I couldn’t get him out of my head.

            Or rather, I also couldn’t get his kiss out of my head.

            As I lay in bed awake at night, I knew that there was really no point in thinking about it. He’d explicitly said that he just did it to mess with me and to be honest, that sounded like something the devil Kai would do. But I couldn’t help but wonder: did he like me? Had he been jealous of Hongbin? Impossible. He hated me. We hated each other. He was just messing with you. How hard is that to understand?

            And the thing is, I should’ve been furious with him. Who did he think he was? I wasn’t some toy. He couldn’t just kiss me just because he felt like it and ‘wanted to mess with me’. I should’ve been angry. But instead, I was strangely satisfied.

            When school came around the following Monday, I anticipated to see him, to wonder if something else was going to happen between us.

            But nothing happened. He remained distant towards me, and I didn’t want to bring up the kiss and what had happened last Friday in the fear that things would get awkward between us. Although, it seems like things had already been getting awkward between us, even before the kiss. I didn’t know why.

            Kai and I have always had a rather strange relationship. We were friends, but at the same time not friends. The two of us have also been through quite a bit together: the karaoke bar, the debutante, not to mention he had rescued me from a burning building. Even so, the two of us have always kept a distance at school. We bickered during first period, occasionally met up after class, but there was still that barrier between us.

            So I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised at the distance growing between us even more once Hongbin and I started hanging out. Hongbin was nice, and he treated me extremely well. There should’ve been no reason to be unhappy.

            But that was before Kim Jongin had kissed me.

            Now as I was supposed to be thinking about what to wear on my next date with Hongbin,  I was thinking about how much I wanted to feel Kai’s lips on mine again, to feel that magnetic and electrifying pull. I felt a sense of emptiness in my heart as Hongbin walked me to class and out of the corner of my eye I could feel the boy in the beanie’s eyes on me, watching me as I grew out of sight. Sometime I’d look back, and looking into his eyes would make me wonder what he was up to nowadays, and if he was thinking about me at all.

            One rainy day after school, I was stopping by to get some warm coffee when I ran into Naeun.

            “How are you?” she asked, her kind eyes radiating a sense of genuine interest.

            “I’m doing well,” I replied. “You?”

            “Same.”

            Silence ensued. I awkwardly began to mentally read the little blurbs on my paper cup of coffee, just to have something to do.

            “I know that you know about what happened between me and Taemin,” Naeun finally spoke up.

            This was not what I was expecting. “Oh…uh…how did you know?”

            “On the night of the debutante I’d overheard you and Kai talking outside,” Naeun replied honestly. “It did happen Hyemi, and I’m so terribly sorry. I just wanted to have the chance to tell you about it in person.”

            This should’ve bothered the hell out of me, to get confirmation that my ex-boyfriend had indeed cheated on me behind my back. But strangely enough, I was too busy thinking about Kai to feel fully angered about the situation.

            “Thanks,” I said, “for telling me. I really appreciate your honesty.”

            Naeun smiled and wiped a tear of relief out of the corner of her eye. “I’m grateful for your forgiveness. And honestly Hyemi, guys like Taemin really aren’t worth it.”

            “What do you mean?”

            “Take my words with a grain of salt but after meeting Myungsoo, who honestly is hardly even business or high class society material, I’ve realized how important it is to be treated right in a genuine manner. Business boys like Taemin, Hongbin, and all those guys…all they care about is money and people who they think make them look good. They’re nice to you, sure. But at a price and with hidden intentions. They don’t really care for you, genuinely. All they care about is your money and how you can prove to be one of their assets,” Naeun explained carefully.

            I’d never thought of it that way, although I felt like I was getting towards it with the fact that Kai has been bombarding my mind 24/7.

            “Genuine,” I repeated mindlessly. “That’s a hard trait to find in people these days.”

            Naeun nodded. “I agree. But I see it in Kai.”

            At the mere mention of his name, my attention was immediately given. “Kai?” I asked. “What makes you say that?”

            “I can see it from the way he looks at you,” Naeun said with a pearly white smile. “And the way he spoke to you on that night. You could tell that he genuinely cared about you. Not to mention the way he’d held onto you during the dance, like you were a treasure that he didn’t want to lose.”

            I scoffed. “Please. I doubt it. He doesn’t care about me like that.”

            But as these words spilled out of my mouth, I suddenly wanted to take them back.

            He doesn’t care about me like that.

            If he didn’t care then why would he have been my date in the first place? Why would he have accompanied me all those times when I needed companionship the most? Why would he have risked his life and rescued me from a freaking burning building if he didn’t care about me?

            The following Friday night, I had another scheduled date with Hongbin. The entire time I felt dazed, confused, and hardly made any good conversation.

            Hongbin and I stepped out of the restaurant into the wet night air. We had some gourmet, super duper fancy ramen. It wasn’t very good though, and there seemed to be something bothering me. The cold wind blew past us and I shivered. Hongbin wasted no time taking off his jacket to lend it to me.

            “Thanks,” I said.

            “That was some pretty good ramen,” Hongbin commented. “Don’t you think?”

            “Mhm.”

            “I was also thinking,” Hongbin went on, “that it’s about time we meet each other’s parents.”

            I stopped. “What?”

            “I mean, I am the heir to Vixx, and you’re the heir to Miss. Our parents should meet each other at least once, us including. It’ll a formal dinner event, totally fancy,” Hongbin explained.

            “We’re just dating,” I stated. “We’re nothing serious.”

            “But we can be,” Hongbin insisted. “Don’t you see? Me and you, we could be the new power couple of the business industry.”

Business boys like Taemin, Hongbin, and all those guys…all they care about is money and people who they think make them look good. They’re nice to you, sure. But at a price and with hidden intentions. They don’t really care for you, genuinely. All they care about is your money and how you can prove to be one of their assets.

            Naeun’s words rang in my head.

            “…and we could match. Versace has this stunning new dress collection and it’d be great if you could—

            “—No.”

            Hongbin looked at me, confused. “Huh?”

            “I said, ‘No’. I’m not interested in dinner with your parents or anything else for that matter.”

            “Okaaayyyy,” Hongbin said slowly, still not quite being able to grasp my opinions on the situation. “But even so we can—

            “—Look,” I said impatiently. “This has been fun. But I think it’s about time we end this entire thing.”

            “What are you saying?”

            “I’m saying that I’m no longer interested in dating you, and that it’s best if we just parted ways. I’m sure there are other heirs to big companies that you can go woo,” I said with a hint of sarcasm.

            “Hyemi, you can’t be doing this to me.”

            “I am. And I will.”

            I hailed a taxi before Hongbin could argue any further. I wasn’t in the mood to argue, and I was quickly beginning to grow sick of his commands.

            Staring out the window, I have never felt more alive and powerful in my entire life. Then my eyes recognized a familiar figure walking on the sidewalk in the distance, hands in his pockets.

            “Stop the car.” I paid the driver and hurriedly rushed out.

            “Kai!” I said.

            He turned around. “Hyemi?” he asked, slightly confused. “What are you doing out?”

            “I should be asking you the same thing.”

            I’d always wondered about what he did at night, since I always seemed to bump into him when the sun goes down. He evaded this question once again however, as he said, “It’s a Friday night. Aren’t you supposed to be out with Hongbin or something?”

            “I was,” I replied. “But uh…I just kinda broke things off with him like, ten minutes ago.”

            Kai’s eyes widened in surprise. “Really.”

            “Yup.”

            “What happened?”

            I shrugged. “I don’t really know…guess he wasn’t genuine enough. Plus, he called you a mutt. That was very rude of him.”

            Kai laughed at this. “You defended me. That was great, by the way.”

            I smiled. “Thanks. I had to say something. You didn’t deserve the insults.”

He nodded along, agreeing with me. “Well, glad you’re done with him.”

            “Me too.”

            While Kai and I had this conversation, there was only one thing running through my mind: the kiss. It bothered me to think about it so much, and to be honest it was stupid of me to keep thinking about it. I didn’t want to expect anything.

I realized then that I didn’t want to lose Kai, that I was holding back on bringing up the subject because I was scared of upsetting him.

            “Where are you heading off to now?” Kai suddenly asked me.

            I snapped out of it. “Uh…I guess home?”

            “Taking the bus?”

            “I guess so.”

            “I’ll come with you.”

            My eyes brightened and I couldn’t help but smile. “Really?”

            “Sure. I don’t think I can really let you go home alone at this time of night,” Kai replied.

            The two of us got on the bus. I was reminded of another particular Friday night, one involving karaoke and cuddling.

            Kai seemed to remember this also as I heard him smirk to himself. After all, just a day after that night he’d explicitly told me that, “What you did last night was hilarious. I think I’ll choose not to forget it.”

            As if he was reading my mind, Kai leaned in closer to me and gave me one of his mischievous but rather charming crooked smiles. “No cuddling this time?”

            “That was on accident! I was under the influence!” I insisted.

            Kai smirked, his lips curving upward. “Sure.”