Jieun blew the air out of cheeks slowly, staring at the ceiling as she walked behind Kai.

“You don’t look cute like that you know,” Kai said suddenly. Jieun furrowed her eyebrows and scoffed.

“,” she coughed in between breaths, making sure he could hear clearly.

He ignored her, then stopped at a room, which Jieun figured was the one she was in now. Kai opened the door with one hand, smiled at her and led her in with his other. “es first.”

The class was quiet as soon as she stepped in. She looked back, to find that Kai had disappeared again. She groaned before walking towards the teacher, holding onto her bag straps tightly.

“Jieun?”

She nodded in response, pursing her lips tightly.

“There,” she pointed. It was towards an empty table – the only empty table.

Jieun sat down, checking for any traces of gum – worst case scenario, a tack. At least here, it didn’t seem like a delinquent’s home. She took out her books grudgingly and slammed them onto the table, having a strong dislike for learning. She then rummaged through her bag, only to find that she had forgotten to bring her writing utensils.

Jieun hesitantly poked the person on her right and he turned around, giving a small, cute smile. He then gave a look of questioning as if to ask what was wrong. She pointed to the pen in his hand and he handed it over simply, taking another out of his pocket. Before she could thank him, his eyes were already glued to the teacher.

“I’ll give you this period to complete your assignments that are due tomorrow. Don’t waste it.”

Instantly, Jieun raised her hand. The teacher sighed, then stood up before walking to her.

“What do I do?” she asked.

“Are you fluent in English?”

“Not..really.”

“Catch up then. Everyone in this class is,” she said plainly before placing a large textbook on her desk. “I expect at least half of it done by next week,” she continued.

Jieun inwardly groaned before opening it to the first page before realizing she didn’t understand a word. She stared at the black blobs of nonsense, trying to fit them together, but failing.

Hopefully, Minjoo was good at English.

The period finished soon enough. With tired eyes she packed her things, only to find that the whole room was now empty. She scolded herself at her tortoise-like pace and briskly walked outside, then realizing she had almost no idea where to go.

Then, Jieun saw a tuft of hair; it was the boy who sat next to him. She tried to call for him, only realizing that she didn’t know his name. Before she could get his attention, she felt herself being dragged back by a strong figure.

She turned around to see Kai, who was scratching his head casually. “Where to next?”

Jieun decided to save her breath by not bothering to ask why he always appeared and disappeared constantly. She stuck the piece of paper in his face and he pushed it away, giving her a sarcastic smile.

“Just hurry,” he said. He grabbed her wrist and weaved himself through the slowly dispersing crowd of the hallway, until he stopped in front of another room.

----

Kris ruffled his hair in frustration as he missed another basket. And another – and another. Where had his touch gone? Ever since he had injured his hip, he just couldn’t play basketball again. Perhaps it was just that his will was gone and his injury was just a stupid excuse for himself to prove that he could still stand strong on his own.

Except he couldn’t.