After the incident, our assurance company had conducted an investigation to find out what had caused the gas leak. According to them our house insurance (meaning the rebuilding of our house) wouldn’t be covered if it was found that we were responsible in any way. Thankfully the gas leak had been caused by faulty piping meaning the house contractors were to blame. I felt relieved the insurance company was going to take care of the house reparations and also pay us back for our lost belongings. It meant my dad wouldn’t have to spend a dime on anything, and with the restaurant and everything else we’d lost, I was worried he wouldn’t have been able to manage.

“We’ll be staying here for the next couple of days”, Dad said. I looked around the expensive looking hotel. Three weeks had passed since the gas leak. With no luck in finding a short term apartments so quickly in Seoul, we had been forced to live from hotel to hotel. This was the fifth hotel we were saying at and compared to the last one, it looked way better. However with the luxuriousness of the room, I couldn’t help but be worried. 

“Dad”, I called. “Are you sure we can afford this place?”

“It’s short term”, he explained. “Some old friends offered for us to live with them until our house gets rebuild.”

“They seem nice”, I sat on the bed.

“I don’t want to  accept without trying to look for a house with my own ability first”, dad drank some water. “So I said I’d think about it. They gave me until tomorrow to make my mind. If I can’t find any other option I think I will have to accept. Are you fine with staying at another families place?” 

I didn’t know how to feel about staying at a stranger’s house but at the end of the day that didn’t matter to me. I had watched my father struggle and try everything to find us a place to stay with no success. If he was comfortable enough to to stay with these people, I would to. I had to.

Next Day

“Did you find a place yet?” Lime asked as soon as I stepped foot in the classroom. I was immediately surrounded by my nosy classmates.

“Well I slept at another hotel”, I sat down at my usual place and laid my head on the desk. I didn’t feel good today. I had slept badly and just felt miserable inside not to mention lonely. My deskmate Tao, who was also my best friend since kinder garden, was still not at school. He had taken leave for a music competition in China for two months now and was supposed to come back in next week or so.

“It’s nice to fill us in with your presence today Ji Eun”, Lee Tuk entered the classroom holding a cup of coffee and a bunch of books in his arms. He was insinuating to the fact that ever since the incident had happened, I had been present at school 10 days out of 15, which in all honesty was an improvement from before.

“I’ll work harder”, I greeted back to show that I had determination and ended up sounding like an old granny. 

“Okay”, Lee Tuk put his books down on his desk. “Cut Ji Eun some slack today.” Lime and Alice sat down. “A lot has happened this month. Right, Ji Eun?”

“Don’t remind me teacher”, I answered. Yes, a lot had indeed happened this month. I got humiliated by Kai in front of the entire school which everyone was still talking about. And also, my house had exploded. 

I really needed to talk to Tao. He had always been emotional support to me and I hadn’t spoken to him or heard his voice for weeks. I could talk to Alice and Lime but they wouldn’t be able to calm me down or make me me feel better. I could maybe talk to Se Hun. I looked at Se Hun, another close friend, and saw that he was doing some arm exercises. Who was I kidding? Se Hun was too obsessed with his muscles to even understand what I would be talking about. 

I looked over at Lu Han. Lu Han was busy drawing something in the sketch book I got for him as a birthday present a year ago. He too wouldn’t manage the task.

Lunch time

“Cheer up”, Se Hun said after taking the last bite of his lunch. After his muscles, another thing Se Hun was obsessed with was food. Besides all of the obsessions, he was a normal guy with amazing dance and rap skills who cared about his friends. “You looking like that doesn’t suit you.” 

I looked at the food in front of me and sighed. When I entered the cafeteria earlier, the students had immediately started gossiping about me. Before the common room incidents, I was pretty much nonexistent. However now I was known as either the poor girl from class 3d or the dumb girl from class 3d. It all depended on the person you asked and how they felt.

“Kai is here”, Alice whispered. 

I immediately looked towards the entrance and saw him walking in while holding a book in one hand and his other hand in his pocker. This would have been the seventh time seeing him after what had happened yet I still couldn’t get used to the fact that he still acted like he didn’t know me after what he’d done. Kai moved his eyes from his book and looked around the room, probably searching for an empty seat. His eyes even swiped by our table but they didn’t stop at our table for even an instant making me feel more invisible than I already was. Frankly, at this point I felt transparent. He knew I was there but he didn’t see me.

Kai grabbed a banana and headed towards our table, or so I thought when I spotted a tall and handsome guy with big eyes entering the room just a few steps away . My heart skipped a beat and a smile lit on my face.

“Why the smile?” Lu Han curiously asked. I literally jumped out of the chair and ran past Kai at full speed, think Usain Bolt during the Olympics, towards the tall guy.

“Oppa!” I called as I literally jumped on him to give him a hug.

“Easy there”, Tao wrapped his arms around me and his perfume surrounded me. He smelled good. “People are watching.” I hugged my best friend as hard as I could and then when I felt recharged I let him go.

“It’s so good to see you”, I said and stood in the food queue with him. “Why didn’t you tell me you’d be coming today?”

“I thought I was coming tomorrow actually”, he took a tray and plate. “Changed my plans after finding out some interesting things have been going on yesterday.” I blushed. I didn’t have much contact with Tao since he’d left but I had made sure no one had told him about any of the events at all as to not distract him from winning the contest he was on.

“How did you find out?” I asked.

”From the daughter of my mother’s friend’s son”, he answered.

“Wait what?” I asked confused at what he said. ”Your friend’s mother what?”

“I think it was the daughter mother’s f…”, Tao scratched his head. “Forget about it. The important thing is to finally know and see you’re okay.”

“Well I…”

“You can always come and live at my house”, he cut me off. I ignored what he’d said and served him some chicken. We then headed to the table I sat at before.

“Hi Tao oppa”, Alice greeted shyly. She always made me smile at how cute she could be around Tao.

“Hi!” Tao shortly greeted without even looking at Alice for more than a second. Of course he wouldn’t be Tao if he hadn’t greeted her like that. Instead he took a bite of his food and turned to me since we were having a conversation. “Where was I? Right, you can stay with me until you find a new house. There’s room for another person in my bed. It wouldn’t be the first time we share beds so it won’t be weird.”

Alice and Lu Han  were staring at us. I could see jealousy written all over their faces.

”You s…lept together?” Lu Han struggled to ask.

“It’s not the kind of sleep you’re thinking of”, Se Hun slightly hit Lu Han in the head and Lime laughed. “They’ve been friends since kinder garden, what do you expect? It’s a miracle they’re not dating.”

“Not that kind at all”, I said to Lu Han with a smile.

“Why do I suddenly feel jealous?” Alice mumbled to herself and pouted. I gave a reassuring smile. 

9pm

“Wake up Ji Eun ah”, someone called. I opened my heavy eyelids and looked around me only to see some blur. After hanging out with the guys in town right after school, Tao had been kind enough to drive me to the hotel on his motorcycle. Once in the hotel room, I had taken a quick shower and opened my school bag. I wanted to try studying so I took a look at the math homework we had. but practically died from boredom five minutes in and ended up throwing the book across the room. Instead I put some music on and  soon fell asleep. 

I rubbed my eyes and looked at my surroundings once again, trying to figure out where I was. I was sitting in the back of my father’s car.

“What’s going on?” I asked. ”Where are we going?”

“Do you remember those friends I told you about?” My father said.

“Uh”, I yawned.

“I decided to take their offer”, my dad sighed. “I didn’t want to risk you not having a safe place to stay in case I didn’t find anything.” I understood my father’s worries completely and nodded.

”It’s okay! ”, I answered. ”How did you get me in the car?”

“I carried you”, my father explained.

“Your back must have hurt”, I said. My father looked at me with a stunned face and we bursted out laughing. 

As l looked outside the window I could tell this neighbourhood was an expensive one. Although it was dark, it was hard not to notice the size of the houses were quite big. They looked twice as big as our old house before it exploded.

“What do your friends do for a living, again?” I wondered.

“I know”, my dad began. ”It looks extravagant but don’t worry, they’re nice people”, he left the car and I took a better look at the neighbourhood from the window. My father pressed the doorbell to the house closest to the car several times.

“This is the Kim’s residence”, a woman answered. I could tell she was happy by the sound of her voice.

“Tae Ri ah”, my father said. “It’s me Jae Hyun.”

“You’re here?” The woman, Kim Tae Ri, sounded overjoyed. “Honey, they are here!” I heard how she abruptly hung up and turned to my father with a question mark on my face. I was curious to see what type of people where living behind that door and to finally be able to put names yo faces. 

The front door soon opened and a youthful looking woman with straight and full hair that reached her shoulders and big, white and shiny teeth stepped out. How I knew she had big, white and shiny teeth? Her big smile was covering half her face.

“Tae Ri!” My dad and the woman hugged. I tipped my head on the side and watched closely. This was the first time since I was born, that I saw my father hugging another woman. I frankly didn’t know how to feel about it.

A handsome man also appeared after the woman. He was tall with a head full of grey hair and dressed an i grey cashmere sweatshirt and a pair of navy coloured dress pants. For some reason his demeanour and the was he looked seemed eerily familiar. It was as if I had seen him somewhere before.

”Don’t I get a hug too?” The man asked. His voice was smoother than I anticipated it to be. My father let go of the woman and smiled at the man. “Dong Ho!” The two men gave each other a brotherly hug. “Look at you. You still look the same.”

”The same goes to you”, the man called Dong Ho said. ”How long has it been since we last saw each other? 16 years? No, 17 years.” I noticed that Mrs. Kim was moving around as if she was looking for someone.

“Where is your daughter?” She asked. My eyes widened when my father looked at the car.

“Ji Eun ah”, my dad called. “Come on, out.” I took a deep breath and pat my face down to wake up before stepping out of the car and bowed to the Kim’s.

“Good evening”, I greeted.

“Oh my god”, Mrs. Kim gasped. ”You look just like your mother.” I genuinely smiled as I looked up and bowed again as a form of thank you. I always did smile like that when someone said I looked just like my mother. I had grown motherless as my mother had died when giving birth to me so it always meant a lot to hear that. “You’re just as beautiful as her.” I bowed once again. “Why don’t you guys come in?”

“I brought some things with me in the car”, my dad said.

“You don’t have to worry about that”, Mr Kim smiled. “My son and your daughter can help each other out.”

“I think Ji Eun knows him”, Mrs. Kim said. “You guys go to the same school.” 

Hold on! Was I going to be living with someone from school? Someone who probably knows about everything that had happened to me in school? This was going to be so embarrassing! 

The grownups entered the house leaving me outside as I opened the back of the car. I tried to figure out who Mr and Mrs. Kim’s son might be.  First off, he was a Kim which meant… I heaved out a breath. Him being a Kim didn’t matter because there was about 50 Kim’s at my school already.

I took out a backpack from the car and put it on my back. It was more heavy then I expected it to be but I still went for the second bag. My goal was to hurry inside before the Kim’s son would come so I didn’t have to have an awkward conversation with him. 

As I struggled to walk to the front door with a heavy backpack on and another heavy bag in my hands, I lost my balance, tripped and fell on my back. Thankfully the backpack kind of acted as a shield and I didn’t get hurt. 

I let out a sigh filled with feelings of being done with everything. Why did my life so much? Nothing, absolutely nothing was going right. Had I done something terrible in my past life to deserve this?

I heard a few steps approaching closer and grew wary. He was here! I tried to get up but failed miserably due the heavy weight of the bag. Yet again, I was going to humiliate myself in front of this guy I didn’t even know. I tried to get up again but failed. Eventually I just gave in and stayed on the ground. There was no point to try anything. I was just going to let this guy find me like this.

Finally, the footsteps stopped and a loud sneer was heard.

”Of course this would happen to you,” he said. A shadow was cast over my face and when I looked up to see who it was, I gasped.

”You?” I said accusingly. 

He grabbed me by the arms and swiftly pulled me up so I stood on my feet.

“You’re welcome”, Kai said and looked at me as nonchalantly as a person could. I rested my hands on my waist thinking of something smart to say when it hit my mind. Kai was a Kim! I cursed inside. Why did my father have to be friends with this Kim family out of all of the Kim’s there were in Seoul? Why?

As I was too busy feeling sorry for myself, Kai took the bag that had caused my downfall and turned towards the house but stopped to look back at me.

“You have a little bit of drool on your mouth”, he said and pointed to the left corner of his own mouth. “Right there.” He disappeared inside leaving me alone with a boiling hot heart, and all I could do was let out an annoyed scream before heading inside myself.

A/N:

So this was a long chapter but finally, she's in Kai's house.  I hope you guys are as excited  to see what fun things are going to happen between these two.

Also thank you so much for subscribing already.