"Huh!?"
 

Had Miya gone crazy or were the words that had come out of Kai’s mouth legitimate?

The caught off girl cleared as she tried to calm herself with a deep breath and appear normal – Although the taller boy was easily able to see through her poor façade.

“I’m sorry. Could you please repeat what you said?” Admittedly, Miya was probably well aware of what the answer would be, but she couldn’t help but question him once again in order to confirm what she had heard.

There was no way this aloof, unfeeling, hard rock could have asked a favor like that!

Kai quirked an eyebrow as he reiterated what he had just asked seconds ago, “Would you let me stay at your place?”

It seemed as though that one simple question had turned the poor girl’s life into that of a drama.

Biting her lip once more, Miya knew that she had to make a quick decision, considering how this Kai boy seemed to be rather impatient and… unpredictable.

He was the paradigm of the word “mysterious”.

There was little to nothing known about the teenager and, judging by his personality and how he acted now, Miya wouldn’t be finding out anything about this boy any time soon.

Allowing him to move in – Miya couldn’t help but slightly cringe at those two words – may possibly endanger her life, seeing as though Kai just may be some cloaked lunatic or serial killer just waiting for the perfect time to murder her.

Not to mention, just having him move in would further complicate her life.

She would have to hide him from her landowner – The cranky woman was the archetype of those characteristic landlords found in dramas and literature and, as such, she would not allow any other people to live in the limited space of the apartment. It was just a rule that had to be obeyed.

The expenses would certainly go up if this incomprehensible teenager stayed at the house. Miya, herself, wasn’t at home for practically the whole day, so it helped lower the costs of the utilities. However, if he was at the apartment for the whole day, that would mean the electricity, water, and the like would be used, increasing the price.

Most importantly, Miya knew little nothing about this guy!

“Ahem,” Snapping out of her thought process, the once occupied girl turned her attention to the source of the cough.

He was looking at her with rather curious eyes, which differed immensely from his trademark, as Miya would call them, icy hard eyes that could instantly freeze her on spot. His eyes softened as he opened his mouth to speak, “I know it’s rather sudden and all, but… I guess I should explain myself…” There was a momentary sigh. “Sorry if I came off as scary to you, I just have a lot going on right now and I’m not sure what to do. I really need a place to stay and… as cheesy as it may sound, you’re really my only option left.” A chuckle. “Call it fate or something, but I consider myself lucky to have bumped into you. Would you let me stay at your place? I’ll help pay for the bills if you let me stay. I just really need a place,”

After hearing his case, Miya felt herself calm down slightly.

Her claim that Kai was a normal unfortunate guy once again resurfaced from the all the growing suspicions she had about him.

By looking into his expressive eyes, Miya believed that he was being sincere and true to his word.
It seemed that the complications in her life would not grow to a large extent, considering how Kai had mentioned he would pay for the extra expenses.

… It was just a matter of trying to hide him from her landlord.

And, looking on the more optimistic side of things, perhaps having a roommate would lessen her loneliness.

Maybe he would loosen up and the two would get along after the rocky start!

Taking a deep breath and quickly going through one more thought process, Miya finally made her choice.

“… You… can stay,”

It took a good one more hour or so until the pair was able to go to their home and it was well into the evening.

As expected, the long walk home was silent as nothing could be said between the two.

Then again, what really could be said?

In an attempt to somehow distract herself, Miya took in the brisk crisp scent of the late summer air and admired the picturesque scenery of the park that she encountered along her way home.

She almost completely forgot about all her troubles and worries just by enjoying the simple things that nature had to offer and her lips curved upwards at the sights.

Miya could never go too long without a smile.

Kai, on the other hand, had a straight line plastered on his lips, though, he had to admit, his stress and worry had been significantly reduced due to Miya’s kindness. Deep down inside, he was thankful towards Miya, but found it difficult to bring himself to say “Thank you,” at the moment.

The resilient girl seemed to be enjoying herself, unaware of her surroundings... and him.

With that angelic smile on her face, Miya seemed to have forgotten the boy that was walking alongside her. But, Kai did not want to intrude on her moment of joy and, instead, continued walking while keeping an eye out on the naïve girl.

As he observed her, he suddenly remembered an important, yet almost forgotten detail.

She didn’t seem to recognize him at all as the heir to Haneul Hotel.

Although the taller boy had to admit that a lot had happened to overshadow this fact, he was now a bit on edge, suspicious, once again, as to whether or not Miya really did know he was Haneul Hotel’s heir.

Did she allow him to stay at her place only to ask him for his money?

Was she one of those candidates mentioned?

…..

Kai turned his attention to Miya’s direction again, only to see the same oblivious face she wore moments ago… the change being that she was now humming the tune of an old Korean children’s song.

… There was no way she could be that devious….

… Looks can be deceiving though… The paranoid teenager mentally smacked himself for worrying so much.

So much to the point he was giving himself his own headache.

He would just have to be alert and on his toes.

A good fifteen minutes passed before Kai was able to recognize the area once more. The pair had arrived at Miya’s their apartment and the two stood still once again, waiting for the other to make the first move. Miya grimaced. “Ah… well, home sweet home,”

Yeah… home sweet home…

Entering the house, Kai was able to inspect her apartment more unlike last time.

It was certainly small, but seemed to have all the necessities a person would need to live. As soon as the two stepped through the door, they were greeted by a medium spaced room with a kitchen taking up a good quarter of the room and the living room inhabiting the rest. There were three other doors which, Kai assumed, were for two regular rooms and a bathroom.

The color scheme of her apartment seemed to be all neutral colors: shades of gray, white, and black decorated the majority of living room with a few spots of other colors coming from a few trinkets and ornaments hanging in the place. A small oak table was situated near the middle of the space with matching chairs surrounding it – it was the same table where the pair had eaten their breakfast. There was not too much other furniture aside from a smoky brown couch and a bean bag chair next to it.

Not too much could be said for the kitchen either, except for a few pans and pots that sat on an oil stovetop and a rather old looking countertop. A refrigerator that looked to be only about a foot taller than Kai was next to the kitchen space, but it seemed it could hold probably a week’s worth of food.

Miya started to rearrange some things around the room and motioned to the room Kai had been in the previous night. “That was my study room, but it can be your room.” She then stopped in her sentence once she was reminded that there was only one bed.

Kai was the injured one right now and he probably needed the bed more than Miya did.

“Um… but you can take my room for now. I think you need it more than I do,” The considerate girl let out a nervous laugh as she continued to rearrange the furniture.

Why?

Kai had no idea.

“Ah, no… that’s fine,”

Miya couldn’t help but be confused by his capricious nature once again.

… He was sure to have some type of disorder, maybe bipolar disorder, due to his constantly changing moods.

… Perhaps even multiple personality disorder?

Kai was acting nice and shy now, but who knew when the emotionless sharp Kai would come back?

“I insist! You’ll need it if you want that cut to heal some time soon,” Despite the situation Miya was suddenly placed in, she couldn’t help but continue to be hospitable towards her new roommate.

It was basic manners after all.

“Uh, sure…” There was the expected pause from the new inhabitant of the apartment. “… You mind doing me a favor?”

… The question had actually caught Miya a bit off guard.

Blinking, the smaller girl asked, “What would that be?”

“Well…”

…

How did this happen?

Now carrying, not only her groceries, but also a bag full of clothes, Miya had been stuck with her daily chores and more.

The food shopping wasn’t bad at all, of course, since she was accustomed to buying the groceries for the past few years. From this point and onwards, she would need to buy a little more than usual, considering the fact that there was now another mouth to feed in her home.

No.

What bothered Miya was the fact that she had to go shopping for clothes…

Men’s clothes of all things – due to Kai’s weird inability to go shopping for himself at the moment.

It was unusual enough for Miya, still dressed in her work uniform, due to the quick transition from work to store, to walk into an expensive looking store, but what only further added stares – from both guys and girls – was that she had paved her way into the men’s section of the store.

Talk about awkward.

Miya could only cringe as she remembered the quirked eyebrows and incredulous looks she received as she browsed through the many racks and shelves filled with… men’s clothing.

The rather discouraged girl knew that it wasn’t too odd to see a woman shopping for the mentioned clothing… but this would only be the case if the woman had a brother, father, or a husband.

Miya didn’t have any of the mentioned guys in the criteria listed.

Just by looking at her petite figure and the unsure expression on her face, one was easily able to tell Miya was not used to shopping for such clothes… let alone being in the luxurious setting of a popular store - Though she had to admit that the clothes were for a pretty good price… not that she could afford it, anyways.

In the end, Miya had quickly picked out some basic essentials, figuring that one could never go wrong with some plain colored clothes and some accessories.

He could just layer up and throw on the accessories that she had bought him.

And she absolutely refused to buy his… ahem, hygienic garments.

It’s all over now, though.

And thank goodness to that.

Taking out her keychain, Miya flipped through the many metallic keys she had to find the navy blue lined one and opened the door. As she stepped inside, the girl was met with the site of a casual Kai who was just looking out the window, sitting on a chair that was pulled up to be seated next to the glass barrier.

“Um… I’m back,”

“Hey,”

Yep, there was still pretty much no conversation between the two of them.

“Oh and here’s your money back… I only used it to pay for your clothes,” While handing Kai the change she had received from his ₩ 50000 bill, Miya had also given him the shopping bag which held the clothes she picked out for him. “I just got some basic things like shirts and pants… I’m sorry it’s not much. I didn’t know what you wanted,”

“It’s fine, thanks,” She gave a nod and proceeded to make her way to the kitchen to start cooking dinner, since the time was now 18:00. Kai, though, had gone back into the study room with his bag of clothes, most likely to change into a pair of clean clothes from his dirty outfit.

As soon as Miya finished organizing the groceries, putting away what wasn’t needed in the fridge and putting what was going to be cooked on the counter, Kai came out dressed in a V-neck black long sleeved shirt, a white-lined gray puffy hooded vest, and a pair of slack jeans. In his left hand was a sports cap that Miya had picked out, due to Kai’s request.

Guess he would look fine in anything.

The cooking host was suddenly caught off guard as she watched Kai put on his hat, lift up his hood, and approach the entrance – or exit in his case.

“W-Wait! Where are you going? Dinner is going to be ready soon,”

“Don’t bother. I’m going out,”

“But… where-”

“Just mind your own business,”

The characteristic slam of the door was heard as Miya was left alone in the kitchen – a frown decorated her face.

The cold Kai had come back.

Ring.

Ring.

The droning tone of the phone was all that was heard as Kai waited for the owner of the phone number to answer his call. He tapped his foot as he told himself to wait patiently and further pulled down the hood of his vest to hide his features.

A click.

“Hello?”

“Chanyeol hyung?”

“… Jong In-ah, is that you?” A sigh of relief was let out as Kai heard the voice of his older brother. “Didn’t think you would pick up a public phone line number,”

“Jong In, where are you?” Kai had seen the question coming from miles away as he leaned against the graffitied metal phone booth. He looked up to the darkening sky and watched the sun as it began to set. “Not telling,”

“Jong In, I’m not joking here. Mom and Dad are worri-”

A scoff.

“Serves them right, should’ve known better than to have engaged me to someone else,”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit immature about this? I know that it’s-”

“Says the son who’s free to do whatever he wants,”

A sigh was heard on the other line.

“Look, I don’t want to fight now. Come on, Jong In, just come back home already,” The runaway could hear the concern in Chanyeol’s voice and, though it did hurt him on the inside to hear his family member being so worried, the plead didn’t phase Kai into going back on his choice. “Can’t do that, hyung,”

“Mom and Dad already reported you missing and there’s going to be a national broadcast-”

“Well, let me tell you now, it’s worthless because I’m going to be sure to hide my steps,”

“…” The silence meant that his older brother was well aware that Kai was capable of doing so and had already gotten settled.

It seemed that the loser had admitted defeat to Kai’s stubbornness once he addressed another matter. “… Are you at least safe?”

“… Yeah, I’ve got a place,”

“Mind telling me where? Want to see that you’re doing alright,”

“Sorry, hyung, can’t tell you. I can’t risk anything, but… maybe we can meet up some place, some time,”

“Jong In-”

“Sorry, I’ll be sure to call you again once I get a new phone. Just don’t tell anyone that I called you. Promise, alright? I gotta call someone else. I’ll talk to you later,”

“Wait-”

It was too late.

Kai had already hung up and was dialing another number which he remembered by heart due to pushing the button pattern so many times.

The same ringing tone was heard, but, this time, he did not have to wait too long for the caller to pick up.

“Hello?”

“Babe?”

“… Jong In?”

Kai’s older brother ruffled his hair as he sighed at his younger brother’s stubborn and impulsive nature.

Damn it, Jong In, can’t you use your head more?

“Master Chanyeol, dinner will be ready soon,” Chanyeol looked to his side to see one of his butlers at his bedroom entrance, informing him of the upcoming meal. He nodded and replied, “Thank you, Dae Ho,”

His trusted servant bowed and proceeded to help finish preparing the dinner, leaving Chanyeol to stare at the unfamiliar long number which glowed on the LCD screen of his smart phone.

After a week, his reckless younger brother had finally decided to call him, which Chanyeol was glad about, but, at the same time, only worried him even further.

It was somewhat understandable that Kai would want to run away after being engaged to a girl while he was already madly “in love” with his girlfriend.

But, was running away the only real solution?

The overly caring brother couldn’t help but continue to worry and ran his hand through his hair once more, unsure of what to do.

Was he to keep his word and say nothing to his parents?

Was he to side with his parents in looking for him?

While the questions remained unanswered, there was one certain thought that plagued Chanyeol’s mind, for sure.

What am I going to do with this kid?