“Hello?”

“Hae Jung?”

“Oh, hey, Sung Ra.”

“Hey, I haven’t talked to you in a while.”

“It’s only been, like, two days, Sung Ra. Calm down.”

“I know. I just miss you.” Hae Jung could tell that Sung Ra was pouting, but it wasn’t like she was actually upset.

“Oh, I see,” Hae Jung replied. Hae Jung didn’t show much affection to her friends, and they all knew that. Hae Jung was known to be almost afraid of skinship.

“You’re so unaffectionate!” Sung Ra accused her. Sung Ra knew it wouldn’t be any good telling her. “Anyway, how’s school?”

“Hm, school’s alright, I guess. I’m just falling a bit behind in Science and Math, but it’s good otherwise,” Hae Jung explained, scratching the back of her head. She was sitting in her living room while her little sister, Min Jung, watched television, and her older sister, Hyo Jung, was on her laptop. Her parents were in the kitchen, discussing some financial matters as usual. Hae Jung decided that it was a bit noisy for her to be speaking on the phone, so she got up and made her way to her bedroom.

“Oh, that’s good,” Sung Ra spoke into the phone. “It’s okay here, too. I think my mark in Geo is kind of low though, but Mr. Jung is so weird!” Hae Jung snickered at this, recalling the times Sung Ra had spoken of Mr. Jung and his odd behaviour as a teacher.

Hae Jung fell back on her bed, staring up at the blank ceiling. “You know what happened the other day?” Hae Jung sung. There was a smile on Hae Jung’s face that had formed without her even realizing.

“What?” Sung Ra urged, hearing the excitement in Hae Jung’s voice. Sung Ra sat on her bed as well, ready to listen to whatever story Hae Jung had to tell her.

“Kai brought me home the other day again.”

“Again?”

Sung Ra knew of all the times Hae Jung went home with Kai. In fact, all of Hae Jung's friends knew. She begged them not to make such a big deal out of it, but how could they not? They , but Kai was never around for them to make Hae Jung even more embarrassed. Hae Jung left out a lot of details for those were the things she wanted to keep to herself.

“Yeah, but before I went home, he brought me to his dance studio. I didn’t even know he danced, but he told me he joined a dance crew. I wasn’t surprised though, but when we got there, only one member was there. He goes to my school, too, though. He was nice, I guess.” Hae Jung took a breath. “And then, we went for dinner, and we started to talk about our love lives,” Hae Jung added with a laugh. It was funny when she thought about it now.

“Really?” Sung Ra wiggled her eyebrows, although, Hae Jung couldn’t see. “Wow, Hae Jung, getting close to Kai I see.”

Hae Jung sighed. “As much as I don’t want to admit it out loud, I am. It’s so weird. Like, I didn’t expect me, of all of us, ME to find a guy first!”

“Oh, so you’re thinking about Kai that way?”

“Oh, no!" Hae Jung yelled, flustered. She lowered her voice as she continued, "I don’t mean find a guy like that. I just mean for me to be so, uh, close with a guy so fast!” Some of Hae Jung’s friends also had male friends in their own classes. It was quite amusing to hear their stories actually. But the difference was that Hae Jung was actually close to the guy she had found whereas her friends were being asked out, or crushed on. Or maybe not. Maybe Kai and I are not close at all…he never says we’re friends himself though! Hae Jung had also left that part out.

“Oh, yeah, I know what you’re talking about,” Sung Ra understood. She scrunched her nose up before asking, “Is he good-looking?”

“What?” Hae Jung’s eyebrows knitted together. “Um, yes? I think he’s really good-looking. I told you how he looks, haven’t I?”

“Aha, you have.”

They continued to talk a bit, sharing some stories of recent events. Hae Jung and Sung Ra could never grow apart even though they were in different schools. Their friendship could withstand almost anything.  

Sung Ra approved of Kai. He sounded like such a nice and attractive guy. Sung Ra was a tough girl though. It was hard for a male to meet her expectations, but at the same time, Sung Ra wasn’t a judgmental kind of person. But Hae Jung didn’t tell her that Kai was a player, or that he didn’t consider them friends. Well, at least, not out loud.

The next day, Hae Jung hoped to see Kai, thinking of last Friday. She never bumped into him. To be honest, she wasn’t able to see him again until the last week of school before summer break.

It was a boring Monday, but for the students, they were counting down the days until their summer began. Lunchtime had come around before anyone could escape their tiredness.

Hae Jung and her friends were eating at their usual table. There were her normal female friends, and a couple male friends they had as well. Hae Jung sat at the end of the table, but there was still room for one more person.

“…so, I told him “no.” His friends are so rude though. They think they can just mooch off of us like that though.” They were talking about a friend named Hee Byul who always found himself and his friends from class broke, and they were always coming up to Hae Jung and her friends for money.

“That’s so rude!” Hae Jung exclaimed. Suddenly, she felt someone slide into the seat next to her. Hae Jung turned her head to see Kai. “O-oh, hi, Kai!” Hae Jung began to grow nervous.

“Hi, Hae Jung,” Kai greeted ever so casually. He smiled at her. Then, he smiled at her friends. “Hi, guys!” The friends that knew Kai waved to him. “Oh! I know you guys!” Kai clapped his hands together in delight. Hae Jung looked at him with a puzzled expression, but he just flashed a reassuring smile. “I met you guys when you went to the mall for, um…Ha Young’s birthday, right?” They all nodded, falling for Kai’s warm smile. “And, um, I’m sorry, I don’t know you guys.” Kai was looking at the group of boys also seated at their cafeteria table.

“Ugh, Kai, you’re so weird,” Hae Jung muttered under her breath, so that only Kai would hear. “Why are you here?”

“Hey,” Kai spoke softly, “Just introduce me to your lovely male friends.” A light hearted laugh came out of Hae Jung's mouth before turning back to the guys across the table. She took a deep breath in.

“This is Kai, you guys,” she spoke to them, hoping to get their attention for they were on their laptops. They looked up, and she grinned at Kai.

“Hey,” they greeted with low, monotone voices.

“You guys are so unfriendly,” Hae Jung scolded. She sighed once again. “Anyway, Kai, this is Ha Rin, Soo Min, Hwa Jin, Hae Min, and Jonghyun.”

Kai was friendly anyway, and said, “Oh, nice to meet you guys." Unlike females, they didn’t melt because of Kai’s smile. Instead, they just nodded their heads at him. Kai whispered with a smirk on his face to Hae Jung, “You know, their names all rhyme except for Jonghyun’s.”

Hae Jung blinked once before bursting out into laughter. The others at her table gave her a weird look. “That’s so funny!” she laughed. “I never noticed that!”

“So…” Ha Rin began, “…are you, like, Hae Jung’s boyfriend, or something?”

Hae Jung’s eyes grew wide, and so did Kai’s. Everyone turned their attention to Kai and Hae Jung who were sitting at the end of the table together.

“No!” Hae Jung shouted.

“We’re not,” Kai told them, a little more calmly than Hae Jung, adding a smile of reassurance.

The two faced each other and chuckled. Eventually, everyone began to mind their own business and talk amongst themselves.

“So, uh, why are you in here, Kai?” Hae Jung interrogated, picking up a fry from her paper plate. She was looking elsewhere, but Kai’s attention was on her plate of food. He stole a fry and popped it into his mouth.

Kai his lips. “I just…kind of missed you.” Hae Jung whipped her head around. She wore a bewildered look that made Kai laugh.

“Really?” she asked, questioning his sentence. “It hasn’t been that long.” She grabbed another fry and ate it. Kai did the same. “Hey!” Hae Jung screeched. She didn’t stop him though.

While chewing on his fry, he said “Yes, Hae Jung! It hasn’t been that long, but still! It’s been, like, more than a month!”

Hae Jung shrugged, “You’re fine without me for a while, aren’t you?”

Kai wrinkled his nose, causing Hae Jung to snort. “Hey, I can’t go that long without you, Hae Jung.”

“Hm…” Hae Jung continued to eat her fries. Kai swiped some fries off her place, but she noticed.

“I realized, Hae Jung, that we don’t have any way of contact!” Kai told her while eating.

Hae Jung gave his words a thought. …Kai’s right! How have we been this close without any other way of talking? No wonder we barely see each other. It’s only based on if we see each other in school or not. Aren’t we stupid? “You’re right,” she agreed.

“What’s your cellphone number?” Kai asked, fishing for his phone in his pocket. He whipped it out and switched it on.

Hae Jung laughed. “What if I didn’t have a phone?”

Kai turned to her with an unfazed expression. “You still have a house phone, don’t you?” he challenged with a raised eyebrow.

“Fine, do you want both numbers then?”

“Yes, please!” Hae Jung gave him her numbers with just as much as enthusiasm he had receiving them.

Mae Ri, who was sitting directly across from them, leaned forward. “Hey, Kai. Just to tell you, Hae Jung rarely has her phone on her, so if she doesn’t answer texts and whatnot, don’t be surprised. I think it’d just be easier to call her home phone because she doesn’t go out much anyway,” Mae Ri told the truth with a playful tone in her voice.

“Oh, really?” Kai faced Mae Ri. “Does she leave her cellphone at home? Geez, Hae Jung’s so forgetful, isn’t she?” Kai made tsk tsk noises while turning to Hae Jung. Mae Ri laughed and so did their other friends. This was what Hae Jung was so nervous about.

Hae Jung yelled, “No! I’m not forgetful! I just…”

“You just what?” Kai teased, widening his eyes at Hae Jung. Hae Jung, who couldn’t think of a comeback in words, stuck her tongue out at him. He laughed at her.

Everyone could see what went on between Kai and Hae Jung. Well, her female friends at that. They all exchanged glances. They noticed how playful they were with each other, but just by a small conversation, they knew Kai knew her well. And that Hae Jung knew him well, too. They were all envious. Although, each of them had their own friends of the opposite gender, none of them had a relationship like Kai and Hae Jung’s.

“Do you think Hae Jungie likes him?” Ki Young asked Chan Mi. They were sitting a couple seats away from the couple, so they wouldn’t be heard.

Chan Mi frowned. “Nah, I don’t think so.” Chan Mi took another look at Hae Jung who was laughing after Kai said something to her. She re-evaluated her thoughts. “Well…not yet?”

Chan Mi and Ki Young kept their eyes on their best friend and her male friend. It was peculiar, seeing Hae Jung with someone they didn’t know very well themselves. They knew Hae Jung was a friendly and considerate person to all people, but they knew Kai was dear to her.

“Stop taking my fries!” Hae Jung cried, smacking Kai’s arm.

“But I don’t have a lunch!” Kai defended himself.

Hae Jung displayed an unconcerned face. “Then go buy one,” she suggested nonchalantly.

“Mm, I’m not that hungry though,” Kai told her, snatching another fry off of her plate.

Hae Jung rolled her eyes. “Then why do you keep taking my fries?” she sneered as she grabbed the fry Kai stole and nibbled on it. She shook her head as if to make Kai feel bad.

Kai smirked and stuck his tongue out at Hae Jung. He sighed as he concentrated on Hae Jung eating her fries. I want another fry. Hae Jung turned her head and saw Kai with big, pleading eyes and a pout. She sighed and held a fry out in front of him. He opened his mouth for her to feed him. She did it with no hesitation. The corners of his lips turned upward. Then, it morphed into a frown.

“What?” Hae Jung questioned his sudden look of distress.

Kai looked down at his hands folded neatly together on the table. Kai confessed under his breath, “I’m sorry, Hae Jung. Ugh, it was your sixteenth birthday, too! I forgot to wish you happy birthday last week, but...happy birthday!” He pressed his lips together. “I don’t know how to make it up to you, so…” Kai chewed on his lip, and by then, he was wondering if he had picked up this habit from Hae Jung.

Hae Jung had a blank expression. Kai forced himself to look at Hae Jung, nervous because she wasn’t saying anything. “How could you?”

“I’m sorry, Hae Jung, I realized that I didn’t-”

“I’m just kidding, Kai. Calm down,” Hae Jung laughed. “It’s fine. Better late than never, right?” Kai nodded his head, still with a sullen expression on his face. “You don’t have to make it up to me. There’s nothing I really want anyway. It’s okay, Kai. I’m good.”

Kai knew that Hae Jung wasn’t lying, but he felt bad anyway. I’ll make it up to her somehow. “Are you sure?”

“Yes,” she sternly answered.

Kai and Hae Jung were having a bit of a staring concert now. “Are you sure?” Kai repeated.

“Yes!” Hae Jung uttered. “It’s okay, Kai. Really, I don’t want anything!”

They were still looking into each other’s eyes until Kai leaned back and sighed. “Fine,” he gave in. Hae Jung nodded her head, and finished the last fries. Haha, I’m sorry, Hae Jung. I lied. I’ll definitely get you something.

Kai ended up spending the rest of his lunch with Hae Jung and her friends. It was entertaining. Her friends would reveal embarrassing stories about Hae Jung which made Hae Jung angry. Kai spent some time with her male friends, occupied with their laptops. He bonded with them for they were all playing StarCraft, something all of them were mutually interested in. Hae Jung was slightly uncomfortable with it, but she was quite content seeing Kai with her own friends. People his age.

*****

Since it was their last week of school, it also meant tests for each subject. Monday was the last day before tests. Four subjects for one semester meant four tests at the end of the semester. The rest of the school days were taken up by tests that were similar to exams, but not quite. No one was going home straight after the bell. They were going to stay at school and study. But as for Hae Jung and her friends, they decided to spend their time at the library together. They wouldn’t leave until midnight, and this is how the rest of the week would go. The group would study for whatever test they had the next day.

Eventually, Friday came along, and they finished their Science test. Hae Jung was confident she passed each test, but she didn’t know by how much. It was nerve-wracking and tiring, but none of them could run from it. The bell had rung, but it didn’t feel any different.

“How do you guys think you did?” Chan Hyo asked all of them. She, Hae Jung, Ki Young, Chan Mi, Min Ji, So Ra, and Mae Ri were going out to eat as a reward. They were walking over to a restaurant that was a 10-minute walk from their school. Unfortunately, their male friends and Min Chan didn’t feel like joining them.

“I think I passed,” Ki Young and Hae Jung said in unison.

Everyone else shrugged, a little too tired to answer Chan Hyo. All they wanted was to eat.

It was the last day of school, but all the students were just too exhausted to even celebrate. When the seven sat down at the restaurant, they all let out sighs. They ordered quickly and inhaled the food when it arrived. They barely talked until they finished everything on the table. That was when their excitement kicked in.

“Guys,” Mae Ri called out to them.

“What?” They all turned their heads to Mae Ri.

“We finished our first semester.”

It was silent for a moment. “…you’re right!” they all exclaimed. They all thanked God and the heavens. The girls congratulated each other.

Their quiet conversation turned into a conversation of ecstasy. The seven females talked amongst themselves about what they should do over the summer. Eventually, they decided they were done at the restaurant and exited. The group exchanged goodbyes and hugs and promised to text each other sometime.

Mae Ri, Ki Young, and Hae Jung made a beeline for their bus stop. Ki Young and Mae Ri lived near each other, but they were just heading in the same direction as Hae Jung. They only had that one bus to take while Hae Jung had two.

“Hey, Hae Jungie,” Ki Young whispered. Hae Jung was sandwiched between Ki Young and Mae Ri in the bus.

“What?”

“Isn’t that Kai?”

Mae Ri and Hae Jung looked in the direction Ki Young was looking. To their surprise, Kai was there. With another girl.

“That’s not that girl from last time, is it?” Mae Ri wondered out loud.

Hae Jung shook her head. “I have no idea who that is,” she muttered. “Hm, let me text him.” Hae Jung slipped her phone out, the one she barely used, and even Ki Young and Mae Ri were surprised to see it. “Look up.” Hae Jung sent that to Kai.

Kai was with a totally different girl from So Jin. Hae Jung wondered what happened to her. The girl with Kai had dyed red hair, big, doll-like eyes, and pale skin. She looked small and delicate, but she had a big chest. She had her head on Kai’s shoulder with a blissful smile on her face as she looked up at him. Kai looked down at her and flashed his charming smile, but it wasn’t the way he smiled at Hae Jung. They weren’t in uniforms which made Hae Jung wonder if Kai was wearing his clothes under his uniform the whole day.

Suddenly, the three saw Kai pull out his phone. “Oh, I shouldn’t have done that,” Hae Jung mumbled.

A/N: Oh, hey, guys. Blah, it's Saturday. I worked on this for the past...two days? I have chapter 11 almost done, too, so that will be up soon. I usually work on my fics at, like, one o'clock in the morning. It's quite a long update (3,000+ words). lol, and I already shortened it, but I didn't want to shorten chapter ten anymore. So, uh, here we have Kai with another girl, and Hae Jung seeing all this, lol. Hm, like I said, I'm still trying to spice up the chapters :\ but, um, I don't know. Anyway, I might do a double update...? I have a party to attend though, but we'll see. So, thanks for reading! Comment and subscribe if you haven't and would like to! I appreciate it :) Stay tuned :3 (...I really want some Honey Bubble Tea T.T)

By the way, have you guys listened to NU'EST's new mini-album? Ugh, I'm in love. If you haven't, I really think you should listen to it ^^ Oh man, besides EXO, NU'EST is another group I can't choose a bias in T.T