When her eyes fell upon Darcie’s deceptively angelic face the memories came back. She was again that scared twelve-year-old girl cowering and trembling with her back against the wall as Darcie and her friends cornered her in some random alleyway.

Darcie grinned and leaned against the wall adjacent to the one Keiba stood against. She was three years older than Keiba, and what a fifteen year old girl would want with a twelve year old, Keiba would never be able to explain.

Other than mental illness.

“You’re pretty fast for a fat .” She murmured. Darcie never had to speak very loudly to be heard.

Keiba cringed against the brick. Her eyes were glued to her stepsister’s. Though she was absolutely terrified, there was anger in her gaze. Anger and hatred. Darcie saw that and didn’t like it. She clenched her teeth and looked at her friends.

“Do it.”

The first boy hefted a rock. It was almost the size of his head, but he was tall for his age and had no troubles lifting it. He raised it over his head and threw it. Keiba broke eye contact to scream and duck. She covered her head just before the rock could make contact with it. Instead its jagged surface slammed into her arm almost fracturing her left humerus and ripped a large chunk of skin. Keiba didn’t see what the next kid grabbed, but she felt it hard against her shoulder.

The next hit brought her to her knees. She laid on the ground in the fetal position but used the wall she’d just been leaning against to protect her front, putting her back to the murderous kids. When they saw that she was on the ground, they ditched their weapons for their feet and began kicking her. Someone with a steeled toe boot got her in the back of her head—or would have had her hands not been there. Instead, her middle and left fingers on either hand broke. She shrieked and tried to roll into a tighter ball.

“This isn’t working.” One of the kids hissed. “Stop kicking her; get her up!”

Keiba struggled, hoping her girth would prevent them from doing as the girl suggested, but it was no use. They managed to haul her up to her feet, but in her desperation she was able to kick one kid hard enough that he fell down. She made a mad dash for the opening to the alley. One of the boys tackled her before she could get out. More blows rained down on her. The memory she’d recalled earlier continued from there.

Keiba blinked the tears away. Darcie smiled. She knew that they’d been remembering the same thing. Keiba stood up to face Darcie head on. Min stood up too. He inched closer to Keiba and frowned curiously at the other woman. He didn’t know what was going on, but the tension between the women was palpable. He opened his mouth to say something, but glanced down when Keiba took his hand and squeezed. Darcie noticed it too.

She opened to speak, but Keiba cut her off.

“Why are you here?” She demanded. “Your mother said that you weren’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow.”

Darcie's eyes narrowed. Keiba had never referred to her stepmother as just “mother”. It was always “your mother” or “her mother” or “mother dearest”. Darcie couldn’t explain precisely why, but it pissed her off.

She shrugged. “I thought the traffic would be way worse than it was. Besides I wanted to surprise you.” She assumed a show-girl position and held out her hands shaking them in a jazzy fashion. “Surprise.”

Keiba didn’t outwardly react. Another silence passed by. Darcie relaxed her body and turned her gaze to Min’s.

“So what’s your name?” she asked.

He glanced down at Keiba. “Min-Kyung.”

“Oh?” She grinned at Keiba. “Are you her boyfriend?”

“No.” He and she said at the same time.

“It’s not your business either way.” Keiba added.

“Oh okay. Chill out Keibs.”

Keiba clenched her jaw. She hated that nickname

“Anyway, mom told me to tell you that there’s a car wash going on for church tomorrow. It starts at two. You coming? You can bring your friend if you want.”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Good.” She winked at Min. “Bye, Min-Kyung. See you later, sis.”

Darcie got into her 2011 silver Camero and drove away. Keiba watched her until she’d disappeared in the parking lot. Min looked at her.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

Her lower lip trembled. “No.” she looked down so that he wouldn’t see that she was crying. “I think I want to go back to my dorm now.” She whispered.

He squeezed her hand. “Okay.”

He walked her to the elevator and then he led her to her room. She unlocked her room but before she went in she had to ask him something.

“Min?” Her voice was small.

“Yeah?”

They hadn’t let go of each other’s hands yet. She took a deep breath.

“If I go to the car wash… will you go too?” She turned to face him with tears on her face. He’d never seen her cry and as he looked into her eyes he knew he couldn’t deny her of anything when she looked so vulnerable. "Please?"

He nodded. "Sure."

“Thank you.” She finally let go of his hand to swipe at her cheeks. “Sorry I tried not to turn on the waterworks.”

“It’s okay. What’s the story between you and her?” He asked.

“That's what I was going to tell you about, but I’ll let you know later.”

“Okay.”

“Oh, and thanks for tonight. It was fun before she showed up.”

He smiled. “It was.”

A long moment passed as they locked eyes. Min-Kyung had the odd feeling that he was supposed to do something in this moment, but he wasn’t sure that he—or she—was ready for that. He glanced away.

“I’ll see you later.”

“Yeah. A plus tard.”

He smiled. “What?”

She smiled. “It means 'later'.”

 

The next day Keiba knocked on Min’s door to tell him that she’d decided to go. It was because she felt she owed something to the reverend and his wife because she wasn’t often taken to church when she was younger. It took her a moment to formulate the words though because when he answered, Min wasn’t wearing a shirt. Her eyes immediately fell to his chest. She looked back up to his face with wide eyes.

“Sorry about my appearance.” He told her, smirking.

“It’s okay.” Her face was very warm.

“How long does the car wash last?” he asked.

“Umm… About three hours.” She replied.

“And it starts at two?”

She nodded. When he glanced at his watch it read 1:15.

“How far away is it?”

“A few miles down the road. It’s by the old mechanic’s shop.”

“Oh. I know where that is.” He shifted his weight to his other foot and leaned against the door frame. Keiba tried very, very hard not to break eye-contact. “I won’t get there exactly at two.” He said. “I have to run something by my teacher at 1:45.”

“That’s okay. You don’t have to worry about giving me a ride. I’ll just take the bus.”

“You sure?”

She nodded.

“Okay. Oh, and Keiba?” He said as she started to turn away.

“Hm?”

“Gimme a hug.” He reached out for her. She squealed and dodged when he tried to grab her.

“No! Psycho.” She stuck her tongue out at him.

He just laughed. "You're so mean."

She rolled her eyes. “Don’t be too discouraged. There will be plenty of girls around to give you a hug if you want them too.”

“Oh yeah?”

She nodded. “See you there.”

About an hour later, Min had to park his car a block away from the parking lot because it was full. As he walked toward it, he found a surprisingly large group of cars lined up for the carwash. When he walked further in he was pleased to find that there really were plenty of attractive female bodies scantily-clad in bikinis and one-piece swim suits. They were wet with perspiration and soapy water. He grinned, taking it all in.

“Hey.”

He turned his head to find a tall, blonde, football player type of guy approaching him from the side. Min recognized him from school. His name was Spencer. He wouldn’t have guessed that Spencer went to the same church that Keiba had.

“What?” He asked as Spencer stopped in front of him.

“You’re here to volunteer right?”

“Yeah.”

“Well here.” Spencer handed him a red tank top.

Min unfolded it and saw that the charity’s logo and name was printed in white over the back.

“Wear it.” Spencer demanded.

Not one to be ordered about, Min met his gaze challengingly. He kept eye contact as he started to pull the shirt he was wearing up over his head. He tossed the white t to Spencer who caught it reflexively. He gritted his teeth in annoyance. Min smirked and started to pull the tank over his head, but stopped when a wet sponge hit his side.

“Don’t you dare put that on.” A cute blonde girl in a sky blue bikini chastised. “Don’t hide that body from us.” She continued with a grin.

Min returned the smile with a smirk. “Sorry. Maybe you’ll see it some other time.” He said.

“Yeah,” she looked him over slowly and winked. “Definitely.”

Min grinned and pulled the tank over his head. He caught his shirt when Spencer tossed it back to him, using more force than Min had. The young men again locked glares.

“What’s your problem?” Min demanded.

Spencer just gave him a dirty look and walked away without a response. Min shook his head and walked back to his car to toss his shirt inside. When he returned, Spencer was talking to the blonde girl who’d thrown the sponge at him.

Min ignored him and walked around, looking for Keiba. There were a lot of people partnering up to work on one car, but he found her scrubbing down a black 2009 Acura TL alone. She was wearing a black onepiece swimsuit but had jean capris on. Her hair was back in a ponytail. He noticed there was -an uncharacteristic frown on her face as she worked.

He tapped her once on the shoulder.

She looked up quickly and her frown quickly morphed into a relieved grin. “Min!” she said. “Yay! You’re here.”

He nodded and looked around the parking lot. He was a little relieved himself to find that she wasn’t too upset not to give him his usual enthusiastic greeting. “What do you want me to do?” he asked.

“Well, I’m almost done with this car, so you could get one of the hoses and rinse it off.”

“Sure.” He picked up the hose. It was a little heavy as it was already filled with water. He walked back, watching Keiba thoughtfully. He glanced down at the hose and then looked back at her. He squeezed the handle and delivered a quick squirt to her back. She squealed and whipped around to glare at him.

 “What?” he asked innocently.

“You’re not cute.” She said, but smiled. “What was that for?”

“For pulling me out of bed on a Saturday.” He replied simply.

“But it’s for a good cause.”

“Still.” He squirted at her again but she avoided the second burst of freezing water by jumping to the side. He smirked.

“You’re evil, Mini.” She pouted and held out your hand. “Here. Gimme the thing and you can finish soaping the car up.”

“You just want to get me back for getting you wet.” He said that with a straight face, though it was hard to maintain the blankness when her eyebrows rose.

“Who do you think I am?” She asked with her hands on her hips. “I won’t stoop to your childish antics.”

He rolled his eyes and switched places with her. No sooner had he turned his back on her did she spray him. When he looked at her she was looking around and whistling. He grinned.

“Childish antics, huh?” he said.

“I dunno what you’re talking about. I’m just whistling—” she cut herself off by giving him another quick squirt. He didn’t avoid the spray. He touched his wet tank, now clinging to his chest and back muscles and glared playfully at her.

“So that’s how you want to be?”

“What of it?”

“Okay. I got you later though.”

She stuck her tongue out at him.