CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE: She's a puzzle

{ "Why do I feel like I'm missing something?" } * Click for BGM!

In fast-walking motion, Hyejung strode down the bustling school halls with her cheeks puffed with air. Now inside the dance studio, Hyejung strode over to the office door on the right-hand side of the room. As a few students continued to practice their routines, Hyejung raised her hand up to the door. 

Knock Knock. 

"Yes, come in." Yuni, who is known as Miss Lee from the students, responded.

Hyejung deftly turned the knob and opened it. Once she stepped inside, she quietly closed the door behind her.

"Good morning, Hyejung," Yuni amiably greeted, sitting straight at her desk. "I suppose you took interest in my proposal from the other day."

"Yeah, I guess so." Hyejung mused, sauntering over to the young teacher. The tomboy's eyebrows suddenly knitted together when she realized she wasn't the only student present in the room. An all too familiar boy was sitting on one of the two chairs in front of Yuni's desk. He turned around, giving Hyejung a slight smirk. 

Hyejung skeptically scoffed, walking over to the free seat beside the lad. "Yah, Kai! What are you doing here?" she frankly questioned, plopping down into her seat.

Kai chuckled. "It's good to see you too, Hyejung," he good-naturedly replied, making the tomboy roll her eyes. Kai shook his head with a sly grin.

Yuni chuckled, grabbing the attention of the two students. "Don't fret, Hyejung. Kai's not invading on us." she assured, taking out a couple of printed papers. "Now, let's get down to business. You two know why I called you out, right?" 

"Well, you said to me there was some sort of dance competition you had in mind," Hyejung spoke up, folding her arms over her chest. 

Kai nodded, adding, "Yeah. You said the same thing to me too." 

"And that is correct!" Yuni responded, placing her folded arms onto her desk. "Unlike the competition you two previously participated in, this one is kind of like a mini tournament. It's a rather large competition with much more contestants and prizes."

"Prizes?" Hyejung repeated, curiosity taking over her and Kai. "What kind of prizes? Blue ribbons?" Kai suggested inquiringly.

"Oh, those will be given out I'm sure," Yuni nodded. "But the real eye-catcher is that the first place winner receives a tremendous gold trophy and a large, generous cash prize."

*Cash prize..?* Hyejung instantly received thoughts of Aunt Jae's poor health condition. *Ah, yes! I think this is just what I need.* her heart lifted in hope, a secret grin forming on her lips. 

"So, considering that you called both me and Hyejung, I'm guessing this is another duo competition," Kai inquired, a twinkling smile on his plump lips.

"That's right. I talked to Mr. Gong about it and we decided that you two would be perfect for it," Yuni grinned her pearly whites. "It involves a bit of traveling to other large schools, but I'm sure you two will be just fine together." 

"Together?" Kai and Hyejung hesitantly repeated in sync.

Yuni lightly giggled. "Don't worry. You two seem to get along quite well." Hyejung exchanged a differing glance to Kai, who was just showing off a playful smirk.

"Now for safety purposes and other particularities, I need your parents to sign just a couple of papers. We'll get that done next week and you two will be official contestants," Yuni explained, taking a quick sip of her coffee. Kai nodded in understanding.

Hyejung bit her lip before hesitantly asking, "Um...what if you don't have any parents?"

Kai whipped his head directly towards the tomboy, questioningly. He surely wasn't expecting this as his eyes slightly grew in size. Yuni almost lost grasp of her coffee mug, but she quickly placed it down before any unfortunate events occurred.

The woman cleared , gazing carefully into Hyejung's solemn eyes. "Well...I'm sure you currently have a guardian right, Hyejung?"

"Yeah. Suho's parents. H-He...he's my cousin, and I'm staying with his family," Hyejung quietly responded, nodding her head.

Kai's eyebrows furrowed with numerous questions running through his mind. Right at that moment, he realized that there was indeed more to the carefree Hyejung than what meets the eye. The revelation felt rather sudden. 

*So that's why she never mentions her parents...but didn't she tell me?* Kai felt his face fall, his lips curving slightly downwards. 

"Okay then, that's fine. You can bring them here next week to sign the papers," Yuni answered, deftly placing her papers into a drawer. "Then I suppose you two are in?"

"Sounds good," Kai said, nodding his head along with Hyejung.

Yuni smiled, placing her hands on her lap. "A