Kyungsoo felt restless whenever Ai wasn’t by his side. And that wasn’t because he loved her unconditionally and couldn’t stand being separated from her, but because the golden haired girl was an irresponsible and immature brat. Right now, Kyungsoo was worried sick for the girl since he had heard the rumors whirling around the school. It seemed that Ai was involved in some kind of a brawl with school’s most dreadful and problematic student, Wu Yifan, or Kris, how everyone called him.

Kyungsoo sighed and ran a hand through his jet black hair. He was pacing back and forth in his classroom for the past half an hour or so. The short boy was in position of complete inability to do anything or to help his friend in any way, as the whole situation was taking place behind the closed doors of the principal’s office. The only thing Kyungsoo could do at the moment was to pray that Ai doesn’t do or say something completely unnecessary, and haul all Kris’s wrath onto herself.

Kyungsoo halted his movements and stood still in one place. He clenched his fist until his knuckles turned white and gnashed his teeth together in annoyance. Ai was always like this. Always picking fights with random strangers when she found it that they were doing something morally wrong. Her actions might’ve seemed reasonable and justified to someone like little children who still believed in superheroes, but any grown up person would have to agree with Kyungsoo that the best thing one could do in such situation would be pretending that you didn’t see anything and simply walking away from the scene.

“Ah, that idiot!”, Kyungsoo couldn’t resist punching the desk near him with his fist. The boy was alone in the classroom since everyone had already rushed to the cafeteria for their lunch break. Kyungsoo decided that he’ll skip it for the day and coerce Ai into buying him a sandwich later that afternoon. It was the least she could do for him in return for worrying so much for her sake. He suddenly felt incredible urge to smack that idiot’s head and make her come to her senses. And as if he had summoned it with his thoughts, the idiot’s face appeared all beaming under the classroom’s door frame.

When Ai’s standing form came into his view, Kyungsoo leapt towards the girl with his still clenched fist and a murderous glare on his face. Fortunately for her, Ai had already caught the glimpse of the fuming boy charging in her direction and she scooted a bit to the side, her hands slowly rising to defend herself of the incoming attack. As Kyungsoo was about to land a smack on the top of her head, Ai covered it with her hands and crouched down.

“Kyung don’t do it, think of our children!”, Ai suddenly cried out, her eyes shut tightly.

Kyungsoo frowned and let his arm fall limply to his side. “Stop spouting out random nonsense!”, he reprimanded lowly, making Ai shudder at his tone.

“B-but, Kyung...”, Ai started in cry-like voice. “You lunged at me out of blue like that, I had to say something to stop you.” She picked up her gaze to look at the boy hovering over her and pouted. “Is something the matter? Did I do something wrong?”

Kyungsoo closed his eyes and sighed exasperatedly. “Yes, Ai, you did!” He opened his eyes again to glower at the girl’s crouching form. “Do you remember what you did this morning?”, he raised his eyebrow and asked rather rhetorically.

Ai blinked at the question and instantly let her mind wander off. “What did I...”, she reminisced about all the things she has done that particular morning. Her eyebrows furrowed and she made a troubled expression when something crossed her mind. “Ah! I shoved that bag of chips I was eating under your desk because I dropped it and couldn’t eat it anymore! No, wait, that was yesterday—”

This time Ai couldn’t dodge the smack that landed on the top of her head. She winced in pain and rubbed the aching spot on her head repeatedly. She started mewling and whining in attempt to make the boy feel bad for punching her, but Kyungsoo didn’t buy it. He was already familiar with the fact that the golden haired creature didn’t possess the ability of producing the salty liquid out of the corners of her eyes. He clicked his tongue in annoyance and shouted at the girl to hush her headache-inducing sounds.

“Shut up already, you know very well that you’ve deserved it!”, Kyungsoo kept his eyes fixated on the girl while frowning at the same time until he noticed that she’s stopped her meaningless grumblings and finally settled down. Ai perked out her lips in disgruntled manner and stared up at the boy. Taking in her accusing gaze, Kyungsoo narrowed his eyes at her. “What? It’s your fault for doing such things. Who on the earth’s name shoves a bag of chips under someone’s desk because they’re too lazy to pick it up?! You’ve probably invented a new level of laziness by yourself!”

Ai looked away from him and tsked. “It wasn’t because I was lazy, but because it’s disgusting. I mean, do you have any idea how much the floors in this school are dirty and covered in germs? The people in charge for cleaning it obviously at their simple and non-demanding jobs.”

Kyungsoo smiled wryly at her. “Then why don’t you give them a hand and show how it’s done?” His tone was dripping of sarcasm and it didn’t leave Ai unaffected.

“Okay, okay! I know it’s me who made a mistake and I’m truly sorry for that!” Ai closed her eyes and said in an unnecessary loud and forced tone. “But if it makes it any better, I knew that considering what a clean freak you are, you’re going to pick it up and throw it away the moment you see it.”

“It does not make it any better!” Kyungsoo rebuked. “And if it’s your trash, then you are the one who’s supposed to pick it up and throw it away!”

Ai pursed her lips and knitted her eyebrows, her features etched with guilt. “I’m sorry, Kyung. I won’t do it again.” She promised in a quiet and soft voice.

Kyungsoo folded his arms and sighed while closing his eyes. “As long as you understand. Now stand up. I hate your tallness, but I don’t like you crouching down like a dog either.”

Ai immediately grinned and stood up, straightening her posture and stretching her back as she did so. Seeing the girl’s beaming face, Kyungsoo couldn’t remain aloof. He returned her an equally hearty grin, and when the girl saw it, she burst into a laughing fit, soon followed by his own.

After an elongated period of giggling in a warm and carefree atmosphere, Kyungsoo sensed in his gut that something was wrong. Ah. Kyungsoo mentally slapped himself when he finally remembered the real reason why he wanted to scold Ai for in the first place and for letting the same girl stir his mind and make him forget something of such importance.

Noticing the sudden change on Kyungsoo’s face, Ai’s smile fell, replaced by a worried expression. “Kyung... Is there something wrong?”, she asked warily, fiddling with her fingers at the same time.

Not feeling angry anymore, Kyungsoo simply sighed and spared Ai a strained look. “Ai. You went to the principal’s office this morning, didn’t you?”

Ai’s eyes widened and she felt alarmed. “N-no! I mean yes! I d-did, but it wasn’t because of me, there was this guy that—”

“I know. I already know the whole story.” Kyungsoo waved it off. He then locked his gaze with the girl’s, his face frowning in an uneasy manner. “But Ai... Do you even know who ‘that guy’ is?”

“An .”, Ai deadpanned.

Kyungsoo could literally feel all the nerves in his head tense and snap. He clenched his fists once again and gritted his teeth. “No! He’s Wu Yifan, the student with the biggest track record in beating people up in this school. Not to mention that he’s also infamous for diligently taking his revenge on the people who rat him out to the school board!”

Ai’s facial expression remained unamused as she merely arched an eyebrow at Kyungsoo. “So? I’m not sc