second lead. | 정원

chapter 15.

xv.

The front door of the house slammed open and a little boy, no older than eight years old, came running towards Mira with a bright smile on his face, throwing himself on her and hugging her waist with his short arms. "Noona!"

"Hyun!" She replied with the same enthusiasm. "Did you have fun playing with Jieun?"

The little boy nodded his head. At the same time, a new voice spoke from the front door, "Mira unnie!" The high-pitched voice called out making the said girl look up to the front door after giving Hyun his mint chocolate.

A little girl, the same age as Jeon Hyunjoo, waved happily at the sight of her favorite person. Mira grinned, "How are you, Jieun? Hyun told me there was a difficult test today," She questioned, watching the younger girl skip her way out of the house to the front yard towards her.

"It was a little hard but I can do some of them the way you taught me!" She beamed but it faltered when she noticed someone else standing beside Mira. Jieun frowned, looking him up and down, "Who are you, mister? And what business do you have with my Mira unnie?" She scowled at Jungwon.

"Nice to meet you, I'm her—" He started only to be cut off the next second.

"I don't care," She crossed her arms and looked away, averting her gaze back to Mira. Her demonic demeanor immediately shifted into an angelic one as she grinned at the older girl. Mira pursed her lips in an attempt to stop herself from laughing from the way Jungwon was ignored by a girl ten years younger than him.

"She hates me," He muttered.

"Unnie," Jieun spoke, tugging lightly on the teenager's skirt. "Why are you dating this punk?" She pointed at Jungwon arrogantly.

The boy in question looked at her in disbelief, scoffing, "What did you say I am?"

"Punk," The little girl repeated, sticking her tongue out childishly which annoyed him even more. Jungwon's eye twitched.

"Uhm Eun, we'll get going now. It was nice visiting you for a short while. Tell your mom I said hi, okay?" Mira interrupted and gave her the mint chocolate ice cream, receiving a squeal of joy from Jieun as she ate a spoonful of it happily.

Mira waved goodbye before walking away while holding onto Hyun's hand. One of the reasons she wanted to leave was that she was afraid Jungwon and Jieun would start fighting even though it would be funny to watch a teenager argue with an eight-year-old kid. The other was she wanted to ignore the fact that Jieun had claimed she and Jungwon were dating, which was not true.

Mira had no idea why Jieun wasn't fond of Jungwon at first glance. They had sent each other daggers on their first meeting and both of them had a bad first impression. It was pretty ridiculous honestly.

Jungwon glared at the little girl one last time before jogging away to catch up with Mira. "That girl is a devil in disguise," He remarked, "I didn't even do anything for her to hate me."

His eyes moved towards the small figure of a boy who was curiously staring up at him with his big and doe eyes, the almost finished ice cream cup in his other hand. "So this is your little brother?" He asked.

Contrary to Kim Jieun, Hyunjoo was a lot calmer. He knows how to differentiate a bad stranger from a good one. From what his mother told him, he wasn't allowed to talk to people he didn't know or had never met. Yang Jungwon was a stranger in Hyun's eyes, but he didn't feel threatened. Maybe it was because Mira had a close connection with him or maybe it was because he saw Jungwon on their front porch that day.

"I never knew you were an older sister to two brothers," Jungwon blinked, remembering the encounter with Jeon Suna earlier.

"I'm an older sister and a younger one," She informed and smiled. The male widened his eyes in amazement, "You're a middle child?"

"I guess you can say that?" She nodded, "Hyun is my little cousin, his parents got into an unfortunate accident two years ago so my family decided to take him in. He's like my youngest brother now."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jungwon eyed the little boy in pity.

"It's fine, Hyun is a strong boy. Do you have any siblings, Jungwon?" She questioned this time, stroking Hyun's hair gently.

He nodded, "I have an older sister. Two years older than me."

She hummed, nodding her head slowly in understanding. She had initially thought Jungwon would be an older brother, judging from his leadership qualifications and the way he handled things so maturely. He could take care of his younger sibling(s) effectively if their parents are away.

Both of them had hung out together multiple times at school. Just when she thought she already knows a lot about him, she was completely wrong. There were more hidden facts she has yet to know and Mira felt the need to know everything about him.

She was intrigued and this feeling was not only shared by her but also by Jungwon himself.

A tug of his blazer made the said male look down at the little boy walking beside him.

"Uncle," Hyunjoo spoke and Jungwon choked on air.

"Are you Mira noona's boyfriend?" He innocently asked. His doe eyes peering up at him in anticipation.