Continuation of this. Requires knowing the context of chapter 176.
In hindsight, Julian should've known you'd be a chore to travel with. He had done this on almost yearly basis and somehow, having you around whenever he travelled had never been easy.
"Jules, hurry up! I want to go shopping!" You took long confident stride across the street of Seoul. If he didn't know better, he'd have thought you were among the resident here with how confidently you took in the new scenery.
"You know we can't go shopping until after the fight," he clicked his tongue, trying to match your pace.
Behind the two of you, his grandfather and your valet followed at their own pace. Your commotion with Julian inspired a shared glance between the two elders. Veramundt nodded his head towards Julian's back, eyes filled with contemplation. "You know, Jean-Paul, I always thought they'd end up together."
Your valet mulled over the thought, then shook his head, "It wouldn't work, sir. They're too close, Mr Julian would never dare to ruin their friendship. As for my lady, she thought little of marriage outside of strengthening alliance, she wouldn't be able to... use him, to say."
"Yet she thought she could use Kayden Break?" Veramundt let out low, throaty laughter. "There's no denying your heiresses have guts."
Jean-Paul emitted a sigh, "That went nowhere, sir. My lady took one look at the young Awakener and immediately decided he was not worth her time."
"I'm surprised he let that slide," with a thoughtful frown, the man stroked his beard while his mind worked out the mathematics involved with that encounter, "us Awakeners are very prideful."
That got Jean-Paul smiling, "Well, it's not without reason, sir."
Turned out Julian could do little to pin you down once you got going.
One glance at the nearby shopping centre, he immediately lost his grasp on you and had no choice but to continue with the meetup without you around. It defeated the entire point of bringing you along, but when had he ever managed to keep you settled?
At least, you were not there to witness the aftermath when he lost to Jiwoo. Having you there to jeer at him might have made the ordeal more shameful than it should be. While Julian attempted to collect his thoughts, he failed to notice the incoming presence immediately.
In fact, your entrance had managed to capture the attention of everyone within the practice room except for Julian, who was too caught up in his own thoughts to care.
"Oh, my days."
As he stood stunned by the turn of events, the new incoming presence got his attention snapped up towards the elevated platform where you stood.
Your grin somehow got even more condescending from that high up. What surprised him more was the new fur coat you adorned, no doubt it was among the fruit of your shopping labour. The many bags Jean-Paul carried was a testament to that.
"Jules, you loser!" The cackle was all too smug for Julian to not react. He cringed visibly, blush of shame crept up his face. "I can't believe this, you lost to a child."
"Your observation of the obvious astounds me," Julian breathed out a huff.
With one swift move, you hauled yourself over the railing and descended down to the lower floor with an elegant slide. Sparks of your energy curled around your body and floated into the air.
He knew the feels of eyes on you was nothing new for you, but having you all but ignored others to ridicule him... he didn't know if it was a perk or a punishment.
While neither his grandfather nor Jean-Paul was surprised by the outburst, keeping their expression impressively passive when you strut towards Julian. Others were less nonplussed.
Inhyuk, in particular, didn't know how to deal with your sudden entrance. At least, Jiyoung managed to maintain her calm, but her confusion was clear. In the end, it was her assistant who spoke up on her behalf, "You are—"
"You know who I am," you shot him a sly grin, "my apologies for the late arrival, I have found that your nearby shopping centre had a fascinating collection of clothes. Once I set my eyes upon them, I couldn't resist myself."
"It is—"
Like a whirlwind, you immediately snapped back to Julian, lips pressed together in contempt. He didn't know what that look was for, but when you narrowed your eyes on his exposed stomach. It was clear. "Hm. You ruined the shirt I bought you." You tugged at the tattered hem of his shirt, the frown settled on your brows.
Scarcely before he got the chance to defend himself, someone else spoke up. "Uh, excuse me," Jiwoo raised his hand with an apologetic look cast upon you. "I'm sorry, I was the one who did that."
It was the first time since you entered that you acknowledged Jiwoo in full. Julian could see in your gaze that you didn't think much of the boy, barely cared to assess him. "Really?" You said. "Because it looked like it was his carelessness that dampened his chance to win and subsequently tore the shirt."
As Jiwoo fumbled to his next response, you shifted your attention back to Julian, "So, was this what you wanted? Because it feels like a huge waste of time to me."
He winced, "You didn't have to say it like that."
"You."
The sharp distinction of that word had everyone stared back at the talker, who was none other than Kayden Break, himself. Everyone landed their eyes upon him, except you who took your leisure time trailing your eyes back to the man. Despite your earlier conversation with Julian, he couldn't see any sign of recognition in your eyes when you looked upon the man.
It was almost as if your encounter with him had never happened, but Julian could swear that he heard it from you first hand. Surely someone of that calibre wouldn't escape from your mind without another thought.
"You talking to me?"
"Yes, you," Kayden immediately changed his previous triumphant expression into a glare fierce enough to cut, "You have grown stronger."
With what Julian assumed you took as a compliment, you put on a smile. Convivial and easygoing. "I'd like to think my effort in bettering myself paid off," you drawled lazily, "and you are?"
Your failure to recognize him got Kayden bristled, "You know—" Apparently, Kayden must've caught himself going to the same thing as you did because he immediately clamped up afterwards, his scowl turned into something more indescribable. "Never mind that. No matter what happened before, the next time we met, I will be the one to defeat you."
His challenge apparently stunted you into silence, however, Julian failed to detect whether it was because you were flabbergasted or genuinely intimidated by the man.
"Okay? Get in line."
Neither then.
"Hey!"
With blatant disregard of the man, you went back to scrutinizing Julian again. For a moment, he lamented the brief freedom he got when you turned away. Better for someone else to deal with you than facing your teasing after his ego got bruised.
"Anyway, I already bought new clothes, you should get changed," you grabbed for Julian's arm, ignoring how Kayden bristled at your slight. "We should get going, too, our flight is this afternoon."
The scorching glare Kayden sent towards you did nothing to garner your attention even while you dragged Julian out of the practice ring. He could only offer an apologetic smile towards the Shinhwa representatives and the affiliates.
It was Jean-Paul who thankfully voiced his sentiment out loud. "Ah, my apologies for my lady. She's very... spirited." That was one positive way to frame your personality. He almost snorted at the thought.
"We'll be taking our leave then," Julian concluded with the rest. "I look forward to the day when we can face each other again, Jiwoo."
The boy's eyes brightened with his parting words, a resolute nod was all he needed to make.
Once the two of you were out of sight, he couldn't help but give you a teasing smile. "What was that?"
"What was what?" You continued to maintain your hold on him while the two of you were followed by Jean-Paul to the nearest bathroom for his change of clothes.
"You and Kayden," Julian mused, "you didn't tell me you fought him."
You only shrugged, nonchalant to the whole ordeal, "It wasn't worth mentioning."
Unsurprisingly, your attitude miffed him a little. Seeing how that was the mentor of the person previously defeated him. All in a ruse, of course, but a loss was a loss. "Grandfather really gassed him up, you know," Julian pondered out loud. "Make me wonder about how strong he really is."
"Must have been if gramps acknowledged him."
He frowned, "But not enough for you to remember?"
"We have different priorities," you chalked up another sly grin mirroring your earlier one, "besides, why don't you tell me about the CEO of Shinhwa instead? She looks pretty."
His cheeks warmed while Julian attempted to avoid your eyes, "Yes, she is," he admitted, "too bad our marriage proposal got nowhere."
"Yeah? Pity," you inclined your head towards him, then with a frown, your expression turned serious, "you probably challenged the kid because you were curious about his mentor, were you not?"
"Yeah... I'm even more curious now that I know that you've fought him," Julian confessed, "even grandfather hadn't done it..."
"It was nothing exciting," you shrugged again, "his power was not that effective against mine, that's all."
With an arched brow, Julian shot a questioning look at you. "Was that truly it?"
Instead of answering him, you winked and tapped the side of your nose. Before Julian could protest to your discretion, you beckoned Jean-Paul towards you and pulled out something in the myriad of bags he carried.
"Here, I got this for you, look at it! Isn't it pretty?"
The sight of the shirt alone stunted Julian into silence. With broken glass patterns and a range of colours splots around the fabric, he couldn't help but wince a little when he saw the silky fabric in full.
Sure, it was pretty, in the way a wild butterfly would be. But you have seen his closet enough times to know it was a far cry from his normal style. He couldn't help but feel that you were hammering the last nail to his coffin of a bad day. Probably for prying, if anything.
"Yeah... thanks."
Well, at least the only way to go when he hit rock bottom was up.
responsible, mild-mannered, ambitious oldest sibling vs. cunty rebellious 'generational-trauma-can-suck-my-cock' youngest sibling gotta be one of my favorite dynamics fr
actually I will always talk about the fact that the Patrick brother are one of the only awakeners who have accepted defeat so readily and earnestly without a hint of malice
I like how both Julian and Ian got in trouble for asking Jiwoo to fight, insinuating that Julian took Ian to ask Jiwoo for a fight knowing full well they'd get in trouble only because Ian wouldn't stop bugging the hell out of Julian to take him
I like to imagine he's one of those older brothers who just can't say no. like sir..you could've just;;; said no to Ian. You're the older brother, you're leagues stronger than him, there's no reason for you to comply with his every whim......
