Friday Fix

♚ | thirteen

“WHO are you?” Jungkook asked.

Hyeong-gon's smile was light, but there was something in it that made Jungkook's senses tingle. “Our surname is Lee. Sound familiar?”

Jungkook’s eyebrow arched. “You look a bit too young to be her dad. Uncle?”

“And you look way too rude to be a nice boy,” Hyeong-gon countered smoothly. “Asshole?”

Jungkook bristled. “What do you want?”

“To talk. May we come in?”

Jungkook said nothing. The man at the back, the tallest one with deep set eyes that looked capable of sucking you in, said pointedly,

“We do need to go in if we want to get her stuff.”

Grudgingly, Jungkook pushed the door wider and stepped aside. Hyeong-gon walked in first, footsteps carefree as he made a remark on how nice the room was, and how last time his university dorm room looked nothing like this. Then came the man with the deep-set eyes, wearing a three-piece suit that had a silver jacket and pulling it off effortlessly. Lastly came the shortest of the three, face buried in what looked like online lecture notes. He was shorter than Jungkook and clearly younger. For a second, Jungkook considered making a snide remark. As if hearing his thoughts, the boy turned his gold-rimmed glasses on him in such a withering look that Jungkook almost flinched.

Something Haneul had once said rang in his memory.

Bet my father's thinking just where in hell did he f**k up to get a daughter who’s into gyrating in skimpy clothes while he’s got four sons with sensible jobs.

Four sons. It clicked in then. Brothers. But if so, where’s the fourth?

“Let me introduce ourselves,” Hyeong-gon said, as the trio stood in the middle of the room. “I'm Lee Hyeong-gon, Haneul’s third brother. Graduated as an electronic engineer, now working as a marketing executive. Pleased to meet you.”

Next, he gestured at the man with the deep-set eyes. “This is Ha Yul. Accountant. Last I heard, a terribly boring job. I wouldn't recommend it to your generation.”

Hyeong-gon pointed at the last boy, the one who hadn’t looked up from his phone since he came in. “And this is Hongki. Child prodigy, intellectual genius and residential polyglot. Pursuing medicine in Seoul National University. Scholarship holder, of course.”

“Polymath,” Hongki cut in, eyes still on his notes. “Polyglot refers to someone with knowledge of several languages.”

Hyeong-gon frowned. “But you do know several languages. What’s polymath then?”

“A person of wide knowledge or learning.”

“I think you’re both.”

“I only know English, Korean and Chinese, that doesn’t make me a polyglot. That makes me trilingual.”

“I thought you’re taking French?”

“Until I master it I’m not a polyglot.”

“I’m just going to assume you are.”

“I really am not. I haven’t even taken the exam yet.”

Hyeong-gon waved him away dismissively. “Details, details.”

Hongki rolled his eyes. “Inutile de discuter.”

Hyeong-gon stretched out a hand. “I rest my case.”

Increasingly annoyed by the banter, Jungkook folded his arms. “Can we get to the point? I’m assuming you’re here about your sister, yes? You are aware she broke the rules?”

“Oh, we do.” Hyeong-gon flashed a brilliant smile. “We helped her break them.”

Well if her brothers are like this, I can see why she’s like that, Jungkook thought. Out loud he only said,

“I hope you’re not here to persuade me to let her stay. Because last I remembered she made it clear she wasn’t going to 'give me trouble', and that included 'begging' me to let her stay.” A strange ache stabbed sharply, once, twice, as Jungkook recalled the harsh words Haneul had thrown his way. All true? He brushed the question away and continued. “We had an agreement.”

“You and her, yes. But not us and you.” Hyeong-gon traced his fingers across the railings of the bunk bed. “She’s with Haru right now, by the way. The eldest of us. He’s talking with her in a café and trying to make her feel better with chocolate and ice-cream because apparently someone told her in no uncertain circumstances to get the f**k out.”

From Hyeong-gon’s lips the curse word seemed to shed all its illusion of coolness and descended into its basest nature – a crude violation of etiquette and good manners. It sounded ugly. It made someone wanted to swear off swearing.

The arms crossed across Jungkook’s chest tightened. “So this is what she does, huh?” he sneered. “Run crying and tattling to her brothers the second something minor occurs?”

“I don’t think,” Ha Yul said quietly, “getting kicked out from the school of her dreams is a minor occurrence.” His eyes bore into Jungkook. “Do you?”

Jungkook took a step forward. “She’s a girl. She doesn’t belong here. She broke the rules – ”

“You know,” Hongki murmured, “for someone who uses a VPN to access restricted websites, you’re a bit overly concerned about rules.”

Jungkook blanched. “How did you – ”

Hongki yawned, finally switching off his phone. “It’s not rocket science. Besides, leather jacket, an attitude and green bottles in the trash can? Bet you leave campus when you’re not supposed to and frequent bars you’re not supposed to, am I right?”

His eyes narrowed critically. “Are you even at legal drinking age yet? It’s 19, has your birthday passed?”

“Haneul’s hasn’t. Her birthday is in a month,” Hyeong-gon piped in. “That was not an obvious hint for you to throw her a birthday surprise, by the way.”

“Has she been giving you trouble?” Ha Yul asked, out of the blue.

Jungkook stared. “Trouble? She’s given me nothing but trouble since – ”

“I’m not talking about your dislike of her. I’m asking if she’s done anything bad to you. I’m asking if she’s disregarded any proper etiquette when dealing with you, I’m asking if she’s ever provoked you without being provoked in the first place, I’m asking if she’s broken any other rule except the first one she broke when she came in.” Ha Yul’s eyes hardened. “I’m basically asking has she ever trashed the room, bring someone of the opposite gender into your bed, flip you the finger and cuss you the hell out? I’m asking if anyone else has a problem with her . . . except for you?”

Jungkook stayed silent.

“You think it’s easy? To dress up 24/7 as someone of the opposite gender, remembering how to talk, act and walk like one, all the while knowing that she might get caught? And you can say that she brought it on herself, that she made the decision willingly, but don’t you think her perseverance deserves some praise? Our father practically threatened to disown her when she said she was going to continue with dancing. He belittled her passion, calling it nothing, saying it was for fools, a dirty job. But she held her stance and she came here, hoping our parents won’t find her out and drag her home.”

Something like a scowl crept into Ha Yul’s voice. “Then she got stuck with you.”

“We heard everything, by the way,” Hyeong-gon said, and this time there was no longer humor in his voice. “The swearing. The rudeness.”

“The hygiene,” Hongki continued, wrinkling his nose.

“The little ways you tried to make her life hell,” Ha Yul finished. “And did she ever responded in kind?”

I am in the right. I am not wrong. Jungkook knew that, because the girl had broken the rule, so kicking her out was right; the academy would not find fault with him at all, he would get away scot-free even though his actions were not from moral compulsion.

So why did he suddenly feel so guilty?

“I don’t know why you’re studying here. Maybe you were forced, maybe you just picked it randomly, I don’t care.” Ha Yul’s eyes were piercing. “But I know she’s here because she really loves dancing, and if her gender had not been an issue, there would have been no trouble.”

“But that’s the point,” Jungkook seethed, “her gender is an issue now.”

“Is it?” Ha Yul countered. “Has anyone else noticed it except you?”

“The only thing that proves is that she’s a goddamn liar.”

“But a good one. A liar that doesn’t make trouble. So why can’t she stay?”

Hyeong-gon had walked over to Haneul’s side of the room and was now idly playing with the nodding toy on the table. “Last I checked, you had no trouble with female company. Seemed to relish in them a lot, in fact.”

Jungkook couldn’t help the scarlet flush that slowly crept up his neck. Just how much had Haneul told her brothers? Everything, it seemed.

“So you want me to hide her secret.” It wasn’t a question, and of course he should have known this was what they were here for. The family force is strong with this one, Jungkook thought drily.

He shrugged. “Fine. Then I’ll ask you what I asked her – what can you give me? I’m not interested in money, in case you were considering that.”

For a moment the brothers looked stumped.

“Well,” Hyeong-gon began sheepishly, “we were hoping to appeal to your kind and generous nature. No?”

“Don’t have one,” Jungkook replied bluntly.

“Thought so. Blackmail?”

“Blackmail?” Jungkook echoed.

Hongki raised three fingers and counted them off. “Drinking on campus, having s*x on campus, sneaking out of campus on weekdays. All against the rules you hold so dearly to your heart. Wonder what happens if we tell the dean?”

Jungkook’s eyes iced over with frost. “Bring me down and I’ll bring her down with me.”

“Oops. Can’t have that,” Hyeong-gon trailed off. “Then . . . force?”

Jungkook let out a scoff. “An engineer, an accountant and a doctor wanna-be trying to forcefully kidnap me? Don’t be ridi – ”

“I don’t mean that kind of force.”

Jungkook had barely registered the way Hyeong-gon’s voice dropped, turning almost into a husky rasp, before the older man had him pinned against the wall with one arm above his head and the other by his side, effectively trapping him.

Jungkook’s words choked and died in his throat.

Hyeong-gon’s eyes had a look in them. A look he recognized very well. A look Jungkook himself used every Friday night, on the girl in the bar or the chick in the club. A look meant to convey,

You’ll be coming home with me tonight.

The air stilled and the world abandoned him on the spot.

Hyeong-gon’s voice was soft like the summer wind in his ear. “Did Haneul ever told you how she was the odd kid in the family? How we, the brothers, all pursued so-called ‘more stable’ jobs, while she went after one with more risks? How we were all sons, while she was the only daughter? How she always seemed to do the opposite to whatever we did?”

From the gap between Hyeong-gon’s shoulder and neck Jungkook saw how unfazed Ha Yul looked by the situation, and how Hongki seemed almost bored.

“Well, she’s right, you know,” Hyeong-gon continued in that whisper. “For example, she’s always been a good girl. And we have always been the bad boys.”

A light bite on the hollow of his throat brought out a queer noise from Jungkook, whose fingers were trying their frantic best to dig their way through the wall behind. There was a strange flutter in his stomach, and he wasn’t sure if it was from fear or attraction – or both.

“I know you’ve kissed a lot of girls.” The lips moved from throat to collarbone. “But have you been kissed? Properly?”

The lips moved up to jaw. “Should we test it out?”

“I – I don’t – I’m not into dudes,” Jungkook managed to get out.

“You sure?” Hyeong-gon’s breath was on his lips now, a cool minty taste. “I could change your mind.”

Nearly groaning from the effort, Jungkook regained enough of his senses to forcefully reply, “No. T-thank you.”

A second ticked by. Then just like that, Hyeong-gon drew back and out of his personal space, a mischievous sparkle in his eyes. The intoxicating aura he brought with him faded.

“See. You’re getting better, already. You just told me thank you.”

What the hell had just happened? And why did his face felt like it was on fire? Jungkook dropped his gaze furiously to the ground and willed his body to calm down.

“Have we persuaded you to let her stay?”

One second. Three seconds. Five.

Jungkook looked up. “No.” A pause. “But you have persuaded me to give her a chance.”

Ha Yul c****d his head at an angle. “Meaning?”

“Meaning when she returns, I’ll give her a challenge. A mission to prove herself, so I can see just how far this perseverance of hers goes. If she succeeds, I’ll let her stay.”

“What mission?” Ha Yul’s voice was guarded.

Jungkook thought. “That’s up to me to decide, and for me to tell her later.”

A long, long minute of silence. Then, although no words had been spoken, an agreement seemed to form between the three brothers and they relaxed. Hongki shoved his hands into his pockets and began walking to the door.

“Very well then,” Hyeong-gon said. “Deal. So glad we could come to a compromise.”

He too began walking. “By the way, don’t tell Haneul we were here, will you? She doesn’t like us meddling in her stuff. But we felt we simply had to see the charming roommate she was going on about.”

He exited the room, standing outside with Hongki. Now it was just Ha Yul left standing inside, having not move a step the entire time. Jungkook caught his eye and they stared at each other for a moment, barely civil, until finally Ha Yul broke eye contact and strode over. As he reached the door he paused.

His voice was soft, but no less dangerous.

“If you hurt her in any way at all, I will personally hunt you down. Remember that, Ahn Jungkook.”

And then he was out and moving fast down the corridor. Jungkook pretended not to see Hyeong-gon gesturing suggestively against his ear, mouthing call me? as he followed after his elder brother. Hongki passed with a curt nod and an “Adieu”.

Without missing a beat, Jungkook replied, “Bonne chance pour ton examen.”

Something almost like a wide smile flitted across Hongki’s face. Then Jungkook closed the door, and the three Lee brothers disappeared from sight.

❈

I absolutely adored Hyeong-gon in this one. And Hongki stepping up for his sister again, even though it meant sacrificing his study time. Aww. Can I also say that silver jacket three-piece suit is the bomb?

Hope this gave a better picture of the Lee family dynamics!

Yours in seduction,

Lady Godiva.