-----

You've broken a dam. Ever since Kai, with his confusing words and contradicting expressions, had briefly showed you evidence of his vulnerability, he's been less apathetic toward you. He still doesn't go out of his own way to see you, or talk to you, but he's not that type of guy. He's never been that type of guy. He'll only say things when he feels like it, and he never does things when other people prod him. He follows his own set of rules, but even then the breaks his own guidelines.

But he's still distant. And it's that part of him, that side of him that he keeps hidden, that makes you want to reach him, somehow; but that's not your choice. You can try all you want with all you have to get close to him, but in the end it all boils down to whether he'll let you in, and you doubt that, with your shaky, unestablished friendship, he'll accept you any time soon.

The bell for the last class has rung. You've finally memorized the layout for the first two floors in the building, so you don't bother to take out your schedule as you pack your school books into your bag. Walking out of the classroom, you approach your locker and collect your notebooks. You sense the other students doing the same, and hear a variety of calls being shouted in the hallway. Finishing up, you adjust the strap of your bag on your shoulder and shut the locker door before you head for the stairs.

You quickly speed down the stairs, your bag slapping on your hip as you lightly hop down from the last step and approach the exit doors. Someone pulls it open for you, and you thank him and step outside. The sun is shining extremely bright, and you squint as you walk toward the parking lot, where many students have already begun to drive out. You wonder whether you should go to the dorms and do your homework or procrastinate a bit more when your name is called.

You turn around to find Hyunsoo jogging up to you, her hair bouncing about her shoulders. She stops in front of you and raises a hand to jangle a set of keys in your face, her eyes alight with mischief. "Hey. You wanna help me?"

You stare warily at the keys. "With what?"

"Well, someone decided it'd be fun to park in front of my car," she explains as she starts to lead you to her vehicle. You follow her to the back part of the parking lot where her car, a snazzy red Camaro, is parked. You realize what she's referring to when you see that two cars are parked right behind her own, not giving any space for her car to back out. "Like seriously. I don't know what to do, and I need to leave."

"And you think I can help, how ... ?"

"Well, don't you know where Kai is?" She asks. Her question catches you off guard for some reason, and it takes you a moment to reply. 

"No ... ?"

"This is his car," she says, pointing to the black Shelby Convertible that's stationed right behind her car, the middle vehicle in the line of three. "I don't know why he decided to park here but, um, he better help me get out, because there's no way he can leave with this other car," she says, making a face at the white truck behind Kai's car, "in the way."

You shrug. You're not going to find Kai. Yes, you want to see him, but you don't know where to look. You get the feeling he's in that abandoned, old club room, and you don't want to go looking for him if he's busy there. Plus, hasn't he already said, however indirectly, that he doesn't want you mentioning his being there? 

"Don't ask me," you say, starting to walk away. Maybe you can find a substitute to help Hyunsoo, because you certainly don't have the ability to do what she's requesting of you. 

"Oh, come on. Don't you want to find him?" She asks, and when she sees your reaction, a teasing tone enters her voice. "Hey. You know ... this is the perfect opport - "

"Hyunsoo!" 

You both turn around to see another girl walking towards you. You belatedly recognize her as being one of the girls you've sat with at lunch, which makes you realize that you hardly pay attention to your meal companions. You should probably work on that.

"What?" Hyunsoo asks blandly, the keys still hanging from her fingers.

"You forgot your book," the girl states vaguely. Hyunsoo glances at you before she throws the keys in your direction. You've barely managed to catch it when she starts walking away with the girl, a purposeful stride in her steps.

"Hey, Hyunsoo!" You shout, waving the keys in the air. "What the heck am I supposed to do with this?"

"I don't know, figure it out," she replies over her shoulder. You watch her disappear behind a row of cars before you sigh and stare at the difficult predicament before you. Does she really expect you to move her car? You don't know how to do that. You have no shred of expertise to aid you in carrying out such an action. 

You walk to her car and attempt to survey the situation, planning in your mind different ways to approach the problem. In front of Hyunsoo's car is a tree, so there's no way it can go forward. It could go backward enough to turn out of the way, but Kai's car is taking up most of the space it'll need to move. Why did Kai have to park here? It's not even in an actual parking spot.

"Do you normally stare at cars?" Someone asks. You jump, startled, and turn to come face to face with Kai. He isn't wearing his tie today, and he has undone the first two buttons of his shirt, where once more you see flashes of that silver chain that neatly rests on his collarbone. You look away, not wanting him to catch you fixated on his appearance, and he stops beside you, looking at Hyunsoo's car.

"I don't," you manage to say as you play with the keys in your hand. "Actually, Hyunsoo wants to leave. But your car is in the way. So maybe you could move it."

"I could," he says, but doesn't make a move to do so. You awkwardly stand next to him, waiting for his accompanying reply. "Does she have to go anywhere?"

"She said she's in a hurry," you say, slightly confused.

"Hm. Okay," Kai says, and just like that he takes out his own keys from his pockets and inserts one into the lock of his car. He slides inside and shuts the door behind him before he starts the ignition. The car roars to life, rumbling menacingly as Kai changes gears and looks over his shoulder. You watch apprehensively as he slowly backs out the car and stops just a hair from the truck. He then turns the steering wheel, making the tires grind against the cement as he guides the car to move left, inching it a little further from the tight mess. Finally, he's moved his car enough that there's a good amount of space for Hyunsoo's car to exit. He shuts off the ignition and steps out, slamming the door behind him before he approaches you.

Without your assent, however, he swiftly grabs the keys from your hands and heads over to Hyunsoo's car.

"Wait, Kai!" you shout as he opens the door. You're honestly not confident in his abilities. The way he had moved his own car with such reckless abandon had left a dry taste in your mouth. 

"What?" He asks, pausing just to give you a playful smirk. "Don't trust me?" You can't reply, so you let him climb into Hyunsoo's car and attempt to move it out of the parking spot. 

Please don't let him hit anything.

You watch nervously as Kai puts the car into reverse and backs it, once more, just a hair from his own car. He then moves Hyunsoo's car forward, turning it left, and successfully moves it out of the parking spot and into the traffic lane. You're about to heave a sigh of relief and are heading over to the car to thank him when ... he keeps going. Kai doesn't stop. The car continues to move forward, away from the parking lot, slowly crawling past the empty parking spots.

"Wait, Kai!" You say, picking up your speed. A thought quickly flits through your mind as you run after the moving car. He's not planning to steal it, is he? But, no, that wouldn't make sense, you realize, and banish the thought. Kai already has his own car.

Just when you think Kai will actually take Hyunsoo's car away, he stops in the middle of the parking lot and shuts off the ignition. You come up to the car, panting a little and slightly miffed that he's let you run and worry like that. He calmly steps out of the car, tossing the keys into the air like he hasn't just done something so presumptuous. You think about berating him, or maybe laughing at yourself for having assumed the worst, but when you open your mouth to say something, he hesitates briefly before he leans in and inserts his hand into yours, the car keys preventing your palms from entirely touching.

You can't breathe for a moment. You just stand there, staring up at him as he stares down at you with those incomprehensible eyes. He's supposed to be just giving you back the keys, but he's lingering ... he's lingering for so long, too long. Before you can even begin to register what he's done, he breaks away and closes the door to Hyunsoo's car.

"See you later," he says nonchalantly as he walks away. You watch him leave, not bothering to make him stay. When he's out of your sight, you look down at the keys that he has placed into the safety of your hands.

They're still warm.