Raeha

For the rest of the day, I was made a slave.

When Kyuhyun dropped his pen, he made me pick it up.

When he needed to borrow books from the library, he made me carry them.

Even when the teacher asked us to open our books, he sat there, looked at me, and pointed at the book on his desk. Are you f*&^@ng kidding me???

I sulked the whole day, my face pouting. More than once, Hyeri asked me if I was alright. As a reply, I pointed at Kyuhyun and said, "Ask this guy," as angrily as I could.

When the bell rang for dismissal, Kyuhyun stood up quickly and left. I ran after him, yelling, "Hey, you can't leave without giving me my phone back!!! Give it here!" He gave an annoying smirk, and I knew what was coming. "Make me!!" He held it in his outstretched hand and sped down the hallway and out the door. I was in shock for a few seconds--could this be the same uptight Cho I knew?? I quickly snapped out of it and ran after him.

"YAH GIVE IT BACK!" I yelled. He had made it down the steps in front of the school entrance, swinging the big glass doors behind him. I pushed them forward and ran, not looking where I was going. Suddenly, I felt a sharp pain jolt through my right leg, and before I knew it I was lying chest first on the dusty concrete in front of the steps, my bag and books scattered around me. I pushed myself up onto my hands, looking up to see Kyuhyun jogging towards me, and everyone else staring. Standing over me, he asked, "Are you okay?"

I tried to put weight on my right leg, but the pain shot up and I fell again as I winced in pain. I pushed myself up into a sitting position to inspect it. I had definitely sprained my ankle. It was already starting to swell. My mom was going to kill me!!

Kyuhyun turned around with a sigh and squatted, his back towards me. I sat there, confused. "What are you doing?" I asked.

"Get on my back, I'll take you home." He sounded serious. I wondered what his expression was, but I couldn't see it form back here.

"W-what do you think this is? A romantic drama??"

"Do you want to get home or not? I don't see anyone else offering to help."

True enough, when I glanced around, everyone just avoided my gaze. Well, I didn't see anyone I knew, so at least I was saved the embarassment. Hesitantly, I put my arms around his neck, and he pulled me up with a grunt. "You're heavy for a girl," he muttered, earning him a hard slap on the arm. He let go on one side and I yelped and held tighter. I guess I kinda choked him but he didn't complain as he bent down and picked up my things, put them in my bag and gave it to me to hold, then resumed carrying me. I couldn't believe it, the almighty Kyuhyun was carrying me?

"Onward, my fairthful steed!" I pointed forward jokingly. He sighed heavily, but when I glanced down I swear I the corners of his mouth turn up into something that could maybe have been a smile. He started walking.

As I pointed out the directions to my house, he remained silent. It was sort of weird. It wasn't even an angry kind of silence. It was like his mind was just somewhere else, unusual for the normally focused Cho Kyuhyun.

In an effort to make conversation, I asked, "Hey, what's it like being the director's son?"

His answer was barely a whisper, "okay, I guess."

"You don't sound too happy," I noted.

"It's fine, really..." "Doesn't seem like it." "What do you mean?" "I mean, doesn't it put a lot of pressure on you? When I was there he was all about study... I mean, I guess that's why you study so much, unless you really like it? Because he seemed to put a lot of emphasis on winning the competition."

He stayed silent.

And I thought about how competitive he was about his grades, how much he wanted to win this competition and why it was such a big deal. I realized that in the end it was all because he sought approval from his father. No wonder this guy was so uptight all the time. I couldn't imagine how much pressure he felt, being the director's son. He was probably expected to be the same thing when he grew up.

"It's okay, I understand," I whispered. He didn't reply.

"But honestly, what would you want to do? If your father's opinion didn't matter?"

He didn't say anything for a while, and I thought he wasn't going to reply at all until he spoke up, "I want to do music."

I was taken aback. "Music? You?? Really?"

"Don't sound so surprised! I can actually play the piano really well, you know, and I'm actually kind of interested in composing..."

"Why hide it? If you're so good why not show it off?"

He said, in a melancholy way, "My father says it's useless and won't do me any good in life. He says--" "Who cares what your father says?" I interrupted. He turned his head to look at me from the corner of his eyes, exclaiming, "what? Are you crazy? I care about what my father says!" "But what about what you want?"

"You don't understand..."

"I understand completely. I'm not dumb. I know that you think that being great at academics will make him love you more. But if he really loved you he'd support you in your dreams."

He shook his head stubbornly. "It's easy for you to say, but I can't just go against my own father. Besides, this is what I'm good at. I'll have a good future.."

"But will you have a happy one?"

He turned quiet and distant, and slowed down his walking, as if he barely noticed he was carrying me on his back, until I tapped on his shoulder.

"This is my house." I unwrap my arms so he can let me down and he said, "Stupid, you can't walk, remember?" He rang the doorbell and a few seconds later, the gate opened to reveal my mother fussing, "Oh my!! What happened?? Who is this?"

"I sprained my ankle, eomma."

"Sprained your-- SPRAINED YOUR ANKLE? Aigoo, what am I to do with you, you're so accident prone! Come inside, come inside." She moved aside, looking worried. No doubt when Kyuhyun left later, I'd get another lecture about watching where I was going.

Kyuhyun followed inside, taking his slippers off at the door. He walked over to the couch and unceremoniously plopped me onto it. "Ow! Watch where you're dropping that leg." "Sorry," he muttered. He also took my phone from his pocket and handed it to me. Yay! Now I could text again. My mother disappeared into the kitchen, where I could hear the sizzle of the pan. She must have been in the middle of making dinner.

As Kyuhyun headed out the door, he turned and said, "Good luck to the both of us tomorrow."

"The competition? Yeah, I guess." "Hey, better take it seriously. Study up!" "Yeah, yeah, I know. Ugh. If I don't make it tomorrow it's your fault."

He shrugged, strangely distant. It was unlike him to be unresponsive.

"Cho?"

"Yeah?"

"I support you, okay? Even if your dad doesn't. Even if I haven't heard you play. Because everyone deserves to reach their dreams."

"... Good night, Jung."

And he closed the door.

BAM DRAMA. keke. Sorry I took so long. Also:

OMGOMGOMGOMGOMGOMOGMOMG KYUHYUN'S GETTING A SOLO ALBUM. GO KYU, MY LOVE. DO WHAT YOU DO BEST. <3 <3 <3 and his album cover even reminded me of my fic. keke.