After the conflict with her father, Eunsu choose to lock herself away in her room for the night. She awoke the next morning to find a message from her friend, asking if he could pick her for school. She thought about it and wanted to accept, but took a moment to consider her father. He hadn't said anything to the girl since their conversation and she guessed he’d probably already left for work by now. Whereas her mother just let the situation unravel on it’s own, not even bothering to offer her daughter dinner, knowing the girl would be too upset to eat.

Something clicked in her, and Eunsu decided to not care what he father said. She texted Kunpimook back telling him of course he could, and began to get ready for school. Thankfully today was a Friday, so she’d have the following two days to lock herself away and wonder what she should do. She obviously wouldn’t ditch the boy, he was her only and now best friend. But part of her did feel guilty for unknowingly causing a commotion.

Quite honestly, she considered spending the time studying Thai so she could speak with the woman properly. Even still, she couldn’t be able to speak clearly for quite some time on top of the fact that it would be so disrespectful to act as if she was on the same level as a literal queen.

Nonetheless, Eunsu carried on with her morning routine, even greeting her mother on the way out the door. Coco whined as per usual when the girl pulled the door closed behind her, and as per usual it broke her heart a little.

Once Eunsu turned she saw the same van as yesterday sitting in the driveway, and wondered if she should force a smile on her face. It was still early, so if anyone suspected something, she could just say she was tired. Eunsu let out a breath as she walked down the front path and towards the car. The door opened and saw the still groggy boy smile at her, which made her a bit less stressed.

“Good morning” he said while she climbed into next to him. She let out a sigh and just smiled. The girl looked forward and as she expected, it was the same driver as yesterday.

“You okay?” and with that she felt his hand find hers, causing a bit of a blush.

“Uh, yeah,” she croaked, not able to process much so early.

The car backed out of the driveway and started down the short road towards the school. It was quiet and Eunsu could feel herself starting to fall asleep. She kept blinking to wake up, but it was exhausting to do so. Usually she was able to wake up easily for school, being a bit of a nerd and actually enjoying going through her lessons and learning new things. But today everything just felt off.

“Hey,” the boy said, making her perk up a bit and look at him. She realized her head was resting on his shoulder but didn’t feel too urgent in sitting up. “Did you talk to your parents yesterday?” he asked, the question giving her a headache.

“Yeah. It wasn’t the best,” she said, trying not to think of the stress it brought her. His face seemed to shift into mass confusion at her words.

“What do you mean?”

Eunsu looked out the window and noticed the driver stopping on the side of the school, probably not to draw attention? She still had no idea at this point.

“Look, we’re here,” the girl said with fake enthusiasm, letting go of his hand to open the door and exit the vehicle. The boy just let his hand drop as she scooted away, but soon grabbed his bag and followed out after her. She only made it a few steps before his hand rested on her shoulder, causing her to turn and look at him.

“What happened?” he asked with genuine concern, which made her heart tinge. This all felt so foreign, having someone actually care about what she thought. Her mother listened to her, but she was her mother and that was her job. Usually whenever Eunsu interacted with people, it was out of formality or attempts to be friendly only to receive nothing in return. So having a cute boy that she might be developing a crush on actually treat her with real emotion felt a bit overwhelming.

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