“I shouldn't have seen,” Ken bulged, his eye, “Dong Hongbin you bastard…” and fisted.

“Wheres everyone?” Eunju opened the door and found the house empty. She looked at her watch, “8pm?” and nodded, knowing that it only took 30minutes for her to get back to the house. “I guess I can start to pack now, ” she took off her shoes, neatly put it on the rack and took out her phone.

“Hello?”

“Ravi, where are you?”. Before she got to press the number, Eunju had thought about the things that she wanted to say, “help me to pack up my stuff” or more like, ask.

“Eh? Has the gala dinner end already?”  

“It doesn't really count as a dinner, though, it started at six or something..” Eunju tried to recall, “anyway, where are you?”

“Oh! Yeah, right, we’re out now, going to buy something for dinner, do you have any request?”

“I just had dinner…” She hissed, “okay, so you, the baby and the two old guys are going to be home at…?”

“Nine, at max”

She hung up, “Okay” and moved on to her room.

“Hyukkie, lets go home” Ken knocked on the opened door, “Its almost eight”

“Oh, Hyung, You’re still here?” He asked back without shifting his attention from the screen and the joystick on his hand, “I thought you’re going with your fiancé”.

Oh God… Ken shook his head and entered the room, “Well, as you can see, I’m still waiting for you”. You shoud be worry about hongbin not me!

“Dont worry about me, I’m going to sleep here for tonight”. Ken sat on the chair next to his brother’s couch. He stared at his brother, with the same amount of attention that he gave to his xbox. “What?”

“Are you mad at me?”

“No,” He smirked, “Why would I be mad at you?” and shrugged. “You just had your first kiss with her, oh I bet you wont be able to forget that!” One sarcastic smile was written on his face before he turn off the console. “Get out”

That doesn't even count as a kiss....

“hey, hyung,” Hyuk waved his hand in front of his brother’s face as he found him mused. “Hyung, I said get out” 

Ken blinked his eyes and nodded. “Oh, right, sorry”. he got up from his chair and walked out of the room, “so I’ll pick you up tomorrow?”

Hyuk turned off the light then moved from the couch to his bed. “I’ll go home when I want to,” and then before he closed his eyes, he tried to made his brother remember about one thing;   “But hyung, aren’t we home yet?”

“Oh crap, she's going to kill me!” Ravi got out of the car and opened the gate, “Is it almost ten?”

“No, still nine thirty” Hakyeon looked at the clock on the dashboard, “Who is she? Eunju?”

“Hell yeah!” He left the gate open and went inside the house, “Ya! Eunju sorry I’m late!”.

Hakyeon parked the car and helped Leo with the groceries, since he had his hands busy with the sleeping Kyunggi. “Hm, so I heard that it went well”

"?”

“The dinner” Hakyeon opened the door, letting Leo and kyunggi to come in first, and he followed by closing it back again. As they entered the house, the living room was already filled with boxes. “Who’s moving in?”

Eunju showed up from her room, with the last box on her hand. “Yo, its me moving out!” As a woman who have lots of needs, it was only natural for her to be like that. Or at least, that's what she thought. “On a second thought, I’ll just leave my Mac and some of my clothes here…”

“The mac can stay, but everything else must leave” Hakyeon cupped his own cheek and hissed, “So does the camera and the microphone and those other kind of things”

“Are you sure that you won't need it later?” Eunju reassured, “Cause I’m going to throw this away”

Ravi raised his hand, “Oh, maybe you can keep it in my studio” not wanting to miss such opportunity. “I mean, I bet your place is full and—“

“Good idea” in a quick agreement, she handed the heavy box from her hands to Ravi, and wiped her hand.

Not long after that, “Oh? What's with the ruckus?” Ken made his entrance. “Wow, you have lots of stuff to begin with…”

Eunju rolled her eyes and clucked. “Where’s your fiance?”.

“Eh? Wait, she’s not here?”. Eunju, Ravi, Hakyeon and Leo who were all gathered in the living room immediately stopped any kind of activity they were doing, and turned their faces to the guy who still stood in front of the door. “Oh no…”

“What? What's wrong?” Hakyeon asked.

Ken placed his hands on his waist, looked up and hissed. “Are you sure that she's not here?”

“Yeah, I came here at eight and the house was empty”.

Damn it. He then turned his face into the ground and frowned, “Where’s Hongbin?”

“How does it has anything to do with hongbin?” For once, Leo wanted to asked back.

“Cause,” Hell, what should I say to them?! 

“Cause what?” Leo insisted.

Ken gulped and braced himself, “Cause he need to explain a lot of things”

argh Lee Areum where are you!!??.

three years ago.

“Areum!”. A voice called for her, and it made her stop herself from making her tenth jump of the day. “I haven't seen you in a while,”

“Ah, it's you,” Areum turned around and recognized the figure who stood outside of the court. “Hongbin from class 2a, right?”.

He smiled, and then sat on the empty bench next to him, “So you like basketball?”

Areum scoffed and threw the basketball, “Like?”  from the back, she threw it from the back, “I’m pro at this,” and within the next second it entered the rings.

Hongbin clapped his hands and ran to snatch the ball before it got into the girl’s hand, “Let's see what you got”.

After a few dribbles, Hongbin stood outside the line and played on some tricks. Doing a crossover, spin it on the tip of his finger, He sure knows how to show up. 

“Not bad,” She puffed an air and let him be, “Are you on the team or?”

“No, I’m not, I’m not interested in that,” While talking, hongbin made a lay up, “You?”

“Actually,” and so it was her turn to remark her skill, as she took over the ball in one hand and brought it out of the line, before she shot a three pointer. “I’m planning to join the girls team”.

To Hongbin, The agility and skills that his new friend showed was like his mini entertainment. Compared to his friend from the middle school, of course, Areum still lost on many aspects, but the fact that she was better than his brother, and her very own attitude, it drove him crazy to the point where he wanted to play more than just one game with her.

“Dont you have anything better to do?” Areum held the ball, and stopped the one-on-one pace. “It's almost six, I heard that class A assignments are no joke”

“I don't feel like writing or counting,” His lips twitched downwards and created a pout, “How about you? Don't you have anything better to do?”

‘Tsk, this boy is so cocky’ . “Well, to me, this is the best thing to do” Again, threw the ball from her back. “See—“

Hongbin puffed his cheek and tried to not laugh. “Yeah, I see that,”

Areum’s cheek blushed in embarrassment when she couldn't hear the sound that the ball made when it looped the ring. Only the sounds of its bounce, that was coming from a short height. And so she realized that her throw was not strong and accurate enough to help her bluffing.

“You should really go home—“

“No!” that shades of red on her face, turned into a sharp glare. 

She held the ball and froze, right in front of the rings. “One more time,” She muttered. “Lets play one more time”

He felt more than relieved, and more than happy. “Sure”

********

“Again?” Hongbin shook his head, when he saw the same person owning the court on that evening. “Woah, you want to be an athlete or something?”

Unlike yesterday, Areum didn't stop her game when he called for her attention. “Not really, I just want to keep myself busy”

Hongbin dropped his bag and wondered;“is that your only reason?” . He then tightened his shoelace, and rolled his sleeve. Like yesterday, he was ready for another game. “Cause if yes, then that's kinda disappointing, why do you even want to join the team? I thought you were better than me”

“I am better than you,” Areum could sense the presence of her new friend on the court, and quickly dogged him, “I’m joining the team so that I can keep myself busy”.

‘Ah, how can she improved this much within 24 hours?’. “You know what other thing that can keep yourself busy?” As he let her played the game, he peacefully watched her from the side. “Working on your essay”

“That's not my kind of busy!” She exclaimed, and whined for a little. “Besides, how can they gives such a ridiculous assignment? How can you write 5000 words of essay within a week? its not even a month since I changed my uniform”

He chuckled on the feisty of Areum. “So what? you just became a second year and you're planning to rebel already?”

“Maybe, i don't know, depends…” Areum threw the ball away, “Argh! Whom should I blame for this stupid brain?!”

“You know, you need to relax,” Hongbin sat on the ground and crossed his legs, “which part of the essay that makes you confuse? if I'm not mistaken its korean right, not english?”

Areum joined him on the ground, as she sat a crossed him. “Its in korean, but still…”

“Okay, which part of writing an essay is difficult to you?” 

“Ehm, I dont know, everything?” She frowned and looked around, “I mean— you— you know— ehm, well— its just difficult okay!”

Hongbin nodded and raised his hands, “yeah, yeah, I get it…”

“I mean, first, how do you create a perfect sentence that is formal and structured, and then how do you paraphrase an article and then— then, how do you make two different paragraph connected like, what words that—“

“Do you bring your laptop?” Hongbin finally got what she meant.

“Eh? I don't have one…”

“Oh, okay, then maybe I’ll just show you mine,” he got up and grabbed his bag. He took out his laptop, turning it on and asked Areum to sit closer to him, “Well, since we have to write about different topics, I don't have to worry about the possibility of you copying mine, so,” He showed him his work, that he just made last night. “I still need to add the conclusion though—“

Areum gasped at her finding, “that's not still! its just! You just have to put the conclusion paragraph and then you’re done! tsk, how can you be a genius, good at basketball, and have a lot of friends at the same time? ”.

“Well, anyway” That word was nothing but her ramble, but somehow, it made him blush for a little. “What I’m about to show you is this, okay, you see this?” He pointed at the screen, and started to explain everything that she need to know.

“Okay, I’ll just send you mine and maybe it will help you somehow,” Hongbin closed his laptop and put it back in his bag, “What are you going to write anyway?”

“Ah? me? Well…” Areum started to look around, “Ehm, you know, stuff…”

“Ya, I showed you basically 90% my essay about 10 different ways to cook a freaking egg! You should at least tell me your title!”

She insisted to shake her head.

“And why is that?”

Still, she continued the act of moving her head from the left to the right.

“Come on, maybe i can help you!” Somehow, he really wanted to stick his nose on her work, “Why? is your essay is more ridiculous than mine?”. A small nod answered it all. a small ‘cute’ nod, according to Hongbin. “Really? I will give you 10000 won if you can make me laugh with that”

Areum didn't say a word and just shook her head. “I bet you’ll laugh, but, but i still won't tell  you even for a 10000 won,”

“Then I wont laugh,” Hongbin leaned forward to avoid he eyes, “Promised”

Her lashes closed down at the same time as her cheek that rose up and formed a smile. “It's love,” But then, soon after she answered the question, all those little things on her face just disappeared. “Now laugh and I’ll—“

“Thats nice,” no one knows how but those little things were transferred and jumped to his face, “no, that's brilliant”.

Areum narrowed her eyes and stared at the boy. ‘why is he smiling?’ she wondered. 

“and as I said before, maybe I can help you”. the gentle smile turned into a smirk.

“How?”

“just watch me”

*****

“So you have friends, huh?” Hongbin put down his tray on the table and sat on the empty seat next to areum. His eyes were following some girls that had just left the place. “I thought you were the antisocial and hate human in general type of person”

“Well, as you can see, I'm not that kind of person” Areum shrugged and continue to dig her lunchbox, “But I'm not like you either”

Hongbin nodded and tried to follow, “Like me?”

“Yup, the type of person who stole everyone’s attention” She showed him what just happened to them, with her head. That everyone was staring at them, with different kinds of looks. “Thank god that I'm not park shinhye pretty or we’ll be a gossip by tomorrow” She continued with strewing her juice and took a sip, “but really, i think it will be better if you just bother me on the court and not here”

Unlike the usual, he didn't return the gaze that people gave to him, and just focused on the person next to him, “So how’s your essay?”.

Areum put down her juice and used the chopstick to grab her food. “Ah, I got to finish 200 words!”  todays menu for her was kimbap, “Are you going to eat that or not?” a plain kimbap that made her eyes still hungry when she looked at the full tray in front of Hongbin.

Hongbin shook his head and shift the plate to her, “You cook?”

“Yes,” 

“Can I try?”

She narrowed her eyes and nodded, “sure…”

He grabbed his unused chopstick and take a piece of the rolled rice, “Ehm! It's good! What did you put in it?”

“Stuff…” Carefully, she paid attention to the face that he made. It was sincere, she knew it. he enjoyed the food. “You can have it if you want”

“Really??” Hongbin almost choked out of happiness, “Arent you hungry??”

Areum shook her head, “I'm full after looking at your face… considered it as my gratitude for your help”

A wide grin made him almost choke for the second time, “I’ll take that as a compliment,”. It doesn't take five minutes for him to finish all 15 pieces of it, and still, he wanted more “Areum are you free today?”. Not more of kimbap, of course, he wanted more of her time.

“Ehm.. no i guess? why?”

Hongbin rested his head to the side of his hand, “Why? Are you going to play basketball in such a lonely atmosphere?”.

“Yeah… probably…”

“Then you shouldn't do that, instead, come with me!” He exclaimed, “If your reason is indeed to keep yourself busy then there are a lot of things beside basketball that can make yourself busy— no, occupied!”.

 To listen to his enthusiasm, Areum felt like it was right for her to nodded and agreed. “Okay… lets see whether its better than sharping my skill in sport”

“Oh its ten times better!”

“You know, earlier, there was this girl who asked me about you,” Areum came out of her class and found hongbin was waiting in front, “She asked me about your number and I said that I don't have one and then she called me a liar and that's the end of the worthless story”.

Hongbin chuckled and crossed his arm, “Oh right, you still don't have my number, okay give me your—“

“I dont need one,” 

His hand stopped before he got to reach his pocket, “Excuse me?”.

Areum repeated; “I said I don't need one. I don't need your number, Hongbin”

“And why is that…?” After a few moment of awkwardness they shared, Hongbin gulped and tried to not look disappointed.

“Beause I don't have a phone,” She shrugged and started to walk. “Hey, where are we going again?”

Hongbin was late by second, and need to catch up with her, “Ehm, I won't tell you, but, I’ll lead the way,” He then walked in front and assisted her out of the hallway. “Anyway, if you had a phone, you’ll need my number right?”

“No, still don't need one”

“And why is that?!”  Hongbin repeated his question, in a pitchier tone. 

“Because,”  Areum stopped walking and took a deep breath, “I don't need to call you and you’ll come anyway”.

“Hey! are we going to the court or to this secret place that you always ranted about?!”.  After more steps, Areum turned around and found Hongbin didn't move an inch from the last place she stopped.

“Oh! right, Of course we’re going to my place!” Hongbin shook his head a little and ran to her. ‘hell yeah, I will come to you no matter what!'

****

“A cafe?”  Areum walked through the door that was held by her friend, “that’s kinda pricey..”.

“I told you there a lot of things to keep yourself busy, and to go to a cafe is one of it's” Hongbin smiled and guided her to the seat next to the window, “But I said it's one of it, so you don't have to do this everyday” He pulled out the chair for her, and let her sit.

Areum sat and looked around, the cafe was quiet. As she moved her eyes to the window, she could see the street and a variety of people that passing by. She then ended her eyes on Hongbin, who got to sit next to her on the table for two. “I feel awkward…”

“Really?” Again, he managed to smile at her rambles “Well, usually people feel flattered rather than awkward”

“Guess I’m not the usual people” 

“Oh, it's actually not bad,” Areum looked at the menu and nodded, “I can come to this place once in a while”

“Take me with you when that a while come” nonchalantly, Hongbin mumbled. 

Areum could clearly hear that, “And why should I?”

He put down the menu book, and showed her his honest thought; “Cause it’ll be boring if you just sit alone in here”.

“Oh, so you’re more of a tea person, huh?” Before Areum took a sip of her latte, Hongbin’s order came and it caught her attention, “green tea latte?”

“Well, yeah, I like tea better” He shrugged, “Oh, have you tasted it? The coffee?”

“No, why?”

“It's good, I’ve tasted it and its one of the best, even my Hyung said so”.

Areum put her lips on the edge of the glass, and took a little sip of the hot latte. “Ehm! It is good!” 

“Glad that you like it,” 

“Hey, you mentioned something about your Hyung,” While waiting for their food to come, Areum moved on with her questions. “So you have an older brother?”

“Yeah, I have one older brother, he’s three years older than me”. The more she became curious about him, the happier he was.

“Hmm, so he’s in college now?” 

“Yup, he goes to Korea national university of arts”

“Ah, he lives in Seoul then?” Areum got the story, “so it's only you and your parents now?”

“No,” Hongbin made a correction, “It's only me now, my parents live in japan”

“How about you? Do you have any siblings?” Hongbin turned back the question.

“No, I’m an only child” Areum raised her hand, “anyway where’s the food?”

As if the waitress heard her command, the food made its way towards their table within three seconds.”one spaghetti carbonara and chocolate lava cake, do you have any additional order?”

“Oh, not now, thank you” Hongbin smiled at her, and went straight to his food, “Itadakimasu!”

Areum watched the boy eat his food first. “Oh, you must be hungry”. She then looked at her plate, and grabbed the fork to cut the cake. “Hmm, it smells good” The chocolaty scent immediately dancing inside her nose, “Okay, I give you A+ for this little piece of heaven” and when it touched her senses, the cake was for from meeting the word disappointing. “Bravo!”

He didn't reply the compliment, instead, he took his time to watch her smiling upon the sweets on her plate. One thing that he found was that she was fully honest. Fully Honest with herself, with her words, and with her feelings. “So you have a sweet tooth?”.

“I like anything that's good and delicious”  In a midst of their conversation, she already once spoon away from cleaning her plate, “You? you like pasta?  Is the pasta is good?”

“Yeah, it's one of my favorites cause its simple and tasty”. And so then, it was her turn again to watch him eating and complementing the food that he ordered. “Hmm, if only I got to eat this more often!”

“Let me guess, you live alone, but  you’re not really a good cooker”. Once Areum finished her little cake, there was nothing else that she could do. “That's pathetic”

“Am I that readable?”

She nodded, “Very readable, it's like somehow I can know you and what you might do or done”

Hongbin wasn't sure about how much he had smiled that evening, “Well, I guess we’re meant to be?” but he just enjoyed it anyway and didn't mind to continually widen his lips.

Both of them didn't even realize it when the night came, as they kept swarming on the little conversation they had. They talked about everything, everything that popped into their head. 

“Oh, it's almost seven!” Hongbin looked at his phone, “I think we could leave now, I don't want to make your parents worry”

“Ah, no biggy,” The opposite of him, Areum still chose to stay longer her chair. “I usually come home at eight thirty, so—“

“So you still want to stay longer with me, right?” 

Areum blinked her eyes, “On a second thought, I still have 4800 words that I need to type” and grabbed her wallet, “Okay, so I pay for 7000 won, alright?”.

“Nope,” Hongbin held her hand to stop her from taking the money, “My treat,”.

“Hongbin,” She called for him as her eyes were stuck on his hand, “I feel weird..”

Hongbin knew that it was a sign for him to release his touch “Oh, sorry,”.

“no its okay, I mean,” She sighed, “This is the first time for me to go out with a friend, and I must say that I enjoy it, but then at the same time I also feel… weird…” and started to look around. “Do you always spend this much of a time with your other friends?”.

“Not really,”  He heaved, “I mean, yeah, I might seem like I have a lot of friends, but then at the same time I don't feel like I have any” and emptied his cup with the last sip, “It's like I only know them and they only know me”

She nodded at his word, “ I know how you feel,”. Hongbin rested his back and tilted his head as he wanted to hear more of her voice. “I mean, it's not like I know exactly how you feel, cause I'm not as popular as you, but, I also have some friends, and yes they’re all nice but then I only talked to them at school. There's no certain… you know… connection? Like something that makes you sad when you can't talk to them or miss a thing about them”

“Exactly,” he smirked, “Guess now we know why we’re bonded into each other”.

They faced each other in the most awkward way they could ever imagine. Eyes set on another, while mouthing something that seemed to be an ‘o’ or an ‘a’.

And between the two of them, Areum was the first one to break the silence, “You’re weird”. Along with her words, her cheek blushed in a soft shade of pink. 

Hongbin felt like he wanted to jump, at that very moment. He felt like he wanted to scream, and run.   “Areum,” but instead of doing anything crazy like that, he chose to just properly say what he finally sure of; “I’m going to be weirder than this, so be ready”

In the end, they came out of the cafe at eight pm. “Let me walk you home” .

“No thanks,” Areum naturally respond to that offer, “My house is only a couple blocks away from here”

“You said blocks, not a block” Hongbin sighed, “I can't let a girl walk alone for ‘who knows how many blocks that you hide’ at this time around”

“What a gentleman, ” she crossed her arms, and nodded, “But seriously, I can go home by myself  so you don't have to worry—“

Hongbin cut her words; “What if I’m more than worry?”  as he took a step closer to her, “What if I also want to spend more time with you?”

Areum took a step back, and flinched, “Eh?”

“Please allow me, Lee Areum” he softened his gaze and held her hand, “please allow me to be a part of your world”.

****

She was unsure of what made her say yes to his offer, but somehow, she didn't regret it. She liked the idea of walking in silence, with a boy by that never left her out of his side. That is, of course, after she put aside and tried to unhear the word-awkward-nonsense line that hongbin just said to her before they left.

“The thing about you is that you can't lie,” After more than fifteen minutes of walking, Hongbin opened his mouth and let out a voice, “But you’re trying your best to hide something. And I wonder why”.

Areum stopped her feet from making more steps, “I'm sorry, but I don't feel like answering your question” as she let Hongbin walked passed her. “And You really should go home now,”

“I can't do that,” Hongbin turned around and waited for her to come, “Not until you safely  get inside of your house”

As if his sweetness turned into something that annoyed her; “Urgh, what is wrong with you!” she rolled her eyes and tightened her bag. “I guess I have no other choice,” then, without any signal, she just started to move her feet faster and faster, and ran away from Hongbin. “See you tomorrow!!!” She shouted, in between her pace.

*****

“Huh… huh… huh…”  Areum closed the door, and let herself slowly sat on the floor to panting freely. “Hongbin is so weird…”.

She shook her head for several times when everything that just happened earlier were replayed in her head. The talk that she had with him, the new facts that she knew about him, the new sides that she discovered, ‘the’  everything about him that  occupied the most space of her head made her confused and dizzy. 

“Okay, Areum, focus! You better write another two hundred words tonight and—“. A simple knocked on the door made her startled. “Who’s there?”

A chuckle answered the question, “usually people says ‘wait a minute’ instead of asking back” and she immediately recognized the voice, “Nevertheless, I think you know that you should open the door for me”

Areum got up and slowly opened the door, creating a little gap that was enough for her head to peek out. “Hey, Hongbin, what are you doing here?”.

Hongbin smiled at her, and leaned on the wall, “Hi Areum, I just want to make sure that you’re safe and sound”.

“Oh, okay, bye—“ Before she got to close the door, his hand was already inside the house and propped the door.

“Awch,” He muttered, and opened the door, “Well that was rude…”

“Ya! so sorry! I’m so sorry!” Areum looked at his hand and realized the blueish wrist, “I— I really am! I didn't see your hand so—“

Hongbin pouted, “You give me two minutes to talk and I’ll accept your apology”.

With no hesitation, she nodded. “Yeah! Sure!”

“Okay, so now, where do I start…” Hongbin put aside his hand and stood straight in front of her. “Oh, let's start with the obvious one! Lee Areum, I think I want us to be more than friends”

“Huh?”

He smiled cheekily, as he saw her predictable respond. “I like you, Areum, I really do”

She kept her knees on her arm, and buried her face inside of it. In silence, she cried.

“Areum!”. 

Someone called for her name,

“Where are you?!” With the loudest voice that his throat could comprehend, without caring how late it was that night.

Areum could hear the steps that was getting closer and closer, but still chose to ignored it. leave me alone.

but then, “Areum?” the voice made it way to reach out for her.

That voice, and the figure in front of her, even by looking down at the shadow, she could already recognise who the person is. “leave me alone”