Two weeks later

5pm – Seoul central hospital

“Min Ho ah”, the doctor called. “How are you feeling today?” Min Ho smiled.

“Good”, he said. The doctor did his fifteen minute check up on Min Ho before turning to us.

“This is a good sign”, the doctor looked at the people present in the room. Which was Mr and Mrs. Kim and I. “I feel more reassured about his discharge tomorrow now.”

“Thank you”, Mrs. Kim said.

“I would like to speak with you outside”, Mr. Kim said. He and the doctor left the room.

I sat down next to Mrs. Kim.

“Aigoo”, she said. “My baby.” I looked at Min Ho with a smile on my face. I was so happy he was doing well already. The doctors had taken his head bandage off and placed a smaller bandage on the wound that was left after the operation and Min Ho looked pale and fragile compared to what he normally looked like. I had been visiting him for two weeks straight without going to school and helping Mrs. Kim the best way that I could without telling her I was ditching school. 

After receiving Kai’s comfort that day I had managed to pull it together and not cry or panic every time I’d see Min Ho or think about the accident. I was still blaming myself for it but thins had gone a lot better, and Min Ho was thankfully recovering fast.

“Ji Eun”, Mrs. Kim looked at me. “Why did you come so early from school?”

“There was not much to do”, I lied. “I’ll go tomorrow. I promise.” Mrs. Kim smiled and grabbed her coat. 

”I have an errand to run with dad,” she said. She gave Min Ho a kiss on the cheek. ”But I’ll be back before Ji Eun leaves, okay?” She waved goodbye. As soon as she left Min Ho sat up on his bed.

”Noona”, he called. ”Do the dancing again.” Ever since he’d been in the hospital I had held small dance performances for Min Ho’s entertainment. He was intrigued by dancing and tried to copy some of my moves.

“Okay”, I got up. This time I did my own performance of SNSD’s Gee. When I finished he “Shall I do it again?”

“Don’t use aegyo though”, he quietly commented making me laugh. He hated aegyo.

“Fine I won’t”, I said. “But this song has a lot of aegyo.”

“I don’t like it!” Min Ho raised his voice like he used to for the first time since he had been in the hospital. I knew it was weird but I felt proud because he had raised his voice at me. I hugged him against his will. “Let go!” I let him go and gently pinched his cheeks.

“Our Min Ho is getting healthier”, I said. “You’re even yelling now. Welcome back.” Min Ho hissed under his breath when the door opened.

“You’re awake?” 

I immediately let Min Ho go when I heard Kai’s voice. Why? I didn’t know, I simply panicked.

“Hyung!” Min Ho called. “Ji Eun noona is harassing me with her dumbness! Tell her to stop.” I sneered at Min Ho.

“Her dumbness is incurable”, Kai sat down next to his brother and looked at me. “There is no remedy for her disease just yet.”

“Ya!” I pointed my finger at Kai. “You should wa-”

“You’ve been ditching school for two weeks now”, Kai interrupted me. “You’re lucky our parents don’t know about it. Don’t go around annoying him if you don’t want me to tell on you.”

“Are you threatening me?” I gasped. “I didn’t know you could be this childish.” Kai rolled his eyes and concealed his head behind a newspaper.

“You’ve been skipping school to harass me every day?” Min Ho asked. “I would have liked it better if you stayed there and didn’t come.” I pouted.

“I didn’t want you to be alone at the boring hospital so I thought of keeping you company”, I explained. “I wanted to be nice.” I saw Min Ho’s face soften and smiled.

“It’s just”, Min Ho cleared his throat and his cheeks were slowly changing colours. “Why?”

“Because I like you”, I answered and did a heart with my arms. “You are nice unlike your brother.” Min Ho looked down at his hands. I noticed how flustered Min Ho was. “Still, you have to go to school tomorrow noona.”

“Kure”, I said. “I will if that’ll make you happy.”

“Alright”, I said. “Shall we continue? What song do you want to hear this time? What about G.O.D? H.O.T? Seo Taiji and the boys?”

“Who are they?” Min Ho confusedly asked.

“Naw, Min Ho”, I said. “I guess your dumb noona will be teaching you about music today.”

Friday - Dinner

“I’m so happy our Min Ho is home now”, Mrs. Kim cheered. Min Ho had finally been discharged from the hospital and we were out celebrating at dad’s restaurant. My dad had closed the restaurant just for this occasion.

“Yes”, my father agreed. “Now it feels like the whole family is reunited again.” He looked at Min Ho. “How is the cake?”

“It’s delicious”, Min Ho answered. “Thank you.” Mr. Kim patted his son’s head. 

I smiled there I was at my father’s restaurant’s kitchen taking out some soju. They had been drinking some red wine together with Kai and I, but now they wanted something stronger. We all know underage drinking is illegal but Kai and I were allowed to drink because we were celebrating a miracle. Regrettably, it turned out I was only allowed to drink one glass due to my father’s strictness regarding alcohol while Kai had about two and half glasses of red wine thanks to his mother’s nice nature.

I was jealous, but nothing could be done. I left the kitchen and served the elders their beverages.

“Can I have some too?” Kai asked surprising us all as he wasn’t really one to ask for anything.

“I think you are drunk Jong In ah”, Mr. Kim laughed. Kai also laughed with them and soon everyone was laughing except for Min  Ho and I. The two of us were the only sober people, maybe that had to do with it.

“Noona”, Min Ho called. “I think they are all drunk. Even Kai hyung is.”

I looked at Kai trying to understand how he had gotten drunk so easily. He only consumed one more glass than I had. Or maybe Kai was one of those who couldn’t tolerate alcohol? Just thinking of it made me ponder of how ridiculous it sounded. He was so good at everything, drinking definitely had to be one of them too. Right?

Perplexed I headed back to the kitchen to get some snacks. While I was taking out some dumplings, I heard the door open behind me.

“Ya”, I looked at Kai who had called me. “Go Ji Eun! What are you doing here?”

“Getting food”, I answered. “Do you want some?” Kai didn’t reply but instead looked at me. At first it was just looking back, but then it turned into staring for way too long. This I noticed seemed to be a thing he did a lot. Stare at me without saying anything. It was cute at first and it still was but I had enough of having to try and understand what he was thinking when he did that. “What is it?”

“Did I ever say thank you?” He asked. I shook my head. He had never said thank you to me. Usually he would say something else when he was supposed to say thank you. I had my suspicions he did on purpose just to make me mad. “I should be thanking you for being there for Min Ho right? But I’m not going to do it.”

“Why not?” I asked. 

“It’s…”, he finally looked elsewhere than at me. “It’s not easy for me to say. I don’t even remember the last time I… It’s been years.” I slowly nodded my head in understanding and he let out an embarrassed laugh. His eyes were still on something else. “Forget I mentioned that.” Finally our eyes met. He let out another embarrassed laugh. “I don’t think I’m too thirsty  to be in my right mind right now.” He grabbed an open bottle that was next to him and before I could even warn him that he’d just grabbed a soju bottle, he had gulped down the what was left of the beverage leaving me mouth opened. “Wow, that was strong.” I watched as he left.

Okay, who was this? Because the person who had just walked pass me wasn’t the Kai I knew. There was just no way. I mean Kai was unpredictable but he wasn’t bat crazy. And this was bat crazy behaviour.

And I was right. It didn’t take an hour before he started doing things so unlike him everyone was worried. Kai had suddenly started singing Psy’s Oppa gangnam style out of the blue while on our way back home. Min Ho who was still walking on crutches had stopped only to take a good look at his brother.

“He has gone mad”, he said.

“I think he is just happy about his brother being discharged”, my father commented.

“I think so too”, Mr. Kim agreed. 

I on the other hand, thought Kai had completely lost his mind. He was walking way ahead of us and kind of dancing. Let me tell you people where staring at him like he was crazy, the sight of it all was not pretty. At all!

“Ji Eun ah”, Mrs. Kim called. “Please check up on Kai. He is very worrisome now.” I literally ran after Kai. When he saw me, he smiled and opened his arms widely.

“Ji Eun!” He called my name in such a beautiful way my heart fluttered. “Hug?” My eyes widened and I shook my head. “It’s your lost!” Kai let his arms fall down and kept on singing.

“Did something happen today?” I asked.

“No”, he answered. “Why? I’ve never been better. It’s like a whole new world for me r-” He stopped talking.

“Are you okay?” I asked worriedly. Kai put his hands on his mouth and ran away from me. I later heard some really disturbing noises that clearly stated he was throwing up and grimaced, disgusted. He came back with a frown on his face and his hands on his stomach. My heart melted when at the sight of him.

“I don’t feel well”, he said and leaned on my shoulder. I gave him support and helped him walk straight.

“Better?” I asked when we’d walked for a bit.

“A little”, he answered. We soon arrived home and I helped him all the way to the second floor and sat him down on the sofa.

“I’ll get you a glass of water”, I said. I was about to leave when he stopped me by grabbing my wrist.

“No”, he said. ”Stay.” Before I could ask him anything, he lied down and placed his head on my lap and closed his eyes. I looked down at him feeling warm in every part of my body. But also I was very confused. What the hell was going on through Kai’s mind today? ”Sing that song you sang last time.”

”What?” I was taken by surprise. ”Why?”

”The second one”, he said. ”You owe me a favour.” I remembered last time when he’d helped me with my homework and asked for a favour. That’s what he meant by that? Did this mean that Kai had liked my performance at the school’s foyer? 

With a smile on my lips and a thumping heart I closed me eyes and started singing Peach by Iu. I could hear and feel Kai’s breathing slowing down. 

I couldn’t help but wonder why Kai was behaving like this to me after barely talking to me for weeks. Was he maybe starting to like me? Or was he playing with me and all this was a ploy for me to fall more in love with him so he can laugh at me behind my back? 

When I was done singing, I opened my eyes to find Kai was asleep already but he was wearing a frown. I traced my finger on his forehead and his frown disappeared.

Kai’s P.O.V

I woke up in the middle of the night with the worst stomach ache I’ve ever had. I looked around trying to remember where I was when I heard someone snoring next to me. I looked at her and shook my head. Go Ji Eun was so…  She was so… I couldn’t even find a word to describe her but ever since she had written me that instagram message, she had turned my life a hundreds time more difficult than it already was. Difficult but interesting.

When I got up, her body leaned more towards the inside of the sofa but thankfully she didn’t wake up. I stretched a bit and tried waking her up so she’d go to bed but instead she wrapped her arms around me.

“Jong In”, she called while still in dreamland. I tried getting her to let go of me without success. “I love you.” I helplessly scratched the back of my head..

“I know”, I answered. I lifted her up. She was lighter than I was expecting. She then wrapped her legs around me, surprising me. This is exactly what I meant by her being difficult. She had no shame when it came to doing or getting what she wanted and I didn’t really know how to handle that. Sometimes she could make me so flustered, like right now. I did my best not to think of the fact she was gluing herself to me as I walked to her room. Her room was so messy it hurt my eyes. This was yet another example demonstrating how contrasting we were.

I tried putting her down on her bed but failed when she didn’t let me go and the two of us fell on the bed. Ji Eun was unfazed as she continued to sleep through it all. What I did manage to do was to get her arms off of my neck and her legs off of my waist.

I supported my head with my hand and looked at Ji Eun’s sleeping face. Her long strands of hair where hiding away her face. Her eyes were closed displaying her markantly long lashes and her peach coloured lips where slightly parted. I removed her hair from her face to reveal it better. 

As I looked at her, I couldn’t help but wonder why she fell for me out of all the people at our school. She and I were different in almost every aspect of our lives. We had nothing in common, we didn’t hang out with the the same people and we definitely didn’t look good together. Why she wouldn’t like someone like her friend Tao who was definitely into her and actually matched her more was beyond my understanding. But then again nothing regarding Go Ji Eun made sense to me.

As if she knew I had said her name, she curled up and rolled even closer to me than we already was. At this new distance, I could see all the details on her face perfectly. My hand went up to her hair but for some  reason I couldn’t help but gently touch her bottom lip. It was so smooth and.. Before I knew what I was even thinking, I brought my lips to hers. I counted exactly one and a half seconds before I had to force myself to stop. 

I quickly left her room and took big steps to my bedroom. What was I doing kissing her when she was asleep?

“You’re not asleep?” I jumped at my mom’s voice. She was standing on the staircase. “Why do you look so startled?”

“I wasn’t startled”, I lied. She looked over at Ji Eun’s room.

”Wait!” She gasped. “Did you come from Ji-?”

“No”, I quickly thought of something. “I went to the bathroom. Goodnight.” I hurried to my room and jumped on my bed. 

What’s wrong with me?

// AN

And voila!! It finally happened. The first naughty kiss. What are your thoughts? Please do share them!!!