Reaching Kairi’s house was easy, but getting her to open her door for us was like moving a mountain.

“Kairi!” I slammed my palm on the wooden door. “Would you just wake up, you lazy piece of !!?”

Woohyun widened his eyes and I ignored him. “That’s how you talk to Hoya too, right?” I muttered and continued my river of curses. “KAIRI INADA!”

“WHAT?”

It was The Grudge Part 4. Standing in front of us was a petite little porcelain doll with her hair falling on her face like silk curtains, similar to the ones that my grandmother had once insisted on keeping till her death. “Not one family member deserves this beauty!” she had shouted. Eventually they were torn down by her sister, who had found them too heavy for an Indian summer.

Kairi’s left eye peeked at me and slowly rolled over to stare at Woohyun. The latter gave a curt bow and in a soft voice, said, “I’m Nam Woohyun. Sorry to disturb you, it’s just that Saya wanted to—”

“IT’S AAALRIGHT!” Kairi flipped her hair behind her shoulder and beamed at him, winking at me when he passed by us and sat on the couch. “He’s gloomy,” she had whispered. “That’s y!”  I shook my head when Kairi pounced onto the marble table top and took a sip of orange juice from the bottle itself. Woohyun raised an eyebrow but controlled his expression when Kairi started speaking.

“So,you’re Nam Woohyun? If I had known you know English, then I wouldn’t have bothered with the Korean language classes at all!”

“Oh,” Woohyun murmured, genuinely amused. “You took Korean language classes?” He cleared his throat and said (in Korean), “Did you sleep well?”

Kairi grinned and nodded. “Neh!”

“Gosh Kairi, just because the girls in the drama speak like that, doesn’t mean…”

“Oh shut up Saya! YOU only forced me to watch one episode of 100 Points Out Of 100 once, remember? Too bad the show got cancelled. I LOOOOVE Lee Joon!” She skipped away from the counter and landed on her toes, raising her palm towards both of us and saying, “You guys stay here, alright?” She then raised her thumb in the air and sang, “I’LL BE BAAACK!”

“She’s worse than Hoya,” Woohyun commented once the shower started running from upstairs. I shook my head, then smiled. “But that’s good, isn’t it? These two would be perfect for each other.”

I was given ‘the Woohyun’ until an exclamation broke the silence. “You’re setting them up!” I snorted and said, “You’re smart.”

Woohyun blew out air, puffing up his cheeks and opening and closing his mouth repeatedly. Finally, he muttered, “Saya, have you lost it? Hoya would NEVER go for a girl like Kairi.”

I furrowed my eyebrows and poured some water for myself. “Why?”

Woohyun took in a deep breath and said, “They’re similar in the wrong ways. Hoya loves going with the flow whereas Kairi looks like someone who is too presumptous, someone who would never budge from her stance. Right?”

I bit my lower lip. Woohyun was right. But why was he being so judgemental? “They’re not kids, Woohyun. Let them meet, I’m telling you, they’ll get along like a house on fire! They’ll find a comfortable likeness in each other!”

Woohyun shook his head and stood up. He slowly walked towards me and in a low murmur, said, “You’re crazy. We should just introduce them to each other as our respective friends. You don’t know Hoya, I—”

I scoffed, making Woohyun stop. “I DON’T know Hoya? I’m sorry Woohyun but people change. Hoya is not a kid anymore, I know he feels lonely everytime we’re together. It’s like whenever we’re with him, he feels afraid that he’ll always be a third wheel to us! Kairi will understand his impulsiveness, they can sort out the flaws later as long as they are attracted to each other from the very beginning!”

Woohyun scrunched up his nose. “Hoya doesn’t feel lonely! He’s perfectly fine!”

I placed my hands on my waist and gulped down the contents of the class. “Well then, you obviously do not know much about Hoya, do you?”

Woohyun chuckled and said, “You’re just being too…you’re trying to lower a bucket into a bottomless well. You’re reading between the lines on an empty notebook. There is NOTHING to make an effort on, whether it’s you or Hoya.”

“Just let your friend date, I don’t understand why—”

“He’s got issues, okay?” I paused and waited for my boyfriend to continue. “Hoya has got huge commitment issues. He always messes up! Hoya doesn’t date!”

I was about to explode when Kairi jumped from the staircases. “Ready!” she chirped and dragged us out onto the porch. “For tonight’s dinner, we need to do some shopping, both for Saya and that friend of yours, what’s his name..”

“Hoya.”

“Howon.”

I stared at Woohyun. What’s wrong with you, I mouthed. Hoya hated having people call him by his real name. My boyfriend pursed his lips and opened the door for Kairi. He closed the door and looked at me. I opened the door and making sure my voice was sharp enough, said, “You’re not always right, Woohyun,” and slammed the door close.