Disappointed I turned back around and showed Karry around the school grounds.

We were in the hallway when I finished showing him around.

“That Chan guy’s your friend right?” Karry asked me.

I stopped in my tracks and looked out the window, “He is, why?”

Karry jumped onto the window sill I was looking out of and sat down, “You seem to care about him that’s why.”

I looked up at him to see him eye smiling, then did I notice that he has little fangs on the top row of his teeth, “He’s my childhood friend that’s all.”

“Heejin!” someone called my name. I turned to see Jeno running to us.

“Is something wrong?”

“Come with me, quick!” He pulled me along before he started running, dragging me with him.

As I let Jeno drag me away I turned back a bit to see Karry still sitting on the window sill staring at me and Jeno with a soften expression mixed in with something I couldn’t exactly tell.

“Chan,” I called him for about the twentieth time this morning. He kept working on the math problems in his workbook as I laid my head on his desk. All the other students were still roaming around since there was still about 15 minutes before school started. “Chan,” I called again to have him ignore me. I poked his cheek to get his attention only to get no reaction from him. I stayed there watching him until class started to begin, another boring lesson. I soon dozed off as we went onto the writing lesson.

“Class dismissed.” I heard shuffling around and opened my eyes to see that class had already ended. I rubbed my eyes as I got started on my workbook, taking notes at the same time.

“Here,” someone placed their notebook in front of me, I looked up to see Karry smiling down at me, fangs showing.

“No, it’s fine,” I shook my head as I tried pushing the notebook back to him.

His smile got wider, “I saw you sleeping, I wrote it in Korean if that’s what you’re worried about.”

I was about to reject again when a notebook was thrown onto my desk, I looked at where it came from to see Chan standing next to my desk looking the other way as he tightened his jaw, coughed, then rub his neck as he walked out of the classroom not once sparing me a glance.

I looked back up at Karry again, “It’s fine I can make my own notes,” I softly smiled.

“Tell me if you need any help okay?” he looked at me hopefully.

The door to the classroom slid open and came a knock. Knock, knock. I looked past Karry to see Mark standing in the doorway smiling. I smiled at him when our eyes met. Karry noticed me looking over at Mark and turned to see Mark before looking back down at me. I turned back to looking at Karry, “It’s okay I think I got it.” He then turned to leave brushing pass Mark on the way out.

“Are we going to eat or not?” Mark asked once he reached my desk.

“Not today I have work to do,” I looked down at the notes I had to do.

“Do them later, let’s eat first,” he pulled up the chair from the desk in front of me and brought out a boxed lunch along with a pair of chopsticks.

“I can’t, if I do that who knows how long it’ll take me to finish them,” I opened Chan’s notes and started copying them to my own.

“Say ah,” I looked up see face a piece of pan fried rolled egg.

I backed away from it and shook my head, “I’m not done yet Mark.” He pouted before dropping the egg back into the box. Awhile after students started to come back into the classroom, Mark had finished eating and had just propped his arm onto the desk while staring into space.

I looked up as more students started to come in, Mark started to notice and spoke up, “If you want you can come to the dorm later and I’ll help you. Spend the night over even.”

“Will the others let me?”

“Not like they have a choice,” Mark smiled, “I’ll pick you up at your house when I get done with practice then we can go over to the dorm okay?”

“Hmkay,” I smiled, he got up from the chair and kissed me on the cheek, his lips brushing just on my cheek before he left. It surprised me how others stared at us whenever he did it, kissing others on the cheeks was just a way of how Mark showed he cared and appreciated others. It was just like getting a kiss from your parents.

“I have to practice after school today so I’ll see you when I pick you up bye Heejin,” he cleaned his stuff up before leaving.

“Bye,” I watched him leave the classroom. I continued working on the notes for a few more minutes before Chan came back into the classroom.

“Finish yet?”

“Not yet, but Mark said he’ll help me after school so thanks,” I handed Chan his notebook back.

He took it back as his eyes narrowed before he went back to his seat.

As school ended I took the bus home, getting off at the right stop I walked the rest of the way home. Once I got home I got ready to spend the night over at Mark’s, packing my clothes first then showering. As I got out of the shower I checked my phone to see if Mark had texted saying he was on his way yet. I waited patiently in my room waiting for him to tell me he was coming. A knock soon came on my door.

“Heejin, you haven’t eaten anything since you got home. We should all eat together have a meal before dinner but after lunch,” I could hear my mom trying to sound enthusiastic.

“I’m not hungry and I’ll eat over at Mark’s later,” I replied not bothering to open the door.

“Come on sweetie, we’ve never had an actual family meal since your father moved in.” That was all it took.

I swung open the door, “I’ll never eat with him as a family and don’t ever say that he’s my father,” next thing I knew I had grabbed my stuff and was on the stairs heading towards the door.

“When are you going to stop acting like a child and accept him as a family member already?” Mom had followed me down the stairs.

I abruptly turned to face her once I was down the stairs, “Just because he’s my step-father doesn’t mean I have to like him and accept him as family,” catching a glimpse of him in the living room I turned back around and headed out the door running towards the train station.

“Heejin!” she called after me, trying to convince me to turn back around, she followed me for a bit until she gave up.

I stood there by myself waiting for the train.

“The train is soon approaching, please stand behind the safety line,” the intercom called. I looked around at the other passengers that were going to board along with me.

Isn’t that Karry?

I walked a bit closer to see if it was really him.

“The train is now in the station, please stand behind the safety line until it is clear to board,” the intercom called again.

I saw the train coming nearer while Karry was still standing on the safety line, close to where the train would pass, staring into the clouds. He swayed a bit before he was falling forward. I pulled him off the safety line just seconds before the train came in pass us, we were close to each other with his back facing me.

He turned his head to the side and smiled at me.

“Didn’t you hear the intercom?” my heart was still racing from what I just did.

“Huh?”

“The intercom, it said to stand behind the safety line. What were you looking at?”

“I was trying to find the moon,” he looked back up at the clouds. The sky was clear with some clouds, but no sight of a moon.

"The moon comes out at night,” I turned to him.

"No," he shook his head lightly before looking back up in the sky, "you can see the moon during the day too. The moon’s brightness and its orbit around the Earth," he started explaining, “besides even though everyone sees the same moon everyday it’s not the same when you see it during the day.” I stared at him wondering what was going through his mind.

"The train may now be boarded," the intercom called.

"Come on this is your train too right?" I headed to the train doors with Karry following me. The train wasn't crowded as it wasn't rush hour just yet, but we both still ended up standing.

"Where are you headed to?" Karry asked me while he held onto the same metal pole as me.

"A friend's," I looked up at him to see him looking down at me, "how about you?"

"Just exploring," his smile turned even wider, showing both of his fangs. The train kept going without stopping for awhile as we both stood there, our conversation turning silent. Thoughts of today's earlier events soon swept through my mind keeping me busy.

As the train came to my stop I headed to the door and so did Karry, we both exited the train looking around trying to find our ways.

"Wait!" Karry called after me when I turned to go the other way, he caught up to me and grabbed onto my wrist stopping me from going any farther. I turned around to face him, he hesitated before trying to continue, "c--"

"Heejin!" I was pulled away from Karry and into someone else's arms, they dug their face into my shoulder as they hugged me tightly, "your mom told me you left," he breathed out. I could feel his chest rise and fall with each heavy breath he took, the sweat on his dampened copper blonde hair.

I pulled away from him just to get enough space, since it seemed like he wasn’t going to let go any moment, "I'm fine Chan.”