Tick

Tock.

Tick

Tock.

The only sound that resonated throughout Miya’s apartment.

Miya sat on a wooden chair that was situated at one of the ends of the table and let out a sigh. She tiredly stared at the ceramic plates of food which took their respective places in the middle of the piece of furniture.

Untouched and cold.

Their lives being wasted.

Looking to the clock on the kitchen island, it read: 21:25.

Where in the world could he be? Deep down inside, Miya knew that she shouldn’t be too concerned with this strange new fellow that she decided to let into her house. She barely knew the guy and probably should treat him as a close neighbor. However, for some odd reason, the troubled girl couldn’t help but feel a slight attachment to him and felt inclined to worry about him.

Even if it was a just smidge of concern.

She continued sitting at the table, well aware of the seconds ticking away and signaling the reduction of the amount of sleep she needed for class tomorrow. Despite this, Miya still needed to stay up to wait for Kai. He had just waltzed out without any keys, so he would not be able to get back into the apartment. The polite girl also wanted to wait for her new “friend” to come home so that they could eat together.

Though, it seemed that her ideal plan was not going to happen, tonight.

It truly killed Miya a bit on the inside to start removing the plastic wrap which failed to keep the dinner warm, but she tried to convince herself that she needed to be at least a little bit selfish and couldn’t risk too much for a person she had just met.

She let out an exasperated sigh as she went to heat up the rice that lay in the rice cooker, deciding ‘I’ll just eat really slowly and I definitely have to wait for him to come back!’ which helped to alleviate some of the silly guilt she was feeling at the moment.

After scooping the reheated rice into her bowl and separating her own portions from the large main dishes, Miya began to pick at the food with her chopsticks and eat.

“I’m really sorry, babe. I’ll be sure to call you as soon as I get a new cell phone. I love you, bye,” Kai grudgingly placed the black phone back onto its hanger, already missing the soothing calm voice of his girlfriend.

The overwhelmed young man had done what he wanted and it was getting quite late, judging by the dimly lit night sky. He couldn’t believe that he spent a good few hours or so talking on the phone.

… Was it even possible to talk for that long on a public phone? – Not that it mattered anyways since it already happened.

Guess it’s time to go back…

There was a slight tug at his heart as he started to walk away from the phone booth. In the few hours he had spent in that one spot, he came to associate the public phone as his only connection to his old life… or at least the important things that Kai wanted to keep from his old life. Now that the runaway was leaving it, he would have to suffer through living his new life: living in some dinky old apartment with some girl that he didn’t know.

He trudged against the pavement as he had to remind himself that this was the life he had chosen.

Sure, it wasn’t as luxurious as his old home, but it beat being stuck in a prison.

It was during his walk “home” that Kai started to realize just how run down and suspicious the neighborhood looked:

There was scattered litter covering practically every inch of the streets and sidewalks.

There was a rather unpleasant smell lingering in the air – something along the lines of a mix of alcohol and old garbage.

There were a number of rather suspicious looking people loitering the sidewalks – Kai was probably safe due to the fact that he looked intimidating with his tough build and tall physique.

He was safe, but how in the world could a petite girl like Miya survive in this place?

Kai didn’t question the situation twice once he arrived at the apartment and nonchalantly walked up the few stone steps that were in the front. He suddenly paused in his walk once he remembered a small, but crucial detail:

He didn’t have the freaking keys to the place.

He cursed himself under his breath, scolding himself once again for being so lame and thoughtless of his current position. Kai was no longer in his old home where servants would greet him, all of his things were taken care of, and there was little to worry.

Damn it. Damn it. Damn it.

Great, just when he had a place to stay, he was now locked out and still homeless.

The frustrated young man ruffled his hair as he groaned and paced around, still muttering curse words and continuing to scold himself.

… Looks like it’ll be another night sleeping in an alley or bench…

Idiot!

…

“… Kai?”

Kai did not pick up on the call, as he was unused to being called this made up nickname. Just hearing the voice, Kai was beginning to believe he was finally going insane. The disappointed teenager was slowly making his way down the steps to cruise around the area and look for a place to spend the night.

“Kai!” The runaway finally picked up on being called his alias, but was still in disbelief that Miya, the only person who would address him as such, was awake at this hour.

… Had he really lost his mind?

“Kai! Where are you going!?” At the direction of this imaginary voice, Kai finally decided to turn his head to find Miya, all dressed up in her pajamas with a confused look on her face. She was clad in a simple T-shirt along with some patterned pajama pants, holding a few books his her right arm. “Um… are you… going out tonight or…?”

Unbelievable.

It seemed as though things were working in his favor by having the girl open the door for him, despite the late hour.

“… No,”

“… Oh… well… are you coming inside, then?” The fidgeting girl rubbed her arm. “It’s pretty late…”

“… Yeah,”

Hearing a few heavy steps outside, Miya jumped up slightly and stood up from her studying position to check for the source of the noise.

Usually, the careful girl would ignore any sounds that came from outside of her apartment, but, now that she had a new roommate – an impulsive roommate at that – she changed a bit and had to keep an eye out for him.

Shaking, Miya gingerly pushed aside the curtains which blocked the inside of her house from the outside world to see a very animated Kai. He looked as though he was having a fit and made a number of motions which caused Miya to quirk an eyebrow. However, she did feel a little giggly seeing him do so many silly actions, which reinforced her failing thesis of “Kai is a normal guy.”

She continued watching him for a bit until she noticed that he was now walking away from the door step and leaving. Miya panicked a bit and quickly dashed to the entrance with her books in her hand and called out, “Kai!”

… He was still going down the steps, as if ignoring her.

Was this mysterious guy doing it on purpose or was he deaf?

“Kai!”

Still no answer.

With one final attempt and a big shout, the worried girl cried out, “Kai! Where are you going!?” It seemed that the little call had done the trick and Kai had turned himself to face her. Miya blinked as she found herself in an unprecedented situation again.

Even though she was the one who had gotten herself into it.

The original inhabitant of the apartment blurted out the first question that came to her mind, “Um… are you going out… or…?”

Well duh…

If he was going out, why would he be back at the house in the first place?

He stood there for a bit until he finally answered back, “… No,”

… Well, at least Kai didn’t seem to pick up on the obvious question and was nice enough to answer.

“… Oh… well… are you coming inside then? It’s pretty late…”

There was a pause of a few seconds again before Kai had finally reacted. “… Yeah,”

The atmosphere had still yet to lighten up and it was still as tense as ever as Kai entered the house and took off his outerwear to put aside on a lounge chair. Miya was still standing near the doorway, but soon closed it and double locked the doors since the rightful people were now in the apartment.

It seemed that Kai was already heading off to bed, but Miya momentarily stopped him as she asked, “Did you eat dinner yet? I cooked dinner and I could heat it up for you,” She motioned towards the plates of food that sat on the dining table, waiting to be eaten.

Kai gave the dishes a cursory glance, but ultimately shrugged and turned his back towards them. “No thanks,”

“… Oh,” Miya couldn’t help but feel a bit disappointed once she heard his brief, yet, harsh response. She sighed as she began to put the plates away in the small refrigerator, telling herself that they’ll probably be her lunch for tomorrow since she didn’t want to waste any food.

Looking behind herself, Miya noted how Kai was nowhere to be seen – he was most likely in his “room” right now doing… who knows what – probably Kai-related stuff.

She then proceeded to gather her books and go back into her respective room, already finished with her night routine. It was now a matter of studying a bit for her classes tomorrow and… well just attending class tomorrow.

As Miya shut off all the lights in the room and shut her door, she took notice of how there was now a guy living in her house.

… A guy she knew nothing about – other than the fact that he’s bipolar and changes his moods like someone changes socks.

… Better safe than sorry…

With that, Miya locked the door before going to bed.

Kai stripped himself down and threw on a pair of sweatpants, pondering on whether or not he should wear a shirt to bed, as well. He waved his arm around in the room to check the temperature and decided that it would be a bit too warm if he wore both the shirt and had the blanket, so he ditched the former.

The tired young man plopped himself onto the springy bed and took note of how the room seemed to be rather plain, but well organized.

Perhaps the girl had done it all for him?

Frowning a bit, Kai did feel a slight uneasy pang in his chest thinking about the girl, but immediately shook it off as he reminded himself of his situation and how he needed to worry about himself, first.

He shifted to his side as he closed his eyes, slowly drifting off to sleep with thoughts of his old life on his mind.

CARELESS

CARELESS

SHOOT

ANONYMOUS

ANONYMOUS

Miya groaned, hearing her alarm, and started patting the area around her to hit the sleep button on her clock. She groggily got up and rubbed her eyes, surveying the room she was in and being reminded of her new life.

Slightly swaying, the tired student was a bit drowsy from losing some precious sleep from last night and proceeded to unlock her door and make her way to the bathroom. Miya quickly did her routine: fix her hair, brush her teeth, etc., and she was now fully awake thanks to a few splashes of icy cold water to her face.

It was about 7:00 and Miya nodded, pleased that she was sticking to her morning routine. As she passed by the door of her used to be bedroom, Miya started to wonder what Kai would be doing or if he was awake. In the end, the girl shrugged it off as she continued to get ready for school.

After a good fifteen more minutes or so, Miya was now dressed up in her uniform, consisting of a fitted white dress shirt, a navy blue ribbon, a matching colored skirt, and the summer vest version of the school blazer. She slung her messenger bag over one shoulder and quickly got some breakfast in hand. Being the considerate person she was, Miya had also set aside the prepared ingredients for pancakes for Kai once he was awake. He would just have to cook the batter and the pancakes would be all set.

Looking at the time for one last time, Miya wrote a quick note to Kai before setting out to walk to her university.

The school day proved to be a nice getaway for Miya, who was usually always working. It especially served as a nice relaxing escape since she now had a new guest in her house and the past few days proved to be… quite stressful.

It was now the end of the school day as Miya was put on duty for cleaning the classroom and was just about finished. However, while the task was usually a good time for the girl to distress and free her mind, it proved to be the opposite as she was reminded of a certain new guest who now lived with her.

... Just who is he?

“Yo!” Miya was suddenly snapped out of her trance as she turned her head to see a familiar face. With slightly ruffled and gelled brown hair, her handsome brother figure had entered the room with his cute famous eye smile to check up on his younger sister. She smiled, seeing him. “Hi, Baekhyun!”

“Geez, it’s been a week or something since you were in school,” Laughing nervously, Miya started rubbing the back of her head while defending herself. “Sorry, I was busy with work, but, thanks, Baekhyun, for helping me with my absences!”

“Alright, alright, and no problem,” Baekhyun would always have a slight frown on his lips every time he first saw Miya, since he knew of her current situation, yet, felt that he was unable to do much for her. However, he honestly tried to do his best in aiding her and would help her in whatever way he could, jumping at every opportunity that presented itself. The senior looked around the place to see that it was practically sparkling – the work of Lee Miya’s cleaning. “So, you’re done?”

“Um… yep! Pretty much!” There seemed to be something a bit off about Miya, Baekhyun noticed, due to her more than usual spacing out sessions. He waved a hand in front of her face as he approached her. “Hey, Miya, seems like something’s on your mind… then again, it’s not like there’s ever a time when there’s not something on your mind,” Baekhyun flashed a cheeky grin as Miya tried to give her deadliest glare. However, judging by her brother figure’s laughter, she most likely failed at it.

“Baekhyun…”

“Okay, sorry, sorry,” There was a slight pause between the two. “… but you can be a scatterbrain,” An “O” shape was formed by Miya’s mouth as she looked at him, obviously insulted, but she ignored it in the end and turned her head away from Baekhyun. “That’s a horrible thing to say,”

“Hey, it’s true,” The troubled teenager’s friend was known to be comical, but, also, blunt at times and, by now, Miya had already gotten used to it. “… I’m not talking to you for a week,”

“You don’t mean that,” A deafening silence consumed the air once again until Baekhyun had decided to break the short silence with a suggestion. “That’s right! We haven’t been able to hang out in a while and your oppa here has been craving your yummy ddeokbokki!”

At his proposal, Miya blinked a few times, but smiled, wanting to hang out with her friends as well. It had been a good few weeks or so since they were able to hang out and the times they were able to “hang out” were really Baekhyun’s monthly inspections of her neighborhood to ensure that his little sister was doing alright.

“Sure! When-” It was then a thought had struck her and reminded Miya of her situation.

…

 Kai…

“A-Ah, Baekhyun-”

“That’s oppa to you,” The younger one couldn’t help but groan slightly, due to both her reluctance to call Baekhyun “oppa” and, also, her abrupt realization of the new guest in her apartment. She feigned a cough, preparing herself to appeal to her older brother, “Oppa,”

Baekhyun smiled at her obedience and couldn’t help but squeal a little on the inside, since he was rarely able to see his younger sister’s cuteness. Though, he did have a bit of an underlying suspicion as to why Miya was being so cooperative today.

“I... just remembered that the house is really messy and I’m doing so stuff… so, maybe next time!” Miya had said the phrase in a quick breath of less than two seconds which gained a quirked eyebrow from the taller sibling.

“…? Messy? But dongsaeng-ah, your house is never messy,”

“…”

It seemed that silence would be Miya’s best friend in the next few weeks that were to come.

“Well… you know how I get my busy periods and things get messy? Yeah! My place is really messy, so I can’t let you see the house quite yet!”

“But, your definition of ‘messy’ is different from the dictionary’s… scratch that, anyone’s, really. It’s probably not even that messy and I could help you cl-”

“A-Ah! Wait! There’s something else, too!”

“… Are you hiding something from me?”

Gulp.

Bingo.

“N-No, there’s just a lot of stuff at my place right now so-” Baekhyun knew the obvious ministrations which told him that Miya was lying. She was a horrible liar and there were a millions signs that someone could easily pick up on to tell she wasn’t being honest.

The stuttering.

The refusal to look into the eyes.

“Miya… look at me and tell me the truth,” The final touch was her habitual biting of the lip and it was at that moment the reader knew that his little sister was hiding something.

Now he needed to find out exactly what.

“It really hurts when you won’t tell me what’s up,” Baekhyun attempted to play the “puppy-eye” trick on Miya, figuring that it was a good method of getting her to give in and it worked a good 99.9% of the time. If he could just get her to look at him, Miya would surely cave!

Miya tightly shut her eyes as she shook her head. “O-Oppa… I’m really sorry. Can you trust me on this one? It’s really nothing… I just can’t tell you now or else I’ll get into trouble with my landlord,”

At this, Baekhyun frowned, knowing that Miya had quite a stubborn nature when it came to certain matters. In this case, it was keeping a secret from him.

He couldn’t help but cry on the inside.

“Hmph! Fine! I’m not talking to you, Lee Miya!” With the final sentence from him said, the hurt brother walked away, leaving behind a rather guilty younger sister. She groaned and buried her head in her hands.

I’m sorry, Baekhyun…

On the other hand, Baekhyun was determined than ever and began to make plans. His hand curled under his chin to form a thinking pose as he started to ponder.

I’ll find out what she’s hiding from me…