cold coffee / ijb

zero / bonus chapter

+ . . *  ·  .  ✧ . ✷   · *  . ✦ + . *

❝jinwoo, come downstairs! everyone's here!❞

jinwoo heard his mom yelling for him and let out a heavy groan.

all his mom ever talked about was how much she missed seeing him with his 'cousins'. although none of them were related to him in any way and it had only been a year since he'd seen them.. maybe two.

part of the entire reason he had begged his parents to let him join the exchange student program to the music study school in hong kong was so he could get away from those annoying kids.

jinwoo really despised the fact that his parents saved no time in.... creating him. now he was stuck as the oldest of eight irritating 'cousins'. he was 18 now and didn't have time to deal with little kids.

he sighed, pretending he didn't hear his mom calling for him, going back to his song-in-progress.

three harsh knocks on his door— dad. he knew it immediately and rushed to put his guitar back on the stand. jinwoo jumped into his desk chair and buried his face into whatever text book he had been pretending to study last.

"jinwoo, you're my son i know you're not studying and if you ignore your mom again i'll have to take that guitar away from you and force you to study accounting."

jinwoo groaned, hitting his head against the upside down text book on his desk.

"but dad!" he whined. "they're so annoying!"

his father sighed, placing his small hand on his son's shoulder. "it's been two years, jinwoo, a lot has changed. do you remember siwon? she's become so pretty i'm surprised jinyoung let it happen."

jinwoo scoffed, pulling away from his father in annoyance— he did remember her, two years ago she planted fake bugs in his sheets and scared him half to death. "that brat? she's a little devil with too-short bangs and greasy white makeup. i missed her the least."

"hey," his dad grabbed him by the ear and jinwoo let out a pained screech. "you're the little devil. go downstairs and set the table for your mom."

his father threw him out of his own room by his ear. jinwoo clutched his ear with a groan, rubbing it to ease the pain as he reluctantly walked downstairs. luckily, the stairs lead straight into the kitchen and the kids still seemed to be catching up in the living room.

jinwoo's mom was waiting for him at the bottom of the steps, hands on her hips.

"i know you heard me the first time," she sighed. "you could have at least put a bit of effort into your appearance. how will i ever marry you off?"

he rolled his eyes and pressed his lips together, knowing that it wasn't worth arguing about. jinwoo picked up an armful of plates and began setting them out in front of each chair.

his mom sighed. "it's a good thing you're handsome," she lowered her voice  so that her words were incoherent to jinwoo. "you and siwon should get along well."

"aera?" a voice asked from around the corner.

jinwoo's mom quickly wiped her hands with a dish rag, expression perking up. "jinyoung! how are you?"

jinyoung and his wife turned the corner and giddily greeted her. jinwoo continued setting the table without a word.

"jisoo, you've lost weight! and siwon you've gotten so pretty!" jinwoo froze, gritting his teeth. he didn't dare look up. that devil was in his living space once again, and he didn't trust her for a second.

jinwoo did his best to not pay attention to the greetings that continued to fly through the kitchen. the youngest uncles greeted him before sitting down to wait for the food.

jinwoo began to mindlessly do useless things around the kitchen, like turning the sink on and off, cracking a window only to shut it again, unfolding and refolding the dish rags, and so on.

he heard the wangs' loud voices filling the room, accompanied by the piercing cries of the tuan twins.

suddenly, a hand was on his shoulder. "jinwoo, you can't avoid them forever. if you don't sit down now, the only seat left will be right next to siwon."

it was his dad, of course, and he'd read his son's mind once again. jinwoo raced to sit down next to wang sungmin, who he could stand— but just barely.

"jinwoo, can i sit here?" choi seoyeon asked, flattening the front of her dress with her hands. jinwoo nodded and the ten year old girl proceeded to hop into the seat beside him.

"jinwoo," wang sungmin said. jinwoo turned to face him. "will you go to school with siwon  now that you've moved back? i'm so jealous."

jinwoo's eyes grew wide. "no, i'm taking my online college courses now.... wait... park siwon? have you gone blind?"

sungmin scoffed. "no, you might have though."

at this point, he had to see for himself. jinwoo clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, finally allowing his eyes to travel around the dining table.

his heart stopped.

there was no way the girl sitting in between choi seojoon and wang minseo was park siwon.

nothing could convince him that it was actually her.

wide, round, mono-lidded eyes flickered up to meet his. hazel. they weren't brown— they were hazel, the color of honey. thick lips tugged themselves into a lazy smirk.

jinwoo couldn't move.

without breaking eye contact, the girl spooned rice between parted lips and perfect rows of teeth.

finally, he looked down at his own rice and a blood curdling scream ripped through the atmosphere.

a beetle. a fake beetle.

the tuan twins began to cry, jackson's wife opened her mouth wide and laughed silently, then came the chois' loud laughs, and the mockery continued to ripple through the room.

she is park siwon and the devil in her never left.

...

THE END