Ten

Lately, Kai’s getting more annoying. After her trip to his dance studio, Soori thought that Kai would somehow be normal, but he didn’t. In their tutoring sessions, he never stopped making some noisy remarks about anything random, like how ugly the librarian is, and how handsome he is. She was getting full of it. But what could she do? Scold him? He won’t ever listen. Ignore him? It’ll only make him become twice as noisy as before. Avoiding him was probably the most efficient way right now, which is probably why she’s savoring her free moment in the rooftop of their school.

She forgot to pack some lunch this morning. Sighing, she suffered eating some bread. Never mind, she’ll cook something better later.

Lay was usually dozing off. Sitting comfortable at his usual place, he wasn’t that foolish enough to keep tagging along with Kai. That kid, he noticed that Kai’s been pestering Soori a lot lately. Poor Soori, if only he could change the way he’s acting. He’s never like this before. Girls chase him, he ignores them. but now, it’s the exact opposite, although it’s just Soori he’s running after. He also didn’t get a chance to talk to her for quite sometime.

“Oh. Lay?” Lay slowly opened his eyes and he smiled.

The person he’d been meaning to get closer to was standing before him with a confused face.

“What are you doing here?” Soori carefully sat down beside him. She no longer felt awkward talking to these boys, to her they were family.

“Sleeping” Lay leaned more on the wall that supports their backs.

“Uh-huh.”

No words exchanged. Both of them enjoyed a peaceful moment. The clouds were extra fluffy today. The sound of the wind passing by is the only noise they heard. And then silence It was a comfortable silence.

“Is Kai normally like that?” Soori can’t hide her curiosity anymore. “You know, the way he’s acting right now, it’s a bit different.”

Lay found himself chuckling. It earned him more curious stares from Soori. Even if they were alone together, she still talked about Kai.

“No, he’s not like that” He looked up at the sky. “From what I remember, Kai was busy trying to ignore girls.” He looked at her. “But I guess, somebody caught his attention” And it’s you Soori-ah, you even caught my attention too, but Lay didn’t say that. It was something he’d never share to anybody.

“Yeah, right. But that somebody hates his attention”

After moments of talking, their conversation ended. Lay finally got his wish, he got know her better. The way she talked seems that she’s not paying attention to any other things. The way she speaks felt like a cute melody to his ears. The way the sunshine hits her face momentarily, left him breathless. He realized that Soori doesn’t realize this. She’s beautiful.

When she left, Lay found himself laughing, laughing over something that he didn’t expect to happen. In his age, falling in love isn’t new. And maybe, just maybe he’s going there.

****

Kai didn’t find her today. She was clearly avoiding him. Who can blame her really? After him being so clingy to her, she would’ve been tired of it by now. He came home early, not in his condo unit but the house where his parents live, somewhat like a mansion. He hated it. His father told him to come here for some matters to discuss. Great, more scolding.

“Jonginnie~” His mother cooed.

“Umma.” In days of acting like a kid, Kai felt mature towards his parents, especially if his father’s around. But his mother loved him dearly. Sadly, she doesn’t have enough power to persuade her husband to act like a proper father to him. But his father was too busy. He was actually very loving to Kai back then, yet things started to get busier. It made him a stressful dad, and Kai despised it. To be honest, he missed his father. If only he’d notice it.

Kai found himself sitting across his father in his office room after his mother was done being a typical mother, checked his eating habits and stuff.

“Son, I’m very disappointed.”  His father didn’t call him Jongin for a while now, he always call him “son”.  He hated every bit of that title. “You’ve flunked three of your subjects!” His dad paced around.

“I don’t care.”

Fuming with rage, his father came closer to him and pointed a finger. “I’m disappointed in you, I thought you could do better than this” He spread his arms wide. “I’ve trained you not to be a delinquent!” His voice faltered, and he sat down rubbing his temples. Sighing he said, “Get out, it almost seems that you are not my son” He hissed.

It didn’t bother him, but it stings especially in his heart. Kai could no longer recognize this man in front of him. He didn’t care. Getting out of here is easy, but leaving behind some scars, is something else. Kai strode out of the room and was greeted by his mother.

“Jongin, just please be patient with your father”

“I’ve had enough mom” Memories of him and his father bonding way back, flashbacked inside his head for a second. “I don’t know him anymore” When he felt that his mother’s grip on his arm loosened, he immediately went out.

Walking had never felt this good before. He always hated it. Why bother walking when you have a car? He always said that. He guessed that this is maybe why people liked it, it calms you down. Several people on the street, children whining, Kai realized he isn’t the only one who’s suffering in this world. But why does it feel like his lifting some kind of weight in his shoulders?

How did his father turned into some kind of monster. Years had he suffered training under him just to please him and his father would be proud of him like he always did. But he changed. And Kai changed.

Soori was happily walking on the street carrying her grocery bag. But she stopped. Something caught her eye, rather someone did. It was Kai, and he looked….different. His face depicted hurt and disappointment.  It felt unnatural to see him like this. So, she decided to approach him.

“What a small world” It was her, the girl Kai’s been pestering about for days. When he looked around for her, she seemed to disappear, yet now when he forgot about her for a while, she appeared. What games are you playing?

He laughed sarcastically. “Not now, Soori. I thought you’re avoiding me.”  He won’t look at her. Soori wondered why though. She was used to Kai being cheerful and being his annoying self. Some thing definitely happened, and she doesn’t have the guts to ask him why. Sometimes, a person doesn’t need to explain himself what really happened. Even though she doesn’t like Kai, she can’t help feeling bad for him. Somewhere inside her wants to bring Kai to his old self, so she thought of a crazy idea.

She stood up. “Why don’t we have some fun?”

School just started and I won't be updating as much as before but I'll try my best.

Btw, thank you so much for the new subscribers and for the comments. It really means a lot ;___;