“So, I am curious,” Kyung leaned in against the counter, “who was that guy you were talking to yesterday outside of the library?” He asked, which I smirked at, knowing that he would fall to this question.
“Some guy I just know,” I shrugged, “why do you ask?”
“How do you know him?” He continued asking, ignoring what I had questioned back. I mentally fought with myself to determine what kind of answer I was going to give him.
Leaning away from the counter, I exhaled, “He’s… part of this math organization which I went to last year and met him there.” I answered, hoping Kyung would take in my lie. Kyung narrowed his eyes at me in suspicion and twisted his lips.
“Are you sure isn’t someone guy you’ve met while working here?” I gulped at his question and shook my head in response. He laughed and shrugged, “Okay, well then, I guess I believe you.”
“You guess you believe me?” I repeated. Kyung only smiled and straightened up his back. He took a step back and pointed to a nearby table, informing me that he was going to take a seat. If I had to guess, I’m sure he would have told me that he was waiting for me to admit something to him. It was that obvious. With a sigh, I turned my head to the side to look at the clock hanging on the wall and noticed that I had a couple of minutes before I could get off work.


As we walk side-by-side through the quiet night, Kyung cleared his throat and said my name, “If I were to ask you about your father, would you tell me some stuff about him?”
I looked at Kyung and slightly tilted my head to the side at his question, “Why?”
He shrugged, “I’m only curious about the man who taught you math,”
I gave it some thoughts, but it didn’t take me long to answer because I didn’t see the harm in answering questions about my father. It wasn’t like the information about would matter to Kyung anyways. So in response, I nodded in agreement, “Sure, why not.”
Kyung smiled, “When did he began teaching you?”
I pondered the question, rewinding the memories in my head to that specific moment. “I was struggling with math in 4th grade,” I began, “after coming home from school, I complained about math to my dad, saying that it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my whole entire life. He laughed and told me that I was still young, to begin with, and math is an easy thing to learn because you just need to know the steps.”

“Sounds like something I’ve heard you said before,” Kyung commented, which earned a scowl from me.
Continuing, “So on that day—and the rest of my life spent with him—he taught me how to approach math. First was to figure out what I was trying to solve. Second would be to see if there was any formulas needed and if not, then I would have to really see what is being written because staring at a sheet of paper with words and numbers doesn’t help. If I understand what the problem is saying, then I just needed to slowly work my way down with the problem. My answer will only come out right if I’ve done every correctly—and if it doesn’t, then I would have to go back and check what I did wrong.” I explained, “Math is quite the life lesson though.”
“Oh really,” Kyung asked, “how so?”
“Well, when you run into a problem and you don’t know how to approach, you would first have to try to see what kind of problem is it. After that, find a way to appease the situation. When the situation is at a point where everything seems calm, you know that you’ve solved your problem.”
Kyung smirked, “But what if you can only appease the problem for a short amount of time? What if the problem comes back? You can’t just erase everything because that’s not how life works, right?” He asked.
I nodded, “Yes, but even if the problem comes back you can always try to find a new way to make sure it stays appeased.”
“I think you see life in a much different light than the rest of the world.”
I frowned, “Well, if everyone were to see things in my way then life would probably be easy for them too.”
“But if that were to happen, everyone would be lonely and rude.” He joked.
“Funny,” I commented with the rolling of my eyes, holding back a smile that was daring to show on my face. Suddenly a voice called my name from afar, halting me dead in my track. My whole body stiffened; blood drained from my face. I didn’t have to look at the direction of the voice to know who it was because there would only be one voice that would call my name with a rasp.

Kyung said my name and touched my arm, “What’s wrong?”
My lips parted, but nothing came out. I couldn’t speak—I didn’t want to speak. I looked at Kyung and shook my head, assuring him that nothing was wrong. He smiled in response, but when that voice shouted my name again, the smile on his face disperse. At the same time, the both of us looked to the side and saw my step-father staring warily at us.

“Who is that?” Kyung asked me, turning his attention back to me with furrowed brows.
I just shook my head, “He’s just someone who lives in the neighborhood,”
“Are you sure about that?” Kyung quickly said, narrowing his eyes almost like as if he was detecting my lie. I just nodded in response, which he clucked his tongue. “You know you can’t lie to me, especially if that man over there is calling your name like as if you guys are family.” I didn’t say anything, but took a step away from Kyung.
“I’ll see you at school,” I didn’t dare to look at him as I walked away. The closer I walked towards my step-dad, the more I became aware that he looked drunk—no, he was drunk. I slowed my pace and cautioned myself in case he were to do something to me.

“Who is that boy, huh?” He slurred, deepening his brows at me, “Boyfriend?”
I shook my head, “No one you need to know,” I took a step towards the stairs, but was stopped by the grasp of my wrist. I turned to look and was surprised to see that it was Kyung; he pulled at my wrist, forcing me to walk down the stairs. I tried to pull away from Kyung, but his grasp on me was tight. Before I could get far enough away from my step-dad, my other arm was caught in a grasp.

“What do you think you’re doing young man?” My step-dad questioned, tightening his hand around my wrist.
Kyung turned to face him; the look on his face was nothing I’ve ever seen before. The emotion in his eyes were dark; his lips remained a thin line. He slightly cocked his head to the side, staring apathetically at my step-dad. “I believe I was going to take her home with me,” he said confidently, which I stiffened at.
“Kyung, don’t—”
Kyung raised his index finger at me, shushing me from saying anything else. “A young female as herself shouldn’t be home alone with a man who is drunk.” He stated, “A man who looks like he’ll forcing his dirty actions upon his step-daughter.”

“You’re a funny kid,” he replied back, “now let her go,”
Kyung chuckled, “I already told you no,” he pulled at my arm, which resulted in my step-dad to lose his grip on me. I fell into Kyung’s arms; his smell overpowered my sense, making me feel safe almost at once to be in his arms. With the kind of attitude Kyung was giving my step-dad, I knew that things would definitely nasty, so I tried to pull myself away, but he rejected the idea.
“You better—” Before my step-dad could finish his sentence, Kyung had the two of us running away from him. I turned to look back and saw that my step-dad throwing his hands in the air, and cursing words at the two of us. I looked back at Kyung and saw him smirk righteously. Though I should have told him to let me, I didn’t; instead, I ran with Kyung and put on a smile myself.

After a couple of minutes, we stopped to catch our breaths. I felt like my lungs were going to burst as I tried to slow the pace of my breathing. My throat felt dry and my heart pounded loudly in my ears. I looked at Kyung and threw him a scowl, “What the hell are you thinking, Kyung?” I said in-between breaths.
He looked me, trying to catch his own breath, and smiled, “Helping you,”
“What?”
He straightened up, swallowing back, and exhaled slowly, “Last time you had gotten hurt by your step-dad, right?” He asked, which I didn’t answer, but it was probably obvious to him. He continued, “I told you that I every time I see you, I want to protect you, and so this time, I am sticking to my words.” He explained, “Your step-dad is obviously drunk and will do anything he wants with you if you were to walk into that home with him.”
Though I wanted to tell him off and say that it wasn’t any of his business to get involve in my life, I just stayed quiet and plopped my onto the ground. I inhaled, suddenly realizing that I was holding back tears. I swallowed back a lump in my throat, “You’re an idiot, Kyung.”
Though I couldn’t see it, I had a feeling that he had smiled at my comment. His knees popped as he bent down to look at me, “Come on,” he extended a hand towards me.
I furrowed my brows, “What is it?”
“I did say I was going to take you to my place, didn’t I?” I gulped, which he laughed at. “Don’t worry, I’m not going to do anything to you.” He assured with a soft smile, “Come on.” He urged. I took his hand and he helped me stand up. It took us less than five minutes before we reached the place Kyung had called home.

“Aren’t your friends inside though?”
“We’re not going inside,” he said, leading us around the house. I wasn’t sure where we were going, but I didn’t question it. We walked towards the back of the house. Kyung pulled me towards a specific spot and let go of my hand to sit on the grassy ground. He turned to look at me and patted the empty spot next to him, “Sit.”
I obliged hesitantly. Once I sat on the ground, I noticed that the view before me was of the country side. I smiled, liking the view because it gave me some peace, after having just ran from my step-dad and all. I knew there would be some consequences when I got back, but I didn’t want to think about it now.

“Sorry,” Kyung spoke, “I knew that it would be risky to tell your step-dad those things, but… I just had to.”
Without any hesitation, I leaned against Kyung, placing my head on his shoulder, and shook my head, “Thanks, actually.” His body stiffened, but relaxed within seconds. He sighed and wrapped an arm around my shoulder. I thought we were just going to sit here with his arm around me, but instead, he forced us to lay on the grass. Kyung wrapped his other arm around me and forced me to face him. “What are you—”
“You make me feel so happy,” he interrupted me, “hearing you tell me thanks.”
I smiled, “Don’t tell me it makes you want to cry.” Kyung chuckled and leaned in towards me, which I didn’t react violently to. I waited as he inched closer to my face, though I knew what he was going to do, I didn’t struggle. Before anything could happen, Kyung paused.

“You aren’t going to oppose me?” He asked and furrowed his brows, “Don’t tell me you… like me?” The minute he said this, I knew where this conversation was leading to. Though I had fought with myself about my feelings, I knew that at this moment, my feelings for Kyung had been clarified. When I don’t say anything to him, Kyung pouted, “You’re still not going to admit, are you?”
I laughed and decided to play dumb, “Why would I want to admit something I don’t know about?”
He snickered, “You’re—”

This time, I interrupted Kyung with a kiss, knowing that I had caught him off-guard. I pulled back from him and smiled, “I like you.”
 

author's note; thanks for reading!!!
@Yerlie303: lol yes! you will see~ though the ending won't be until another 10+ chapters D: thanks for reading!
@kissme4life_99: hahaha yeah~ you will see that part soon muahahaha! thanks for reading ^^