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chapter 42 : bet nobody else speaks the
little language between you and me

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kyunghee went along with the two girls to their black suv in the parking lot. then she asked them, "should i get seonghwa to pick me up or am i going with you guys?"

"duh, you're coming with us, babe." eun squished kyunghee's cheek. "you'll get to meet white wings' members."

"but i'm not initiated yet, am i? since i got sick..." kyunghee sighed and looked down, remembering her embarrassing moment.

"not yet, but maybe i'll recruit you anyway." said eun. eun felt a certain affection for kyunghee for various reasons already, one being that kyunghee strongly resembled eun's sister...

somin cleared her throat and giggled, "lucky. i was initiated by hacking into a tv broadcasting system, and when i say that was difficult..."

eun laughed as she started up the stealthy car, "enough about that, let's get back to the girl cave before sundown. we have to get this art piece cashed out asap."

kyunghee wondered aloud, "girl cave?"

"the girl cave is our headquarters or hideout. cute, right?" somin explained. "now drive, eun."

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a small, quaint white house stood in the middle of a wooded forest. it was about forty minutes from the city, secluded and safe. eun sighed in delight as she parted the car in its driveway, "honey, i'm home."

the three girls entered the house, immediately becoming overwhelmed by the odors of expensive perfumes and money. it was familiar, like ateez's, but feminine. kyunghee found it interesting.

they entered the large common room where several girls lounged, exercised, or did work. eun clapped her hands to grab everyone's attention for kyunghee.

"hey, ladies. we're back with a new angel, kang kyunghee. don't bite." eun said.

everyone nodded, some said hello. they were all seemingly pretty cold. that was until one member, jangmi, spoke up, "you look familiar. tell us about yourself."

"well, i'm sixteen and i go to geon-cheol high school. i've never been in a gang, but i hang out with ateez pretty often." she explained.

then kim minseo, one of the most intimidating girls, put down her nunchucks she was practicing with and stared at kyunghee. "ateez? you must be pretty important then."

"i try," kyunghee lied. she decided not to mention that she was yeosang's cousin yet so that getting eun to like him would be less obvious and seamless. "but it's mostly because i'm seonghwa's girlfriend."

a nauseating silence spread across the room as eyes laid on kyunghee. then they all glanced at zhang xianmei, a girl who was online shopping on her laptop.

"park seonghwa? hah, him and i go way back." xianmei chuckled. "we pretended we were husband and wife in like first grade. so embarrassing."

kyunghee's heart sped up unsettlingly. hyoju was enough to deal with, so she didn't want another girl going after hwa. unfortunately, her boyfriend was in high demand.

xianmei read the expression on the younger's face, "oh, don't worry, babes. that's way in the past. i like someone else now..."

eun interrupted, "girls, i just had an idea... since we haven't worked with ateez in a while, why don't we have a party together? it'll probably help kyunghee get comfy here."

everyone shrugged and nodded, "sounds good."

"as long as yunho will be there," xianmei mentioned, then covered her mouth. "oops. guess you know who i like now."

kyunghee chuckled, "yunho? i would've never guessed."

"why's that?"

this as kyunghee's chance to do her job, bring eun and yeosang together. "i'd think that most girls would like yeosang. wait, now that i think of it, eun is more his type."

"yeosang, huh?" eun chuckled and shook her head. "it's funny you say that because he actually asked me on a date recently."

"oh, really? how was it?" kyunghee asked, trying to act unknowledgeable.

"i didn't go. he's taking things too fast. for now, i'm basically just focused on my work."

"that's right." minseo added. "she's actually been planning to steal 'kaori's treasure' for a few months now. her hard work pays off."

"oh right! i have to cash that out now," eun remembered, then handed the art piece to somin. somin took it, then went off to a separate room to do whatever she needed to do.

"so, anyway, back to the party," eun started off. "let's have it on the beach. everyone down?"

"yes! i'm so excited," jangmi beamed, being a big party girl. "i'll bring the drinks."

"alright, when's a good time to have it?"

kyunghee suggested, "what about the last day of school. it's two weeks from now on a friday."

"perfect. then it's settled. kyunghee, tell ateez to join our party." commanded ryeo eun. "if you successfully get all of the members to attend, then i'll let you join white wings, alright? good luck."

kyunghee blinked in shock. this was it, she was so close! she couldn't wait to tell the boys about it. hopefully, everything would go to plan so she could repay yeosang's favor.

after a while of conversation, the girls began to wind down as the sun began to lower itself below the horizon. kyunghee took a seat on the couch beside minseo and somin. a movie was turned on and the girls grabbed their snacks and drinks.

kyunghee accidentally bumped into minseo a bit, and knocked minseo's drink out of her hand. a gasp came from both of their mouths, and kyunghee was doe-eyed. the beverage spilled onto minseo's lap, soaking her pants in soda.

kyunghee bowed and said, "i'm so sorry."

"you better be. grab me a towel," minseo scoffed, her eyes squinting.

"i didn't want any trouble..." kyunghee told minseo as she grabbed her a few paper towels.

minseo turned to the other and emphasized her words, "be careful and you won't get any."

"hey, hey," eun stepped in quickly. "minseo, don't be like that. she's new."

"i know that. but just because she's new doesn't mean it's okay to be a nuisance." minseo rolled her eyes, suddenly standing up to look for a spare pair of pants.

kyunghee sat down once again, sighing disappointedly. a nuisance? did she just ruin every chance of friendship with minseo? if she were to join white wings, things would be awkward and unfortunate...

"hey, cheer up." somin took minseo's seat on the couch. "she acts like that whenever i act clumsy too. i'm used to it though."

kyunghee gave her a soft smile, then jangmi pat her shoulder, attempting to be of some consolation, "anger issues, am i right? but ignore that, she's nice most of the time."

"yup, yup. we gifted her a small zen garden for her birthday and she still tried to beat us up!" chuckled xianmei. "that's minseo for you!"

kyunghee nodded, still training her eyes on the ground. eun frowned, "i don't want kyunghee to get scolded on her first day here. jangmi, somin, take kyunghee out for dinner. i'll deal with minseo for now."

the three girls nodded and somin grabbed a set of keys on a pink bedazzled keychain. "ready to ride, girlies? let me drive, i wanna put my new license to use!"

jangmi followed behind with kyunghee, scoffing, "she acts like she hasn't driven us around illegally since she was fourteen."

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class was a perfect meeting spot for ateez and kyunghee so she could ask them all at once to attend white wings' beach party.

"will you all come to a beach party on the last day of school? eun wanted me to invite everyone." kyunghee asked with hope evident in her voice. it was her ticket into their gang, anyways.

jongho, yeosang, san, hongjoong, mingi, seonghwa, and wooyoung all nodded. however, yunho didn't answer. kyunghee raised her brow, "yunho?"

yunho shook his head, "no. xianmei will be there."

"w-what's wrong with that?" kyunghee worriedly asked. xianmei was in love with yunho, so why didn't he want to see her?

"it's because..." yunho trailed off. "i don't have time for love. everything would be out of order if i let myself fall for her, so sadly, our goals don't match up."

"shut up. that's the worst excuse i've ever heard yunho. if i have time and energy, then you do too." seonghwa boldly told yunho, crossing his toned arms.

yunho glanced at the oldest, sighing deeply, "i guess you're right. fine. i'll go, but only to see if things will work."

"yay! i'll tell eun right away," kyunghee beamed gladly, clasping her hands together.

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[ a/n : uwu a long chapter! i've been so
excited to post this after trying to perfect
it lately! is it okay? hope you all like it!
also, i was wondering, who is everyone's
favorite member of white wings so far? <3 ]