My seventh glass of water, down my throat in one gulp....

 

Need another one.

 

I reach over the island and make a desperate grab for the water jug. With shaky hands, I pour my eighth cup of water. The first glass was refreshing, the ice cold liquid running smoothly down my throat. It was such a contrast from the hot day that I even felt it hit my stomach. Even so, the drinks after that seemed the same. Bland and tasteless water. My tongue had gone numb from the chilly water on my third glass, and my body was already cooled down by that time. But my nerves are still at it's peak. It takes a lot of effort to simply get the water from the translucent green jug to my dinosaur cup that I've had since I could remember. Even if the cup is set down on the table, the shaking in my hands are as obvious as a single cloud in an empty sky.

 

No matter what I do, my nerves continue to rise as the clock's hand ticks it's way closer to the hour.

 

"He-Jin-"

 

The sudden sound of a voice startles me, sending my body back in a flailing mess, hitting the counter behind me.

 

"He-Jin, are you alright?" Shishi quickly turns into Yongguk and rushes to my side, placing his hand on my back as he helps little old me recover.

 

"Yes, I'm fine," I answer, holding both the point of impact and my tired face. 

 

"Right, because believing your lies is the kind of guy I am." Yongguk chuckles and leads me to the couch, where he forces me to sit. Casey lazy walks over and let's her body drop by my feet.

 

"Well, you are the stupid kind." I manage a weak smile and he rolls his eyes.

 

From being startled and the amount of water, my stomach starts to retaliate. Nauseousness follows in leaps and bounds and my brain pounds against the inside of my skull. One more glass of water and I think I'm going to be REALLY sick.

 

"Why do you seem so on edge?" Yongguk asks, getting up and walking to the kitchen.

 

"Today is the day I go back to school to get my exam results. I'm so scared to see them..." I bury my head in my hands. "And I'm going to visit Kris' dad write after."

 

"Can I come?"

 

Ever since two nights ago, our two major secrets has been revealed. What's funny is that I don't act any different and neither does Yongguk. We've simply established a mutual understanding. I'm actually kind of surprised. I would have thought that when two people learn they like each other, they'd be overwhelmed with joy and run into each other's arms.

 

Shows you how many dramas I watch.

 

The two of us haven't really even batted an eyelash at the idea. Yongguk is busy with his matokis and I'm busy with my education. We haven't got the time nor the drive to 'run into each other's arms'. He'd smile a lot more around me and I'd be a lot less picky with him. We still have our SUPER AWESOME INSULT BATTLES, but they were more benevolent than malevolent.

 

If you know what I mean.

 

"Do what you want." 

 

Yongguk comes back and sits down beside me. "I brought you a glass of water." 

 

In what would look like a flash, I empty my stomach onto the guy beside me.

 

•  •  •

 

"Unbelievable." Yongguk mutters with distaste. "Absolutely unbelievable."

 

"I'm sorry, okay? I wasn't feeling too well." I don't even bother to look back at him. I'm too concentrated on the crowd of students by the front doors of the school and the large board in front of them.

 

"I don't think noona did it on purpose, hyung." Inhyung states.

 

"Doesn't matter! I had to clean it all up by myself because your 'noona' wasn't feeling well." I can feel Yongguk's intense laser-like glare boring a hole at the back of my head, but I've got other things to worry about than his childish temper.

 

"Can't you be a little more considerate? You like her, so shouldn't you be nicer?"

 

The footsteps behind me stop, and so do I. I spin around and look at the two. Inhyung is a foot away from me and Yongguk three feet. The Matoki leader's glare is even more intense, first burning Inhyung before turning to attack me.

 

"You told him?" The words roll off his tongue like a deadly poison, a secret threat embedded just underneath.

 

"Do I look like I'd do that?" I reply in a scolding manner, hiding the fear slowly filling up inside.

 

"Zelo told me simply what Jongup hyung said to him. While Yongguk hyung was getting ready, he had all the time in the world to spill." Inhyung's usual smile changes quickly and silently into a superiority smirk, further adding fuel to Yongguk's ragging fire.

 

"When I get my hands on your tiny little neck," Yongguk cracks his knuckles, and like lightning, Inhyung runs straight for the crowd, probably hoping to get lost in the horde.

 

"You're actually really scary sometimes, you know?" I walk in the direction of the crowd and Yongguk walks right beside me.

 

"I am?"

 

"Yeah. When you get really angry like that, everybody feels compelled to run and hide."

 

"D-do you?" I'm not sure if my judge is correct, but the words he just uttered seemed almost desperate.

 

"All the time when you're like that." Out of the corner of my eyes, I see him lower his head slightly, stuff his hands in his pockets and let out a deep and disappointed sigh. "But hey," I pull one of his hands out of his pockets and wrap my tiny fingers around his index finger. "You're rarely like that. You have more gummy smile moments, and I like that."

 

Yongguk turns red and clear his throat, avoiding eye contact. I lead him through the crowd and to where my name should be.

 

"Your last name is Bang?" Yongguk yells over the voices of the other people.

 

"Yeah! Bang He-Jin!" I yell back. A huge smile forms on his face after a few seconds.

 

Only God knows why he's smiling.

 

But I know why I am.

 

I grab Yongguk's hand and run out of the crowd with him.

 

"What? What's wrong?" He asks while I'm dragging him

 

"Nothing's wrong!" I stop, spin around and hug him. "I got top in my grade!" I squeal into his ear.

 

"That's wonderful!" Yongguk wraps his arms around me and lifts me up spinning me around once before putting me down. "I'm very proud of you!" He smiles.

 

I smile back but quickly stop and push away from him, hoping he didn't catch my blushing face.

 

"He-Jin-ah!" I hear an awfully familiar voice yell. I look past Yongguk to the one approaching guy.

 

As if on instinct, Yongguk snaps around and stands firm in front of me.

 

So, he does remember that meanie.

 

"He-Jin, I just wanted to congratulate you on your top score," Jiyong says as he approaches. "I know you get very nervous very easily, so I was relieved to see your usual high mark."

 

"Thanks. I was VERY nervous. You should have seen me this morning!" I laugh at the flashback.

 

"Well, I was wondering if, even what we went through a while back, you'd go with me to the school prom?" I can see the sincerity in his eyes. "You see, I'm trying to get you before someone gets the courage up before me. There's a hypothetical line up for you as a date!" He throws back his head and laughs.

 

Over the past few months, Jiyong has changed considerably. He stopped forcing me to be with him, and he's ask me if I was okay with his presence. We never became close friends and just remained simple friends. I knew he still liked me, but I made it clear that that feeling wasn't shared.

 

"I'm sorry, but I'm not go-"

 

"She already taken." Yongguk hisses.

 

"What? Really? I thought I was the only one with the guts..." Jiyong looses his smile for a second, but regains it just as quickly. "Who's the lucky guy?"

 

"Me." Yongguk practically shouts.

 

Jiyong blinks a few times, examining the man in front of me. Fear flashes across his eyes. "You can't be... It's not possible!"

 

"What? Is it so hard to believe she's going out with someone this goodlookin'?"

 

My hand comes down hard on the back of his head, causing Yongguk to crouch down and hold his head between his hands.

 

"No, it's not that. Your voice... It reminds me of those little..." Jiyong drifts off, as if the memory is just that traumatizing. "I-it's nothing. S-see you at prom!" Jiyong waves and runs off to his group of friends.

 

I guess he remembers that meanie too!

 

•  •  •

 

"Hello!" I wave to my boss, casually sitting on the porch of his OVERSIZED SUPER FREAKING HUGE MANSION!

 

I could used his money...

 

"Ah! I'm glad you came!" Kris puts down his mug and his newspaper and stands up to lead me inside. "How were you exams?"

 

"Nerve wracking."

 

Yongguk laughs a deep laugh, finding it oh-so funny.

 

"And he is?"

 

"A good friend of mine. This is Yongguk."

 

"Nice to meet you." Yongguk extends his hand and Kris shakes it.

 

"Nice to meet you, too." Kris smiles.

 

"Is she here?" I hear a female voice scream. "Lemme see her!!" A series of very fast footsteps echoes through the front foyer before a a beautiful woman turns the corner. "SHE'S SO ADORABLE!" The woman runs full speed towards me and practically glomps me, almost causing the two of us to topple over.

 

Who knew such a small person could pack so much power?!

 

"Okay, okay. Give her some air." Kris walks over and effortlessly peels her off of me, holding her under his arm like the morning papers.

 

"But, but," the woman sticks out her bottom lip and starts to pout. "But she's so cute."

 

"You must be Jamie-ssi, Kris's girlfriend." I reach into my small bag and gently pull out the bouquet of deep purple flowers. "I wanted to thank you for sending all those lovely candy. When Kris gets the time, he'll talk about you for hours! I never got the chance to meet you properly, so I took the chance that you'd be here today and bought you these flowers. All I know is that you like purple flowers... Yep."

 

"No biggie, sweetie. Kris loves to talk about how hard you work, so I thought I'd award you, since this guy is too cheap to do so." The crosses her arms and looks up at Kris. "Thank you SO much for the flowers. I love them!" She extended her arms and I do mine, but we're a foot apart. Jamie elbows Kris in the stomach and he puts her down, almost doubling in pain afterwards. Jamie takes the flowers from me and disappears into the kitchen.

 

"Where's my present?"

 

I whip around to find Tao looming over me, staring at my bag. "Sorry. I didn't know what to get." I shrug and give him the best apologetic smile I could.

 

Tao scoffs and walks past me, slumping himself on the couch.

 

Kris snaps his finger. "Right! You came here for two specific reasons." He sits on the couch beside Tao and looks back at me. "You two can sit down as well."

 

I bow to him and take the single seat opposite to my two bosses. Yongguk remains standing, finding the sunset picture on the wall just that more fascinating. 

 

"The two of us thought it over and decided that since you work so hard and you've finally graduated, you should become our full time secretary of Wu Shoe enterprises. You can choose the quiet, peacefully life of an office worker, or the busy but adventurous life of a traveler." Kris says.

 

"You mean like, traveling the world?" I look between the two of them. If you were sitting beside them, watching me, you'd have seen the sparkle in my eyes, that love of adventure. But you'd have also seen that small hint of sadness when Yongguk looked over.

 

"Yeah," Tao replies. "We'd go to China, to Canada, to Japan, to France!"

 

"That sounds amazing!" I say with a huge grin on my face. I clench my right fist, the endless possibilities flowing through my mind.

 

The grin fades and I chuckle to myself when I notice Yongguk look the other way and walk off.

 

"That sounds absolutely wonderful, but I still have to go to university and I have a family here in Korea. I can't ask them to follow me, much less let me go. That's a wonderful idea, but the quiet office seems more within reach."

 

"Told ya!" Tao pushes Kris in the shoulder and the two laugh.

 

"We understand. When are you starting university?" Kris asks.

 

"I need to hold it off for at least a year. I got a full scholarship-"

 

"That's great news! Congrats!"

 

"Thanks, but I still need to earn money to keep up living expenses. My family is quite big, and a car is probably going to be needed in the future." I think of the six matokis in one car, and almost burst out laughing.

 

"Well, I hope your time with company is memorable." Kris puts out his hand and I shake it.

 

"I need to ask for a two week vacation in July." I say to him.

 

"Already? Why?"

 

"It's a secret." I whisper, pointing to Yongguk. Kris nods.

 

"Now, for the second thing." My boss stands up and puts his hands by his mouth. "DAD! Come here!"

 

After a minute or two, a middle aged man enters the room with only a towel on.

 

"Dad~!" Kris whines. "Couldn't you have put something a bit more appropriate?"

 

"Why didn't you tell me we had guests?!" The man hits the back of his head and vanishes, returning with a pair of jeans and a grey muscle shirt. "My my, you look so much like your father." The man says, taking my hand. "And you have your mother's eyes. Big and full of life."

 

"Thank you, Mr. Wu." I smile sheepishly and sit back down.

 

"Now, your father and I go way back. When we were in elementary school, I was the only Chinese kid, and everyone thought it'd be funny to pick on the Chinese kid, except for your father and your mother. Speaking of which, where are they?"

 

I look at Kris. "You didn't tell him?"

 

"It's your job."

 

"Didn't tell me what?"

 

"My mother died when she gave birth to me and my father..." I look to the floor and take a deep breath, " my father died in a car crash two years ago."

 

"Oh, my dear, I am so sorry!" The man's grip on my hands gets a little tighter. "I can't believe it..."

 

"I couldn't believe it either, to be honest." I clear my throat to hold back any brave tears willing to escape. "It happened so fast and so suddenly. A lightbulb being shot while it was on."

 

"Have you been managing okay?"

 

"Oh yeah!" I smile and wave my hand. "I have a great new family who takes care of me, and wonderful jobs I love to do. Please, continue with your story. I love stories about my parents."

 

Mr. Wu sends me a kind smile and continues. "Well, when we all got into our last year of high school, your father and I established that we both loved your mother, and we were going to fight for her, like those weird dramas on TV, nowadays." We all let out a little chuckle and Jamie comes in to sit beside Kris. "Well, we fought, but the fight wasn't as we thought it'd be. I fought for the proof that your father was better for her because I already knew I had no chance, and your father barely fought at all. In fact, he refused to fight. I won the fight, of course. I left your father a bruised mess in the schoolyard-"

 

"Dad!" Kris glares at his father, but the man ignores it.

 

"But in the end, your father got her heart and they had a child."

 

Kris's father tells me more stories about back in the day. We leave the house, me holding a box of delicious homemade cake (THANK YOU, JAMIE) and Yongguk holding a box of 'I,m not gonna tell you'.

 

No, seriously. I don't know and he won't tell me.

 

We get home and Yongguk calls all the matokis up from the basement. The five come up, followed by Jaexing and HyoJae.

 

"I let them in." Himchan confesses.

 

Yongguk places the box on the small coffee table, and we all pile into the living room.

 

"Congratulations, miss Bang He-Jin, for not only getting the top score, but for also getting a full scholarship. We bought this present-"

 

"He bought this present." Himchan corrects Yongguk, earning a glare from his leader.

 

"-for you in hopes you use it." Yongguk opens the milky white box and pulls out a gorgeous little dress. 

"You're going to prom, and I'm your date." The matoki leader smirks.

 

GOODBYE CHILDHOOD, hello woman hood....

 

The future is nearing all too fast!

______________________

 

I don't know why, but my pyjamas smell exactly like a freshly grilled steak.

 

Nobody else smells it, but I do.

 

Does that make me crazy?

 

HEY GUYS! GUESS WHAT? I don't like this chapter....

 

I just got back from my TRIP AROUND THE WORLD (Ontario) and finally found a dress. I changed the colours to suit my liking and the suggestions of some of my subscribers-

 

THANK YOU SO MUCH KPOPLOVER8217 AND HANMA_ unni.

 

I'm not in the mood for commentaries anymore....

 

Thanks for reading this story. I know it,s starting to get REALLY BORING, but I hope it starts to pick up in the future, because I'm SOMEONE'S GOING TO DIE!!

 

MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

I don't really know what's gonna happen, so keep reading. If you wanna.

 

FUN FACTS ABOUT THIS STORY!:

In total, the story without the A/Ns is 50268 words EXACTLY. And without the loading time and clicking time and blah, it'd take you 3 hours and 21 minutes to read.

All my authors notes, including this one is 13403 words and it'd take you 52 minutes to read. 

 

TAKE THAT!

 

ARIGATOGOZAIMASU!

 

Tittle quote: Pope John Paul II

 

I hope y'all like the dress. I took me FOREVER to find and FOREVER to recolour in the colours I liked. I'm a little skeptical, but I'd totally get into something that nice (the original and this dress).

 

hanma_: although opposites attract, those who have more in common tend to get along better. He-Jin and Yongguk are both short tempered and have a bucketful of insults following close behind. Their density will only bring them closer.

Thanks for the colour suggestion. I couldn't find a sky blue dress that would work well with the kind of person He-Jin is (basing her likes and dislikes on my personality) but I happily used the colour for the newer dress.

 

KpopLover8217: I'm glad you like it! It's always nice to have people read my story(ies) and comment. It's gotten kinda quiet and lonely here, but new people are always liked (WORSHIPED) by me. Daehyun is very handsome, and I love all of B.A.P as well, so I can totally sympathize with your predicament.

Thank you so much for the dress suggestion. I absolutely love purple, so when you said a purple dress, knee length and not too tight, I hugged my iPad with all my night, as that's my ideal prom dress. I found this dress, but it was kind of maroon coloured, so I added some green, purple and sky blue and made it more personalized.

Do you think it suits He-Jin?