Ji hyo frowned at the dark, wondering why she is awake. She turned to the bedside table only to find out that she has an hour before she needs to wake up. Momentarily, Ji hyo debated whether she should get up or continue sleeping. The moment she closes her eyes, the feeling of falling assaults her. She jerked into a sitting position and wondered where in hell did that feeling came from and why it was so terrifying.

Seeing a ray of light from underneath the door, Ji hyo decided to get up and bother whoever was already awake in that ungodly hour.

Ji hyo found her favorite cook nursing a cup of coffee alone in the rooftop kitchens. He beamed at her and pointed to a cup of coffee. She snatched it and drank as if her life depends on it reveling in the taste and feeling her transformation from mindless zombie into a human. “Good morning noona!”

“You’re a god send Kyung. I’m going to miss you too much.”

“Aw, don’t make me change my mind noona. And I know you’d been drinking so thread carefully, you still owe me an explanation on why I am not involved.” he answers quietly as he puts down his mug. Ji hyo gives him a look of disapproval and scrapes her chair closer to the younger one.

“Hey, I...” Ji hyo stops and decides not to mention Jong kook at all. She instead focuses on her other friend “Hey, it would be fine. If you let me, I will be there and it’s no joke. You just have to ask.” The boy looks back at her gratefully but shakes his head no. “I would. I really would like to have you there with me noona but this is something I should have braved and done years ago. But thanks for the offer and the car.”

“As long as you don’t scratch my baby.” She warns teasingly. Well at least she thought she’s doing something even if it’s just making the trip more comfortable and giving her best friend a means to hightail it out of that town whenever he needs to. Before she could finish her second cup -- Kyung soo automatically refilled without her noticing -- Jong kook arrived, sweaty and huffing from his morning run. His stupid shirt clinging on all the rightly obscene places Ji hyo should not look at. Ji hyo looks around instead and learns for whom the glass of orange juice in the table was. The PE teacher picks it up and said his thanks breathily; making another alarming bell in Ji hyo’s head go off.

“You need to go Kyung soo-yah.” Jong kook says, washing the glass quickly in the sink.

“I guess I should before the Min twins wake up and sabotages my trip.”

“If they want Kyung, they would already have done something… maybe something regarding your transportation means.”

“Not my baby!” Ji hyo retorts at the poor joke. The three laughs emptily.

“I already briefed the working scholars to help out and the principal allowed one more to be assigned here. I left the notebook in the kitchen but hyung what you need to do first in the morning is to water noona with two pots of coffee--”

“Eyy! I’m not a plant. But seriously Kyung, it’s okay. We won’t burn down your kitchen.” The boy calms down and relaxes at his noona’s words. He leans to the touch that was offered and allows Ji hyo to manhandle him into a hug.

“Yeah Kyung soo-yah, don’t worry too much. I’ll take care of our carnivorous plant in here.” Jong kook patted him then went to get his luggage from his room.

“Kim Jong kook-ssi!”

The trio walked to Ji hyo’s car, allowing Kyung soo to mother-nag them before he leaves. Kyung soo goes over his instructions that they already heard the whole week. He hesitates at the door but slides inside the car without a word. Before he closes the door, he spots In guk, Xiumin and Changmin idling in their pajamas near the gates. He smiles fondly and waves. “I’ll see you next week!” he shouts out to the kids. They didn’t come close but waves back.

Then he’s gone.

“Just us and you then.”

“And the kids oppa.”

“Wow, I’m already missing him.” and she does. Because he was the first person in a long time that got so close to her without any effort. Because to that kid, she wasn’t the odd girl in a sea of men or the spoiled rich girl… she’s just Ji hyo, his friend.

Ji hyo eyed the very detailed instruction Kyung had left them. It was full of arrows and sketches and scribbles of what to do instead of just the recipe. Jong kook was also eyeing it like he was planning a great long battle. Well, Ji hyo thought it is indeed a battle with 60 growing up kids to feed.

“Well, we got the bread portion covered… I think Kyung soo baked enough for a year. You could start boiling the soup. Looks easy enough if you look at the recipe. I’d see to the rice, and then we’d tackle frying together and prepare the menu for lunch.” Jong kook states after studying the menu carefully, like a commander giving out orders in the field. Ji hyo was only happy to follow. She could cook for herself but before the sun has actually risen -- her mind is just not yet on board into functioning at 100% capacity.

“Good morning, ma’am, sir. Uh, we’re the helper for this week.” Two kids appeared on the hallway already wearing matching aprons. Ji hyo smiled at them but let Jong kook take care of the battle plan. He’s the commander after all. Just don’t ask her where that came from. Her mind just works weirdly in the morning. She mumbles thanks but doesn’t question it much when a cup of steaming hot brown liquid appeared in her hand. She drinks it greedily and sighs in relief as her brain further awakens.

Ji hyo learns that the two working scholars are third years named Ok Taecyon and Lee Changmin. They both helped around the school to study for free. Mostly they get kitchen duties and had worked with Kyung soo many times. They also joked around that even if they are known around to be jockeys and sports fanatics, they’d rather work on a bistro or café and hopefully own one someday, making Ji hyo smile approvingly.

“Oppa, can you take a look at the soup?” Ji hyo asks Jong kook who was chopping green stuff. They walked over the soup and Ji hyo quickly handed Jong kook a portion in a small bowl. She watches him intensely as he raises it to his lips. Ji hyo stares as if in slow motion, looking at those pinkish thin lips thinking why in hell they are colored like that when its owner is a very manly man. She notices that he hasn’t shaved yet and the shadow looks weirdly good and she wanted to touch because she’s curious if it would be rough just like everything else about Jong kook. But then he isn’t actually that rough because even if he likes handing out detention, he’s so soft-spoken. He doesn’t shout much and sometimes the angry glare is more disappointed rather than mad -- like a kicked or abandoned dog. He is stern but caring... he -- is staring back and Ji hyo is reminded of the dream she had, the dream/feeling of falling with no chance of holding on to something. Then there are flashes of the night before where he was so close, swaying and holding her, so warm… leaving her wondering why she has two sets of memories of the two of them dancing?

“Ji hyo-yah?” he waves a hand. “Are you okay or do you need more coffee?” Oh and he sounds so concerned when Ji hyo is just staring (creepily) at him. It’s not like she’s dying or something so why is he so concerned?

“I’m okay. Uhh just rebooting my brain I guess.” she answers lamely and looks away face hot and surely red even if there’s no mirror to help her confirm that.

“I said it tastes delicious. Maybe you can add some more onion leaves and--”

“Eyy, no more greenery before this soup calls itself the forest!” He laughs hard at her not even that funny joke and oh gosh Ji hyo feels too warm without a reason. She fumbles for the seaweed at her right and winces as her hand misses and makes the plate topple but it never meets the cold hard floor because Jong kook reaches out to catch. Suddenly, Jong kook is around her, holding her in a half hug while the stupid falling dream plays at the corner of her traitorous consciousness.

The two of them hastily separates. “Uhh, it tastes really good. Not like Kyung soo’s but just as tasty. I’m sure he’d love the recipe of that. I uhh, need to check the rice.” Ji hyo thanks him but doesn’t comment that the rice cookers were automatic because her heart is too busy hammering inside her ribcage. She wonders if she finally managed to drink too much coffee and blames the palpitations and cold sweat at her favorite drink.

The kids were very helpful and cut the work easily. With Jong kook compartmentalizing and delegating the tasks, Ji hyo not a bad cook herself following smoothly and working with the knife like an expert and the two boys working perfectly in sync with skills very similar to Kyung soo -- the team was able to set up everything with half an hour to spare before breakfast.

When the six am alarm chimes (reverberates like hell), Ji hyo is already leisurely reading the news with her coffee. The working scholars with another buddy, Junho manned the serving station. Another ten minutes and students begun filing in. the three boys quickly filled trays and if Ji hyo didn’t notice them much before, she now has a genuinely new respect at the system of service staff the school has.

“Ji hyo-yah!” her father, in clean crisp suit appeared in her vision holding out his own cup of home blend coffee and a paper bag. “I brought breakfast.” He says then takes a seat opposite Ji hyo. Beside her, she could almost feel Jong kook stiffening.

“’Morning Pa, we cooked breakfast though. But thanks! Uh wait, I’ll get you something, you need to eat more rice and not just rabbit food.” she hurries to the kitchen leaving the two men in awkward silence.

“Well, some things never change.” The older Cheon mutters. “She still hates vegetables and still calls me a rabbit.” he sighs making the PE teacher snort.

“I can relate sir.” he mutters back and for a moment, the two had found something in common and silently recalled the many times Ji hyo the meat lover dissed out their chosen food lifestyle.

“Here Pa! Try this. Jong kook could make a mean stir fry. The scholars could fry perfectly, just look at these eggs and bacon!” Ji hyo drops a tray in front of her dad and purposely ignores the salad her old man tried to hand her. She filches his coffee instead and trades it with hers. The older Cheon raises his brows but lets his spoiled daughter get away with it.  He offers the bag containing Caesar salad to the PE teacher which the man accepts gratefully.

“How’s teaching darling?”

“Fun Pa. and every day I am thankful that you didn’t force some boring course on me. You’re the coolest mogul with an only child ever.” Ji hyo teases the old man. “And you let me eat as much pizza and soda and burgers and fries and ketchup even if the smell alone causes your arteries to tense up. My kids are like that, I let them do what they want and in return I get new appreciation for sweaty jerseys and dirty socks.” Jong kook looks like someone just told him his perfectly working treadmill is not actually perfectly working. The older Cheon chuckles and Ji hyo continues to devour dangerous amounts of bacon without Kyung soo there to scold her.

“Oh, don’t worry Kim Jong kook-ssi. What she means is that every single thing, even the most irrelevant and smallest is rewarding in Ji hyo-sense.”

“The sweaty jerseys mean my students play and work hard in sports they enjoy. The dirty socks means they don’t mind stuff that doesn’t matter. I mean it is yucky but one boy said he forgot that he doesn’t have clean socks anymore because I gave out an essay and he didn’t realize he already wrote five pages and it was already too late.”

“Oh… so that’s Joong ki.”

“My kids are great Pa. Next time I will tell you about the dusty eraser and the pen without. You’d be surprised at the stories but I need to clean up.” she places a bacony kiss on the old man’s cheeks, salutes at Jong kook then hurries to put her utensils away in the dishwasher.

Jong kook stares at the other teacher with a look of confusion but turns to the chairman when he chuckles. “The kids look like a handful but she’s very happy. Thank you for looking out for her.”

“No problem sir.” Jong kook looks up to the older man’s intense gaze suddenly realizing that the man before him is not just Ji hyo’s father but also the head of a big empire, shrewd, cunning and calculating. It felt like an eternity before Jong kook felt the tension loosen up. The sharp look was still there but curiously, there was also a hint of… approval?

“So, how about you Jong kook-ah? How is it for you here?”

Jong kook swallows hard and gulps some water but he still feel unsure as he tried to speak. “It’s different now sir.” he winces at the very intelligent and eloquent answer before he hastily adds, “better sir.”

“Good. I know this is not something that should be mentioned at breakfast or a Monday morning… but I really wanted you to know this.” the older man sighs as if debating whether to continue. Jong kook just feels like he’s in the principal office and wishes he could go. “You should know Kim Jong kook, I didn’t just accept you in my school because you are someone I know.”

Of all things the old man could have told him. He expected something about Ji hyo, maybe the old man will give him the shovel talk -- not that he had a thing with Ji hyo -- or maybe he’d ask more and spy on his daughter but not this. And Jong kook curses himself because of how much hope those words give him and how much he needed to hear it and no he wouldn’t cry. He managed to get rid of the lump in his throat and nod a quiet thanks.

“I say this now kid because I never realized how much you think so negatively of yourself. I am sorry for not seeing this before… how much you keep things so close even if it hurts when you could have just asked. And I want to start mending that by saying, I would have accepted you even if you applied normally. Dong wan would’ve even if your record caused him a pause. Please don’t doubt this even if you see me as a businessman who would do anything to manipulate people.” the silent request for Jong kook to see the older Cheon as Ji hyo’s father went unvoiced. The chairman rises, pats him gently on the back then leaves.

Jong kook checks out the kitchen and made sure everything is okay then he hurries back to his room to let out the emotions he couldn’t keep anymore.  

I don't know why my Jong kook always turns out a ball of horrible past and self pitying. I hope you like this chapter and I wouldn't make this fast -- confess then happily ever after then the end. Even if they are closer now, Jong kook is full of issues and would be content just to have Ji hyo near while Ji hyo is slowly learning who Jong kook is but most of she knows about him is that he's the prince oppa, her playmate buddy when she was young.

Thanks again for reading and letting me rant in here :-)