Ae Sook opened the front door with her house keys, and she stepped inside slowly, retrieving her keys from the door. Kai followed suit, but Ae Sook heard some shuffling and before any of them knew what had happened, Kai tripped, his hands now on Ae Sook’s back, holding her to balance himself. Ae Sook glanced at him for a second, noticing that his face was contorting in pain. She stepped inside more and made way for him.

“God,” Kai groaned, rubbing his forehead in frustration, sighing as he said, “Sorry…I-I didn’t see the ‘Welcome’ mat so…I tripped…” And when Ae Sook heard that, she gave him a small smile and held his arm as she pulled him inside the house, telling him to come in instead of staying on the front porch. She took off her shoes and placed it on the shoe rack, and Kai did the same, aligning his shoes, putting them on the rack while he followed where Ae Sook was going, following her steps as she made way to the kitchen.

“Don’t worry, it always happens,” she laughed as she got some drinks from the fridge and pulled out some snacks. “My dad always trips there.” When she finished her sentence, she went out of the kitchen just to see Kai looking around, his face clearly amused as he looked at the picture frames hung on the walls, showing Ae Sook with her mother and her father; they looked so happy, and just so…complete. He just felt a tinge of pain in his heart just by thinking that he didn’t have a father.

Ae Sook didn’t want to disturb him as he now scanned the photo albums displayed, and his attention was also diverted to the book shelves, touching different books he had never even read before, books of different genres, but most of it, he noticed, were Christian books.

“You really are religious, huh?” Kai asked her, not diverting his attention to her, but still opening a book, but this time, it was the Bible. “It says that this Bible belongs to your mother.” When it went silent, and when he didn’t hear any reply, he looked up and faced Ae Sook as she was now bringing some drinks and chips in hand, her bag strapped over her shoulder. Her face didn’t show any emotion, and he didn’t see his favorite smile as well.

“Yeah, that’s my mother’s,” she gave him a small smile. “But…but my mom passed away, so we just kept it there…” She then turned around and was about to go up the stairs, but he cleared his throat and stuttered words she has heard a lot of times.

“I-I’m sorry…” Kai apologized as he looked at her with wide eyes. “I-I…I actually didn’t know, I…I really am sorry for your loss, Ae Sook, I just-”

“-I’m okay,” She laughed, lighting up the mood and lessened the tension that was occupying the whole room. “Aren’t you coming upstairs?”

“Upstairs?” Kai asked, and his eyes widened once again. “W-What do you – I mean, I thought we were practicing our lines here downstairs?” he asked, now walking over towards her, leaning his hand against the wall as he stared at her. “I just want to make it easier for us, you know…because we’re all alone, and-”

“-My father said he trusts us, so it’s fine,” she cut off and she descended down the stairs to look at him eye to eye. “Come on, it’s not like we’ll do anything weird…” she laughed as she punched his chest playfully.

“Y-Yeah…” Kai nodded and sighed with a sheepish grin. “But if – okay, it’s your house anyway.” He let her laugh reach his ears and now she was dragging him upstairs with her free hand, the other hand holding some snacks. He then heard her mutter a sentence.

“It’s better if we finish this faster, right?”

“Finish what faster?” Kai couldn’t help but ask, his face showing confusion as she stared down at him, smiling.

“The script,” Ae Sook laughed as he muttered a long and audible, ‘Oh~’ “Don’t think of bad things, Kai.” Ae Sook then turned in a corner and opened her door, going in as Kai defended himself.

“B-But I wasn’t thinking about stuff…” He frowned, a blush on his face. “It just sounded weird and…”

“…I get you,” She smiled and that made him stop and just follow her, frowning more as she let go of his hand and now settled on her bed, dropping her bag to the side and putting the drinks and chips on her bed as well. “Come on, sit beside me.” She said happily, grinning as she patted the space right next to her, and that let Kai melt again. He got his script from his bag, fumbling with the zipper out of nervousness as he walked over to her bed and settled down beside her. He looked at her as she got her own script, too, bending down as she closed her bag’s zipper. “We should start now, when do you think we’ll finish?” She asked as she faced him once more, looking serious and more focused than ever.

“I guess 9 pm?” He said, but more like questioned as she shook her head and pouted cutely.

“I think we’ll finish at 10…” she muttered and her pout was replaced by a bright smile, and Kai felt confused, but she then said, “But anyways, we’ll try our best~ Let’s have fun while we’re doing it, okay?”

He nodded and she opened the page where they stopped practicing last time, and Kai did as well.

There was one part in the script where both Kai and Ae Sook had to kneel down on the floor as they were supposed to be cupping each other’s cheeks, holding each other close since they didn’t want to let go of each other because in the play, Ae Sook played a role of a young lady who was sick, who had some kind of sickness, and this part, Kai and Ae Sook had a hard time showing it in actions since it just so happened that that part was touchy and they had to face each other without breaking eye contact. In the script, the drama teacher even highlighted Kai’s parts, and she placed a note at the side, saying that he really had to hold Ae Sook close to him, wrap her around his arms and just feel her, and her soul and her everything, like he really meant it, like he really connected with her, like he really ne