Chapter 9:

The next afternoon, Sora showed up at Seungyoon’s front door with her backpack and two brown paper bags filled with snacks and drinks.

Seungyoon raised his eyebrows. “Is there a party or something?”

“Yep, for your fast recovery!” She laughed as she brushed past him.

“Hmm... yeah come in.” He murmured as he closed the door when she was already making herself comfortable on the couch.

“Here.” She poured the whole content of the first bag on the little table.

Sweets, some bags of chips, biscuits, ... and a plastic bag with apples?

He looked at her with a funny face.

“An apple a day, keeps the doctor away!” She grinned at him. “You need some more healthy food, you can’t only survive off eggs!”

Seungyoon snorted and looked through the other bag, it was filled with different fruits and vegetables.

“Y-You really need to eat more healthy stuff.” She looked a little embarrassed under his stare.

He laughed and ruffled her hair. “Thanks, I’ll eat it well!”

She laughed happily and opened her bag pack.

“What? More fruits and veggies?” Seungyoon mocked as he cleared the table from all the snacks.

“You wish.” She replied and took some books and papers out. “We need to work!”

Seungyoon’s face must have looked too caught off guard because she laughed at his sight and pushed him with her elbow.

“They decided on the group projects today. We’re a team!” She beamed at him before patting his shoulder with extra force. She came close to his ear and whispered dangerously. “You better work hard. I don’t like getting low grades because of a ed up group project.”

Seungyoon shuddered slightly, in moments like these she was scary as hell.

But even so that wasn’t the only reason he shuddered. She was so close to him, it made his heart jump.

Sora who was very content with her threat, sat down properly again and passed him a sheet of paper.

“Let’s chose a theme from the list first.” Then she rolled her eyes with a sigh. “By the way, we need to finish it for next month already. The teacher said it was enough time for such a ‘small scale’ project.”

Seungyoon’s eyes widened when he flew over the to-do list.

“It’s an over one hour long presentation!” He exclaimed.

“No chance. We protested like crazy but he just wouldn’t change his mind.”

“Then, we better start now.” Seungyoon rolled up his sleeves and they both started.

They spend the whole afternoon, working, talking and joking.

Seungyoon whose curiosity finally took over, spoke out of the blue.

“Sora?”

“Hmm...?” She was currently hovering above an article of her book.

“Does your family own KimCom?”

She stiffed for a moment before her surprised eyes met his. “Uhhh... What makes you think this?”

He scratched his head in embarrassment and answered sheepishly. “I ... uhh... kind of... looked it up on the internet...”

“Really? I thought there weren’t any information about us...” She crooked her head in deep thoughts.

“Well... I searched your older brother up...” Seungyoon confessed with slightly red cheeks, hanging his head low.

When he didn’t get a response, he shyly lifted his head to come face to face with an astonished Sora. But before he could say something else, she broke down in laughter.

“Wow, well done!” She grinned and looked at him with sincere eyes. “But keep it a secret, alright? I don’t want the whole school to find out about my background.”

“Yeah, of course.” He replied immediately.

Let this be our secret.

“Then, welcome to the Secret Club!” She cheered.

“S-Secret Club?” He asked, utterly confused.

“Yeah, it’s the ‘We-found-out-Kim-Sora’s-secret-club’.” She face-palmed herself with a grin before defending herself. “I didn’t choose the name! It was Namgrease and his partner in crime Lee Sungyeol!”

“W-Wait... They know it too?” Seungyoon uttered incredulously.

“Of course, Taehyun and Mirae are too smart to get tricked! And the others found it out one by one by themselves!” She made a grimace, but smiled nonetheless. “But they promised to keep quiet about it, so I’m really thankful!”

“Oh... I understand. I’ll keep it a secret as well.” Seungyoon replied cheerfully but there was that little disappointed feeling in him which damped his mood.

Our secret, my .

With that, they continued to work until the evening when they ordered take-out to satisfy their rumbling stomachs. But after the pizza arrived, the schoolwork was long forgotten on the floor as they watched a movie on the TV together.

“Seriously now! The CG is a little bit too fake here!” Sora complained with a laugh. “Look, look!! Look at this!

“Okay, that’s really a bit weird.” Seungyoon couldn’t hold his laughter anymore.

“Woah, seriously... Look again!” Sora pointed at the TV screen. “Normally I’d run away faster than one could even say ‘horror movie’ but this... this is a comedy!”

Seungyoon was dying of laughter, his eyes even started to tear up.

Who would have thought that Sora was such a funny person? If someone had told him that at the beginning of the school year, he wouldn’t have believed it at all. But now, he was happy to be this close to her and to get to know this ‘new’ side of her.

They both continued the movie with lots of witty remarks and funny comments. Seungyoon couldn’t remember the last time he had laughed so much.

Suddenly, something vibrated and Seungyoon could see from the corner of his eyes that Sora took out her phone. Her eyebrows rose slightly as she typed something.

Must be a message... Maybe from her brothers?

They both continued to watch the movie but her phone buzzed continuously. Seungyoon looked at her questioningly. She just rolled her eyes with a laugh and replied something to the anonymous sender.

“I’m going to the toilet.” She said and disappeared in Seungyoon’s bedroom which had a small bathroom in it.

Her phone buzzed again and Seungyoon looked after her but she wasn’t there anymore.

You can’t! It’s her privacy!

But curiosity took over as the phone buzzed again and Seungyoon glanced quickly at the lit home screen.

[Message] Teddy Bear <3

(Objections are useless! This Friday, 22:00, at LEGEND <3)

(Love you!! <3<3)

Surprise couldn’t even come close to what Seungyoon was feeling at that very moment.

Suddenly, he had a heavy aching feeling in his stomach. Breathing felt really difficult. He bit his lip.

What was that shattering sound? Oh, only his heart that busted into millions of tiny shreds which were now painfully cutting inside him.

 “You’re an idiot.” He murmured holding his head. “Why wouldn’t she have one? She’s perfect in every way. She’s funny, beautiful and kind.”

He hit his head on his arms when he hugged his knees.

“Why are you so stupid? How could you ever believed in something like that? She’s the first person whose kindness you open up to and now you act like that was a ing sign. Idiot! Such an idiot!”

“How many fake body pieces did I miss?” Sora grinned as she cheerfully entered the living room again.

Act normal again, you fool!

But his expression must have been far from normal as he looked up because Sora immediately approached him with a worried face.

“Seungyoon, are you alright? You don’t look good. What happened?”

It’s you... because of you... you happened...

“I... umm... I think it was a little bit too much fake blood for a single day. My head hurts a little.” He quickly came up with an excuse.

“Oh...” She looked a littl