Breakage 

Chapter VI - The Study Date

Xiu Min has had enough of being babied. Every period, she has her friends following her. She felt watched. She felt imprisoned. After Drama class, she slipped away before Jong Dae reached the classroom. She wasn't ready to face him alone after what happened last night. And she needed space to breathe. Xiu Min stealthily made her way to the school's library without getting spotted by anyone. Perhaps Jong Dae would leave her alone today.

She settled into one of the smaller study rooms in the library. The walls were pretty bare, and the only furnitures in the room were the chairs and the table for 4. Xiu Min chose to sit beside the small window and started taking out her study materials. Xiu Min was very smart. She has always been. But once under pressure, Xiu Min would freak out and answer without thinking. Which is why she never tops the class. As she opened her textbooks and practice books, Jong Dae knocked on the door. He let himself in.

"Kyung Soo told me she saw you walking in this direction."

Xiu Min blew at her bangs and ignored him.

"Can i study with you?"

Xiu Min didn't reply but she made space for him on the table and Jong Dae took that as a yes. He settled down on the other side of the table, and removed his physics textbook from his bag. He flipped open the book to the Kinematics chapter and promptly fell asleep. Xiu Min could have used the chance to escape from the room but she didn't. She liked watching Jong Dae sleep. 

After an hour or so, when Xiu Min was done with her homework, she poked Jong Dae's cheeks to wake him up. No response. She nudged his arms with her pen. Still asleep. She knocked their knees together. Not a single movement. She narrowed her eyes.

"Kim Jong Dae. You are awake aren't you?"

Jong Dae chuckled, eyes still close. "The princess speaks!"

Xiu Min rolled her eyes. "Do you need help with physics?"

"You can help me?" Jong Dae sat up immediately, eyes sparkling.

"Yeah, i guess."

"Can you help me with Kinematics? I don't understand the entire chapter."

Xiu Min frowned and tore a piece of foolscap from her notebook. 

"Alright, lets start from definitions." She explained as she wrote but Kim Jong Dae wasn't focusing on what she is saying at all. He was watching the way her lips moved and the way her messy scribbles filled up the paper.

"Ahhh. Hold on. I can't see what you're writing from here." He stood up and shifted over to the chair beside Xiu Min. Xiu Min shifted slightly on her chair, trying to get as far as she could from Jong Dae. Even though she tried, she could still feel Jong Dae's breath on her skin as he leaned closer to look at what she was writing. As she explained and scribbled down equations and graphs, shs noticed from the corner of her eye that Jong Dae was not looking at the paper at all. She turned to face him, annoyed.

"Yah! Kim Idiot! Are you listening or not?' Her eyesbrows creased together as she frowned at the boy.

"Maybe." He smiled sheepishly. His face was really close to Xiu Min's and they both blushed but neither moving away. "Xiu, wanna go get ice cream?"

"So much for studying."

"C'mon!" He pouted. Of course, Xiu Min said yes.

--

They sat by the windows at the back of the cafe. It was rather quiet except for the random angry clicking of keyboards and the occasional beep from the machines. Xiu Min stared at the menu and bit her lip.

"Chocolate mint or strawberry?" She mumbled to herself.

"Strawberry!" Jong Dae suggested, rather aggresively.

"Choco mint it is then."

He pouted. But she didn't give in this time. She wanted Chocolate mint.

"You're an askhole." Jong Dae commented

"What?"

"You ask for others opinions and do the total opposite."

Xiu Min laughed. That sounded totally like her. They talked as they waited for their ice creams and they laughed. Before Jong Dae, Xiu Min never understood the idea of fun. All she had to do was to be the perfect daughter in her parents' eyes. That was all that matter. But now, she can laugh freely. She can feel. All thanks for Kim Jong Dae. As they spoke, Jong Dae casually slipped in something he has been wanting to find out.

"So, do you have a younger sister or something?" Xiu Min stopped.laughing. She stopped smiling. She just flatly said "No." But because God is real, their ice cream arrived, breaking the silence. 

"By the way," Xiu Min started, "I've been wanting to pass you this the entire day. Kinda forgot." She ped her school bag and removed a blue plastic bag. "Your clothes."

"Thanks." Jong Dae bit on the metal spoon while he receieved the bag with two hands. His fingers brushed Xiu Min's. Maybe it was on purpose, maybe it wasn't. But one thing was for sure, Xiu Min's fingers were too cold.

"Yah! Why are your fingers so cold?"

"Huh? Really?" Xiu Min put the back of her fingers on her face to test the temperature.

"Wear this right now." He removed the maroon hoodie from the bag and handed it to her. "You don't have to return it. Wear it whenever you're cold."

Xiu Min blushed.

Xiu Min mumbled her thanks and slipped into the hoodie,thankful for the warmth. 

They spoke as they ate their ice cream. Nothing of consequence anyway. Just as they were done eating their ice cream and were about to pay, the pitter-patter of the rain hit the glass windows gently. It was the season of thunderstorms. Summer was near.

"Ahhh... We can't go back now." Jong Dae stuck out his lower lip. 

"You're secretly happy aren't you?" Xiu Min narrowed her eyes.

"Maybe." He flashed his teeth.

Xiu Min sighed.

"Awh come on! I mean like, why would i not be happy to spend time with you?"

"Shut up. Lets study since we are stuck here."

"Eh... Why? I don't want to study." He whined but Xiu Min ignored him.

"Don't sit with me if you aren't planning to study. You're distracting."

"Hey! Thats rude!"

Xiu Min shushed him, jokingly. She removed her study materials and opened her textbook. "C'mon. I can teach you physics."

"I don't want to."

"You want to fail this exams and go back to school everyday during the summer holidays?"

"Don't remind me. Maybe i'll keep my streak of going to summer school every year."

"Don't you dare."

"Why? Wanna spend summer with me?"

Xiu Min rolled her eyes and laughed. "Idiot."

--

They spent their entire evening studying. By the time the rain stopped, it was 9pm already. As usual, Jong Dae would walk Xiu Min back home like the gentleman he was. This time, while walking, he took her hand without hesistation. They talked as they walked, their laughter cutting through the fog the rain created. Every step they took, they brought with them the heat of their passion. The heat of their youth. Their summer cutting through the spring rain. 

In front of Xiu Min's house, they parted. Without a replay of the day before. Xiu Min thanked Jong Dae as usual and shut the main door silently. Yet again, she found herself stuck in the house again. The prison which she tries again and again to escape everyday. Her room was the first room beside the main door which made things convenient. She didn't need to see or speak to her parents.

She quietly shut her room door behind her and started to unpack her bag when she heard little thuds on her windows. She frowned. She drew the curtain open to see Jong Dae standing a few feet away, throwing pebbles at her window. When he saw her standing at the window, he dropped the pebbles and waved.

"What are you trying to do?" Xiu Min asked, deadpanned, as she pulled up her open.

"Being Romeo."

Xiu Min rolled her eyes. "For the record, Romeo did not throw pebbles at Juliet's window."

"Eh?! Really?!"

"Trust me. I'm a literature student."

Jomg Dae approached the window, folded his arms on the window ledge and rested his head on them. Xiu Min was still standing in front of the window, body blocking most of the room. But Jong Dae could still see the stacks of books all over the room.

"Wow. I expected your room to be girlier."

"W-Wha?" Xiu Min naturally tilted her body to look into her room. 

"Sorry. I always imagine girls' room to be pink and messy with cosmetics all over the place."

"I don't use cosmetics." Xiu Min narrowed her eyes. Jong Dae laughed.

"You really like to read, don't you?" Jong Dae's eyes were taking in the towering stacks of books lined against the wall. He couldn't put a finger to it. Was the room neat or messy? Her room was the total opposite of Jong Dae's stark white, impossibly neat room. Her room was painted a soft blue, books stacked into towers against the wall, floor bare of any carpet, teal covers neatly tucked into her bed. "Wow. Do you like blue or something?"

"I guess? I don't have a favourite colour." Xiu Min stepped away from the window and stripped off the maroon hoodie she was wearing. She hooked it on the back of her door.

"Hey, Xiu. Remember when you said you aren't a third date kind of person? So are you a fifth date kind of person?" Xiu Min rolled her eyes and drew the curtains close.

Author's note: I know this chapter was rather short compared to the previous chapter. Don't kill me. it . Anyways. ALL THESE FLUFFFFFFF. I wonder how a depressing person like me can write cutesy stuff like this. God, tell me how u work. But yay! I said this fic was going to be 3-4 chapters only. I LIED. OMF. HOW DO I STOP. I EVEN PLANNED OUT THE EPILOGUE. Anyways i think it will be 2-3 more chapter before this fic is done. So, subscribe!!! Like this fic? Upvote it and let me know in the comments! You can let me know if it too. And this studying thing. Do you guys camp out at cafes or fast food restaurants to study? COS I DO.

Megu <3