[Soo Hee’s POV]

            “’Morning, mom!” I said while I was entering the kitchen.

            Between some ugly cough she greeted me. I opened the fridge to grab some milk and drank it from the bottle.

            “Don’t do that, Soo Hee.” She firmly said, bursting out in cough again.

            “Are you okay?” I turned to her, putting down the milk bottle.

            “Of course I am.” She stood up. “Sorry, can you clean this? I’m going to be late for work. I would prepare your breakfast, but I have no time!” She grabbed her purse and kissed my forehead. “Do well at school!” She quietly closed the door.

            I looked at the clock in my kitchen. This is strange... My mom isn’t one of getting sick, much less being so late for work. This worried me. I only saw her sick once in my whole life and that was when my father passed away, 5 years ago. Her plate still had a lot of food so I ate all of it.

*

            We were done cleaning for today. It was already really late and me and Dongho were in charge of putting  the cleaning stuff back in its original place.

            “Oh, this is so tiring...” He said, clearly affected by the strange silence between us.

            “You bet.”

            “I wonder when is this going to end, it’s not fair at all.”

            “Yeah...” The face of my mother popped up on my mind. She couldn’t talk without having to cough and that was bothering me all day. Maybe she caught a cold? The weather is getting colder and she was used to a warm weather in Jeju, maybe that’s it... I heard Dongho releasing a deep sigh.

            “You’re not a very good talker, right?”

            “Why does everyone ask me that?” Well, not really everyone, just my teacher Seunghyun and now Dongho.

            “Uh... Probably because you don’t talk much. It makes me feel bad, say something. Since I’m the only one talking it seems like you don’t have any interest in I’m saying.” I opened the door to the little room full of tools for whatever was needed to be repaired.

            “And do I have?” He always says things that leave him in such a position... it’s so funny mocking him.

            “YAH!” He pouted. “At least pretend!”

            “But it’s true. Besides, not long ago you absolutely despised me. Care to tell me what happened?”

            “Well, since I have to see you and work with you everyday, I figured I would have to hide my little hate for you. But it’s trrue you’re quite stupid.”

            “Oh, thank you. We have something in common, then.” Seriously... this conversation wasn’t leading us anywhere.

            “Ha, that one was good.”

            I locked the room’s door and saved the key under the old little brown rug. I still had to go to my locker to get my things and only then I would get out of the school building to go wait for the bus at the bus stop. This all seemed to boring, so routine-like and I was so tired...

            “Do you want me to take you home?” Dongho said, not looking at me.

            “Why?” I asked without thinking.

            “Oh, not that, just say yes or no.”

            “Why... not?” I smiled at him, since he was already getting mad. So hot-tempered he is...

            We went to get our things. Dongho had another helmet on his locker “in case something happened” like he said.

            “Here.” He threw me his helmet. “You better catch it or you’ll have to pay for another one.”

            We were outside. It was past 8PM so it was night time and there was this cool breeze from time to time. Summer days are ending... unfortunately.

            “Come, get on.”

            [Dongho’s POV]

            I started the engine while she stood there, trying to tighten the helmet. I got off to help her.

            “Is it possible you’ve never ridden a motorcycle?” She shook her head under the helmet. Ha she can act cute too! I took off her hands from the helmet and tighten it myself. “Give me your backpack.” I said, while slightly forcing to take it.

            “Why?” Again her stupid questions. I took a deep breath before losing my control.

            “Just give me. I’ll put it inside.” I said, sighing. I’ve been sighing too much lately... and it’s because of her! She took the backpack herself and I put it inside the seat, and did the same thing with mine.

            “Come, put your feet here and then—yeah, like that.” I forgot she was with a skirt... and he skirt is like, really small, but oh well... good legs are meant to be seen and she looked like she didn’t care about that at all. “Now hold me or that thing on the back, it’s up to you.”

            Of course she didn’t hold me. Since it was way past the rush hour, all the avenues were empty, with only a few cars and buses, which made me want to speed up. I felt her arms around my waist. Ha, she got scared! She leaned her head (more like the helmet) on my back. I had to stop at the red light.

            “Ah, this is so refreshing!”

            “Do you like it?” I asked her, while looking at the big sidewalks of the avenue.

            “Yeah, reminds me of how I was in Jeju, I feel free!”

            “I know, it’s really cool! Aren’t you afraid of speed?” I spotted a ddeokbokki stand a few metres ahead of us.

            “No, I like danger!” As soon as the light turned green, I stopped in front of the stand. “Huh? Why did you stop?”

            “Get off, let’s eat something.” She was staring at me inside the helmet. “What, I’m hungry, can’t I?” She then took off the helmet.

            “Okay, let’s go. You pay.”

            It would be okay me paying... if she didn’t eat so much. She eats almost the same as me and she’s a girl. True she’s tall and she’s not all bonés, but even so... We bought a lot and ate it as we were walking and talking around the big avenue. We talked a lot, she told me things about her and I told her about me. We ended up in a park and stayed there until it was too late for both of us to get home. I felt good. I felt like I was hanging with a friend I never had, and not with a girl. I felt really good inside and I laughed. I don’t do that a lot, laughing. I found a friend! And even thought at first she didn’t look like she wanted to talk much, she ended up telling me a lot about her and how her life was back in Jeju. One thing I noticed was that she didn’t talk much about her family. She would mention her mother here and there but not more than that.

            I drove her home. She doesn’t live that far away from me!

            “Here, thanks.” She said, handing me the helmet.

            “Keep it, I’ll pick you up in the morning.” I said, while turning on the engine after giving her backpack.

            “I can ride the bus, it’s okay.”

            “Keep it! Will you ever agree to something I say? Damn, Soo Hee! You can trust me!” I took off while she stood there, in front of her apartment. I couldn’t help but laugh, I was so happy...

            I have a friend now! How long has it been?

Eheh, a little date with a friend~ Would you like to have some pairing in this story? I already have something in mind, but your opinion will help a lot while developing it! :D

Thank you to the new subscriber and for the comments! :D

See you~