A/N: Comments are very much loved ^^ Oh and I might change the story's poster. What do you guys think?

Jieun’s POV

Despite his parting promise the previous night, Jonghyun wasn’t there the next day in school. And I was worried, because it took a lot to get Jonghyun to stay home.

I agitatedly tapped my pencil against the top of the table, half expecting Jonghyun to walk through the door apologising for turning up late to a lesson. But as the hour passed nothing happened.

I slowly began worrying more and more.

What if something had happened to him last night after he had dropped me off at home? What if something had happened to his mum or Jun Young?

I had stopped tapping the table now, and was instead gripping the pencil. I didn’t even realise how hard until it snapped with a loud crack. A few people around me, and I all jerked at the sound. Mr Oh’s eyes lifted from where he was at his desk, marking papers.

“Jieun is there something wrong?” He asked staring down at the broken pencil in my hand.

“No. Only that this lesson is a bit boring, care to liven it up a bit?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.

I knew it was uncalled for, but I couldn’t help it. Mr Oh’s jaw tightened as he regarded me.

”Sorry that we’re failing to keep you entertained Jieun. Perhaps you would find detention more interesting?” He suggested.

“Don’t really think so, sir.” I shrugged my shoulders.

“Then it would be best if you stop disrupting my lesson, or that’s exactly where you’ll find yourself.”

I nodded grimly, miming locking my lips together. A few people in the class laughed. But Mr Oh didn’t look half as impressed. But when I didn’t say anything beyond that his attention drifted from me back to his grading.

I slumped back in my chair, feeling frustrated. I glanced back at Jonghyun’s seat feeling totally helpless. Scrunching my brow I tossed the useless half of my broken pencil to one side, and started using the other half to start making notes from the board that I had neglected to copy before because I had been too busy worrying over the fact Jonghyun wasn’t here.

Once I finished I started making copy of my notes to hand to Jonghyun when I next saw him, because my mind felt too frazzled for me to concentrate on anything much more than that.

The minutes slowly dragged by in the lesson, until eventually the bell rung out overhead signifying the end of second period. Second period and Jonghyun wasn’t there. Unease pinched at my chest.

Was he okay?

I shuffled my papers into my bag, feeling lost on what to do. I remembered everything that he had done for me the previous night, and I felt my heart twist again in my chest.

I scolded myself inwardly. I needed to stop being so desperate. Jonghyun was absent, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything bad. Maybe he was ditching school. I almost snorted out loud at my thought.

Jonghyun ditching?

He wouldn’t But that thought only worried me more, because that meant there had to be something wrong didn’t there?

I made my way through, the school halls in silence, not really paying any mind to anyone. Not until I saw a familiar silhouette which I recognised.

My head snapped up, my eyes following the small figure as she jumped about excitedly over something or other. She was with some other of Jonghyun’s friends.

The same ones that he had been with on the day I had approached him with the letters. I swallowed nervously, feeling my heart pound.

I could just go up and ask couldn’t I? What harm could that really do?

I chewed on my lip, debating over it. They were Jonghyun’s friends right? That meant Jonghyun trusted them, and if Jonghyun trusted them how bad could they really be? Plus Min Kyung was with them right? I sort of knew her.

Enough to know she really didn’t pose a threat.

Taking in a deep breath I forced my feet to move forwards. I just had to ask them one thing. I felt more and more anxious with every step that took me closer. I wasn’t used to approaching other people. I was used to people occasionally approaching me and me telling them to piss off.

This was new territory for me.

I was about one step away from being close enough to them to catch their attention. I bit my lips, why was I doing this again?

Kim Jonghyun.

I was doing this to make sure he was okay, because I’m sure there was some logical explanation as to why he wasn’t there today.

Feeling a new resolve settle in my chest I cleared my throat loudly, catching the attention of the entire group. As the eyes turned to me I felt my heartbeat quicken to an unhealthy rate.

I chose to focus my eyes on Min Kung, because she was the one I knew best out of everyone there.

“Hi Jieun.” She said sounding a little stunned, but she quickly got over it and gave me a huge smile.

“Hey.” I answered, wondering how to approach the subject, but I didn’t have to wonder for long because Min Kyung gave me an opening.

“Jonghyun isn’t here today.” She said, tilting her head to the side, clearly wondering what I was doing approaching them.

“Uh- That’s what I actually came to ask about. Do you know why he isn’t here?” I rushed to add onto the end, to reduce the chance of confusion.

Min Kyung’s eyes lit up at my question, and I took a small step back. Maybe this hadn’t been the best idea. The gleam in her eye was scaring me.

“You’re worried about Jonghyun?” She asked sounding extremely excited.

I clenched my jaw, biting back the denial that I wanted to blurt out. It would have been a lie. I really was worried. At my silence Min Kyung’s excitement only seemed to grow.

She looked like she was about to make another comment on me being ’adorable’ but saving me face, someone else spoke up before she could say anything else.

“Jonghyun is sick.”

My eyes darted to the person who had answered my original question. Taemin. I stared mutely for a moment at him, before his words sank in.

“Sick? What’s wrong with him?” I asked, with widened eyes.

“According to his mum he decided on going on a midnight stroll last night, and made himself ill. Something like that anyway.” He shrugged again looking unconcerned.

Midnight stroll.

That was my fault. All the guilt I had been feeling the night before hit me full force once again. Oh god I had gotten him ill.

My stomach churned, and I turned and walked away without saying goodbye to the others. My mind was too clogged with remorse. , I was a horrible person.

Without even thinking about it I left the school premises, not caring that there were several witnesses of me doing so. I needed to see Jonghyun.

My stomach rolled. It’s my fault.

I didn’t remember much about how I got there, I remembered taking a bus, and almost getting hit by an angry cyclist, but that was about it. Other than that I didn’t really recall anything about how I got to be outside of Jonghyun’s house. It was all blurred, my mind too clouded with trepidation to remember much of anything.

I saw myself rapping three times on the door, but I didn’t have control over it. My common sense had been over ridden by my concern for Jonghyun. I needed to see him, just make sure he was really okay.

Most of me knew that he was fine really. That he was just a little ill, but I couldn’t get over the fact it was my fault. My stomach clenched again.

Reality cracked down hard on me when the door swung open, just as I was about ready to try and knock again.

“Jieun?” Jonghyun’s mother stood in front of me, eyebrows raised in surprise.

I stared back at her mutely, wondering how an earth I was meant to explain to her what I was doing here. Would she think it was weird for me to suddenly appear out of nowhere, just because her son missed one day of school?

“What are you doing here?” She asked, looking confused but not unfriendly, which was encouraging enough for me to continue.

“I heard Jonghyun was ill. So I thought I’d drop by to see if he was alright.” I said brining a hand up to the back of my neck

“Oh. That’s so sweet.” She said with a smile on her face.

I felt the knot in my chest loosen a little.

“Jonghyun is awake if you want to go see him?” She suggested

“Is that okay?” I asked unsurely.

As much as I wanted to see him I didn’t want to do anything that would stop him from getting better sooner. Mrs.Kim smiled softly at me.

“Come on in.” She offered, opening the door wider, giving me an opportunity to slip by into the house.

I took my chance and slid into the house, taken once again by the cosy feel to it. Much nicer than the feeling I got every time I walked into my house.

“He’s right upstairs. First door on the left.” She directed nodding her head, and I grinned at her gratefully.

“Thank you.” I said politely, trying not to look too eager as I followed the directions she had given me.

 

Jonghyun’s POV

I didn’t open my eyes when my door opened. My mother could be somewhat overbearing when I was ill, coming in to check on me on every half an hour to see if there was anything I needed.

Not that I didn’t love her, but she went into an ‘overly concerned mum’ mode whenever I got even a little bit sick.

Hoping that if I pretended to be asleep she’d just poke her head around and leave, I stayed perfectly still, listening to the sound of someone shuffle hesitantly into my room.

“Hey, Jonghyun?” My eyes instantly snapped open when I realised that the person coming in wasn’t my mother at all.

“Jieun?” I asked turning my head around so fast I was surprised I didn’t get whiplash.

Maybe I was more ill than I thought, and I was beginning to hallucinate? But as far as hallucinations went, this wasn’t the worst possible one. I stared wide-eyed as I watched the small girl cautiously approach me, a sheepish expression on her face.

“Hey did I wake you up?” She asked so quietly that it was verging on a whisper

My heart pounded erratically in my chest as she continued to get closer. I shook my head, regretting it when it pounded a little, reminding me just how crap I felt. I grimaced, and a concerned expression crossed Jieun’s face making my throat dry.

Was she seriously here?

“I heard you were ill.” She said breaking the silence.

“Yeah.” I gave her a half smile.

“But I’m fine though.” I said, wanting to get rid of the sad look on her face.

My words didn’t seem to help, her frown only deepened.

“I’m so sorry Jonghyun. It’s my fault that you got sick.” She said with a down expression.

“You went out because of m – “

“Don’t.” I cut her off.

Her eyes flashed to me. I moved my blanket to the side and attempted to sit up.

“Wait.” Her hands rested gently on my chest, preventing me from moving further.

“Lie back down. You need to be resting.” She said giving me a worried look.

My lips twitched as I held back a smile, because as that moment she was acting just like my mother always did.

“I’m fine.” I assured her again, defying her order be propping myself up on the headboard of my bed.

“I have a cold, I’m not dying. It’s my own stupid fault for going out in my pyjamas in the first place.” I waved off her concern.

“You only did that because of me though.” She said, shaking her head, looking like she was beating herself up for it.

“I’m so sorry.” She apologised again, for the second time she had entered my room.

“Don’t keep apologising. You didn’t do anything wrong.” I told her sternly, but she still opened to argue with me again, but I didn’t give her time.

“You can do something for me though.” I suggested.

“What?” She asked, looking almost eager for a chance to make it up to me.

I rolled my eyes at her silliness.

“Tell me a joke.” I teased, remembering her request from last night.

My words worked their purpose of distracting her from blaming herself.

“Uh...I don’t really know any.” She admitted, scratching the back of her neck

“Come on. Try. You must know at least one.” I insisted.

She chewed thoughtfully on her lip for a second, before slowly nodding her head.

“Okay.” She said her lips, making my stomach clench tightly at the action.

My eyes were drawn down to her lips, but she didn’t even noticed.

“Why was six afraid of seven?” She asked.

I gave her a blank look.

“Because seven eight nine.” I answered shaking my head in disapproval.

“That’s such an old one. Everyone knows it.” I teased.

“Not everyone spends their time memorising lame jokes.” She sneered, but there wasn’t much heart behind her words.

I laughed at her attempts to be mad at me, shaking my head.

“Don’t be mad. Not everyone can be as awesome as I can.” I consoled her, she knocked my hand away as I reached out to pat her head patronisingly.

“Hey! No injuring the sickly.” I said indicating myself.

She narrowed her eyes at me, carefully canning me over.

“You don’t seem that bad to me.” She said, tilting her head to the side.

“You’re ditching school aren’t you?” She asked, pointing an accusing finger at me

I fought back a smile, forcing out a weak cough.

“Still ill.” I told her.

Truthfully I didn’t feel all that great, I was just trying not to let Jieun see it, because I knew she would feel a lot worse and start blaming herself again.

And anyway, if I was being honest, I felt a little better just knowing Jieun had come to see me.

It was then that I noticed the time, flashing on my bedside alarm clock.

“You’re one to talk. Don’t you have science right now?” I asked.

She looked a little sheepish as I called her out on it.

“How do you know I have science?” She asked, screwing up her face cutely.

“Good memory.” I explained to make myself appear less creepy.

“You’re dodging the question, however. What are you doing out of school?” I asked.

She looked away from me, not meeting my eyes, and I soon worked out she was feeling embarrassed when her cheeks started to slowly light up. My insides flipped at the sight of it, because I couldn’t explain what a good feeling it was to know that I, Kim Jonghyun, had gotten Lee Jieun of all people to blush. It wasn’t an easy accomplished feat.

“Well I heard you were ill.” She said her eyes stuck firmly on the wall above my head as she explained.

“Aww. You were worried!” I said, in a fake girl like gushing voice.

She shot daggers at me with her eyes as she firmly crossed her arms over her chest.

“A wasted effort apparently.” She said haughtily.

“It turns out instead of being on your death bad you’re dossing around, being a layabout.” She raised her chin in the air indignantly, and I couldn’t stop the spread of a wide smile on my face.

“You were still worried about me.” I persisted

“Shut up!” She glowered.

She still didn’t deny it.

“Jieun was worried about me.” I said in a mock dreamy voice, and she sat down on the edge of my bed, with a grumpy expression.

“What of it? Thought friends worried about friends.”

I felt my heart soften at her words, because she called us friends again. I stopped trying to and instead nodded my head.

“Yeah. They do. I’d worry about you if you were ill.” I assured her.

Finally she looked at me again, looking entirely uncertain of how to respond

Saving her the effort of trying to think of what to say, I spoke next.

“Hey, seeming as we’re both here ‘ditching’ school together, how about we do something fun?” I suggested, wanting to keep her here a little bit longer.

“Something fun? What do you have planned?” She asked dubiously.

I grinned widely.

“We could play snakes and ladders?” I suggested, making a flat expression befall her face.

I chuckled, remembering just how much she had disliked the game when my brother had managed to coax her into playing it with him.

“Okay, that’s a strong no. Hmmm how about a movie?”

“A movie?” She asked.

“Yes a movie. You know the things people go to cinemas or buy DVDs to watch?” If her glare was anything to go by, my joke wasn’t appreciated.

“Funny” She murmured sarcastically.

“I don’t really watch movies though. I’m not sure what I’d like.” She told me, shrugging her shoulders.

“You must have seen some movies.” I said narrowing my eyes at her.

“I owned a few videos when I was a kid, but beyond that I’ve only really watched beauty and the beast in school once. And I think I watched a part of something to do with a chicken predicting the end of the world.”

My jaw dropped open.

“B-but there are so many must see movies!” I gasped.

She shrugged her shoulders again, looking entirely unconcerned. What kind of childhood did this girl have without movies, Christmas or birthdays? Whatever it was, it didn’t seem like much of a childhood at all.

“What about Harry Potter, or Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?” I asked, naming some of my favourite films from my upbringing.

She just gave me a blank stare and a shrug. Feeling slightly horrified my resolve to make her watch as many films as I could sank in.

“That does it. We’re watching a movie.” I told her leaving no room for any argument.

She raised an eyebrow, but didn’t try to start a fight over the matter. That’s how we ended up half an hour later, both sprawled out side by side on my bed. I had made Jieun go through my movie collection and she had eventually ended up deciding on ‘Peter Pan” saying it was something she had wanted to see when she was younger but never had the chance.

Although she had been against the idea of watching something originally, she seemed fully enraptured in the film now, as she propped herself up on her elbows to watch.

I would have been watching the film too, but I found it oddly distracting to have Jieun lying down so close to me on my bed. A part of me was itching to reach out an arm and pull her closer to me, because there was only a think gap of air between us.

Plus Jieun’s face made for a far more interesting watch than the film. So engrossed in the film, she didn’t seem to notice that every emotion was being broadcasted clearly over her face, in the most clear display of emotion I’d ever seen on her.

We were about half way though the film when the door to my room opened, and I used the remote to pause the film as Jieun and I both turned to see my mum stood in the doorway, staring at the both of us with a gleam in her eye that scared me.

As if suddenly realising how close we were Jieun sat up, wrenching herself away from me. I felt a lot colder now that she had moved but I kept my expression completely blank, whilst silently cursing in my head for my mum’s interruption.

“Hey you two. I was just checking in to see that you both were okay.” She said and I held in a groan.

“We’re fine, mum.” I assured her with a smile.

“What about you Jieun?” She asked

Jieun raised her eyebrow at me, and smiled at my mum.

“I’m good thank you.” She said softly, twisting her fingers together.

“Alright.” My mother smiled brightly at the two of us.

“You two can go back to what you were doing. Do you want me to turn off the lights?”

Without even thinking about I half yelled out ‘no’ as soon as the words ‘turn off the lights’ left her lips. Jieun stiffened as she looked at me with a sad smile, and I winced.

“Actually I should be leaving soon.” Jieun spoke up, stretching her arms over her shoulders, so that her back arched and cracked.

I quickly diverted my eyes when I started to stare.

“Oh.” My mother sounded almost as disappointed as I felt as she regarded what Jieun had said.

“Right. I guess I’ll see you downstairs in a minute then.”

Jieun nodded, her head as my mum exited the room. I watched as Jieun twisted her hair into a ponytail, taking an elastic back off from her wrist and tied it up. I felt half entranced, and a little jealous as I watched her run her fingers through her hair, fixing it up.

“You’re leaving?” I asked, hoarsely.

Jieun glanced at me over her shoulder and offered me a smile.

“Sorry. I have to do some shopping tonight.” She said.

“Oh. What about the movie?” I asked, unsure why I was pressing the issue.”

Can we finish it some time, or if you don’t have time would I be able to borrow it?” She asked shyly.

“I’d like to see the end.”

“We’ll watch it together.” I answered straight away.

I was enjoying watching Jieun watch the film (said in the least creepy way possible), and I wanted to see her reaction to the end of the film. She gave me a soft smile.

“Oh. Yeah! Before I forget I picked you up some work from English!” She told me leaning down to her bag that was sitting at the foot of my bed.

I stared at her in surprise as she pulled out some papers. Feeling stunned I took them off of her.

“You got these for me?” I asked, recognising her handwriting of notes.

“Well yeah.” She shrugged.

I grinned putting the papers on my nightstand, next to a few books. Jieun watched me do this, and then something that amused her caught her eye as a huge smile spread across her face as she laughed, making my breath catch in my throat at the sound.

“No way.” She said shaking her head as she picked up the largest book from the pile.

“What kind of person keeps a dictionary in their rooms?” She asked flicking through the pages as if she was trying to work out if it was hollowed out to stash something interesting inside.

“The coolest.” I said.

Jieun cracked a grin, shaking her head at me.

“You’re such a nerd. How is it you go through the day without someone trying to stuff you in the locker or give you a swirly?” She asked, teasingly.

“Shut up.” I ordered trying to take it back, but she backed away keeping it out of reach of my bed-bound self.

She started looking through the pages, searching up a word before she flicked past the pages searching for another. I watched her wondering what she was up to. Eventually she slammed the book shut, humour dancing in her eyes.

“So bad news for you Jonghyun. I looked up both ‘idiot’ and ‘terrible’ and I can tell you with one hundred percent honesty that those were the words I was looking for. Sorry.” She grinned.

It clicked a second later what she had done, and I started laughing lowly, shaking my head.

“Real funny, Jieun.”

“I know.” She said confidently, putting the dictionary back where she had found it.

Then with a more serious tone in her voice her face softened.

“Stop ditching school okay?” She said.

I smiled because I knew that in her own Jieun way she was telling me to get well soon.

“Don’t worry. I’ll have my health restored and I’ll be back on my feet in no time.” I promised.

“I never said I was worried.” She said shaking her head.

“You didn’t need to, friend.” I grinned.

She rolled her eyes at me, but didn’t say anything else as she left the room, closing the door softly behind her for my benefit. Sighing I let myself collapse back in my bed, missing Jieun already.

Tilting my head I stared at the T.V. screen where it was stuck on a picture of Peter Pan dancing around with the lost boys. I closed my eyes using the remote to turn it off as I let the wariness that had been tugging at me take over and I fell into a sleep, still picturing Jieun next to me in my mind’s eye.