"Don't bother me! I'm studying!" I yell in a shrill, He-Jin-is-concentrating voice. 

 

"But I-"

 

"Zip!" I zip my mouth and glare fiercely at the yellow Matoki. Youngjae stands by my bedroom door, opening and closing his mouth like a fish. He looks completely terrified, as he should be.

 

Facing him brings my messy room to light. Papers of different colours are thrown around my room in a frenzy. My floor is barely visible, my desk is covered, my bed is un-neat and my small studying table is being over-worked. All the while, my giant, fuzzy panda sits in it's cozy corner and grins happily at me, secretly relieved it ISN'T ME.

 

For some stupid reason, Yongguk pops into my mind. That stupid reason finally has a cause, as I realize it's that panda. It's mere existence is a reminder of Yongguk's uncanny 'kind side'. Nowadays, his usually small and insignificant gestures are etched hard into my brain, unconsciously memorizing his little habits. A few times, he'd catch me staring, but sharp and harsh words wouldn't escape his mouth, as I'd expect. He'd stare back at me for a moment, then a smile would flicker light-speed fast across his face before he'd look somewhere else.

 

I don't get it.

 

"He-Jin, I-"

 

"Nope!" I clench my fists and intensify my glare, surprised that Youngjae's voice brought me back from a world I didn't know I entered. The matoki takes a few steps back and holds tightly to his shirt. He glares back at me and opens his mouth.

 

"INHYUNG'S HERE!" He yells very loudly, his voice bursting with confidence. But, those two words took all the confidence out of him, replacing his strong human posture to a weak and puny matoki, hiding behind the mahogany table leg.

 

"Oh... Thanks." I close my textbook, stuff it forcibly into my bag and run wildly down the stairs. I greet my young neighbour, slip on my shoes and dash out the door, my sidekick right beside me.

 

"We'd better hurry," Inhyung starts as we race down the street. "Noona was so busy studying, she wasn't keeping track of time."

 

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever. It's my final year, so I need to do well." Once again, my mind drifts to the red matoki.

 

Running wildly down the wooden steps in my house tends to blur my surroundings, making it extremely hard to distinguish people and furniture. But, I saw his face. Almost like a camera purposely out-of-focus on everything but him, I remember Yongguk perfectly. He was sitting in front of the TV, a blue teacup in hand and a red house robe. His hair was messy and he still looked tired, but for a fraction of a second, he tore his gaze away from the TV and smiled at me.

 

Smiled, I tell you. Smiled.

 

And once again, I'm pulled out of this 'day-dream' world as Inhyung grabs my sleeve, pulling me out of the way of an on coming cyclist who's vocabulary consists of curse words.

 

"Thank you," I breathe, reassuring my sidekick that I am 100% back.

 

The two of us reach the school gates and eventually the front doors. My exams are being held in the gym, and Inhyjng's in his classrooms. Our school is a very high-class, 'you'll be famous if you go here' kind of school, so university exams are twice as big as normal. HyoJae used to come here, for the first year, with Min and I, but wasn't feeling very comfortable in the atmosphere. She begged and pleaded and finally her parents moved her to the sister school of Koro high school, a private school only for girls that goes along the same guidelines. Of course, she's the top of her class there.

 

"Get the highest score, okay noona?" Inhyung says, gently squeezes my arm. "Set an example for your dongsae."

 

"Alright, kiddo." I mess up his hair. "You have to get the highest marks as well. I'll treat you to ice cream if you do, okay?" Inhyung nods childishly.

 

"Good luck." He whispers before running off.

 

"Thanks, 'cause I'll need it." I say to myself, reluctantly walking towards my school's gymnasium.

 

•  •  •

 

"I FAILED!" I cry, stumbling helplessly into my house. 

 

I stumble around like a sad drunkard before finally making it to my fuzzy sofa and curling up into a ball, muttering 'I failed' over and over again. My eight exams were hard this past week. I came home, studied, fell asleep, woke up, did one or two exams and restarted my routine. I've barely seen the matokis, and I haven't worked AT ALL this week. I got a cute little purple package in the mail the other day, but I haven't got the mind set to open it.

 

"I failed..." I mutter yet again.

 

"Noona," I feel a small weight on my hip as a tiny blue masked bunny climbs onto my body, resting his cute little self right in front of me. "Noona didn't fail. You did very well."

 

"I have to agree with Toto on this one." Says Tatsmato, walking into view with his second in command look.

 

I have to admit, I've missed that look. It's been what, four months since I've known these creepy little bunnies and they are barely in this form anymore. It's only when they go to sleep that I see them transform. It used to worry me, as they would just randomly transform just before bed, no mental command issued...

 

A white, a green and a yellow masked bunny soon walk into my line of sight. 

 

"Why are you guys in your matoki form?" I ask, sitting up.

 

"It puts a strain on our body if we remain in human form for very long periods of time." Joko answers, following the others and climbing onto my lap.

 

"We're trying to rebuild the spaceship and our old technology from it's scrapes, but it's taking a while." Kekemato adds.

 

"We were actually hoping to head to the hardware store today," Shishi slowly climbs over the couch, onto my shoulder and plops down onto my lap, "But we suddenly turned into our matoki form, so there goes that."

 

"I'll take you." I say to the six, examining their expressions for an answer.

 

"Actually, that'll be perfect. Thank you." Shishi says softly.

 

"Yo, are you okay?" I ask him, holding back any urge to freak out and bombard the six with questions. They all look EXHAUSTED and are moving suspiciously slow.

 

"Our bodies have been strained, so we're tired." Tats replies. "I hope you don't mind taking us like this."

 

"Nope! Not at all!" 

 

I hurry upstairs to change, when I notice the cute little purple box resting on my pillow. It's no fancy object, mind you, but it was enticing nonetheless. It's simplicity drew me in like a magnet of incredible force. I was too busy studying to inspect the box properly, but now that a huge weight was lifted off my shoulders, it's as clear as day. The box's colour is a simple soft purple, not able to reflect too much light as to create a very shiny area. On the top is a well made bow, short and dainty.

 

I hold the box delicately in my hands and take off the lid with much care. Inside is a slick, metallic black cellphone. I turn on the phone and see that there is one saved message. Since I'm not sure where this came from, I click on the message, put it on speaker phone and lay it on my bed, sitting two feet away from me.

 

'He-Jin— wait, is this thing on?'

 

'Of course it is, Kris! What, have you never used a cellphone before?!'

 

'Tao! Of course I have.... Nowadays, a get people to do it for me...'

 

'Stupid duizz-'

 

'WHAT WAS THAT?!'

 

'Nothing!'

 

'Aish... Anyway, He-Jin-ah. I know you're studying right now, but I thought I'd tell you some great news. First, I bought you this cellphone because I was hoping you'd become my full time assistant and a cellphone is an absolute NECESSITY. My last assistant was too...incompetent.'

 

'Liar! She left because you refused to go out with her!'

 

'Shut up, Tao! Jeez... She was too incompetent, okay? Think of this as a miniature promotion. If you can't handle it, you can remain with the part-time job you have now and you can keep the phone. Secondly, while I was talking to my father about my employees, he stopped on you and picked up some old picture of your dad and him. Turns out, your father and mine were good buddies, so he'd love to meet you one day. Right... That's pretty much it. Call me back with an answer about your job. Bye.'

 

The message ends and I pick up the phone again. I quickly send a text to his number before i got to change. Shishi slips into my room, climbs up my leg and props himself on my lap, holding onto my hands to peer onto the phone.

 

"Kris? Who's Kris?" Shishi asks, looking up at me. "His eyebrows crease and his fists clench slightly. "Is he a guy that's asking you out?"

 

I scoff and roll my eyes. "No, you nimrod. He's my boss and a good friend. He's like Han, who's become family to me." I slip the phone into my pocket and stand up. "Now go away. I need to change." I walk to my dresser and pull out the first things I see.

 

"... Then I don't need to get out." Shishi, somehow lacking the energy to do everything else but smirk, lays himself down on my bed, his arm propping his head up.

 

I storm over to his tiny body, pick him up by the feet and shot put him out of my room.

 

"SINCE WHEN DID YOU BECOME A ERT?!"

 

•  •  •

 

"The 3x4 aluminum sheet, right?" I whisper to my purse.

 

Shishi nods and I slip the sheet of metal onto my already full cart. We take it to the cashier, pay and leave. That's when I remember I can't exactly ask a tiny little taxi to carry all of these things home....

 

DAMMIT, HE-JIN! HOW COULD YOU BE SO STUPID?! WHY DIDN'T YOU THINK PROPERLY BEFORE DOING THIS?!

 

"Um, may I please rent one of your small trucks?" I ask the cashier.

 

"Of course!" The young man puts up the 'Cash register closed' sign and lead me into the warehouse garage. He picks up one of the keys hanging on the wall, presses a button, and one of the trucks' lights go off. "There's the one you'll be using. I just need you to sign some papers, pay and you'll be off."

 

I nod and allow the cashier to lead me through another door. There, in a small room, I sign some papers, pay the rental fee and take the keys. With the help of a few strong arm men (who completely underestimate my lifting ability) start putting the 'goods' into the truck. I try to pick up a few sheets of metal and the men stop to watch me. I use all my strength, but the metal doesn't move an inch. The men laugh and the bald one effortlessly picks up the pile and tosses it inside the truck.

 

...okay, so maybe they had a very good estimate of my lifting ability...

 

Once in the truck, I put my purse on the passenger seat, start the genitive and drive away.

 

"You can drive?" Tats asks, popping his head out of the purse.

 

"Yes! I can drive!" I clear my throat and smile sheepishly. "But I don't have a car."

 

I park the car in my drive way, open my garage door, the truck's back door and my front door, and, once again, attempt to lift the pieces of metal.

 

"Let us, weakling." Yongguk snickers, easily pushing me aside and propping a quarter of the metal pile onto his shoulder. I'm still amazed at how convenient the matokis can change between forms. They're lucky their clothes remain when they change to human form. 

 

NOT A SIGHT I'M WILLING TO SEE!

 

I scoff at his 'weakling' remark and stick my tongue out at him from behind his back.

 

"I saw that." He chuckles, disappearing inside my house.

 

I sigh with exasperating and slump myself down on my front step, watching as the guys take the metal inside. I hear my phone ring and rush inside to get it.

 

-Please tell me you weren't the usual stupid you and went and bought a dress for your prom- HyoJae pleads into the phone.

 

"Okay. The smart usual me DID NOT go and buy a stupid dress for my prom."

 

HyoJae, filled to the top with anger, yells her heart out into the phone. Most words I recognize, and shall not repeat, and the others... I'll pass off as elvish.

 

"Hey, hey. What about your prom. Isn't it in two days?" I ask my 'should be calm now' best friend.

 

-yes- she sighs. -You are coming, right?-

 

"Are you kidding me? I wouldn't miss it for the world." I throw my hands into the air the emphasize my point. Too bad she couldn't be here to see it.

 

"Me too." Youngjae says into the phone, leaning over my shoulder to do so.

 

-Youngjae? Are you there?-

 

"Will you go away?!" I push him arms length away from the phone. "Don't you have a ship to fix?" I glare at him.

 

"Yeah, so?"

 

"So, go away!"

 

Youngjae shakes his head, cracks his knuckles and walks out of my line of sight. I sigh deeply and hold my forehead, leaning my body against my kitchen doorframe.

 

-is Youngjae coming too?- Hyo asks, unable to hide the excitement in her voice.

 

I chuckle at her child-like nature and nod. Then I realize I'm on the phone. "O-oh, yeah. I'll make sure he does."

 

-Great. You're the best. Oh, and please wear something nice and elegant. Wear a skirt or something. Put some makeup on. Look amazing!-

 

"Fine!" I roll my eyes. "I'll see you then."

 

-goodbye!-

 

"Goodbye, HyoJae." I put down the phone and rush back to the truck.

 

After returning what doesn't belong to me, I hop on the city bus and head home.

 

What do have that's considered nice? Cargo pants are out of the question... And so are khaki. I doubt an ACDC shirt is considered elegant, nice, but not to a graduation. No rock band shirts or random animal shirts. My panda halloween costume is inappropriate for the occasion. It would be funny to show up in one, but I doubt HyoJae would speak to me after that. I think I have one black skirt...but it's too short. I have tight I could wear under it, but it's... All I have that's nice.

 

 

GOODBYE SELF-CONFIDENCE, hello complete humiliation....

 

_________________________

 

I just hopped into the bed two hours ago, and it's one thirty in the morning here. I should be sleeping, but when I got the wifi password for the hotel, I immediately dove for my iPad, opened up this story file and started typing like crazy. I haven't done anything I two weeks (?) so I'm giving you two long chapters. I'm sorry if there are a lot of mistakes.

 

It's been so long, I've forgotten what I put in these blurbs...

 

The story is a little boring, I admit, but I hope the next chapter is to your liking.

 

COMMENTARIES!

It's too late for those....

 

I don't really know what to talk about...

 

Oh, I had another check up with my doctor and I basically spilled all my fears and anxieties to her.

 

Yay.

 

I should be walking on a better path now...

 

My dad'd really insensitive sometimes, you know? We were driving in the car, and he asked me about my sudden interest in nail polish. Since I bite or rip my nails (the white part), I told him the nail polish was to make sure I don't, since I do not like to destroy pretty things (and I actually liked my nail design). He had to go ahead and say 'then you must want to kill yourself a lot'.

 

... He's my dad, so I know he was joking. He was smiling after anyways, but the though that drifted in my mind afterwards when I gave him my famous fake smile...

 

'If only you knew'.

 

ANYWAY! 

 

I love all your comments and I hope you keep them up.

 

Hey, silent readers. Subscribe. If you like the story, you get updates on new chapters. If you don't have an account, make one! For those who don't like the story, I don't give a cow.

 

Thanks for reading!

 

ARIGATOGOZAIMASU!

 

pretty_rania: YAY! 

*･゜ﾟ･*:.｡..｡.:*･'(*ﾟ▽ﾟ*)'･*:.｡. .｡.:*･゜ﾟ･*

 

hanma_: NO WAY! Kris is not interested (and I made sure of that). He's just trying to help out.