The next few days following the Principal's announcement passed quickly with the highlights of you failing to burn the gown your dad delivered to you because Heeseung is now collecting all the lighters from the dorm room.

Just last night the message of your mom saying you should find a date along Yeji who got your number from the school told you to not bring some date for it was needed.

Whatever her reason, you don't bother to ask before blocking her number.

But as you walked back to your dorm room from your last lesson of the day, all you could think about was who would you bring as a date in order to disappoint your stepsister.

Except there was a reason you weren't asking the three boys even if it was clear now to Jake that you should choose Sunghoon out of them and Jay is staying neutral at the situation for the time being.

Who knew what their friends would react if they will see you dating Sunghoon next? After your last conversation with Kai, you don't think he would take that well.

It wasn't as if you could go with Jay either on a date to that party.

Jealousy did ugly things to some friendship and you didn't want it to have any role for Sunghoon to runaway again, like the drama queen that he is.

"Miss", someone called out and you had to look around the corridor to make sure they were talking about you.

You were the only girl in this school, after all.

You stopped to greet the younger boy who approached you with a smile, "JJ, did you need anything?"

"About that", he said, growing a little nervous as he came to a stop in front of you.

JJ reached out to rub the back of his neck and you bit your bottom lip hesitantly as you appreciated how soft his brown eyes was, that you could compare it to the likes of a teddy bear.

"Did you hear about the welcoming party for the Hwang family, noona?", he asked politely.

You nodded with a sigh, licking your bottom lip and already thinking of ways to answer him. A flat out complain would be rude, it would probably hurt him and maybe even cause a rift on what sort of admiration he has for you.

"Are you going with anyone in your class?", he asked, making you recognized where he is coming with this.

But before you could utter a polite rejection to him, an arm was slung around your shoulder, making you look up to see Jay's face.

His eyebrows were raised as he looked assesingly over the younger boy, "And what does that have to do with you, kid?"

Jake step up to your other side and you just knew that the embarassment you were going to feel for the boy was ten fold. From Jake's other side, Sunghoon looked over JJ with a cool eye before meeting yours.

He arched a single eyebrow and you looked away from him, wondering why you had the misfortune of having them stumble on you on their way back to the dorm.

Somehow, without even thinking of it, a thought visited you that perhaps this three were talking behind your back.

"Just go now, mate", Jake said bluntly, making JJ look between him and Jay, "She already have a date"

"And who is it going to be?", JJ asked, making you almost admire him for his bravery if, in that moment, it hadn't been so completely stupid.

"One of us, clearly", Jay scoffed, nudging you with his shoulder, "Tell him you're not available anymore"

You tried not to groan, wanting to sink in the floor out of embarassment. Why you? Just who did you managed to piss off enough for them to give you such a bad fortune?

"Anyway", Jake said, calmer than Jay this time, "If she's not going with us, she will join a nunnery so run along"

Ignoring the look of surprise you threw him at his careless remark, Jake waved JJ way who accepted defeat. He knew he'd never get past the older boys and you didn't blame him for tucking his tail between his legs and running away.

Once JJ disappeared out of sight, you moved away from the three of them. When you proceed to stand across the three friends, you crossed your arms and narrowed your eyes. The trio finding nothing wrong with what they'd done, met your eyes with no sign of regret.

"I had it sorted", you said to them like a teacher talking to a group of kindergartners, "There was no need for any of you to intrude and scare him like that"

"I don't think we made a scene", Jay denied, looking at Jake, "Do you?", When Jake shook his head, ignoring the way you shot him an irritated glance, Jay grinned, "See?"

Sighing, you asked impatiently, "If someone else asks me, will the three of you do it again?"

The three nods in an answer to the question had you rolling your eyes at them.

This was going to become too much. They were being protective, or in other point, they were only keeping you to themselves, but unsurprisingly without a fail, they managed to go above and beyond the expectations.

"What do you want me to do? Only close my world around the three of you?", you asked. Before they could answer, you added quickly, "I - I couldn't take you all sometimes"

Sensing your growing anger, Jake immediately attempted to make things better, "We just don't want you to turn your eyes away from us"

"Exactly. We just want to protect you as well", Jay tried to cajole.

Sunghoon cleared his throat abruptly, gaining all your attention in the space of seconds. All of you looked at him curiously towards him and you saw the way he fidgets slightly on his feet.

He wasn't looking at you as he spoke, instead he looked to the two J's and offered, "I could be her date that night"

Shock instantly registered on their faces, but he spoke on before any of them could say a word, "You know I won't try anything, and please give me this once chance since you both upset me in Jeju anyway"

Jake was the first to actually consider the offer and Jay, realizing this scoffed.

Before Jay could begin to huff, Jake muttered, "He is the lesser of two evils than their King here"

The two of them had the audacity, had the nerve, to look at Sunghoon and formally give him their permission. Finally, remembering your presence, the three friends looked at you as if waiting for you to thank them for finding you a date.

As expected, you did the very opposite.

"What the hell made you think you have a say in who I'm going with?", you demanded, pinning the boys in the spot with your stare.

They wisely chose to remained speechless, knowing it would annoy you even more if they tried to defend themselves. As you turned to stalk away from them, they made no move to follow after you.

You barely made it a few steps away from the three of them when you heard Sunghoon addressed them, "I'll go and have a word with her", before jogging after you.

He easily caught up to your stride, dropping into step beside you as you continued to walk away from his friends. You weren't sure where you were planning on going exactly, as long as you got away from them.

So it means, the dorms was out of the question since Heeseung was more loyal to them than to your side.

When you were no longer in their earshot, Sunghoon asked, "Don't you want me to be your date in that party?"

"Don't be stupid, Hoon", you said gently, looking to him and rolling your eyes, "I'm just annoyed of them for scaring JJ"

He grinned widely at that before scanning the corridor and when he found no sign of people, he reached out to hold your hand, linking your finger through his.

As the two of you walked slowly, you couldn't help but smile at the gentle way Sunghoon's thumb was rubbing back and forth on the back of your hand.

"So", he said after a moment of silence, "What made you so annoyed back there to us?"

"It's just annoying", you groaned instantly, "It's almost smothering as if I don't have a mouth for myself to reject JJ in a more ideal words, for him to not be humiliated"

"They just care about you", he said quietly, squeezing your hand, "You have to know that, they liked you no matter how you protested at that part"

"Well, they care too much", you muttered, puffing out your bottom lip in annoyance.

"Maybe", he agreed before adopting a teasing grin. He tugged on your joined hands with his and pulled you closer to him as you walked, "But were you really planning on accepting JJ's offer?"

"Oh please", you scoffed, rolling your eyes and nudging him with your hips, "I'm not going for someone younger than me, that's not my type"

He stumbled away from you slightly, releasing your hand only to laugh and loop an arm around your shoulder.

"Then what's your type?", he hummed, meeting your eyes.

You nodded, rising up slowly to pinch his nose and pulling away from him, you saw the way his smile grew bigger.

You'd be lying if you said that yours didn't too, "You should know what my type is better than anyone"

"That I do", Sunghoon's grin hesitated for a moment before asking hesitantly, "Maybe after the party, we can clear things out with Jake and Jay, so we could finally be together?"

The statement had you pausing before you just smiled which was incredibly fake on it's own and you couldn't very well say yes when it would interfere with your plans.

Plans that you would clash against your dad's goals in his will.

"There'll be backlash", you warned him slowly, "Mostly from Kai and Leo who loves Jake for me"

"But I'll be able to hold your hand whenever I want", Sunghoon argued back.

You struggled not to smile, "Well, you'll definite have to talk to them about their permission"

"And I'll be able to kiss you without wondering if someone will suddenly appear and spy on us"

"Now that is very convincing", you said with a teasing grin, "We wouldn't see you running away again, being a dramatic shit and all"

"But you loved it", he said, the arm around your shoulder pulling you into his side as he leaned over to press a kiss against your forehead, "Now that I'm thinking about it, it's the same thing that made you realized you liked me back all along than Jake"

You laughed, realizing that he was right. But who knew how your dad would react once you bring Sunghoon as a date in his welcoming party?

If he will give you a shock to whatever he was planning in that day, you would have one of your own and if Yeji was right about announcing your engagement, there would be a setback from your side.

It's for them to find out what your plan was in the welcoming party.

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Why do I feel that readers were just here for the love story?

For me, it's so boring that way, that's why I'm adding another factor which was the drama between her and her dad.

Up to this point, I've been hinting about her plans that she often mentions and yet no one is caring about that.