Previously in "Arrogance and Ignorance"...

"And that was how the King and Queen of Aogenki fell in love.”

“AWWWWWWW, but they didn’t kiss!” the kids pouted and whined. You cast a nervous glance in Kai’s direction; he didn’t seem to be bothered by the complaint.

“Umm, well…” you frantically wracked your brain for a reason, looking at Kai and hoping he would come up with something fast. Only, he turned to you, a smirk plastered on his lips. You didn’t like that look. You didn’t like that look at all.

“Kai?” You chuckled nervously. “What’re you thinking?” He shrugged and looked away, while you let out a sigh of relief.

“Alright kiddies, it’s time to-” You started, but then a most curious thing happened.

Kai kissed you, full on the lips.

Your head was reeling as you sat on the bench out in the yard. The kids were now all asleep and you had slipped out of the building without Kai noticing after his little stunt. In all honestly, you were unsure of how to interpret the kiss. It wasn't your first, though it brought with it new feelings, and at the present moment, you were distraught over how to deal with them.

"You look pensive," Kai said, taking the seat next to yours. "Care to share?"

"Why'd you kiss me?" you asked straight out, not wanting to beat around the bush. He didn't seem surprised by the question, and even gave a little chuckle before answering.

"Because the kids asked us to," he said simply. There was a pause, as if he wanted to say something more." And, well, because I wanted to." You looked at him, and for some reason, you didn't doubt that his words were the truth.

"I see." You whispered, barely hanging on to your out-of-control emotions.

"Are you mad?"

"I don't know."

"I'm sorry."

You were both silent after that, you thinking, and Kai doing the same. Suddenly, he stood and turned towards you.

"I'm gonna go back inside. Don't stay out here to long, okay, Doll Face?" He gave you a halfhearted grin, and walked away.

"Don't call me Doll Face," you playfully called after him. You were glad that he was trying to return things to normal. You liked normal. You knew how to deal with normal.

You stayed on the bench for a bit longer, just looking up at the sky and thinking. After a while, you got up and returned inside, satisfied that for now, things between you and Kai would stay the same.

Little did you know that Life had something a little different in mind.

***********

"So, how was your weekend?" Eun Chae asked you on Monday morning. "You look different somehow... Like something good happened. OMONA! DID YOU MEET SOMEONE?"

"Keep your voice down, pabo," you said, hushing her and rolling your eyes. "Nothing like that happened. Jeez, getting so worked up for no reason."

"Don't try to hide it, Kaemi," Eun Chae said, giving you a sly look. "I'm your best friend. I can tell these things you know." You shook her head, but smiled. She was right, you were terrible at hiding things from her.

"Anyways, I did meet a guy this weekend," Eun Chae said, practically bouncing out of her seat. "And he has a friend that I want you to meet. I think you two would be perfect together."

"Oh, brother," you mumbled, resting your head on your desk.

"No, he's a friend," Eun Chae said, being silly on purpose. "And hopefully, if you guys get together, then maybe Kai will stop messing with you." Your head popped up. You had almost forgotten about Kai and his kiss. Almost.

"Eun Chae," you said, your voice low. "I'm going to tell you something, and you have to promise not to freak out and yell, okay?" You knew should would anyway, but it didn't hurt to try.

"Fine, fine, fine," she said impatiently. "I won't yell, okay? Now what is it?"

"Kai kissed me," you leaned over and whispered in her ear. You pulled back and watched as the words sunk in and her face went through al the stages of confusion, shock, anger, confusion again, and then settled on shock.

"HE DID WHAT, NOW?" She shouted, popping up out of her seat, and once again earning the attention of everyone in the class. "I AM GONNA RIP HIS-" You slapped your hand over and dragged her out of the classroom.

"Calm down, Eun Chae," you said, still holding your hand over . "It's not that big of a deal. Seriously, I didn't even lose any sleep over it." So that last bit about sleep was a bit of a lie. When you'd gotten home at the end of the day, you had locked yourself in your room and proceeded to have it out with your feelings, well into the night. When you finally did get to sleep, you conked out for a good ten hours and didn't wake up until the middle of Sunday afternoon.

"Erfff I werfff yumff I werhrff smrfff hmmf," Eun Chae said, her voice still muffled by your hand. You removed it so that she could speak properly. "If I were you, I would have smacked him."

"I don't think that would have been very prudent in front of the kids," you said.

"To hell with the kids, he violated you!"

"You make it sound like he accosted me in a dark alley or something."

"He might as well have, for all it's worth," Eun Chae said, realizing that she was clearly the more worked up one. "I mean really. Why would he do that? I just don't get it."

"Why would who do what?"

You both turned to find Kai walking towards you, hands shoved in his pockets, uniform jacket slung over one shoulder carelessly. Your face paled. After your talk with yourself Saturday night, you thought you would be able to handle seeing him again (after all, when you parted ways things had seemed semi-normal). Apparently, that wasn't the case.

"Nothing," you said quickly, grabbing Eun Chae's arm and pulling her back into the class. "Something about another creepy blind date."

"Oh," he said, following you two and taking his usual seat in front of yours. He didn't say much to you after that, and simply napped for a few minutes before the teacher came in, and you stood to greet him.

For the rest of the class, you found it hard to pay attention. You were intensely staring at Kai's back, your mind trying to sort out why he wasn't being his normal self, and if it had anything to do with the kiss, and if now that meant he wasn't going to bother you anymore, and, and...

"Miss Shin," The teacher said, snapping you out of your reverie. "Would you care to enlighten the class on why you find that glaring a hole in the back of your classmate is more important than paying attention to my lesson?" You gave him a sheepish look.

"Sorry, seonsaengnim," you mumbled, averting your eyes away from Kai and to the blackboard. When the teacher’s back was turned, Kai gave you a quick glance over his shoulder. There was his smirk, back and in action, and for some reason, instead of annoyed, it made you feel reassured.

When class was over, you dashed out before either Eun Chae or Kai could stop you, and nearly sprinted to the library. To be surrounded by all of those books was a comfort, and you needed that above all at the moment.

You found yourself a table near the back; no one ever came back here, and you knew privacy would be yours. You plopped yourself down in the chair and pulled out the notebook that Kai had returned to you. You hadn't touched it since that day, simply being too busy to do so. It was in this notebook that you had written the original tale about King Kae Jong and Queen Min.

You pulled out your pen and began to write. Just a free write, nothing that seemed to make sense with the last entry, but whatever came to mind. It was relaxing and before you knew it, you found yourself trying to keep your eyes open. Finally, you just gave up and rested your head on top of your arms, falling into a light nap.

***********

"Uhm, excuse me?" You blearily blinked your eyes open and sat up quickly. You sat up so quickly, in fact, that you knocked your head against the person hovered over your sleeping form.

"Ow... I am so sorry," you said, rubbing the sore spot on your forehead. "Really, I didn't mean to fall asleep here."

"No, that's okay," the guy said, and you realized now that you had never seen him before in your life. "I just wanted to tell you that you phone keeps going off." You dug around in your bag for the offending electronic and found several missed texts and calls.

"Thanks," you said, giving an appreciative smile. "I'm Kaemi, by the way. Nice to meet you."

"Lee Taemin," he introduced. "Glad I could help."

"I'm really sorry about knocking into you just then," you said, your own head still slightly stinging. "I can go and get you some medicine from the nurse if you get a headache, if you'd like me to."

"Seriously, it's fine," he reassured. "But if you want to make it up to me, how about buying me a coffee after school?" You smiled; he was smooth, really smooth.

"Sounds good," you said with a chuckle. "I'd be happy to."

"So I'll meet you in front of the gates after the bell?"

"I'll be there."

He gave you one last smile before heading off around the shelves and out of sight. You stretched and checked the time, almost lunch. Gathering up your things, you headed towards your locker, replaying the conversation in your head.

"Was I just asked out on a date?" you wondered out loud, opening your locker and pulling out your lunch. When you closed the door, you were shocked to see Kai standing there.

"Omona!" You backed into the locker next to yours, clutching your lunchbox to your chest. "You scared me, Jongin!"

"So I heard you got asked on a date," he said, though you couldn’t tell by his tone where he was going with that statement.

"Yeah, just after school," you said, lowering you lunchbox. "Just for coffee." You don't know why you were explaining; it was none of his business, really.

"I see," Kai said, taking a step back. "Is he cute?"

"Yeah," you said hesitantly. "Why, are you interested?" Kai scoffed at your joke and began to walk towards the cafeteria. With a slightly confused shrug, you followed after him. You looked for Eun Chae, who waved you over to a table for two in the corner.

"I heard you skipped last class," she said, sipping at a carton of strawberry milk. "Everything okay?"

"Yeah," you said, opening your lunch and taking a bite of plain rice. "I just needed a little time to myself. Especially after that embarrassing moment in class."

"So, did you like it?" She asked you suddenly.

"Like what?" you replied, narrowing your eyes suspiciously.

"The kiss of course," she said, dropping her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "What else?"

"I don't know how I feel," you said with a shrug. It was true. You hadn't figured out much of anything, despite trying to convince yourself otherwise. "I just want things to go back to normal right now."

"Well, I can help you do that," Eun Chae said, and you got the sense that she was hoping you'd say something like that.

"What hair-brained, boy-crazy scheme have you cooked up this time?"

"Well," she said, leaning in closer. "Remember how I told you I met this guy who has a friend? Well, he texted me just a few minutes ago and wanted to know if we wanted to get together this weekend and do a double-date. Wouldn't that be fun?"

"No harm in doing," you said, not really thinking about it. "Last time was okay, I guess."

"Last time you hardly talked to the guy, so of course it was just 'okay' for you," she pointed out, and your rolled your eyes.

"Whatever," you said, giving her a small smile. "Just make sure to give me some more solid details before then, okay?"

"Don't worry, I will," she said. "Oh, and I can't walk home with you today, my parents wanted me to come home a little early. They said they had some big news or something like that."

"Maybe they finally listened to your pleas and found a way to get you Ian Somerhalder for your birthday," you joked, earning a fangirlish squeal from your best friend. You knew how much she adored the pretty American actor, and she had been jokingly asking her parents to get him as a present for her birthday.

"That's okay, I have to meet someone anyways," you said. She gave you a look, but didn't press any further. You chatted about random things for a little before you remembered that you had to go and see Sehun.

"Hey there you," you said, walking up to the table where he, Baekhyun, Chanyeol, and Kai sat. "Feeling better?"

"Hi Noona," he said, still sounding a little stuffy. "I'm feeling a bit better now that you're here."

"Aren't you just the little lady killer," you said, taking the empty seat between Chanyeol and Baekhyun. "The kiddies miss you, you know. Min Jung keeps asking about her Hunnie-Oppa."

"I'll be there this week for sure," Sehun said, smiling. "I heard that the weekend was good though. And you told the story about Kae Jong and Min."

"Oh, yeah," you said, not sure if Kai told him or the others what had happened. "They really enjoyed it. Kai helped a lot." You gave him a look out the corner of his eye, but he seemed distracted by something and wasn't paying much attention.

"Yeah, he offered to go when I said I was sick," Sehun explained. "Glad you had fun together."

"So, Kaemi," Baekhyun said with a sly grin. "You and Kai are cool now? That's good."

"I wouldn't exactly say that," Kai interjected, giving you a cool glare. "I think I have a better understanding of her feelings though." You gave him a confused look.

"Oh really, now?" you asked, skeptical. What was he getting at with that cold look and cryptic words?

"Yeah, I do," he said. Baekhyun looked uneasily between the two of you. "You've made it very clear that you hate me. I guess I didn't really get that until just now. Well, I hate you too, so I am glad we are on equal footing." You were shocked. What brought that on all of a sudden? His words seemed to cut into you and you could feel a lump forming in your throat.

"But I thought-" Chanyeol protested, but you cut him off by standing suddenly.

"I guess if that's the case, then I will be taking my leave," you said quietly, grabbing your lunchbox and swiftly leaving the cafeteria. Baekhyun, Chanyeol and Sehun just stared at your retreating form while Kai sat silently fuming.

"What was that for, you idiot?" Chanyeol asked giving Kai a hard look. Kai didn't answer but stood to leave as well. Baekhyun put a hand on his arm and he paused.

"I don't know what actually happened between you two in the last 72 hours, but somehow, I feel like you should apologize to her," he said, before letting Kai go. "I don't like to see either of you upset." Kai walked away, trying to understand exactly why he had said what he did to you.

Of course he was not exactly happy that you were going to be going to meet some other guy for coffee. That was as clear to him as the fact that he liked you. What made him the most frustrated was that, even though he practically confessed to you afterwards, you didn't even blink and accepted the date with the other guy. And what's more, is that when he asked you, it seemed as if it were no big deal to you.

"Yeah, just crush my feelings like a little bug, why don't you," he mumbled, shoving his hands in his pockets. He headed in the direction of the library. He didn't really want to face you right now, and figuring that you wouldn't dare skip two classes in a row, knew he wouldn't run into you there.

"Oh! Hey, Kai," a cheery voice greeted him as he walked into the library. Kai looked up to see who had spoken.

"Oh, hey Taemin-Hyung," he said sulkily. "What's up?"

"Not much," Taemin said, noting Kai's mood. "What's up with you? You seem a bit more sulky than usual."

"Eh, nothing I won't get over," Kai said with a non-committal shrug. Taemin gave him a look, but dropped the subject.

"Hey listen," he said. "Jonghyun wants me to go on a group date this weekend. I really don't want to go, but he's making me. Wanna come along?" Kai, thinking that this would probably get his mind off of you, nodded.

"Why not? I might meet a cute girl or two," he said. "Just text me, okay?" With that, he re-exited the library, no longer needing to think. He knew that this would be a good distraction from you. After all, if you could go about dating guys willy-nilly, then he could go about dating girls willy-nilly.

Guys, you don't even understand. I had this chapter written down on paper completely different that what came out in this update. Seriously, Taemin didn't even originally appear. I just sat down and started writing this and this is what happened. What do you think? How do you think this group date will go? Any ideas about what they should even do? Leave a comment, and if you haven't already, subscribe.

I looooooove you :3

-Aeru