King of hearts • d.sc

8

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"Is everything okay?" Chenle asked hurriedly as he made his way to the hallway the girls were in. The two looked up at him, Haneul, despite the small smile on her face, he could tell something was up based on her red eyes and messy hair. "I heard from Jaehyun that you're leaving with Haneul and I thought something might be up." He said looking directly at Haneul.

"Everything's fine, I just want to get out of here." Haneul assured, trying her best to show him she's okay.

"Cool, can I join?" Chenle asked, earning a glare from Jaein. "I don't want to talk to any desperate girls anymore to be honest."

"Does one of those girls include Jasmine Chou?" Hanuel scoffed, remembering that she had seen them flirting with each other in the main hall.

"She's kind cute though." Chenle shrugged.

"Who's Jasmine Chou?" Jaein asked, wanting to be a part of the conversation.

"Another reason why I wanna leave. I hate this place so much." Haneul muttered, loud enough for the other two to hear.

"There's so much I need to learn about you." Jaein commented, earning a dry chuckle from the older girl.

"Trust me, I'm pretty boring." Her mind was still focusing on what had just happened. The fact that she is going to be forced into something she doesn't want to do, but this time her dad really made sure she had no way out.

"Guys if we want to leave we probably should do that now, before Jingwen convinces you to stay. " Chenle suggested as Haneul stood up quickly, excited to finally leave, before the thought of leaving her sister knowing she probably won't see her for a few months eats at her.

The two followed Chenle into the kitchens, a way that Haneul and the twins used to take when they wanted to get away, Chenle soon joining them when they had become friends. They had snuck out the back of the kitchens so often that the kitchen staff had gotten used to it. None of them really bothering to do anything about it, but one of them did inform Ryu once, which got him really riled up.

The sound of people yelling, clanging of metal and the sizzling of food entered their ears as they squeezed their way through the pots and pans and the staff members who were too busy to notice. One however had turned their head to them, the head chef who always offered them a smile each time, letting them get away with it, and this time he did the same, giving them the same toothy grin. Haneul returned the smile, it was something that reminded her of the good times in her childhood, compared to the rest of the night.

They made it out of the building, meeting with the concrete ground beneath them and the cold of night. Haeneul sucked in the fresh air, wiping her sweaty face as she realised she was finally away. She can finally breath.

"You good there Haneul?" Chenle asked as the trio began to walk down the road, making their way out of the driveway.

"..yeah." She breathed out. She wasn't. But at least she was better than she was before.

"What even happened back there? If you don't mind me asking?" Jaein asked.

"It's nothing." Haneul said simply, the other two knowing well that it's a lie.

"Did Ryu say something again?" Chenle brought up, the mention of his name making her stop. "Ah I guess he did." Chenle muttered as Jaein and him stopped as well, looking back at Haneul who kept playing the same scene in her head.

"Yeah." She mumbled, continuing to walk, leaving Chenle and Jaein to share a glance.

They reached the bottom of the street, where a silver car stopped in front of them, which Haneul had assumed was their ride.