Side Story

Kai had invited forced In-Na to go to a party on Friday night.

“Please? I bet with my friends and if I don’t bring a girl there I’ll lose 10,000 won!” Kai complained, throwing his hands in the air. There was no one else in the classroom, he could raise his voice as loud as he wanted to.

“You could ask someone else. I hate going to those places anyway.” In-Na rolled her eyes, “Now would you excuse me, I need to sweep the floor under your feet.” She elbowed Kai away as she proceeded doing her duty. Although Kai wasn’t involved in any classroom duties, he enjoyed staying back and bugging In-Na while she was at it.

“You owe me ice-cream.” He said sternly.

“So what? I’ll get you your ice cream then.” In-Na replied in a monotone, remembering that day Kai had treated her to ice cream after studying with him.

He frowned, “I don’t want ice cream. Just go with me. It’s just for 2 hours.”

“I could always spend 2 hours doing something more productive. In case you forgot, we only have 2 weeks before prelims.”

“That’s why you need to de-stress before you start mugging.” He said like it was the most logical thing in the world. In-Na looked at him with a look that said ‘are you kidding me?’. She ignored his words and continued doing her duty. Upon spotting a piece of rough paper on the ground, she let out a sigh and bent down to pick it up.

A cough was heard behind her and she let out a scoff, “ert. At least I’m wearing shorts underneath today.”

“If you don’t go with me, I’ll tell all the boys what kind of underwear you wear.”

In-Na spun around and glared at him after hearing the threat that left his lips. For heaven’s sake, was he that desperate? 10,000 won wasn’t that much of a sum.

Deciding not to put her pride on the line, she grumbled under her breath, “When is it?”

~

2 hours. In-Na reminded herself. She would only spend 2 hours in that hell hole before leaving. Making sure she looked fine in her denim blouse and matching denim shorts, she took one more look at the books on her desk. She would be wasting 2 hours of her time there when she could have finished reading at least a whole topic.

~

“Is this your first time at a party?” Kai raised his voice over the loud music so that In-Na could hear him.

“I’ve only been to one because my crush was the one who organized it.”

Kai eyed her from the side as he observed her reaction to everything around her. There were people dancing at the side, while others sat by the tabletop and drank alcohol. She didn’t seem bothered one bit.

As they approached the table of Kai’s friends (in which half of them were EXO members), Kai placed his arm over In-Na’s shoulder, earning a “What the heck are you doing Kim Jongin.” from her.

He ignored her protests and whispered into her ear, “At least make it convincing. I didn’t force you here. You came on your own accord. Okay? That’s the plan.”

“Yo Kai, who’s that?” One of the guys asked loudly, along with wolf-whistles from some others.

“You know,” Kai said calmly, “The bet. You guys need to pay up later.”

“What bet-”

“Oh look at that! Let’s go over to the other side, shall we?” Kai exclaimed loudly and turned In-Na around. In-Na’s eye brows furrowed as she clearly heard one of the guys ask “what bet?”.

“Kim Jongin.” She stopped in her tracks causing him to stop as well. “You lied, didn’t you?”

“What lie? There was a bet, maybe that guy forgot.” He replied.

“How could all the guys forget about a bet that involved money?” She glared at him as she took a step away from h