Chapter Eighteen

Updated on 24th of November 2013.

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"So...?" Hae Lynn dragged the word, bringing Kyungsoo back to his senses as he shifted his attention back to her. "What?" A soft chuckle emitted from Hae Lynn's mouth, making his heart skip a beat for the fifth time this week - it was only the second day of the week.

"N-Nothing."

Before he could think of a topic to talk about, "Are you coming for the training trip?" Hae Lynn asked and he shrugged. gawked as she sat forward a little with her eyes widened. "You have to come!" She half-whispered, half-shouted as she remembered they were in the library. A small twitch came from his lips and she sealed her lips together. "You're bluffing, huh?" He raised two of his eyebrows teasingly, silently agreeing with her and she leaned back against her chair. "Yah... You are really something."

"Come over today, my mother wants you to come over." He asked out of nowhere, causing her to widen her eyes at him. "Sorry?"

"Come over." He made a hand gesture before he let his hand fal onto his lap. She pressed her lips together, shaking her head to reject his offer even though she wanted to come over. Pity filled him as he stared at her transform from a happy girl, to a rather sad one. "G-Grandmother...?" She lifted her chin to glance at him before she lowered her head. "Yeah..."

He stood up suddenly, catching her attention as she raised her head to lock gazes with him. "You're so complicating." With that, he took a few steps away from her but halted his tracks, turning around to face her again. "I like tea when I come over." He stated monotonously, putting his hands into his pocket as he stared at her. Her reaction was slow as she was confused - why is he telling me likes tea when he comes over? Wait... "Are yo-?" Her voice trailed off when he simply smiled at her, shrugging his shoulders as he walked away from her with her staring at his back. When he reached the library door, she could see him taking out his phone to send a short text before he left.

Unexpectedly, her phone vibrated in her pocket as she fished it out to see it was a text from the boy who had just left.

'Class starts in two minutes.'
From : Kyungsoo || Received at 11.13a.m.

With that, a muffled curse escaped her lips as she messily got up from the chair, pushed it back in and dashed out of the library.

When she entered her room, she sighed in bliss the moment she could lie down on the bed - she was beyond tired especially with constant training hours of running and a few hours of working part time. If it was possible, she would sleep the whole day - if only she could. Her grandmother was sound asleep after Hae Lynn talked to her for 30 minutes, telling her about her day and about her mini-like crush for Kyungsoo. Her grandmother laughed and pretended like she was shocked but hey, she saw it coming way before Hae Lynn even liked the boy next door.

"I'm so tired, I could sleep forever..."

Before she could even shut her eyes, her heart skipped a beat when a thud could be heard outside her window. She jerked up and let out a soft gasp as she shot up from the bed. What in the world...? She got up and with small steps, she walked towards her window, pushing her curtains aside to see Kyungsoo on the other side of her window. She sat down by her study table as she rested her elbows on it. Her eyes narrowed when she saw a written message from the boy who threw the rock.

'Scared you, huh?'

He smirked when he saw her fussy look as she grabbed a marker and an A4 paper to reply his message.

'You're lucky I didn't die of a heartattack.'

He laughed silently but replied her message nevertheless - communicating like this was rather fun even though he wouldn't admit it.

'Oh really?'

'Yes really. :p'
 

A small smile spread on his face when he saw that little emoticon she drew messily - he could tell she was sleepy. Just as she got up from her study table, thinking she could sleep,  another rock was thrown at her window, causing her to fall back onto the chair out of surprise again. She lifted her chin to glare the boy playfully who threw the rock recklessly. Her hand lifted up in a clenched fist, threatening to beat him up but all he could do was smile - something he's been doing a lot lately.

'Open your window.'

She frowned as she reached for her marker to reply.

'Why? So you can climb through? And stop throwing rocks before I throw my shoe at you! D:'

Shaking his head at her message, he wrote his reply to her.

'Yeah. Now open up. P.S. - I'm not sorry for throwing the rocks. You never check your phone anyway.'

Her eyes widened slightly as she reached for her phone to see that he was right - she had two missed calls from him and she felt bad - and good in a way. Following orders, she reached over to open her window. She sat on her study table with her legs crossed as she faced the window directly. Kyungsoo mirrored her actions as he sat on his table as well, legs crossed as he held something in his lap. 

"Catch it, alright?!" He shouted with the distance between them and it took her less than five seconds to understand what he shouted. "Got it!" She raised an 'O.K.' sign before she got ready to catch. He tossed over what looked like a paper cup but she missed it and it swung down back to him since it was connected by a thread. He groaned loudly and lifted his chin to show her a look. "I told you to catch it!"

"I couldn't see it!"

"Try again!" He reeled in the paper cup and this time, he threw it at her with more force, allowing her to catch it swiftly with two of her hands. "I got it!"

"No Sherlock." He mumbled softly and she could hear him because he mumbled softly at the paper cup in which she was already pressing it against her ear. He simply grinned quietly before he put the paper cup to his ear to hear her say something.

"Earth to Kyungsoo. Beep." She pretended to be a robot and honestly, it was such a childish sight yet something so heartwarming to see - it was something only Hae Lynn could pull off to a guy like Kyungsoo. "Since you're wide awake, I'll test you some English words through this telephone cups, alright?"

"Alright." She replied and she held the cup at her ear to listen to the first English word of the night.

"Cup." He stated simply and he put the paper up at his ear to listen to what she was going to say. She let out a soft sigh, she's heard this plenty of times before but somehow it always slips her mind. "Cup..." She mumbled through the cup and he snickered at her English pronunciation. It wasn't bad - it was cute. "Uh... Is it, bookshelf?" Kyungsoo let his head roll back in disbelief, how can she not know what 'cup' means in Korean? "Are you stupid? Bookshelf is bookshelf!"

"Give me a hint!" She demanded, wanting to get this right and prove to him she wasn't stupid but truth to be told, everyone knows English isn't her forte. "It's something you use to hold something."

"Bookshelves hold books!"

"This isn't created to hold books!"

"What does it hold?!"

"I can't say that!"

"If you don't say it then I won't know!"

He let out a groan through the cup and she could hear. All of a sudden, "Cup! It's cup! Isn't it?" She blurted out the answer quickly and cheerfully as he lowered the cup to stare at her with a look she knew very well. "You checked your notebook, didn't you?" She bit her lower lip in guilt and her hand quickly pushed her book off her study table. "What book?" She playfully challenged him and he laughed a little. "Hey, you laughed!"

"What?" He let his smile drop. "Who's laughing? You?"

"Don't play dumb! You laughed a moment ago!"

"Uh, no. Are you sure?" He tilted his head sideways while he was at it, pulling on the most clueless face ever. She scrunched her nose a little and her tongue darted out for a moment before it went back into . "Faker."

"Cheater." He countered her and she simply yawned - not being able to hear what he said. His heart softened by it's own as he saw how tired he was. If only he could help her... then again - he could. "Hey!" Kyungsoo's voice could be heard loud and clear even though Hae Lynn didn't put the paper cup by her ear. She jerked up and her eyes widened as she lifted her chin up to blink at Kyungsoo slowly. She lifted up the paper cup to place it by , "What?"

"Who bagged you the job at the ice cream parlor?"

"Nicole..." She mumbled quietly, head bobbing back and forth as she threatened to fall asleep. "Wait here." He spoke up through the paper cup and she gave a mere nod before she rested her head against the window pane, hand gripping onto the paper cup loosely. He jumped off the table and snatched his phone to call Joon Myun. It was a few seconds of hearing the ringing tone before his friend picked up. "Hey."

"Hey. Can I have Nicole's phone number?" Kyungsoo asked hurriedly with a hand on his hip with his back facing Hae Lynn. 

"Why?" Joon Myun's voice showed concern but Kyungsoo could only roll his eyes. "I'm not going to steal her or anything like that - trust me, that didn't even cross my mind. I need it." Kyungsoo tapped his feet to emphasize his point even though Joon Myun couldn't see it. A heavy sigh escaped his lips but agreed by telling Kyungsoo he would send a text to him with his girlfriend's number. With that, Kyungsoo hung up after saying his thanks.

Joon Myun kept his word - Kyungsoo received a message right after the phone call and he immediately called the number he received. "Hello?" Nicole answered groggily, a sign she was sleeping and Kyungsoo smacked his own forehead. "Uh, hi, Nicole?"

"Yeah... This is she... You are?"

"Kyungsoo. Do Kyungsoo."

"Oh... You're that little brat - I mean, Hae Lynn's partner." Kyungsoo nearly let his phone fall when he heard the word 'brat'. What? They refer me as a brat?! "Excuse me, 'brat'?"

"Slipped out of my mouth." Nicole replied meekly, slightly apologetic but hey, she just woke up - cut the girl some slack. "I'll question her about that later. About the job you got Hae Lynn at the ice cream parlor, could you get me the same job as her?"

Nicole's voice was suddenly clear as she sat up on her bed with her eyes wide opened. "What?"

"How about we talk about this in school when you're wide awake, alright?"

With a slight agreement, Nicole was the first one to hang up after stating the place and time to meet at school. Kyungsoo tossed his phone onto his bed as he made his way back to the study table where he sat on it with his legs crossed, picking up the paper cup only to see that Hae Lynn was asleep with her head leaning against the window pane. Kyungsoo shook his head as he placed the paper cup down and the window that was shut was making sure the thread connecting his side of the paper cup was secure. He got off the study table and dashed out of his room quietly - everyone else was asleep.

He ran downstairs silently and took the spare house keys of Hae Lynn's house - his mother has a set of spare keys considering she goes there every day to take care of Hae Lynn's grandmother.

With his hands shaking, he managed to unlock the front door to her house and he closed the door behind him without making much noise before locking it. He then proceeded to putting the keys into his pocket before he walked upstairs. He hissed silently when a creak echoed the moment he stepped on the wrong spot on the step of the stairs. He moved slightly to the right before continuing to walk up the stairs until he reached the second floor. He headed straight towards Hae Lynn's room as he pushed the door open to slide through soundlessly.

As his hands gripped onto the sides of her arms gently, her body leaned back out of instinct and he lunged forward to make sure her back leaned back against his chest. She let out a soft hum but he simply gulped - body tensed up as he tried to relax when he looked down to notice she was in a deep sleep. Unsure of what to do, he froze for five seconds before making the decision to lift her up. Swiftly, he moved to lift her off the table with a hand on her back while the other tried to turn her body slowly and carefully until she was facing him at the side of the table.

Then he proceeded to uncrossing her legs when her head was resting on his shoulder. 

God damn, she's a heavy sleeper - finally it's good for something.

When he managed to carry her in his arms, he went straight to her bed to make her lie down as his leg kicked open her blanket as he placed her down. She sighed in content when her head touched the pillow and his heart skipped a beat - yet again. He walked over to her study table and closed her window shut, ensuring that her side of the paper cup was secured as well as his - he felt good that this was their somewhat, 'private' and 'personal' phone line. Cliche and cheesy, but he feels a step further compared to Minhyuk.

He looked over his shoulder only to eye the girl sleeping contentedly with her hands on the bed messily. He shook his head, walking towards her as he reached for her hands to place it together before he gripped onto the hem of the blanket to pull it up until they covered her lower torso. Smiling to himself, his hand was at the side of her head to tuck strands of her hair away from her face but he pulled back.

You've done enough for today, Kyungsoo. Take it slow...

Exhaling heavily, he his heels as he walked towards the door but he stopped.

Unable to control himself, he spun back around.

That night, the grandmother of the young girl felt pure bliss when she saw the young boy turning back around just to tuck strands of her granddaughter's hair behind her ear before he gave a light peck on her forehead. She knew that even if she left, someone would be around to take care of her granddaughter.

It was him.

A/N : Again! I forgot to publish it! D: But here it is! Comment & Upvote (: xoxo