“WHAT?!”

Jessica’s piercing high screech was heard the next day from all the way inside my bedroom. I peeked out the door to see the commotion and saw that she was standing in front of Taeyeon who was saying, “Sorry, but it’s the deal. Your turn to clean the dorm.”

“How do you expect me to clean the WHOLE place???”

From across the living room Seohyun interfered. “Hey, I had to do it last two weeks.” She rolled her eyes, grabbing her purse from the dining table.

Jessica slumped her shoulders back with a sigh. “Can’t I at least have a partner to help?” she begged.

Taeyeon shook her head with a guilty expression.

“Sorry,” she slung her handbag over her left shoulder. “But the rest of us have schedules. See ya.” She winked, walking out the dorm with the rest.

“But!”

Slam!

The moment her protest was denied, Jessica groaned and slumped down of the dusty couch that pretty much need some vacuuming. When I noticed that the whole dorm was silent, I walked out, walking towards the living room.

“You know…” I said, surprising her at the same time. “If you want, I could help.”

She blinked once with her head held up to meet my eyes. She gave it a thought and stood up from the couch.

“Ok then,” she clapped her hands together. “You’ll do the washing, the dusting, the mopping, and the sweeping, and I’ll-”

“Supervise?” I arched a brow and crossed my arms. She paused with half opened. “It’s your chore.” I said. She gave out a deep sigh and slumped her shoulders. “Look, come on.” I tried to reason with her while thinking of something to say. “Let’s do it together.”

She raised her brows. The word ‘Together’ was nowhere in her dictionary. But, it was better than nothing.

I started off by grabbing two mops and handing one over to her. She held it as if she was holding the nastiest thing in the world. Her expression was worth a thousand words.

Mopping the floor of the place took 35 minutes. I skipped a second to settle the laundry. I threw them all inside the washing machine and told Jessica to pour in the soap while I carried on with the mopping.

“Uh… Which button is it again?” I heard her shout. I sighed and threw my head back.

Ok, maybe letting her settle the laundry wasn’t the best thing. But at least she didn’t flood the place.

So, mopping, done.

Laundry, done.

Vacuuming, done.

Dusting the couch pillows? Done.

Though there were still lots to do. But within two and a half hours, the place of spotless.

“Finally!” Jessica breathed as she slumped down on the couch.

While she decides to relax, I walked outside the balcony to do a mini workout after all the cleaning. I walked up towards my punching bag and started throwing a couple of punches.  

Jessica sat up to peek and asked, “You know, you could just go to the gym instead of getting that thing.” She said.

I stopped to breathe slowly and shook my head. “Nah, I hate public places.”  I told her and continued to punch the bag restlessly.

One punch with my right hand, one punch with my left. I counted.

Stepping back an inch, I tossed a kick with my right foot. I realized it got Jessica blinking for a while.

“How’d you learn to kick like that?” the question escaped from her.

I shrugged. “I’ve always known how to ever since I was a kid.”

“How old?” she asked.

“Twelve?”

Her jaw dropped but she didn’t bother to say anything. Or at least she couldn’t.

“Why?” she finally managed to ask.

“Hm?”

“I mean, why did you learn?”

I took a second to manage my explanation.

“Well,” I began; stopping for a moment to take in a deep breath. “I used to have ‘bully’ issues back in school,” I said as I went back to give a couple of punches again. “So from then I began to defend for myself.”

She rolled her eyes. “You could’ve just rat out on those bullies to your mom.” She said.

I paused. “My mom’s not with me anymore.” I managed to say an