It was relaxing – the petting sensation that lightly brushed away the hair from her forehead. The corners of her lips twitched upwards as she felt the bed dip down beside her. She didn’t want to wake up. She didn’t want this peace to end. The only thing that would make this better is if that annoying siren-like sound would stop – if only for a moment. Then, for a few seconds, it was silent. Seulki felt herself slowly drifting back into dreamland as her wish came true then something startled her awake and, as she sat up, her head collided with something equally hard and solid. “Ow, Seulki, what did you do that for?” the loud voice spoke.

It only took a few seconds for the fog to clear from her eyes and she inwardly groaned when she saw a familiar thatch of bright red hair. At first, she wasn’t fazed by his presence then she noticed Insoo wasn’t in her room. What was he doing in her room? Seulki’s eyes widened and she gathered up her covers and attempted to hide herself from him. “My door is always locked,” Seulki informed him, “How did you get in here?” Seyong grinned mischievously and held up a familiar key. “Where did you get that?” she asked, trying to swipe the key from out of his hands.

Seyong hid it behind his back and stuck his tongue out at her. “Insoo gave it to me,” he replied proudly.

The corners of her lips twitched in anger both at Seyong for entering her room and waking her up and at Insoo for giving Seyong the key and letting him do it. Seulki threw her covers out of her hands and stormed off of her bed and out of the room. Seyong didn’t know what to do. He’d never seen Seulki angry before.

Still in her pajamas, Seulki hurried down the stairs and to Insoo’s room. She wasn’t thinking straight when she saw that the door was already open and barged into Insoo’s room. “Ya! Kang Insoo!” she yelled, “How could you give Seyong the keys to my bedroom? Are you crazy? What were you thinking? What if he killed me? Wh –” Seulki froze at the scene before her. Standing next to his desk in front of Insoo, stood Madame Kang, anger dripping from every inch of her. Insoo’s eyes widened in alarm when Seulki burst into the room and they both knew what was coming next.

“Seulki!” Madame Kang snapped, “How many times do I have to tell you to knock before you enter a room? And it’s Master Insoo and Master Seyong to you!” She began to inch closer to Seulki as her rant continued. “You’ve been living here for almost twenty years and yet you still can’t remember to do simple tasks such as these! Why, if it weren’t for that daughter-in-law of mine, you would have been gone a long time ago!”

“Grandma,” Insoo calmly interrupted, placing a hand on her shoulder, “I can take it from here. And don’t worry, I’ll remember to get that paperwork done.”

Madame Kang was still glaring at Seulki when she nodded curtly to Insoo and walked out of Insoo’s room. As soon as Madame Kang was out of sight, Seulki sighed. “You know, you really should warn me when your grandma’s in here before I barge in to your room and start yelling at you.”

Insoo laughed. “And how do you expect me to do that? I didn’t know that you would be barging in here! I know it’s early but you should really get the gears working in that pretty little head of yours.” Insoo ruffled Seulki’s hair then smirked devilishly. “So what was that you said about me being crazy and you dying?”

Seulki’s eyes widened and she blushed. She had forgotten that she had said that. Insoo continued to smirk and then she remembered why she was mad at him and she scowled. “Why did you give Seyong the key to my room?” she almost yelled at him, “What is wrong with you? You can’t just let a strange guy into a girl’s room! What if he killed me?”

“Seyong’s not a strange guy!” Insoo said, defending his friend. Seulki arched her brow in disbelief. Insoo shrugged. “Okay, maybe he is a little strange but he wouldn’t kill you! If anything, he’d just talk your ear off!”

“I’m standing right here, you know!” Seyong suddenly called out from behind them, causing Seulki to jump in surprise. He ran up to the two of them and wrapped his arm around Seulki’s shoulder. “Don’t listen to Insoo, Seulki,” he ordered, “He’s just jealous that I get you all to myself today!”

Seulki looked at the two boys in confusion. “Okay, what’s going on? Did I miss something?”

The two boys shrugged and shook their heads. Insoo was the one to explain. “Not really. Seyong came over a few minutes ago and insisted that he hang with you today and that I shouldn’t get involved. Seyong said he thought you were awake but were ignoring him. My grandma was in here at the time so I had to give him the key to your room.”

Seulki scowled. “So it’s the Witch’s fault,” she mumbled to herself. Insoo glared at her and she quietly gasped. She didn’t mean to say that out loud. “Sorry,” she said sheepishly.

Seyong looked at the two of them. “So,” he said, trying to relieve the awkward tension in the air, “Come on, Seulki, I want to spend the day with you!” Then, before she or anyone else could protest, Seyong grabbed Seulki by the wrist and dragged her back up the stairs. On the way, Seyong glanced back at her and smirked playfully. “Nice pajamas by the way,” he said with a smug smirk.

“I’m already in a bad mood,” she said with a scowl, “Don’t push your luck.”

When they got back to Seulki’s room, Seyong sat her down at her desk while he sat down on her messy bed. He sighed blissfully while staring at her and when he saw her arch her eyebrow at him, he cleared his throat awkwardly. “Sorry,” he said, snapping out of his daze. He then reached down and picked up a bag from the floor. It took him a few seconds of searching through it before he took out a single sheet of paper and handed it to her.

Seulki took the paper out of his hand and glanced over it. “Math equations?” she asked, unsure if he handed her the proper paper or if it was a mistake. Seyong nodded. “And what do you want me to do with it?” she asked, fearing the answer that was to come.

Seyong smiled sweetly. “I want you to solve them for me. Well, just the ones I didn’t solve. See? I already started it!”

“All you’ve done is write your name on the top of the paper,” Seulki pointed out and Seyong blushed. Seulki sighed and placed the paper on her desk. “I’m not doing your homework for you,” she stated.

Seyong pouted and showed her his best ‘hurt-puppy’ face, knowing Seulki couldn’t resist how cute he looked. “But Seulki,” he whined, quivering his lower lip, “it’s too hard.” Seulki shook her head defiantly. Seyong got up from her bed and approached her, his lip still quivering. “But I’m so cute,” he stated, “You know you can’t say no to me.”

“I can and I did,” Seulki replied.

Seyong frowned. “I’ll pay you,” he added in a monotone but then immediately went back to his ‘hurt-puppy’ look.

Seulki perked her head up at the word “pay” then, seeing his pout once more, she pushed him back onto her bed. “Fine,” she said with a sigh, “But you’re only getting a B.”

With a silly grin plastered onto his face, Seyong cheered and went back up to Seulki and hugged her tightly. “Thank you, Seulki,” he yelled, “Thank you thank you thank you! I love you so much, I could kiss you!” Both of them froze at the last sentence and they stared at each other awkwardly. Seyong cleared his throat at let go of Seulki. “N-N-Not that I would, it’s just that I…uh…sorry. Please don’t tell Insoo about any of this!”

Seulki scratched the back of her neck awkwardly. “Don’t worry, I won’t,” she replied, “On one condition.” Seyong looked at her in a mixture of happiness, suspicion, and fear. “Cookies,” she added. Seyong cocked his head, unsure if he heard her right. “I need cookies.”

“Cookies?”

“Yes! Go get me cookies!”

Seyong’s mouth dropped. “Don’t boss me around!” he yelled playfully, “Go get your own cookies!” Seulki sighed and started to get up but Seyong continued. “And bring a lot of them because there’s more homework where this came from!”