Chapter Twelve

I pulled the thick duvet back over the top of my head and dug my face deeper into the pillow. Let's face it, who on earth finds it easy to get out of bed on a minus-who-knows-what degrees morning. To make it worse - D-Day morning.

"Come on honey, if you don't get up soon you're not going to have time to have a proper breakfast before heading off!" my mother repeated again, peeling the sheets off my half asleep body that was stubbornly still in the fetus sleeping position.

I groaned and rose from the bed and rubbed the sleep out of my right eye.

"Mom, it's still so early..." I complained lazily.

She clicked her tongue and shook her head, "Even like this on D-Day...!" and with that she left the room.

My eyes were still half closed as I swung both my legs off the bed and with much effort I got up, finally. Why the hell are SATs right in the middle of winter? Suddenly my foot stepped upon something squishy with a solid 'core'...it was hairy too.

"Arrggggh..." the victim groaned in pain. I had stepped right on Hyukjae's leg.

My eyes grew wide as they finally gave up their battle. "Oh Hyukjae! I'm so sorry, are you alright?" I consoled, knealing down next to his aching mass.

He managed to pry open one of his eyes. With a weak glare he turned to the side and slipped back under his duvet.

Yes okay, I admit, I was at fault. Hyukjae had been living with us for over a week now. Obviously, I hadn't become accustomed to it, if ever. Though of course it has been a miracle since father hasn't sensed anything out of the ordinary yet.

***

My mother fixed and straightened the navy blue and silver silken tie around my neck before tugging gently at the collar of my deep blue blazer. She tucked my hair behind my right ear and sighed.

"Our daughter has grown up well, hasn't she? It feels like just yesterday I was preparing your lunch for your first day of high school..." she brought a finger up to her dampening eye.

I smiled. "Mom, don't be like that! I promise to do well for you and father in these final exams,"

She nodded and stepped forward to open the door, letting in a strong gust of icy wind. "Alright you should be heading off now. Get to school safely and do your best, I'll be waiting for you at home!"

I stepped outside and quickly wrapped my knitted black scarf around my neck, "I got it, mom. I got it!"

A shivering figure appeared at the end of the hallway. Hyukjae had his arms folded to shield himself against the cold and his usually perfect blonde goodness was an absolute mess. He wore a tight black wifebeater that emphasised his slim figure and loose grey sweatpants that didn't seem to help keep him warm either.

"Good luck!" he encouraged with a sincere smile and cute wave.

***

With a satisfied grin plastered on my face I left the examination hall and departed towards the main gates of the school. Just before the exit there were a couple of teachers behind a trestle stacked with paper cups filled with steaming hot lemon and ginseng tea. As I approached I was given one. It was filled to the brim with a pale orange-yellow liquid infused with the unique bitterness of ginseng and the sweet scent of lemon. I took a small sip and let its warmth disperse throughout my chilling body.

"Thank you!" I said gratefully. "Oh, Eun songsaenim! It's you," I exclaimed, backtracking my steps.

The aging teacher nodded happily, "I trust my best student did well in the examinations?"

I smiled, "It was alright, I suppose. But it was made easier because of you, teacher!" I replied modestly.

"A good student will always be a good student! Oh and reminds me, did you apply for an overseas university like I had advised at the beginning of the year? I hope those brochures were of help," he said.

"Yes, thank you songsaenim. They were very helpful. In the end I applied to one in America and just one here in Busan, Busun National," I explained.

"Oh yes, it'd be nice for you to be accepted into a university in America. That would be a very praise worthy achievement! I wish you luck," he answered.

"Thank you, songsaenim. It'd be a very life changing thing for me to be educated in America. Though only time will tell, I suppose. America sounds amazing but something about Busan is making me have second thoughts, just something."

"Hey! Get in the car, it's cold!" a familiar voice called from beside a parked car on the other side of the gate.

I smiled sheepily at teacher Eun, "Sorry songsaenim, I'll be going. Keep warm and don't catch a cold!"

Teacher Eun nodded and waved goodbye humbly. 

Of course the owner of the familiar voice was Hyukjae. I glanced around cautiously before hurrying towards him, clutching the scarf around my neck. It was the first time this season, to be truthfully honest, that I took notice of his winter attire. He wore a shiny black padded vest with a burgundy knitted sweater underneath. His blonde hair was no longer the mess I had seen earlier that morning. Well it might have been, but his dark teal coloured pompom beanie hid it perfectly. His jeans were midly baggy and the bottoms were tucked into his black leather Nike high tops. I let out a breath of visible air before beginning my interrogation. I glanced around again, there were still eyes everywhere.

I leaned in and scolded under my breath. "What are you doing here?!"

Hyukjae slipped his hands into the back pockets of his jeans. He didn't understand what the big deal was.

"What do you mean? I'm picking you up, you must be tired from your exam," he consoled, fixing my crooked scarf.

I quickly shook his hands off, "Could you be any more embarrassing?!"

He gave me a confused look, "What? Lee sunbaenim sent me here to get you, it's not like---"

I cupped my hand over his mouth, "Look around you, you idiot!"

His eyes scanned the area, "Oh."

Around our perimeter were several cases of boys picking up girls. We observed a single couple. As soon as the girl in uniform saw the familiar silver Hyundai Veloster she rushed towards the owner and into their arms. The tall boy, nothing older than twenty one, greeted her sweetly with a light peck on the cheek before opening the door to the hatchback for the girl. Yes. Boyfriend and girlfriend. Suddenly there was a gentle tug on the sleeve of my blazer.

"Unnie, is he your boyfriend?" squeaked a voice from behind. It was one of the junior students.

I shot a see-i-told-you-so glare at Hyukjae before responding to my junior's outrageous assumption.

"N-No...sweetie, he's not," I replied.

She took another quick look at Hyukjae, "But unnie, you two really suit!" she giggled before running off shamlessly.

Hyukjae snickered leading me to elbow him hard in the hip.

***

I stood outside the bathroom door, as casually as I could be, and kept guard for Hyukjae who was inside. It was decided on the first night that every time Hyukjae had to use the bathroom I was to stand outside the door to give him the 'all clear' before he escaped back into my room which was conveniently directly opposite. I knocked lightly on the door to the bathroom.

"Hyukjae, are you done?" I whispered, although not so quietly that he couldn't hear on the other side of the door.

He knocked twice in reply, "Yes."

I peered down the hallway and paused for three seconds precisely. "All clear!"

Instantaneously the bathroom door flew open and revealed a topless Hyukjae in his grey sweatpants, and grey sweatpants only. A white face cloth was slung around his neck and his hair was still slightly damp. A single bead of water dripped from his saturated fringe and rolled down his defined abdominal area before being caught by his happy trail and--- I looked away quickly. Suddenly Hyukjae twisted my body around and pulled me back into my room before slamming the door, all in one swift movement. We paused for a second, my back was against the wall and my cheek felt suspiciously cool...

"That was close," Hyukjae breathed.

Something inflated against my cheek at the same time. What. I turned my head and my nose, to my surprise, brushed against Hyukjae's firm chest. It must have tickled Hyukjae a little because he looked down at me. I looked up at him. I could feel Hyukjae's body closing the gap between us and the wall behind me was becoming more and more of a support than anything else. His head began to lower close to mine. This feeling - I had felt it before. It was just like that night in the alleyway, except this time Hyukjae had no excuse.

"Hyukjae!" I shrieked, snapping out of it and pushing him away hastily.

His eyes were casted down to the carpeted floor of my room, "S-Sorry, Lee sunbaenim was coming out of his study so...yeah."

I bit my lip and my eyes wandered for a bit. "Goodnight." I said abruptly.

I stepped around him and climbed into bed, pulling the duvet over my head. If you want to do it...just do it...

A/N: Woah that was a hard one to get through. I took more time than I needed to write this...probably about three hours omg. Writer's block is getting better and I'm not too disappointed with what I've written lately either. All is going well! I hope the plot is doing you justice though, please tell me how to improve it if you didn't like it much but if you did I would love you to leave a little comment too! Thank you for sticking with me again ^^.