"Alright, where to start…"

"Let's start by dialing '911' and calling the police—"

"You're mistaken!" Jieun exclaimed, getting up from the table. "I'm your next door neighbor! My name is Lee Jieun, and I was only returning the kimchi container that Jungkook gave me!"

She scurried over to the fridge and opened it, pointing to the container. Jungkook nodded his head in acknowledgement, while the stranger (who still had his Hello Kitty blanket on) narrowed his eyes at her.

"Well, she seems to have no problem rummaging through our fridge," the stranger commented, rubbing his short-beard chin. He stopped and stared at his hands. "Damn. I didn't shave." His eyes wandered from his hands to the bowl of ramen in front of him. "Well, she makes some good ramen, so I'll let her off the hook."

Jieun let out a sigh of relief. She studied both boys' expressions as they loudly dug into their dinner. The stranger had a square face, which contrasted with Jungkook's round face. He also had large eyebrows, which looked nothing like Jungkook's. Even their eyes were different: the stranger had a pair of worn-out eyes craving for sleep, while Jungkook had wide, baby eyes that sparkled under the light. The only similarity she saw between the two was that they were both more interested in their meal rather than her presence.

Jungkook looked up, only to see that Jieun was staring at them. She slowly pointed at the stranger, but her eyes were still on the younger boy.

"Father?" she asked.

"Father," he repeated, nodding his head.

"Uncle," the stranger said, slurping his noodles. "I'm the kid's uncle."

Jungkook scowled. "Uncle Kiha, you can't tell her that!"

"What? Why can't I? Besides, it's not good to tell people that I'm your father, Jungkook." The uncle swept his hair to the side, acting cool and boyish. "If you say that I'm your father, they won't see how young I look. You'll just be bad-mouthed because your looks don't par with mine."

Jieun snorted subconsciously while Jungkook glared at her.

"Are you laughing at my uncle's looks?" Jungkook asked. "I don't know about you, but he looks amazing!" He turned to his uncle. "Do it, Uncle Kiha! Show her who's the boss."

The man laughed laughed. "Aw, come on, Jungkook. Last time I showed off my poses, your friends all screamed and never came back!"

"Show it! Do it and blow her mind!" Jungkook exclaimed.

"I… I'd rather not see it," Jieun said, raising her hand to catch their attention. "Please don't do it, I beg of you." She turned to Jungkook. "Your personality is totally different."

Jungkook glared at her. "What do you mean?"

"At school, you're the guy that every girl wants to confess to and that all the guys wants to be around with, but here…" She cleared . "I don't know if it's your uncle, but you kind of act…"

"Like a monkey?" the uncle stated.

"Uncle Kiha!"

"Like a monkey," Jieun said, nodding her head. She blinked her eyes. "I'm sorry, but I've just realized that I didn't get your name and that I haven't properly introduced myself." She bowed at him. "My name is Lee Jieun, and I'm Jungkook's English teacher."

"Ah." The uncle bowed at her, too. "I'm Jang Kiha, Jungkook's uncle."

"Yeah, yeah, she already knows that," Jungkook said, rolling his eyes.

Jieun smiled. "So what's your occupation?"

"I write books that people don't read anymore, and I also write and draw comics that people read sometimes," Kiha said, continuing his meal.

When Jieun glanced at Jungkook for more clarification, Jungkook only raised his phone.

"He write romance novels that don't do well, but he makes most of his money through writing and drawing webtoons," Jungkook explained. "You know what webtoons are, right? They're those comics that you read online…?" When he saw Jieun's frown, he sighed and scrolled through his phone. "Webtoons. You know, web-cartoons? Like these. The ones where you have to keep scrolling down to read."

"Oh! Those things!" Jieun exclaimed, clasping her hands together. She still had no idea what they were. She couldn't even remember the last time she saw some sort of comic. "Yeah, it's all coming back to me!"

Kiha stared at her for quite some time before muttering, "A liar, huh?"

Jieun, who happened to catch onto his words, looked at him. She was still smiling, but she wasn't sure why. She knew that her smile was forced, though. She wasn't sure if she should confront the uncle or if she should keep quiet.

"By the way, Uncle Kiha," Jungkook started, "shouldn't you go and finish up your story? The editor is coming tomorrow."

"Bleh. I hate deadlines," Kiha muttered. "I hope the newbie comes. I like it when he comes. He does all the house chores and waits for me until I write everything last minute."

"It's not good to bother the new guy. You're going to get him into a lot of trouble, and he won't be able to pick up your deadlines anymore. That means that the editor would have to come pick it up himself," Jungkook pointed out.

"But I have to finish up another twelve panels for the webtoon," Kiha whined.

"That's due Thursday. You have two days before that's due. Plus, your readers can wait for a few hours."

"Are you kidding me? Jungkook, you don't understand the terror of readers," Kiha said. "If I don't update on the exact time and day, they start freaking out and complaining about how bad of an author I am. Does this make sense, Jungkook? Does this make any sense at all?"

"That's why I'm saying to finish up the soup and head back into your room to finish everything!" Jungkook exclaimed. "Maybe after you complete your deadlines, then you can have fun."

"But I just want to play now," Kiha whined. He paused, then looked at Jieun, who slightly flinched. "Are you good at drawing by any chan—"

"Uncle Kiha!" Jungkook exclaimed. He forced the older man up on his two feet and pushed him out of the kitchen. "Out! Get out of here and back to your room! You have work and bills to pay!"

"I can bill my bills two years in advance!" Kiha shouted.

"That's an exaggeration. Now, go!" Jungkook commanded. "When she leaves, I'll bring you some coffee."

"In what cup?"

Jungkook paused and looked behind him. His uncle had an excellent point. There was no clean cup for him—or for anyone—to use. It had been ages since they had washed the dishes. It would be difficult to find a cup underneath all the clutter in the sink.

"That… I'll go to the coffee shop," Jungkook told him.

"At this time of the day?" Jieun cried out. "You might as well as just borrow a cup from me!"

Kiha smiled. "That sounds smart."

Jungkook dropped his jaws. "But—"

"Jungkook, please," Jieun said. "I don't want you to go out this late to get your uncle something to drink."

"Hey, maybe she can do the dishes, too," Kiha said. "We've got a pretty useful neighbor."

"But Uncle Kiha, I—"

"Well, I'm out! Bring me that coffee in twenty minutes, okay?"

Kiha walked away, leaving his nephew with a dumbfounded expression. Jungkook scowled and turned to Jieun, who only gave him a nervous smile.

"Did I do something wrong?" Jieun asked cautiously.

"Yes. Yes, you did everything wrong," Jungkook snapped. He stormed out of the house while Jieun followed behind him. "Didn't I say to keep the container until I come pick it up?"

"But you didn't arrive," Jieun pointed out. "I wanted to return it as soon as possible. I can't keep things for a long time."

"Tch. Whatever."

As he walked outside, Jieun couldn't help but ask him a dumb question.

"Where are you going?" she asked.

He turned and frowned at her. "To your house. Didn't you offer to give us a cup?"

"Oh, right," Jieun said, slightly turning red.

Jungkook rolled his eyes. "You offer something, and then you forget it. Incredible."

"You should drop the sarcasm. It's kind of disrespectful."

"I only show my respects to people who earned my respect," Jungkook said, "like Uncle Kiha."

"That reminds me, why are you so attached to your uncle? Why are you hiding your uncle away from people?" Jieun asked him, closing the door. "Is it because he's embarrassing?"

"What? No! Never that! I can care way less about that!" Jungkook exclaimed, heading out to the streets.

"Then why are you here? Where are your parents?" she asked him.

Jungkook stopped walking down the hill. He stopped, glanced at his home, then back at Jieun.

"I don't really like to be around my parents. They expect more from me and I can't handle that," he told her.

"Doesn't your uncle expect something from you, too?"

"He expects me to try my best, and that's what I can give him," he said.

"But there has to be more than that. There has to be another reason why you're with your uncle and not with your parents. Is it because you didn't want to move schools or something?" she inquired.

Jungkook slid his hands in his pockets. "My uncle lets me dream a bit. He lets me have fun while I do my studies. My parents don't let me do that. They expect me to study and to prepare for my future."

"Oh. I see," she murmured.

"You know," he said, frowning, "you're awfully nosy for some neighbor."

Jieun let out a small laugh. "Well, it's kind of my personality to want to know more."

"Well, it's bad to know too much sometimes," Jungkook muttered.

Jieun's shoulders sagged down. "I know. I know that very well."

The high school student began to sense that something was wrong with his teacher. There was a sentimental expression on her face. She had a weak smile, but it was faint. He knew that he was stepping over some kind of boundary, so he decided not to push it. 

"Well, do you have any other questions you want to ask?" Jungkook asked her. "You might as well start asking since we're going to be neighbors."

She pressed her lips together for a moment, then snapped her fingers. "Your uncle is very strange."

"You're still on that topic?"

"But he is. One minute, I'm thinking that he's a bit goofy, but the next second, he's very sharp. Like, when I was pretending to understand what a 'webtoon' was, he looked at me and said that I was a liar."

"Oh, yeah. Uncle Kiha is great at observing people. It's kind of his thing. He does a lot of people-watching during his free time. It's to the point where it's hard for me to lie to him. He always figures it out," Jungkook said. "So don't lie to my uncle, okay? He'll know, and when he knows, he's going to hate you for lying. If there's anything he hates, it's people who lies."

"I see," Jieun mumbled. "He's very strange."

"You said that already."

"But he is!" she insisted.

"Whatever." Jungkook paused, then looked at Jieun's house. "Hey, we're at your house. Hurry and lend me that cup so that I can go back and study."

Jieun only nodded her head. She had forgotten that he was a student and that he had a life of his own. He had the kind of air where it was easy to talk to him as if he was a friend.

He's kind of like Jiho, she thought.

"Aren't you going to hurry up and give me the cup?" Jungkook snapped, frowning. "Quit staring at me unless you have something to say."

Only he has a terrible attitude. She finished her thoughts and headed into her house, where she grabbed a cup and came back out. After she handed him the cup, he scurried back to his home, rushing to make his uncle some coffee.

Jieun watched him climb up the hill until the very tip of his head disappeared at the top. She turned and headed back into her house, where she collapsed on her bed and checked her phone.

No calls, she realized. Minah and Jiho must be busy. She looked out the window, then sighed. 

"The moon is beautiful today," she breathed softly. 

Shortly after, Kiha had appeared in her mind. Without knowing exactly what was going on with her head that night, she fell asleep, letting out gentle snores until the sun would come up to wake her again.