“Kaena, I’m really sorry,” Sehun told you over the phone. You could hear him struggling not to cough.

“Sehunnie, don’t worry. You’re sick, so just get some rest, yeah?” You smiled, hoping he could feel it through the phone. “I’ll pass the message along. Do you want me to bring you anything on my way?”

“No, I don’t want you to get sick, Noona,” he said, giving into his cough.  “See you on Monday."

You hung up the phone, sighing to yourself. Sehun had gotten sick so you were on your own for the second weekend in the row. Not that it was a problem; you just enjoyed his company.

“Umma! Appa! I’m going now,” you called to the back room. A moment later, your Appa appeared, giving you a smile.

“Have fun, princess,” He said, giving you a hug. “Do you have your phone?” You held it up for him to see.

“Keys?”

“Yes.”

“Bus Pass?”

“Yes…”

“ID?”

“Yes, Appa!” You whined, pouting. “I have everything. You worry too much!” You gave him a peck on the check before pulling on your shoes and heading out the door. He watched you with an amused look on his face before returning to the back room.

The day was a beautiful one. I was fairly warm, and you were glad to see that many were out enjoying the good weather. It would be a twenty-minute bus ride to the place that you needed to be, and it was nice to have time to think. A conversation you'd had with Baekhyun earlier that week had been running through your mind and you needed to figure out what he meant.

“Baekhyun, I honestly don’t know why you guys insist on his liking me. I just can’t see it,” you said with a shrug.

“Yeah, but that’s just his personality,” Baekhyun tried to explain.

“Some personality,” you said, rolling your eyes.

“But it’s more than that too,” Baekhyun pushed on. “Why do you think he likes spending so much time with you? Yeah, he likes bothering you, but he’s also very protective of you. He hates it especially when people talk bad about you.”

“People talk bad about me?” You asked, whipping around to face him, shock written on your face. Sure you weren’t the most popular or the nicest person on the planet, but you didn’t think that people had anything bad to say about you.

“Well, not since Kai shut them up.”

“Oh. I didn’t know,” you mumbled, genuinely surprised at the news.

“That’s because he doesn’t want you to,” Baekhyun said, feeling a bit of relief that he was getting his point somewhat across. “He cares about you a lot more than he lets on.”

“I don’t know what to say.”

“You don’t have to say anything, Kaemi-ah,” Baekhyun said, patting you on the shoulder. “Just try and understand him a bit more, okay? If you just let your guard down for a moment, you’ll see what I mean.”

The conversation had confused you, and you were anxious to fix the feeling of what you thought to be unease in the pit of your stomach. What did he mean by letting your guard down? How could you do that without letting Kai take advantage of your vulnerability? It was frustrating, but hopefully things would work out, Baekhyun and the others were wrong about Kai feelings, and things could go on like normal.

When you snapped out of your thoughts, you realized that you were almost at your destination. You could see the three-story brick building coming up, and you rang the bell to get off at the stop just in front of it. A few minutes later, you were standing at the front gate. You barely stepped onto the property when you heard you name shouted, and the sound of hurried little feet running towards you.

“Kaemi-Unnie! Kaemi-Unnie!” A little girl of about six ran up to you, pigtails flying behind her, stuffed rabbit gripped tightly in hand. “Unnie, you came! I missed you!” You held out your arms and scooped her up into a hug.

“I missed my little Min Jung, too,” You said, her little smile contagious. “And how can I forget Tokki?” You gave both Min Jung and her stuffed rabbit a kiss.

“Where’s Hunnie?” Min Jung asked, looking around you in search of Sehun. “I missed him last time.”

“I’m sorry, sweetie. He’s sick this time, but he said that he misses everyone a lot, too,” You explained, to which Min Jung pouted cutely. “But let’s go find your Oppa. Where did he get off to?” Min Jung pointed to the building, and you let her back down on the ground. Hand in hand, you walked inside, and were greeted by a chorus of voices.

“Noona! You came!”

“Kaemi-ah, so good to see you.”

“Unnie!”

“Hello everyone,” You said, letting Min Jung go off to find her brother. “It’s good to be here again.” Several little kids crowded around you, all trying to give you a hug at the same time. Their bright faces and large smiles sometimes made you forget that they were orphans.

“Noona!” You turned to see Min Jung’s brother, a ten-year old named Ji Hwan, running towards you. He managed to pass the smaller children and hug you around your waist. You patted his head.

“It’s good to see you, too, Ji Hwan,” You said, smiling at the younger boy’s affection. “You look taller. Did you grow?” He let go of you and blushed, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly.

“I don’t think so, Noona,” He said, smiling shyly. It was adorable how he got so flustered. “You look nice today.”

“Thank you,” You said. “Now, let’s see about the rest of these little guys. Should we go out and play?” You were answered with a chorus of cheers and a mini-stampede out to the backyard of the building.

“It’s good that they like you so much, Kaemi-ah,” the orphanage coordinator, Song Se Ah said. “It’s good to see them smiling so much.” She gave you a pat on the back and sent you out after them.

You played with everyone: running around, letting them catch you in hide-and-seek, climbing the play castle. It was all great fun. Min Jung and Ji Hwan filled you in on their week and you helped Min Jung decide what dress to wear to school that Monday. It was just after a pre-lunch snack time, when everyone had returned to play when you heard Se Ah calling you.

“Yes, Kaemi-ah,” she said, jogging to meet you in the yard. “There is someone here that says that Sehun-ah sent them to help you. He says you know each other from school.” You nodded and followed her thinking that Suho or someone would be waiting in the foyer.

“Hello, Kaemi,” you looked up to find Kai standing there, a smirk tugging at the edges of his lips. You could feel the color draining from your face. He was the last person you wanted to see right now.

“H-hello Kai,” you said quietly, unable to tear your eyes away from him, but at the same time wishing he was an illusion.

“Ah, good, so you do know each other then,” Se Ah said with a clap of her hands. “I’ll just leave things to you then, yeah? Kaemi, if you could just show him where the children play, and then maybe you two can bring everyone in for lunch in about an hour.” You nodded dumbly, and watched her with a blank stare as she walked away. Kai turned to you.

“Fancy meeting you here, Doll Face,” he said. I snapped you out of your shocked state and you scowled.

“Don’t call me that,” you said, walking back towards the door. “Of all the people he could’ve sent...” Kai chuckled at you, and swung an arm over your shoulder, which you promptly shrugged off.

“Don’t worry,” he said. “I wanted to be here. It means I’d get to be around you.” This gave you pause, for it was uncharacteristically Kai. But you brushed it off with a roll of your eyes, and pushed that thought to the back of your mind.

“Just, shut up and listen for a minute, okay?” You said, stopping just out of earshot of the kids. “These kids are all really special to me, and they are all very energetic. Just play with them and be nice. In and hour, it’s lunch time. And then story time for the little ones and then nap time/down time for everyone.” He stayed silent the whole time, nodding along with your directions.

“Alright,” he finally said. “Sounds easy enough.” You breathed a sigh of relief.

“Good, let’s go then,” You lead him to the children, who stopped mid-play to stare at Kai. Min Jung called out to you from the top of the play castle.

“Unnie, who is that?” She waved her stuffed rabbit in his general direction. Kai smiled up at her, and she blushed and turned away. You had to keep yourself from rolling your eyes; even with the little ladies, he was a hit.

“This is my, uh, classmate,” you said, avoiding the word friend. “He’s here to help out instead of Sehun. Is that okay with everyone?” A chorus of yeses in return, and several kids rushed up to Kai and pulled him away to play a game. He looked back towards you as he was being led away, but you simply smirked and gave him a short wave. You felt a tap on your leg. Looking down, you could see Woo Hyun, a little boy of about four, looking up at you with wide eyes.

“Yes, sweetie?” you asked, crouching down to his level.

“I have to go, Noona,” he said cutely. You grabbed his hand and of you two tottered to the bathroom indoors. While you were waiting for him outside the bathroom, Kai walked up to you.

“I don’t suppose you need someone to wait while you go, do you?” You said sarcastically. He grinned and leaned against the wall next to you.

“So you do this every weekend?” He asked. You nodded.

“As long as I’m not sick,” you said. “Sehun is usually here, but he’s sick this weekend. And so I’m stuck with you.”

“You say that as if it’s a bad thing,” he said with a pout. Another unexpected answer.

“Well you aren’t exactly my idea of a good time,” you said back, unsure of how to react to his reaction. He looked at you with an unreadable expression.

“Do you really hate me?” He asked. You stared back.

“Well, I-” The door to the bathroom opened and Woo Hyun tottered out, looking around for you. You looked at Kai, who just continued to give you that unreadable stare. Woo Hyun grabbed your hand and you followed him back outside, leaving Kai staring after you. When you reached outside, you took a seat on a bench and watched everyone play, the conversation you had with Kai replaying in your head.

“Unnie!” Min Jung ran up to you. “Is that Oppa your boyfriend?” You felt the blood rush to your face as you struggled to find an answer. A simple no would have sufficed, but for some reason, the word escaped you.

“Yes, I am,” you looked behind you to see Kai leaning on the bench, his face just inches from yours. “I’m her boyfriend.”

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AN: Okay, so this is major cliffy. Updates will come soon!

-Aeru<3