second lead. | 정원

chapter 73.

lxxiii.

Mira was tossing and turning on her bed, mindlessly watching a movie that was playing on her laptop screen— was what she was supposed to do. In reality, the girl was scrolling through her phone as the movie played in the background. Any attention she had for it was long gone and was given to her smartphone.

She was lying on her stomach, arms outstretched, and half of her face was buried in the pillow. As her thumb continued to lazily scroll through various short videos on YouTube, a tall man suddenly entered her peripheral vision from the doorway.

He was peering halfway from the door wearing a large white shirt with comfortable sweatpants. Mira didn't have to look at him for she already knew there would be a stupid sentence written on it. The man known as her father silently watched Mira sigh through her nose in boredom.

"Yo, Mira," He called out, earning a short hum from the girl. "Your boyfriend is coming right?"

Letting out a longer and louder hum, Mira groaned and stuffed her face into the pillow. Her hand that was holding onto her phone went limp and her legs that were swinging in the air stopped moving. The video that had a dance cover of LILI's FILM's Tomboy on her phone was playing on repeat but she paid no mind to it.

"What did you say?" Mr. Jeon asked when Mira spoke in muffles.

The girl snapped her head back up from the pillow and finally turned to look at her father. He didn't have his glasses on this time and she wondered if he could see. Before she could speak, her eyes read the words on his white shirt. In viewable letters, it said:

"I got a dig bick.
You that read wrong.
You read that wrong too."

Highly inappropriate for the Jeon household because a nine-year-old child by the name of Jeon Hyunjoo was living under the same roof. What kind of guardian confidently strode inside the house wearing a shirt that was not suitable for children? Where did her father even get this illusioned shirt from anyways?

"I haven't asked him yet," Mira answered, flipping her body over to lay on her back. Her eyes were fixed on the ceiling as her ears were filled with overlapping vocals of the music and the drama playing. She turned her phone off and paused the video before giving her attention to her disappointed father. His eyes were yelling at her to ask Jungwon straight away and she knows her father won't take no for an answer.

With no more words exchanged, the man simply walked off and entered his chambers. Mira could only assume he was going to play video games to cope.

A small ding! sounded from her phone as a notification appeared on her screen, indicating a new message. The familiar name of her older brother, Jeon Kiha, had informed her about his current whereabouts.

SMURF (KI-HA):
Almost here. Be sure to welcome
me with tons of goodies and open
arms, kay?
read, 01:46 PM.

Jeon Mira blinked as she read the message. She did buy something for her older brother at the mall yesterday as a Christmas present, but he would have to wait until tonight to receive it. Another text from him came in.

SMURF (KI-HA):
I wanna meet the boy dad told
me about. I hope he won't run
away after meeting me.

Right.

Mira completely forgot that Kiha had never met Jungwon before. Merely a few pictures her father took of them secretly when Jungwon last visited were the only source of information Kiha got as a visual representation of their relationship. Mira was lowkey unsure how her brother and boyfriend would act when they finally meet.