It had been weeks, maybe even months, since Kai and Ae Sook have decided that they'd separate ways. It hurt a lot, but that didn't stop Kai from trying to make everything work once again. He tried calling her a couple of times, and as obvious as she made it, she was avoiding him. Three times a day he would call her: one early in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one at night before she'd fall asleep, just to make sure she was fine. Knowing Ae Sook by now, he knew what time she'd fall asleep, because just like him, they were alike, and when it was time for Ae Sook to fall asleep, Kai would fall asleep, too.

They'd see each other in the hallways, and of course, they took the same classes together, but she'd always use another way to get to her classes, and as much as it pained him, she'd avoid eye contact, acting as if he never existed. Whenever her name was mentioned, Kai would sit up straight and whip his head back and forth, and go search for her, but she would always be missing, nowhere to be found. Even in the cafeteria, she would look as if she had no appetite at all, just playing with her food with her fork. Kai would look at her from a distance, watch her from a distance, and it was as if that was what he was made for - to just watch her from a distance. He didn't want her to get hurt in any way, so he just continued to protect her, from afar.

She got skinnier, Kai took note, and it was as if she'd lost so much weight, her clothes getting much loose, and just by looking at her, he wanted to feed her as much as he wanted, and whenever he'd stare at his plate of food, he wanted to shove it in , wanting her to finish everything since she was that skinny - she was frail. Really wanting her to eat, sometimes, even if he knew she didn't want anything to do with him anymore, he'd try to sit at her table, and ask her, "Ae Sook, you should eat," with a spoonful of meat in hand, just displayed right in front of her face, but without a second passing, she'd stand up and avoid him, saying, "Go away, Kai," before leaving him behind, sitting all by himself.

During those days without her, he'd somehow found a job. Well, jobs, to be specific. One of his jobs included tutoring kids, which was surprising to Luhan and the others, but Kai didn't let comments get to his way because he knew he was smart, and judging from the grades the kids were showing him, he was happy. That was enough proof for Sehun and Luhan and all the others to gape. "Who's stupid now?" Kai would murmur to himself once in a while, with a smugly grin, referring to Sehun and the rest, when he'd get the kids test results; he was happy, and he kept in mind that Kris and the others should see this because he wasn't stupid.

"Good job, Chenchen," Kai ruffled Chen's hair, with a big grin plastered onto his face. The kid, who had his black hair covering his face, blew his hair to peek out from one of his eyes, also mirrored Kai's grin. Chen was ten years old, and was as kind as Chanyeol and another Chanyeol combined, Kai thought with a smile, missing Chanyeol all of a sudden. And he was much more hyper and noisy, Kai kept that in mind as he stared at Chen who was now rolling on the floor, playing with one of his Superman toys. "I'm not surprised that you got another full mark on your test."

Chen looked up from his toy and diverted his attention straight to Kai. He grinned like how a child is supposed to be grinning - so pure and without a care in the world. He propped up using his elbows and said, "I learned from the best," while looking at Kai, still with that bright smile. "Couldn't have done it without you, you know that," he punched Kai's knee playfully as he continued on playing with his toys, his grin never fading. Kai was pleased.

"My friend, Xiuminnie, was asking how I got my grades to go up," little bright Chen spoke, flying his Superman up in the air while making heroic sound effects. His legs were on the floor, sprawled out like he didn't care at all, also adding to the fact that one of his foot lost its sock, and Kai made sure that he needed