“You don’t really seem like the ‘volunteer at the library’ type,” Minhee said, breaking the silence they were in while putting books where they belonged from the cart.

“I’m not,” Kai muttered.

“You have to?”

“Yes.”

Minhee nodded but didn’t ask him anything else. Kai put stopped for a second to let a series of coughs out in his sleeve.

“Do you have a cold?” Minhee asked.

“What do you think?” Kai snapped.

“Well sorry for asking,” Minhee mumbled, putting more books away.

Kai felt bad for snapping at her for no reason but resumed putting the books away without saying anything. He noticed her yawning every few minutes.

“You didn’t sleep last night or something?” he asked her.

“Nope, not all,” Minhee replied.

Kai paused before saying, “Me either.”

◌◌◌◌◌

“Ara! What do you want for dinner?” Mrs. Kim called from the kitchen.

Ara entered it, “Grandma, why do you always ask me? My answer is always the same, make whatever you want. I don’t care as long as it’s edible.”

“You are such a handful,” Mrs. Kim flicked her forehead. “When your grandmother asks you what you want to eat, you answer it honestly! Grandmas are supposed to make things for their granddaughters.”

“Oh whatever. Make anything,” Ara waved it away and went back to the living room. She touched the bandage wrapped around her leg and furrowed her eyebrows. It felt nice that someone had helped her, even with her bitter personality.

Friday at lunch, Ara was trying to treat a cut on her leg in the bathroom. As she had been taking her chair down from her desk, it had scratched her and left a deep cut.

She limped to the stall to grab some more toilet paper and pressed it against the cut. But it was no use, the bleeding wouldn’t stop. She couldn’t leave the bathroom like that and she didn’t want to ask anyone for help.

As Ara was complaining in her mind, Minhee entered the washroom and curiously watched Ara crouching and pressing a piece of toilet paper on her leg. Her eyes widened when she saw that there was a lot of blood.

Slowly, she slipped out of the bathroom and came back a couple of minutes later with her bag. She crouched down beside Ara and took a mini first aid kit out of her bag.

It was then that Ara noticed her

“Go away.”

Minhee didn’t say anything and took a disinfectant wipe out of the kit. She reached for Ara’s leg but Ara moved away, “Forget it, I’m fine.” She stood up.

“No, wait. I can help,” Minhee forced her down and again and wiped the cut on her leg.

“Ouch! That hurts, forget it, I’ll take care of it,” Ara tried to pull away again but Minhee had a firm grip on her leg. She took a bandage out and wrapped it around Ara’s leg tightly.

She smiled in satisfaction as she put the first aid kit away, “There, done.”

“Why the heck do you have a first aid kit in your bag?” Ara asked as she stood up and washed her hands.

“My brother makes me keep it in there,” Minhee admitted sheepishly, washing her hands as well.

“Right,” Ara turned around and began walking away. She stopped but didn’t turn around, “Thanks.

Ara sighed. She’s kind of nice.

Ara shook her head and then went back to the kitchen to help her grandmother. After half an hour, they had cooked up a delicious dinner.

“How’s school going?” Mrs. Kim asked.

Ara shrugged, picking at her food.

“Why don’t you like to talk, huh? You have a beautiful personality!” Mrs. Kim exclaimed.

Ara scoffed, “No, I don’t.”

“You’re a blessing,” Mrs. Kim said. That was probably the one phrase Mrs. Kim said a million times a day to Ara.

“No, I’m not.”

“You’re a blessing,” Mrs. Kim repeated.

“Grandma! I’m really not!” Ara gave her a look.

“Yes, you are,” Mrs. Kim refused to hear any more and talked about something else.

It was funny, Mrs. Kim was old yet she talked more than a young person. Ara was a teenager, yet she hardly had anything to talk about.

But she could listen to her grandmother’s voice all day.

◌◌◌◌◌
 

Minhee and Kai didn’t click right away at the library on Sunday. They hardly talked to each other, the least that could be said was that Kai thought Minhee was a tolerable person.

At school on Monday, Ara, Kai, and Minhee were in the class. The three of them were there for the same reason, but they were doing very different things.

Ara was blankly staring at the front, Kai was sleeping, and Minhee was reading a book.

The three were so different, yet they were so similar.

◌◌◌◌◌

Ara kicked rocks as she walked outside at lunch that day. She only ate her grandmother’s cooking and that day her grandmother had been unable to make her lunch and the lunch money she had given her was sitting in her pocket.

“Chen is doing his prank on the new girl!” a girl excitedly whispered to her friend as they speed walked to cafeteria. “It’s going to be way too funny!”

Ara pinched her eyebrows together before she realized what was happening. From what she had seen so far, Minhee seemed like a very naive and gullible child-like person. Oh God, and that girl is way too naïve. She’ll fall for it in no time.

Two seconds later, she brushed it off and continued to walk away, it was the girl’s problem anyways.

But Ara didn’t want Minhee to be the victim of a prank, she definitely didn’t deserve it.

Having a drastic change of heart, Ara jogged to the crowd that was gathering in the cafeteria. Move, you cowards! Are you just going to let her be humiliated like that? Minhee was standing in the near a vending machine, deciding what drink to get, not noticing the people behind her.

When Ara got past the crowd, she found Minhee tapping her chin, debating what to get.

Ara rolled her eyes and ran up to Minhee.

“Move,” she said urgently.

Minhee gave her a weird look, “Huh, what? That guy, Chin? He told me to buy him a drink….. “

“No, you idiot!” Ara hissed. “You’ll be the target of his next big show if you don’t move right-” she looked up when she heard obnoxious laughter. Chen and his friends were grinning from the top balcony type structure that was used for technical purposes during events and presentations (lighting, sound, etc.). But right now, it was about to be used as a launch pad.

“Move!” Ara tried to pull her away but Minhee didn’t budge. The kids gathering were taking their phones out as well to videotape ‘Chen’s Special Gift’.

“I can’t just leave, he asked me to get him-”

Before Minhee finished her sentence, Ara pushed Minhee as balls of flour exploded on her.

Everyone gasped and Chen and his friends were looking extremely amused.

Minhee hadn’t been inflicted with a lot of damage, only some flour on her shoulder. Ara on the other hand, looked as if she had bathed in flour. The kids put their phones away and quickly dispersed. Ara squinted her eyes and breathed heavily as she glared up at Chen and his friends.

Chen smirked as he looked down and threw what looked like a hardcover book. It dropped on Minhee’s shoulder, barely missing her head as Minhee squealed.

“KIM JONGADE!” Ara screamed, some of the flour falling off of her because she was shaking with anger.

“Welcome to our school, Minhee!” Chen called before high fiving his friends and disappearing.

Minhee swallowed as she looked at herself and then Ara.

Ara gave her an unimpressed look, “I told you to move.”

Minhee guiltily looked down. Ara walked away to clean herself up and Minhee quickly followed. When they got to the washroom, Minhee helped Ara try to dust herself off.

Minhee bit her lip as they tried to get Ara took look less like a ghost.

“I don’t think it’ll come off like this,” she said nervously.

“Did you see that?!” a couple of girls who were heading to the girls washroom gossiped.

“I can’t believe Ara did that!”

“I know! I wonder why, she’s so mean and careless normally-” they stopped short when they got to the bathroom and saw Ara shooting lasers at them with their eyes. They immediately ran out.

Ara turned to Minhee, “Forget it. I’m just going to go home.” She put her hands in her pockets and strolled out of the bathroom.
Minhee ran out of the bathroom and called, “Thank you!”

Ara stopped and turned around, “Is your shoulder okay?”

Minhee nodded and Ara turned around and walked away. Minhee let out a shaky breath and was suddenly feeling excited. A new friend, maybe?

◌◌◌◌◌

The next few days went by fast and slow. Slow because every day was a drag and fast because before Kai knew it, Sunday had arrived and he had to go to the library again.

As he was getting ready that morning, the doorbell rang. Kai ignored it. Probably some kids selling chocolates.

But the doorbell kept ringing. Annoyed, Kai left his room in a tank top and went downstairs. He flung the door open and found his dead uncle’s wife staring at him.

Kai was not one bit pleased, “What do you want?”

“You’re not going to invite me in?” She raised an eyebrow.

“No.”

“Ah, Jongin, don’t be like that,” she pushed past him and went in anyways.

“Why do you live in this small house?” she asked, looking around. She looked at him, “And is this how you dress? You lounge around in a tank top and shorts?”

“What’s it to you?” Kai scoffed.

“Well with the inheritance, you could live better,” she remarked, taking a seat on the sofa. The inheritance Kai’s parents had left him and his siblings; that was always the purpose of his aunt’s meetings with him.

“I think I’ve told you this enough, I’m not touching that money and property,” Kai said firmly, turning his back on her to show her the way out. “It’s not mine to touch and handle alone.”

“Hmmm, but the situation then was different,” she watched his back walking to the door. “Your brothers are dead.”

Kai stopped in his tracks, his back still facing her. “What?”

“You heard me.”

“Say it again,” Kai said in a low voice, turning around. There was fire in his eyes.

“Your hyung died a while ago, something to do with the inheritance,” she said nonchalantly. “Your ‘twin’ a couple of days ago.”

“Liar,” Kai whispered, feeling unable to completely grasp what she was saying.

“It’s the truth,” she stood up from the sofa. “I’m telling you to let me handle it before you get hurt too!”

“LIAR!” Kai yelled. Maybe it was the fact that his aunt was saying those dreadful words, maybe it was the fact that his heart would never accept it, either way he was furious. “GET OUT!”

“Hand it over to me!” his aunt demanded, she was looking rather nervous now and the cool aura he had observed when she first arrived had disappeared. “I need it!”

Kai was furious as he walked over to her and towered over her.

“You’re lying, get out and never spout such a ridiculous lie again,” he glared at her. “And need it? Why would you need it?”

“You’re in denial,” his aunt said in a high pitched voice. She walked to the door and opened it. “You should give me the inheritance Kim Jongin. I’ll handle it responsibly.” She waited for him to say something, but he didn’t so without a choice, she left.

Kai was shaking as she shut the door. His heart was racing, blood pounding through his veins with fear. 

Impossible... no, they can’t be.....

Why hello there :)

How are you guys doing? Good, I hope :D

SUMMER BREAK WOOHOOOOO

Minor detail I have summer school :'(

Oh well, it's just one class.

WOW! Lots of human interaction in this chapter, it's the most in the entire story so far, I believe.

Haven't heard from Sehun his chapter.... and 'the days flew by'

Well bye! Leave a comment cause I dunno about this chapter.....

OH and I changed the description, I like it now :)