One way to describe how Jinsik treated you when it was just the two of you would be tentative. He seemed nervous around you and tended to hesitate when talking to you or asking you questions. This actually made you happy as you didn’t want to be the only one feeling this way especially since it meant you reciprocated one another’s feelings. You’d learned so much about him after spending time together after school but you restricted yourself as far as letting your parents find out what you were doing. This made you feel a little rebellious though it wasn’t necessarily a big thing. But until your parents gave you a straight answer, you were keeping the way you’d been spending your time after school a secret.

Your brother had increased his number of phone calls and texts to see what you were doing which was protective of him. You obliged him though he hadn’t brought up dating since your last conversation about the topic. You both knew that it was ultimately up to your parents.

Now, you had a problem with that. If they decided you weren’t allowed to date, you didn’t know what you were going to do. It mainly concerned Jinsik and to a certain extent your two friends. By that, you mean just how much the two, mostly Yoora, talked about boys and dating. You felt like you might be left out of conversations if you were prohibited from dating. And with the way you were already kind of an outsider with the girls in your class, you didn’t want any barriers with Hwami and Yoora. You never thought you would feel this strongly about it and it really surprised you.

When you thought about it from a different point of view, you knew that in the end, none of it made a difference. You would obey your parents’ wishes. Well, most likely your mother will ultimately be the one the decision comes down to. As much as your father would like to, his opinion was usually limited at times and you suspected this was one of those times. You didn’t know how to explain it. Just that the topic of dating would weigh more heavily with your mom than your dad as far as your parents’ stance went.

It still surprised you that it would take her a long time to get back to you about this so it must have been a heavy topic to begin with since she seems to contemplate about it for such a length of time. At this point, you weren’t sure about what she was going to decide on. She may want you to only focus on your dancing more than a relationship with a boy and you would understand that because that mind set has long since been promoted and encouraged from many of your past and present teachers. That and your dancing was very important to you two. She was the one who had took you to your first dance class back when you were four or five and she has since taken to each and every class until you reached the age to go to a few yourself. It was one of your more precious connections with her and there was no way you would ever intentionally break that.

And you weren’t blind. You could see the strain between your brother and your parents. You could confidently say that if it were not for your dance recitals, your parents wouldn’t see much of Hyuntae. Especially since he’s moved out. You were still too young to fully understand what’s caused them to get to this point but you saw it no matter how hard your parents and brother have tried to fake it. So you were in a tentative position and you couldn’t step out of balance for anything.

For now, you would play the daughter your parents raised and focus on school and your dancing and to a certain extent, Jinsik. If your mother ended up saying no to dating, you will want to treasure the time you two have spent up until this point. You didn’t know how he would take the news especially after spending time together after school but you weren’t about to regret it. The wait for an answer was hard pressed but you were just going to continue to spend time with Jinsik but you wondered if you should tell him about what was going on. You were positive you should tell him but it was strange. Whenever you were with him, your mind would only focus on him and the words that came from his mouth. Little thoughts were the only things that went through your mind around him due to your flustered feelings and behavior. It was only like now when you were reflecting when you could process these kind of thoughts.

You nodded to yourself. You would tell Jinsik about the current situation.

“Your parents are back to picking you up after school, right?” Jinsik asked as you both walked into the school building together. He had been waiting just out of sight near the entrance of the school surprising you after you had waved to your mother.

“Yes, it was only last week when they were too busy that they couldn’t pick me up.” You looked down while playing with your fingers. I have to tell him now. “Jinsik?” He looked down at you as he opened the door. “Oh, um thank you,” you walked through the door. “I have to tell you something.” You peeked up at him and he gave you a smile.

“Really? Sounds serious.”

You both headed to the lockers as today was for regular classes. “It kind of is,” you couldn’t help but mumble. You had made a promise to yourself that you would tell him before school started. That and your mother had been just on the verge of telling you something on the way over to school and you had a good feeling about what that was about. So you had to tell him now since there was a very likely chance things would change between the two of you. “It’s my mom she,” you stopped yourself for no reason other than the fleeting expression you saw cross his face.

“Your parents don’t know about me.”

You were a little relieved he had figured a part out for himself and you tried not to show it. “No, they don’t. Not only that but they might tell me to stop seeing you.”

“And you’ll listen.” He now had a pensive look on his face. “I can understand that,” he chuckled. “It would but I always had a feeling about the kind of girl you were.”

You became puzzled at that last part. “The kind of girl I am?”

He must have realized something as he took the time to backtrack. “Not that there’s anything wrong with that. It’s just my thinking of the person I’ve come to know this past week.”

You frowned and looked up at him for a second. “I still don’t understand.”

“I,” he seemed to be the one flustered now as his ears had become red now, “I only meant that you seem to come from an upright family. I’m sorry if you feel offended.”

“What made you think that way?” you still didn’t know what he meant.

“Um, I guess the way you speak?”

Your eyes had been staring at the floor and that comment almost question made you raise your head. “What’s wrong with the way I speak?”

“There’s nothing wrong. It’s just that,” he looked away. “How do I explain it?”

You both reached your locker but you didn’t bother trying to open it, instead choosing to lean against it. You now had no qualms looking up at him as his eyes turned shifty, darting from one point to another.

“Hey Jinsik! Are we meeting up after school?!” You both looked to the boy shouting. He was a tall boy you weren’t familiar with though you could honestly say that about a whole lot of students here. And he was walking up to the two of you. “Well? Is it on or what?”

“Hey. Uh, I guess so.” Jinsik looked down at you a little nervously. “Did you want to join us? It’s for taekwondo practice.”

Your eyes widened a little, “What? I mean,” you looked at the other boy before facing Jinsik once more, “I’m being picked up after school.”

“Sorry,” he chuckled nervously but there was something more underlying that, “I forgot.” He turned to his friend. “Let’s talk about it in class. Taeri, I’ll see you at lunch,” he smiled at you before leaving with his friend.

You watched them go with a frown. He hadn’t told you what he meant by his words earlier. You started to open your locker, deciding to focus on that instead of your confused feelings.

It wasn’t until lunch when your thoughts started to become too much for you. All throughout class, there had been little processed from the teacher’s words as your mind continued to wonder about what Jinsik had said. It wa