Sorry I haven't updated in so long!! Finally caught a break. This chapter was supposed to be longer but it keeps getting longer so I broke it into two parts. Enjoy!! Thanks for sticking around until here. Vote, Comment, Subscribe!!:))

Raeha

It's amazing how ramyun can bring people together.

"I can't believe you ate two bowls of ramyun," I told Kyuhyun the next Monday at school.We spent practically all night last Saturday at the ramyun shop because Kyuhyun was being stubborn about my solving techniques that weren't in the book.

"Shut up, you ate three."

"I'm a growing child!" I retorted.
He pretended to think and replied, "I don't think you've grown the past few years at all."

"Did you just make a jab at my height?? Yah!" I jokingly punched him on the shoulder.

"Am I still asleep?" I saw Sungmin stare at the exchange as if he'd just seen an alien land in front of him.

"Nah, it just took some time but Cho's finally warming up to me. Don't you roll your eyes at me!" I pointed a finger at Kyuhyun before he could.

"Dammit how do you do that??"

"Hyeri, this is freaking me out." Sungmin told Hyeri, who had just sat down behind me.

"Well it's better than when they were yelling at each other," she replied, although she was also a bit curious as to what was going on. She looked at me as if to ask, and I just shrugged. After Kyuhyun and I had admitted that in a strange way we were sorta friends, we got along better.

The rest of the week actually continued like that. Kyuhyun and I didn't fight anymore, and instead resorted to witty bantering and joking. I especially enjoyed picking on him in art class, because he did not have a single creative bone in his body.

"Is that a freaking stick figure?" I asked incredulously as I stole a look at his drawing.

"Hey, so I'm no good at drawing. Big deal."

I raised my eyebrow. "Cho. We're drawing fruits." I pointed to the bowl of assorted fruits in the front of the room.

"It's... uh... abstract?" He shook his head and instead leaned over to my side to look at mine, "you can't be any better.. damn." He was disappointed to find that my watercolor painting was nearly picture-perfect and near completion.

"I have come to the conclusion that you just at anything that does not require studying."

His mouth formed a frown. "I guess I'll have to agree with you on that one."

I laughed. "There's always history."

It was a weird week. A good kind of weird. Everyone noticed though, even the teachers.

"Something's wrong," Park-ssam said with narrowed eyes on Wednesday afternoon, while we were training. "I know!" He snapped his fingers, "you're not strangling each other! What exactly happened?"

Kyuhyun and I exchanged a look. "Don't worry, seonsaengnim, it freaks us out too sometimes."

"Well I hope it continues. It's kind of nice to have some more peace and quiet," he smiled. "Anyway, the regionals on Friday are going to be more intense that the last round. Think you can handle it?"

"Oh I know we can." I said confidently.

"Great! See you guys then and good luck! I don't want to train you guys tomorrow. You seem overworked. And at this point anyway, if you don't know what you should, it'll be useless trying to cram it into one day. All right then." He got up and packed his things, signaling us to go. But Kyuhyun had to say something.

"Wait, so we won't be reviewing?" Damn this guy. Just when I had one free afternoon to rest.

"Well it's up to you, but you'll have to review by yourself, though I doubt it would do much," Park-ssam replied, "You don't really have to."

"Aaaand that's my cue to leave. See ya!" I waved behind me, slung my bag over my shoulder and walked away.

Just when I reached the school gates, I heard that voice call out. "Jung! Wait up!"

I stopped and turned around to see Cho half-jog over. "We're going to review."

I scoffed. "What, no 'do you want to?' or 'is it okay?' or even a 'please'? Who are you, my mother?"

"You could barely answer the history questions. Do you think I'll be able to answer all the questions in the competition? I'm not a memory bank! And besides, this is a team competition, remember?"

I just groaned miserably. "Uuuuuugh fine I admit I need to brush up a little. But I detest history. I can't stand memorizing dates and names."

"It's really not that hard, if you really tried. The problem is, you don't."

"Like seonsaengnim said, it's useless to try and cram it in one day," I whined.

"That's why we're not starting tomorrow. We're starting today."

My mouth fell open. "What?! You expect me to study even more after an entire day of school plus hours of training? Are you trying to kill me??"

"No, I'm trying to help you! Like a friend would?"

I sighed and relented. Damn, he played the friend card. That was my card!!

"Fine. Where, then?"

"My house. I have a hard time studying anywhere else except the library, which is closed."

"B-b-but I haven't even eaten!"

"Then eat there!"

I groaned but followed him on the short distance to his house, which was strangely close to school. I wondered why.

He opened the door and I was amazed at his house. Well, it was more like a mansion. It had a wide foyer and one of those winding staircases with a chandelier on the ceiling, and a table in the middle with an elaborate flower arrangement. But what surprised me was how warm and inviting the house was, with family portraits hanging on the walls and multiple pairs of different-sized shoes lining the floor in front of the doorway.

Kyuhyun took of his shoes inside and yelled, "I'm home!" My eyes widened. "You didn't mention anything about meeting your family!!" I said in a harsh whisper.

"I didn't think you'd care." His brows knit together, looking sort of confused.

"Kyu! In here!" I heard a female voice call from the room to the right. Kyuhyun motioned for me to follow as I hastily took off my shoes, leaving only my socks on.

"Hey noona. What's for dinner?" He approached the tall, attractive lady standing in front of the stove, who looked only about three years older than us. On the kitchen island, an elderly lady who looked like a maid was chopping vegetable.

"Oh just the usual. Who's this?" She turned, finally noticing me as I stood in the doorway. I bowed low and introduced myself with a smile. "Annyeonghaseyo, I'm Jung Raeha."

"She's the one I have to partner with for the competition." Kyuhyun told her. "Raeha, this is my sister."

"Ahh I see." She raised her brow mischevously. "And there's nothing more to this... partnership?"

Kyuhyun and I both made gagging motions. His sister chuckled. "Well, I like her. I hope you stick around for dinner, our parents will be back soon." She smiled sincerely at me.

"We're actually going to be studying all night. The competition's this Friday."

"All night, hmm? Alright then," she smirked again, "good luck with that."

Just then the door slammed. "We're home! Who's this?" A male voice said from behind me. I quickly turned around and bowed and introduced myself.

"Omo! I had no idea she was your girlfriend, son!" The voice said again. I looked up quickly to deny it and was surprised to see a familiar face. What the heck was the school director doing in Cho Kyuhyun's house??

"Director-nim!! You're Kyuhyun's father?"

"Oh yes, but my son here doesn't really like to tell people," he replied with a hearty laugh. The director was a stately yet friendly man, whose old age showed in the wrinkles in his face but not his body fit for a man of thirty. "Still, I never expected to see you outside of school, Raeha, much less in my own house!"

"I'm just here to study, sir." I laughed.

"She seems like a nice young girl," the woman beside him spoke. She was around her late forties and wore her hair in a bun. She wore a neatly ironed dress suit with a string of pearls around her neck.

"Mom, dad, you're home!" Kyuhyun and his sister greeted them with kisses on the cheek.

"Come on in, dinner's ready!" Kyuhyun's noona motioned towards the dining room. Kyuhyun's father sat at the head of the dining table, his mother sat at his right, his sister at his left, and Kyuhyun sat beside his mother. I awkwardly took the empty seat beside his sister, who gave me a warm smile and a pat on the hand.

"So how are you two doing with the competition?" Director-nim asked.

"Doing great, sir." I replied with a smile. Strangely, the usually yappy Kyuhyun was silent. He kept his eyes lowered, as if the soup was incredibly interesting.

"Well keep up the good work. I expect nothing less than first place at regionals!" he said proudly, raising his chopsticks in the air.
"Dear, please don't do that with your chopsticks," his wife pulled his arm down.

"We'll try, sir." I said with a chuckle..

"Try? Try isn't good enough. Do!" With a frown, I thought, well that sounds a bit demanding, but I decided not to say anything. I glanced over at Kyuhyun, who was seemingly invested in the table cloth pattern. I decided not to ask.