"Yah, it's not 'was' if you're in present tense, I already told you it's 'is'." I playfully scolded Minwoo who was staring fiercely at the notes he was writing down.

        We were both sitting down in my kitchen and I was helping him go over his English essay he was supposed to get started on. Minwoo was a college student but he couldn't tell the different between English or Chinese.

         "What's the difference between 'is' and 'was' anyways?? Why can't I just write in Korean?" Minwoo whined as he scratched his head.

         I gave him a funny look and shook my head. "How are you going to write a paper on biochemistry in English if you don't know the basic stuff?!"

         "We're Korean! We shouldn't be succumbing to the outer world!!" Minwoo laughed as he flipped his paper over in a dramatic move.

         I couldn't help laughing along with him at his playfulness. Minwoo's eye-smiles were killer, almost comparable to Youngbae's. His laughter was contagious...the same way Jiyong's were.

         I giggled and slapped his arm lightly, "Ah that doesn't even make sense oppa-"

         Wait a minute. Did I just call Minwoo, oppa...?

         Minwoo wiggled his eyebrows slyly and smiled, "I mean, noona, if you really want to call me that...I don't mind at all."

        I quickly shook my head in response and touched my hair awkwardly, "Wait no. That was a mistake. I-I didn't mean to call you that."

 

       I sighed deeply and gave him a firm smile so that he would get up and leave. "I'll...think about it."

       Minwo put on his shoes and opened the door to leave. The night sky was now already dark and the air was chill and peaceful. The sky was clear and the moonlight heavily shone down and brightly lit the world.

As he playfully jumped down the steps, Minwoo pointed happily at me, "You better send me a text! Or else..." 

       "Or else what?" I giggled and pouted to show my discontent.

       Minwoo walked backwards and kept his smiling eyesight on me. "Or else, I'll never see you again-"

      Minwoo crashed into a dark figure who was just entering the house gates to the duplex. He turned around and apologized to the person but the person didn't move. 

      I squinted my eyes to make out who he was. 

He was wearing a black hoodie and some sort of leggings with shorts over it. His hands were tightly shoved in his pockets and the way he stood made me uncomfortable. On top of his head was a tight beanie with the white letters that read...Giyongchy. I swallowed hard and felt my heart clench as I realized who it was.

       Because of the moonlight, as Jiyong walked up the stairs, I could see his small perfect face. He looked cold and emotionless, his eyes brooding with some sort of neglectance and hatred...but most of all he looked tired. His lips looked locked shut as if they didn't want to ever talk again. The moonlight casted an eery shadow over his face that made him look skeletal and evil like.

 

              When Jiyong's eyes met mine, they just blinked away casually and faced the door. He reached in his pocket to dig for his keys.

       Minwoo was watching this with a strange look on his face the entire time but them smiled as I looked at him. 

       Even though I was looking at Minwoo, my eyes couldn't help but look at Jiyong through the corner of my eyes. He was struggling to find his keys.

       "Well good night noona! See you tomorrow!" Minwoo waved his arms in the air.

       "Good night Minwoo." I tried to say with a straight face but I couldn't help laughing. Maybe because Jiyong was listening to this but for some reason, I wanted to over to my laughter...to make him jealous.

       Oh wow, was I really gonna play the jealousy card?

       "Wait! Don't forget to study the stuff we went over today!" I giggled obnoxiously and gave Minwoo a sweet smile.

       Jiyong seemed to have found his key because he jammed it violently into the keyhole but seemed to not open. Wrong key.

       "'Is'? 'Was'?" Minwoo chuckled brightly as he started to walk backwards again.

       "Ah it's not even that hard!"

       Jiyong seemed to be wrestling with his handle because the key didn't work. Did he forget that he gave me the main key to his house before all the...craziness, happened?

      "That text, okay??" Minwoo finally was almost out of view as he shouted his last words.

      

       I looked down at my feet and shrugged as if it was nothing.

       Jiyong turned around to swiftly press the key into the lock hole and the door handle turned. Instead of turning around to say something, he pushed the door open to his house and I did the same with mine.

      But right at that moment before we closed our door shut, a shining light of hope with his kid-like nature chimed in both our ears.

      "Noona!" 

Jiyong and I both paused and backed out of our houses as we both shouted out the same name in unison, "Kiwon-ah!"