The next day, Claire woke up feeling refreshed, and proceeded to pack her things before heading to the student center to work on her sociology thesis. Once she arrived, she found a spot at a long rectangular table next to the window, and took out the necessary books to begin work. Before starting, however, she checked her Facebook again, only to find that Kai responded to her message.

Kai: Yeah, I would have stayed longer, but Sehun wanted the chicken wings~ Are you studying at Lee Center?

Claire furrowed her brows again, not expecting another reply from him. Nevertheless, she replied:

Claire: Haha, oh Sehun. Yeah, I'm here already. Are you coming over too?

A minute later, he responded:

Kai: Yeah, just wondering if you wanted to work together. I'm in the math building.

Claire chewed her lip. "I guess I'll be working with him, huh..." she murmured to herself. She decided to brush off any thoughts of possible attraction in her mind. Kai was a nice guy, and maybe he just wanted to make a new friend.

Claire: I see, well, I'll be here all day it seems. Come join me if you want! I'm at a table next to one of the windows.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Half an hour later, Kai arrived with only his laptop. "Hey, Claire."

She looked up from her computer and smiled, "Hey, Kai! Did you end up getting Sehun to bed okay?"

"Yeah," he chuckled, "He was kinda drunk, but not too bad."

"Ah..." The two fell into an awkward silence as Kai sat next to her, pulled his laptop out and opened up a few windows. Claire couldn't help but look at his screen, "What's that?"

"This? My thesis."

"Math?"

"Yep!"

"Ah. Looks so..." she paused. Kai looked over at her, eyebrows raised in anticipation. Claire's own brows furrowed, and she stated, "confusing and like gibberish."

He erupted in laughter, "Aw, Claire, it's not that bad."

"Are you serious? There's a reason I avoided math, and it's because of all your codes and other symbolic stuff that the normal person would not understand," she continued to mutter in a joking manner.

Kai smiled at her. "Well, I like it."

"Ah, yeah," she nodded, "I'm sure you do, and I heard you're awfully good at it," Claire praised him.

He shook his head, "Nah, where'd you hear of that?"

"From everybody?" she trailed off. Kai only shrugged.

Claire chuckled before facing her laptop again, "Well, I'm going to work on my thesis too, so..."

He nodded, "Sure, jia you!"

"Thanks."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The two worked into the night, and before they knew it, it was past midnight. Claire gave a yawn as she stretched her arms and her back. She glanced over at Kai, who was still focused on his thesis and who was typing away rapidly in code. She mutter a 'be right back' before heading over to the tea section. She chose peppermint tea for the both of them, and after boiling the water, came back with two steaming cups of peppermint tea. 

Claire set down one of the cups next to his laptop. "Here, Kai, I got this for us."

He glanced at the cup before turning his head to face her, "Thanks."

She smiled, "Of course!"

Kai and Claire entered another period of peaceful silence as they worked a bit longer and drank the warm tea. Claire was starting to yawn more frequently, however, so she decided to end for the day. "Kai?"

"Yeah?" he asked without taking his eyes off the screen.

"I'm going to head back. Are you staying a bit longer?"

He shook his head. "Nah, I'll head back too."

"Want me to wait for you?"

"Okay."

Claire stood up as Kai began to pack his things. Once the two headed out, a cool breeze hit both in the face, sending Claire into shivers. Kai, upon noticing this, wrapped one of his arms around her waist and pulled her closer. Claire gasped, "Kai?"

"Mm?"

"What are you doing?" she squeaked.

"You're cold," came his short reply.

"I'm okay though," her words drifted off.

Kai chuckled at her shyness. "It's alright, I'm not feeling that cold."

Claire nodded, and realized she wasn't focusing on where she was walking. She could feel the light sensation of his fingers on her waist, as well as the warmth that radiated from his body to hers. However, the feeling was cut short once they reached a fork in the road, one of which led to Claire's dormitory, the other of which led to Miller House. She turned to him, and felt his fingers leave her side. Kai gazed at her, a light smile gracing his plump lips. 

"Well..." Claire started, "I should head home then." He nodded. "I guess I'll see you later then, Kai?"

"Yeah, sounds good," he replied. Just as Claire was going to turn around, however, he added, "Oh yeah, Claire?"

"Aha?"

" Call me Jongin."

Claire smiled and bit her lips, "Okay. Well, then... good night, Jongin!" she waved.

"Night, Claire," he grinned.

After Claire walked up to the top of the hill, out of curiosity, she glanced back. Kai still stood there, hands in his pockets, staring right at her as she made her way up. Claire smiled and waved back at him, and only after that did he shoot her a smile, wave back, and make his way back home. 

Hey all! Next chapter is up! If you guys are wondering, "jia you" literally means "add oil" Chinese, so it's pretty similar to the "hwaiting" that Koreans use. It's a colloquial "good luck" :D I'm finding Kai a little cute here though, don't you? Feel free to comment, and every subscription is much appreciated!