March had passed and the weather was starting to lighten up besides the April showers. Hae Jung barely stayed at school past five (the time their school ended every day) and when she did, there was always a part of her that wished she would bump into Kai again. She hadn’t seen Kai since the time she walked with him to the bus stop. Being cooped up in a class for nine hours and sometimes longer made it hard for her to see him in school. She wasn’t interested in him…Well, maybe a little bit.

“Kai?” Hae Jung was conversing with another second year she knew from elementary school, Jae Won. The bell just rang, ending school for that Monday. Hae Jung was dashing through the hallway when she saw Jae Won. “No, I haven’t seen him around. We’re not in the same class so I wouldn’t know. Why?”

Hae Jung shook her head. “Nothing. It’s nothing,” she answered without making eye contact.

“Why?” Jae Won repeated again. “Do you like him or something?”

Hae Jung looked at him with a puzzled expression. “What? No! Are you stupid? I don’t know him that well.”

Jae Won raised his hands in defeat. “Okay, okay, I haven’t seen him though!” His voice lowered as he spoke. “You’re so weird, Hae Jung. Asking me about another second year you barely know. To be honest, I don’t really like him. A lot of girls in my grade talk about him a lot.” Jae Won shook his head while kissing his teeth. Hae Jung still wore a confused expression as he spoke. “Ah, anyway, I’ll see you around Hae Jung. I have to go back to class.”

Hae Jung nodded once and watched Jae Won leave. “Asking me about another second year you barely know.” She gave Jae Won’s words a second thought. He’s right. I barely know Kai. Why would Kai talk to me even if I did see him a second time? She exited the school with a clouded mind and headed for the bus stop. Other people were also leaving the school and taking the same bus. Hae Jung felt somewhat relieved to have somewhat familiar people around her.

“Hae Jung!”

Hae Jung turned around and saw Kai taking long strides to her. “Oh, hi, Kai. What’s up?”

Kai huffed as he finally walked slower beside her. “Nothing much,” he smiled. “How about you?”

“Hmm…nothing,” Hae Jung also smiled. The part of her that wished to see Kai again was overjoyed. She didn’t even know anything about him besides his name, that he was a second year, and that he took the opposite bus from hers.

“How’s school going for you?” Kai asked, facing her as they walked. Hae Jung was looking ahead, oblivious of his gaze. He watched her push her glasses up the bridge of her nose. Her bangs covered her forehead, but the rest of her hair was flying back because of the wind. He smiled, admiring the little things she did like that. Kai was feeling the same way as Hae Jung. He barely knew her, but there was a part of him that wished to see her again.

Hae Jung cozied half of her face into her scarf. “Eh, it’s alright,” she answered with a muffled voice. “I thought it’d be less pressurizing, but I guess I was wrong.” She sighed.

Kai laughed. “Yeah, it was, but I wish I was in first year now rather than last year.”

Hae Jung shook her head. “No,” she sneered, “You’re lucky you’re in year two now! Ugh, I just want to leave high school now and it’s only been a month or something.”

Kai laughed again. “Wait, we’re the same age, right?”

Hae Jung turned her head and looked at him with slightly widened eyes. “What?”

“When were you born?”

Hae Jung hesitated to answer. “I was born on July 4^th. Why?”

“Ah! I was born on January 14. The same year as you though.” Kai only realized that at the moment. He was happy to know that they were born in the same year for some reason.

“Oh, really?” Hae Jung exclaimed. “No wonder. You didn’t seem a whole year older than me!” Hae Jung, too, found it nice that they were born in the same year, but she was envious that he was in the grade above hers. “I think that’s weird.”

“What is?” Kai asked. He was now looking ahead and it was Hae Jung’s turn to study him. He had full lips and tan skin. His hair flopped on his head every time he took a step. Hae Jung thought that when he wasn’t smiling he looked especially serious, but when he smiled, it was warm and inviting.

Hae Jung blinked, drawing her eyes away from Kai. She could see the bus stop clearer now and a couple people standing there, waiting. “That we’re born in the same year, but you’re in an older grade.”

“Yeah,” Kai mumbled. “It is weird.” He scratched the back of his neck and stretched it. “It feels especially weird in my class because there’s no one else who was born later, so I don’t really have any friends my age. Like, actually, born in our year.”

“Well, there’s me, right?” Hae Jung asked naively. Kai swallowed the lump in his throat. He stole another glance at Hae Jung and saw the serious expression on her face. He didn’t understand. How can she say that? I barely know her and she barely knows me. Regardless of his thoughts, his heart began to beat a little faster when she asked that.

Kai was popular with girls and found himself in a relationship with a different one almost every other week. Even after meeting Hae Jung and entering a new high school, there were a few girls in school showing interest in him. There were also girls from Seoul, his hometown, who were still calling him. Relationships like that were fun and easy to Kai, but friendships were the harder ones.

It was hard for Kai to make friends with girls. Friendships with girls required a lot of trust and a lot of more work than other kinds of relationships to Kai. They seemed more serious and Kai didn’t think he could ever be that seious.l

The only thing Kai could respond with to Hae Jung’s question was a shrug. They had made it to her bus stop and Kai left without another word. Hae Jung stood at her bus stop, wondering if there was another meaning to Kai’s shrug. It means he doesn’t know, she told herself, but it was only an assumption. Her eyes were glued onto Kai across the street. His hands were in his pockets and he would tense up whenever the wind would blow. He never looked at her as he waited, but when his bus came before hers, he waved to her.

Their eyes met and he waved with a weak smile on his face. Then, he stepped onto the bus. She stood there, dumbfounded. Kai was giving her mixed feelings and she couldn’t figure out if that was a good or bad thing.

*****

The Friday of that week came along quicker than Hae Jung expected. It was third period and she only realized then that it was Friday. Ki Young called her “stupid,” along with her other classmates.

“How could you forget that today is Friday?” Ki Young snorted, hitting the back of Hae Jung’s head.

Hae Jung rubbed at the spot Ki Young hit and answered, “I just did.” The rest of the day went by in a flash and it definitely tired Hae Jung out. She just wanted to go home and take a nap, but she needed to stay at school just a bit longer.

It was 6:45 when Hae Jung finished everything. She didn’t wait up on anyone, but everyone was still working anyway. Hae Jung sighed as she grabbed her things and headed out of the classroom. She dragged her feet across the hallway floor until she looked up to see someone standing there, holding the door open for her. It was Kai.

Kai narrowed his eyes to get a better look at who he was holding the door for. His lips parted slightly when he realized it was Hae Jung. He smiled at her and greeted, “Hey,” when she was close enough to hear him.

Hae Jung smiled. “Hey, Kai,” she said. She walked through the doorway, right past him, and pushed her glasses up. “Thanks.”

“No problem,” Kai grinned. He followed after her and walked next to her. “Headed home?”

With a smile on her face, Hae Jung nodded. “You, too?”

“Hmm…” Kai began. Hae Jung watched Kai tap his chin and look up, pretending to think. “I don’t know. I think I should walk a certain girl home since it’s already this dark outside.” Hae Jung wasn’t one to blush, but she certainly did get flushed. She looked up at the sky for two reasons. One was to hide the wider smile on her face. The second was to verify Kai’s words. I didn’t realize it was this dark. The moon was already out and was the only thing that lit up the sky. After a few moments, she remembered what Kai had said.

“O-oh,” she stuttered. “No, Kai, that’s okay. I can get home myself safely. Don’t worry-”

“No,” Kai bluntly said. “I can’t let you walk home alone when it’s this dark.” Hae Jung didn’t protest or say anymore, so the two walked to her bus stop without any more talking. “I’ll walk you home, ‘kay?”

Kai was still going for this. He was still going for Hae Jung’s heart. To date her. To break her heart. To do whatever he felt like, but he knew with a girl like Hae Jung, it would take a lot more time. That didn’t mean it wouldn’t stop him from going for other girls, but Hae Jung was there first.

Hae Jung bit her lip. “Um, I don’t know,” she sighed. “Don’t you have to go home now, too?”

Kai smirked, “Nah. I’m fine! It’s a Friday night. It’s already almost seven. Plus, I don’t really have much to do these days anyway.” Hae Jung thought, I thought that a guy like him would have more plans on a Friday night. She assumed he was a popular guy, but she didn’t know that he was a player and had his flirtatious ways.

Hae Jung was too tired. She was too tired to protest and make him go home. She was too tired to deal with anxious feelings of travelling alone. So, she went along with Kai’s suggestion.

Kai was focused on Hae Jung who was wrapped up in her own thoughts. He looked to his right to see the bus coming their way. He nudged Hae Jung, his first real contact with her since they bumped into each other. “Hmm?” she looked up from the ground then, a surprised “oh” escaped her lips when she saw the bus. Kai smiled, thinking, Ah, she’s pretty cute.

Kai entered the bus first, noticing the number of empty seats. Hae Jung hopped on as well and took a seat in the back with Kai on her heels.

When the bus started up again, Hae Jung sighed and leaned her head back so she was looking up at the ceiling of the bus. “What’s wrong?” Kai asked with a warm smile on his face.

Hae Jung couldn’t see his face. Her lip twitched before she answered honestly, “I’m just tired.” She huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. Kai sat back in his seat with his eyes still on Hae Jung.

“It’s Friday. You’ll have plenty of time to sleep,” he reassured her. She nodded her head.

“Yeah,” she said with a quiet voice. 

Kai desperately wanted to lend her his shoulder for her to take a nap. He didn’t know what bus stop she would have to get off at, but he figured she wouldn’t sleep for that long. He swallowed the stiff lump in his throat and asked, “How long does it take to bus to your house?” He felt like he was bothering her, seeing as she closed her eyes.

Hae Jung her lips. “Twenty minutes, more or less. Why?”

“Is it only one bus?”

Hae Jung nodded her head even though it kind of slipped off the bus seat every time she nodded. Kai stayed quiet for a bit longer, but he couldn’t keep his eyes off of Hae Jung.

Hae Jung was aware of it. She could feel his eyes on her as if they were burning a hole in her. She pressed her lips together before sitting up straight and opening her eyes. “How about you?”

Kai was taken by surprise and to make it seem as if he wasn’t looking at her, he quickly turned his head to look out the window. “What about me?” he breathed. Eventually, he looked back at Hae Jung who staring at him with wide eyes behind her glasses. He almost let out a laugh because of the expression on her face.

“Well,” she began, not noticing the laugh he was stifling, “Well, um, you take the bus, too, right? How long does it take?”

“Like, ten minutes?” Kai imitated Hae Jung’s action by crossing his arms and sitting back even though his bag was getting squished. “Why?”

Hae Jung shrugged. “Just wondering.” She felt a bit bad realizing that it would take him at least forty minutes to get home from her place. But nonetheless, she was thankful.

“Do you live with your parents?” Kai asked curiously and out of the blue.

Hae Jung bobbed her head up and down. “I live with my parents, two sisters, and my dog.”

“You have two sisters?”

Hae Jung replied, “Um, yeah. I’m a middle child.”

“What are your sisters’ names?” Kai didn’t know what made him ask all these questions. Maybe, he just wanted to get to know her better.

Without hesitation, Hae Jung answered, “Hyo Jung is my older sister and Min Jung is my little sister.”

Kai laughed. “I see Jung is pretty popular in your family,” he teased.

Hae Jung snorted. “Yeah, I know. My mom is weird like that. She wanted all the endings of our names to be the same. Everyone notices that when they meet the three of us,” she laughed. She sighed after her chuckles died down. Kai was smiling brightly along with her. He couldn’t help but notice how Hae Jung was so comfortable with him and answering his questions. Or maybe she was just being nice. Hae Jung noticed how Kai was asking about her so she did the same. “How about you?”

“Me?” Kai asked, clicking his tongue. He knew that she was talking about his family. “I have my parents and two older sisters. I live with my sisters, and my parents are still in Seoul. I don’t know if they’ll want to move here.” Hae Jung nodded aimlessly as she listened to Kai. She wondered why his parents didn’t just move with them. Every family has their issues.

“That must be pretty nice. I mean, living with just my sisters would be nice…but I think I’d rather live with just my parents.” Kai snickered, but when he thought about it, it was definitely the opposite for him. He didn’t have anything against his parents. It was his sisters.

“Nah, I’d rather live here with my sisters than with my parents.”

“But you lived in Seoul! Seoul! Like, h-how could you give that up?” Hae Jung exclaimed. She had wanted to go to Seoul for a long time, but her parents never wanted to travel there. The day when she’d go to Seoul would come soon. It has to come soon. And she was envious of Kai. Someone who had lived in Seoul for almost his whole life didn’t want to stay there anymore and left. How could he have that kind of mentality? Hae Jung shook her head, making tsk tsk noises.

“What?” Kai asked with a laugh. “Why?”

“It’s Seoul! I’m quite the city girl, too, and I’ve always wanted to go to Seoul!”

“And why haven’t you?”

“Because my parents never wanted to go there.” Hae Jung shrugged and added, “I can’t really travel anywhere without my parents obviously.”

Kai smirked, looking at Hae Jung with twinkling eyes. “Then, I’ll take you there.”

“W-what?”

“I’ll bring you there sometime. Maybe the next time I visit my parents.” Kai was being totally honest. The thought of bringing a curious girl like Hae Jung to a hustling and bustling city like Seoul was quite amusing. “Yeah, I’ll bring you, Hae Jung.”

“Really?” Hae Jung asked. A warm smile was replacing the straight line her lips formed. She bit her lip, trying to hide the smile, but Kai had already seen it. “I got to think about it though.”

Kai shrugged. “Well, suit yourself,” he smirked, “But this is a once-in-a-lifetime offer, Hae Jung.”

Hae Jung laughed out loud. “What? Once-in-a-lifetime? Oh, Kai, you’re funny!”

Hearing that he was funny from Hae Jung was quite pleasing. He felt a little more confident about his humour now. “It’s true,” he chirped, looking out the window.

“I just really want to travel the world,” Hae Jung said quietly. Kai focused his attention on Hae Jung once again. The warm smile had re her face and it was cute to see her get so wrapped up in her thoughts. “It’s not just Seoul. I want to go to cities all over the world.”

Kai’s shoulders dropped. “Is that what you want to do later?” he asked with a more serious expression and tone. It seemed like Hae Jung’s desire was to travel the world and it was important.

Hae Jung gave a small smile. “Yeah. I want to become a travel journalist, but my mom is always talking me into doing stuff, like, in the Science department or Medical studies.” Hae Jung’s smile eventually turned into a frown and Kai’s did, too. It reminded him of the reason why he left Seoul.

“Fine! You two do whatever you want! Just don’t live under this roof anymore! Leave this damn house and don’t come back!” Kai’s mother yelled at his two sisters right in front of him.

“Mom-”

“Kai, this doesn’t have anything to do with you!”

“But, Mom, it does because they’re my sisters and you’re my mom! Seeing the three of you like this isn’t right. Mom-”

“Kai, it’s fine. She’s right anyway,” his eldest sister spoke. “We’ll just leave.”

“You do your own things! I’m sick of trying to do what I can for you!” Kai’s mother continued to yell as Kai watched his sisters stomp to their rooms. His mother stormed off into her room and Kai was left standing there. He followed after his sisters.

“Why is mom being like this?” Kai sighed, sinking into his sisters’ bed. He watched them pull out some suitcases from their closet. “Wait, you’re not actually thinking of leaving, are you?” he asked hesitantly, but still with force. He stood up from the bed.

“We’re just so sick of mom and dad trying to make us into…into what they want! We want to live our own lives, so we’re leaving. We’re leaving, Kai, okay?”

“What? Why?”

“Kai, come with us.”

“What?”

“Come with us.”

Kai cleared his throat and answered, “Well, I think it’d be really fun to be a travel journalist. Your mom is just being…a mom.” He couldn’t figure out what words to describe Hae Jung’s mom.

“I know.”

It was quiet between the pair for the next five minutes, but by then, Hae Jung’s stop had come up. They hopped off the bus together and Hae Jung led the way to her house.

“W-Where exactly do you live?”

“Like, two more streets?” Hae Jung guessed. Kai nodded his head. She tore her eyes away from her feet and looked at Kai. “Um, Kai, do you, uh, normally do this?”

“Do what?” Kai looked up at the dark sky, visible clouds rolling in. He scrunched his nose up and looked back down.

Hae Jung slipped her glasses off and began to clean them with her uniform shirt. Kai studied her face without glasses. She looked different, but it wasn’t that noticeable. Her face looked more mature and older and her face seemed duller. She put her glasses back on. She looks better with her glasses on. “Walk girls home.”

“Well, I mean, I can’t just leave a girl and let her be, I don’t know, possibly ? Killed? Both? I-”

“Ugh, please don’t talk about that at night. It creeps me out!” Hae Jung cried, shaking her head and frowning.

“Hey, you asked,” Kai smirked. “Well then, yeah. I guess I do normally walk girls home,” Kai shrugged while rubbing the back of his neck. “I did it a lot back in Seoul.”

Hae Jung didn’t feel very special anymore. She thought he was doing it because they were somewhat close, but she reminded herself once again that she wasn’t very special enough for Kai to think of walking her home as more than a kind gesture. She bit her lip and tried to clear her mind of those thoughts.

The dark sky enveloped the two. The stars weren’t visible, but the moon was glowing. They were both night people. Kai and Hae Jung both were livelier during the nighttime even if they were tired. It wasn’t noticeable tonight for the two were both extremely tired.

The silence was never broken between the two. Hae Jung was too tired to say anything, but ever since she remembered that he was only walking her home out of consideration, she didn’t feel like trying to converse with him. Kai had noticed Hae Jung’s quietness and didn’t say anything, thinking she was too exhausted to speak anymore. However, he found himself feeling the same way.

When they neared her apartment, they were already dragging their feet and fighting the urge to close their eyes. They stood in front of her apartment now, Hae Jung about to put her hand onto the door handle. “Um, thanks, Kai. It was a nicer journey home with you,” she awkwardly answered.

Kai, despite the tired feelings, smiled, “No problem. I had a…nice time with you, too, Hae Jung.”

Hae Jung returned the smile. “Get home safely,” she quietly said.

“I will,” Kai chuckled. “Don’t worry.”

“Get some sleep, too. You probably are as tired as I am.”

“Probably,” Kai grinned. With that, he his heel and walked back to the bus stop.

Hae Jung sighed and pulled the door open finally. She dashed up to her apartment and unlocked the front door. “Hi, mom! Hi, dad!” she greeted as she took her shoes off at the doorway.

“Hi, Hae Jung!” they called back. Hae Jung went straight for her room and flopped onto the bed.

“Ugh,” Hae Jung groaned. “I’m so tired!” She stuffed her face into one of her pillows and yelled into it. She lied down onto her back and stared at the blank ceiling. Suddenly, moments of the whole day flashed her in mind and things started to slow down once they got to the time she spent with Kai.

As the scenes played over in her mind, Hae Jung remembered how he shrugged when she mentioned them being friends. If I were to ask him again the next time I see him, would it still be a shrug?

There were more days like that to come and Hae Jung did not even think about it. She didn’t know that this was actually all new to Kai. Having long conversations about anything, comfortable silences, being able to understand the other’s feelings without having to say much or do much. It was all new to him.

It was all new to Hae Jung as well. 

A/N: Hi! Well, I'm back with chapter three. I'm outta school so this will be updated pretty often along with my other stories ^^ I'm really excited for that. This chapter kind of took me a while to write...oh, well. I hope you enjoyed it! It was just some nice bonding between Kai and Hae Jung. What do you think of the two? Leave some comments below! Subscribe if you haven't! Have a wonderful day! :D