empire | park sunghoon

06] Hana

"You're here..." 

Hana stood there frozen. She never thought she would see him again,  she had looked for him everywhere her first two days but never seemed to find him and now here he stands right in front of her. After years of being apart she was finally looking her brother into his eyes again. 

She wanted to run straight into his arms and embrace him but her legs were dead stopped in their tracks. She had jumped down from the handrail and there she stood like every other statue, except hers wasn't in the best pose. But all she could care about was him

"Do you two know each other?" Jay asked them as his finger pointed back and forth between them. Hana understood his confusion. Two days into her new school experience and suddenly he gets to know that she's close to his best friend. Closer than he thinks. 

In the blink of an eye Niki ran up and embraced Hana in the biggest and warmest hug he could ever give her. Hana's body tensed up at the sudden embrace but soon she felt her body melt into his touch. He lifted her from the ground and she felt how she was just burying her face into his shoulder. Not even when they said goodbye the day they got separated they hugged, which Hana had regretted ever since. 

"You've grown since I last saw you" Niki said as he put her down, but still didn't let her go. 

"It's been years since then of course I have" she giggled and pulled away. That was when she realised how tall he had become himself. When they parted they were around the same height but now her younger brother were hovering over her like a tower. "I see that you've become quite tall yourself. Maybe you have surpassed Sunghoon even" she joked making sure Sunghoon heard. 

Sunghoon just rolled his eyes at her when she checked if he had heard her. As she saw Sunghoon smile she also saw Jay to the left of him still wondering what was happening right now. That boy always has his head somewhere else. 

"Wait, you're a couple?" Jay asked, immediately making Niki and Hana burst out laughing. Even Sunghoon who already catched up with what was happening tried to hide his laugh from Jay since he stood right beside him. 

"Jay, Sunghoon" Niki said, trying to keep himself from laughing again. "This is Hana as you know. She is my sister who I've mentioned lived in Japan in my hometown while I moved to Korea" he introduced her making Jay's eyes grow bigger. 

"Why didn't you tell us it was her?!" Jay screamed making Hana chuckle. 

"Well, I still hadn't seen her since I'm not in your class and I never told you her name because I never thought it would be necessary. Because I never thought she would be in our school" Niki said looking at Jay, making Jay close his mouth to a straight line. 

Hana noticed how Sunghoon couldn't help but smile at Jay's embarrasment. He smiled so big that his teeth were showing which made Hana's heart jump. He had a charming smile that could make any girl fall for him. Hana wanted to hold back as much as she could, but her heart couldn't help but skip a beat at that big smile. 

"How's mom?" Niki asked, making Hana take her eyes off of Sunghoon. The sudden question made her heart go from happy to completely dark. 

"Lets not take that now..." Hana said as her words got more silent. "I'll get going now, I'll invite you over one day Niki okay?" he just nodded at her while looking at her with worried eyes. He didn't say anything wrong, but Hana's memories of her mom crying could never fade. 

Hana turned her heel and started walking on her own. She felt bad leaving Niki there, but she wanted to go home to her mother too and tell her about today's events. But at the same time she didn't want her mother to suddenly remember or maybe even miss her dad. She deserved better than that. She would also make sure to get Niki's number one day, since she couldn't contact him anymore because his old one was unavailable. 

As Hana turned the corner she felt her tears threaten to fall, but she quickly dried them with the back of her hand. She cared about her mother more than anyone, she thought back on that day a lot. As they had left she had heard her mother cry through the walls which gave her sleepless night of her own crying. All of that, because of how hurt her mother was. She never wanted to see her like that ever again. 

"Hana!" she heard behind her, making her quickly dry her extra tears and putting on a smile. The voice belonged to Sunghoon, he had been running after her for a while but he never caught up. Jay also stopped him at the start, giving Hana big head start between them. As she looked into his eyes he smiled as his hand fell lightly onto her arm, making her skin shiver. "Lets walk together?" her fake smile turned into a real one fast as she nodded at his question as an answer. 

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The walk had been pretty quiet, but it wasn't an awkward type of silence, she actually enjoyed it a lot. Apparently Jay was supposed to go this way too, even Niki. Which worried her a lot since it might mean that her dad is close to their house. 

"Uhm Sunghoon" Hana said making Sunghoon turn his head towards her. Giving out a small "mhm" to show that he's listening to her words. "Does Niki live nearby?" she continued. For Sunghoon this must feel like a normal question. Like "oh his sister just wanna see him more" which was true, but obviously there was someone to avoid. 

"He doesn't live here in our area, more on the other side behind those houses" he said pointing to the houses on our right. "He always meets us at the crossing that we just passed" Hana only nodded. So it was close, but it could've been closer... She was just hoping that her dad didn't hang around in their area. 

They reached Hana's house and Hana felt her heart beating faster as she hoped her mother didn't come out anytime soon, or came home from work at this moment. Hana knew that her mother always wanted a relationship for her as she was turning 18 soon. But she couldn't do that to her. She wanted to graduate and help her mother with finances, bills, jobs, anything. Hana often noticed how her mother could slack off and feel weak, but she still continued working for her daughter. 

"I should get inside and help my mother. Thank you for walking me home" Hana said smiling at her. Even if it was in bright daylight, it felt safe having someone with her. 

"I live right across the street. If you need anything just give me a knock on the door" he said as he waved, showing he would leave. Hana only waved back as she also turned her heel to get inside. 

This boy really made her look forward to the upcoming days of school. 

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A/N: Hi everyone! Thank you so far for reading! I just wanted to point out that for those who knows, Niki has an older sister irl. This story is of course not about her. Hana is my own made up character and I actually made her before realising that Niki had an actual older sister. I hope that you all continue reading this story and hopefully look forward to it. Stay safe everyone! xx