Kai was insatiable.

Every few minutes I'd get a text from him asking questions about that book I had told him to read, and it didn't matter how many times I told him it's better to find the answers out himself, he kept asking more. Do they defeat the bad guy in this book or the next ones? Do these two characters ever get together? Does this character die? Why does this weird thing happen? Does it mean anythig?

I'd probably be annoyed if I wasn't so happy he was enjoying the book.

The texts had started Saturday night, not too long after we had said "good bye". I actually had a small panic attack at that time because Kai, or Jong In as he now wants me to call him, had suggested he walk me home and then come up to meet my family. I had to convince him how much of a bad idea that would be, if only for the fact that springing him on my parents like that probably would not make the situation any better. I figured it'd probably be better to let them get used to the idea of him before they actually met. If they ever met. They didn't have to meet, did they? There still wasn't any talk about me meeting his mom yet so maybe it wasn't something that had to happen, right?

Still, before any of that became a real issue, I still had to tell my parents about him, and I had every intention to do that. Really. Honestly. Truely I did. But I wound up getting sick the next day. It wasn't anything too serious, just a cold, but I am weak and wound up spending all day Sunday and Monday curled up under the blankets on my bed watching reruns of Running Man episodes. It was my favorite thing to do when I was sick or sad because it didn't require too much concentration and it never failed to make me laugh. So basically I was in no fit state to talk about anything serious with my family. So it wasn't my fault.

I found out through Jong In's constant texting that he was sick too, and wound up missing school on Monday as well. It was pretty weird that it happened at the same time, but there had been a lot of people recently getting it.

Still, the coincidence was too great for Chanyeol and Baekhyun to pass up teasing me over when I was back at school on Tuesday. To my dismay, Jong In missed school that day too, so I had to endure them alone.

"You guys were kissing."

"You guys were definitely kissing."

"That's why you both got sick at the same time."

"Come on, you can tell us."

"It's not like we don't already know."

"Was he a gentleman about it? I didn't raise him to be anything else."

"If he wasn't a gentlman just let us know and we'll beat him up for you."

"We probably should anyways. Keep him from getting too cocky about being the only one of us to have a girlfriend."

"Like you did?"

"I resent that."

"Guys," Sehun cut in before Chanyeol could make another retort, which by the way he was smirking he felt would be a particulary good one.

"What?" he asked instead, turning to Sehun, putting on his innocent face.

"Just leave it. You're going to make her uncomfortale," Sehun explained as he continued eating, eyes on his food.

I noticed most of the guys turning to give Sehun either questioning or confused looks, signaling I wasn't the only one who knew about his previous hostility to me. Baekhyun and Chanyeol settled down when he said that, but it looked like it was more from suprise rather than anything Sehun had said.

"What were you sick with, anyway?" Kyungsoo asked me innocently.

"I had a cold."

"Isn't that what Kai has?" Baekhyun asked.

There was a thump under the table right before Tao yelled out "Ow!" in a whiny voice, looking around the table looking deeply wounded before his eyes landed on Sehun, who spoke next.

"Sorry, wrong leg."

"It was just an honest question!" Baekhyun defended himself, knowing already where that was going.

"That really hurt." Tao pouted, seeming to rub his leg to soothe the hurt.

"How hard were you trying to kick me?" Beakhyun demanded, affronted.

"Since when have you been so worried about Soo Young?" Chanyeol asked, eyeing Sehun.

"I'm not worried."

"Yeah? Then what's with saying "you guys are going to make her uncomfortable" and trying to kick Baekhyun?"

"I'm just looking out for her."

"You look out for people you're worried for," Chanyeol countered, arching an eyebrow.

"But maybe it's more than that," Baekhyun said, smirking as he leaned over to Chanyeol, raising his hand over his mouth conspiritorally, though he kept his voice loud enough for all of us to hear. "Maybe he has a crush on Soo Young."

"Ooh, scandalous. A love triangle between our friends, how exciting."

"I wounder how Kai will take the news that he's got some competition."

"But making your move while Kai's gone really is unportsman-like, you know."

"Careful how you word that, this isn't just a game, it's-" here Baekhyun clenched his hand into a fist that he pressed against his chest, staring off at something somewhere else with an emotion filled face, "-love."

Sehun heaved a sigh and dropped his head to his hand, rubbing his forehead.

"You should have known they'd just target you since you told them they couldn't do it to Soo Young," Kyungsoo cut in, giving Sehun a sympathetic look before standing up from the table. 

"Where are you going, Kyungsoo? Things are just getting good. Unless-" Chanyeol pulled an exagerated gasp, "-you actually have a crush on Soo Young too and it's a love quadrangle and you can't bare to hear us talking about another man liking Soo Young!"

"Yes! Yes!" Baekhyun called. "Everything makes sense now!"

"No, it doesn't," Kyungsoo cut him off firmly while he grabbed his trash. "I have to go talk to someone I'm tutoring."

"No fun. Let us have our angsty story!" Baekyun whined.

"Whatever," Kyungsoo said, rolling his eyes as he left the table, but I could see he was holding back a smile of amusement.

"Well now that he's agreed that takes all the fun out of it," Baekhyun complained, pouting at his food.

"But wait, who's this person he's tutoring?" Chanyeol asked, making Baekhyun perk up.

"It could be... a girl," Baekhyun said, his smirk coming back.

"Maybe they're doing more than just tutoring," Chanyeol commented back, waggling his eyebrows.

"Uggh," Tao grunted, rolling his eyes. "You guys need to get lives."

"Listen here, Grumpy," Baekhyun began, turning to Tao, "We're just trying to enjoy ourselves instead of being Mr. Moody-Pants like you like to be."

"Hey, guys," Sehun said, looking between the two.

I was surpsied the conversation had taken this turn, especially when I saw the look in Tao's eyes. He wasn't just annoyed, he was angry. Glancing back at Baekhyun, I could tell he hadn't meant to do that, but it was also apparent he hadn't regretted what he had said. There was a few moments where no one said anything while Tao glared at Baekhyun and Baekhyun held the look, keeping his own eyes steady, before Tao stood up from the table with a little more force than necassary. He grabbed his trash and walked away without saying anything, and the tension lessoned a little when he left.

"You shouldn't have said that," Sehun said when Tao was gone, turning to Baekhyun.

"It's true, though," Baekhyun defended himself. "He's always in a bad mood now."

"You know why," Sehun countered.

"I get his parents are being hard on him but he doesn't have to take it out on us," Baekhyun said, though it seemed half hearted.

"You don't get it." Sehun heaved a sigh and seemed to hesitate before deciding what to say next. "There's a lot he's not saying right now. Just give him a break."

Baekhyun remained silent at that, leaning back in his chair looking chastised. A few seconds later Sehun gathered up his things and said "See you tomorrow" before he left as well. I glanced up at the clock on the wall and realized it was almost time for class to start, so I got up and left as well, feeling like I was watching something happen that I was very much not a part of and like I shouldn't have stuck around for as long as I had. While Tao and I weren't that close, our relationship was far from bad, definitely not to the level I had been at with Sehun. Still, I had no idea what they were talking about, it being news to me that Tao was having issues with his parents.

While I had been worried about Tao and how everyone would be the next day, I found out I didn't need to be. Everything was back to the way it had been before, including Kai, or Jong In, being back at school. Thankfully, though, Chanyeol and Baekhyun didn't try to tease us about the sickness. I worried they'd bring it up again now that Jong In was back, but they didn't. They didn't even ask Kyungsoo about the person he was tutoring, which was apparently something even Jong In was curious about since it wasn't something he had ever done before, nor had it seemed like something he'd been interested in. Far from it, actually, from what Jong In said.

"So have you told your parents?" he asked me while he was walking me home that day.

"What?" I asked, confused since we had just been discussing that book, which he was almost finished with.

"About us?" he asked, sliding his hand into mine and squeezing.

"Oh..." I said, suprised that I had actually forgotten about it. I was distracted last night during dinner, wondering what was wrong with Tao and his parents that he apparently only told Sehun fully about, and then after I jumped straight back into the book I had been reading. Then today I had worried about everyone being together and how that would go down, so it just slipped my mind. "Not yet."

"Why?"

"I just... haven't," I answered, utlilizing all my skills of eloquence.

He stopped walking then, his grip on my hand halting me as well. I turned to look at him and saw that he looked concerned and more than a little upset.

"Why are you putting it off?"

"I'm not putting it off, I just..." I faultered here, realizing that was exactly what I had been doing. I looked down at his chest so I didn't have to look at his eyes.

"Soo Young."

His voice was even, flat. He wasn't asking anymore.

"I'm just nervous to tell them is all." My eyes shifted to the sidewalk behind him, not feeling worthy of even looking at him because of my cowardice. It was being stupid, and I knew it, and now he was figuring it out too.

"Why are you so nervous?"

"I..."

"Do you think they won't... approve of me?"

"No!" My eyes shot back up to meet his, and while I could see some annoyance in them, I didn't see the anger I had expected. Mostly it was just hurt and confusion, and I felt awful. "It's because I like you." My face flamed up at my abrupt declaration, even though it was something I had already said before, and I saw his cheeks tinge a bit too while his face went from suprised to confused. "It's just," I struggled to explain, wondering why in the world I kept using the word just, "My parents are really protective of me, and then there's what I told you about before with me being bad with friends and them being worried about that and all, so I'm just worried that they won't approve of a relationship in general, not you. I'm sure they'd like you."

The words came out much faster than they should have, but I had to push them out, make sure he heard them before I realized what I was saying, the implication I was making. I watched his face nervously as I saw him understand. The next thing I knew he was tugging on my hand, pulling me closer as he took a step toward me before releasing my hand and holding me. I was suprised from the sudden contact but I couldn't say I didn't like it even if I wasn't sure where it had come from.

"You're worried they'd want us to break up," he breathed into my ear, and I felt my heart beat faster as I raised my arms to hug him back.

He squeezed me against him for a moment, then stepped away from me, grabbing hold of my shoulders to keep me from stepping away from him too.

"You should still tell them," he said as he leaned forward so our faces were close together. My mind flickered back to Saturday for a moment, the last time his face had been this close to me like this. "Like you said, you've made friends. They'll understand. And if they don't, I'll meet them, convince them."

I nodded, and he smiled brightly at me, giving me that affectionate look. For a second, I thought he was going to kiss me, and honestly that might have been what he was aiming to do, but before anything else could happen I heard someone calling my name.

"Soo Young?"

It was my mother.