Kim Jaeduck must've had realized by then that his life was about to become a stupid teen romance weekend drama.

He had been transferred to another school due to his father getting another job and their first encounter had been a disaster. The teacher told him to use the last desk next to the window, even though it had an owner. Apparently, he never really appeared, but, of course, he had to appear that day.

The boy was rude, saying Jaeduck wasn't supposed to sit there. Hah, as if he needed that. It wasn't like he had this anime main character syndrome to sit somewhere he could always look outside the window so he didn't have to pay attention to class. So he was very happy to move places to somewhere very far away from him (or at least as far as he could inside that classroom).

They told him his name was Ahn Seungho. Bad attitude, skipped most of the classes, fought everyone, spilled his drink on a girl once. He was the school Bad Boy, but had good grades, so people couldn't really complain. No one knew about his life, so everyone just assumed he smuggled drugs or something.

“Forget it. He's probably not someone you'd like to mess with.” Heejun from 3-B warned him after Seungho bumped into Jaeduck on the school corridors and didn't apologize.

But, then again, Jaeduck was Jaeduck, so he had to demand an apology.

“Which one was it? Car accident? Cancer?” He asked.

“What?” Seungho thought he heard it wrong.

“I mean your parents.” He explained “How did they die? Isn't that how your bad boy character was built? Or, don't tell me… Are you from a rich heir storyline?”

All of the other students stopped what they were doing to listen and Seungho stopped walking.

“Is there a reason why you can't stop and apologize?” He continued. “It takes five seconds.”

Jaeduck was ready to be beaten up, but he was ignored, which made him even angrier.

“Say something!” He demanded and was about to walk towards him when Heejun held him.

“Stop.”

Seungho took the opportunity to leave, but not before rolling his eyes.

 

Aside from hating someone at school, things were doing well. It didn't take long for Jaeduck to get along with everyone. He was naturally friendly and people liked him wherever he went.

“Why can't you come with us, hyung? You’ll finally be able to see Sunghoon singing!” One of his friends protested.

Even though Suwon tried to persuade him to go to the karaoke with them, he couldn't do so. His sister would be home and he had to take care of her. Things were sure hard without his mother.

“I said I have things to do, sorry.” He didn't want to give a full explanation. It wasn't necessary.

“Okay, okay, leave the boy alone.” Other one of his friends said. He was the Sunghoon guy. “He probably has a date or something.”

The other boys booed.

“He's enjoying his life while you guys are too busy protecting your ity.” Sunghoon said. “ Don't mind them, hyung. We're leaving now!”

“Take care.”

“You too.”

 

It rained. Actually, when he stopped to think about it, it was ridiculous. It wasn't even rain season yet. But, of course, it probably meant something was about to happen. A couple finally accepting their love for each other? A girl crying because she had her wedding called of the day before? A funeral? There were plenty of possible cliché scenarios that could happen.

He should've expected that, though.

Ahn Seungho was there. There was an abandoned puppy under the rain. It was soaking wet. He didn't have an umbrella with him, so he was covering himself with a jacket, but he took it off and used it to protect the puppy. He smiled at it dearly and Jaeduck could hear his voice even with the pouring sound.

“Are you okay, buddy?” He asked while patting its head. “I’m Tony. What’s your name?”

The puppy obviously didn’t answer.

“You don’t have a name, do you? Since you're a boy, I'll call you Edward, then.” He said while holding it carefully. “Come here with me…”

This is ridiculous, Jaeduck thought while leaving the scene.

So the bad boy saved a stray pet on a rainy day and he kind of looked cool. And Jaeduck had never seen his smile before either. He kind of looked cute too.

“Oh, , so I'm some sort of lead in a weekend drama?” He mumbled to himself. “Bull.”

 

It was hard to concentrate on things for the next few days. The school bad boy wasn't that bad of a boy and he called himself a cute name like Tony. He also had a puppy called Edward and his smile was cute.

At that moment, the teacher was naming the pairs for a school project. He wasn't really paying attention because he didn't really mind who he'd work with unless…

“Kim Jaeduck and Ahn Seungho.” The teacher announced.

Yeah, that was what he was afraid of.

The whole class started to whisper things to each other and of course he knew what it was about. Their only four interactions involved a fight over a desk, a fight over a bump, a fight over a bathroom stall and another fight over the last rice cake in the canteen. Definitely the worst fight.

“Can't I do it on my own?” He heard Seungho’s voice. “I've always done it alone and it has always worked."

The teacher didn't even take time to think.

“No, you can't. We have an even number of students now and we can't have two people working alone.”

He sighed.

I'm not that bad of a partner, you know?

When the bell rang, he saw Dongwan and Minwoo already leaving.

“Are you going already?”

“Unfortunately.” Minwoo said. “This guy here says he wants to do the work now so we don't have to worry about it later.”

“It's not like we have much time either.” Dongwan added. “Good luck with your partner.”

And they left just like that.

I'll really need that luck.

The room was almost empty when Seungho talked to him.

“Hey.”

“Want to do it today too?” Jaeduck asked.

“Where?”

“My house, if it's fine for you.”

“Now?”

“Yes.”

Seungho seemed to think.

“I guess so.”

If Jaeduck had to describe the situation in one word, it was awkward. He expected Seungho to say something, to complain about his house being far or to be a , but none of these happened. He followed Jaeduck quietly and didn't complain about the fact that Jaeduck’s house was small and old either.

“Sorry for the mess, I should've cleaned it.” He said. “Sit down.”

Seungho looked around.

“Where?”

“Anywhere.”

Jaeduck opened his laptop and sit on the floor. Seungho thought it'd be better to sit beside him.

“Okay, so we have to analyze this fairy tale.” Jaeduck said. “The thing is I at English.”

Jaeduck thought he had heard a laugh.

“Don’t worry, I'm fluent in it.”

It's definitely the rich heir storyline.

“Let's do this, then.”

Oddly enough, things went smoothly. He was very smart and willing to help Jaeduck with English.

“This is too cliché.” He said out loud.

Except for the part he didn't say anything about me being poor yet. I mean, if it's the heir storyline…

“Of course it is. It's a fairy tale.” Seungho replied.

“Well…” He didn't mean that. “Why don't you hit me?”

Seungho was confused.

“Why would I?”

“We fight every time we interact so I thought…”

“It's not like I hate you. But I was really hungry and I really needed to eat the rice cake. Besides, you're actually the only one who talks to me, so I can't really complain.”

It didn't make sense, but he didn't ask any more because he heard a bark. His pet was there.

“Sanduckie!” Jaeduck was happy to see his white puppy. “Were you sleeping somewhere?” He patted it.

“He’s cute.”

“He is. I think he'd get along well with E…” He paused. “I mean, with anyone he meets.”

“What were you going to say?”

“What?” He pretended he didn't know.

“Say it.”

“I think he'd… You know… Get along well with Edward.”

“Oh. How…”

“Rainy day. Jacket. I was passing by.” He explained.

“Oh. That's… Just how much did you listen?”

Jaeduck hesitated.

“Is Tony a nickname or…”

“Damn, you've heard it all. Are you sure you were just passing by?”

“I mean, you looked cute, so I… No, wait, that's not what I mean, I…”

Seungho laughed.

“It's the name I used when I lived in the US.” He said.

“Cool.”

“Yeah.”

“Well…” He didn't know how to get rid of the awkwardness.

Suddenly, music started playing at full blast. It was Seungho’s phone. He excused himself so he could answer it.

Jaeduck couldn't hear exactly what they were talking about but it involved "mom” and it didn't sound that good.

Seungho got his stuff in a hurry.

“I'm sorry, I have to go.”

He left, leaving Jaeduck behind.

 

Seungho disappeared for the following weeks.

“At least you finished your project.” Minwoo tried to help. “He must be very smart for you to be able to do it in a day, you know? You just have to organize it."

“I wonder if he's okay.” Jaeduck thought out loud.

“Why would you? All he does it bothering people.”

Jaeduck had never seen him bothering anyone other than himself.

“Who?”

“What?”

“Who does he bother?” He insisted.

“Well… You know the rumors, right?”

“Have you ever seen it, though?”

“Now that you mention…” Minwoo seemed to ponder. “I mean… Why are you defending him, again?”

Jaeduck didn't know either. Nothing made much sense anymore. Why couldn't he accept that the bad guy was the same guy who worked on that project with him, the same one who saved Edward?

“I'm leaving first.”

“Wait, where are you going?” He asked.

But Jaeduck was already gone.

 

While walking down the streets, he tried to organize his thoughts. He had already accepted he was the protagonist of a stupid weekend drama, but what was the plot? What was happening? How could he help? He wished he at least knew Seungho’s phone number.

He decided to stop by at the neighborhood playground to sit on a swing for a while. Unfortunately for him, someone had had the same idea, so he just sit on the swing next to theirs. For his surprise, it was Seungho with red eyes and a pale face. He looked like he hadn't had any sleep since their last meeting.

“Cancer.” He said.

“What?” Jaeduck didn't realize he was talking to him.

“I thought you asked it before.” He explained. “It was cancer. My father died from it.”

“Oh.” He wasn't sure how to answer.

“My mom is not over it yet, so she collapsed that day.” He continued his explanation. “It’s terrible to lose one parent, I don't want to lose another one. And I hope you can keep yours too.”

Jaeduck’s lips trembled a bit.

“My mom died from a car accident on a rainy day.” He said it lightly but Seungho noticed he wasn't okay. “It sounds stupid, doesn’t it? I told her to hurry because I missed her. We hadn't seen each other in weeks. But, then, of course, her car had to crash.”

“Oh… That’s the thing I hate to hear the most but… I'm sorry. I really mean it.”

He didn't know why — because they had something in common? — but he actually felt comforted by his words.

“I’m also sorry. For your father, I mean. It was very insensitive of me to say that.”

“Don't worry. I know I was stressed, but I was a too.”

“You were.” He giggled. He thought about asking why he didn't go to school but he decided to change subjects. “But, hey, why did you spill your drink on a girl?”

Seungho played along and showed his best offended expression.

“You mean when Lee Hyori purposely bumped into me and my perfect green tea was wasted just because I rejected her?”

Jaeduck seemed shocked to hear that.

“Oh, my God. Don't tell me you're not a for real and most of it is actually made up.”

“Well… I’m not a smuggler either.”

“Are you telling me you're just a sad guy who saves puppies, gets really good grades, likes tea and is constantly misunderstood?” He didn't wait for an answer. “What else do we need for this to be a perfect cliché weekend drama?”

Seungho giggled and approached him.

“Maybe this.”

He couldn't even react before their lips touched. It wasn't his first kiss, but it felt like it: the accelerated heart, the butterflies in his stomach. It took a while for them to stop the kiss, which just happened because they still couldn't live without breathing.

“And now I'm supposed to reply to your last sentence in a cliché way but I don't remember what you said.” Jaeduck said. "Or slap you in the face."

“Then you can do the other possible cliché thing to do in this situation. Hint: it's not slapping me.”

Jaeduck hit him instead.

“Hey, it's not hitting me either!”

“Stop saying nonsense!” He replied. “And go back to school, we have to prepare our presentation.”

He hesitated a bit.

“I will.”

“Also, you shouldn't just let those rumors circulate! Everyone thinks you're a smuggler.”

“Understood.”

“And don't worry too much.” He said. “Give your mother a lot of love and she'll be okay. It worked with my dad.”

“Okay.” He paused. “But are you gonna kiss me back? Like, it was the first time I kissed and guy and I kinda liked it? So I…”

Jaeduck stole him a kiss.

“Shut up.”

It was weird. And uncertain too. But they didn't care whether it was a cliché weekend drama or real life. If a happy ending was possible, they'd cling on one another like how they believed it was meant to be.