say you love me | choi beomgyu 최범규

⌦ 18

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2 weeks later...

"bye ms. jang!" the teen yelled, making her way to the door.

the elder woman waved. "be safe, haeri-ah! see you tomorrow!" haeri waved back as she passed by the shops window before letting out a yawn and beginning to make her way home. 

work today was more exhausting than she was expecting. honestly the job had tended to feel super slow as of late but for some reason there was a never ending wave of customers today. it was simply too much for the teenage girl and middle aged woman to manage alone. but luckily the two of them managed to survive the day and haeri had never felt more glad to be going home.

as she unlocked the front door to her home and trudged her way inside, haeri smiled contently at the lack of noise. the entire house was dead silent. 

ever since her parents had come back from their business trip, haeri had dreaded going home. there was always a lecture waiting for her the second she stepped through the door or woke up in the morning. lecture after lecture left the girl feeling more and more drained as the days went by.

however, as of this past week, the house was as quiet as it was before her parents return. yet again, the married couple had to travel out of the country for their job. and if it wasn't obvious enough, haeri was more than happy that they were gone.

she finally felt like she could breathe without being ridiculed for every single thing she did. she was free, at least for the time being, and she couldn't help but hope it would stay this way a little while longer.

as promised two weeks ago, haeri and huening kai hung out together over the weekend. the blond decided they should go to the local flea market they often went to as kids just for old times sake. and after spending basically the entire week listening to her parents complaints and insults, spending time with her best friend was just what she needed.

kai always knew how to cheer someone up and he always seemed to notice when something was up. to him, haeri was like an open book━ perhaps it was because they've known each other for so long but she was the easiest to read. her lack of energy and enthusiasm throughout the week did not go unnoticed by him so he took it upon himself to make sure she left that flea market feeling like a whole new person.

and he did exactly that. 

after hanging out with kai, haeri went home feeling lighter, happier, and overall, just better. but she just knew that once she stepped through that front door all of the boys hard work would just go to waste.

however, once she opened the door, she wasn't greeted by the usual yelling from her mother or father. no, instead she was greeted with silence. a comfortable silence.

although she was skeptical at first as all of this just seemed too good to be true, all of her doubt faded quickly after reading the note her caretaker had left on the kitchen counter. 

hello, haeri-ah.
i'm writing this to inform you that your parents have gone to japan for work so they will not be home for a while. i'm not sure how long they'll be gone exactly but i hope you can take this time to relax and enjoy time with your friends. :)
i wanted to leave you alone for a bit as well so i left you some food and groceries in the fridge. 
call or text me if you ever need anything!
- mrs. kim

"wow, hyuka must be a miracle worker or something." haeri muttered, jokingly giving credit to her best friend for her parents going away right after cheering her up.

and ever since then, the girls mood had undoubtedly improved.

she finally had enough energy to join the boys' hangouts after school and not have to worry about getting home at a specific time. the group had gone to the skate park for the most part as it was practically a part of their daily routine. but sometimes they would decide to go out to eat afterwards due to them not wanting to part ways just yet.

and her tutoring sessions with beomgyu and yeonjun were finally starting to move along smoothly now that she was able to get proper sleep. to haeri's surprise, yeonjun was surprisingly a rather diligent and determined worker. occasionally he would goof around to try and lighten the mood a little bit but most of the time he was locked onto his work.

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the next day...

"wow hyung, how did you finish that page already?" beomgyu asked, mouth agape from the older boy passing his completed assignment to haeri. "she like just gave it to us..."

the elder cockily laughed. "i told you i wasn't stupid."

"so how come half of your answers are incorrect?" haeri questioned as her and the other second year attempted to hold back their laughs.

"WHAT?!" he ripped the paper from haeri's hands. "BUT I DID IT LIKE YOU TAUGHT ME!"

haeri assured him that it was okay that he got some of the questions wrong as he had honestly shown a good amount improvement in just a few days. nonetheless, yeonjun continued to sulk and whine about how none of it made sense. 

"here, i'll go over it again. stop me when you get confused." and so, the last hour of the session was spent with both boys huddled around her as she retaught the proper steps on how to solve the problem.  

"okay, well it's already 7 and i'm exhausted so i'm gonna head home now." yeonjun announced, swinging his bag over his shoulder. "thanks for the help again, haeri! bye guys."

the second years waved him goodbye until he was out of sight before picking up their own bags and making their way to the school gates.

haeri turned to the boy beside her. "so where to today?"

looking back at her, "the park as always?" he answered.

she shot him a thumbs up in response. "wanna stop by the convenience store first, though?"

beomgyu shrugged his shoulders, muttering out an 'i don't care' before haeri grabbed his hand and dragged him along with her.

this was a common occurrence for the two of them. after tutoring and saying goodbye to yeonjun, they would almost always hang out at the nearby park because haeri had practically nothing to do back at home and beomgyu simply didn't want to go back.

"why'd you want to go here first?" beomgyu questioned as they neared the store still walking hand-in-hand, their arms swinging back and forth.

"i just need to grab something real quick. we can buy a few snacks too while we're here."

"alright, sounds good." they both shot each other a quick smile and walked through the automatic doors and parted ways to get what they needed.

haeri brought her hand to her chin as she walked around scanning the shelves. "now where are those band-aids..?" she mumbled to herself.

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hopefully the timeline of the chapter wasn't too confusing w the "time stamps."
just know that them in the convenience store is basically the present day! 

thank you for reading as always!
please don't be afraid to comment and/or vote :)