Saying goodbye to Seungcheol was one of the hardest thing for Sooyeon, no matter how many times she's done it before. She even knew for a fact that her brother will be home again in two months, and then he'll be sticking around for the next three months after while waiting for the new semester to begin. Still, parting with him was one of the most heartbreaking thing she's ever had to do ever since Seungcheol started with college.

Seungcheol had offered to drive her to school that morning on his way back to campus, so she was glad to have at least ten minutes or so with her brother during the ride. She watched with a gloomy look on her face as her brother drove off and let out a sigh once his car was out of sight.

"Sooyeon?"

She jumped at this and whirled around to see Kai standing at a distance, adorning a worried expression on his face. "K-Kai!" she exclaimed, blinking rapidly due to her surprise.

He surpressed the urge to grin at her adorable reaction and went with a small smile. He took a few tentative steps forward, careful not to be abrupt in case it would make her nervous. "Are you alright?" he asked, surprising her once more.

"Pardon?"

"You looked sad just a while ago," he told her.

"You... saw that?"

Kai suddenly turned pink at this. "I wasn't-- I just saw you get off the car a-and you looked... sad. I, uh... got worried for a while," he admitted, his cheeks burning red as he stared at the ground sheepishly.

She smiled softly at his concern, although she couldn't help but note how adorable the boy was at the moment. "Ah, I'm okay," she assured him. "I just don't like saying goodbye."

"Goodbye? Who were you saying goodbye to?" Before Sooyeon could answer, Kai glanced at the building before them and tilted his head to the direction. "Do you mind if I, uh.. walk you to your locker as we talk?" he asked, smiling nervously at her.

Sooyeon smiled at this. "Sure."

Kai smiled and gestured her to walk together with him. A comfortable silence enveloped them as they walked among the other students, and Sooyeon only recalled Kai's question once they got to the hallways. She mentioned it to him, surprising Kai who seemed delighted that she even remembered, and waited for her answer.

"I said goodbye to my brother," she told him. "He was home last week since it was his mid-semester break, and this morning he left for college again."

"And that saddens you?" Kai asked.

Sooyeon noted from his tone that he wasn't making fun of her, and he that he was simply curious, and she nodded. "Yes, it does. I don't like saying goodbyes to him. He's the only sibling I have, and parting with him - no matter how brief it is - pains me."

Kai smiled softly at this. He noticed that he's been doing a lot of smiling lately. "I understand. I'm also very close with my brother, and I hate it when he has to leave. At times, I'm glad he's not around because he tends to be very noisy but the it gets lonely at times," he told her, picturing his brother in his mind.

Sooyeon saw the affectionate look on the boy's face and looked away to hide her own smile. She wondered how Kai would act around her brother, and when Sehun and Baekhyun pounced on the boy when they reached her locker, Sooyeon assumed that it may somewhat be like how he acts around his friends.

That thought made her smile.

"So, what literature do you have in mind for our assignment?" Kai asked quietly as he followed behind Sooyeon.

School had ended about half an hour ago, and the two were in the library, trying to look for any literature books they could use for their assignment. Sooyeon pursed her lips with a tiny frown on her face as she concentrated on finding the right book, eyes scanning on every book titles on the shelves.

"We just have to summarise everything, right?" Kai asked again and she nodded.

"It wouldn't be that easy of course," she told him with an equally quiet voice. "I was wondering, have you ever read Gulliver's Travel? Or Robinson Crusoe? They're both literatures from the 18th century."

Kai pondered on it for a moment then shook his head. "I read the Pride and Prejudice though, and I quite like it to be honest. Does that count?" When he heard no reply from her, Kai turned away from the book he was looking at and found her staring at him in astonishment. He turned red almost immediately. "W-What?"

"You read Pride and Prejudice?" she asked. He hesitated, thinking that something was wrong, but admitted it anyway. She suddenly beamed at this. "I loved Pride and Prejudice. But it's 19th century literature though," she said, frowning lightly.

"Well, Ms. Jung didn't say that the literature has to be from the 18th century," he pointed out. "And since we both read Pride and Prejudice, let's just use it for our assignment."

Sooyeon contemplated the idea and nodded after a while, looking pleased with the idea. "Alright, let's do that. I have a copy at home so we don't have to borrow from from the library," she said. Kai smiled and they returned all the books they've taken back onto their respective places, and walked out of the library.

"Kai?" she called after a while of comfortable silence. The boy looked at her and quirked a questioning brow. "Do you like reading?" she asked.

Kai blinked and nodded his head. "Yes, I love it actually," he admitted, slighly blushing. "I know most guys don't read much, especially literature, but I've been in love with books and literatures since I was a kid. My mom liked reading to me before bed, and I picked up the habit as I grew up."

Sooyeon smiled at this. "That's amazing," she complimented, making him blush. "I love reading too. I prefer hiding inside my room and drowning myself in books than go out to socialize with people," she admitted and looked ashamed with herself a second later. "I shouldn't have done that though."

"There's nothing wrong with that," Kai chided her softly, making her turn to him. He had to control himself from blushing since her bright clear eyes were staring directly into his. "Not everyone can be sociable. There's nothing wrong with choosing to read books than communicate with your classmates in class, or hiding in the library with a good book instead of eating lunch with the rest of the students in the cafeteria. Sometimes, it's tiring to have to socialize with people, so it's good if you can balance those - which you are doing nowadays. The guys and I are delighted to have you around after seeing you hide away from the first day," he told her absentmindedly.

Sooyeon was really taken aback at this. Before she could register what she was doing, she had her hand wrapped around his wrist, making him stop in his track in surprise. He saw the confliction and confusion in her eyes, and tilted his head in question.

"Sooyeon?"

"How did you know?" she whispered.

Kai frowned. "Know what?"

"How did you know that I liked to read books before classes start or hide in the library during lunch?"

Kai gulped, mentally scolding himself for blurting out those things, but it was too late to take it back. Sooyeon had heard it, and now she looks like she was going to burst into tears if he didn't answer her. So he sighed softly and held his gaze with hers, before telling her,

"That's because I notice you, Sooyeon."

"What?"

He smiled. "You're not as invisible as you think."

I finally got around to post today's update (today's chapter revolves around Kai and Sooyeon only). I was actually scolded yesterday by my friend for writing a new story while I was supposed to focus solely on my studies. But I promised her that I'm only updating this story this week, and once mid-semester is over, the updates would halt till my final semester ends. So yes, after this week ends, I will only be seeing you guys here in December.

Oh, and I'm sorry I couldn't do a double update today like the other days. I feel a bit under the weather today and thought I'd just write one for you guys as promised. And my friend made me a poster! My gosh, she literally took 15mins to create this one while we were Skyping and it's so beautiful! Thank you so much for this lovely gift, Zueyyyy! I loveeee you so much! ♥

Thanks everyone for the comments, subscriptions and upvotes. I appreciate it all! I'll try to reply all your comments the best I can. You guys are the best! xoxo