Kasumi’s POV

The next morning, I arrived at the gates earlier because my brother had library duties to do. So while he went to the library, I lingered behind to wait for the others. When they came, Woohyun kissed me softly.

I blushed, remembering what happened yesterday. I could still feel his hands on my . . . I looked away, my cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Woohyun murmured, “From now on, let’s tell each other anything about Block-B or Seohyun if we have anything to tell, okay? That way, it will show how much we trust each other and that we’re honest in this relationship.”

I nodded. “Sure.”

Then he smirked. “You were so hot yesterday,” he teased and I blushed again. He laughed lightly, giving me a secretive wink.

Unfortunately Hoya caught the wink. He glanced suspiciously at the two of us. “What had happened yesterday?” he demanded to know. “You guys look as if you guys have a secret from us.”

Woohyun pulled me closer. “It’s not for you to know, if it’s a secret from you guys,” he replied, sticking his tongue out at him.

Everyone tried to get us to tell them, but Woohyun clamped his hand over my mouth so I couldn’t say anything. But he didn’t have to. I wasn’t about to tell them, either, in case it gets to my brother, who would definitely overreact. Eventually, when they saw that we weren’t going to tell them, they stopped, but I knew that wouldn’t stop them from trying to guess what had happened.

I looked up and saw Block-B coming up to the gates. They were laughing and shoving each other. They haven’t noticed me yet, but I remembered the little detail about U-Kwon being my neighbor and knew that I had to tell Woohyun about it before he finds out. He would flip out if I didn’t.

“Oppa, there’s something I need to tell you,” I spoke up urgently, looking up to him as he glanced down at me.

“What is it?” he asked.

“Well —”

Block-B had noticed us and U-Kwon grinned at me. He lifted a hand up to wave and said, “Hey, there, neighbor,” before he winked and walked away with his friends to their first class and I cringed.

Oh man, I thought bitterly. I am going to be in so much trouble now. Darn that U-Kwon. Where is Myungsoo when I needed him to defend me? I didn’t dare to look at my boyfriend but then when I did, he wasn’t looking at me.

Woohyun was frowning slightly, staring after them. The other Infinite members looked confused, too, glancing at each other. I gulped fearfully when he finally turned back to me. “What did that guy mean by ‘neighbor’, Kasumi?” he asked me in a low voice. He gripped my arms hard, pulling me close. He looked menacingly at me. “Please don’t tell me that U-Kwon is your neighbor.”

It was cute that he was being possessive and jealous, but it was scary if you were up close to him like I was at the moment.

“That was what I wanted to tell you,” I replied weakly.

He sighed and I hugged him. “Life likes to be mean to me, huh?” he complained bitterly. “This is so not fair.”

I tiptoed to kiss him lightly. I knew he wouldn’t be happy about this, but at least he knew that I had tried to tell him. It wasn’t my fault that U-Kwon had beaten me to it. “I’m really sorry, Oppa.”

“I don’t accept your apology.”

I blinked, stunned.

He kissed my forehead. “But I will accept your apology for thinking you need to apologize for anything,” he went on and I breathed a sigh of relief. But then Woohyun flicked my forehead with a finger.

“Owww, what was that?” I complained, gripping the spot where he had hit me.

“That was for thinking you did something wrong when you did,” he replied, kissing there. “I’m sorry, did it hurt that much?”

I pouted and he smiled slightly but I knew he was still unhappy about U-Kwon being my neighbor. I buried my head in his chest.

I knew he didn’t want to make a fuss but the fact that Block-B seemed to be creeping into our lives was annoying him. I looked up and saw that the others were annoyed with the news as well. I shook my head.

I still don’t get why Infinite and Block-B hate each other so much.

Now with U-Kwon as my neighbor and with Zico as my tutor, I could tell Woohyun had been getting stressed. I knew he trusted me. It was them he didn’t trust, even though they hadn’t tried doing anything out of the normal yet.

No matter how many times I reassured him that it was fine, he would think that they had some ulterior motive. But then again, even when I was at Jaehyo’s house, B-Bomb and Taeil would often ask me why I liked Infinite. They didn’t trust them, either.

I hate being caught in the middle.

And to make matters worse, I was so busy getting ready for my final examination since this year was my last year in middle school. That meant extra hours with Zico and Block-B, much to Woohyun’s great dismay.

So he busied himself with Seohyun, who apparently had gotten off his case. He seemed happy that at least he didn’t have to try to fight her off anymore and could just teach her without kicking her out anymore.

But I couldn’t spend as much time as I could with Woohyun because of the extra tutoring and everything and that really upset me.

One day after school, I was so stressed that I decided to add another painting into the wall in my room. I hadn’t had time to do that and now would be the good time to. I needed to de-stress myself from everything.

There was a soft knock on my door.

“Come in!” I called out distractedly. I knew I had a splat of green paint on my face but I didn’t care. I was in the zone.

Myungsoo popped his head inside. “Hey. I knew you’d be painting,” he said, smiling. “Can I come in?”

I shrugged casually. “If you don’t mind the paint fumes, sure,” I warned my big brother. I was so used to it already but since Myungsoo and my parents weren’t, my door was always kept closed.

“I’ll try not to breath,” he promised, coming inside. He closed the door behind him and sat down on my bed behind me.

I continued painting a picture of a field with fences around it, a forest in the background, with horses grazing on the green grass. I was done painting the horses. It was adding the little green details that were hard.

“You should take up arts or something,” Myungsoo said as he stared at my painting. I could hear the awe in his voice. “Seriously, Kasumi-yah. You are so good at this.”

I just shrugged. “I told you before, this is just more like a hobby.”

He smiled softly. “Well, I noticed that you and Woohyun hyung haven’t been able to go out on dates lately.”

I blew a frustrated raspberry. “It’s all because I’ve been too busy prepping for the final examination! We couldn’t even celebrate his birthday or go out on a date during Valentine’s Day, either!” I whined.

“I know. I went through that last year.”

“But you don’t have a girlfriend,” I frowned.

Even though I couldn’t see, I knew he was making a face. “Gee, thanks for making me feel even lonelier,” he said and I smiled softly, knowing he wasn’t offended and was trying to make me feel better. “Anyway, I thought you had tutoring today? Isn’t it Thursday?”

“Oh, uh, Jiho Oppa said that he had dental appointment today, that’s why we’re going to replace it tomorrow.” I shuddered at the thought of spending my Friday afternoon after school studying even more. Friday was supposed to be a break from school, the start of the great weekend without worrying about school.

I sighed. “It’s not that I don’t like the way Jiho Oppa and Jaehyo Oppa teach me. It’s just that I am so sick and tired of school already.”

Myungsoo burst out into laughter. “I never honestly thought that you would say that,” he spoke up, amused. This was why I love him so much. He would listen to me and let me rant. He was also extremely understanding with my problems and all. I was very glad that he and his family adopted me. “Hey, what time does Woohyun hyung finish tutoring Seohyun?”

“Five.”

“It’s four-thirty now. Why don’t you head over and see him? You can stay for dinner. Umma and Appa told me that they couldn’t come home in time for dinner due to work.”

I turned and grinned at my brother. “Thanks, Oppa!” I exclaimed, happy. “I would hug you, but I don’t want to ruin your nice shirt with paint.” I started to make my way out when I realized that I needed to change out of my blue, faded, oversized collar shirt (that once belonged to Changmin) and tights that was splattered with paint. Myungsoo excused himself and I quickly changed.

“I’m going, Oppa!” I called out at the direction of his room as I walked out of my own. “I’ll ask Changmin Oppa