IV

When Promises are Made

A/N: Longer chapter. Hehe.

Kai wakes up at seven in the morning to find the usual note on top of his plate of breakfast.

Jongin,

Make sure to eat your breakfast, kiddo. I worked hard on it, you know. Also, if you ever need anything, remember that you can visit me anytime at the store. 

Love,

Mom

Kai gobbled up his food and changed into a pair of good jeans and his best looking T-shirt. Those were the nicest clothes that Kai had besides his school uniform. It didn't matter though. He looked good in whatever he wore. After stopping by the bakery and purchasing two cookies, Kai headed over to Kyungsoo's hospital.

"Hyung, did you miss me?"

"What are you talking about? You came here yesterday... Oh my god. What's in the bag?"

Kai pulled out a cookie from the bag and threw it at Kyungsoo. Payback. Kyungsoo glared at Kai but still ate the cookie.

"Jongin, I can see another cookie in that bag. I'll forgive you if you give that to me."

"Sorry, hyung. It's for my date today."

"Which poor girl are you hooking up with this time? What? Are you gonna dump her after a week?"

"No. I'm meeting with this girl for a different reason. Her name is Somi..."

Kai goes on to tell Kyungsoo about his encounter and suspicions with Somi and then sets off to Dream Cafe.

Somi's alarm goes off at exacly 8. She hardly slept a wink because of her anxiety of meeting with Kai today. Opening her huge walk-in closet, Somi pulled out a pair of jeans and her best T-shirt. It wasn't the nicest thing that she had but it was comfortable and Somi didn't know much about fashion anyways. She rushed through her morning routine and ran down to devour some breakfast.

8:20

"Going somewhere today, Somi? Lemme guess. A Hot9 meetup?" Her brother, Seo Jun, walked down the flight of stairs with his bed hair still resting ontop of his head. He stretched out his arms to yawn and almost fell down the 20 steps of stairs when his sister replied about her schedule for today.

"WHAT?! YOU'RE GOING ON A DATE? With who? Is he your boyfriend? Somi, remember you can't follow any strangers, even if they offer you a cookie. Do you want me to go with you?"

"Relax, oppa. He's my classmate. Actually, I really want to be friends with him. He's a good guy... I think. Anyways, you don't have to worry, I'll be fine."

"Wahhhh. My cute little sister is going on her first date." Seo Jun looks down at Somi and then shakes his head. "Wait. You can't go like this."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Seo Jun picks up his sister and takes her to her room.

"We need to clean you up a little bit more."

"WAIT! SEO JUN! I'M GONNA BE LATE!"

8:55

By the time Seo Jun was finished giving Somi a small make-over, Somi looked like she just went through a 5 hour transformation. It didn't take much to make Somi look like she did. The pink floral dress rose above her knees, giving her a cute and innocent style. Seo Jun helped her accessorize with a denim jacket and a bag to match her outfit. Her hair was slightly curled and tied to the side. The only thing Somi refused was to clip her bangs up. Coming from a diverse family, Somi inherited lighter-colored eyes from her great-grandma. (Seo Jun on the other hand looked mostly Korean.) It wasn't that Somi disliked her eyes. She just felt more comfortable this way.

"Oppa, can you give me a ride to Dream Cafe? I'm already late."

During the car ride, Somi began to question whether or not Kai would show up. Did Kai actually want to see her or was it just something out of fanfiction where he has a bet? Then she remembered the secret that she knew. He'd come.

9:15

"Hey, you're late." Kai said, "That's not a good first impression." 

"Sorry, I had a morning mishap. Plus, I'm pretty sure my real first impression was worse."

Kai laughed a little thinking about the incident in the music room. Little did he know, Somi's thoughts went further back. Kai ran his hand through his hair, "Hmm... I'll forgive you since you look cute." He pulled a cookie from a brown bag. "Cookie?" 

Somi smiled and nodded. Even though she knew why Kai invited her today, she was hoping they could at least become friends.

"Oh wait... aren't you allergic to everything?" Kai grinned and handed her the cookie.

Somi laughed and took a bite of the cookie. It was silent for a while as Kai stared at her, his eyes slightly squinting.

"W-why do you keep looking at me?"

"I'm trying to check to see if you're an alien who can read minds." Somi choked on the cookie she was eating. Kai offered her a drink of his water.

Then after a pregnant pause Somi finally spoke, "Kai, you can get to the point now." Kai's expression changed. "Do you not want people to know?" 

"Are you curious?" Kai looks at her, his expression was cold. Somi didn't like the menacing atmosphere but Kai was hiding something and she needed to know.

"Yes."

Kai gave her a dangerous glare and then turned his head away. "But, I'm not interested in sharing any more of my secrets with you. Just because you know one, don't get ahead of yourself."

Kai still couldn't get it. He came here today because he wanted something out of her. He can't have her tell anyone about his dancing. Even worse, he knew that she knew something about his past but he was too afraid to ask. He didn't want to be reminded of it. Guess this meeting was pointless.

"I won't tell anyone. I won't ask anymore." Kai looked back at Somi to see her hand sticking out with her pinky raised. "I promise."

Kai was thrown back for a bit. Could he trust her not to say anything? Even though, he questioned Somi's motives, he still wrapped his pinky around her and stamped their promise. Kai couldn't help but smile a little at Somi's silly action.

Hm. Miss Piloswine, you're not so bad.

"Kai." Somi grinned holding onto Kai's hand. "Let's go play."

"Huh? Play?" Kai smirked, "Somi, aren't you a bad gi-"

Before Kai could finish his sentence, Somi had already pulled him out of his chair and was dragging him out of the cafe.

"An arcade?" Kai was suprised that the second best student in the school, Somi Maria Francesca Gucci Smith Park, would like to play at an arcade. Kai needed an excuse to get out of here. This place is for kids. He can't be seen in here. "Ah... Listen, I'd love to play but... I only brought enough money for the cafe." Well, he wasn't lying.

Somi pulled out her black credit card. "Then, I guess it'll be on me."

"Ah. You're a rich girl. Hmm... I never really liked rich people." 

Somi was a little dejected when she heard Kai say that. She knew why he thought that way but she couldn't help but hope for Kai to like her despite of everything she's done to him... or rather didn't do for him.

"You're not so bad though." Kai looked around and remembered that he was trying to escape the arcade. "Uh... But I really have to go. M-my dog needs to be fed."

Somi laughed. "You can't lie to me, Jo... Kai. Besides, YOU were the one who invited today. You have to stay until the end." 

Kai gave in and grinned. "That's because I didn't know you liked me so much to force me to stay."

Somi nudged Kai with the red gun attached to the video game. "Fine. If you beat me at this game, you can leave." Somi picked up the partnering gun and spread her legs far apart, slightly squatting. She was in it to win it.

Kai couldn't help but laugh at Somi's ridiculous pose. He accepted the bet. How hard can it be to beat her at a shooting game?

Apparently, it was really hard to beat her. Kai finally won after the 11th try.

Somi dropped to the floor which scared Kai until he heard her laugh. Even though, he couldn't see her face that well, just the soft tone and gleeful melody of her laugh was all too relaxing and comforting but also exciting and intoxicating. He liked her laugh.

"Pfft. HAHAHA. You really Kai!"

"Hey! T-that's because you were taking up too much space. I couldn't see the screen that well."

"Whatever." Somi moved her bangs to stick out her tongue but then remembered that Kai had win. "As promised, you can go home now."

It just hit Kai as well. In truth, he didn't want to leave yet. He had fun playing the game with Somi, even though he lost 10 straight games. He unconsiously laughed and made silly jokes and noises while playing with her. He acted more like Jongin. It was dangerous for him to be like this but still...he wanted to stay a little longer.

"Let's play that one. I'll beat you first try."

Somi looked at Kai, slightly suprised but smiled and ran after him to the race car game.

"Psh. Try me. This is my territory. It'll take you a million years to beat me."

"It's not your territory unless you peed on everything here", Kai teased but was taken aback by her silent response. "No way..."

"NO! I didn't pee anywhere here. It's too unsanitary.", she defended as she got back into her pose, which made her look like she had 10 years worth of back pain. "I was just formulating my plan to kick your in this game."

Kai's lips lifted upwards into a devilish smile. "Oh, you're on."

7:00 p.m.

Before Kai and Somi had realized it, the sky was getting dark. They finished playing at an arcade, ate lunch at a sandwich shop which Somi recommended, explored the shopping district of Myeong-dong-- where Somi made Kai try on a Sailor Moon costume and Kai made Somi eat spicy rice cakes that burned her tongue-- and watched The Peanuts Movie at a cinema nearby.

They were strolling down the park with two cups of warm hot cocoa in their hands. It wasn't too cold yet. There was a little breeze but the air was warm.

Kai and Somi headed towards the bus station. After Somi told Kai which district she lived in, Kai decided to take her home since it was getting late and he didn't live too far from her. They got on the bus and continued with their playful chatter.

"Kai, you would make a perfect Sailor Scout. That outfit looked really good on you," Somi offered sarcastically.

"Psh. You're just jealous because I looked pretty. By the way, I am never deleting that video of you freaking out over that tteoboki. Your reaction was freaking hilarious. I can't believe you took that random guy's soda and chugged it all." The bus stopped and Kai and Somi got off.

"Hey! I apologized and bought him a new drink." Kai was laughing until Somi stopped in front of a big house... no, a mansion.

"This is your place?" Kai gulped and couldn't seem to close his mouth. Somi giggled from seeing the suprised look on his face.

"Kai... If you're nervous about my spilling your secret. Well... here's a little secret of mine." She pointed to her house. Kai was a little confused until he realized that she was implying how not many people knew of her background.

Kai's mouth pulled up into a heartstopping smirk. "I don't know. I don't think this 'secret' of yours is enough for me to entrust you with mine." Kai didnt expect anything more from her. He just wanted to because her reactions always entertained him. However, without even realizing it, Kai had already trusted Somi with his dancing secret. That's why, he was suprised to see Somi put her hands in her face and pulling the hair in the front up.

"Then, you can have this little 'secret' too."

                                                                                                                                                                                                 To be continued...

This chapter was so much fun to write. Lol. Here's what Somi's outfit looked like by the way.

By the way, can we all just take a moment to imagine Jongin in a Sailor Moon cosplay? He'll probably somehow manage to make it look hot. ;u; Can't wait to finish the next chapter. :)

- Yang