Chapter Twelve

Updated on 6th of November 2013.

It wasn't important anyway.

 

"Well well... Kyungsoo, may I know why you're late for class?" Their history teacher asked the moment Kyungsoo twisted the doorknob open. He sighed and bowed a little, "Sorry I'm late, but I don't have a valid rea-"

"He followed me to the hospital. I... needed help."

Kyungsoo's head darted to her direction and she meekly lowered her head when a few squeals came from the girls in the class.

"Silence." The history teacher warned and the class was once again quiet. "Take your seat."

"Yes, sir." Kyungsoo nodded once before he made his way towards Hae Lynn and took the seat beside her. When the teacher was done with the lesson, he requested for everyone to do silent reading. The two of them stared at their books and just as Hae Lynn tried to read the first sentence...

"Why did you help me?"

Her lips parted as she tilted her head a little to look at him. "Why can't I help you?"

Kyungsoo simply flipped the page of his textbook before he replied, "Because I don't deserve it."

Before Hae Lynn could even say anything, "Follow me home later. My mom's orders. No backing out."

"You can't jus-"

"Hae Lynn and Kyungsoo, do we have a problem here?" Their history teacher popped out of nowhere beside them and Kyungsoo shrugged, using his head to point at Hae Lynn. "Well, Miss Kim?"

"N-No sir."

"Then read."

She nodded once and fixed her eyes onto her book after letting out a soft sigh. He simply smiled a little before he focused on reading the passage.

"S-Stay here?" Hae Lynn repeated Mrs. Do's words as she was sitting beside her on the sofa. "I insisted on making you stay here because it's not safe for you to stay on your own at home. Plus, I've always wanted to have a girl in the house again."

"A-Again?"

"Mom. Stop. We're all tired." Kyungsoo deadpanned, walking out of the living room as he took his bag to disappear upstairs. Hae Lynn gulped as she leaned back on the sofa. "So from now on until your grandmother is alright again, come back here. Your room will be opposite Kyungsoo's room and it's not that hard to find. Some of your clothes are here already and if you need anything from your house, you can go next door but make sure you bring Kyungsoo with you."

"But Mrs. Do,-"

"I want you to stay here. I insist." Mrs. Do pleaded, holding onto two of Hae Lynn's hands as a last desperate act. The resemblance of her own daughter were in Hae Lynn and Mrs. Do was already more than glad when she found out that they were neighbours. Mrs. Do would rather have Hae Lynn stay here so she could have a female to talk to in the house apart from Hae Lynn's grandmother. Things would be much better this way.

"If you need any-" Mrs. Do's voice trailled off when Kyungsoo came back down to the living room and gripped onto Hae Lynn's wrist to yank her up. He snatched her bag on the floor to sling it over his shoulder. "I'll be taking her up now. I'll take care of it." Kyungsoo snapped before he dragged Hae Lynn away. Despite the coldness Mrs. Do received, she could somewhat see that her son was slowly opening up like a flower blossoming during spring. Even though the process was slow, it was progressing - and she mentally thanked Hae Lynn for that.

Kyungsoo let go of her wrist the moment they reached in front of the room she was going to sleep in. He placed her bag on the ground and turned around to face her. "My mom nags a lot. Don't go around school telling people she's annoying - that's my job."

"S-She's not annoying... She's nice. Unlike someone..." Hae Lynn reasoned out and Kyungsoo eyed her as he gave her a flick on the forehead. She showed him her tongue and simply let go of it. He shrugged it off and opened the door to the bedroom for her. 

"Here's your room. Bathroom is beside my room. We have breakfast at 6.30a.m., lunch at school and dinner at 7.30p.m.. Supper is optional and whenever your hungry, there's food in the fridge. If there's anything you need to know, come to me. Not anyone else. Understood?"

"Why are you being nice?"

That question struck inside Kyungsoo and he didn't even know what he's doing but... it feels right doing it. He has this pinch of contentment doing this but there was no specific reason why. Was it because he wanted to save her from drowning by his mother's words and questions? Was it because he felt pity that her grandmother was in the hospital? Or was it... just because?

He chose the last answer as the best one.

"Just because. Don't be late for dinner. I hate waiting." 

With that, Kyungsoo left and she could only see him closing his bedroom door as she jerked up a little from the door slam. There goes his kind soul... She sighed a little as she entered the bedroom and looked around as she closed the door behind her. Walking in to the pastel colored room, she set her school bag onto the floor as she looked around. She sniffed a little and fell onto the floor, clutching onto her bag as she tried not to cry.

Not in another person's house Hae Lynn. No.

She shut her eyes tight and only allowed a few tears to roll down. Gathering all the courage in her, she had her phone out from her bag and she dialled her father's number that she remembered by heart.

"Sorry. The number you have dialled is unavailable-"

"Please try again later." Hae Lynn finished up the recorded voice mail voice and sighed, putting the phone down. It was always like this whenever she called her father, what more her mother who didn't even want her from the start? Wiping away all the tears, she stood back up and huffed a little before pacing over the closet to take a set of clothes so she could wash up.

"This is really good, Mrs. Do." Hae Lynn smiled as she took another mouthful of the dishes she had on her plate. "I'm glad you like it, Hae Lynn." Mrs. Do smiled warmly and Hae Lynn nodded her head. For once, she didn't want to speak too much and Kyungsoo was oddly weird about it. He thought that maybe a little peace and quiet would be good but it was too quiet with Hae Lynn around.

"Hey-"

"Mrs. Do?" Kyungsoo decided to keep his mouth shut and pretended he didn't call her as he stared down on his plate.

It wasn't important anyway.

"Yes?" Mrs. Do answered politely and Hae Lynn pressed her lips together before she asked, "Can I go over to my place for a moment? I need to get something important and a few books."

"Hurry. We don't have all night." Kyungsoo snapped and Hae Lynn simply nodded her head as she brushed past him to walk inside the house after she got the door open. He raised an eyebrow and turned around to see her walking up the stairs on her own, gripping onto the railing so she wouldn't fall down. He hissed and hurried to her side to aid her by allowing her to hold onto his hand before she fell down. "T-Thanks." She mumbled softly and she pulled her hand back as she gathered enough strength to endure the pain to walk up the stairs faster. 

When she reached her bedroom, she sighed but twisted the door knob to enter. Without asking, Kyungsoo simply followed her in and his eyes widened at the sight. Her room was surprisingly well organized and clean. His eyes roamed everywhere until it landed on the photo frame on the table. Carefully, he walked towards it and lifted it up in his hands to take a good look.

Isn't this the lady she was drawing? He narrowed his eyes and he was right. It is...

"Give that back." She mumbled softly, snatching the photo frame away from his hands when she got the books she needed. He slyly moved away so she couldn't reach it. "Why?" She hissed and stomped her foot once with a huff as she looked up at him.

"I said give it back."

His eyes glanced down to the photo and his eyes travelled back up to meet with hers. "Not until you tell me why."

"Look!" She pointed at the window and he emitted a fake laugh. "I'm not falling for that."

She sighed and dragged herself to sit down on the bed. She gestured him to sit down so she could tell him but then he simply handed the photo frame back to her. "You're wasting time. Let's go back."

gawked but she shut her lips when she touched the photo frame closely. It didn't matter as long as she had it.

When it was late at night, she yawned as she was studying by the study table. The room was bigger than her own but she'd rather sleep in her own room. Knowing that her grandmother and Mrs. Do agreed to let her stay here, she decided to go with the flow until her grandmother was discharged. Meanwhile, she already bagged a part time job from Nicole - she has many connections so she hooked Hae Lynn with a part time job at an ice cream parlor nearby Hae Lynn's neighbourhood.

Hae Lynn looked down on the photo frame after revising for an hour now. Her books were pushed away on the table to make space for just the photo frame to fit in the middle. She circled her finger around the woman's face and slowly she dragged her finger to circle it on her own - younger self. "You'll make sure grandma is alright... right?"

"I know you miss her too but, can you not take her with you?" Hae Lynn pleaded softly, clutching onto the photo frame this time.

She inhaled and exhaled heavily as she now hugged the photo frame, bringing it close to her chest as she let out silent tears.

He stood outside her bedroom door with a hand up to knock but the moment he heard soft sobs, his hand fell down to his side as he stared at the wooden door being the only barrier between himself and the girl inside crying her heart out. His lips parted as he lifted his hand to knock again but he didn't find the will to do so anymore. All he wanted was to just go in there and ask her for a help in a question in Math that for the life of his own he couldn't understand but, that Math question was long forgotten when he simply sighed and turned around to head back to his room.

"Kyungsoo! Wake Hae Lynn up! Then walk her to school!" Mrs. Do shouted when Kyungsoo was in the bathroom. "I got it!" Kyungsoo shouted back out of desperation to make sure his mother wouldn't bug him. He's just going to do whatever his mother pleases until Hae Lynn is out of the house. The more he obeys, the less nagging he will get.

He walked towards her room with his bag over his shoulder. He knocked a few times before opening the door only to notice she was already gone. His eyebrows knitted as he entered and roamed around the room, searching for her but she wasn't there. He picked up a note on the table though.

'I left for school already. I'll only be back at 8.30p.m. Don't worry about dinner.- Hae Lynn.'

He tilted his head but he paced out of the room and slammed the door behind him before he went downstairs. "Where's Hae Ly-"

"She left." Kyungsoo cut his mother off, handing her the piece of paper before he dashed out of the house and closing the door behind him, well aware of what his mother was going to say - or shout.

"Kyungsoo! You haven't eaten yet!" His mother shouted before she even read what was written on the paper.

"Where the hell is that girl?" He muttered under his breath the moment he was outside of the school compound. He looked left and right as he tried to catch his breath from running all the way from his house. Sighing, he decided to just go in and get breakfast in the school cafeteria with his hand clutching onto his bag strap. The moment he reached the cafeteria, there was barely anyone there considering there was an hour before school starts. Just as he headed towards the counter, he saw a familiar looking bag pack from a distance at the corner of the cafeteria. After paying for his meal, he gripped onto the tray of food as he walked towards the table.

He placed his tray beside the tray on the table and the girl lifted her chin to stumble back on her seat. Kyungsoo let out a soft scoff before he sat down opposite her as he eyed her carefully. "What are you doing here?"

She gulped as she grabbed onto her bag to leave but underneath the table, he trapped both of her legs so that she couldn't move. She wiggled and struggled to break free but it was absolutely pointless - he was much stronger than she was. She sighed in defeat and stopped moving. "I... I didn't want to burden you or your family... staying there is burdensome enough."

He shook his head before he proceeded to eat his breakfast with her staring at him in a weird way.

"Don't feel burdened. Just stay." He assured her - well at least he tried. His tone was somewhat cold and monotonous but he was trying his best to not sound that way. She nodded once meekly as she tried to get up again, without him trapping her legs or anything like that. Before she could even leave,

"Aren't you going to accompany me?"

Her eyes widened as she turned back to look at him. Is he sane at the moment?

"W-What?"

"There's no one here to sit with me. Shouldn't you sit with me?"

Gulping, she sat back down and gave a small smile. "I... I'll stay."

As she accompanied him, she took out her books to continue making her own personal notes. When he took a bite from his sandwich, his eyes were locked on her the whole time. The way her hair was swept to one side and the way she held onto her pen just to make sure each letter she wrote had the same size - it was organized and neat, he thought. Another bite from his sandwich was taken and he noticed her eyes this time. The way it was locked onto the papers and notebooks that she couldn't notice he was staring the whole while.

"I'm hungry!" Baekhyun whined a little and Kai flicked his forehead. "Calm down princess, we'll eat in the cafeteria."

"You're paying." Baekhyun countered and Kai laughed. "What am I? Your boyfriend?"

"Only if you want to be."

"Jesus, get away from me." Kai snapped playfully as he raced with Baekhyun to the cafeteria.

The moment the two of them entered the cafeteria, their eyes darted to the two people sitting at the corner of the cafeteria. Kai and Baekhyun looked at one another for a moment, giving each other knowing looks.

"Looks like you're going to pay up, Baek."

A/N : I'm going for camp in two days so... hopefully I'll get an update tomorrow too! xD That's all! Upvote? Comment? Like?(Kidding. This isn't facebook) xoxo