"Look at him."

I let out an annoyed sigh before glaring at Gongchan. "I thought we settled the fact that Jinyoung is not a robot."

Gongchan rolled his eyes and took them off of Jinyoung on the other side of room to look at me. "I know that," he said dramatically, "but he's still so flawless." He let out a long dreamy sigh as he turned to look at him again.

"You should man up and ask him out before some other idiot does," I muttered under my breath, scrolling through my phone for something to entertain me.

"W-what?" Gongchan stuttered, his face turning completely red, "I don't like him like that." He bit his bottom lip and began fiddling with his fingers.

I simply rolled my eyes but didn’t reply because at that same moment, Jinyoung came back to the table with a couple of books in his hand.

"These should probably be good for your book report," Jinyoung said to Gongchan with an innocent smile. "I picked out some of my favorites."

"Thanks," Gongchan mumbled before snatching one of the books and trying to hide his obviously blushing face behind it.

"Is something wrong?" Jinyoung asked, concerned as to why Gongchan was acting weird all of a sudden.

"Don't worry about him," I said, looking up from my phone for a second, "He's just dealing with what some people would call a ‘high school crush’.”

Jinyoung blinked in confusion before shrugging his shoulder and picked up one of the books to read as well.

I will admit, Gongchan’s little crush on Jinyoung was quite cute. Whether it was actually a high school crush or just an admiration for the older male, it was nice seeing Gongchan always tagging behind Jinyoung like a loyal puppy. And Jinyoung didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, it seems as though he grew fond of the younger male.

I wasn't sure as to why Gongchan and Jinyoung began to sit with me in the library on a regular basis, but I honestly didn’t mind. They were actually quite entertaining to be around and time seems to pass by much faster whenever I’m with either of them.

"Oh, did you guys hear?" Gongchan suddenly said as he looked up from his book, but made sure he didn't make any eye contact with Jinyoung. "We're going to have a new student."

"Didn't you say that a few weeks ago?" I asked with a frown. This wasn’t the first time I heard about a new student that never actually transferred to the school.

"Yeah but something happened that he needed to wait for a bit before actually transferring here."

"That's good," Jinyoung said, not even bothering to look up from his book, "Hopefully he's a student that can bring the school grades higher rather than the opposite."

"I doubt that the school grades can get any higher, seeing that most of the students here pay others to do their work," I muttered.

Jinyoung was the only one who chuckled. Unlike the rest of the school, Jinyoung wasn’t rich. But unlike me, who was only able to get into this school by my uncle, Jinyoung actually work hard on his grades and managed to receive some kind of special scholarship that allowed him to come here. But to keep his scholarship, Jinyoung needs to have a 95 average in all his classes. Hence, the reason why he’s always studying in the library during his only free period.

"Not all students are like that," Gongchan tried to defend, "I don't pay people to do my work." Gongchan, on the other hand, was rich.

"Which explains why you get straight C's." Jinyoung chuckled at the pout on Gongchan's face before slightly ruffling up his hair. "I'm joking. Besides, your grades have gotten better since I started helping you."

Gongchan's pout didn't fade but his blush returned.

"But anyways," he said, trying to get back on the topic, “Since he doesn't have any friends here, except for me, I sort of promise he could hang out with us."

Gongchan made sure to especially look at me while he said this. He probably thought that he needed permission first before inviting anybody to sit with us. Which I don’t blame him for. I wasn’t too kind to either Gongchan or Jinyoung when they first began sitting with me. I always gave them the cold shoulder, in hopes that they’d get the idea and leave me alone. I’m sure that Jinyoung had a feeling, while Gongchan was just completely oblivious to everything. But eventually I got used to having them sit with me that I stopped minding their company.  

I sighed. I wasn't so thrilled with the idea of another person joining our group. That just means another annoying person added to the table. But I supposed I could make an exception. Besides, the kid was going to be new and he probably won’t have any other friends to talk to.

"So, it okay if he sits with us?" Gongchan asked after a couple of seconds.

"Whatever,” I muttered, bringing my gaze back to my phone.

Jinyoung smiled as he went back to reading his book. "Hey, it might be nice to have a new person added to our group. You know, bring some life into our boring conversations."

“Are you calling us boring?”

“No, Gongchan, I’m not. I’m just saying that something interesting could happen.”

"I guess so. Oh! And maybe we can actually start sitting in the cafeteria instead of the stupid library."

"No thanks," Jinyoung and I said at the same time.

"Nerds."

--

I silently opened my locker, placing my books inside without taking a glance at Jinyoung who was standing right beside me. I tried not paying any attention to Jinyoung, who was giving me an odd look as I was organizing my school bag and figuring out what books to take home.

It was the end of the school day and I wasn’t in any mood to deal with any of Jinyoung’s odd “thoughts”. Even though it has only been a few weeks since I’ve first talk to him, it became a habit for Jinyoung to tell me something new and random he thought of during the day. Yesterday he began explaining to me how the world would be if inanimate objects could talk.

For a really smart kid, he has a really odd way of thinking.

"Are you ok?" Jinyoung asked, instead of jumping straight into another new odd thought of his.

I looked over at him and frowned, “Yes,” I slowly said, raising an eyebrow at him.

"Are you sure? You seemed a bit distracted last period."

"How so?" I asked, closing my locker door and fully turning to him. I, myself, didn’t think I was being distracted. Then again, even though Jinyoung has an odd way of thinking, he’s still able to understand and  figure things out pretty quickly.

"Well, you were constantly checking your phone as if you were expecting a call or something,” Jinyoung said, the concern look on his face not once disappearing.

My frown deepened. "That's not true."

"Sandeul, you looked at your phone screen over 40 times. I should know. I counted."

I rolled my eyes and started my way towards the school’s exist. Jinyoung walked besides me, but he didn’t take his eyes off of me. I would have found it weird, if I wasn’t already used to his weird tactics. I swear, it’s like I’m always stuck being around the weird people. Why can’t I just find a normal person for once?

"I wasn't expecting a phone call," I mumbled under my breath, throwing my school bag over my shoulder to get it more comfortable.

"Hm. Then was it a message?"

"I guess," I muttered. In all honesty, I was expecting at least or text from Baro. But I received  nothing.

It's been about two days since the verbal argument at the restaurant and Baro hadn't tried contacting me even once. The last message he sent me was a simple ‘good night’. And I wasn't going to try to send him a message because why should I? I was the one who got snapped at. The least Baro could do was give me a proper apology or something. But still, I spent the past two days checking my phone every other minute for any missed calls or messages from him.

"Oh," Jinyoung simply responded. The two of us finally reached the schools exist and Jinyoung fully turned to me with a smile. "Alright then. I was just wondering, since it seemed as though you were getting a bit stressed out. Don’t worry, though. I’m sure whoever you’re waiting for will message you soon. Anyways, my ride is outside, so I'll see you tomorrow."

"Sure," I mumbled before Jinyoung waved goodbye and headed outside where his mother was waiting for him. I bit my bottom lip and thought for a moment.

Jinyoung was right. I shouldn’t have to stress over something stupid as a message from Baro. If he wants to message me, then he will. I don’t have to check on my phone every second just to make sure.

I glanced up at the wall clock that was hanging over the doors and sighed. I still had about 10 minutes to catch up with the school buses and avoid walking home. But then again, it was pretty nice outside. Nice enough to walk home, despite it being a 40 minute walk.

Maybe I could even stop by Jaehyun’s deli.

-

I was right about it being a nice day to walk home. The only thing that annoyed me was my school bag. I was having a hard time trying to get the strap to rest comfortably over my shoulder and would have to shift it every now and then. It made me wonder how girls could carry purses without their shoulders aching sooner or later.

I was walking a few feet behind these two other boys who attended the same school as me. I didn’t know their names, but I recognized their faces. Both of them were upperclassmen.

"I heard there's going to be a new kid," the one on the left said, stretching his arms as though he was getting ready for a workout.

"Same here. I was in the office when he came to talk to the principal or something," the other said, throwing his school bag over his shoulder.

"So you saw him? How does he look?"

"Not bad. His hair is a bit too much though."

I frowned for a minute. Obviously the new kid must have had dyed hair or something if it was considered as ‘too much’. The school has a rule against dyed hair. They claim that it’s a distraction and any student entering must have his natural hair color. Or at least a color that makes it look natural.

They continued to talk but I didn’t bother to listen any more. I honestly could care less about the new student, seeing that I was going to be forced to meet him whether I wanted to or not. And I don’t.

I wasn’t stupid. I knew I should be worried about the new kid. There was a high possibility that the new kid would be Jaehyun, seeing that he’s getting ready to switch schools around this time as well.  But I doubt it was Jaehyun. Jaehyun only decided on switching schools about a week ago while the rumor of the new kid has been going around for almost a month now.

But just to make sure, I was going to ask Jaehyun about the school he decided on transferring to. If it is true that Jaehyun is the new kid, I’m going to have to be at least mentally prepared.

-

I let out a sigh of relief once I found myself standing right in front of Jaehyun’s family’s deli. I entered the building and wasn’t at all surprised that it was completely empty. Not one customer could be seen. I wonder if they get customers at all.

I wasn’t sure why I even bothered on walking home in the first place when I know that I hate the outside weather. Actually, I just hate the outside world.

I glanced over to the counter and I wasn’t surprised to find Jaehyun practically sleeping on his job. He had his elbow on the counter and his head was resting on his hand. He was practically drooling all over his hand and I held the urge not to throw a bucket of water at his face.

I slowly walked up to him, a little amused at the stupid look Jaehyun had on his sleeping face.

“Idiot,” I mumbled before tapping a little hard on his forehead and letting out a scoff. “Hey. Are you supposed to be sleeping on the job like this?”

Jaehyun stirred a little. He scrunched up his face a bit before opening his eyes and looking up at me, confusion written all over his face. “Ouch,” his softly said and rubbed the spot where I tapped on and frowned. “Deul?”

“Yes.”

Jaehyun stared at me for a few seconds before a soft smile spread on his face. He look… cute. “This is nice way to wake up in the morning,” he mumbled, “Seeing your face.”

I raised an eyebrow and chuckled. “Morning? It’s already the afternoon.”

Jaehyun blinked for a couple of seconds until he immediately stood up and looked around. His cheeks turned into a light shade of red as he looked around, probably trying to find a clock to see the time. “Did I just sleep through my whole shift?” he wondered out loud while running his fingers through his light brown hair.

“Does it really matter? I asked, “Do you even get any customers throughout the day?”

“Hm,” Jaehyun scratched his head for a second and shrugged his shoulders, “Not really. Hardly anybody comes here during school hours. It’s usually when my dad is on shift that we get customers.”

“Now that I think about it, shouldn’t you be in school yourself?”

A huge grin grew on Jaehyun’s face as he shook his head. “Nope. Not until Monday that is. That’s when the whole transferring should be settled and then I’ll officially have to start going to my new school.”

“Speaking of school,” I mumbled, rubbing the nape of my neck with my left hand, “There’s a rumor in my school that there will be a new student coming in. Do you think that it could be you they are talking about? They even said they saw him.”

Jaehyun blinked and furrowed his eyebrows at me. “Doubt it,” he said, “I haven’t entered the school during school hours.”

“I thought you went on a tour two days ago.”

“They changed to after school. Something about a meeting and there was no one to help show me around,” Jaehyun shrugged before looking over at the cash register next to him and subconsciously began to whip it.

“I see.”

Jaehyun looked up at the wall clock again and then smirked. “Hey, my dad is about to take over in a few minutes. Want to grab something to drink afterwards?”

-

We were sitting at the old staircase again, sipping on some coffee we got from the nearby convenience store. Just like old times, we were simply watching the cars drive back and forth, not really caring about what was going on.

Ever since I entered the Deli, I haven’t even once checked my phone to see if I received any messages. Not from Baro or from either of my parents, but frankly, I didn’t want any from them. Baro was the last person I wanted to think about at the moment and I was fed up with my parents arguing all the time.

But it seemed as though Jaehyun must have noticed something with up because he glanced over at me with a concern look on his face. “I was wondering, are you still taking to Baro.”

I tried to hide a frown. “Not really.”

Jaehyun hummed in response. Though, it wasn’t hard to see the amused look on his face.”

I was a bit upset, to be honest. I didn’t like the idea of Baro and Jaehyun disliking each other both for the same reason. They both feel like the other is going to one day turn their back on me and I find it completely ridiculous. They’re both are being hypocrites.

We stayed quiet for another couple of minutes before Jaehyun decided to bring in another topic I was hoping to avoid thinking about.

“I was also wondering, how’s your parents? Are they still…” he lingered the last word as he waited for me to finish his own sentence.

“Yes,” I mumbled, taking a sip from my drink. “Though, I try not to think about it.”

“Man,” Jaehyun said with a sigh, “I would have never thought a fight could last this long.”

“Over a month,” I pointed out. “And I’m still not sure what exactly they’re fighting over. My dad hasn’t been home for a while either. He keeps coming and going."

Jaehyun remained silent, staring at a black car that was slowly driving by. I glanced over at Jaehyun and slightly frowned. I knew what Jaehyun was thinking. He was thinking of all the ways that he could think of to help me. He used to always do that. Whenever I would be upset, he would write down a list of things we could do so I could feel better. But since he didn’t have a pen and paper, he was probably mentally writing it down.

“I think I’m going to give up.”

Jaehyun blinked, being snatched out from his thoughts, and looked over at me. “What do you mean?”

“I mean, I give up on them. I don’t care if they’re fighting anymore.”

“But they’re your parents.”

“And I’m their son. But they obviously don’t care about that fact since they care about their little fight more than they do for me.”

Jaehyun frowned for a bit and scooted over, so that our thighs were touching each other. I flinched for a moment, not enjoying that fact that we were touching, but chose to ignore it as Jaehyun threw an arm around my shoulder.

“Hey, remember how your parents used to fight around the same time we used to hang out?”

I frowned at Jaehyun and raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, so?"

“And remember I would always find you standing in front of my house with an annoyed look because of it.”

“Yeah…”

Jaehyun his lips and began playing with his thumbs. “I was happy whenever you would come to my house. Even though you only did because you wanted to get away from your parents fighting, I was still happy because you at least thought of coming to my house. So, in a way, you thought of me even for a moment.”

"What are you trying to say?" I muttered, giving Jaehyun an odd look. Seriously though. He sounded as though he was stealing lines from a corny drama.

"N-nothing." Jaehyun stuttered, his cheeks turning red for the second time that day. "Just... Just forget I said anything, alright?"

I continued to stare at Jaehyun for a bit before finally sighing and letting everything that just happened fly right out of my mind.

Jaehyun and I soon began talking again, avoiding anything that involved Baro or my parents. So at the end, he just told me storied that happened the past two years. Next thing I knew, it was already passed 6 pm. I silently cursed to myself as I realized I never called my parents to let them know I was coming home late. Though I doubt they even noticed.

I said a quick goodbye to Jaehyun before practically dashing to my apartment building. It was only until I was about a block away that I realized I could have just called from my cell instead of having to run home.

I rolled my eyes at my own stupidity the same time I made turned a corner. But the moment I turned, I suddenly felt myself colliding into somebody else and almost knocking myself off my feet. But luckily at the last minute, the other person grabbed me by the arm and pulled me back and helped me retrieve my balance.

"I'm so sorry," the other said, "I didn't see you there."

I glanced up at the person, who was still holding onto my arm. He was a boy around my age. He was just a few inches taller than me and there was really nothing special about his face other than the fact that he resembled a look like Gongchan.

"It's... It's okay," I mumbled, not taking my eyes off of him.

"Well then, I guess I'll see you later. Again, sorry about that." He flashed me a bright smile, that also resembled Gongchan's before patting me on the back and walking off.

I blinked in confusion before turning around and watched as the stranger continued walking down the street, not bothering to turn around once.

Odd. He looked away too much like an older version on Gongchan and it was quite scary actually.

I don't remember Gongchan ever mentioning that he had an old brother. And even if he did, I find it odd that he'd be hanging around the middle class area of town rather than the rich area. But then again, I shouldn't even care. People can do whatever they want with their lives.

I simply shrugged my shoulder to myself before turning around. But once I turned around, I let out an unmanly squeak as I saw that somebody was standing right behind me, giving me a huge heart attack.

I jumped back a bit and grabbed onto my chest, staring at the person like he was second away from chopping my head off.

"Oh, hey there, Deullie."

I blinked in confusion until I finally recognized the person standing in front of me. "Baro?" I asked, slowly removing my hand from my chest and looked at Baro up and down. "How long have you been standing behind me and why do you look so dead?"

Though it was getting pretty dark out, the dark bags under Baro's eye were completely noticeable.

His hair was obviously not combed and quite frankly, he smelled a little.

"I..." Baro glanced at the ground before looking back up at me, "I went to your house right now. But you weren't home. Your mom seemed upset. You should go home and let her know you're still alive."

I blinked in confusion and then frowned. "Why did you come to my house?"

"Because you wouldn't answer my calls."

"You never called though."

"Oh. I thought I did."

I raised an eyebrow as I noticed Baro was trying to avoid eye contact. He was looking past me rather than at me. I waved my hand in front of Baro's face and frowned when he slightly flinched.

"Baro, is everything alright? You seemed kind of... jumpy."

Baro blinked a dozen times and quickly nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm just tired. That's all."

"You've been acting weird these past couple of days."

"Yeah, I know. I'm sorry." Baro let out a long sigh and closed his eyes. "Look, I came over because I wanted to apologize. I know I've been acting weird lately and I'm sorry." He opened his eyes again and he finally looked at me straight in the eyes.

I remained silent as I continued to stare at Baro.

Normally, I wouldn't have believed his apology. But the look of his eyes clearly showed that he was being serious. I don't know what was going with Baro. But obviously something was eating at him and he was trying to deal with it on his own.  I honestly felt bad. Although I've only known Baro for about a few months now, I know Baro wasn't the type who stressed over things. When we first met, he had that outgoing personality that could get annoying at times but you had to love it. And slowly, he was becoming the complete opposite. It has been a long time since I've seen him flash an actual smile and just the thought of him doing it again brought some kind of odd feeling in my chest.

He was smiling less and actually being… normal.

I'm not sure what exactly he’s going through, but I knew that I didn't want him handling it on his own.

"Baro," I mumbled, bringing my gaze to the ground.

"Yeah?"

"If... you know, if there's anything going on... you can call me or something. I don't mind."

I was expecting Baro to give me a simply ‘thank you’ or a small smile as a reply, but he did something completely different.

He grabbed my arm and pulled me into a tight hug.

I tried to push him off, not really happy with the thought of physical contact, but he had a tight grip on me. The hug was actually beginning to hurt me, but I didn’t say anything.

We awkwardly stood there, Baro’s arms around me while my arms were still hanging by my side. I hesitantly raised my arms, unsure as what to do. But I soon found myself gently patting Baro’s back as a way to comfort him, I suppose. I wasn’t quite sure since I’ve never been in this kind of position before.

After what seemed like forever (though it has only been a couple of seconds), Baro randomly let me go. He stared at me for a long time before sighing and rubbing his face with one of his hands. “I-I’m sorry,” he mumbled, “I’ll be going. I-I’ll text you later.”

Before I could even respond, Baro walked right past me. I watched as he walked down the street and I couldn’t help but let out a long silent sigh. Whatever is going on with Baro was beginning to worry me, though I’ll never admit it out loud.

I decided just to get home and wait for Baro’s text before I start overthinking things.

It wasn’t long until I reached my apartment door and I let out a sigh of relief, realizing how long the day had been and I was both mentally and physically tired. I still had a handful of homework to complete and I still haven’t changed out of my school uniform.

I entered the living room, casually tossing my school bag onto the couch. I’ll just do my homework after an hour of resting.

“Junghwan, is that you?” I heard my mother’s voice coming from her bedroom. I froze on the spot and mentally frown. Since when did my mother ever call me by my first name?

“Yes,” I slowly answered, walking towards her bedroom. I stopped at the door as I saw my mother taking out a bunch clothes from the closet. I noticed that some of the clothes in my parent’s cabinet have already been taking out.

I looked at the pile of clothes in confusion before looking at my mom. She didn’t notice I was standing at the door, and if she did, she wasn’t acknowledging my presence.

“What are you doing mom?” I asked as I continued watching her empty out her bedroom closet.

“Taking out your father’s things,” she simply responded, not even glancing over at me.

“Why?”

She froze for a second, letting her hands fall to the side as she was holding onto one of my father’s jacket. She let out a long sigh before turning towards me. “We’re,” she paused for a minute as she continued to stare at me before she continued; “We’re going to take a break from each other.”

“Break? You mean…”

“Your father will be going away for a long while.”