I must look so stupid right now. With no doubt, I must look like some tremendous idiotic girl with no brains. Hyosung came back to her senses after five whole seconds of staring straight ahead at the young man standing in front of her with gaping open, not aware about the extreme bafflement written upon her face. He was wearing a black, long sleeved shirt paired up with blue and white, patterned pajama pants... She was astonished by this new sight of him, admiring the fact that he looked good in even sleep wear as well.
Her insides  melted when she heard his voice, greeting the parents out of politeness.
When she finally realized where she was again, she picked her jaw back up and turned her attention back to her plate of food. She picked up her fork and with her head kept down and  her eyes set on her dinner, she started to act like she was eating again. However, she was sure that the boy had seen her face and probably knew who she was by now. Maybe he had already known about her from way back when she was first moving if his mother had known her name and possibly mentioned it to him.
She flinched a bit when she heard the chair which was located across from her move back with a creak and the only teenager in the room besides herself bend down as he took the seat.  She had forgotten that the only spot left for the last member of the household was positioned right front of her. Hyosung played with her food, occasionally taking small bites here and there with her head still down. She wasn’t planning on raising it anytime soon. She kept swapping at the bothersome bangs falling down upon eyes, wishing she had trimmed it before coming here but glad that she didn’t clip it. She liked the way it framed her face, and at the moment, partially relieved that it was keeping her eyes half covered, self conscious with the fact of another non-blood related teenager sitting there in front of her.
“So Soo Kyung, what school does your daughter go to?” the topic of conversation found its way to Hyosung, making her groan inside of her head. She really didn’t want people talking about her, especially with another teenager at the table.
“She goes to Eastwood High School. What about your son?” her mother replied to Mrs. Lee
“Omo! My son goes there too! Right Kikwang?” My heart skipped a beat with the hearing of his name from Mrs. Lee. This makes it for sure that I’m not hallucinating. The boy sitting right in front of me at 9:00 PM on a Wednesday night sharing the same meal as me is really Kikwang, The Lee Kikwang.
My eyes looked up to see him respond “Yes,”with a casual tone with no signs of recognition or excitement. However, in contrast, the two middle aged woman at the table started making a huge fuss over it.
“Wow, both of our children go to the same school! How were we so oblivious to this fact?” and then came the planning.
“When we have to attend school meetings and such, it’ll be fun because we can go together!” Kikwang’s mother pointed out in ecstasy.
“That will sure be enjoyable,” Mrs. Jeong responded and then took a sip of water.
“This is great!” Mrs. Lee continued on before turning to face her son from the other side of the table, “Hey, since you attend the same school, you must know each other already right?” she had a look of excitement in her eyes as her eyes went back and forth from me and Kikwang.
“Yeah, they probably do,” Mr. Lee added on.
My heart jolted when I found Kikwang suddenly looking at me, analyzing my face with his eyebrows furrowed slightly. He shook his head. “I don't think so,” he finally answered and went back to eating.
“Oh,” her mother sounded in disappointment, turning her eyes back to the parents and beginning on a new topic.
It took awhile for it to sink in. Wait, WHAT?! Did he just say, ‘I don’t think so?!’ Fury started boiling inside of her. Did he just say what I think he did when clearly, he knows who I am?! I mean... He sees me around all the time doesn’t he? And he even has some of the same classes as me! I mean sure, he sits in the front and I sit in the back so I’m not in view all the time... But still! And more importantly, don’t his friends bug him all the time about a certain girl these days... Specifically... ME?!
They ate for a while longer before everyone started to rise from their seats and head for the kitchen sink. Mrs.Lee insisted on not letting the Jeong’s wash their own plates since she felt that they were her guests and shouldn’t do so but Mrs. Jeong eventually got her way.. Kikwang was one of the first people to leave while Hyosung begged to differ. She cursed her unfortunate trait of eating slow in her head because it was what kept her longer at the table. She didn’t want to waste food and challenged herself to finish it all out of manners. She let out a sigh of accomplishment when she finally swallowed her last bite followed by a sip of water and rose from her seat, ready to make her way to the kitchen.
“You're done eating?” Mrs. Lee questioned when she arrived at the sink.
While turning the knobs of the sink, Hyosung replied, “Yes, everything tasted amazing!,” with a smile.
Mrs.:Lee  returned the smile, “Oh thank you dear. I’m relieved you liked it. It was worrisome trying to cook because of the fear that the food wouldn’t fit you and your younger brother’s taste.”
“Oh no, no need to worry about that! I loved everything today and I’m sure my brother did too. You’re too kind,” she spoke a mouthful, trying to reduce the kind woman’s worries.
After talking to Mrs. Lee some more and washing her plate, she decided to go up to her room and get some sleep when her stuff at the bottom of the stairs caught her eye. There were two items now. One luggage and a suitcase.Her dad must have brought it into the house.
With a struggle she managed to get each of the bags one step up the stairs when Mrs. Lee saw her while passing by and stopped to reprimand her. “Hyosung! Please no! Let my son do that for you! You're so small as it already is,” and before Hyosung could stop her, the mother opened and yelled, “Kikwang!”
“What?!” he responded from upstairs, his voice echoing.
“Get down here right now!” she said before giving me  a smile. “He should be down in a sec.”
“It’s okay Mrs.Lee. I can do it myself,” Hyosung protested, not excited about seeing her classmate once again. It would probably be rather awkward and one way or the other, she’d probably find some way to embarrass herself, being the klutz that she is.
“No, no. I’ll get him to help since you must be exhausted and overwhelmed with the moving and all,” and with that, the conversation stopped. It was too late to do anything about it now because the footsteps of someone coming down the stairs made their way into Hyosung’s ears. Oh no... She looked down at her feet, not wanting to risk the chance of her eyes meeting with Kikwang’s and then getting all flustered.
The footsteps came to a stop in front of her. She could see part of Kikwang’s bare feet sticking out from his slippers which was  a first since guys at her school normally didn’t change their shoe choice from sneakers.
Wait. Why did he stop here? Suddenly, she realized that she was blocking his way by standing on the first step of the staircase like that. She muttered “Sorry,” really low and then jolted off the stairs with a hop onto the carpeted floor.
“What mom?” he spoke with that deep voice of his, keeping his sentences short.
“Oh, can you help Mrs. Jeong’s daughter here with her luggage? She needs help moving it up the stairs.” Something inside of Hyosung was screaming, NO! I don’t need help! Why?! I could have done it myself... Your mom insisted...
But being a mannered girl, she said nothing. With a sigh and not looking at the girl, Kikwang took a hold of one of the pink, plaid luggage and Hyosung grabbed her suitcase and followed him as he walked up the stairs. The sigh that Kikwang had let out of his mouth didn’t fail to reach her ears. He’s annoyed.... He clearly doesn’t want to do this. Why did Mrs. Lee do this? Why?!
There was a deep silence as the two made their way up the three flights of stairs, none of them saying anything. The awkward silence was getting to Hyosung and all she could do to ease it was by yelling in her head. Why won’t he say anything to me?! Why is he so cold... Why is this so awkward? I want to go back home already!!
She couldn’t help but wonder what he was thinking. Was it as awkward for him as it was for her? She was sure that his heart wasn’t beating as much as hers. It was nerve wracking for her to even be this close to him.
When they arrived at her door, he finally spoke up, his words directed to her, making Hyosung finally stiffen up, “Do you need me to carry it into your room for you as well?”
Hyosung opened to reply but it seemed like her voice box wasn’t working. Tongue-tied with his presence, she shook her head no.
“Are you sure?” he asked for confirmation. She shook her head again.
Ignoring her response,, he made his way past her and toward the door. “Might as well take it in for you before my mother has a spazz...” and with that, he pushed past the door and into her room. Hyosung followed him in, surprised with the fact that he actually went in.
He dropped the luggage in front of the closet and then grabbed the suitcase from Hyosung’s hands and plopped it down there as well. “There, need anything else?”
Looking down, she shook her head again.
She was caught off by surprise when he suddenly asked the question, “Can’t you do anything besides shaking your head?” which made her head go up.
“I can!” she suddenly burst out, looking him in the eyes, and then to make herself look even more stupid, she clasped both of her hands on her opened mouth. Her eyes were wide as she stared at him and watched his blank face expression turn into a caught off guard, surprised one. Wait. What the hell? Why did I just burst out saying that randomly?
Feeling embarrassment flow through her and her cheeks starting to warm up, she attempted to walk away, to the left of him, not wanting him to see her red face when she suddenly felt herself falling. Darn it. I tripped! Over what?
Expecting to hit the hard floor with a thud, bafflement exploded inside of her when she didn’t. Instead, she found herself staring into the male, teenager’s eyes, mesmerized by his gaze. It felt as if though time had slowed down. She was looking up at Kikwang, one of his arms around her back and their faces separated by a mere few inches.