|Chapter Four|

"Aish, jincha!"

Mone threw down her messenger bag and textbooks, dumping all her school contents onto the dining table. Tiredly, she slumped down into a chair and pouted, burying her face into her arms. "Kim Jong-in is the biggest brat I've ever come to know!" she cried horrendously. She glanced up to meet her brother's amused and twinkling eyes. "How do you hang out with him so often? Don't you get frustrated?"

Myung Dae merely shrugged. "I think Kai-hyung's pretty chill." The younger sibling smirked up at his sister, leaning in towards her. "I just might take after him for hanging out with him so much, noona," he teased.
Mone raised her arm to smack her brother, but was quickly held back by her father, who made it evident that his two kids were acting severely immature. "Just leave him alone-"
"Appa!" Mone whined. "I'm his tutor!"
The elderly man pursed his lips thoughtfully nodding. "Then, yeah, you have no choice but to endure it."

Myung Dae broke out into laughter, sniggering at his sister's wide gape. "Appa!"
"Noona, just calm down. He's only teasing you because you're smart-"
"You trying to call me a nerd?" Mone inquired with a threat leaking into her tone. She scowled, resting her chin on her hand.
"I didn't mean it like that; maybe he's just jealous and is trying to find a way into your head so he has the upper hand."
"What would he need the upper hand for? Kai-shii's popular, talented, and has way more friends," Mone mumbled childishly.
"Yeah, but maybe he wants to be smart," Myung Dae shrugged. "Hyung's a nice guy. Just give him a chance."

"It's been three weeks! He's gotten nothing but chances!" Mone negated in a complaining tone. "Myung Dae-ah! I'm your blood-related noona; you're supposed to side with me!" Mone continued to cry after her betraying little brother as he casually shrugged his shoulders and nonchalantly made his way into his bedroom.

"There's nothing I can do for you, noona; Kai-hyung is a nice guy to me... so he's your problem, not mine."

The following day, Mone waited patiently at the regular rendezvous spot, quietly enjoying her novel when a piece of paper is shoved into her face angrily. She swipes it away, glaring at her perpetrator, only to come face to face with none other but Jong-in himself. "Can you explain this?" he inquired rudely, ing the paper back into her face.

The white paper was stained with red pen marks. Not circles marking that the answer was correct, but X's marking the answers incorrect. Mone's eyes widened profusely, and her jaw dropped out of instinct. "Y-yah!" Her voice rose into a high squeak as she continued to screech at her student. "Wh-what is this?! Why do you have every question marked wrong?!"
"You're my tutor, you tell me!" he argued. The enraged look in his eye obviously blamed Mone for the mishap. His nostrils were flared with intense agitation; Jong-in ran an exasperated hand through his thick, black tresses. "Fix it."
"I'm doing what I can!" Mone shouted defensively. "It's not my fault you're being the here, okay? If you had just listened and did your homework, and paid attention to my lessons, you would've passed this with flying colours!"

Mone heaved deep breaths, trying to calm her increasing rage. She furiously glared at Jong-in, pointing an accusing finger at him. "We're going to make our tutoring sessions longer. And instead of three days, we'll just meet every day."
"Are you crazy?! I can barely stand seeing you in the hallway!"
"You think I like the idea of tutoring you?!" Mone cried ferociously. "My reputation could drop because of your horrible grades! I'm just trying to help, okay?!"

Jong-in repeated the gesture of running a hand throug his hair. "You swear you can raise my grade?"

"If I can't bring your grade up to at least a solid B by the end of this term, you can do whatever you want to punish me," Mone declared. "I promise you at least a B.. you just have to listen to my lessons and do homework and cooperate with me, okay? We'll meet an hour everyday after school.. and during that hour, we have to be amiable; we have to work together, okay? Outside of that one hour, you can be as rude and as disgusting with me as you want. I'm just asking for one hour of your cooperation." Mone stuck out her hand. "Deal?"

Jong-in stared at it reluctantly, evidently hesitant.

"You position at Seoul Elite is at risk," Mone claimed persuasively. "And I don't want to be blamed for your expulsion, so we have to work hard from now on.. together. Okay?"

And finally, Mone felt Jong-in's rough hands envelope her slim fingers into an agreeable handshake.

"Deal."

Myung Dae raised a brow at Jong-in as he walked into the cafe hall with a broad smile stretched across his lips. The young Kang sibling stared curiously at his hyung, giving Jong-in a quick inquiry about his cheerful mood.

"Your sister.. earned me a B+ on my English quiz today," Jong-in replied with a giddy grin.

Myung Dae's eyebrows flew to his head. "Seriously? She hasn't given up yet?"
"Why would she?"
"Well, hyung, she was complaining about you the other night.. I just assumed she had enough of you."

Jong-in smirked at this. "Girls can't get enough of me, what are you talking about, Myung Dae?"
Myung Dae only shrugged, smiling back at his hyung. He gave Jong-in a quick congratulatory pat on the shoulder and urged his head to his sister, who was sitting alone at a table, furiously typing away on her laptop. Several textbooks and notebooks lay beside her and in front of her; anyone could obviously tell that the girl was busy. "She may be busy, but you should give her a thanks," Myung Dae stated. "She deserves at least that."

Jong-in shook his head. "Nah, I'll just do it later, when I meet up for our tutoring session."

Jong-in smirked. "It'll cause a scene," he finalized. "And she obviously doesn't look like she wants to be disturbed."
A hand met Jong-in's shoulder. "It's as if you care."
The blonde that met Jong-in's eyes smirked even wider at Jong-in's surprised expression. "I don't, but you see, Kris-hyung, if I go disturb her over something as stupid as a thanks, she might cut off my left testicle. And.. I need that, you see, to engage in several activities with my ladies," Jong-in demurred humorously.

Kris only shrugged, laying off immediately. "Whatever you say, Kai."

Jong-in however, turned his head to stare back at Mone, to find her eyes planted on none other than Kikwang himself. He noticed a silent sigh escape her lips before she rested her chin on her hand, resuming her tasks on her computer. Jong-in scoffed to himself, suddenly forgetting that he didn't want to disturb her; he strolled over to her coolly, smoothly taking the seat beside her. "If you keep staring like that, he's gonna notice what a creep you're being, pabbo."
Mone glared. "Why do you care?"

Jong-in snorted, "Who said I did?"
"Exactly, so scram. I'm trying to work."
"Work on what? Your delusional fantasies of hooking up with Kikwang?"

Mone slapped his arm hard, glaring at him, who only smiled cockily back at her. "Don't go crushing on useless guys like him, Mone-ah."
"Who are you to say that? Speak for yourself!" the young girl returned.

Jong-in smirked. "I am speaking for myself."

Mone's eyebrows knitted in confusion, but her glare remained. "Aish, you confusing brat," she murmured under her breath. "Don't you wanna leave?"

Jong-in shook his head, making himself comfortable at the table by brushing her notebooks aside to make room for his arms to rest on the table. "Nah, I'd rather sit here and bother my tutor. Her reactions to everything are too humourous to pass up on."

Mone opened to send him a witty retort, but quickly shut it, deciding he wasn't worth her time right now. She averted her gaze to her laptop and continued to work on her essay. "Jackass."
"You know, if you keep coming up with nicknames for me, Mone-ah, people might start thinking we're going out-"
"Aish, jincha!"

She glared at the self-absorbed male in front of her. Pabbo!