There’s a disconcerting way in how Kyungsoo seems to stare right through her soul.  It’s like he’s reading her mind; probing into her thoughts.  His words ring in her mind; Cinderella.  The fairytale princess who leaves a glass slipper behind after a night’s worth of magic as she gets to dance with her prince charming. 

She keeps popping up and disappearing in front of Kyungsoo.  And whenever she does manage to appear, she always appears with something.  The favor, the way she introduced herself, her bruises, her bracelet and now, her family.  As much as Kyungsoo wanted to disregard everything and act like she’s just some other ordinary girl, he really can’t.  Not when she’s failing so terribly in hiding them.

“Why do you do that, Kyungsoo?” She asks, breaking their gaze.  Haerin doesn’t want to answer his question.

“Do what?”

“You keep looking at me,” Her feet steps back, away from his suffocating presence, away from his piercing gaze.  “Like that,”

Before Kyungsoo could ask her what she meant, Haerin turns when she feels a tap on her shoulder.  Yunjae has returned and is frowning in concern, asking if she were okay.  Nodding weakly, she glances at Kyungsoo.  “I’ll be going, have a nice weekend,” She then walks away towards the institution’s doors.

Yunjae, meanwhile, dips his head in a small bow at Kyungsoo.  After Kyungsoo replies, Yunjae hesitates before going after her sister.  ‘Noona doesn’t like to be touched,’ He gestures, curious as to what they were talking about.

Kyungsoo finds himself looking at Haerin’s retreating back.  “I didn’t know, I’m sorry,”

Yunjae shakes his head.  ‘I’m surprised she didn’t pull away, actually,’

***

‘Noona, what do you want to do, tomorrow?’

Haerin her head in thought and answers.  “Morning run, and then tutoring you,”

Yunjae evidently slumps, making Haerin laugh.  “Why? You wanna skip studying tomorrow?” She thinks it wouldn’t hurt.  Yunjae’s a bright kid.

Nodding vigorously, Yunjae starts suggesting.  ‘We can go karaoke! I want to hear Kyungsoo-hyung sing,’

Yunjae was a child who loved music.  Haerin was, too.  It was because of her, actually.  As a child, Haerin listened to music constantly, and sang along.  Everytime she does that, Yunjae, who was younger than her, would immediately stop crying and pay attention to her, only to smile afterwards, clapping brightly.  They would sing together, although out of tune, back when they were kids.

The loss of his vocal chords was devastating.  Haerin stopped listening to music altogether for two years, until Yunjae himself begged for her to start singing again.  He knew that she stopped because of him, because she didn’t want to hurt him.  ‘At least I can hear you sing, noona,’ he had said.

And until now, Haerin would be the one who sings him to sleep.

“Kyungsoo?” The unnerving gaze of the boy flashed in Haerin’s mind and she grimaces.  “Do we really have to?”

Yunjae nods firmly and even Haerin knows that once he does that, he doesn’t budge. 

“I don’t have his phone number, though,”

‘We can ask the institution,’ Yunjae suggests and with utter dread, Haerin calls them, asking for Do Kyungsoo’s phone number.

The dial tone beeps and Haerin silently hopes he doesn’t pick up unknown numbers.  Just as her hope seems to be coming true, it breaks when his voice comes through the line. 

‘Hello?’

“Kyungsoo-yah,” Haerin clears .

Kyungsoo pauses before replying.  ‘Haerin?’

“Y-yeah.  If you’re wondering where I got your number, ask Yunjae, he’s the one begging me to ask you to come with us to karaoke,”

He chuckles.  ‘Tomorrow?’

“Yeah,”

‘Sure, I don’t exactly have anything to do,’ He says and Haerin imagines him shrugging.  ‘Oh and, I know a better place to sing.  I’ll send you the address?’

Haerin’s stomach flutters; not at the thought of spending the weekends with Kyungsoo, but at the thought of singing.  “Sure,” She answers and she can hear the smile in his next words.

‘Okay, I’ll see you guys there,’

***

Yunjae and Haerin exchange glances by the time they get to the address Kyungsoo sent them the next day. 

“Isn’t this…… a house?” Haerin asks.

‘It looks like a house,’ Yunjae answers, taking a step back and surveying the place.  ‘Is it his house?”

“Yeah, it’s mine,”

The siblings turn at the same time to see Kyungsoo bring four bags of grocery with him.  They rush to help and he chuckles.  “Come on in,”

If their uncle’s house is big, then Kyungsoo’s place is humongous. 

The colors inside his house were kept to a minimum and the design was no joke.  His kitchen is as big as their uncle’s living room while his living room, well; it’s practically twice as big.  The curtains were dark grey and the walls were whitewashed.  Kyungsoo’s furnitures were mainly black and grey; the sofa, the tables, the standing lamps and even picture frames, with subtle touches of champagne red here and there.  Beside a staircase with glass railings that lead the way upstairs, full, sliding glass doors show the view of his spacious backyard, a swimming pool, and a little house across the house.

Haerin’s eyes wander around the house while her hands are occupied with unpacking the grocery bags.

Yunjae is doing the exact same thing her sister is, and at the sight, Kyungsoo shakes his head in amusement.  They may not be as close to him as his friends are, but he’s taken quite a liking to these two people in his kitchen, diligently unpacking his groceries carefully although slightly distracted by the mere interior of his house.  “Hey,” He calls out and together, they turn to look at him.  The similarity entertains him and he grins while he folds the grocery bags and tucks them inside an overhead cupboard.  “You guys have breakfast yet?”

‘No, actually, we haven’t,’ Yunjae answers, earning a nudge from his sister.  He protests.  ‘What?’

Haerin gives him a look and then answers Kyungsoo again.  “I’m sorry, he doesn’t go out a lot, it’s-“

“It’s fine,” Kyungsoo grins.  “Instead, come and help me cook,”

Victoriously, Yunjae throws his sister a grin.  “Cut the vegetables, Yunjae, be careful, the knives are very sharp,” Kyungsoo shows him the vegetables in the fridge.  He steps towards Haerin afterwards and takes her arm, guiding her to the stove.  “And you, Son Haerin, are in charge of the stew,”

She lights up.  “Beef?”

“Whatever you like,”

Clapping her hands excitedly, she starts setting down the pots, moving back and forth the kitchen to get what she needs.  She cooks well, but she doesn’t get a lot of chances to do it, living with her uncle. 

“Kyungsoo,” She calls out when she gets things ready.

The owner of the house looks up from the sink, where he’s washing the rice.  “Hm?”

“How do you turn on the stove?”

“You don’t know how to turn on the stove?” He asks, laughing.

“Hey, it’s electric, it’s not gas, I don’t understand,” Haerin presses a button and draws back when the stove starts beeping.  “Did I break it? What did I do?”

Kyungsoo walks over to where Haerin is standing “No, no it’s-“ He suddenly pauses, “Hm, why is it like this?” He frowns, fiddling with the automated electric stove.

“Oh no, did I really break it?” Haerin starts panicking.  “I can not pay for something like thi-“

“Just kidding,”

With the push of a finger, a low hum resonates in the air and heat starts coming out of the water in the pot.  A string of quiet laughter escapes Kyungsoo’s lips as he continues washing the rice. 

Haerin simply steps towards him and punches him in the arm.

Kyungsoo hisses in pain.  “Ouch,” He complains, but the smile doesn’t leave his face.  “Go make your beef stew, Haerin, we’ll end up having lunch if you don’t,”

“Don’t tell me what to do,” Haerin sticks her tongue out at him.  “It’s 8 in the morning, Kyungsoo, we are not going to end up having lunch,”

The water starts boiling and Haerin takes the cut vegetables from Yunjae, dropping in some more meat before adding the seasonings.  She gives Yunjae a taste and as he gives her an ‘ok’, goes back to stirring.  Bored, she finds her eyes travelling to stare at the side profile of Do Kyungsoo, the oh-so popular guy who, apparently, had invited her and her brother into his house.  They’ve met each other for about 4 times and she’s already in his house. 

He’s a strange character.  Not in a bad way, no, but he strikes Haerin in a way she never knew before.  He’s full of surprises, extremely multi-talented – I mean, man, cooking, singing, studying, what is he not good at? – And well, for a lack of better words; attractive.  The way his sleeves are rolled up to his elbow and the way he washes the rice thoroughly, inspecting the pieces closely only to wash it again; it’s magnetizing. 

Wait.  When did she start paying such close attention to this boy?

“Is it done?” Kyungsoo dries his hand, turning his head after he puts the rice in the cooker.

Haerin blinks and clears .  “Sorry?”

“Is the stew done?”

“Oh,” She turns to look at it and takes a bit of the soup, feeding Kyungsoo for a taste.  “Is it?”

Kyungsoo smacks his lips and his eyebrows shoot up in approval.  “Oh, this is good,”

Haerin finds herself grinning at his compliment.  “For real?” She gives herself a taste.  Kyungsoo nods and smiles at the way she seemed genuinely happy about getting a compliment.

Kyungsoo is usually shy around strangers.  He tends to keep it at the ‘acquaintance’ level towards people he meets, because he doesn’t get chummy very quickly.  He and 5 of his friends needed 3 years to become so close.  But Son Haerin seemed to mount the levels on her own. It’s strange how he feels like he wants her to trust him and how that weird tug of wanting to take care of her keeps nagging at the back of his mind.  It doesn’t fade, because they keep seeing each other where he just had to wonder about what in the world has this girl been through.

“Haerin-ah,” He calls out, making the girl look up from the pot of stew.  “Why don’t you keep it above low fire, I wanna show you around,”