II

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“There is no charm equal to tenderness of heart.”
Jane Austen : Emma
1815

♤♡◇♧

Despite what the vast majority of the school might think, Seungmin was not quick to anger, in fact, he had quite the patience... for most things. Just not for pretty men that showed up randomly in his life simply to make it harder, a prime example of this being Hyunjin.

He barely knew the boy's name, but he already had a special place in hell made out for him. The way that Hyunjin looked directly at him and didn't even give the slightest shit for his intimidating demeanor was absolutely gut wrenching. There was a good reason that Seungmin put up his elaborate facades and for them to be disregarded like that was threatening to say the least.

However, no matter how much this mystery blond sat on his mind he had little time to think about him at the moment. He was busy sitting to dinner and speaking with his parents, in whom could care less for his cliche teenage boy problems.

His parents were highly respected business people who outlived their youth long ago. Now they only sat in fancy living rooms drinking fancy wine and talking to their fancy friends in fancy suits. Fancy, fancy, fancy. It left very little time to place value in sentiment rather than materialism.

Seungmin could not complain however. His parents and their fancy way of life left him with money, comfort, relaxation and time to want rather than need; something that very few people got in this world, this shitty, shitty world—

"They've got a son Seungmin's age too, and a daughter that's only around 10." His mothers voice swatted at his thoughts as his own name was mentioned. Who was around his age?

His father finished chewing on his fancy steak, placing his silverware down onto his white plate with gold outlines around the carefully crimped edges, "What do you say dear, will you make an attempt to socialize with him?" His eyes glanced quickly to the unnaturally blond boy beside him.

Seungmin opened his mouth to answer, but found that he had no idea what he was talking about. His mind had been so focused on that stupid pretty boy from school he had paid no mind to whoever it was his parents were speaking on, "Sorry.. who?"

His mother sighed, setting her hand down, fork still in grip "Lost your head in the cloud again, Min? The Hwang's have a son just about your age and you need to befriend him. Make him feel welcome."

"Oh the Hwang's." He left his mouth slightly agape. They were the rich family that they had been making a business companionship with for the past few months, "Oh yeah, no, I'll definitely try to be nice to him." He nodded, not really thinking of his answer. It was more of a command from his parents than a question anyway, he couldn't really say no. Unless he had a real good reason, that is.

His father nodded, "I think you two should get along great. The Hwang's have much superior manners, I'll say."

Superior manners? To who? Them? His father did this a lot. Made comparisons to something unspecified. It makes the sentiment quite meaningless, but really, whatever.

"Mm. Anyhow, they've returned to Korea just recently and I'm hoping it's good news for the deal. Give it two weeks and it should be finalized." His mother smiled tightly, as she always did when speaking of business. They were supposed to have a rule that you couldn't talk about work at the dinner table, but it was often disregarded. Their dynamic was heavily built around their family company.

"Maybe someday you'll be the one making business deal Seungmin. You'll be the man of the house." His father says. He talks about the future a lot, especially when it concerns his precious company. When his parents turn 70 they'll pass their work down to their son and his future significant other.

That was cause to worry Seungmin. Not that he's be accepting the company, but that his parents expected him to be married by that time. He wondered if he'd ever get married, especially with how his social skill have been displaying recently. If he couldn't manage to get any proper friends, how was he supposed to get married or love someone?

"Yeah," Seungmin nodded, unwilling to go into detail about his concerns with his parents. They loved him, but sometimes they just didn't get it, as with all parents though.

"Seungmin," His mom seemed to pick up on his distant tone of voice, "Do you not want the company?" She leaned forward, eyebrows knitted together in a look of perplexed worry.

"No, no," their child spoke, waving his hands slightly, "Sorry, to give you that impression. My mind is just a little bit preoccupied right now is all. Something about school." He smiled sheepishly, glad to see his mom's face wash back to releif.

The woman smiled teasingly, "Is it a boy that you like? Hm?" She wiggling her finger in his direction, "I know you've been looking for love recently."

Seungmin let a small amount of heat pool to his cheeks, now red with blush, "No, not a boy that I like. More a boy that I dislike, it's really no big thing." He shook his head.

The woman sighed, placing her silverware down on her now empty plate, "You should start trying to have fun Min, don't you think? High-school is the perfect time for you to mess around without consequences." Even though this was a lie, because every action had a consequence counterpart.

Seungmin smiled passive aggressively, "I'm okay, thank you. I've just been rather busy to be running around dating people at the moment. Maybe in college yeah?"

"Aw, Seungmin you've got a whole school year ahead of you! Don't be boring," she encouraged, "I get that your introverted but maybe just try to be a little more social. Go to parties or something. Meet people."

Seungmin grimaced slightly, "I think I'll pass."

No way in hell was he going to show up to some random parties, especially with his reputation looking the way it was. It would be totally out of character and he'd be all alone. He simply wasn't the type to go to parties and make dumb decisions.

Respectfully, he'll keep his distance.

𝐒𝐭𝐮𝐩𝐢𝐝𝐥𝐲 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐭𝐲 ♧ SeungJinWhere stories live. Discover now