Complicated Status
Complicated Status
Ha-joon had his hands folded against his chest. His legs crossed as swing his foot repeatedly.
"Ha-joon, you can join the party. Kael and I will take care of overseeing from here. There are only a few visitors left," reasoned Chun-Ho. "Plus, there is security from the Xias by the lobby and a few more from the Lus, just down the halls."
Looking explicitly manly in his gray jacket and off-white Chinese-collared shirt, Ha-joon brushed his fingers through his army-style hair and sighed. He was in deep thought for a second before he finally spoke, "Maybe I should check on Iseul."
Chun-Ho scoffed before he answered, "Seriously, bro? There are about ten of them upstairs guarding Chan-Mi and Nari. Besides, you can call Iseul and see how they are doing - "
Ha-joon stood up anyway, cutting Chun-Ho from saying more. He tucked his hands inside the pockets of trousers and left, determined to check on Iseul. He came back after just twenty minutes to say, "They are doing just fine."
He looked to each of the hall-ways and said, "I should just... get back to work."
"Bro, just... enjoy the party!" Suggested Chun-Ho. Seeing Ha-joon unmoved, he suggested, "If you really like to stay on guard, I can join the party instead! How about that?!"
Ha-joon stood in front of Chun-H, thinking, but before he could decide, the door to the ballroom opened and came out, Xia Lian and two of her cousins.
"We had a lot to drink today," remarked Lian. Her face was utterly red, and she was stepping sideways, clearly getting tipsy.
"We better go up to our room and just rest. We still have a tour to take tomorrow," suggested one cousin.
Lian obviously saw Ha-joon, but since he did not look her way, she also ignored him, walking past him and Chun-Ho, heading towards the hall.
"You guys go ahead, I need to go to the restroom and I'll probably check the shop of the hotel afterward," said Lian, bidding goodbye to her cousins.
She walked to the nearest restroom, stopping in between to lean on the wall. She made sure that Ha-joon saw where she went by making the slowest and longest walk to the restroom. After getting inside the ladies' room, Lian stayed for much longer than she should.
Ha-joon, who had earlier looked elsewhere, became bothered after seeing Lian. He concluded she was drunk. He watched as Lian went to the restroom and his attention remained in the same direction for half an hour.
Lian did not come out, and it made him frown. He cleared his throat and said to Chun-Ho, "I'll go... take a leak."
"Yeah, you should probably check on her," suggested Chun-Ho, obviously knowing where Ha-joon meant to go.
"Ye - No! I wasn't going to check on her! I wanted to go to the comfort room!" Ha-joon insisted, giving Chun-Ho a grimace. "Seriously, why would I check on her?"
He walked towards the men's comfort room and stayed there for a minute. Only then did he slowly get out. He peeped at Chun-Ho's direction and only after seeing he was not looking; he rushed to the ladies' restroom.
The second he entered, he called for Lian. "Lian, where are you? Are you okay? You have to stop getting drunk."
"Lian!" He called again before one by one, opening each cubicle.
When he reached the very last, he frowned. He knocked on the door and called again, "Lian? Are you there?"
It was because there was no answer that he pushed the door open. He was expecting Xia Lian to be unconscious from the inside of the cubicle, but instead, he found her standing on the edge, holding her mouth.
Eventually, she spoke, "I knew you'd come after me! Haha! I got you!"
Xia Lian threw her head back, laughing boisterously while walking out the cubicle. Her face was now redder than ever.
"Were you worried about me?" Lian asked, pursing her lips at the sight of him. When he acted to walk away again, she reached for his arm. "Ha-joon, please!"
"You are obviously fine. Now I can go -
"Pfft! Haha! Ha-joon is worried about me. I think he likes me. He really likes me," Lian made into a song, words that Ha-joon did not want to hear.
"What the hell!" That was all that Ha-joon could say. He shook his head, walked away, flustered at Lian's actions.
"Wait - wait! Ha-joon!"
"What?!" He said in anger, turning to Lian.
"Are we going to be like this? Pretend like we don't know each other when we always talk on the phone!" Lian pointed out, holding tighter to his arm.
"Because you always call me!" He reasoned.
"And you - you answer! And sometimes we talk longer than ten minutes! That has to count for something, right?" Lain pointed out.
Ha-joon sighed and said, "No, that's not it - "
"Then what?!" Lian asked, asserting not to let go of Ha-joon.
"It was because I respect you for being our boss' cousin. I did not want Yanmei to think I am being rude to her cousin - "
"Then why did you kiss me back then at the cruise?!" Lian asked, her voice already raised.
"Lian, please." Ha-joon was shaking his head, putting both his hands on his waist. He said, "You were drunk back then, worse than today. It was you who kissed me!"
"Yes, maybe, but - you did not push me away. You let me kiss you for a minute or so and you kissed back!" She leaned forward and said, "A minute kiss is long, you know. Too long to call it a mistake!"
"Ahh! Why is there a man here!" Even before Ha-joon could answer, a woman came in the rest-room, hoping to make use of the lavatory. "This is the ladies' room!"
Ha-joon took the chance and left Lian. He did not want to have that confrontation with her.
He stormed out of the hotel and only called Anton to report that he was returning to the underground base. He noticed Lian call her but did not answer any longer.
When Xia Lian walked back to the direction of the ballroom, she had a long face that Chun-Ho could tell, it was due to Ha-joon. As she went past him, Chun-Ho said to her, "Ah, miss Lian. Don't feel bad. I salute your patience with him."
Xia Lian felt ashamed. Of course, they would know, given the number of times she would try to call Ha-joon when she was free. Moreover, they were technically on a complicated status for over two years now. She wasn't even sure if they were friends.
She gave Chun-Ho a week smile and said, "Thank you. You are a lot nicer."
As she made the walk to the hotel lobby, she mumbled to herself, "I really don't have any luck with men."
After minutes of feeling down, Lian said to herself, "Wait... this is not the right attitude."
"Lian, he likes you! Yes, he likes you! He likes you!"