~💮~

“Good luck!” Ren called after his housemates as they were leaving out the front door. They were on their way to school in exam week before Summer Break. Another month had past and progress with the wallflower was going well. He was seeing his housemates off to school at the door a lot lately, being more talkative… mostly with Min Hee though, but it was still something.

“Aw~! Thank you, Ren!” Hana and Nari smiled, waving back at him. “Good luck on your own exams!”

“Hurry it up, or we’re going to be late!” JR’s faint voice from outside complained.

“We have plenty of time, relax!” Aron chuckled, swinging his arm around his shoulder to walk with him. Minhyun only rolled his eyes, passing them as the girls skipped to the gate. Ren admired the group of friends for a few seconds, amazed at how they’re so different yet still great friends despite Minhyun said he doesn’t like JR, he still does as he doesn’t leave the guy out at dinner or any other social gatherings.

When he snapped out of his thoughts, he notice Min Hee still standing near the door. She had a nervous look on her face, the bad kind of nervous.

“Min Hee? What’s wrong? Aren’t you leaving?” He asked, feeling worried when she quietly shook her head in reply. “Why?”

“My stomach hurts.” She mumbled with a small pained expression, her face was slightly paler than earlier when they were eating breakfast.

“Oh no! But you have exams!” He frowned. “What are you going to do?” He looked a little panicked and she smiled.

“Relax, it’s alright. I can make it up after the rest of the exams when I can.”

“Min Hee?” Suddenly Minhyun returned with a curious expression. “What’s the hold up?”

“Her stomach hurts.” Ren answered for her, still looking incredibly worried.

“Ah, shoot.” The taller frowned, resting a hand on Min Hee’s shoulder. “I guess just skip today. I’ll talk to the teacher.”

“Thanks. I appreciate it.” She nodded, a dejected look washing over her face. “My parents will be thrilled, won’t they?”

“Don’t worry about them, health comes first, right?” Ren tried to assure her. He didn’t like it when she thought negatively.

“He’s right. It’s unfortunate, but what matters is that you rest up so you’ll feel better for tomorrow’s exam.”

“Okay, I’ll do that.” She sighed with her eyes casted down to the ground.

“Can you look after her while I’m away?” Minhyun turned to Ren with a hopeful look.

“Of course!” He nodded. “I’ll look after her, don’t worry. You should go now, before JR comes back.” He added on, noticing JR and the others looking at them from the gate.

“Right, thanks. I’ll be home as soon as I can. Feel better soon!” Minhyun gave a small pat on Min Hee’s head before running off to join their friends again.

“Let’s go back inside.” Ren suggested after their friends were gone from the gate.

~💮~

For the rest of the morning, Min Hee rested on the living room couch since she didn’t want to inconvenience Ren by having him coming to her room on the other side of the house when he’s done with his exam. The girls all had their rooms separated from the guys. Not only that, she wanted to have Ren’s company since she hadn’t been seeing much of him lately because of studying for exams.

Once noon hit, the homeschool teacher took her leave after wishing Min Hee well because she was a friendly teacher. Ren had gone through a couple teachers before Ms. Im, the others never understood Ren and his ways, making it difficult to communicate with him. They’d get frustrated and the poor boy would get scared and upset. But finally, Ms. Im came into the picture and he was able to get back to doing school again without any uneasy feelings in the way.

“Ren?” She asked as he returned from the kitchen with some peppermint tea for her stomach.

“Yes?” He answered, taking a seat next to her after she sat up.

“What do you do when the others and I are away at school? I mean, after your homeschool teacher leaves?”

“Oh, well… usually Ms. Im stays a bit longer, but since she heard you were sick she left early.”

“Ah, so you spend time with your teacher?” She took a sip of her tea, watching Ren nod with a smile on his lips. “So you’re comfortable with her? That’s good.” She added with a small chuckled.

“What is it?” He asked, tilting his head in confusion. Did he say something funny? Actually, he didn’t say anything, he only nodded!

“Nothing.” She assured him.

“Really?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. Seeing his confused face made her laugh again. “Eh, it’s silly,” she finally admitted, “I feel kind of jealous.”

“Jealous? About what?” His eyes widened in surprise.

“I don’t know… seeing you with Ms. Im, you looked so relaxed and comfortable. It was a nice sight, honestly, to see you happy.” She smiled at him. “I guess I just… wish I could do the same for you.” Looking down at the cup of tea in her hands, she felt her cheeks getting warm from her small confession.

“But you do, Min Hee.” He smiled, causing her to look up at him. “I feel peaceful when I’m around you, like I don’t have to be someone I’m not… I actually feel most comfortable when I’m with you…” he said a bit shy towards the end. It brought a big smile to her lips to hear that.

For a while now, Min Hee had come to like Ren a lot, but mostly in an adoring way. She wanted to look out for him and be there for him since he was basically a loner in the house since he never really tried to talk to the others… he was a special friend to her, too. Being there for her when she was hiding from her parents, opening her eyes on the situation as well. So naturally she hoped she was someone special to him, too.

But just then she felt her heart flutter a bit when he said those words.

I actually feel most comfortable when I’m with you…

“I’m glad.” Her smiled brightened up more. “I’m really glad!”

~💮~

The afternoon passed by quickly as Ren and Min Hee spent it talking and getting to know each other more. It was probably the most they’ve talked since he came to live there 3 months ago and Min Hee was glad to see him open up so much with her.

She learned his love for horror movies began when he was younger, that surprised her a bit… a child loving horror films. As a child, she was always worried about the monsters hiding under her bed. After, she also learned he loved the pop singer from America, Lady GaGa. He seemed so thrilled to hear Min Hee also liked his idol’s music.

Sadly, their hangout came to a stop when Minhyun and the others finally returned home from school. Ren didn’t leave right away, but after some time he excused himself back to his room. That made Min Hee a bit conflicted… happy to see he really was the most comfortable around her but sad that he wasn’t comfortable with the other housemates just yet. She hoped that would change soon.

~💮~

And just like that, exam week was finally over, except for Min Hee. She had to go take her makeup exam the next day, Saturday. She really didn’t want to go but Minhyun made sure she went as he escorted her to the school and said he was going to wait for her to make sure she doesn’t try to skip again.

It was true that she had stomach pains on Monday due to stress, but Minhyun knew that she gets stressed a lot and usually pulls through the pain… missing her exam on Monday was by choice. He could see right through his friend. Missing the exam would affect her perfect grades and would possibly ruin the chances of her transferring to the all girls high school her parents have been setting her up for. He really hoped she didn’t purposely tank her exams, either!

Once she was done with her exam, she found Minhyun at the gate waiting for her like he said he would. “How’d it go?” He asked, pulling his earphones out and faced her.

“We’ll just have to wait and see.” She shrugged with a small sigh.

“Yah… you didn’t… did you?” He frowned, seeing the knowing look on her face.

“Did what?” She said innocently.

“I know you don’t want to go to that all girls high school, but don’t ruin your grades because of it!” He scolded. “You keep going on about what you’ll major in once we graduate, but how are you going to get into a good college if you purposely sabotage your own grades!”

“What?” Suddenly they heard a familiar voice behind them.

They turned to see Min Hee’s mother standing a few feet away from the gate. She heard her daughter missed her exam on Monday due to being sick and had to make it up on Saturday. Even though she was a busy woman, she made time to come see her daughter after the exam to take her for lunch to more or less congratulate her on exam week, just knowing she passed them all because she was so smart.

But now...

“M-Mom…” Min Hee frowned, worried about the unpleasant look on her face. She must’ve heard all of that just now.

“Is this true? You’re purposely sabotaging your own grades?” Min Hee remained silent, averting her eyes to the ground. Minhyun’s eyes were casted down as well as he stood there quietly. “Yah, Lee Min Hee, answer me.” Her mother demanded. She only looked up to her mother, nodding quietly. “Why are you doing this? After all I went through to get a good word in for you to attend a better school… this is how you repay me? By ruining your grades and make me look like a fool, telling everyone my daughter is a genius but now your transcript will state otherwise.” By now her mother looked livid. “How could you do this to me, Min Hee?”

“I’m sorry.” She managed to get out.

“Sorry? You’re sorry?” Mrs. Lee snickered. “You ruin your grades and all you have to say to me is that you’re sorry? Do you regret doing it, then?”

“No.” Min Hee tried to say calmly. “I don’t regret it, but I’m sorry that I disappointed you.” She added, daring to look up at her angry mother. “Growing up, I was always number one in everything… but now that I’m older, I don’t want to be. I don’t like it. I feel like everyone expects too much from me now and it’s tiring… I hate it.”

“Your father and I were and have always been number one in everything, sometimes it gets difficult but we always pull through. You’ll pull through, too.”

“No! I don’t want to pull through!” Min Hee nearly shouted. “Didn’t you hear a single word I said? I hate it. I don’t want to do it anymore…”

“So you want to be a failure?”

“I just want to be normal!” She cried out. “I just want to be a normal girl with normal grades. I’m tired of everyone flocking to me at school asking me to help them because I’m super smart! I’m tired of the teachers telling me I should be class president or student council present… I’m tired of being number one. I’m not happy and I only suffered through it because it made you and dad happy… but then when do I ever get to be happy?” Throughout the whole confession, her mother’s bitter eyes never softened. “Being average just won’t do, will it?”

“No. It will not. This is a successful family, Min Hee. If you’re average, you won’t get far, that’s why you always have to do your best.”

Silence fell upon them, and uneasy one. Minhyun felt incredibly terrible for sticking around to hear all of that. He should have left a long time ago but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it… he couldn’t abandon his friend while she was getting scolded.

“Listen… you still have after summer break to get your grades back up. Let’s just stop it here and move on, okay? It’ll be okay as long as you bring your grades back up and everything will be fine.”

“Okay.” Min Hee sighed.

“Hopefully the school will still accept you after this.” Her mother added before taking a look at her phone for the time.

Min Hee’s jaw nearly dropped to the ground. After all of that… after all of that her mother still planned to transfer her to the damn school anyway! Successful and Stubborn!

“You don’t get it at all!” Min Hee shouted before running off away from the school.

“Min Hee!” Minhyun called after her, worried. He quickly bowed to her mother before running after her.

“Aish, that girl... what’s gotten into her? She was never problematic before.” Mrs. Lee muttered as she watched the two teens run around the corner. “Does it have anything to do with that boarding house I let her stay at?”

~💮~

“Final lap! Go Ren, go, go, go~!” The girls cheered while jumping up and down behind the couch excitedly. They were giving support to the blonde who joined them in the living room to play a video game for once. It was a car racing one and he was currently up against JR.

After opening up to Min Hee earlier this week, he thought maybe he should try harder and take the step in hanging out with the other housemates. It’d make Min Hee happy, right? He had thought to himself before accepting the game controller from a smiling Baekho.

“C’mon, Ren! Destroy him!” Aron said between the girls.

“Yah! Why is everyone on his side all of a sudden?!” JR complained.

“Go JR!” Baekho cheered. Before JR could thank him… “Go Ren!”

“Are you serious?” He frowned, glancing at Baekho who gave a sheepish smile.

“Almost there! You can do it!” Their friends continued to cheer. The two players were cutting it close, the finish line in view when Ren heard the front door open. Immediately he looked over his shoulder to see Min Hee at the entrance and a smile spread across his lips.

But it soon vanished when he noticed her tear stained cheeks when she entered the living room, lightly sobbing before she noticed everyone crowded by the TV.

“Yes! I won!” JR shouted in victory, oblivious that everyone’s attention wasn’t on the game anymore.

“Oh no, Min Hee, what happened?!” Hana asked, tone full of worry as she and Nari made their way over to her. The crying girl held up her hand to stop them before she turned and headed off to her room without a word. Everyone in the room was worried… besides JR who was still celebrating his win.

“Dude, cut it out. Now’s not the time to be boasting about a win in a stupid game.” Aron scolded just as Minhyun entered the living room with a dejected look on his face.

“Minhyun?” Ren made his way over to him. “What happened to Min Hee?” He looked so worried right now as he looked up at Minhyun.

“Ah, well… she finally talked to her mother.” He answered with a sad laugh. “I guess that means we don’t have to cover for her anymore.”

“Did they fight?” Nari asked quietly, her usual loud and energetic self nowhere to be seen.

“Pretty much.” Minhyun nodded. “Min Hee told her mother how she really felt about the whole school transfer but not a single word stuck. Just went through on ear and out the other. So she’s clearly upset.”

“Poor Min Hee.” Baekho said with a sad expression, looking down the hallway Min Hee left in.

~💮~

Dinner was quiet as everyone ate, they were all still worried about their housemate and friend. Min Hee wouldn’t open her door when Minhyun brought her dinner to her and it started to really worry him. She was really upset, wasn’t she?

Ren looked so down about the whole situation that he excused himself back to his room halfway through the dinner. He just didn’t feel like eating, not without Min Hee.

“Chucky,” he said softly in his dark room. He was sprawled out on his bed, his beloved Chucky doll laying beside him. “I’m so worried about her.” He continued. “I never thought… Min Hee talking to her mother would end like this. I didn’t think they would fight… I feel so bad now that I told her to talk to them.” He covered his eyes with his arm. “I thought something good would come out of it if she talked to them, but it looks like that wasn’t the case. She only got upset.”

He stared up at the glow in the dark stars scattered across his bedroom ceiling and took a deep breath before exhaling. “What should I do?” He his side, facing his Chucky doll. “Should I go apologize? Should I go talk to her?”

After several minutes of silence, Ren finally got out of bed and headed for the door.

~💮~

Nervously, Ren knocked on Min Hee’s door. He wondered if she’d turn him away too, and the thought made him feel really bad. “Min Hee?” He asked against the door. “It’s me… Ren.”

There was no reply and he frowned. Though he kind of expected not to get an answer, she probably didn’t want to talk to anyone right now, including him.

“Min Hee… I’m sorry.” He decided to apologize at the door. If anything, she was probably listening at least. “I thought if you talked to your parents, things would be better. I didn’t think it’d end with you in tears, I’m sorry.”

Just then, the door opened. He slightly jumped in his spot, a bit startled by the sudden event.

“Don’t be sorry…” Min Hee said in a small voice with her eyes locked on the floor as she didn’t have the guts to look him in the eye, not in the condition she was in, no. “It’s not your fault.” Her face was pale, eyes red and puffy. Her cheeks were stained with tears and it honestly broke his heart to see her like this.

“Still, I just can’t help but feel bad.” His eyes locked onto her hand at her side. He reached out to grab her hand into his and held it tight. “I never wanted you to get upset…”

“I didn’t think talking to my mom would end like that, too.” The tears started to make their way up again, “and now I just feel terrible… that I’ve made everyone worry about me, especially you. I was trying to be strong so I wouldn’t seem weak but now…” her head dropped along with her tears.

Ren stood there as she cried, removing her hand from his hold to cover her face. What do I do? He thought, feeling heartbroken. What do I do?

It wasn’t long before he knew what he should do. Like she did for him a while back, he pulled her into a hug and held her tight. “It’s okay, Min Hee.” He said calmly. “It’s going to be okay.”

At his words, she cried harder as she wrapped her arms around him, crying into his chest. It brought a bittersweet smile to his lips just then. As least he was able to comfort her. Maybe the tears will stop soon and maybe she’ll go back to smiling again. That’s all he was hoping for right now… to see her smiling again, because if she isn’t happy… neither is he.

Chapter five!

Awh! Poor Min Hee!

Gosh, Ren is making a lot of progress these days XD

Why is he so cute, gah!

Hoping to make a lot of progress with this story during winter break, too!

So until next time! ^^