“Yah, Kim Hanbin! That’s not how you do it!” Jinhwan tried not to yell; despite how much frustration he wanted to let out. He scratched his head, but stopped quick as he thought how messy his hair would get. Jinhwan mentally slapped himself, as he hadn’t time to worry about that. “I already told you once. Okay, start by imagine that there is a large X or cross on top of the equals sign. Any term on either side can move along these lines.” Jinhwan wrote down the numbers used and crossed lines as he tried to explain to Hanbin how math algebra worked. “Normally, you would multiply both sides by 5. It would cancel on the left side, and you would have 100 divided with 3x on the right. Then, you would multiply both sides by 3x. This would cancel on the right and you would have 39x^2 on the left.” He scribbled down 39x^2 on the paper, glancing at Hanbin, unsure if he was really paying attention or not. “And then you can solve from there. See how many steps there are? You just have to multiply on both sides,” Jinhwan said as he let go of the pen and gave it to Hanbin.

Hanbin sighted in frustration, as he leaned back and rolled his eyes. “Why is this so difficult? It’s so ridiculous, who needs math anyway? At least not me!” he muttered as he threw his pen on the table, annoyed as one could get. “Like who the would actually use algebra later on in their life? Unless you’re gong to be an useless teacher, then fine enjoy your math, I won’t disturb,” Hanbin spat. Jinhwan was unsure if he said that to him or himself, either way Jinhwan got irritated.

Jinhwan scoffed, “It’s not difficult! You’re not paying attention!” Hanbin only grunted as a response. It annoyed him how Jinhwan always did so well in school, and it annoyed him how Jinhwan found it so easy, while he himself was struggling as hell. Why the hell did the midget to it so well and not him? What’s the difference between those two? Okay, maybe he did study a bit more than him, but still.

Originally, Hanbin was annoyed, but in the minute he glanced at the boy next to him, the annoyance left in a second. The fair skinned boy was busy checking Hanbin’s answers in his notebook, not caring about how Hanbin was annoyed. Hanbin smiled to himself as he saw how focused the smaller boy was. He had a deep frown in between his eyebrows. Jinhwan wondered how Hanbin even came up with this answer, and how one could write this terrible. He definitely needed to teach Hanbin how to write readable.

They were sitting in Hanbin’s living room that afternoon, and they had already gotten Hanbyul in bed after playing with her some time, which was both fun and tiresome, that girl was never ready for the bed! First Hanbin had thought that Jinhwan’s schedule plan only had been silent promises, but to his big surprise, Jinhwan had actually made a full-length schedule. Hanbin was quite surprised over this small boy. He was really serious about helping him, unlike Seojun who had tutored him bad. Hanbin would say half-heartily or perhaps unhappily. Well he couldn’t blame him. Hanbin himself would probably not want to help others with tutoring either. Therefore he was very surprised by Jinhwan’s seriousness. Jinhwan had even made small test for him, in his notebook, for him to test himself, and then Jinhwan would look through his answers, just like now. Jinhwan was correcting his own test, which Hanbin had answered as well as he could.

Hanbin couldn’t help, but stare. Concentrating as much as Jinhwan did, and his messy hair was only two of many things that made him somewhat cute. Jinhwan’s sighed, made Hanbin look at his notebook and saw how many mistakes he had made. He gulped a bit. .

Hanbin couldn’t understand how he could do it this bad? He actually thought he had done a bit better now, turns out he was mistaken. Hanbin was relived that he had Jinhwan by his side, otherwise his grades would have plummeted by now, and it would definitely anger his father. Hanbin’s father is a very strict person, and as long as Hanbin can remember, they never got along well. Hanbin’s father has always looked at him with underestimate. Hanbin knows his father is a perfectionist, and he knows his father views him in the same way: not accepting anything else than perfection. Hanbin knows he must have good grades, never create a scandal, always follow rules, and must take over his company as his successor one day. Truth be told, Hanbin hated it. Yes, he had a well prepared life in front of him, where he was secured economically, probably have a nice wife his fathers choice, and a wealthy life, but Hanbin didn’t want that. He hated it because he felt like he couldn’t control his own life; rather his father had him in straps and decided what to do with him.

Hanbin’s sighed out loud. For s sake! He doesn’t want to have that stupid company. He does not want to be an old fat CEO. He doesn’t want to spend the rest of his life in front of a desk. Hell if he would! He wanted to do something more special and meaningful for himself.

Getting angrier and angrier at the thought, he suddenly grunted and Jinhwan looked over at him in surprise. “Hanbin, are you alright?” he asked, looking at him in confusion. Hanbin who had lost his will to study because of his stupid father, looked annoyed around in the room. He needed to think of something else. His head was full of anger at his father. “Jinhwan, let’s go for a walk, it’s far too warm inside here,” he said, despite it’s was actually quite the cool temperature. He stood up and walked towards the entrance, not waiting for Jinhwan’s answer. Where Hanbin’s sudden thought came from, or how he could possibly think it was warm inside here, would forever be a mystery for Jinhwan, but he saw no other choice but to follow him. Hanbin didn’t seem like he was going to wait for him, and Jinhwan didn’t feel comfortable sitting alone in Hanbin’s house, so he stood up and walked towards the entrance, where Hanbin was already halfway through the door.

In the minute Jinhwan came outside, the autumn air made their way into his nostril. A fresh feeling of coolness hit him, as he walked behind Hanbin. They walked for a long time in silence; however, it was not an awkward silence, rather a pleasing and comfortable one. It had become a bit darker and the air was a bit cooler than it was when they had finished school. Houses, blocks, streets were passed as there still were no words coming out from neither of them, until Hanbin saw a ice cream parlour. He looked over at the smaller boy and noticed his eyes were fixed on the ice cream parlour as well. Uncontrollably, his lips turned into a soft smile as he mad clear his decision. “Okay let’s go and buy ice cream, my treat,” he said without letting Jinhwan say a word as he gripped his arm and lead him towards the ice cream parlour. Jinhwan looked at the taller confused. Had he just said he was paying for it? More importantly, he held his hand. Jinhwan felt his heart start to race again, and his cheeks became a bit hot. Why does he react this way?

“Chocolate flavoured, please,” Hanbin said as he looked at Jinhwan. He started to chuckle as he saw how the small boy struggled to see the full menu. The disk was too high in contrast of Jinhwan’s height. Hanbin couldn’t contain his laugh as Jinhwan glared at him. “Yah! Don’t laugh! I’ll just have strawberry flavour please,” Jinhwan said, as his cheeks were red of both anger and embarrassment. Jinhwan walked towards some tables while waiting for Hanbin who paid. He was quite surprised that Hanbin hadn’t said a rude thing towards him about him almost not reaching up. Usually, at school, he would have probably laughed out loud at him and probably said something rude towards him, but his laugh today was not a cruel laugh, rather a welcoming laugh, which Jinhwan heard he tried to keep to himself. Jinhwan liked this.

Hanbin came up beside him with two ice creams in his hands. “You aren’t angry, are you?” he asked as he handed him the ice cream. Jinhwan could hear from afar the worry in Hanbin’s voice, making him smile. How could Jinhwan have been angry at this cuteness?

“No, I’m not angry.” He reassured the other boy, smiling shyly to make it more believable. Jinhwan’s shy smile made Hanbin stop for a moment. For some reason, his heart fluttered a little, and Hanbin wasn’t quite sure, but he somewhat liked it.  

“Good,” Hanbin smiled, and Jinhwan was quick to return the smile.

They walked to the park near the ice cream parlour. Colourful trees signalled the season had taken place. Crunched leafs was heard underneath them as they stepped on fallen leafs. Hanbin sat down on a bench, which was under a tall, proud tree. He starting to eat on his ice cream, making Jinhwan follow his move and sat down as well. Unsure if the silence was awkward or comfortable, there was a silence that filled the air from the empty words that none of the boys spoke. This was a weird feeling. Having Jinhwan beside him like this, all casual, just the two of them, without being in school or working at home with school. In the silence there was a child laughter, which caught Hanbin’s attention. A young girl and an even younger boy, probably her little brother, they were playing with dolls and the girl laughed. Hanbin heard a soft giggle from beside him. He looked over his shoulder and noticed the smallers attention as well had been caught by the cute siblings. Hanbin couldn’t help but smile, as Jinhwan was more than eager to look at the kids. Suddenly a thought crossed his mind. Jinhwan, could he possibly be lonely child?

Looking at the kids, Hanbin asked, “Do you have any siblings?” receiving Jinhwan’s attention. He nibbled on his ice cream, smiling.

“Yes I have an older sister with six years . She’s really great, and we have a great relationship despite the . She’s really funny and charming, and she’s smart as well. She always works so hard,” Jinhwan paused as he looked at the kids as well, smiling to himself at the thought of that the kids were them for many years ago. Slowly, but steady, his smile fell. Many years ago, when everything was great.

Hanbin noticed Jinhwan’s space out, and nudged him, making the smaller boy jump in his seat. “She worked hard and?” he asked as he tried to keep Jinhwan talking, knowing that he wasn’t done. Hanbin hated when people started a sentence, but never finish them. Why would you even start at A if you couldn’t finish to B? Hanbin looked at Jinhwan, waiting for answers, but his stern face fell as he saw Jinhwan’s sad expression. “Hey are you alright?” Jinhwan looked at him still spaced.

Jinhwan sighed as he looked down at his hands around his ice cream. “She is an amazing person, I stand in respect towards her,” a sad smile played on his lips. “She dropped out of college so she could help my mother with the money, she has three part time jobs,” Jinhwan exclaimed. Hanbin’s eyebrows flew high up in his forehead, as his eyes widened. Three part time jobs? He couldn’t even manage to help his cousin, who owns a café, sometimes. “So therefor I feel like I need to do it well in school so I can get a good job and help my family,” Jinhwan smiled proudly. “I’ll help them for sure,” he said more to himself, but was heard by Hanbin as well.

Hanbin was unsure whether he should ask or not, but as his curiosity took over, he couldn’t help but ask. “Why do you feel like you need to help at home? You have your parents, don’t burden yourself” Hanbin said as he said to the boy next to him. It was suppose be an encouragement, but not everyone takes it in the same way, and unfortunately, in this situation it didn’t come out well.

Jinhwan gulped and felt a lump in his throat. He was not going to cry. He was not going to cry. “Ah it’s not that easy Hanbin-ah,” Jinhwan began as he fought hard not to release any tears that were forming his eyes. “He fought hard, my father, ” Jinhwan said more to himself than Hanbin, which still earned a curious look from the other. “We believed that he would be fine, the doctors even said he would be fine,” Jinhwan paused as the lump made it hard for him to let out the words he wanted. He took a deep breath and turned towards Hanbin. “We lost him to cancer when I was only 8 years old. He was 32 at that time. Quite young isn’t it?” Jinhwan said, smiling bitterly, his eyes blanker than usual.

Hanbin’s face fell in the minute Jinhwan told him. The sight in front of him was terrible. Hanbin saw how hard Jinhwan fought against crying. Slowly, but steady, guilt crawled upwards his body. After all, not long ago, he had told Jinhwan to rely on his parents only to discover that one of his parents was dead. “I-I’m sorry,” Hanbin whispered, as those words where the only thing he could say. Why was Hanbin so stupid?

Jinhwan looked at Hanbin as a soft face took place. “Hanbin-ah, there’s nothing you could do, don’t be sorry, besides let’s enjoy this ice cream before we go back inside and enjoy math even more!” Jinhwan said enthusiastic, trying to hide away the sadness. Hanbin groaned as a response when he heard ‘math’, earning a laugh from Jinhwan. Hanbin could help but smile when he saw the other laugh, and not cry. Jinhwan’s love for math was no joke. He was really excellent in math, which both annoyed and pleased Hanbin.

“Your mother must be proud of you, since you’re doing it so great is school, eh?” Hanbin said, a little bit more careful this time, as he wasn’t sure who was dead or not in Jinhwan’s life. Jinhwan chuckled as he took a small bite of the ice cream.

“Yeah, I believe she is proud, but she doesn’t really have time to show it. You see she’s really busy with work, and has to work over time all the time, since we only have her payment to rely on,” Jinhwan smiled. Hanbin didn’t really know what to say in this situation. Now it made more sense why his sister had to hep out, and why Jinhwan himself wanted a good education to help at home. Hanbin felt guilty for asking; yet it was refreshing feeling to be able to know more about Jinhwan. Jinhwan took a bite from his ice cream before continuing, “but my sister is proud of me. She constantly teases me to always be the best. And you know, I feel like I really should.” Jinhwan paused thought his thoughts over once more. “Aish,” he cursed as he leaned back on the bench, looking up at the sky, as if that would help him, “all I want is to become rich and help my family,” the bitter smile was once again to see on Jinhwan’s face.

Hanbin was shocked. He had never ever though that this little nerd had so many problems at home. Seems like he wasn’t the only one with problems. Hanbin looked over at Jinhwan who smiled at the sky, while eating the ice cream. Jinhwan looked up at Hanbin as “wow,” was the only word that came out of Hanbin’s mouth. “Man, I-I’m sorry, if there’s anything I can help you with then I’ll gladly do it,” Hanbin said as he looked at Jinhwan.

Jinhwan smiled at him, internally thanking him for paying attention to him. Jinhwan had never told his story to anyone else than Hanbin, not believing anyone would find it interesting, after all it was Jinhwan, but for some reason it felt natural telling it to Hanbin. What surprised him the most though, was Hanbin’s caring face. Hanbin really felt sorry for him. Jinhwan could see that from a long way. Jinhwan liked this side of Hanbin the best, when he actually was Hanbin, and not some sort of an like B.I. Donghyuk was wrong in many ways when it came to Hanbin, he was a nice person and Jinhwan had witness it. “No Hanbin, it’s all fine! I’ll get a good education and help my family, I’ll be the man in the house,” he said as he clenched his fist as a sign of strength.

Hanbin opened his mouth, ready to say something, as suddenly a familiar voice stopped him. “B.I? Is that you? What are you doing out here? And are you with Kim Jinhwan?” Junhwe said as he approached them. Hanbin could hear the mocking in his voice. “Aww are you two on a date? How romantic,” Junhwe said in sarcasm as he made pouting face. What Junhwe had said, flustered Jinhwan. He felt his cheeks heathen up more than he would like. He looked down, looking at his feet, while hiding his the fact that he was blushing. How had it not crossed his mind that it could look like a d-date? No, it couldn’t, they probably looked more like two buddies who hung out together?

“N-no, we’re just taking a break from out studying,” he tried to say with a clean voice, but it came out way to stuttered for his liking. God, why did he have to sound pathetic in a situation like this?

“Are you blushing, man it seems like I’m disturbing something really important here,” Junhwe kept teasing him as Jinhwan was unable to respond. Jinhwan got too flustered that he was terrified that his voice would fail him. The best option for Jinhwan was to keep his mouth shut.

Hanbin saw what Junhwe was doing, which made him even angrier. Hanbin stood quickly up, anger bubbling through his veins. “As if!” he shouted angrily.  Jinhwan was about to say something when Hanbin’s sharp words came before him. “As if would hang out with this ing midget!” he said as he glared at Jinhwan. Jinhwan felt his heart sink to the bottom of his body at his words. Jinhwan hadn’t felt this confused as the Hanbin he was sitting with for literally a minute ago was completely washed away. He was B.I again.

“Then why were you two sitting here?” Junhwe said as he smirked at Hanbin. If Hanbin could, he would’ve punched Junhwe so hard in the stomach that he would have problem with breathing afterwards, but he is a friend of him, and they have promised each other not to lay a finger on each other.

“The do you want Junhwe?” Hanbin said angry. Not waiting for an answer he turned around. “Whatever, I’m leaving.” And with that he left. Jinhwan confused as this scene was, he followed Hanbin with his eyes. When Hanbin was out of sight, he looked confused around and looked at Junhwe in hope to find some answers. What just happened?

Junhwe looked at the lost boy and smirked. “Let me walk you home?” Jinhwan was struggling whether to agree with him or not, but the fact that he wasn’t familiar with this part of town made his choice clear. No way he would find his way home before the night gets darker without Junhwe’s help. So all Jinhwan nodded and followed the smirking guy as they left the park.

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A/N

Here is next chap! Tell me what you think! (sorry if it ahha)

I'm so sorry guys, but I don't have time to upload next week because of school! theres too much and I have an assigment every single day, and one day I have three assigements, so I need to focuse on that, but after that I'll be back! I hope you all will wait for me! <3