Kai enters a mood of quiescence, so you don't bother to pester him with more questions. You get the feeling he wouldn't want to entertain your curiosity, either, so you keep your mouth shut and let yourself be driven to an unknown place. Your excitement chills your veins, and you raise your expectations, but you're afraid of what could happen if what you get isn't what you had wanted.

What is it that you want, anyway? A random date? That's asking for too much. Kai ... you don't even know how he feels about you. There are times when you think he likes you, times when he lingers for too long and looks at you for too long, and then there are times when he says the rudest, meanest things, and you berate yourself for having misinterpreted his actions.

Maybe everything will be confirmed today.

You finally look out the window to find that Kai has pulled into the school's parking lot. Confused, you give him a quick glance, but he doesn't acknowledge you. You want to ask him if this is the place he had meant, and you deflate, thinking maybe he's being his usual, frank self and has decided to bring you back to the dorms.

But, no, you realize, you're wrong. After parking, he quickly gets out, and you struggle to keep up with him across the parking lot. He doesn't say a word, and you know he expects you to follow him, but you still feel strange for lagging in his wake. He strides past the dorm building, however, and you jog forward to catch up to him, matching your pace to his. You pass girls doing their homework outside, and although they give Kai flirtatious, blushing smiles, he doesn't take note of them. He continues to walk purposefully toward the class building, and although you wonder what on earth could be there, you don't ask. 

He doesn't go inside. He walks around the school building, heading for the back. It occurs to you that you've never seen the back grounds of the class building before, and you doubt anyone else has, either, since the campus is practically surrounded by a thick mass of trees. You start to get suspicious, and the rate at which your heart is beating doesn't help the anxiety you're starting to feel, but you trust Kai. You trust him, and you want to know where he's taking you.

"You're gonna love this place," Kai speaks up. This makes you smile, because he's assumed something about you. He believes he knows enough about you to know what kind of things you'll like. And that means ... that means he's been paying attention to you.

"What is it?" You ask, still skirting the outside of the building. 

"Well ... we used to have like, a mini park back here," he starts to tell you as he steps over a twig. The trees on your right loom over you. A park? Between a school and a forest? "That sounds weird, I know," he adds, as if he's heard your thoughts. "But we had a gazebo and everything ... for social events we had. Because this school has tons of money to spend. Anyway. They wrecked most of it, they were going to turn it into some sort of extension for the school building, but ... they ended up leaving it alone. And ... well, see for yourself," he says, pausing to look over his shoulder before he turns around the corner of the building.

You take a step forward and almost bump right into him. You mutter an apology, and after regaining some calm, you look up to see that there, behind the school building and in front of the thick conglomerate of trees, is a wide, glittering lily pond. Ripples course through the water, making it seem as if an endless amount of stars are shimmering just beneath its surface. Lilies ranging from the color of pink to royal purple are scattered across the top, and a cherry tree, its blossoms vibrant with the tinge of off-white pearls, stretches over the side of the pond. Overlooking all that beautiful, magical scenery is a lonely, black bench, which seems to be flecked with morning dew.

"How can anyone," you whisper, "not know this is here?"

"Because we're not allowed here," he smirks. Startled, you turn to him, but he waves your concerns away. He approaches the bench, and after some thought, you sit beside him, making sure to put a comfortable distance between his leg and yours.

"And yet we're here," you point out, staring at the three - no, two inches - that separates him from you.

"That's the thing, though. Nobody is going to catch us. People here don't care about stuff like this anymore. They just care about money," he mutters. 

You don't know how to reply to this, so you change the subject and say, "You come here often?"

"Yeah, when I do my homework." You stare at him for a few seconds until he finally turns to you, a funny look on his face. "What?"

"You do homework?" You can't help but ask. After all, Kai has a reputation for barely getting passable grades. And yet, he says he does homework?

Realizing what he's said, he bursts out laughing, and just the smile, the sound, the sight of Kai laughing makes you happy. You find that, more and more, he's smiling. More and more, he's casting away that hard shell he's formed around his heart. More and more, he's showing you bits and pieces of himself. 

"Look, I do my homework, I just don't take my tests," he says, still shaking his head. "Tests are stupid."

"That's some logic you have there," you reply, grinning. "But, okay. Say you do your homework all the time. So you come here practically every day, then."

"Mm," he responds. "I bring my music player ... listen to music. Do homework. Sometimes, I take a nap here."

"A nap."

"Yeah, a nap," he says. "You know. It's when someone sleeps for a short time."

"Mkay," you reply, holding back your laughter.

"What? What did I say?" 

"Nothing," you tease. "Alright, alright. So continue with your story."

"I wasn't telling a story," he protests.

"Well, continue with whatever you were saying."

He narrows his eyes at you rather playfully. "Well, as I was saying, I come here a lot. But ... " his bantering mood shifts to one more thoughtful, and he lifts his head to look up at the clear, blue sky. "It gets ... loud here sometimes. Just ... I don't know. Because it's just me. All of a sudden, I can hear everything ... in my head. I guess it would be nice to have someone to talk to ... like right now." He turns to you, a small smile on his face. "You could come here, you know. Anytime you want."

You're incredibly happy, but you don't want to show it, so you nod as calmly as possible. "You'd let me? Don't you have homework you'd rather do?"

"No," he says, missing your cajoling tone. He looks straight into your eyes and easily says, "I'd rather be with you."

You're saved from stuttering a response when he continues, "Plus, if I wanted to do homework, I wouldn't have told you to come. So just ... just come, okay?" He says, standing up and looking everywhere, everywhere but your face. He busies himself by fastening the buttons on his sleeve, doing and undoing them. "I gotta go. But ... yeah. Tomorrow. Or something." He turns away, leaving you alone on the bench.

Before he disappears, however, you call out, "I'll definitely come!"

Surprisingly enough, he blushes and walks away with his head ducked in embarrassment. Kai ... step by step, he's letting you in. Little by little, he's allowing his walls to shatter.

You smile at this and turn back to the tranquil pond before you. You'll be staying here for a bit longer.