"Kim, you ready?" Kim heard her brother yell from the living room.

"Yeah, I'll be down in a second! Meet you in the car," Kim sighed, getting up from her bed. She decided to go to the mall and the movies with her brother along with 2 other friends since her morning class got canceled for the day. Apparently, the teacher's house got robbed overnight.

Kim grabbed her purse and ran down the stairs to the door, throwing on her signature beat up Converse.

The 4 of them got into Darren's car and drove off. Darren decided to stop by the corner store to grab some snacks. He, Tommy, one of Darren's friends, and Kim walked into the store, while Gloria, one of Kim's friends, stayed in the car.

Darren and Tommy walked into the store first, purposely laughing obnoxiously loud while Kim stayed behind them. Darren told Tommy to keep a look out by the front of the store while Darren browsed, not even caring if he looked suspicious doing so.

Kim saw that Taemin was at the register and smiled, Taemin waved and pointed to where Kai was working with a smile on his face. She took the opportunity to sneak over to him while her brother wasn't looking and hug him from behind, scaring him.

"Omo!" He gasped, holding his heart. Looking down at the hands around his waist, he calmed down only slightly. He turned around, taking her hands from around his waist and holding them, gazing into her eyes softly.

Their moment was interrupted when Kai heard his father's feet shuffling from the back of the store to the front. He motioned for Kim to get away from him and act like she was buying something.

Kai's father took a look around the store with a glare on his face. He grunted, walking up to the cash register when Taemin stood to keep a closer eye on his customers.

Darren walked by Kai and saw that he was fixing some boxes on the next shelf. Kai felt the burn of Darren's glare at the back of his head. Darren smirked and knocked down the boxes that Kai had just finished fixing up.

"Pick it up, little ,"

"Darren, are you serious? You did it, so you pick it up," Kim walked over and pushed her brother to pick up the boxes.

"That's not my job," He got in Kai's face as Kai stared back at him, seemingly unfazed but you could see the fire in his eyes.

Darren then walked out of the store, snagging 2 bags of chips and a juice on his way out, only noticed by Kim.

Kim sighed and picked up the boxes herself. "I'm so sorry, Kai,"

"Don't be, Kim. It's not your fault," He kneeled down and began helping her out, putting the boxes in their rightful places.

Their hands touched as they both tried reaching for the last box. Kim tried to pull her hand back but Kai grabbed her hand, holding it. Their moment only lasted a few second before they heard feet shuffling behind them. The couple stood up and turned around to find Kai's father standing there with his arms crossed, glaring daggers at Kim.

Kai gulped and patted Kim's back, "I'll see you, Kim,"

"See ya, Kai," She waved curtly at the older man before walking up to the register.

Taemin eyed his father while ringing up Kim's snacks. She turned around to see Kai staring at the ground while his father loudly whisper-yelled in Korean, his face getting red from anger.

"That...doesn't sound too good," Kim whispered sadly.

Taemin sighed. "Yeah, well that's because it's not. $1.50,"

Kim handed him the money plus an extra dollar. Taemin looked at Kim confused. "Just take it. It's to cover the chips and soda my brother took. I saw him take it before he walked out. I'm so sorry for all the trouble I'm causing you all," Kim walked out of the store in shame. Taemin stared after her rubbing his forehead in agitation.

"Dad! Leave him alone. She was just helping him out after her stupid brother knocked everything down. That's no reason to get so upset," Taemin defended the couple, clearly tired of all the nonsense happening around them. It wasn't enough that they heard about it every single day on the radio and saw it in newspapers and on the television but to see the destruction before his very own eyes completely ticked him off. He didn't wait for a response from his father and walked to the back of the store.

Kim took a deep breath before hopping in the car with her brother and their friends. She played a game on her phone the whole time on their way to the theater, ignoring everyone else around her.

When Kim finally looked up, they were driving down the street that they always saw on TV. Store windows were broken into, bullet shells all over the side walks. She stared at a stain on the sidewalk, blood. Quickly looking away, Kim turned her attention to her friends and brother, bobbing their heads to a song from a CD Tommy got. After listening to a few lines, she just tuned the rest of the world out, reverting her attention back to her phone.

"Kim? Kim!" Kim snapped her head up to look at Gloria. "Come on! We're here," She, Darren, and Tommy were already outside. The latter 2 were already walking towards the mall entrance. Kim unbuckled her seatbelt and out of the car, locking the door on the way out.

The 4 caught a matinee screening of "Sister Act". After the movie, Darren and Tommy saw a couple of their friends and walked over to them. Not even wanting to be bothered with a bunch of hooligans, Kim walked around the mall with Gloria.

"So, what's up with you?" Gloria questioned.

"Nothing much really. I kinda...met someone," Kim trailed off.

"Hold up! How do you kinda meet someone? Who is he? What does he look like? Have you guys done anything yet?" She asked, holding onto Kim's arm and wiggling her eyebrows.

"Ok, no. The most we've done together is kiss,"

Gloria squealed. "Oh, how was it?"

"He was..." Kim paused for dramatic effect.

"Kim, stop it! Tell me!" she whined.

""Perfect," she sighed with a lazy smile on her face.

"Aw, my little Kim is growing up," Gloria wiped fake tears from her cheeks.

"Yo, shut up!" Kim giggled, feeling her face heat up. "But anyway, his name's Kai and he's from LA. He's a bit taller than I am and he has the best smile," Kim squealed just thinking about him.

"I can tell he's doing a number on you. You must really like him,"

"I do. He is seriously the sweetest guy I've ever met and he doesn't even care about how different we are. Darren makes such a big deal out of it but-,"

"Wait, what is he?" 

"He's Korean,"

"Kim!" Gloria hit her on her arm.

Kim rubbed the spot where she got hit. "What!" 

"Now I see why Darren doesn't like him. You know what's happening out there and you're fraternizing with the enemy?"

"Kai is not my enemy. He hasn't done anything to harm me or you so you leave him out of that mess," Kim left Gloria, walking ahead of her.

"Kim, wait!" Gloria ran up to her and hooked their arms together. "I'm sorry. Aren't you...scared, though?"

"Of what?"

"Of what people might say. I mean, you know what people think of Koreans now. You know how quick that lady was to shoot Latasha Harlins. What if they see you around with Kai and try to shoot you because they think you're trying to rob him. They don't think much of people like us. You can't trust them,"

"Well, you can't trust anyone now, can you?" Gloria stayed silent as Kim looked at her pointedly. "Honestly, I don't care what people say because this is between me and Kai, not me, Kai and the rest of the world. We're not harming anyone,"

Kim sighed before continuing. "I really like him, Gloria, like a lot. He's funny, a gentleman, and so sweet. And then he has to put up with all of this from not only Darren's jackass but his dad as well? For what, just because my skin is a bit darker than his? Because people around us hate each other, so we should hate each other too?"

Just then Gloria's phone rang.

"Darren said 'Let's go'," She said quietly.

The two girls walked silently back to the parking lot where Darren waited with Tommy, a slight smirk on his face and anger in his eyes.

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A/N: To my readers, I am SO sorry I haven't updated this story in forever. I honestly wouldn't be surprised if you wanted to strangle me for not updating. I want to thank all of you that have stayed with me and those who are newcomers to the story. Thank you so much for taking time to read my little story >.< You have no idea how happy that makes me. I didn't even expect to get 5 subscribers to this but I have 53?! I could cry but for now I will just smile so hard, my face starts to hurt.