“Ugh, where is that idiot?” Jinki mumbled to herself as she frustratingly slammed her textbooks onto her desk without any care in the world if they ripped or not, “He promised to walk with me to school this morning, and in the end he didn't even come. I swear, if Seunggwan decides to show his face at school today, I'm going to -”

“Hey Jinki! Are you -”

The forest green cover of her Geometry workbook slapped the remaining empty area of her desktop with a ear-splitting clap, causing everyone to turn their heads towards the center of the room. The classroom went so silent that the cliché phrase of “you could hear a pin drop” couldn't be more relevant. Jinki, with her back still turned to the speaker, let out a deep, irritated breath before whipping around with a rather pissed off look on her face. She was not in the mood to talk to Seunggwan especially after he stood her up...at her own house too! Raising her voice, Jinki placed her hands on her hips and looked up, “Bu Seunggwan please explain why you – Chan!”

Her eyes widened to the point where they were perfect circles, “Oh my God, Chan what are you...?”

There was never a time in which she could keep her cool in front of Chan, was there? Almost stumbling backwards, Jinki gripped the edge of her desk to keep herself from falling backwards at how close Chan was standing to her. It was abnormally breaching her personal space bubble (at least a two feet space cushion) and on top of that, he was smiling that weird- Totoro smile that she found creepy while others found totally cute. Guess she never really was one of those anime goers. The rest of the class went back to their business since there were better things to do that watch two of the class' tech geeks hold a conversation. Rubbing the back of his neck shyly, Chan turned his attention back to the smaller girl in front of him, “Sorry, Jinki. Were you expecting someone else?”

“Who? What? Me? No!” The words rattled out of Jinki's mouth with much eagerness, that it almost sounded like she was forcing her opinions down Chan's throat, “I totally wasn't expecting anyone what are you talking about?”

“Great! So about that, what do you say?”

“About what?”

“What I just asked you,”

Jinki's eyes were now half-closed in annoyance. What the heck was Chan doing? Taking a deep breath, she reminded herself that she had to be cute and patient, not short-tempered and inconsiderate. Right. He liked cute girls. Let's do try it again. Forcing a smile onto her face, Jinki tried again, this time talking at a slower pace in hopes that Chan would finally answer her question correctly, “I'm sorry, but I have no idea what you're talking about or what you just asked me,”

“Nevermind about that,” Chan chuckled, brushing his hair out of his eyes, “Anyway, what I really wanted to ask you was if you were free today after school? I mean, it being Friday and all, I thought we could hang out for a bit. You know, just you and me?”

“Chan, I...”

“I mean it's okay if you can't come or anything!” Chan quickly turned red in the face, afraid that he had just been rejected, “You don't have to cancel whatever you have to do,”

“No, Chan, shut up,” Jinki reached up and placed her hands on his shoulders, looking him straight in the eye just to keep the poor boy's nerves down. This shut him up immediately. There was a small giggling fit from Hansol who was sitting behind Chan, but figured that he might as well not interrupt the moment for Chan's manhood's sake. Flashing her signature eye-smile at Chan, Jinki reassured him that she had nothing in mind after school, and that she was totally free, “But, you have to promise me that I won't regret it, okay?”

“I've been in the mood for ice cream lately,” Chan commented when he and Jinki entered the ice cream parlor, “You know, I always crave ice cream during the winter season, and I don't know why,”

Nodding, Jinki agreed to his statement although she was only half-listening to what he was saying. The thought of ice ream in the winter was pretty inviting, yes, but not the most important thing on her mind at this point. To be honest, the entire time they were together, he did most of the talking while she would respond with a yes or no. Whatever he was talking about didn't really interest her; sports. She knew like one of the school sports, and that would be lacrosse because of Dongjin, and Mingming. Unfortunately, Chan was talking about how excited he was for the football season to begin. Apparently homecoming was a pretty big celebration for the coming of the football season or something. She really could care less. Really, Jinki was too busy wondering what happened to Seunggwan to even realize that they had already reached the front of the line.

“Jinki?” Chan caught her attention, “You can order now. Get whatever you want, I'll pay for it,”

Turning her attention to the guy behind the glass, Jinki nodded and did a once-over the flavors they had to offer. They had pretty much everything there: from classic vanilla to something as bizarre as rosewater. In the back of her head, she remembered when Seunggwan had taken her here. It was the first time she had actually gone to the parlor since her parents had their ice cream imported from European creameries. That day, she had ordered half cotton candy, half bubble gum with extra sprinkles and gummy bears (which she ended up helping pay for because she felt bad that Seunggwan alone would be paying). She didn't even realize how long she was taking just staring at the tubs of ice cream until the guy snapped his fingers at her. She was totally out of it today. Clearing , Jinki pointed at the glass, “Can I have a small cup with bubblegum for myself, and for him, a medium cup of triple chocolate?”

“Actually, I'll take a medium vanilla,” Chan corrected her, making her blink. At first he didn't think too much of it considering that he had once seen Dongjin eating it during a school ice cream sale once.

Once they had gotten their ice cream, they took a seat by the large glass window and ate in silence. The air was pretty tense since Chan was thinking about that ordering episode. It could have just been instinct for her to order for the other person she was with, but who was that person she was ordering for? It was possible that it could have Dongjin, but although he didn't want to believe it, or admit to it, in the back of his mind, he also knew that Seunggwan liked triple chocolate as well. Peering up, Chan watched Jinki twirl her spoon in the scoop of ice cream, before sticking it in . She did this with every bite that she took. He found it a rather cute habit actually; of all the girls he'd ever known in his life, she was the very first to do that. He was about to take another bite of his ice cream when he felt his phone vibrating in his jacket pocket. Picking it up, he realized it was Hansol's voice on the other side,

“Hey Chan, we need you to complete our team today. Jinho couldn't make it, so now we're short one player,” Chan immediately knew Hansol was talking about that video game match he had canceled on, “Can you take his place? We can't reach Seunggwan so he's not even an option. I swear if you help us today, we'll make it up to you, man,”

Taking a quick glance to the left, he noticed that Jinki was listening in on their conversation. She mouthed to him, 'Just go. It's okay. I'll be fine.' and he nodded, telling Hansol he would be there. He felt bad that he was going to be leaving Jinki alone all thanks to Hansol, but I mean, she did say that he could go, right? Slipping his jacket on, Chan then threw the remainder of his cup into the nearby trashcan. Jinki stood up from her seat, and did the same. As she was grabbing her jacket, Chan laid a hand on hers, “Jinki, I'm really sorry that we didn't really do anything today. I wanted to go to the museum downtown after this, but Hansol needed me to-”

“No, it's okay,” Jinki said, sliding her jacket from under his hand, “It's fine, really. Hansol needs you, so who am I to get in the way of that? Besides, it'll be good for your record too if you win this match,”

“Really? Are you sure you're okay with this?” Chan still had that look of concern on his face. He felt really guilty for leaving her all alone like this, “I'll take you home if you-”

“Shh. Chan,” Jinki placed a finger to his lips, quickly silencing him; his eyes slightly widened at her sudden actions.

This was the first time a girl had ever told him to stop talking and to be honest, it was a pretty new experience. He felt his heart beat against his chest hard when sweetly smiled up at him. He hadn't seen her this close before, and she was a lot prettier than he had remembered seeing her (which was merely only a few minutes ago). Chan noticed the single dimple on the right side of her face that he had never seen before; it made her look at least three years younger than him. With an eye-smile, Jinki then took her hand away, “I'll be fine okay? Besides, I don't want you to be late. Hansol's waiting for you, and I just remembered that I have to do something anyway,”

Once they exchanged goodbyes, they went off in opposite directions. As Chan was walking out onto the parking lot, he felt his shoulders drooping, “The person she ordered triple chocolate for...I'm sure it wasn't Dongjin,”

Meanwhile, not too far from the school, another boy had his mom calling him out absent for the day. “That Jinki, really!” Seunggwan threw his pillow to the ground, his hair still a mess from his restless night's sleep, “She didn't even bother calling me to ask why I wasn't even at her house today!”

Eyes starting to water once again, Seunggwan sniffled and shut his eyes tightly to prevent him from rubbing them again. Screw being sick. It . His nose was completely blocked, making breathing twice as hard because now he had to breathe through his mouth. Not to mention, the sides of his head were pounding, which really didn't help his fatigued state. Letting out a throaty, mucus-filled cough, Seunggwan flopped back onto his bed and pulled his blanket back on him. Even underneath a comforter and two blankets, he was still shivering. His fingers ran through his sweat-drenched hair, pulling his bangs up as he looked up at the ceiling,

“I wonder, did she get to school today?”

There was a knock on his door. Weakly turning his head, Seunggwan told his mom to come in, before shutting his eyes. He swore that he could sleep for an entire year like this. His mom came in, carrying a tray with cold medicine, a steaming bowl of ramen, tissues, and a tall glass of water. She had a concerned look on her face as she glanced down at her pale-faced boy, looking completely weary. Clicking her tongue, she set the tray on his lamp table, sat down at the edge of his bed and lay a hand on his forehead, “Goodness gracious Seunggwan, you're really warm! How did you get sick anyway?”

“Someone at school had it, and gave it to me,” Seunggwan lied, knowing completely well why he was sick.

About a week before, Seunggwan accompanied Jinki to the venue where her robotics competition was going to be held. The clouds were looking pretty grey that day so she had told him to go ahead and not wait for her, reassuring him that she was going to be fine. Yet, when she went inside, he went ahead and decided to linger downtown a little bit longer. He knew that Jinki wasn't familiar with this part of Seoul, and if anything were to happen to her, he would be the last person to be seen with her – and that would make him look suspicious. Unfortunately for him, the competition ended half an hour late due to a robot malfunction on the other team, and the rain had caught up to him. Seunggwan was hanging around the music store area when the rain started pouring down hard. But as he was about to go inside, he noticed that there were people he saw at the competition were running to their vans. Knowing that the competition had just ended, he made a run for the building where Jinki was standing underneath covers, phone held up to her ear trying to get a hold of a cab company. Yeah right. As if she would actually want to use that mode of public transportation. Seunggwan knew her better than that.

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt a sticky liquid against his lips. Snapping back into reality, he realized that his mom was trying to give him the gross, dark red medicine that was supposed to taste like cherry (although to him, it tasted like death). Pulling his mouth away, Seunggwan complained that he would rather just ride this cold out, earning him protests from his mother, “Seunggwan, if you want to go back to school, then you have to take this or else you won't get any better!”

After several failed attempts of trying to get him to take it, she finally succeeded when she started using her baby talk. Once Seunggwan swallowed it down, and washed the horrid taste out of his mouth with a mouthful of water, she smiled triumphantly and ruffled his hair. She waited for him to close his eyes before she took his hand in hers, rubbing her thumb against the back of his hand. He looked much better than he did earlier now that the medicine was taking effect in putting him to sleep. Her eyes wandered around his small bedroom, admiring the various pictures that he had framed on the walls and displayed on his shelves. Although it didn't seem like it at first, Seunggwan really liked pictures. He wasn't that good at taking them, but he did enjoy looking at them. They were little pieces and reminders of memories that he wanted to keep after all.

Her chocolate orbs settled onto the navy blue picture frame placed on his lamp table, next to the tray. It was a picture of a young boy and girl, no older than the ages of four or five, playing on the swings. It wasn't the regular metal chain and plastic swing either, rather it was those makeshift swings made from a wooden plank and rope tied to a sturdy tree branch. She recognized a little pudgy Seunggwan, still with his wavy black hair, standing behind the girl and the swing, smiling at the camera with squinting eyes. They both wore overalls, but his were blue while hers were pink. Their shirts were a complimenting light green (for him) and a light yellow (for her). The swing was obviously still since Seunggwan's hands were gripping the ropes, and the girl's booted feet were resting against the bright orange and brown leaves scattered on the ground. The girl, a bit skinnier than Seunggwan was, also wore a grin on her face. Long pigtails cascaded down the front of her shoulders, almost to her hips, while her fringe was pinned back with bobby pins. Her head rested against Seunggwan's shoulder as she flashed double V-signs at the camera.

The longer Mrs. Bu studied the picture, the knot in her chest grew tighter. Slight tears began welling in her eyes, but she merely wiped them away with the back of her hand. Just as she placed her hand back down, she felt a slight tugging on her other, followed by Seunggwan's voice, “Mom?”

“Yes?”

“What were you looking at?”

“Oh it's nothing,” her voice trailed off towards the end as she stared down at her lap. Seunggwan's eyebrows furrowed together, an idea forming in his head at what she might have been looking at. Sitting up from his bed, he waited for his mom to continue on. He knew she wanted to say more, but she was hesitant. Knowing that Seunggwan wasn't going to drop the subject, Mrs. Bu sighed, “Seunggwan, do you think...”

“Yeah,” Seunggwan softly whispered, cutting her off, "I've been wondering the same thing,"