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Too shocked both by what Abel had said and that someone had been there to hear it, Abby hadn't noticed Josiah had cut himself. Abel however did and he hurried over to the maknae’s side.
"Are you okay? Let me help." He took a hold of his bleeding hand but Josiah quickly pulled away at the touch. "Oh. Do you perhaps think I have cooties now because I confessed to a guy? Well don't worry, it's not like I'm going to start liking you just because I like this one guy."
Josiah shook his head. That wasn’t the reason he pulled his hand away but it wasn’t like Abel knew he liked Cain. Ever since they were trainees he had tried his best to hide the fact he had feelings for his best friend. He however couldn’t hold a grudge against one of his group members simply because they liked the same guy, it was why he extended his hand back out and let Abel take hold of it. "Do you think I'll need stitches?"
At the word stitches, Abby snapped back into reality and ran over to where both Josiah and Abel were which was on the ground by the shattered pieces of glass. She didn’t even realize as she knelt besides them. Under normal circumstances she would have thought having any part of her body touch the ground other than her feet as repulsive but at that moment all she could think about was Josiah and his cut. "Let me see. If the cut is not too deep you can just use steri strips. You’ll still most likely get a scar though..." Abby looked down at her abdomen as she said this. The body she was in might not have her scars but she could still feel them there. At seeing that Josiah's cut didn't seem all that bad, she felt a huge relief. The cut which was on his palm was probably barely even two inches long.
"A scar? Well I guess that'll at least make me look more manly and less cute." He smiled as he somewhat liked the idea. He was really more scared at the thought of needing stitches.
"Scars are ugly, believe me. I have several of them. I'll give you a cream that I have though, it should help so the scar won't become as noticeable."
"You have scars hyung?" Josiah’s eyes widened.
She had just revealed something about herself, it was a slip up but there was no way for her to take it back. Of course he would know if Cain had scars. All Kpop groups had changing rooms they changed in before concerts or even music show performances and that meant the members saw each other's bodies all the time.
"Well yeah...” Abby rubbed the back of her neck as she looked to Abel who just shrugged at her. “The cream I'm telling you about is REALLY good though, it's why you weren't able to notice any of the scars I have. You can only see them if you look up close and even then you have to know where to look." This of course didn't apply to the scars she had gotten from the car accident but they did apply to the ones she had made on her wrists. After six years they were barely even there. She didn't think even Cain could see them as he would have to know about her past in order to be able to see what had once been there.
“Sounds cool. I’ll have that cream then.”
“Awesome. I’ll give it to you at the dorms. For now I’m going to get a first aid kit, there’s one in the van, right?”
“Yup. It’s behind the backseat.”
Even though just moments earlier Josiah wanted nothing more than to flee from there, being left alone with Abel gave him the perfect opportunity to clear up their misunderstanding. "It doesn't bother me if you're...you know...gay...It’s just...Cain isn’t, he has a girlfriend.” His last words came out in a rush.
"You mean Abby? She’s pretty, isn’t she?” Abel stretched his legs out and got up.
“Uhh...yeah but you really don’t mind if the guy you like is dating someone?” Josiah’s eyebrows furrowed as he stood up.
“Well actually I'm not the only one that's gay, Cain is too. He's only dating her as a cover up." If it meant he could be lovey dovey with Abby, Abel didn’t care what sexual orientation he was thought of and neither saw any harm in making Cain out as gay.
"Abel! Stop messing with the boy! And stop lying! Ca—I mean, I'm not gay! And neither are you! Siah, he was only rehearsing for a drama he’s auditioning for and I was just helping him." She hadn’t even been gone for five minutes as the van was parked only a feet away and yet Abel had already caused such a mess. It was one thing to lie about himself but to lie about Cain was going too far. She might have lied to the maknae but at least it was so he wouldn't have any misconceptions about his best friend.
"Ah! I see now! You two are working together to trick members, aren't you? Joel was telling us about how Abel pretended to like your girlfriend. So then Abel was only messing with me! I almost believed him for a second! It means you'll be a good actor hyung!"
There was no doubt Abby had gotten better at lying ever since switching bodies but just because she was able to fool the youngest, it didn’t mean she wasn’t still mad at Abel. Just before she proceeded to apply the steri strips on Josiah she gave her bias wrecker a stern look.
“Wow hyung you’re good at this! You must have often cut yourself if you know how to put these on so well. Normally I would just put on a band-aid but this looks like it’ll be more effective.” Josiah raised his hand and admired the strips on his palm as soon as Abby finished applying them.
“Just be more careful from now on please. I may be good at putting them on but I don’t want to have to put any more of these on you.” It had been years since she had used steri strips but just like Josiah said, she had often cut herself but not in the way he thought. Out of all the problems she had after the car accident the only one she was able to overcome was self-harm. And that was only because of the day that not only she ended up in the hospital but also her mom whom had a heart attack after finding out about her attempted suicide. It was then that Abby promised herself she would live to take care of her parents, it was however hard for her to do when it was really her that needed to be taken care of. She hated that fact more than anything but it was why she was trying hard to change.
“Well now that my hand is all better, I guess I should start cleaning up my mess.” Josiah bent down to pick up a piece of glass.
“Excuse me sir but what did I just say about being more careful?” She went to stand before him to block him from all the glass. “Just because you have some pieces of tapes over your cut it doesn’t mean your hand is all better. You still have that cut, it’s just not visible because it’s covered. Abel, get me a broom. I’ll sweep the smaller pieces while you pick up the bigger ones.”
“Aww! You care about me hyung! I guess I’ll just get you another ice cream sundae to thank you!” Josiah tied his shoelaces and ran off.
“Hey! You’ll end up getting hurt if you run like that!” She huffed and turned around only to find Abel laughing with a broom in hand.
“Just like a mother hen taking care of her baby chick.” He shook his head. “Here is the broom and I have an extra pair of gloves if you want them”
“Ah. Perfect. Just what I needed.” She snatched the broom from him and hit his behind with it.
Not having enough time to process the situation, he was unable to dodge but recoiled by instinct at the impact. “Ow! Did you really just hit me because I laughed at you?! Well I guess now I’ll know never to laugh at you again.”
“Of course not! That was for what you did earlier! Couldn’t you have told Josiah something else or were you just trying to stir up trouble for Cain?!"
"Huh? Why are you talking in third person hyung?" Josiah who had just ran off had returned within a matter of seconds which made sense as he didn’t have any ice cream sundaes with him.
Abby stuttered for an answer but was unable to come up with one.
Josiah shook his head, "Never mind. Both of you have just been acting strange lately. I only returned because I forgot to ask if you guys wanted sprinkles on your sundaes. I forgot to add them on the other ones but I could add them this time if you want."
"Sure. Sprinkles sound nice."
Abel noticed Abby's menacing smile and was sure she wasn't smiling about the sprinkles. Just seeing her still holding the broom with a tight grip made him rub his behind. He had no doubt she was still mad at him. "Wait up! I'm going with you!" He ran after Josiah. Normally he would have loved any chance to be alone with Abby but not when she still had that broom with her. He thought it was better to try to appease her with an ice cream sundae before being left alone with her again.
Josiah watched as Abel put toppings upon toppings on one of the ice cream sundaes. It looked like it would all topple the moment he tried to walk with it. "That must be like 5 pounds of toppings. Why are you adding so much? I thought you wanted to lose weight."
"Oh this isn’t for me, it's for Cain. He's been extra grumpy today so I thought some extra sweets might do him good." He knew women tended to have that "time of the month" which he wasn’t really sure if Abby could even have while in Cain’s body but he did wonder. It was the only explanation he could think of as she had always seemed so sweet and yet she had just hit him with a broom.
Some of the toppings fell off as he walked but the majority of them were still there by the time he got to her. "Say ah." Abel tried to feed Abby with a plastic spoon he had gotten for her, as Josiah had left them alone he saw no problem with doing so.
"I can feed myself thank you very much." She grabbed the spoon from him but then smiled as an idea occurred to her. She still wanted to get back at Abel but felt bad for having hit him with the broom so instead of hitting him again, Abby planned to do something else. "You wanted to feed me but what if I want to feed you, may I?" She tried to say it as cute as she could while making puppy dog eyes at him.
Abel nodded and opened his mouth but instead of feeding him, she aimed higher until she got to his nose. He immediately flinched at the coldness but didn’t react the way Abby expected because if there was anything sweeter than ice cream, it was revenge. She should have seen it coming but she was laughing when Abel scooped up some of his sundae and flung it at her.
She gasped as she felt the chocolate ice cream drip down her forehead. "Lee Abel! I'm getting you back for this!"
He got up and ran as soon as he saw her scoop more of the ice cream.
"I can run too you know! And I have longer legs so I'll catch up to you no matter how fast you try to run!" With the bowl in hand, she started to run after him but no matter how long her legs were, he seemed to run faster. It was just like Tom chasing Jerry, no matter how much Abby ran she just couldn’t catch up to Abel. Even as they both started to get out of breath, they still ran. It wasn’t until they got to the water park’s entrance and crashed into someone that they stopped.
Instead of getting her ice cream sundae on Abel, it ended up getting all over a woman's white suit. Abby looked up and was shocked to see it was none other than Mrs. Lee, Jun's aunt. "Oh my gosh! Mrs. Lee! I’m so sorry! Please forgive me!"
Abel saw as Abby bowed to the woman and decided to do the same but with the tall overweight man who he had crashed into. He could only assume it was the chauffeur of the woman in white although he looked more like a bodyguard considering how scary he looked. He was relieved he at least hadn't been carrying his ice cream sundae as because of this he hadn't gotten the man dirty. Just hearing the man clear his throat made him shiver.
"Mrs. Lee, these are the hooligans that ganged up on your nephew. Their names are Lee Abel and Hwang Cain. They are both from the Kpop group called Adam."
"Yes, I remember this one." Mrs. Lee smiled as she pointed at Abby.
Jun’s aunt had always been nice but she had just gotten an ice cream sundae all over her expensive looking white suit. Not only that but the chauffeur had also told her about them “ganging up” on her nephew, it meant Jun told on them. As he was always one to exaggerate things, it made Abby worry. She didn’t want such an incident to end up getting on Cain’s and Abel’s records.
"Should I get you a change of clothes, Mrs. Lee? I believe there are some boutiques nearby." The chauffeur looked about ready to do anything for his employer.
"I’m fine, thank you. At least I’m wearing some color now, a plain white suit was boring after all.”
At this the chauffeur bowed and left them.
"Are we in trouble?" It was the first thing that came out of Abby. She knew them having beaten up Jun like they did had been bad but he deserved it. She was sure not even all the pain he felt at that moment could compare to the pain he made her feel all those years ago when he broke off their engagement and abandoned her when she most needed him.
"Don't worry. I won't say a word of this to either your manager or EVE. I know my nephew very well and I know he must have done something in order to have deserved what you did to him. Besides, I heard you only stood there and watched. The one that really did all the beating was Abby but I always thought she would someday try to hurt my nephew just to make him feel even if just a fraction of the pain he made her feel. So it's fine, I'm not here to reprimand either of you. I’m actually here in hopes of recruiting a makeup artist and a model."
Mrs. Lee stood there with a smile still on her face. She was nice alright, practically an angel but Abby could tell what she was after. She pretty much wanted the same thing as Jun except that instead of a bride, she wanted a makeup artist. It was however still the same in the end as they were both her or at least who they thought was her, Cain.
"By makeup artist you mean..." Abby was more worried about Cain than about herself. He didn't deserve to be mistreated by Jun, yet he had always tried to protect her from him. Jun was however not Cain’s fight but hers and even though she was thankful to him for having stood up for her, she didn’t want him to get any more entangled with her ex.
"Abby. And the model being you of course. Although...” Mrs. Lee tilted her head to the side and rubbed her chin as she looked at Abel. “looking at this young man here, he might not be as tall but he does have a pretty face and those freckles of his are just gorgeous! So how about the two of you model together?"
It wasn't the first time Cain and Abel had been offered a modeling job together. They were both visuals in their own rights after all and they made excellent models so it was really no surprise she would want them both. Abby however didn’t want to face Jun again and neither did she want Cain or Abel to. Even if the offer came from Mrs. Lee, it just wasn't worth it. "I'm sorry but I'll have to decline. There are other members though. You could talk with our manager and see if there's someone else in our group that would like to model. There's actually another visual in our group, his name is Lucas. As for Abby, I'm sure she's too busy to take on a side job." She waited for Jun’s aunt to respond but noticed her texting on her phone.
"Well according to her, she's not. She just told me she could do the job, at least for this one photo shoot."
Mrs. Lee extended her phone out and Abby was able to see she was right, Cain had indeed accepted the offer.
"The thing is one of our makeup artists recently quit and the photoshoot is next week. There’s just no way we could hire a new one so soon, at least not a reliable one. As for the model, I was serious when I said I needed one. The one we hired for this particular photoshoot breached his contract and it'll cost us more to cancel the photoshoot than to hire a new model. It’s just this horrible luck we've been having. I'm sure you're right though, I could talk to your manager about this Lucas guy."
Abby couldn't believe what she was about to say next but she also hadn't believed Cain would have accepted such an offer to begin with. "I'll do it. I'll be the model." At least that way he wouldn't have to face Jun alone because she knew for a fact her ex wouldn't miss such an opportunity to be there.
"I'll be a second model if your offer still stands mam." Abel walked forward and bowed to Mrs. Lee.
"Such a cute boy and with nice manners too. Of course the offer still stands."
Just like that Jun got what he wanted, at least partially and that maddened Abby. Now all she wanted to know was why Cain had accepted to be the makeup artist and not only that but why Abel had offered to be a model. As Mrs. Lee had just left them, it gave her the chance to ask him. "Why did you say you’ll be a model?"
"Why did you?" It was a question he already knew the answer to and yet still felt the need to ask.
"I asked you a question first. Don’t answer me with another question."
"Well I assume you only accepted the job because of Cain so that’s what I did, I accepted the job because of you. That way it’ll be three against one."
"Three against one?"
"You, me, Cain. All three of us against that bastard of your ex. He's going to be there, right? Well if he dares do the same as today all three of us will just have to gang up on him again." Abel made a fist and punched his other hand.
Abby wasn't sure why but this made her smile. "I think you care about me, don't you?" She was shy to ask such a thing but it had started to seem like it was true, Abel cared about her, he’d more than proven it that day.
"Of course.” He smiled. “More than you can imagine. I can't believe you would even ask. Here I thought I had been making it obvious all along."
"Well I care about you too and it's why I wouldn't want you getting into any trouble, especially not because of me. We won't always be so lucky like today."
You're worth any and all kind of trouble is what Abel wanted to say at that moment but knew Abby wouldn't like him saying such a thing so he kept it to himself. He however wouldn’t let such a fear stop him from protecting the girl he was falling in love with. If she needed to be protected then that’s what he planned to do. He hadn't been sure if what he had been feeling could be called love or just simply like but he was sure of it then, he was falling in love. Such a simple four lettered word and yet it held so much meaning.
Abel had been so deep in thought he hadn't noticed Abby had gotten far ahead of him. "Where are you going?!" He cupped his hands around his mouth as he tried to catch up to her. Earlier he had been the faster runner but all that energy from then had left him.
"Going to see the fuckin asshole that agreed to be a makeup artist for the company my ex works for!"
He couldn't help but laugh at hearing her cussing out Cain. It seemed like he wasn't the only one Abby was mad at that day, it was Cain's turn to taste her wrath. "Should I get a broom for you?!" He only hoped to see his love rival get the same penalty he had gotten.
"No need! I'll get him myself!"
"How so?" He finally caught up to her and started to walk by her side.
"I'll kick him like this!" She lifted one of her legs and kicked the air.
"And I thought you were a nice girl. Are you even the same girl that dried baby Siah's face and put steri strips on his cut?"
"I can be both, good and bad."
"Ooh. Sexy. I like that."
He turned to her and winked but she responded with an eye roll.
They got to where Cain should have been but there was one problem, he wasn’t there. None of the EVE staff was. It looked like even the members had left as the two black vans were nowhere to be seen in the parking lot, at least not in the one they had parked. There were other parking lots that surrounded the water park and they had just been in one of four. But as they walked to the other parking lots, they saw they were just as empty. The few cars there all belonged to the employees from the water park, not a single one was from their label.
