“I’m going to die.”

“No you’re not.”

“I’m dying.”

“Stop it.”

“I think I’m dead.”

“Stop exaggerating.”

“I’m dead.”

“I’m going to kill you.”

Baro chuckled as he sat up on his bed and gave me a slight pout. “How can you kill a person when they’re already dead?”

“You’re not dead,” I said while rolling my eyes, “You’re just sick.”

“Well I feel like I’m dead.” Baro threw himself back on his bed and let out a low groan.

I rolled my eyes again and leaned against his desk.

The moment we arrived to Baro’s place, the first thing he did was show me his room. He looked like an excited little kid while he grabbed my wrist and pulled me upstairs. It’s like he never had anybody over his house before.

Baro’s room is surprisingly normal. For someone like him, I was expecting this place to be all colorful and full of weird furniture. But his bedroom looks like it came right out of a furniture catalogue. The only thing that seemed Baro-like was the dozen of girl group posters hanging on the wall and a couple of trophies he got when he played soccer during elementary school.

“When are you going home again?”

I looked over at Baro and shrugged my shoulder. “My mom said she’ll pick me up once the rain lightens up and the roads are less dangerous. But it doesn’t seem like the rain will go away anytime soon.” I glanced out the window and frowned. I honestly feel bad for my parents, seeing that they’re probably going to be stuck at work for a while.

“Good.”

“Good?”

“I don’t want you to go home yet.”

I rolled my eyes and looked around his room. “Where are your parents?”

“Work.”

“Oh.”

Baro sat up and glanced over at me. “Yeah. They’re not coming home until around midnight, probably even later than that. Not because of the rain, if you’re wondering. They always work that late.”

“I wasn’t wondering. But thanks for letting me know anyways,” I mumbled.

It became quiet between the two of us as I continued looking around Baro’s room. As much as I liked the fact how normal his room was, I hated it as well. It just didn’t fit Baro at all.

“When you leave, I’m going to be by myself.”

“Oh.”

Baro nodded his head and then hopped off his bed. “Are you hungry?”

“Not really-“

“Great! I’ll make you something then. I’ll be right back!” He flashed me his usual grin before jogging out of the room.

I sighed and sat down on his bed. I went back to looking around the bedroom, this time paying more attention to the posters hanging on the wall. There were too many to be considered healthy, all of them only full of girl groups. It is safe to say that Baro is a little too into females.

After a few minutes, I lost interest with the posters and headed downstairs to see what was taking Baro so long. It shouldn't take so long just to make something to eat.

I made my way to the kitchen and frowned. Baro was singing to himself as he was preparing some sandwiches. He is a pretty horrible singer. 

“Is this what you’re going to make me?” I asked as I walked over to him and looked down at the bread and all the other stuff sitting on the table.

Baro looked up at me and smiled brightly. “Yep.”

“Oh.”

I continued watching Baro as he made the sandwiches and continue singing off tune.

“You’re a horrible singer.”

Baro looked over at me and smirked. “What? Are you trying to tell me that you can sing better?”

“Yes.”

“Then sing for me.”

I scoffed and snatched the other finished sandwich off the table. “Like I’ll ever sing for you. I’d rather be stuck in a room with Shinwoo for a week than sing for you.”

Baro chuckled and finished his sandwich before taking a huge bite from it. “Whatever. I doubt you can even sing that good.”

“Hey,” I snapped while waving my sandwich at him, “Don’t underestimate the voice of Lee Junghwan. I might not talk a lot but I sure have one hell of a voice.”

Baro chuckled again and rolled his eyes. “Prove it.”

“I will. One day,” I mumbled. I brought my gaze to the floor and took a bite from my snack. I just have to wait until second semester starts so I can begin vocal lessons. Then, after a couple of lessons and practices, I’ll be more confident to sing in front of someone that isn’t my mirror.

“Hey, remember how I was telling you about Haejung?” Baro suddenly asked. He took another bite from his sandwich and looked over at me.

I looked up at him and blinked. “The one who’s oddly attracted to you? Yes, I remember.”

“She asked me to be her boyfriend.”

“Well.”

Baro nodded his head and glanced down at his food. “I like her and all, but I don’t know if I should accept her request.”

“Oh.”

We stood there in the middle of Baro’s kitchen, munching on our food, mindlessly looking around for something to keep our attention on.

“Do you think I should?”

I glanced over at Baro and shrugged. “It’s your love life, not mine.” In all honesty, I didn’t see the point of Baro asking that question. I don’t think my say would be important. I don't even care about his situation.

Baro nodded his head a bit and then let out a chuckle, “I don’t think I will. Not yet. We’ve only been talking for a little while so I don’t know if I actually like her or not.”

I nodded my head and the two of us went back to eating in silence. After the both of us finished, we spent about an hour watching the television until we both just lost interest in it. Baro grabbed the remote and shut it off before looking over at me and smiled. “Let’s do something.”

“Like what?” I mumbled.

“I don’t know. The rain is so boring.”

“I’m just waiting until my mom comes and picks me up.”

“You’re boring.”

“It took you a while to realize that.”

Baro laughed and grabbed me by the arm, pulling me up from the couch and onto my feet. “I’m being serious, Deullie. I haven’t seen you for a couple of weeks. Let’s do something fun.”

“What can we do that’s fun and indoors?”

Baro just smirked.

--

 “I think I’m dead.”

“Stop exaggerating.”

“I’m totally dead.”

Baro let out a chuckled and grabbed my wrist, pulling me up from sitting in the fetal position on the living room floor and brought me to my feet. “Come on. It wasn’t all that bad.”

“Are you stupid?” I snapped, “You almost killed me!”

“I didn’t think you’d be so bad at mattress surfing.”

I rolled my eyes and hugged myself, “I didn’t know you had such a long set of stairs.”

“Yeah, the stairs to the basement are pretty long. But that’s what makes mattress surfing fun.” Baro grinned before tugging at my arm again, “You weren’t bad at indoor baseball.”

“I broke a lamp.”

“It's okay. We can get a new one.”

“Whatever,” I muttered, “Let’s just do something that doesn’t put our life at risk.”

Baro looked around the living room until his eyes landed on the television. “I guess we can watch a movie.”

“Sure. Whatever. As long as it’s not or anything.”

“What? Do I look like somebody who would have DVDs?” Baro asked, while pointing at himself and looking completely offended.

“I don’t know. Do you?”

“Of course not,” he said, “I have them saved on my laptop.”

-

He was right about not having any DVDs. Instead, we were stuck watching a chick flick because Baro wasn’t a fan of buying DVDs and the only movies he had in his house was from his mother’s collection.

“There’s no point in buying them if you can just watch them online for free,” he said while he put the movie inside the DVD player, “Besides, you only need to watch a movie once to be satisfied.”

He had a point.

The movie was a cliché story about two teens falling in love, but for whatever stupid reason, neither was able to admit their feelings until they turned into adults. But by then the male met another women and got married. Leaving the other chick broken hearted and is probably going to spend the rest of her life old and alone. What a happy ending.

It was the last 30 minutes of the movie, the main kissing scene, that Baro suddenly bursted out into a laughing fit. He grabbed ahold of my arm, giggling like a complete freak, and pointed at the screen with his other hand.

“What?” I asked, glancing at the television screen and then looking back at the laughing idiot. He looked really dumb.

“The kiss,” he gasped, gripping onto my arm even tighter, “It’s so freaking awkward. It’s hilarious.”

I glanced back at the television screen and raised an eyebrow. I’ll admit; the actors did look really uncomfortable during the kiss. And it was pretty funny if you think about it.

But apparently to Baro, it was the most hilarious thing he has ever seen. He wouldn’t stop laughing, and oddly enough, it wasn’t that annoying. Okay, it was but not as much as it should be.

I’ve seen Baro laugh before, but never like this. Not with his eyes scrunching up in laughter and tears practically flowing out. One hand gripping onto me like his life depended on it and the other was holding onto his stomach like it was about to burst any second.

“What?” I asked again, trying to pull my arm away, “What’s so funny about their kiss? It’s just a kiss.” I could feel a smile trying to form on my lips, but it took all I had to keep a straight face.

“I don’t know,” he said in between his laughter, “It was just too funny.”

It took a while until Baro finally managed to calm down but he still had that huge grin on his face, and was still giggling every now and then. “Man, that kiss was so bad.” he said with a sigh, still not letting go of my arm.

“The kiss wasn’t that bad.”

“Are you kidding me?” Baro let out a snort and rolled his eyes, “I could give a better kiss than that.”

“Oh, like you’re some kissing expert,” I muttered, rolling my eyes.

“Do you doubt my lips?” Baro said with a teasing tone.

“No. Just stating facts.”

Baro chuckled before lightly pushing me, “Whatever, man. I doubt you can kiss any better than me.”

“I’m not sure,” I said, pushing him back and then blinking a few times before looking back at the television screen, “I never had a kiss before.”

“What?” Baro let out a small laugh while shaking his head in disbelief, “You’re kidding right? You never had a kiss before?”

“I mean, I've had a few pecks before,” I mumbled, “But not a real kiss. Not like the ones those two had.” I pointed at the couple on the screen and frowned as I watch the female lead now crying because the love of her life was confessing that he’s marrying somebody else.

Suddenly, I felt Baro’s hand grabbed a hold on my chin and forced me to look back over at him. I raised an eyebrow as I watch a wide grin form on Baro’s face. “What?” I asked, slightly annoyed and slightly curious to see what was going on in that kid’s head.

Baro chuckled before leaning in and before I knew it, I felt his lips pressed up against mine. Baro let go of my chin and lifted both hands to cup my cheeks, tilting my head a little to the side to get better access and deepening the kiss.

 It didn’t last long, probably about four seconds or so, before Baro pulled away slightly with the grin back on his face.

“What was that?” I whispered, blinking in complete confusion.

“Your first real kiss,” he whispered back, his grin turning into a small shy smile.

I noticed his hands were still cupping my cheeks and I slowly reached up and grabbed ahold of both of his wrists. “Next time you kiss me,” I said in a soft voice before frowning, “I’ll kill you.”

Baro chuckled as I pushed his hands away from my face. “It’s your fault for doubting my kissing skills.”

“Doesn’t mean that gives you permission to kiss me,” I muttered. I crossed my arms against my chest and frowned.

“Aw, don’t pout, Deullie,” Baro said in a teasing voice and began poking my cheek, “It was just a little kiss. It’s not like we had . Unless, you know, you’re up for that too- ow!” Baro frowned and began rubbing his arm, “Why’d you punch me? I was joking.”

I rolled my eyes and crossed my arms again. “Idiot. I didn’t know you were so gay.”

Baro chuckled. “I’m not gay. I just wanted to see your flustered face. It’s cute, by the way.”

I resisted the urge to punch him again and just kept my eyes locked on the television screen. A couple of minutes passed before my cellphone suddenly began to vibrate. I took it out of my pocket and quickly checked and saw that I had gotten a text from my mother.

“Looks like I can go home,” I mumbled as I stood up and looked down at Baro. “My mom is outside waiting for me.”

“Wait,” Baro stood up as well and pouted, “So you’re leaving?”

“Yes.”

“But-“

“Look, I have to go. I still have homework to finish.”

Baro continued to stare at me with a pout until he finally sighed. “Alright. I’ll text you later.”

“Thanks for, you know, letting me stay here. I guess.” I awkwardly rubbed the back of my neck as Baro lead me to the front door.

“Anything for you, Deullie,” Baro flashed me a smile before opening the door for me. “And um, can you do something for me?”

I glanced over at him and shrugged my shoulder. “I suppose.”

“Can you keep the kiss, you know, a secret?”

I raised an eyebrow and blinked. “Trust me; I wasn’t going to tell anyone even if you wanted me to.”

Baro smiled again and patted my back, “Thanks. Talk to you later.”

“Sure.” I walked out of his house and jogged over to my mom’s car, which was waiting for me right in front. “Thanks for coming,” I said as I opened the door and quickly got inside. It was still raining outside, but at least it was clear enough to see the roads.

My mom just hummed and started the car. “Your idiot of a father is still stuck at work, so he couldn’t pick you up,” she muttered as she started driving home.

I bit my bottom lip and kept my eyes locked on the road. She was mad, and I wasn’t going to do or say anything to get her even more annoyed.

“This is what I hate about your father,” she said in annoyance, “Every time I ask him for a favor, he’s always using his job as an excuse.”

I sighed and reached into my pocket, taking out my phone. I mentally thanked Baro for letting me charge it at his house because now I have something to distract me while my mom is going on another rant about how useless my dad is. She’s been doing that a lot lately. I’ve learned to just ignore it.

Baro didn’t fail to text me the moment I left his house, and I was in the middle of texting him back when my mom suddenly grabbed my phone and snatched it out of my hands.

“What the-“ I looked over at her a frowned. “What are you doing?”

“I'm in the middle of talking to you,” she snapped, her eyes glued to the road in front of her,  “And when I’m talking to you, I expect you to pay attention. I don’t want you to turn into your father, ignoring me whenever I talk.”

“I was just texting someone.”

“Well, that person can wait.”

I sighed and crossed my arms against my chest, sinking into the car seat. I was lucky that by the time she started her rant again, we were already in front of our apartment.

I let out a sigh the moment I stepped foot in our apartment. I turned around and watched as my mom entered behind and held out my hand. “Can I have my phone back?”

“Oh yes,” she reached into her purse to take it out when my dad suddenly popped out of nowhere.

“Where were you?” he asked, eyeing my mother before looking at me.

“I could ask you the same thing,” my mother replied, crossing her arms and frowning. “I thought you were stuck at work.”

“I just got out.”

“Really? Because you told me you were going to be there for another hour or so.”

“I told you that an hour ago.”

I rolled my eyes, forgetting about my phone and headed straight to my room. Soon enough, those two were going to get in another argument and I wasn’t in any mood to be in a middle of it.

I just need a nap.

I... I'm sorry.

I have no idea what this is.