On one particular evening, Jungkook found himself staring past his uncle's shoulder and looking at the kitchen window. Occasionally, he glanced at the hall, waiting for either Chanyeol to pick up Kiha's finished chapter or for Jieun to come in for no particular reason. The day suddenly left long and dull, and he suddenly realized how quiet the house felt. Sure, the two adults were annoying, but now that he was actually alone with his uncle for a some time, he realized that it felt less crowded and a lot more empty.

When Jungkook noticed that his uncle was done with washing the dishes, he finally grabbed the chance to ask his uncle a quick question.

"Uncle Kiha, do you know why Jieun and Chanyeol don't get along?" Jungkook asked.

"Nope," Kiha said quickly, tuning a small whistle. He started to put away the dishes, leaving Jungkook some more time to ask him other questions.

"You didn't go into detective mode and try to figure it out?" the boy asked.

"Not yet," his uncle replied. "I'm sure whatever they went through would make a good story, though."

Jungkook paused before asking another question. "Uncle Kiha, what do you think happened with them? They seem so scared of each other, but Jieun seems more angry sometimes."

"There's a billion suggestions to what could've happened."

"Well, then pick one from that pool of 'billion suggestions.'"

"Abuse," Kiha said. The words slipped out of his mouth like a knife carelessly cutting through butter. The uncle looked up to see Jungkook's stunned expression. "What? You told me to pick. I picked it."

"What do you mean by 'abuse'?" Jungkook asked, frowning. "How could you even suggest something like that? It's awful."

"But it's real," Kiha said. "Also, it's just a suggestion. Who knows, it could just be that they were dating and something happened."

The younger man kept quiet. "What made you say that it was abuse?"

"There's no big reason," the older man said.

"Uncle Kiha, I know that whatever you figure out always has a reason. Did you see something that made you jump to such a conclusion?"

"You were there, too, Jungkook."

"I was?"

"Yeah. Don't you remember?" Kiha finally looked at his nephew's eyes. "It was the moment Chanyeol appeared in front of her and the moment she started acting crazy. Don't you remember? She even fainted."

"Well, yeah, of course I remember that. It was a pain, but how did you know it was abuse? What if it was something else?"

"She called for help and called for another name. You don't usually do that if you had a healthy relationship with someone. You might be calling for some other guy's name, but you wouldn't really cry out for help," Kiha explained.

Jungkook slowly nodded his head. "As expected of you, Uncle Kiha. You always figure these things out, even though you don't look like the type who would do such a thing."

"What's that supposed to me?" Kiha asked, chuckling.

Jungkook smiled, but quickly frowned. "Wait. If I remember anything, weren't you on the phone? Where were you when this all happened? I remember dragging Jieun inside all by myself."

The man turned around, his back facing the boy. "I'm your typical background character. I stand in the shadows and watch others act in the scene. The people in the window put on a performance—" He pointed to the manuscript sitting at the edge of the table. Jungkook reached over and pulled out a few pages of the script. His eyes widened when he noticed that the drawings portrayed the scene of Jieun collapsing and Jungkook cupping her shoulders. "—and I write the story."

Jungkook stared at the drawings, amazed by the art style. He had always admired the way his uncle drew out his characters, especially the pastel colors. He suddenly paused, then looked up at his uncle.

"Is this a new story?" Jungkook asked.

"Yep. I'm sending in that today to get it checked. If the editors like it, they'll let me continue writing it."

Jungkook nodded, but frowned. "Wait. Hold up. Are you writing a story about me and my own teacher?"

"I've made some adjustments," Kiha said, shrugging his shoulders. "If you haven't noticed, the female lead is the same age as you." He winked at his nephew, who gave him a displeased frown. "Don't worry, you can thank me once this gets published."

"Uncle Kiha, you're being ridiculous."

"What? A lot of my plot lines are inspired from your life."

"Yeah, but me and my teacher?" Jungkook rolled his eyes. "It's insane."

"Just think of it like…neighbors! You know those romantic stories between neighbors? Yeah, just think of it like that," Kiha said, smirking. Once he was done putting away the dishes, he stretched his arms and made his way back into the hallway.

"So what are you going to do for the remainder of the day?" Jungkook asked him.

"I don't know. I was planning to stay here until Chanyeol came, but he's late. I think I'm going to head out," Kiha said. He stopped, then smiled at Jungkook. "Want to go to our neighbor's house? She might have cake."

"Why would she have cake?" the boy asked, frowning at his uncle.

"Because"—Kiha went over to pick up a bag—"her nice neighbors are going to deliver this cake and have some at her house."

~ ~ ~

Jieun was quite surprised to see Kiha and Jungkook standing in front of her house. While Jungkook gave her his usual scowl, Kiha seemed unexpectedly happy. His face had a strange glow to it that made him look extra pleased. She glanced down at Kiha's hands, where she noticed a rather large plastic bag holding a box of cake.

Kiha gave her a short salute. "Greetings from the neighbors up the hill!"

"H-Hello," Jieun stuttered, slightly taken aback from Kiha's beaming attitude.

"May we step inside? We have cake," Kiha told her.

"Um, of course. Come inside," Jieun told them. She stepped to the side and watched the boys take off their shoes and walk into the house.

Kiha stopped for a minute, then inhaled. "It smells like jasmines."

"It smells gross," Jungkook muttered.

"What are you talking about? Your third girlfriend had a perfume exactly like this," the uncle retorted. He looked at Jieun. "Where's the kitchen?"

"Oh, over here," Jieun said. She led the boys from the living room to the small kitchen. She slightly blushed when she realized that there was only one chair at the table. "I'm sorry for the lack of chairs. It's only me living here, so I have just this one. I'm sure I can find another chair somewhere—"

"No, it's fine," Kiha said. "I'm always standing and eating."

"I'm always standing and eating," Jungkook corrected. "Uncle Kiha, you're always sitting down somewhere to eat."

"That's only because I have to work while I eat, and my work requires me to sit down," the uncle said, trying to defend himself. He turned around to face Jieun. "Do you have anything that goes with mocha roll cakes?"

Jieun bit her bottom lip. "I'm afraid that I only have water."

"Not even milk?" Jungkook asked.

"I ran out this morning," she answered. She quickly went over to grab two cups and filled them with water. "I was planning to go shopping later today, but then…" She looked at the two unexpected guests. "Well, let's just say that I ran out of time."

"We won't die with just a glass of water," Kiha said, taking out the box from the bag. He opened the box, revealing the round cake. "Jungkook, how many slices do you want?"

"Two," the younger boy answered.

"How about you, Jieun?" Kiha asked.

"Just one, thank you."

"I hope you don't mind if I have three—"

"Uncle Kiha," Jungkook snapped, glaring at his uncle. "The more you eat, the longer we have to stay. Just eat two and I'll buy you another cake."

Kiha rolled his eyes. "Jungkook, if you didn't want to come here in the first place, you didn't need to."

"I had to!" the boy insisted. "Everyone knows that you tend to go overboard with your words. After that, people will start spreading bad rumors about you."

"I doubt your teacher is someone to do something like that," Kiha said.

Jungkook looked at his teacher, who placed the cups on the table. "Who knows. She just moved."

"I'm not a bad person," Jieun mumbled.

"No one was accusing you of that," the uncle assured her.

"I was," Jungkook said. Kiha quickly gave the boy a good smack on the back of his head. "Ow! That hurts!"

"I've been giving you a bit too much freedom recently. I need to teach you about manners," Kiha said, sighing.

When Jieun saw Jungkook pout, she decided to change the topic.

"So what brought you two over here?" Jieun asked them.

"I had cake and thought that I could share it. I was expecting you to come over, but that never happened," Kiha stated.

Why would I come over? she wanted to ask. However, she remained silent and unexpectedly brought about another name. "Why didn't you invite Chanyeol?"

"Chanyeol was supposed to come to pick up my manuscript, but it looks like he's running late. He's probably working overtime for his part-time job," the uncle explained.

"Does Chanyeol have a lot of part-time jobs?" Jieun asked, handing the two a fork.

"Several. You can't tell him to quit any of those jobs, though. It's basically part of his needs. If he gets fired at one job, he'll have trouble paying his rent."

It just occurred to Jieun that Chanyeol might have a place of his own. She wasn't sure if it was because she had lived together with Chanyeol, but discovering that he was working and struggling to pay for his own house surprised her. A bitter memory of how she had blindly given him money caused her to frown. Kiha looked at her for a brief moment before saying something else.

"After all, that boy dropped out of high school and didn't even go to college. He was in pretty bad shape when I first met him," Kiha said.

"Bad shape?" Jieun repeated, tilting her head with curiosity. "Impossible. Chanyeol is really popular. He's good-looking."

"Not when I met him," Kiha continued. "He was homeless by the time I saw him. Scruffy beard, long hair—Actually, his hair wasn't that long. I remember seeing him cut it with a shard of mirror. His face was all bruised and scared. You could tell that he basically threw his life away."

"How did he, um, get back up?" Jieun asked. It would be a lie to say that she wasn't happy about hearing how much Chanyeol suffered. Instead, it pleased her ears when Kiha kept telling her how pathetic her ex-boyfriend used to be.

"I picked him up, of course," Kiha said.

"My uncle has a habit of doing that," Jungkook said. He scowled. "I keep telling him to stop, but he always finds it interesting to pick up the little people."

"He wasn't a bad guy. You could tell in his eyes. You could see that he was a good person, but something happened and made him that way."

How much did he change to deceive you two? Jieun wondered.

"I had him all fixed up and even let him stay at our house for a couple of weeks until he got himself a job." Kiha smirked. "Meanwhile, I managed to write my first webtoon hit. I consider Chanyeol to be a good-luck charm."

"It was basically about a homeless guy who turns out to be handsome and talented. A girl finds him, takes him in, and you know all those cliché romance stuff," Jungkook said, summarizing the story.

"Did Chanyeol have a girlfriend or something?" Jieun asked.

"Nope. I made Jungkook be the girl," Kiha revealed. When he saw Jieun give him a strange look, he cleared his throat. "My stories are mostly based on my nephew's life. I'll make certain adjustments to make the story better and cleaner." Jieun continued to stare. "It's not weird. Honest."

"It's not weird," Jungkook piped up. "Don't judge my uncle like that."

"I'm not exactly in any position to judge," Jieun murmured, trying to defend herself. "After all, I don't write stories or anything. I just teach a foreign language."

"So why did you kick Chanyeol out of the house?" Jieun inquired.

"I didn't. He left on his own," Kiha said. "He was talking about how he didn't want to be a bother or something. It seems like he was scared of sharing a house together. Sometimes he'd look at the chairs or at his hands as if he was going to use them to beat us up." Kiha noticed Jieun's eyes widen. "Do you have any idea about this?"

She opened to say something, but she shook her head. Seeing this, Kiha just nodded his head while Jungkook snorted.

"Oh, come on," the boy said. "You definitely have something to say—"

"Jungkook," Kiha called him, interrupting him. He looked at his nephew in the eyes. "Now is not the time."

"But—"

"Oh, look at the time. I have a feeling that Chanyeol is going to come soon," Kiha said, quickly changing the topic. He looked at Jungkook. "Are you coming back home or are you going to stay here?"

Jungkook looked down at his unfinished cake, then looked at how Kiha had already cleared his food. He quickly finished his snack and went over to his uncle's side. As the two started to leave, Jieun started to chase them.

"You're leaving so soon," she commented, slightly surprised.

"Well, it was supposed to be a short visit. After all, Chanyeol is coming over to pick up the manuscript. He'd be at lost if he didn't see us at the house," Kiha said. 

"I see," she murmured. She looked at Jungkook. "I'll see you at school."

"Just don't embarrass me in front of my friends. They don't know that the new English teacher is my neighbor," Jungkook told her.

"Embarrass him," Kiha said to Jieun. "It's hilarious; trust me on this."

"Uncle Kiha!" Jungkook exclaimed.

"What? It's true," the uncle said. Jieun giggled, causing both boys to look at her for a moment. Then, Kiha grinned and started walking outside. Just before he touched the street, he turned around and looked at Jieun. "Oh, Jieun?"

"Yes?" she answered.

"You're always allowed to come to our house any time you want. I know how it feels to live in a house this big all by yourself. It gets a little lonely, so when you feel lonely, just come to our house. After all, it's only uphill from here," Kiha told her.

Jieun smiled at nodded. "Thank you. I'll keep that in the back of my head."

"Just don't bother us," Jungkook warned her. He grumbled when Kiha gave him a sharp look. "Just don't bother us too much."

"Alright, alright. Take care!" she said. "Oh, and thank you for the cake!"

With that, the two parties parted ways. As Jungkook and Kiha walked up the hill, Jungkook looked over his shoulder to see if his teacher was still standing outside. When their eyes met, Jieun gave him a gentle smile that caused him to look away. He quickly shoved his hands in his pocket and tried to keep his mind occupied with his uncle.

"Uncle Kiha, why did you stop me from getting Jieun to say the truth?" Jungkook asked, forcing himself to look up.

"Sometimes, a topic is good to talk about another day," Kiha said. 

"I thought today was the perfect day. After all, we were talking about this before we went to her house," the teenager pointed out.

Kiha pressed his lips. "It's a bit complicated, Jungkook. You'll understand when you become an adult."

"I'm going to become an adult when I graduate."

"It's all about experience and sense."

"I don't get it."

"You don't have to. At least, not yet," Kiha said.

Jungkook sighed. "The world of adulthood is so complicated. I feel like I'll never understand anything."

"You'll learn," his uncle told him. His uncle smiled. "After you start getting the hang of it, then you can tell what people are hiding."

"Jieun is hiding something?" Jungkook asked, frowning. "How's that possible? We didn't even get her to say the secret."

"You didn't sense it? It was fairly obvious," Kiha said. He rubbed his chin. "Well, I guess it's more obvious to me since I'm better at reading people."

"What was she hiding?" Jungkook asked.

"Nothing much. Her reactions towards Chanyeol just confirmed my thoughts."

"What were your thoughts about?"

"Abuse."

Jungkook stopped walking and stared at his uncle, who only moved on. The boy turned back, looking down at the hill, only to see that his teacher already went back inside her house. He looked back at his uncle, who was now standing in front of their own house. Before Kiha stepped inside, he stopped and turned.

"What are you doing all the way over there?" Kiha asked. "Aren't you coming in?"

Jungkook kept quiet for a moment. Then, with a loud sigh, he shook off any disturbed thoughts from his head and trudged his way towards his house.

I'm never going to understand Uncle Kiha, the boy thought, heading inside the house.