Kai swore under his breath as he jiggled the doorknob some more and banged on the door.

“HELLO! WE’RE IN HERE, OPEN THE DOOR,” he said loudly as both he and Minhee began to bang on the door. Kai was beginning to feel quite suffocated and Minhee was shivering. They went on for a couple more minutes before Kai realized something.

“Phone,” he said as he searched his pockets and Minhee looked at him before following suit. They looked at each other again.

“My phone’s in my bag,” Minhee said weakly. Kai couldn’t complain because his was too. “What do we do?”

Kai let out a dejected sigh, “What else? Wait.” He went to the empty wall and sat down, leaning against the wall. Minhee looked between the door and where Kai was sitting before sitting two meters away from him.

After that it was a whole bunch of sitting and silence.

At first, one of them would make some noise and try to get someone’s attention. After ten minutes of shouting, and using a broom to hit the wall, Minhee grew tired and gave up.

Kai had begun throwing buckets and yelling, but it seemed like no one was going to come to that end of the school any time soon.

They sat in their new awkward silence for quite a while, hoping that they would hear someone coming, but no one did.

Kai leaned his head against the wall and closed his eyes, hoping that they would be found soon. It had probably been half an hour already and Kai was not getting any wiser.

Minhee, on the other hand, was getting very cold; there were evident goose bumps on her arms and legs, the school uniform’s half sleeved shirt and knee-length skirt not keeping her warm in the cold cleaning closet. She was regretting having taken her blazer off just to clean up.

It was only when Minhee let out a sneeze that Kai noticed that Minhee was freezing to death.

“Are you okay?” he asked, startled at how white and cold she looked.

“It’s pretty cold in here,” Minhee said feebly.

Kai looked up at the window that was open.

“Why didn’t you say so before? I could have closed the window,” he said as he stood up. The window was high up on the wall but Kai could easily reach it. He grasped the sliding portion of the window and pushed it. But nothing happened, the window was stuck. Gathering his strength, he pushed as hard as he could but the window wouldn’t close.

He scratched his head as he looked at Minhee.

“So, er, the window won’t close.”

Minhee let out a small giggle and shook her head, “It’s okay, thanks for trying. Someone might come soon.”

Kai highly doubted that but kept that opinion to himself as he sat down again. The sun was still out which meant that it couldn’t be past six o’clock and Kai suspected that they had only been in there for an hour or so; it was probably nearing 4:30. Minhee then began coughing and Kai thought she looked very faint. He felt rather useless and stupid because he wasn’t doing anything to help her situation.

His brain then started working and he took his blazer off and held it out to Minhee.

She stared at him.

He scratched his head and avoided her eyes, “Put this on.”

“It’s okay-”

“Just put it on before you die of hypothermia,” he said.

Minhee took the blazer, “Um, thanks.” She put it on and immediate warmth

spread to her arms and torso. Not to mention the interesting smell that came from his blazer.

Kai ed his white dress-shirt that he had been wearing under the blazer.

“Um… what are you doing?” Minhee stared at him again.

“I have a t-shirt on underneath,” he said as he took the white shirt off and threw it at her legs.

“You don’t have to-”

“I know that,” Kai said shortly. “Just spread that over your legs and stop making so much noise. The chattering of your teeth is bothering me so much.”

There wasn’t much bitterness in his voice; Minhee even thought that she detected playfulness. Smiling lightly, she spread the shirt over her legs, they too becoming enveloped in warmth.

They were quiet and Kai felt awkward again, Minhee was fiddling with her fingers.

Suddenly, Minhee became very alert and sat up straight, “Oh no!”

Kai jumped and then looked at her in alarm, “What?”

“My brother,” she said in a hushed voice. Luhan would probably be having a panic attack right now since he was waiting for Minhee’s text telling him when he should pick her up. She wouldn’t be surprised if Luhan’s squad car was parked outside the school and he was ready to barge in with an army of police officers ready for a search party.

“Errr…..” Kai blinked.

“He’s probably outside right now, throwing a fit because I’m not answering my phone and I’m not coming outside. I wouldn’t be surprised if he was searching the school,” Minhee told him.

Kai raised an eyebrow, “What is he? A cop?”

“Yes,” Minhee nodded.

Kai blinked in surprise, “Seriously?”

Minhee nodded again.

“Oh. Well it would be good if he used that cop instinct to come and find us,” he said.

“Uhuh,” Minhee smiled weakly. Luhan was always overreacting, Minhee had been embarrassed many times at school because she had a police officer for a brother who always came barging into the school even at the smallest bruise that would appear on her arm. No one wanted to befriend someone whose brother was a best friend to the law.

Wanting to change the topic, Minhee asked, “How come you were asking me about that motorcycle accident?” She had thought that it was quite strange for him, who she was not on comfortable terms with, to ask about a motorcycle accident so intently. He had even asked Ara at school the next day and after that Kai maintained no kind of connection to either of the two.

Kai thought about how to answer for a bit before saying, “I was told by someone that a person I know was in an accident, I just wanted to know if that someone was telling the truth or not.”

“What kind of a person would lie to you about that?” Minhee asked in a surprised tone. She supposed that the person who he was referring to in the accident must be someone he was close to or he wouldn’t have even bothered listening to her.

Kai shrugged.

“Guess we’ve both been lied to,” Minhee said lightly with a touch of bitterness.

Kai looked at her curiously.

“People have lied to me a lot as well, at my old schools,” she said. “It’s silly high school stuff, but telling me they like me, using me for things, making me feel like I have no one.”

Kai paused before whispering, “That’s why family is important.”

Minhee smiled, “Yup!” She obviously didn’t catch the sad look on his face and merely thought that he was just really thankful for the family that he had.

Kai, who did not want to lapse into an awkward silence but discontinue the previous topic of conversation, decided to change the subject, “How come you’re volunteering at the library?”

“I’ve moved so much in the past four years that I haven’t completed my community service hours,” Minhee said sheepishly. “But I’m going to be here for a long time since my brother is stationed at a police station not too far from here so I can finish high school properly.”

“And you chose a library to volunteer at?” Kai asked incredulously.

Minhee nodded enthusiastically, now quite eager to talk about what she loved most, “I love books, they’re my most favourite thing in the world. A library is the perfect place for me, where I can discover more amazing literature.”

She was starting to talk more now that she had started, and her impression that Kai didn’t like her very much was beginning to evaporate.

“Wow,” Kai said. “I hate it there, and I hate that Hana lady even more.”

Minhee laughed, “Why? She seems nice.”

Kai rolled his eyes, “She annoys my soul.”

“If you hate it so much, why are you volunteering there?” Minhee asked.

“I got into a bit of trouble,” Kai replied. “This is my punishment, but the principal said it could count as my community service hours at the same time.”

“Ah,” Minhee nodded.

They were quiet again for a while. Kai was fiddling with his key chain and Minhee was reading the back of a stain removing spray.

“Are you still cold?” Kai asked, rubbing the back of his head.

“No, I’m fine-” Minhee stopped short and put the spray back on the shelf that was beside her. “Did you hear that?”

“What-” Kai started but then he heard it too; a faint jingling of what seemed to be keys. Kai and Minhee took one look at each other and ran to the door to scream and bang on it. Minhee had had put Kai’s shirt over her shoulder as she ran to the door.

They heard someone opening the lock and stepped back. Ten seconds later, Mr. Choi was standing in front of them with his usual frown.

“What are you two doing in here?” he asked suspiciously, looking between the two and giving Kai the look of dislike he always kept for him.

“We were locked in,” Kai said sourly, stretching.

“A likely story!” Mr. Choi scoffed. “Why did you come in here?”

“We were told to clean the classroom and since the other janitorial closet was locked, we came here to get cleaning supplies,” Minhee explained, biting her lip.

“Oh really? We’ll just see about that,” Mr. Choi said.

Kai rolled his eyes, “You can’t put us in detention when we haven’t done anything wrong. Now, if you’ll excuse us, Minhee and I have to clean up.”

He started walking away and Minhee quickly followed.

“He doesn’t seem very happy,” Minhee said once they were out of Mr. Choi’s earshot.

“He’s never happy,” Kai snorted.

Minhee chuckled as they entered the classroom but then stopped when she remembered something.

“We were in there for like two hours but we didn’t even bring what we needed to clean the place,” she said, scratching her head.

“Oh who cares, no one’s even gunna notice,” Kai said tiredly. “Let’s just straighten the desks and wipe the board.”

“Alright,” Minhee said and she began wiping the board while Kai fixed the desks. Five minutes later they were done and were leaving school together with their things.

“Oh yeah! My brother!” Minhee remembered. She fished her phone out from her bag and saw that there were a couple of missed calls and texts. She quickly texted him, ‘I’m coming!’.

She began running and Kai speed walked to catch up with her. They were out of the front doors and outside where the sun was beginning to set.

Thankfully, Luhan had not brought his squad car but he was pacing around the front of the school in his police officer uniform, his normal car parked on the street.

“Where were you?!” he shouted when he spotted her, striding over. “You’re lucky I’ve only been here an hour since I got off work late, I was just about to have the school searched!”

“Sorry oppa, there was a situation,” Minhee said nervously while Kai stood behind her, watching the scene peculiarly.

“Who is he?” Luhan asked, noticing Kai.

“Er, my classmate,” Minhee answered.

“Were you with this punk the entire time?!” he looked at Minhee again. Then he noticed the white shirt over her shoulder and the large blazer she was wearing and his eyes widened in horror.

Kai, catching onto what might be going through Luhan’s mind first, decided it would be better if he left. 

“I’ll see you later,” he said to Minhee.

“Yeah, bye,” Minhee gave him a small smile before Kai began walking away.

“Explain,” Luhan glowered at her.

“Okay okay, let’s go in the car first,” Minhee said and when they were settled in the car, she explained the entire story. When she finished, Luhan offered to have the school cameras searched to see who had locked them in, but Minhee denied.

“Well, I guess it was nice of that kid to give you his clothes so you didn’t catch hypothermia,” Luhan said as they parked in the garage of their apartment building.

“Yeah,” Minhee touched the white shirt. “It was.”

○○○○○

The following Sunday, Kai met Minhee at the library and this time, the awkwardness seemed to have been lifted a bit. Minhee’s cold also had gotten better and she wasn’t sniffling and sneezing as often as before.

Hana hadn’t arrived yet but there was a large stack of books waiting to be checked in so the two got started on that.

“Do you know who might’ve locked us in?” Minhee asked as they got started in the back room. “I mean, it couldn’t have been an accident.”

“Yeah, it was Chen,” Kai replied. Minhee was passing him the books while Kai scanned them on the computer.

“Him?” Minhee’s eyes widened. “But why? Does he not have anything better to do than annoy people?”

“Nope,” Kai popped the p.

There were quiet again and stayed like that until they finished with the books.

“Oh, here,” from behind her chair, Minhee pulled out a bag. “Your blazer and shirt. Thanks a lot, I’d probably still be sick if you hadn’t lent me these.”

She held the bag out, hoping he’d catch the gratitude she felt.

Kai took the bag and mumbled, “It was nothing.”

They met eyes and Minhee gave him a friendly smile, which Kai managed to return.

There are some things that just cause a naturally good aura between some people after being uncomfortable for a while, and being locked in a janitor’s closet with a bunch of cleaning supplies seems to be onef them.

Err,I dunno why there’s two lines there and I don’t know how to get rid of one of them so let’s just ignore that hehe

You guys wanna know what makes me happy these days? Fried chicken and Running Man :)

Guys this is weird but if someone ever bought me a dictionary, I’d probably love that. I’m the ‘read a dictionary’ type person, I love words.

Oh, and I have a new fic! Kai and an OC :D

Called ‘The Student’s Journal’: http://www.asianfanfics.com/story/view/805026/the-student-s-journal-exo-exok-kai

Byebye~~!