Arranged || Dino ff

sixteen

Jia Mei

After our double date, I see off Xander and Rosamie as we all exit the café.

"Are you sure you don't want me to drop you two off?" I offer, but they shake their heads to decline.

"It's ok, sis. I'll walk her home." Xander reassures, Rosamie nodding in agreement.

Smiling, I wave goodbye as they wave back and walk off. They continued to talk as they walked closer together, way more closer than earlier. I let out a satisfied sigh at the sight of them together.

"You seem happy." Chan walks up next to me, innocently smiling as I nod.

"Very," I say, still staring and Xander and Rosamie "I'm hoping my plan actually is bringing them together."

He looks at me, pretending not to know what I mean "Plan?"

"Mhm! You see, some girls have this motherly instinct that comes out when someone is hurt or ill--especially when it's someone they love or maybe even a child. I wanted to push them closer together, so I took the opportunity when she mentioned Sungwoon."

"Well, your brother did what was right," He says "but what happened afterwards? How did your parents find out?"

I shrugged "I only found out when he texted me saying he was with the school's nurse, and I told them as soon as I found him. Our parents threatened to sue not only the school, but Sungwoon's family as well. They settled on an agreement, but based on what was said... It seems that Sungwoon's dad is still tormenting Xander, and now Rosamie is caught in the crossfire as well."

I'll have to make a mental note and see if I can pull some strings to take care of those two assholes.

"Oh wow..." Chan trails off. Unsure on what to say in response, he then shifts the topic "By the way, why do you prefer your Chinese name while he prefers his English name?"

I shrug "It's just our preferences. Xander regularly goes by his English name because he thinks it suits him better compared to Jian Hong or Seo Jun. Meanwhile, I go by my Chinese name because I... Am not fond of being called Jimin due to high school memories, and personally I don't think my English name, Julieta, fits me either." Without realizing, I continue to ramble on "It's the same for our dad and our aunt, too. My dad prefers to go by his Chinese name while his sister, my aunt, likes her English name- probably because the name 'Leichu' doesn't suit her."

"Oh, well good to know." he nods as silence grew between us. It remained that way until he asked "You wanna stroll around for a bit?"

The corners of my lips curled up as I nodded "Where to?"

"Anywhere is fine, Mei. I just want to spend time with you." His words made my stomach flutter, and not in an anxious kind of way.

I haven't felt something like this in forever, what is this feeling?

Taking my hand, we then began walking side by side around the area while talking about everything and anything that came to mind. It was comfortable talking to him, and even when there were moments of silence, those moments felt comforting as well.

Once the sun was going down, we said our goodbyes and drove off in opposite directions of each other. Reaching home, I opened the door and was greeted with silence. Usually Chae is in the living room working on her own projects, or at least playing music from somewhere inside the apartment.

"Chae?" I called out to her, looking around for her until I check my phone to see that sent texted me an hour ago with a message that read:

Going out on a date with Soonyoung! Might be back late <3