Chapter 2: 2
"Yes, Sohla takes after her father in the brain department. She's at the top of her class and very academic. Her father has high hopes that one day she's the vice president by Jyeon's side." My mother gushes proudly, being the one of our family who always struggled with school and lessons despite ending up as a teacher. But I am bilingual in four languages, have a photographic memory when it comes to most subjects, and won awards in mathematics at a very young age. I'm not stupid or incapable. I'm ambitious and want to stand in our family company one day, doing something important for its future.
"Not just a pretty one then. How nice for you." Lily Masters seems to develop a pinched expression, and her coolness is overbearing. Even my mother picks up on it and gestures a passing server for some glasses of champagne as a distraction method. I stand tall and proud by her side and catch Olivia glaring at me. The kid is ugly and stupid. Jyeon wouldn't look twice at her, even if she were the kid from the wealthiest family in this country.
"Mother, Jyeon is looking for me; I have to go over there." I point out my group, who are now several more teens from Jyeon's friendship circle, and Yoonah looks lost standing aside while they talk. Looking for an out now the true nature of these women is on display. I don't waste time on this kind of fake.
"Oh, yes. Go on then, and don't keep him waiting. Tell him I'll come and wish him a happy birthday soon, my darling." My mother lightly hugs me and sends me on my way. I walk proudly towards my little Yoonie to save him from isolation and catch the sight of the parks and my father heading my mother's way. All three smile at me with genuine affection and pass by without interference.
"Ahhhh. Sohlllllllyyy Bollly. Here you are, my sweet chicken. You look cute." I'm grabbed around the shoulder with a muscular arm and hauled into a broad chest while my face is pinched, and I struggle to get out of Avery Wyatt's annoying grip. Struggling and squirm while he pokes at me and pulls me around. He crushes me and laughs heartily at my protests. Another of my self-appointed big brothers.
"Avery, stop it." I push at him to no avail because he's a sixteen-year-old powerhouse with the body of a much older man on steroids. "Let me go, you brute." He has no cares about where we are or how to behave, and as usual, he is the fooling around and chaotic energy in Jyeon's group. He's dumb as hell but has a good heart and an overbearingly expressive way of showing affection.
I'm yanked out of his arms and pulled against a warm hard, and wall-like body straightened up so fast it makes me dizzy, and I lose my footing. Caught by the person who had just pulled me over. I turn just enough to see Jyeon eyeing me over my shoulder, and he doesn't look impressed at all. He pats down my dress, gestures with a chin nod at my hair, and pushes me off of him coldly.
"Go fix yourself. My mother will go ape shit if she sees you guys acting like kids. Your finishing school classes are seeming pointless lately." His expression is sour, and I scowl at him, sneering in an unladylike manner.
"I am a kid! I'm allowed to have a night off from being a flat and boring lady while I'm still only a child!" I pout back at his frosty tone, the urge to kick him in the shin mighty today with how cold and superior he's being. This is how we are sometimes, and I think he hates that he does not intimidate me in the slightest.
Jyeon narrows his brow, his handsome face seemingly more mature when he gets all serious and sulky, and I bite on my lip, anger rising because he can always make me feel so crap with very few sentences.
"Can you try not acting like this for my birthday? I don't want to babysit. I do it all year round." He lets me go and pushes me slightly away, slicing my heart with his words, and I swallow the sudden urge to cry. Hating him for always making me feel like a nuisance child around him when he used to be the one who carried me on his back and put band-aids on my cut knees. Jyeon used to be the one to lift me over fences, hand me food, take care of me, and protect me from everything in the world.
If I was never pushed onto him in this manner, then maybe we would still be close, and he wouldn't constantly be separating us with his glacier mountain that he's put between us.
"Don't worry. I'll take Yoonie and stay out of your way. We can hang out together, and you'll only have to babysit yourself." I swing away and grab Yoonah's hand, aware of the wide-eyed baby way he's watching us with that little crushed expression. He hates when we bicker and is too sweet and soft to know how to intervene. For a twelve-year-old, he's more like a kid half that age at times, and I pull him with me protectively. Using him to get away from Jyeon and simmer my lousy mood caused by that arrogant attitude.
"She's turning your brother into a little cry baby who follows her around like a puppy." I hear one of his friend's voices as we walk away and curb the urge to turn round and shout something insulting back. Pulling Yoonie, who follows without any resistance and head towards the buffet. I am aware of eyes on us, so I stand taller and prouder and push down the immature and bolshy me.
"Shut up. Yoonah is fine, and she cares about him like he's her own kid brother. Leave them alone. She's doing me a favor by taking him away. They're closer in age than we are, so, naturally, he wants to be around her more than me." Jyeon's voice soothes my temper a little, and I get a reminiscent glimpse of how caring he used to be. Before responsibility and hormones hit him.
Being sent to a public all-boys school to focus on his future hardened him, but occasionally the deeper him shows face, especially if someone insults his little brother. He will never stand back and hear one bad word about Yoonie. Or me, at times. Jyeon is the only one allowed to be an ass to me as he doesn't let anyone else be.
I glance back at Yoonah's crestfallen expression, having heard them call him a cry baby, and give him a bright smile and pat him on his head lovingly. Putting on my most radiant expression.
"Come on, cutie. Let's get you some chocolate cake and ice cream. Then we can go eat it in the greenhouse and watch the fairy lights on the fountain." I tug him along, glad to see the sadness break, and he beams and speeds up his walk to follow me to the food.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone