Safe Haven            “I don’t care how you put it. I didn’t care in the first place! You should just... ugh!” Mina ruffled her hair and punched Yixing in the arm. Said male yelped in pain and grabbed the sore muscle, rubbing comforting circles to ease the pain. “Geez, if you didn’t want me to, you could’ve just said it instead of hitting me!” he whined as he eyed Mina who had already composed herself. She straightened out her uniform and flipped her shoulder length hair over her shoulder. “I,” she pointed at herself as she leaned in closer to Yixing, “do not care. You can do whatever the hell you want with that because I do not care.”              Yixing sighed and stretched his painful arm. “She’s not a hag. She’s my new neighbor and needs help with moving stuff into her house.”              “Until she slips her innocent tery and lands onto your little Yixing,” Mina stated firmly as she folded her arms in front of her chest. “I can spot those type of people from a mile away, and she’s one of them, mark my words.”              Yixing looked at Mina with a wince and shook his head. “I can’t believe I’m friends with you, and you don’t even know her so how can you even tell!” he exclaimed before rubbing his face tiredly. “And why the hell do you even care! It’s not like you’re my girlfriend or anything,” Mina flinched after hearing this and chewed on her lower lip, “if I’d inform Jaemi about it, she would call me kind and helpful.”              “If you were fishing for compliments, then why don’t you go to her!” Mina yelled at Yixing, who tightened his grip onto the table and breathed heavily. “Because she’s walking to school with Jongin so obviously she isn’t here yet!”              As if there was a 180 turn in her behavior, Mina lit up.              “Aw that’s cute!” she beamed and bounced in her seat, “that’s why she texted me this morning to head on first!”              Mina clutched onto Yixing’s painful arm, making him wince in pain, and shook him excitedly. “This is a huge step in their relationship Xingie, I’m so excited!” she smiled happily but Yixing was too busy to notice and tried to ease Mina’s tight grip but failed miserably.              “What are you so excited about? They’re just walking together,” he spoke with a strained voice and continued to wince. Suddenly, Mina released Yixing and turned serious. She wagged her finger in front of his face and shook her head. “No no Xingie, that’s where you’re dead-wrong!” Mina began seriously. “Most romantic relationships start with innocent activities, with walking to school together being one of them. Look at me, I’ve devel—”              Mina quickly coughed to cover up what she had almost blurted out. Yixing quickly pat her on the back and handed her his bottle of water. “Are you okay?” he asked worriedly and rubbed her back as she continued to cough. Mina nodded with teary eyes and took a sip from his water, well aware that his lips might have touched it somewhere in the near past.              “It’s because you talk too much,” Yixing said when he planted his elbow on the table and leaned his chin into his hand, “you should really learn to shut up. Could save your life.”              Mina changed her voice and mocked what Yixing had just said while closing the bottle roughly and throwing it at him. Mina cleared a last time before continuing, leaving the former part out. “But in all seriousness, haven’t you noticed the chemistry between them? There’s really something there that you can’t deny.”              Yixing placed his bottle back into his bag and leaned against the backrest of his chair. “All I see is two people who were formerly strangers getting closer and getting to know each other. You have the unfortunate ability to romanticize everything, Mina.”              The girl gaped at Yixing, shocked by his utterly wrong words.              “Don’t act so shocked, you little minx. You called a 35-year old—that you don’t even know FYI—a ! I’m sorry but your judgment of people isn’t the most trustworthy.”              Mina closed her eyes for a second and tried to come up with a snarky comeback that would hit Yixing in the gut but got nothing. So, going for her backup, she shot her arm to her left and hit Yixing for a second time that day in his painful arm. Yixing cried out in pain again when Mina opened her eyes and folded her arms in front of her chest. “I’m going to ignore what you just said and be the bigger person here.”              “You just hit me!”              “And you call yourself a man,” Mina tsk’d and leaned her chin into her hand. “I do think that something could blossom between Jae and Jongin though. They seem to match perfectly.”              Yixing rubbed his painful arm for a second time and winced at the contact. That’s gonna leave a bruise. Mina had always been a little too violently affectionate towards Yixing and he never understood why. Sometimes it would be safe and she wouldn’t hit him, other times he could say one thing and expect a hit to the upper arm. He was surprised that his arm hadn’t gone numb yet. One day, he would have to experiment over what word or topic this woman would freak, so Yixing could avoid that topic and thus avoid being abused.              “Maybe you should set them up on a date, so you'll find out right through the core,” Yixing said jokingly, chuckling at his own silly idea.              “Oh my god, Xingie you’re right! That would be perfect!”              Yixing instantly closed his eyes in realization of what he just did.              Maybe I should just shut up.                    While she was packing her last things, Jaemi jumped when she heard the doorbell ring through the house. She hastily adjusted her uniform and took a quick glance in the mirror, running her fingers through her hair once. She grabbed her bag and walked to the door when a certain piece of paper on the floor caught her attention. She crouched next to it and picked it up.              ‘who are you’.              She remembered finding it the Friday before the weekend, which was already three days ago, but she still hadn’t figured out how this paper could have found its way into her bag. She was almost positive she hadn’t written it.              “Jae!” Bomin’s voice interrupted her train of thoughts. Jaemi sighed, straightening up and quickly put it into her uniform pocket, still not sure of its origin. She made her way downstairs and was greeted with a vibrant smile.              “Good morning you.”              A smile found her lips as Jaemi smiled at her guest when she finished walking down the stairs. “Good morning yourself.”              Jaemi didn’t know if it was the sun that was shining through the door opening or her own eyes deceiving her, but Jongin was looking more handsome than he had ever been. Like that was even possible but he seemed to carry this presence she could only dream of. Maybe he had gotten more handsome over the weekend, but Jaemi honestly didn’t mind this. She noticed he had pushed his hair back, giving her a clear view of his magnificent forehead and dark eyes that pierced through her being.              The subtle cough of her uncle luckily snapped Jaemi out of it and made her look at him. Bomin returned the look with expectant eyes before switching to the boy in his door.              “Ah uncle, this is Kim Jongin,” Jaemi gestured at Jongin standing next to her, “he’s a new student and is in my class.”              Jongin bowed deeply and introduced himself. Bomin showed him a fatherly smile and pat his shoulder, “A fine young man we have here,” and laughed gently at him. “I’m Jaemi’s uncle but you may call me Bomin, or uncle, whatever you like.”              Jongin nodded and bowed respectfully again. “Thank you, sir.”              Bomin laughed heartily at this and placed his large hands onto Jongin’s broad shoulders.