The next day at school, Min Ki spotted Key in the school library sleeping, and decided to go talk with him about the project.

 

"Key," Min Ki nudged his shoulder a bit, sitting next to him at the table he was at. Key stirred in his sleep, but continued to rest. Min Ki smacked her paperback book onto Key's head, waking him immediately.

 

"Ow!!" Key whined loudly, rubbing his head and earning a disappointing look from the librarian. "What was that for?!" he whisper-shouted.

 

"Did you get any sleep last night?" she asked.

 

"Like, maybe... 4, 5 hours? I don't know," he yawned. Min Ki felt a wave of guilt rush through her body as she remembered that he stayed up all to take care of her.

 

"Sorry," she looked down. "But I had a good idea of how we could work the project out. See, what we could do with the conclusion is that-" Min Ki was cut off by Key's snoring. "Guess it'll just have to wait..." she whispered to herself and watched as Key dozed off. She unknowingly swiped a strand of hair to the side that had fallen and flopped around his face carelessly. Suddenly, the school bell rang, breaking her out of here trance. 

 

"Crap," she muttered and shook Key's arm. "Key, the bell rang, time to go to class."

 

***

 

When class ended, Min Ki made her way to her table during lunchtime like how she normally did. She plopped her bag onto the bench across from hers and began taking her lunch out when somebody sat at her table. She looked up, and wasn't surprised to see Key there, smiling.

 

"Hey Key," Min Ki casually greeted him. Key was a bit shocked. I think she's grown to like me now...

 

"What are you doing here?" Key asked.

 

"...Eating...?" she replied, confused.

 

"Come over to our table, friends should eat with each other, right?" Key dared to say 'friend' in front of Min Ki. Key crossed his fingers behind him, hoping she would finally let him in.

 

"Friends?" Min Ki raised her eyebrow.

 

"Yeah, I mean, you've hung out with us a lot, I just thought we... were," Key sadly looked at her.

 

Min Ki thought a while and sighed. "I guess.... Where's your table?" 

 

Key's eyes widened, and he did a little victory dance, making people stop and stare. "Finally~!" he shouted.

 

"Don't make me change my mind," Min Ki warned, following him to his table. As they got there, everyone seemed to stop their conversations.

 

"Guys, Min Ki's gonna sit with us, that okay? I'll take that as a yes," Key quickly answered his own question and sat down in between Jonghyun and Taemin.

 

"Here Min Ki, you can sit here," Nicole pat a seat in between her and Minho. Min Ki obeyed and sat down. "I'm glad you're eating with us now, it gets so annoying being the only girl here," Nicole rolled her eyes and dropped a blob of hand sanitizer in the palm of her hand. Min Ki smiled in response and didn't dare to look at Minho, afraid he would see her flustered face.

 

"Annyeong," Minho tapped her shoulder. Once he got her attention, he waved happily. Min Ki nodded and returned the gesture. "I really liked your singing the other day."

 

"Y-You did?" she almost choked on her sandwich getting the words out.

 

"Loved you," he winked. Min Ki felt heat rush to her face.

 

"W-What did you say?" 

 

"I said I loved it," he repeated.

 

"Right. Loved it. Thanks," she thanked him and returned to her lunch. Man, I'm hearing things...

 

"Lessons?" he simply asked.

 

"My mom taught me," Min Ki looked down at sound of her mother.

 

"Was she a singer?" he questioned.

 

"Was."

 

"Oh, well what does she do now?" Minho questioned yet again. Min Ki thought she was about to explode with sadness and anger, but she couldn't let that show.

 

"I-I don't know, we don't keep in touch," she bit her lip to prevent any other noise from coming out of .

 

"I'm really sorry to hear that. Was it a divorce?" Does he not know what privacy means?!

 

Min Ki slammed her hands on the table, gaining attention from everyone there. "No. No, it was not a divorce, for your information, both my parents left me! Any more questions?!" she snapped at him and left, leaving the rest of her lunch and school bag there.

 

As she was walking, she couldn't help but let a couple of tears fall down her face, making her angrier and make everything she walked past grow hotter and even melt a bit. Soon, her tears started to flow carelessly down her face, and she ran to the bathroom to wipe them before anyone else saw.

 

***

 

Min Ki didn't talk to anybody the rest of the day. First of all, she felt bad for yelling at Minho like that, and second of all, everyone now knew about her dreadful past.

 

"Min Ki!" Minho's voice sounded as she was walking home with Yuri. Min Ki turned, then pivoted her heel to Yuri.

 

"You can go on ahead, I'll catch up with you," she told her. Yuri gave her a slight nod before walking off, leaving Min Ki to tend to the wound that separated her and Minho.

 

She crossed her arms and waited for Minho to come over to her. "Min Ki, I'm really sorry about your parents."

 

"I don't take pity. If that's all, I'll just be on my-" she was about to turn away when Minho grabbed her wrist.

 

"Wait. I didn't know, I'm really sorry. I should have known not to get into your personal life," Minho apologized. Min Ki poked her tongue into the inside of her cheek.

 

"It's okay," she awkwardly said.

 

"At least let me make it up to you by walking home," he offered.

 

***

 

The whole walk home, the two talked about random things, and Minho even got Min Ki to laugh once or twice. 

 

"That was fun," Minho commented once they reached Min Ki's door.

 

"I guess, yeah," Min Ki agreed.

 

"Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Min Ki," Minho was about to walk off when Min Ki interrupted him.

 

"Mikki."

 

"Excuse me?" 

 

"You can call me Mikki if you want, it's what I'm usually called by people I know," Min Ki smiled warmly at him.

 

Minho beamed, "Thanks. Then I'll see you tomorrow, Mikki~!"

 

***

 

Key walked to school the next day with Onew, Minho, Jonghyun, and Taemin. As they were joking around, Minho spotted Min Ki across the street.

 

"Is it okay if she walks with us?" Minho asked them. They nodded, for they were all used to her being around already.

 

Minho cupped his hands around his mouth and waved at the moping girl. "Mikki! You wanna walk with us?" he shouted.

 

Key's head automatically popped up when he heard the rarely used nickname. He glanced over at Min Ki, and saw that she had no problem with it as she was already on her way over to the small group. Why does he get to use her nickname but I can't??? He unknowingly began stomping his feet.

 

Onew, noticing this, tapped him on the shoulder. "Dude, you okay?" 

 

"Just peachy."