01

The Heat

 

Everyone knows who Kai is even though the university is large with too many people. People hardly remember their classmates' names but they definitely remember who Kai is. He is the one guy who everyone avoids, the one person who never seems to be living. He walks around campus with his head down and hands in his pockets as if he wants to be left alone and unseen. You don't doubt he really does want that, especially with all the mean things people are saying about him. He's a living ghost.

Kai has anger management issues, everyone knows that. He finds it difficult to control his anger, just like how you've witnessed it. He had been seen getting into three fights since the start of the semester. And it has only been two weeks into the new semester. He hardly raises his voice at people, or so you've noticed. But he definitely likes getting into fights, like he is itching to slam his fist into someone's face.

Every time you pass by him in school, you always stare at him. But then your brother, Junmyeon, will always remind you, "Stop looking unless you want to have your face disfigured. Mom won't have enough money to pay for your plastic surgery."

He believes that Kai would hit girls, contrary to what you believe. Kai may be a little ruthless and daunting but he wouldn't hit girls... Would he? There is also another reason why you don't think he is as bad as what people think.

You have a class with him once every week. He is quiet and never bothers anyone. It doesn't live in his own world during tutorials like how he does outside. He actually does in-class work as well. He just doesn't say much and he is always leaving the first thing your tutor releases the class.

You're walking back home after your last class of the day and you decide to take a different route. Junmyeon still has to stay in school to study until late since he is a Masters student, so you're going home alone. You walk past the gym, looking into the glass windows to do some people-watching. They all look like they're not having a lot of fun, so you focus on the room you pass by next. You're a curious person by heart, so it is also mandatory for you stop at the room that is next to the gym. There are a few rooms here, but you only look into the room where music is coming out from.

It is empty, but the lights are on. You're about to walk away when you see a blur of grey cross the dance floor with eye-catching moves. You squint and try to focus on who the guy is, but all you get to see is his back and the way he is dancing. Everything about his movements mesmirises you. He is elegant and watching him is so hypnotising. He does a spin and catches someone staring at him through the little window of the door.

Kai locks eyes with you. You're frozen in your spot. Until he starts walking to the door, your senses return to you and you start taking steps back. You quickly turn and run down the steps, pulling your phone out of your pocket. You continue on your route back home and put your phone against your ear even though no one is calling you.

"Hey Kate," you say in English, trying to act like you're a foreign exchange student in this university. Your voice might have been louder than usual because you're just terrible at acting (and lying). "Where are you?"

Your heart thuds just as you hear footsteps thumping down the stairs from the rooms to the pedestrian walkway. You walk even faster and you hold your phone tighter in your hand. You've gone far enough without getting killed, so you turn your head slightly to check if the guy is following you. Kai is walking back up the steps to the room again, his head down as usual.

No guy would dare hunt a girl down, right? Not even someone with anger issues?

 

 

You're early in class today but most of your classmates are already present. There are five minutes to the start of class and you've already gotten your materials out of your bag. You're going through Facebook on your laptop when someone takes a seat next to you. You turn to smile at your classmate, only to do a double take when you see Kai next to you.

You've already forgotten about the incident of seeing him dancing. But now that you've seen him again, you're reminded of it. And also of him chasing you— Well, kind of following you. You wonder if he knows it was you then. He is staring at you, so you quickly look away. Since you were young, you have never been good at lying or even hiding your feelings. You are an open book. Which means that anyone will know whenever you are guilty of something. Because you look and reek of guilt. It is that bad. 

Your classmates are slightly surprised that Kai is sitting next to you. The boy has a seat in class which he has always been sitting in every week. But today, he's right next to you. But still, Kai doesn't interact with anyone. You're slightly glad because that has to mean that he doesn't recognise you as the girl who peeped on him, right? You just hope so. 

Your tutor enters and starts off the class with the roll again. She begins her lesson for the day. Since this is a calculus subject, this tutor normally lets her students try the worksheet of the week on their own. You have done that the past two weeks, no doubt it would be the same today. She would only go over the questions when it is nearing the end of class. So you're all left to your groups once she's done recapping this week's lectures. There are two other guys in your table, making up a total of four of you. The two guys glance nervously at Kai and then decide to settle their eyes on you because you're not scary and don't have anger issues. 

"Let's start?" You clear your throat, looking down at your worksheet. The first few questions are fairly easy, actually. "Should we skip to the third question? The first few are pretty easy." 

"I don't know how to do the second one though..." One of the guys mutters. All of you catch Kai's eye roll. The guy quickly speaks up, "What about we just go on our own pace?" 

"That defeats the purpose of splitting into groups, smartass," Kai stares at the boy like he's stupid. 

Your other two classmates—whom you assume are friends—look offended, so you try to intervene. "Okay, how about... We split into two's?" 

"I'm not going with these idiots," Kai stares at you. You almost want to laugh despite the other two looking like they're about to burst in anger. 

"Of course not," you nod. "We can do it together, if you want." 

Without a word, he scoots his chair closer to you. You can briefly smell his cologne because of that abrupt movement. He smells... soft... Which is weird because no one would ever describe Kai as soft. He just smells very nice, like you want to bury your head where he has sprayed his cologne. Your brother wears cologne too, but his smell is the usual kind of scent men think is nice and you don't like it because it kind of chokes you. Whatever it is, you like Kai's cologne. 

"Can we start at the fourth one?" Kai mutters, looking through the questions.

Now you're nervous. Kai looks up at you when you don't reply. You stutter, "Uh... We can..." 

"You don't want to," he deduces. For someone with anger management issues, he's pretty good at looking out for other people's moods. Sort of. 

"It's just that... I tried to do this before I came in but I didn't know how to, uh... wrap up and get the answer." You're looking nervously at Kai, hoping he doesn't blow up on you. 

He stares at you for a while, then he utters almost like he's trying to keep from showing his annoyance, "I'll teach you. It's easy." So Kai brings his pen out of his pocket and starts solving the question. Once he finishes, he asks you, "Which part onward do you not understand?"

You like how straightforward this man is. Unlike others, he actually listened to you and concluded that you actually know some steps to getting the answer. People normally go through step-by-step with you, which you find unnecessary since you already know half of it. 

You lean over to his working and point to a line in his working. "How'd you go from this to this?" 

Kai explains to you patiently and you almost forget that he's someone with anger issues. He's just a normal guy like this. A guy who smells nice, that is. While he gives you time to take in his explanation, he murmurs, "You understand Korean pretty well." 

"I'm Korean," you furrow your eyebrows.

"You were speaking in English yesterday." 

Your eyes widen. So he knows! He just didn't say anything until now. You your lips nervously, which seems to amuse Kai because he chuckles softly. 

"Oh, I knew it was you, honey," a side of his lip is tilted upwards in a smirk. He enjoys your anxiety for a few more seconds before he wipes the smirk off his face. He pulls the worksheet closer to him and says offhandedly, "But I believe you won't tell anyone about it."

"Why do you trust me...?" You don't deny that you actually feel relieved Kai isn't chasing after you because of his little secret. 

"I don't trust you," he raises an eyebrow at you. You feel embarrassed at the expression he is giving you, like he's judging you. He then says, "But no one agitates a person with anger issues. Because who knows what will happen to you once you let out their secret." He takes in your scared expression like he is happy to see it. "Right?" 

 

 

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kyungreo
#1
Chapter 14: Reread this bcs i miss jongin so much these days🥲
Gstwln #2
Chapter 14: Reread it again because damn! I miss this fluff ball aka kim jongin so muchhh. And i miss you too Cara. Hope you always happy with whatever you do now ❤
Chanyeoltwinkle #3
Chapter 4: This is actually beautiful 🥺
_Nora_0607
905 streak #4
Chapter 14: This was absolutely wonderful. Loved it so much.. jongin’s family didn’t try much when he was a child, he was neglected and he was easily judged by others when he grew up.. she was the therapy he needed. I’m glad he ended up being happy.
_Nora_0607
905 streak #5
Chapter 12: Kai’s so childish… he got jealous over nothing 🤣🤣
_Nora_0607
905 streak #6
Chapter 11: His father is a funnyman 🤣
_Nora_0607
905 streak #7
Chapter 10: I am thankful for the kisses.. they were a must!
_Nora_0607
905 streak #8
Chapter 9: I’m laughing because I’m finding them cute but also because she is low-key being a mother to Kai.
Anyway, a little kiss wouldn’t have hurt, uk?
_Nora_0607
905 streak #9
Chapter 8: *Screams out loud*
_Nora_0607
905 streak #10
Chapter 7: So his family isn’t all bad