A week later after the trip, I went to class a little early. There wasn't anyone around so the teacher asked me to get some things for him in the faculty room.

It turned out it was too much for one person to carry. Nevertheless, I tried.

It was when I was nearing the stairs when I felt all the weight being lifted off my hands. I looked up, only to find a smiling person in front of me. Tall, lean and extremely familiar. That was when I met him for the second time.

I realized he was the student who helped me and Hannah last week back on the trip. The charming 10th-grade student whose smile comes with a cute little dimple.

"Good morning!" I greeted. I was surprised at the level of enthusiasm those two words of mine reflected. But you couldn't blame me. His smile produced that kind of effect.

"Good morning." He chuckled, his face becoming brighter with every passing second. "I'm wondering why we haven't talked after last week."

"Hmmm?" I mumbled, unable to form a much more coherent response.

He smiled. "I don't think I caught your name before," he said, shifting his weight to his other foot.

That's when I realized we were still standing in the middle of the hallway, with him lifting all the things the teacher asked for, and with me just staring at him stupidly.

I grabbed the objects on his hands but he sidestepped to avoid me.

"So," he continued, his dazzling smile still in place. "What's your name?"

"Jiyeon," I replied with yet another enthusiastic chirp. What is with me and my embarrassing mouth?

Even with all the things he was carrying, he managed to extend one hand. "Nice to meet you. You can call me Kai." His smile even melted to a much sweeter one if that was possible. "I hope we can be friends."

I hesitantly raised my right hand and fitted it into his. "Friends. Okay." I nodded meekly.

The sound of his laughter echoed through the deserted corridor.

"Why do you look so scared of me?" he asked, laughing as he finally started walking. "You were fine last week."

I quickly followed behind. "Uh, you're my senior?" I offered, my voice low because of nervousness. And Hannah isn't here anymore to save me from embarrassing myself, I added in my head.

"So? It's not like I bite," he countered, shrugging and looking at me for a more valid reason.

So I racked my brain for another reason. I came up with nothing else. "Er, you don't look approachable?" You are totally lying, the beating of my heart said. I panicked! I said to it in reply. Unapproachable was the last word I wanted to describe him

He stopped walking and whipped his head towards me, his eyes rounding on the process. "I don't?" I thought I had made him mad but he suddenly laughed. "Are you fine with that? Being friends with an unapproachable person?"

"Of course!" I replied, with more vigor than was necessary.

The whole situation was unusual, but who was I to complain when this cute senior was asking me to be his friend.

He turned to respond but the bell rang before he could say a word, signaling the start of whichever summer classes.

"Come on," he said, and then he was already running ahead, with all those weights on his hands. I just stood there for a while, staring at his running figure.

Kai. A smile painted itself on my lips at the sound of his name in my head.

All of a sudden, someone tapped my shoulder from behind. I turned around and there Lu Han was, grinning at me, his electrifying eyes alive as ever.

"What are you spacing out there for, dummy?" he asked, knocking on my head.

That snapped me back to reality. "Hey, who said you could touch me?" I said, feigning irritation. The annoyance was a reflex whenever Lu Han did something. But the truth was, our truce, as I'd like to call it, was going well.

"Me," he replied playfully, messing my hair early in the morning.

"You have got to stop doing that!"

He just grinned and then went to grab my hand, dragging me behind him as he ran. "We're already late, Yeonie. You can get back at me later."

I huffed but made an effort to move my legs faster. "I told you to stop calling me Yeonie."

That summer turned out to be a whole lot better than others. It was all because of a person named Kai. Our interactions increased after our second encounter. We were friends, after all, he kept saying. He was effortlessly blending in our little group of three.

"I swear you're all smiles this past few weeks, darling," Mom said to me in the kitchen one morning as she was busy preparing meals not only for me and Dad but also for another set of people. Chris was still at his basketball camp.

I showed Mom one of the smiles she was talking about and shrugged good-naturedly. "What can I say? I'm happy."

"Is Lu Han being good to you now?"

"Hmmm? What does that have to do with anything, Mom?"

It was Mom's turn to shrug innocently. "Well, you're always talking about how he was always ruining your day."

I cursed Lu Han silently. Mom had never really believed that Lu Han would do anything to hurt me. You two are just playing. Losing and winning is part of that, kiddo. Her words, not mine, when I first complained about the jerk. It didn't help my case that Lu Han acted like a sweet little thing whenever my parents were around and my parents were close with his.

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter