♡17

A groan left Hyemin's lips after hearing her aunt's words. She had just got home from school and wanted to take a long nap after the tiring day at school, but they got invited to dinner at the Parks. 

She had just laid down and now she had to get back up again. Grumbling to herself, she forced herself to go get ready for the said dinner. 

As much as she didn't want to admit it, Areum's words had really affected her. Areum had really embarrassed her at the time. She couldn't stop thinking about those words and she hated that she couldn't even stand up for herself.

Hyemin was brought back to reality when Mrs. Park greeted them. 

"It's so good to see you, come in, come in," She greeted them happily. 

Even though they had been neighbors for months, Hyemin had never really been here before. 

Heck, she didn't even know Sunghoon was her neighbor till that night.  If she told her past self that she would be (fake) dating Park Sunghoon, her past self would've laughed her ass off. Look how the tables have turned. 

The decorations of the house were very elegant and Hyemin couldn't help but gawk at them. Mrs. Park ushered them to sit at the sofas while the adults went to talk together. 

"Stop touching things." Hyemin scolded her little cousin, Inhye. 

Right when she said that, she heard a thud on the ground beside her. She widened her eyes when Seoji dropped the small potted plant that was on the table. He widened his eyes at his mistake and looked to the ground. 

"I told you to stop touching things." She scolded, bringing her two cousins and making them sit down quietly. 

Hyemin crouched down to clean the mess up, not forgetting to sigh as she did so. 

"It's no problem Hyemin." A voice interrupted her from behind. 

Sunghoon grabbed a mini dustpan and began cleaning the mess. 

"Sorry about that..." she muttered.

"Like I said, it's no problem," he ruffled Seoji's hair. "Dinner's ready by the way."

He guided them to the dining room and they sat down. Throughout the whole dinner, the adults conversed with each other.

During that time, Sunghoon noticed yet again how she barely touched her food, only taking two or so bites.

A small sigh left Hyemin's lips as she stared at the food in front of her. It was undoubtedly one of her favorite dishes but she just didn't have the appetite to eat. Areum's words had really taken a toll on her.

Feeling someone's gaze on her, she looked up and met eyes with Sunghoon. He had an expression in which she couldn't decipher, but it was somewhere along the lines of concern and confusion.

Sunghoon racked his brain to figure out why she was acting this way. The normal Hyemin would be stuffing her mouth full and maybe even refill her plate. All he knew was that she was acting strangely after seeing her with Areum.

She was fine after class, then went to her locker, and then— Areum definitely did something.

Looking at Hyemin, he mouthed, "Are you okay?"

Hyemin gave him a forced smile and nodded at his question. She knew lying about it won't help anything at all but she didn't want to cross the line as they weren't even that close. And the only thing she wanted right now was to forget whatever Areum said.

So after dinner ended, Hyemin excused herself to leave early since she wasn't feeling well. However, instead of heading home, she went to her treehouse instead.

She turned on the light bulb and sat down on the bean bag. She ran her hands through her hair as she stared at the sky. She took a deep breath and exhaled. She looked around the treehouse that Sunghoon and her managed to fix and a small smile made its way to her face.

"Hyemin, you there?" A voice called out from below. And a few seconds later, a Park Sunghoon appeared in front of her, with a bag of chips in his hand.

He took a seat beside her and put the bag of chips on her lap.

"What's this for?" She asked.

"You didn't eat much during dinner." He answered.

"I'm not hungry, thanks though," She gave it back.

Despite her saying that, not even 2 seconds later, her stomach let out a loud grumble. Hyemin silently cussed and she bit her lips out of embarrassment.

"Really? You sure?" He smirked and softly chuckled. Sunghoon took one chip and held it in front of her mouth. "Say ahh~"

Her cheeks flushed red and she widened her eyes at his unexpected action. "I-I can eat it myself."

"Did I make you flustered?" A cocky smile adorned his lips.

"You wish." She muttered, taking a bite of the chip. Sunghoon mentally danced in victory as he managed to get her to at least eat something.

"It's not good to starve yourself like that." He spoke up.

"You're acting nice..."

"Just doing my job as your boyfriend."

Hearing his words, she felt her heart skip a beat and her breath hitched. Boyfriend. Fake boyfriend, of course. Truth be told, Sunghoon had no idea why he said that. It was just a slip of the tongue.

Hyemin cleared her throat. "Fake boyfriend." She looked at him.

Her words got stuck in her throat when they made eye contact. His hair was slightly disheveled as his skin softly glowed. Even though the bulb in the treehouse wasn't that bright, she could still see him. 

She thought about how it wasn't fair for someone to look so good-looking all the time but of course, she was not gonna tell him that. She couldn't even imagine the amount of teasing she'd get from him. 

She sensed the unfamiliar flattering in her stomach and her hands felt clammy. She could feel his breath softly hitting her face. Hyemin swore she saw his eyes flickered to her lips for a second before looking back to her eyes. 

"Why are you staring at me?" asked Sunghoon, breaking the intense eye contact. 

"There was something on it." 

"Like what?" 

Attractiveness.

"Ugliness," Hyemin said. She fought the strong urge to laugh at his reaction. "Now kindly leave my treehouse, I need my alone time." 

"Stop lying to yourself, darling. And this is now our  treehouse." He mentioned, then proceeded to give her a sneer while putting his arm around her shoulder.

"What, since when?!" She grumbled, moving his arms away. "Last time I checked, this is my treehouse, behind my house in my backyard." She spoke, not forgetting to emphasize the my's. 

"Well, I helped you fix it so it is half mine you know?" He shrugged. He knew that made no absolute sense whatsoever but he enjoyed teasing the brunette next to him. And she seemed to be in a better mood than she was at school so he was content with that. 

"That doesn't make sense Park." She furrowed her eyebrows. "Says who?"

"Says me." 

Hyemin opened her mouth to argue back but remembered that it would be completely useless. Silently cussing him, she got up and dusted her clothes.  He wouldn't listen to her anyway. As always. 

"I'm gonna go now. Hope you have a good night." She forced out. 

"I can see you crossing your fingers," he said. 

"Really? I didn't notice," she sarcastically said before climbing down the ladder. 

"Don't forget, our treehouse!" Hyemin heard him yell from the treehouse. She rolled her eyes and let out a small chuckle.