seongyoon just nods and walks away.

"Thank you!" Hongseok yells and looks down at the shoes with a smile on his face.

-

Just as Seonghwa reaches Hongjoong's house, he gets a call from his father, but ignores it and turns his phone off.

"Where are we going?" Hongjoong asks him once he gets in the car.

"It's a surprise." Seonghwa tells him. "But you know there's not many places we can go to. If someone saw me out in public and recognized me, we'd be in serious trouble."

"Yeah, I know." He nods.

Hongjoong looks out the window and after a few minutes, he sees a beautiful view. It's like a park with many flower trees.

"Let's go." He notices Seonghwa's already out of the car and has opened the door for him. Hongjoong takes his seatbelt off and gets out of the car before Seonghwa takes his hand.

"Why is there no one here?" Hongjoong looks around.

"I guess not many people have found this place. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere."

"How did you find it?"

"When I'm feeling down, I like to drive around." He stops walking and wraps his arms around Hongjoong. "This could be our secret spot. No one could find us here."

Hongjoong feels his face heat up as Seonghwa looks down at him and holds him in his arms.

"Can I?" Seonghwa starts leaning in but stops before their lips can touch.

Hongjoong just nods and Seonghwa cups his face before leaning in and pressing his lips against his, not realizing that someone's watching them.