“Class dismissed,” at the teacher’s words, the students immediately kept their school supplies and stood up from their seats. Slowly, they entered their respective cliques and left the classroom. Their smiles made Jongin envious—why can’t he smile like them? Why can’t he have friends like them? Why did he have to be Kim Jongin?

Sighing, Jongin brushed his bangs downwards and rubbed his tired eyes with his hand. It was his habit when the discussion had come to an end. He knew that it wasn’t good to do so, but he just can’t stop himself from doing it. After all, it was a habit. It couldn’t be removed easily—even with the words of Joohyun, it just can’t be done.

“How many times do I have to tell you not to do that?”

Jongin smiled at the question and looked up at his classmate. “I was expecting that question.”

Joohyun was not able to respond immediately. Every time Jongin would talk to her, the stuttering would disappear. She couldn’t help but think that it was something special just like in the dramas. When one person’s mannerism would suddenly disappear because of another person—she thought that it might be because Jongin was comfortable with her. Love was another thing, but Joohyun refused to think of it that way. How can someone like Jongin love her, anyway?

“So, you did that just so I can ask you the same thing for the umpteenth time?” she asked, snorting softly as she sat in front of him.

He shook his head and looked down, “No. It is my habit, Joohyun, you know that.”

“I know,” she nodded.

Silence reigned the between the both of them. Jongin didn’t know what to do; what to say. He felt awkward, and so he resorted to taking his snack out and ate silently on his table. Joohyun, who was still trapped in her thoughts, looked down at his snack. A piece of bread and a small bottle of mineral water were what she saw. While the others were having delicious snacks, here was Jongin, contented with a piece of bread and some water. Was she feeling sorry for him again? Truth to be told, there was nothing wrong with his food. Bread and water were much better than junk food and soda. However, because of the high standards of their batch, he was looked down. People referred to him as the poor idiot of their batch. It was partly true. Jongin had no one with him in his life. No one was there to provide him the financial support that he needed, but Jongin was still able to enter school by being a working student in their school.

Instead of having fun during weekends, Jongin would go to school and clean the classrooms, restrooms, and the whole campus. Even with this kind of lifestyle, it was obvious that Jongin was still contented. He did all the works that were assigned to him without a single complain being heard from him. For him, as long as he was able to keep his scholarship, everything’s fine. Joohyun admired him for that, and she wished that she could do something to help Jongin.

“Joohyun!” a voice cut through her thoughts, and she perked up to look for the owner of the voice. At the door, there stood her cousin, happily waving at her. “Let’s go! The canteen is slowly being filled in.”

Joohyun hesitated. Should she go? What about Jongin? What if the moment that she left, the others would enter the classroom and do horrible things to him again? But it was her cousin’s first day as a second year. She should be accompanying her as well.

Sighing, she stood up from her chair and patted Jongin’s head gently. “I’ll be leaving first. You take care, okay?”

Jongin pressed his lips and nodded, “Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

I really hope you would be, Joohyun answered in her mind. She looked back towards the door and waved at her cousin, “I’ll be there in a moment, Hyoyeon.” She quickly took her purse from her bag and went to the door, leaving Jongin inside the room without any knowledge that he had a company.

Jongin just finished his bread, and as he proceeded to twist the cap of his bottle of water, a shuffling sound caught his attention. Blinking, he looked up towards the board and saw Ailee walking towards him. He didn’t know much about her, but he knew that she was popular. Everyone knew her—what was her title again? Queenka? He thought so. He heard that she and Jaejoong was a couple, but he didn’t bother knowing more about them. What made him think was that: why was she not an active hater of him? It wasn’t like he wanted her to be one, but almost everyone, except Joohyun, didn’t like him. He figured that she might not be that interested to waste her time on something tiring as bullying him. After all, she’s well-known and she had more than one thing that she can focus on.

“You only ate bread?” she asked in english, making him blink a few times and tilt his head to the side. Ailee snorted softly and rolled her eyes as she sat on the spot where Joohyun was sitting earlier on. “I said, you only ate bread?”

Once the question was translated to the language that he could understand, Jongin nodded his head nervously. “Y-Yes… I c-can’t really have a-any food which is more expensive th-than a bread.”

He’s stuttering again, Ailee thought as she frowned. She heard his conversation with Joohyun. Not even a single word was repeated in syllables by Jongin, and now, he’s doing it again. She wondered if he was doing this on purpose. She couldn’t have cared less, but deep inside her, she was somewhat hurt by this, and she didn’t know why. So what if Jongin would stutter when he’s talking with her? He’d do that to everyone, right?

No, she argued in her mind. Joohyun… He wouldn’t stutter when he’s talking to Joohyun. But why?

She clicked her tongue on the roof of and brushed her long hair to the back of her head. The more she asked herself, the more she got annoyed. She stood up from the chair and scoffed before leaving a bag of potato chips on Jongin’s table. The latter blinked and looked up to the woman before him. “W-What is t-this?”

Once again, Ailee rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. “And I thought that you’re smart. Can’t you see? It’s potato chips. You need more stuff in your stomach than just bread.” With that, she turned around and left the classroom as well without words, leaving Jongin wondering and looking at the bag of potato chips in front of him.

***

The school bell which indicated the end of the classes rang and almost immediately, the students flew off from their chairs and left the school building. Once again, Jongin was left alone in their classroom with a broom in his hand and a piece of cloth on the other. For the first day of school, almost all teachers gave them assignments. It was almost six in the evening—he’ll be cleaning for two hours, so he’ll arrive at home at eight in the evening. He still had to clean his house which would take not too long. He just wished that he wouldn’t take too much time on his assignments as well.

The campus was really silent now. Not even a single sound was heard except for the footsteps of Jongin as he cleaned the whole classroom. Whilst he was cleaning the board, he heard a shuffling sound from outside the classroom. Being the scaredy-cat he was, his hands immediately trembled and beads of sweats quickly formed on his forehead. He had never felt this way before… or maybe he did, but it wasn’t because he was afraid of a possible ghost.

Blinking his eyes slowly, Jongin tightened his grip on the eraser in his hand and slowly made his way towards the teacher’s door. No one else was here with him, after all. Maybe it’s not much a bad idea to be courageous at that moment.

His body casted its shadow on the wall across the door, and as he got closer and closer, the black form got bigger, and so did his fright. His teeth were biting harshly on her lower lip and he winced because of the pain. Just as he was about to touch the door, a figure entered the classroom from the other door, which caused Jongin to shout and close his eyes tightly.

“Jongin!” Joohyun flinched and looked at her classmate. “Hey, are you okay? What’s wrong?” She quickly ran up to him and held his hands which were slapped on his face. The eraser was still in his hand. That might have been the reason behind the white mess of dust on his hair. Jongin, after hearing that extremely familiar voice, stopped shouting and looked at her before sighing in relief. He swallowed thickly and whimpered. “Joohyun, that really scared me.”

“What scared you?” she asked, and he smiled faintly. “You. You scared me. I thought there was a ghost or something outside.”

So that was the reason behind his screaming. Joohyun found it to be adorable, but he couldn’t help but feel sorry for him. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

Jongin shook his head and smiled. “It’s okay, Joohyun.”

She reciprocated the smile and sighed as she ruffled his hair to remove the dusts on it. “Professor Kyungsoo told me to tell you that you should go home now.”

“Eh?” Jongin blinked and frowned in confusion. “But I’m not yet finished though.”

“It’s okay. Sir told me that the janitors will do the work for you.”

“But—“

Joohyun sighed and pinched Jongin’s nose, a sign that she wanted him to shut up, and Jongin did. “You remember what students should do, right?” and with a sigh, Jongin responded. “Obey the teachers.”

She smiled and nodded at him. “Correct, so let’s just go home and leave the school, okay?”

Left with no choice, Jongin nodded and left the eraser in its box. “Okay. I’ll just keep my things and I’ll be out of the classroom.” He silently went to his chair and shoved his things neatly inside his bag. Whilst he was doing that, Joohyun decided to go out of the classroom and wait for him there. Her mind was occupied by Jongin until she saw a movement from the corner of her eyes. Turning her head, Joohyun was surprised to see Ailee looking at her with an unreadable expression on her face. She frowned as she tried to understand that, but Ailee scoffed and turned around to walk away, as if telling her that she’d never be able to read her.

Joohyun pressed her lips together and shook her head. “I’d never understand you…”

“Who?” Jongin asked, surprising Joohyun. “Hey, can you please try to tell me if you are there and not surprise me?”

He scratched the back of his head and smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to.”

Shaking her head, Joohyun smiled at him and shrugged. “Let’s go?” and he nodded, “Sure.”

As they went to walk towards the exit, Joohyun couldn’t help but turn around to see if Ailee was still there. No one else was there anymore, so she figured that she might have left already. At the back of her mind, she still couldn’t get over her questions.

Ailee…

***

Joohyun…Ailee breathed out heavily and screamed out in frustration. Why was she feeling that way? Was she jealous? It seemed like that—but why? All she wanted was to help him… why did Joohyun have to appear every time she’s near Jongin?

The sun was setting and the buildings were slowly getting darker. Her friends already left school, and she’s there, walking towards her classroom once again. She knew about Jongin’s schedule of cleaning, and she thought that maybe she can spare some of her time to help him, or annoy him just for fun.

As she was a few steps away from the room, Ailee smiled mischievously and slowed down on her pace. She knew about Jongin’s reaction towards footsteps in hallways. Jongin is a big scaredy-cat, so by now, he must be shaking in fright. She was just a few more steps away from the door when suddenly, heavier footsteps were heard—footsteps that came from none other than Joohyun.

Ailee quickly hid behind wall. “Joohyun…” she muttered, and brushed her hair to the back of her head in annoyance. “God, I’m out of here.” But instead of leaving, she decided to step closer to the door and listen to their conversation. Again, Jongin’s steady voice captured her attention. Why did he have to be like this, only towards Joohyun and not to her?

“Okay. I’ll just keep my things and I’ll be out of the classroom.”

Oh… he’s going home with her. Ailee felt her insides drop. If only she didn’t think about the prank and just went inside the room. A shadow coming from her front cut her thoughts and she looked up. Joohyun… she thought as the other looked at her as well. If she wasn’t good at anger management, she would have charged towards her and grabbed her hair. Smirking, she turned around and walked away. It was better to do that than to let her emotions be shown on her face.

Stopping on her tracks, Ailee sighed and looked at the house in front of her. Jongin’s house, to be exact. Once again, she found herself standing before this place. She should get used to it already.

“Jongin…” she muttered silently, afraid that he might be home and hear her. How long had it been since they last smiled with each other—laughed at something that they both found to be funny? What was their relationship before, anyway? They had nothing—nothing but an unnecessary relationship between two kids. But was it was really unnecessary? Maybe it was to Jongin…

Sighing once again, Ailee decided to leave the place and just go home, but not before saying, “I miss you.”

--

Here's a confused author for you. XD I'm like... confused with my shipping heart. KAilee or SeoKai? T^T omg

Anyway, thank you to those who subscribed, especially to those who commented! :D I really appreciate it! Thank you thank you thank you! :D I hope you enjoyed this chapter. ^^

-- Day.