second lead. | 정원

chapter 47.

xlvii.

It had been around two weeks since school break started. During those two weeks, Yang Jungwon had not left the house (except when he was forced to buy groceries at the store with his older sister) but other than that, he had not done anything entertaining.

He was bored.

How he wished school could just start so he could at least meet his friends. Jungwon heard most of them were out of town for vacation or maybe they were visiting their relatives.

The boy checked his phone, finding a lot of notifications from his group chat and a couple of unread messages on Instagram and Twitter. He never replied to them though, he didn't know why he still had the application knowing he barely used it. He used to be so active, but it reduced when he entered high school.

Out of boredom, Jungwon clicked on Instagram and scrolled through his homepage. He didn't have that many followers, around six-hundred and seventy-two (that is a lot though) and he was following one hundred people. Jungwon only had two posts, both were pictures of his dog.

He clicked on his cousin's story, being met with the beautiful scenery of the ocean. He swiped left, and the user @aussieboyjake popped out with a picture of the plane's window showcasing a light blue sky. The caption said, "한국으로 돌아가다 (back to Korea), see you later Australia! 🇦🇺 "

Shim Jake was finally going back to Korea and despite him not attending school for two years, Jungwon still heard his name being mentioned everywhere. The students had not forgotten about him and now that he was coming back, Jake probably had to restart the year. He could potentially be Jungwon's new classmate.

Yang Jungwon swiped to another story of one of his friends. Lee Heeseung was chilling at a coffee shop. A picture of his Americano and laptop were on the small wooden table with the coffee shop's aesthetic present.

The next story showed Aerin, she was enjoying herself at the park as a blanket was laid out on the grass. A candid picture of her staring at the sky was taken. She was wearing a white long sea skirt and a royal blue top, looking pretty. Jungwon wondered who took the shot.

His question was answered once he swiped to the next story. User @kimsun._ looked like he was at the same location as the girl was, and it was confirmed when Jungwon saw a small tag with a caption at the bottom of the screen of her username 'with @rin_ae.'

The dimpled boy sighed, tapping the side of his screen as it brought him to another one of Sunoo's neverending stories.

Just as he was about to flip his body over to lay on his stomach, his bedroom door slammed open, and his mother came in.

"Jungwon, me and your sister are going out to the mall. Do you want to join us?" The woman questioned. He didn't have anything better to do so he agreed.

Here he was, sitting in the car at the back with his mom driving. His father, unfortunately, couldn't join them and had to stay home. Jungwon's mother spoke to his older sister, Yang Jihye who sat in the passenger's seat, regarding driving tips as she was supposed to get her driver's license soon.

"Understand? So if you pay close attention to the signs then you can— AH!" The vehicle suddenly swerved to the right, dodging a cone on the street. Jungwon's body jerked along and he could see his sister holding the handle above her head in panic. "Why are you talking to me when I'm driving?!" Their mom scolded.

Yang Jihye looked at the older woman in disbelief, "You're the one who's talking to me! I only listened!"

Mrs. Yang muttered strings of curses under her breath. "I should unbirth you—"

The parking lot.

Their mother was searching for a vacant spot and she asked her children to help look for one as well. Since it was the holidays, most of the areas were taken and it was pretty crowded. Barely any parking space were left. The woman sighed as she drove to the next floor, hoping to see an available spot.

To her luck, there was an empty spot located by the elevator but the cons were that it was swarmed with people. Regardless, Mrs. Yang let out a happy noise after a successful search. She didn't need her kid's help anyway, what an independent woman.

Parking in reverse with many people around was relatively dangerous. She didn't have many eyes to navigate her way accurately without hitting any objects or humans. Her only source of sight was the two rearview mirrors on the sides and the one in the middle above her head.

The woman's pride was destroyed when she asked her daughter for support, "Check my blind spot."

Mrs. Yang set the pedal in reverse as she watched her surroundings through the three mirrors, making sure no one was in her way. Jihye had her eyes glued to the back of the car to act as her mother's third— no, sixth eye. Jungwon looked behind the car too.

"There's no one there," The girl spoke, but her mother didn't hear what she said. It sounded like a mumble which annoyed the older woman, "What?!"

"THERE'S NO ONE THERE!"

Jungwon didn't like watching people argue, but this was too entertaining to watch knowing there were no deep feelings involved. His mother and sister quarreling over something foolish almost made him laugh, but he knew better to hold it in to avoid getting scolded.

"Oh ok ok—"

"WAIT STOP SOMEONE IS THERE," Jihye shouted, her eyes focused on the person that popped out of nowhere. This resulted in Mrs. Yang hitting the brakes as the car jerked forward, eliciting a quick honk that earned stares from the bystanders walking past.

The woman inhaled deeply as she once again muttered strings of curses under her breath. She hit the steering wheel, "Do your homework!"

Jungwon couldn't help but let out a quiet wheeze.

a/n; y'all One in a Billion has been stuck in my head, especially Heeseung's last part-