They got into Kayla’s car and she took off, heading to the store. She cast a quick glance at Kyu Jong who was sipping quietly at his water. Kayla was looking forward to this, always looked forward to movie night, but even more so now that Kyu Jong would be there. Her thoughts drifted back to what’d happened with Terrance yet again.

It’d been on her mind consistently since yesterday. Every time she thought of it, she got mad, mad and disgusted. He really had some nerve, thinking he could tell her what to do, he must’ve gone crazy. There was something else on her mind too, the fact that she’d wanted a hug, not just from anyone, but from Kyu Jong, had been almost blinded with the by the need for one during all of it. Kayla had been disappointed when it hadn’t happened, kept thinking of the hug between him and Lejna, had to keep reminding herself it’d just been acting, that he wasn’t just going to hug someone he barely knew. Still, she’d wanted it but figured it was what she’d told him before; she was so starved for affection that he just happened to be there so it was only natural. Although she thought that, she knew it was wrong, she didn’t just want anyone. Even now, her thoughts drifted again to that hug with Lejna, that foreign feeling of envy rising from nowhere it seemed.

She pulled into the parking lot of the store and they both got out. They made their way in; Kayla grabbed a small hand basket before turning to Kyu Jong.

“Do you know what you want to get?” She asked.

“Mmm, I was thinking of some kind of dessert,” Kyu Jong responded.

“Ok, let’s head over to the bakery and you can pick something out,” Kayla offered, leading him over to the bakery section.

Kyu Jong’s eyes lit up as he looked around.

“I’m gonna go get a few things, I’ll meet you back here in a few minutes,” she advised.

Kyu Jong nodded and she headed off, stopping by the produce section grabbing a couple of bags of salad mix and some extra vegetables before heading over to the frozen food section, getting a couple half gallons of ice cream before making her way back over to the bakery. She saw Kyu Jong with a few things in his hands and she hurried over.

“Ahh sorry, I took the basket with me, here, put your stuff in,” she offered, holding the basket out to him.

Kyu Jong smiled, setting the containers in.

“Ooo, what’d you get?” She asked.

“I got a cookie tray and this chocolate peanut butter cake,” he announced.

“Oh whoa, that looks so good, Chanile will love you,” she grinned.

“Really? I’m glad you think she’ll like it, what did you get?”

“Well Chanile said she was going to be getting something pasta related, so I got a some salad fixings and I’m gonna get a few loaves of Italian bread,” she said, reaching out to take two huge loaves of  the soft bread and putting it in the basket. “I got some ice cream too,” she finished.

“Oh, maybe I should put one of these back then,” Kyu Jong frowned, looking into the basket.

“No way! Chanile loves sweets, keep em.”

Kyu Jong looked at the ice cream, “Well, why don’t we have something to go with the ice cream then? What’s it called? That thing you make…a sun…sun…” he frowned.

“A sundae?”

“Ahh yes! That’s it! Let’s do that then,” Kyu Jong smiled.

Kayla chuckled, “You’ve caught onto this movie night fast K, you’re a natural.”

They got sprinkles, whipped cream, nuts, candies, bananas, waffle bowls and even cones before heading to the checkout. Ten minutes later, they got back into the car and headed towards Chanile’s‘. They arrived a short time later, heading up to her door, their hands both laden with several bags. Kayla pressed the button, after a few seconds there was a buzz and Kayla opened the door and motioned for Kyu Jong to go in. He grabbed the door and propped it open, gesturing for her to go ahead of him. She blinked and hurried through, Kyu Jong followed her down the hall, a door opened and Chanile poked her head out.

“Hey guys!” She held the door open and they made their way in.

“Hello Chanile,” Kyu Jong said, bowing.

“Hey Kyu Jong, nice to see you, glad you could make it,” she smiled.

“Thank you or inviting me, I do appreciate it.”

“Well we had a lot of fun last time, I thought it’d be nice to have you here again,” Chanile explained.

Kayla brought the bags into the small kitchen, pulling the ice cream out and putting it in the freezer.

“Ooo whatcha get?” Chanile asked, peeking into the bags.

“Ice cream for sundaes, Kyu Jong’s idea,” Kayla responded, unloading the bag with all the sundae fixings.

“I got this for us, I hope it is ok,” Kyu Jong said, pulling the cookie tray and cake out of another bag and setting it down on the counter next to the sundae things.

Chanile’s eyes lit up, “Ohh Kyu Jong, I knew I liked you for a reason! Great choices, they look great!” She grinned.

Kayla looked over at him, “See, told you and you wanted to put something back.”

Chanile looked at him sharply, “What? Why?”

“I thought it would be too much,” Kyu Jong explained.

“Ohh Kyu Jong you have so much to learn. Come, let me explain to you the art form known as dessert,” she sighed, tugging on his arm, leading him out of the kitchen into the living room to discuss.

Kayla chuckled, shaking her head, unloading the other bags before heading into the living room where Chanile was still educating Kyu Jong on desserts while eating various snacks she’d had laid out.

“So, in conclusion, you can never have too much of a sweet provided it’s the right KIND of sweet, see what I’m saying?” Chanile asked, munching on a cheeto.

Kyu Jong nodded thoughtfully, “I see.”

“So in keeping with this thought, the cake and cookies were perfect, particularly the cake, and one always needs ample amounts of cake.”

He nodded again, reaching out to take a chip, crunching away on it.

Kayla sat on the loveseat across from them, “Learning a lot K?”

He nodded, “Ne, I get it now.”

Chanile nodded as well, “He’s receptive.”

Kayla shook her head, rolling her eyes, “Good, I’m glad.”

“Now Kyu Jong with cake, for me at least, there can be no white, ever, it is never an option,” Chanile said adamantly.

Kyu Jong blinked but nodded again.

“Whereas for me, it’s my absolute favorite,” Kayla grinned.

“Ohhh…” Kyu Jong nodded.

"I have told Kayla several times that her view is skewed and wrong in many ways, but she still insists that white cake is the best, I still don’t get it, but no one’s perfect,” Chanile sighed, eating another cheeto.

“So what about you K? What’s your favorite flavor of cake?” Kayla asked reaching out to take a cheeto.

“Hmm? Oh well I love all cake, but I suppose chocolate is my favorite.”

Chanile looked over at Kayla and smirked in triumph, Kayla chose to ignore it.

“Is that what you usually have for you birthday?” Chanile asked.

“Yes, but I would eat it even if it wasn’t.”

A thought occurred to Kayla.

“Isn’t your birthday soon K?”

He looked embarrassed, “Yes, it is next week, the twenty-forth,” he said, reaching out to take a cheeto, crunching on it, his eyes lighting up as he reached for another.

Chanile gave her a meaningful look and Kayla chuckled.

“Do you have plans for it?” Chanile asked, watching him carefully.

Kyu Jong shook his head, “Ani, no, no one else knows. I did take a few days off to celebrate, but I’ll be home.”

Chanile looked again at her pointedly Kayla rolled her eyes.

“Aww Kyu Jong you should do something!” Chanile stated.

He shrugged, “I hadn’t really thought about it.”

Chanile stared hard at Kayla who groaned, stood, and headed to the kitchen.

“So Chanile, what’s for the main dinner?” Kayla inquired.

“Lasagna!”

“Ok, I brought salad fixings and Italian bread.”

“Ooo yum, this is gonna be great,” Chanile grinned, rubbing her hands together.

Kyu Jong smiled and Chanile looked over at him.

“Hey Kyu Jong, there’s something I want to tell you.”

He nodded, “Ok.”

Kayla made her way back in and sat back down, looking over at Chanile.

“So me and Kayla have something to ask you,” Chanile announced suddenly.

Kyu Jong looked over at Kayla, “Oh really?”

“Yeah, we wanted to know if you wanted to become an official member of our annual movie night? You’d have all the benefits, which is indulging in an obscene amount of food at least once a month, sometimes twice. You can choose to host if you want, you can be exempt from regular rotation since you’re only here for a year, but you can just let us know when you want to host and we’ll arrange it. So what do you say?” Chanile asked.

Kayla looked over at Kyu Jong who looked clearly startled and smiled, “No pressure K, it’s fine if you don’t want to.”

“Yeah but we’d rather you did,” Chanile chuckled.

Kayla waved her off and looked back over at Kyu Jong.

“You would like for me to join?” Kyu Jong asked softly.

“Well yeah, how could we not? You appreciate food, you know about the importance of food, you have access to international foods, you like movies, you love food, basically you are about food and entertainment, you need to be apart of this, you really do, I mean…it’s food!” Chanile finished, grabbing a chip and shoving it into .

Kayla nodded, “She speaks the truth,” she winked at him.

He chuckled softly, looking very touched. He stood and bowed to Chanile who blinked, startled, “Thank you for asking me Chanile ssi and Kayla ssi,” he said, turning to bow at her as well. “I would love to join you ladies.”

Chanile smiled, coming out of her stupor of being bowed to to grin, “Cool! Welcome to the club Kyu Jong!”

Kyu Jong sat and smiled, “Thank you.”

“Ok now that that’s done, I’m gonna go check the lasagna,” Chanile announced, standing and heading into the kitchen. “Did you remember the movie Kayla?” She asked from the kitchen.

Kayla brought a hand to her head, “Damnit I forgot! I can go out and get something, you know there’s not going to be anything good on TV to be able to get away with not getting something,” she frowned.

“I brought something,” Kyu Jong announced suddenly, standing and heading over to the closet by the door and grabbed something out of the inner pocket of his coat. “I brought the drama from last time if you ladies were still interested,” Kyu Jong said, holding the case up.

There was silence for about ten seconds before the two women erupted in cheers.

“Yes! Thank you Kyu Jong!” Chanile cried.

“I can’t believe you remembered! Thanks for saving my bacon!” Kayla chuckled.

“See, best thing we did was having him join Kayla,” Chanile nodded.

“Agreed!” Kayla laughed.

Kyu Jong smiled, handing the case to Kayla who took it, walked over to the DVD player, and loaded it up. They continued to chat while the food finished cooking; Kayla threw the salad together and brought it out onto the table while Chanile and Kyu Jong finished setting out the rest of the food. A short time later, everything was ready, Chanile brought the large pan over and sat it on the coffee table along with a spatula and everyone started to dig in.

“Eat a lot, I got the family size so have as much as you want,” Chanile announced, cutting herself a huge slice.

Kayla cut a few slices of bread and set them on her plate while Kyu Jong dished out some salad for himself. After everyone got their first round of food, Chanile started the DVD.

Several Hours Later

“I’m sorry but his mom is a ! Are you serious right now?” Chanile groaned, biting into a cookie before shoving a forkful of cake in .

Kayla shook her head, “Pure evil and he just allows her to do it, over and over.”

Kyu Jong chuckled, watching the two in amusement. Kayla scooped up a heaping spoonful of ice cream, watching intently. Once again, it felt strangely familiar, the more and more she watched of it. She wondered if that was going to be her fate.

“Ok, what the hell? Why isn’t she with Jihoo yet? Explain Kyu Jong,” Chanile demanded, looking at Kyu Jong as she put another forkful of cake in .

Kyu Jong simply smiled, “I don’t know, it is her choice to make.”

“This is crazy, the other guy treats her like and she keeps going back to him. I dealt with it at first cause I figured she’d have realized it by now, but come on already!” Chanile muttered.

“I think she’s in love with Joon Pyo so…”

“That’s not love! How can you love someone who has so little respect for you? Who chooses his own mom over you? That is not love!” Chanile said vehemently, eating another cookie.

Kyu Jong gave her a sad smile and Kayla stilled, a cookie in her hand, Chanile’s words replaying repeatedly in her mind. She loved Terrance; he wasn’t like that character right? It wasn’t that bad; his mom wasn’t that bad was she?

“Hey…Kayla…”

No, it wasn’t like that, it wasn’t.

“Kayla ssi…”

She wasn’t like that female lead, she knew better didn’t she? She wasn’t so blinded by love that she didn’t see things clearly right?

“KAYLA!”

She jerked, startled out of her thoughts to see Chanile and Kyu Jong staring at her worriedly.

“Kayla ssi, let go, let go of the cookie.”

“Huh?” She looked down at her hand that was now clenched in a fist, chocolate smeared all over her fingers, cookie crumbs on her lap.

“Kayla, relax, come…relax,” Kyu Jong said softly, gently prying her fingers apart, the crumbled cookie falling to a plate Kyu Jong had in his hand.

Kayla blinked, “I-I’m sorry,” she stuttered.

“Are you ok?” Chanile frowned, coming up to sit beside her quickly.

“Huh? Oh, yeah I’m fine, I just…just…”

“Ani, don’t worry about it,” Kyu Jong smiled, wiping at her hand with a napkin before starting to rub it gently, bringing the circulation back to her numb fingers.

Chanile looked over at Kyu Jong rubbing her fingers and smiled broadly. A few hours later they decided to call it a night, it was agreed they would finish the drama the next time. Chanile packed them both large take home bags, stating she had another family sized lasagna in the freezer for another time. They left and go into Kayla’s car, she couldn’t bring herself to even look at him, she felt so stupid.

The drive home as quiet, she chanced a glance over at Kyu Jong, but he was looking out the window thoughtfully. She sighed, she’d pretty much ruined the rest of the evening. She wasn’t worried about Chanile; she’d seen her at her worst several times, no big deal. Kyu Jong on the other hand probably thought she was insanely unstable the more he was around her. Maybe she should distance herself from him for a few days, give her a chance to sort herself out a bit. Besides, it’d give her a chance to get something up for his birthday. She couldn’t let him celebrate it alone, that and Chanile would never let her live it down if she did.

They arrived at the complex a short time later, each grabbing their large bag and making their way out.

“Thanks for coming K; I’ll let you know when we’re looking to do the next one so we can make sure it’s good for you.”

Kyu Jong nodded, “Ok thank you and thanks for letting me join.”

Kayla chuckled, “No problem, it was mutual. I’ll talk to you again at some point, “she said.

Kyu Jong frowned, studying her closely before bowing slightly, “Ne, goodnight Kayla,” he said before turning and heading up the stairs.

Kayla sighed and headed inside, she had a lot of thinking to do.

~~~

Sunday

Kyu Jong took the headphones off and hung them on the music stand in front of him, waving bye to the producer, giving him a slight bow before heading out. It’d been a long day; luckily, it was just about over. He had a meeting with a few people that he had to go to first, something about starting to get set up with some cameos and extra roles in commercials to get his face out there more. Kyu Jong was excited, but nervous at the same time. His album was coming along nicely, but he still had a long way to go before it was completed. The single was just about done; they just needed to finish mixing it and then he had to do the photo shoot once the concept was finalized. He was looking forward to his days off, he planned to catch up on some things, do some video chatting with his family and friends, maybe see if anything special was going on that he could do, it’d be his own birthday gift to himself.

He stifled a yawn, heading down the hall to the break room, heading in and over to the coffee machine. He grabbed the mug he kept there and poured himself some, adding a little cream and sugar and stirring it vigorously before taking a careful sip. Walking over to his locker, he opened it and took the small bag of cookies he’d left there and started munching on them. They were Kayla’s favorite cookie; he would always think of her now whenever he had them.

His mind was still reeling from Friday, he’d been surprised when he’d been asked to join their group, it felt good to be accepted, especially after only knowing them for close to two months. It’d been fun, as it had before, yet he worried about Kayla. After Chanile said what she had about the drama, he knew it’d struck a chord with her. She’d completely zoned out after and had been extremely quiet for the remainder of the time there and on the way home. He hadn’t seen her yesterday at all and probably wouldn’t be seeing her today at all either. They had class tomorrow and he wondered how that would go. Part of him wondered if she’d been mad at him for some reason, logically he knew she probably wasn’t, but he couldn’t help but be a little worried. All that said, she was avoiding him, he didn’t know how he knew, he just did. He didn’t want her to be uncomfortable, so he’d have to find a way to go to class tomorrow and not burden her. Foremost he’d take a taxi home so she wouldn’t feel she’d have to do it or deal with having to be around him longer than necessary. She obviously needed to figure some things out and needed space to do it; he’d made sure she’d get that space, at least what he could give her. He didn’t want to be a nuisance and he didn’t want to be in her way.

Kyu Jong sighed, looking down into his cup, even though he knew it’d take time and she had to do what was best for her but…Kyu Jong bit his lip, he hoped it wouldn’t be too long; he’d miss her too much.

Turning, he made his way out the room and down the hall for the meeting.

~~~

Monday Evening

Kayla came out of her room and into the living room, hooking the bracelet Kyu Jong had given her back on before heading into the kitchen to find something to bring for a snack. It’d been a long day at work, it was slow so time had drug. Lillian called in sick, which was rare for her, so Kayla knew it had to be bad, so she’d been all alone. She was looking forward to class tonight, she was excited to see Lejna and of course Kyu Jong. It’d been a few days since they last spoke and while she figured, it was the best thing for her to do; she hadn’t counted on it being so tough. It wasn’t like she couldn’t just try to go up and see him, but she kept telling herself she needed some distance, some time to collect her thoughts before seeing him again so she could possibly change any negative thoughts he may have about her. It was proving to be harder than she thought it’d be, harder than any time with Terrance. She chuckled harshly, she hadn’t heard from since he’d stormed out. That was ok with her though, she didn’t want to hear from him, he had to know he was wrong asking her to, no, telling her to do what he wanted, the . She wasn’t budging and she wasn’t going to make contact, she’d done nothing wrong.

Just then, the front door opened and in walked Shane.

“Hey Kayla,” he called, yawning as he shut the door, stripping out of his heavy coat.

She turned to see him, giving him a small smile, “Hey.”

Shane kicked his boots off before heading over to the couch and slumping down, “I’m exhausted, so glad to be home.”

“You’ve barely been home lately, I wish I could stay and talk, but class is tonight,” Kayla frowned, reaching out to grab a box of crackers, opening it and dumping a generous amount into a Ziploc bag she found.

“Oh yeah I forgot. We’ll talk soon, I plan to be in bed when you get home,” Shane declared, yawning again.

“Ok no problem,” she nodded, making her way out the kitchen and over to the closet to get her coat out.

“Hey, have you talked with Kyu Jong lately?” Shane asked suddenly.

“No, not for a few days, why?”

“I dunno, something’s up with him I think,” he muttered sleepily.

Kayla stilled in the middle of putting her coat on, “What?”

“Yeah, he’s been distracted while working, losing focus, it’s odd for him. He’s usually so on point, so extremely focused, something his on his mind, I hope everything is ok. Maybe he just needs to rest, I swear he never stops. I know he has a few days off coming up, I think it’s exactly what he needs to be honest,” Shane finished, his head lolling to the side as he fell asleep.

Kayla frowned was he ok? She’d have to see how he was at class. Deciding to leave Shane to sleep, she quietly made her way out and to her car. About twenty minutes later, she arrived and headed to the room and to the back where Lejna was waiting. Kayla sat and gave Lejna a smile before pulling the Ziploc bag of crackers out and sliding it close to her. She’d just finished getting settled when Kyu Jong made his way in and over to where they were sitting. She felt Lejna tense just a bit before relaxing as Kyu Jong sat.

“Hello Lejna, hello Kayla,” he smiled at them.

Lejna smiled, “Hello Kyu Jong, good to see you.”

Kyu Jong gave her a small bow.

“Hey K,” Kayla said quietly.

Kyu Jong slowly brought his gaze to hers, giving her a gentle smile.

Kayla sat through class feeling distracted herself, her thoughts drifting to Kyu Jong. She wondered if anything was wrong, he seemed ok, but she wasn’t sure. She didn’t know him well enough yet to know his moods or anything. She’d have to wait until the drive home and see how everything went.

They did a couple exercises before class ended, they said bye to Lejna and Kayla made her way over to Kyu Jong.

“Ready?” She asked.

Kyu Jong smiled sadly, “Mianhae Kayla, I will not be able to go home with you tonight. I have some things to do, so I will be taking a taxi,” he explained, giving her an apologetic smile.

She blinked, taken aback, “Oh…oh well, ok then.”

Kyu Jong watched her steadily, “I will see you soon Kayla, ok?”

She frowned a bit, biting her lip; she nodded and watched as Kyu Jong bowed before turning and making his way out the room. Kayla looked around, feeling slightly lost, she’d been avoiding him to give herself a chance to get her head straight so she’d look better in front of him. What if the damage had already been done? What if he’d decided to slowly start phasing himself out of her life already?

Kayla shook her head, she was being overdramatic, if that’s what he wanted, she’d honor it, she wouldn’t like it, but she’d honor it. Still, she did have something planned so she’d see how that went, if he refused her, she’d know. The thought of him turning her away scared her, scared her way more than the thought of Terrance turning her away at this point.

She gathered up her things and made her way out the room, waving bye to the director.

~~~

Wednesday

Kyu Jong finished putting away his various gifts he’d received. It’d been his birthday yesterday in Korea, so a lot of gifts he’d gotten then. He’d spent most of the night going through it; management had sent many of the gifts fans had sent to him there. He’d fallen asleep reading the letters and cards and opening the packages. He’d gotten up extra early to finish going through everything and putting it away, now he was finally done. He’d made several calls to thank his friends and family; it’d been nice to talk to them and once again brought on a strong bout of homesickness.

Standing, he headed out the bedroom, here it was his birthday still, and he wasn’t used to not doing anything, it felt weird and lonely. That brought up thoughts of Kayla. He’d felt bad for refusing the usual ride home from her after class. He’d seen her sock, but most importantly, her hurt and he felt awful. He didn’t really have anywhere to go, just hadn’t wanted her to feel uncomfortable around him. Kyu Jong had watched her after he left the room; she’d seemed so lost and sad. Maybe she’d gotten past whatever had caused her to avoid him those few days in the first place, even yesterday he didn’t see or hear from her. He’d gotten home early and he heard her moving around below, but she never came up. All that said, he didn’t get the feeling she was mad at him or anything, maybe just confused. Maybe tomorrow he’d go down and see if she’d like to hang out with him for a bit. He’d be able to gage how she was feeling by that.

He started towards the kitchen to fix breakfast, when there was a knock at the door. He frowned, he wasn’t expecting anyone this early, he wondered who it could be. Walking over, he unlocked the door and pulled it open, his eyes widening.

“Kayla!”

She smiled and opened her arms wide, “Happy Birthday K!” She cried, holding out the balloon she had in her hand, out to him.

“Kayla ssi, what is going on?” He asked, moving aside and motioning for her to come in.

She stepped in, moving out the way so he could shut the door behind her and then let the balloon go, it floated up to the ceiling.

“I’m here to celebrate your birthday! Go get dressed, I have a full day planned to celebrate. You didn’t think I’d let you go the day and not do anything did you?”

His eyes widened, “Kayla…” He said softly, touched by the gesture.

He looked at her and realized she was nervous, as if she was expecting him to turn her down.

“You’ll spend the day with me right?” She asked quietly.

How could he say no to her?

“Yes of course I will.”

Relief flooded her features.

“Ok good! Now go on, get dressed, we’ll stop for breakfast before we get started.”

“Oh, uh ne, I will need to shower first,” he said awkwardly.

She nodded, “Of course, do what you need to then meet me downstairs,” she explained.

“Ok, I will.”

Kayla smiled broadly before making her way back out. Kyu Jong stared at the closed door, feeling more than a little stunned. He most certainly wasn’t expecting this; he really thought he was going to be alone on his birthday. Turning, he made his way down the hall to his room. He gathered up his clothes and headed into the bathroom, thirty minutes later he made his way out, locking the door behind him. He hurried down the stairs and knocked on Kayla’s door. A few seconds later, the door opened and he smiled at Kayla.

“Hello!” He bowed.

“Hey, are you all set?” She asked.

“Yes, I’m ready,” he replied.

“Good, let’s go. We’ll need to come back later on in the evening to change as I have something kind of special planned so we’ll need to change clothes,” she announced, making her way out, shutting and locking the door.

They’d have to change again? Just what did she have in mind? Kayla smiled at him and they made their way over to her car and got in.

“First off before we start with what I had in mind, did you have anything you wanted to do? We can go anywhere, do anything that you want,” she said.

Kyu Jong stared at her, whatever was bothering her or had been bothering her, she acted as if it was over, but he could detect a hint of some reservation she hid or was trying to hide.

He gave her a soft smile, “I don’t have anything in mind, I didn’t even have anything planned.”

Kayla sighed, “That is really sad K, seriously.”

“Oh ani, it is fine. I’m just getting to know people, it would be wrong of me to expect them to do something with me.”

She frowned, “K…”

“Really, my parents and my sister sent me some things, so did my friends and a few other people,” he said, those few more like a couple hundred. “I got something from them, so it is ok that no one else here knows,” he finished. He stilled, blinking when her face fell and she looked around uncomfortably.

Kyu Jong winced, realizing how it sounded to someone who’d obviously had something going on.

“Kayla ssi, hold on, it’s not what it sounds like,” he rushed to say.

“I…maybe this is a bad idea,” she said awkwardly.

Kyu Jong felt awful, he didn’t want to hurt her feelings, that was the last thing he wanted to do. He had to make her understand.

“Andwae, wait,” he said, reaching out to take her hand when she went to get out the car. “Mianhaeyo Kayla, mianhae, you misunderstand. My family and friends are all I’ve known for this day, close people who I celebrate with on a personal level. It never occurred to me to have anyone here to celebrate with as this is all still very new to me. Meeting new people, learning a different culture, it is hard for me to open up and share myself with people, still feeling my way through,” he said.

He looked at her and smiled, “You Kayla continue to surprise me though. You won’t let me be alone; you help me to fit in, to feel welcome. To see you’ve done something for me today, no matter what it is, it means a lot,” he said softly, reaching out to cup her cheek gently with his hand, he couldn’t stop himself, her eyes widened. “So thank you Kayla for this, I look forward to spending this day with you. There is no one else here I’d rather spend it with,” Kyu Jong smiled.

He could see her blush and he chuckled, “So I think this is a very good idea. You will still take me for what you have planned won’t you?”

She smiled shyly, “Well yeah, if you’re sure you want to.”

“I am sure, I’m really excited actually,” he said softly, rubbing her cheek gently with his thumb.

Kyu Jong watched her eyes flutter closed for a moment before opening and he looked at her, “Let’s go Kayla,” he said quietly.

She blinked a couple of times, looking around as if she’d forgotten where she was.

“Oh…oh right, yeah, we’ll go,” she gently slipped her hand from his and he removed his hand from her cheek.

She fiddled with the keys, turning the car on and pulled out of the parking lot and took off.

_______________________________________________________

a/n: Whoa it's been a long time right? Welcome back to all my readers!! I'm sorry it's taken me so long to update, to those of you who hung in there waiting, thanks and also for the request for another chapter, it was just the push I needed. I don't think I lost anyone, here's to hoping! It's been so uncommonly hot and humid here, it's really bothered my hand making it nearly impossible to type for long periods of time or even short periods of time, even now it took me two days type this chapter when usually I get it done in one session. I went through two tubes of rub on my hand, it was very painful. It's starting to cool down a bit now so hopefully I'll be able to update more frequently. I did continue to actually write the story, so I have one more chapter to type up that's already ready to go, hopefully I'll be able to next week.

Anyway, Kyu Jong is now an offical member of movie night, which is a feat in itself, he's obviously very happy about it and so is Chanile and Kayla. It says a lot that Chanile likes him, I don't think Kyu Jong quite understands how big that is, esp since she also wanted him in the group. Kayla and Kyu Jong will have a birthday celebration in the next chapter, she has a lot in store for him, look forward to it!

'Till next time!

MO ~ ✌