"Ugh... This is really turning out to be a lot harder than I wanted."

♥♠♥

“Hey! I’m not gonna stand here all day!” Kyungsoo yelled as Jongin slowly but steadily made his way over to him.  “What are you smiling at?” Kyungsoo asked in a condescending tone, causing Jongin to look up from the ground.

“U-Um, n-nothing.” He stuttered as he scurried down the hallway to Kyungsoo’s locker. “What books did you need?” 

“I need Physics and American Literature.  You can put Pre Calc and Korean Literature back in my locker.”

As Jongin grabbed and put away the necessary things he needed to, Kyungsoo watched him with a careful eye.  Once he was done, Kyungsoo shut the locker door and twisted the knob of his lock.

Kyungsoo placed out his right hand and waited for Jongin to give him a response.

“Um?”  Jongin stared at his hand. “I.. Don’t have any money at the moment, but I can get some.”

“No idiot, I want my book bag!”

“Geez! Don’t gotta be so mean about it… And why do you want your book bag?”

Slowly losing his patients, Kyungsoo’s eye brow twitched. “So I can go home.”

“I hope you don’t intend on going home alone?”

“Uh, yeah. I kinda do.”

“Who says?”

“I say!” Kyungsoo lunged for his book bag on Jongin’s shoulder.

“Uhh, no!” Jongin held out his opposite hand and held onto Kyungsoo’s shoulder as he tried to grab for his book bag.

“Uh yes! You have a friend coming over after school, you can’t just leave him alone!”  Jongin stopped his struggles and stared at the smaller male as he made his advances. 

He seriously never seizes to amaze me..

The two sort of measly fought for the book bag on Jongin’s shoulder.  Kyungsoo wasn’t really trying nor was Jongin, but he stilled wanted his book bag.  They sort of pushed each other up and down the locker, with a few grunts here and there, but it was just a small little rumble between the two.

“Alright you two, break it up.” A low rumbling voice echoed next to the two wrestling boys, causing both of them to freeze.

They both looked over to find Chanyeol standing off to their right with his hands in his pockets. 

“Chanyeol!”  Kyungsoo exclaimed as he let his guard down, allowing Jongin to quickly pull away.  “He.. Hey!” Kyungsoo was about to attack at Jongin again until a hand firmly grasped at the back of his collar and pulled his backwards.

“I’ve gotten you out of enough fights for one day, now stop it.” Chanyeol stated as he held Kyungsoo back.

“Then tell him to just give me my book bag back!”  Chanyeol glanced up to find Jongin standing with an extra book bag on his shoulder. 

Chanyeol raised an eyebrow and held out his hand.  Jongin froze and didn’t know what to do.  Chanyeol wasn’t exactly friendly at the moment but Jongin couldn’t just hand over the book bag.

Eventually after a good moment of contemplating over the situation, Jongin reluctantly let go of the book bag and place a strap in Chanyeol’s open hand.

Chanyeol stared down at the book bag now placed in his hand.  He scrunched his eye brows and looked back up at the two boys near him.

“What am I supposed to do with this?”  Kyungsoo’s mouth fell agape. “I just need money for this new game on Steam.”

“Are you kidding me?”  Kyungsoo scoffed and snatched his book bag out of Chanyeol’s hand. “You’re the richest kid in school; go ask your mom or dad for money.”

“They suspended my credit and debit cards, not to mention blocked off all my emergency funds! So come on, help a brother out and let him play a new computer game?”

Kyungsoo clicked his tongue, “Some prince charming you are… I don’t have any money. You’re the one who paid for my lunch. Remember?” Shuffling his book bag onto his shoulder, Kyungsoo began to walk away.

“I know, that’s why I was looking at Jongin.” Chanyeol spoke a little louder for the leaving Kyungsoo to hear.

The entire time, Jongin had his eyes fixated on the retreating Kyungsoo, not paying any attention to the tall male in front of him.  Just as Jongin was about to follow Kyungsoo out of the school, Chanyeol held a hand out and blocked Jongin from walking any further by the shoulder.

“Leave him be.”

♥♠♥

“Ha Yi!”  Kyungsoo shouted as soon as he spotted her small figure sitting at the front step of their home.

The small girl lifted her head and a large smile plastered on her face, “Kyungsoo!”  She jumped off the front step and ran toward Kyungsoo who was walking down the path to the front door. 

Ha Yi, with all her might, crashed into Kyungsoo with a hug around his waist (which was as far as her arms could reach).

“I missed you.”  She mumbled into the shirt of his belly.

Kyungsoo, a little taken aback at the sudden moment, smiled and placed a hand on her head.  “I missed you too pumpkin pie.”  Ha Yi removed her head from his stomach and looked up at him with her cute little eye smile.  “Might I ask what you were doing out in the freezing cold?”  Kyungsoo asked with a stern voice.

“Mom’s home…”  Ha Yi mumbled as she looked away.  “I didn’t want to go in until you came home.” 

Kyungsoo furrowed his eyebrows, “then you were waiting outside for a whole hour?!”

Ha Yi let go of her brother and pouted.

“Ugh! We can’t let this keep happening Yiyi… I almost didn’t come home today… You could have frozen to death!”  Kyungsoo kneeled down to be on the same level as her and put his hand on her shoulders. “Oh what are we gonna do with you…”  He put a strand of hair behind Ha Yi’s ear.

The two only spoke with their eyes, both showing small smiles, but laced with sadness.

“You need a hair cut missy.” Kyungsoo broke their silence.

“So do you!”  Ha Yi retorted, showing clearly that she did not want her hair cut.

“Then I guess we’re gonna have to stop at the barber soon.”  Ha Yi pouted again, this time more seriously. “But you do remember whose place is next to the hair salon right?”

It took a moment or two, but eventually the clock work ticks began to function together.  Ha Yi’s face lit up with a bright smile. “Mr. Hwang?!”  Kyungsoo smiled just as brightly back at her.

“I doubt he’ll have his cookies when we visit, but it couldn’t hurt to stop by, right?”  Kyungsoo stood back up on his feet and grabbed her hand as he started to head to the front door.

“Wait! I don’t wanna go in!”  Ha Yi cried out as she tried to resist her brother. 

“Come on Yiyi, we’re going in just for a second.  Then we’re gonna go right back out. Okay?”  He turned to her to give her a reassuring smile.

Ha Yi reluctantly nodded and followed closely to her brother.

Once the two were in the house, he moved swiftly as Ha Yi stood in the living room area.

Kyungsoo grabbed his wallet and placed his and his sister’s book bags down.  He made sure everything in the kitchen was off (only to find the tea kettle still on its burner).  He quickly checked each room to make sure everything was safe which to his relief had all been in order. 

“Alright, let’s go.” He called out to her as he grabbed her hand again to leave the premises.

“Kyungsoo…?”  A small voice called out from the dark corner of the small hallway that held two rooms and their bathroom.

Kyungsoo froze as Ha Yi’s grip on his hand tightened.

“Kyungsoo is that you..?”  The voice peeped up a little louder.

“… Yes mother..” Kyungsoo shut his eyes and waited for what the wench could possibly want.

“Ah.. just making sure.”  The door opened wider, leaving the sight of a pant-less woman standing in front of the two. 

Kyungsoo quickly turned away as his cheeks burned with mortification. 

“Mom! Put some pants on! Geez!” Kyungsoo yelled as the woman made her way to the kitchen for a glass of water.

“What, we’re family it’s fine.”   Kyungsoo rolled his eyes blew a puff of air out as he pulled Ha Yi closer to his hip.

“We’re going out.”  Without further notice, Kyungsoo began to take their leave. 

Before the two reached the door, a loud crash and shards of glass began to fall next to their faces. Kyungsoo made sure to shield Ha Yi first and foremost.  He whipped his head around angrily at his mother, only to find her just as angry.

“So you take her, and you don’t take me?” Their mother breathed out. “You’re always spending time with her!”  She began to raise her voice louder and louder and Kyungsoo was not about to wait around for her to become full blown livid.

Quickly yanking Ha Yi by his side he rushed out the front door; grabbing onto the largest scarf they had as they made their way out. 

As the two slightly jogged out of the yard and onto the side walk, the screams of their mother could still be heard.

These kinds of things weren’t good on Ha Yi, Kyungsoo knew that.  He needed for them to stop, or to at least keep her away from their mother for good.  But there was just no way of possibly doing that at the moment.

As the two slowed down and knew they were far enough from the house, Kyungsoo heard the soft sniffles from the small girl next to him.  He immediately stopped their tracks and turned to her, only to find her crying. 

“Yiyi…”  He whispered and kneeled down to her level again. “Oh don’t cry.”  He said softly as he wiped her tears from her rosy cheeks.

She sniffled a few times, “why does she have to be like that?” another soft hiccup escaped . “J-Jimin’s mommy isn’t like that..”

Kyungsoo didn’t know how to answer that for her.  He was only just a child himself, and yet he proposed himself as a parent figure in her life.  But he honestly, didn’t have most of the answers like a parent would. 

Wrapping his arms around her, he brought her into a warm hug. “I don’t know Yiyi.. I really don’t know..”

The two stood there for a while, as the people of the city watched as they made their way by.  Eventually, Ha Yi calmed down and was left to only small hiccups of air to pass through .

“All better?”  Kyungsoo asked as he her back gently.  She nodded. “Then how about we go get some bubble tea after we get our hair cut?” Kyungsoo tried tempting her with sweets. 

Ha Yi nodded her head again, this time a little more vigorously.  Kyungsoo smiled and let go of her. Only to find her face covered in mucus and tears.

“Ewwww!”  He as she wiped her face clean. In return Ha Yi smacked his chest earning a small chuckle from Kyungsoo’s lips.

“Here,” Kyungsoo took their large scarf and wrapped it three times loosely around Ha Yi’s neck.  “It’s cold out, so I need you warm missy. Put your hat back on, too.”  She did as she was told and put her cute pink hat on as Kyungsoo wrapped the other end of their large scarf around his neck. 

It was a usual thing the two did.  They would wear a couple’s scarf to make sure they were always by each other’s side in the winter (it was more of Kyungsoo’s way of keeping Ha Yi in his view.)

“Alright, hold my hand missy. It’s gonna be a long way, so we’ll take the bus this time.”

♥♠♥

“Just shut up Jongin, she’s on her shift.”  Sehun snapped as the two walked down the sidewalk.

“Ugh Sehun, she’s gonna put a restraining order on you of these days.  And how the hell do you know her schedule?!”  Jongin stopped in his tracks and severely judged his so called ‘best friend’.

Sehun rolled his eyes, “just come on!” Sehun grabbed Jongin’s wrist and pulled him towards the small bubble tea shop just down the road.

“Look! I told you she’d be on a shift!” Sehun shrieked as he peeked through the glass windows; Jongin right behind him with his arms crossed across his chest.

Sehun dragged Jongin inside the shop for the thousandth time and stopped immediately at the entrance; like he always does before going up to place an order.

A soft pink tint glazed Sehun’s cheeks as he gripped onto Jongin’s wrist.

“Oh she’s so beautiful.” Sehun whispered as he watched the girl speak to the couple in front of her.

Her lips were so smooth and puffy with a cute glaze of lip gloss.  Her eyes were so perfectly almond shaped and doe like he felt his heart jump into his throat.  Her cheeks were full and slightly pink and Sehun would always shame himself for gazing upon such a beautiful girl.

Or so he thought.

“She went with curly hair today… Ugh it’s perfect.”

“Will you shut up and order something?!”  Jongin yelled as he smacked Sehun in the back of the head. 

“You know I can’t do that!”

“Can I help whose next?” Her perfect honey voice called out.

Sehun shivered and let the air escape from his lips.

“Just get a normal taro milk and hurry before I go up to her confess for you.”  Jongin began making his way over to the counter to start his order.

“A lemon custard and caramel bubble tea for me please.”  Jongin ordered and stepped aside, motioning for Sehun to take his turn.

Like the usual, Sehun froze as the cashier looked at him and waited patiently for his order.  And like always the cashier would roll her eyes once she saw who the next to order was.

“Alright, hurry up and order.” A cold low voice came from the cashier, shocking Jongin at the octave her voice dropped.

“C-Can I have a chocolate cake and taro milk bubble..?  Like the tea! Not a legit bubble…” Jongin needed a moment to compose himself from laughing at how red Sehun’s face was.

Sehun mentally slapped his forehead.

“Is that it?” The cashier gave him no eye contact but only stared at the screen of the cash register.

“Yeah that’s it.”  Jongin took over and pushed Sehun out of the way as he took out his wallet.

“Twelve-thousand won.”

Just as Jongin was about to hand her the money, she paused and began to follow someone walking on the outside of the café.  The little bell on the door tang and another female voice called out.

“Sorry I’m late Lulu!”

“Sooyoung the next time you make me work over time I’ll personally come to your house and place Legos everywhere and cut your electricity.”  Lulu called out as she grabbed the money in Jongin’s hands and began to place it in the cashier.

Sooyoung feigned a fake gasped.

“Well then how are you going to get to your next job if you’re busy torturing me?”  Sooyoung walked behind the counter and put on her apron and hat for the café as Lulu began to remove hers. 

“Ooof, I’m so gonna get you back.”

Jongin had moved to the side of the counter as he waited for their order, in which the new girl started preparing as Lulu left to the back room for her things.

Just as their desserts were being placed, the door of the café jingled causing Jongin to look over and see who was there instead of listening to Sehun complain about how badly he at ordering his food.

Jongin froze in his spot.  His cheeks began to burn and his palms began to sweat.  He surely wasn’t expecting to see him here.

“Jongin?  Yo, Jongin?! Are you listening to me?!”  Sehun crossed his arms after he hit the back of Jongin’s head.  “Oh.”  Sehun said as he turned to look at what Jongin was staring at.  “You know, we really are ers.”  Sehun announced as he shook his head and grabbed their cakes to go sit down.

Just as Sehun was about to walk up to Kyungsoo, a body came flying over the counter in the smoothest fashion.  One hand placed on the counter as it brought its body over the top.  Graceful, really.

Sehun’s mouth dropped when he noticed who it was and stumbled backwards as she began running up to Kyungsoo.

“Lu-!!”  Kyungsoo tried to yelp before he was pushed backwards from impact and kissed hard against the lips, making him lose his grip on Ha Yi’s hand.

Sehun was only able to see Lulu’s hands cupped on Kyungsoo’s face but the way their heads were positioned gave away more than enough for him to know what was happening.  Sehun stumbled backwards and fell to the ground.  Jongin himself stumbled back a bit, but held himself up against the counter; covering his mouth as he watched the scene unfold.

“This is how we say hello in my country.”  Luhan broke the kiss, finally, after Kyungsoo’s several attempts to push him away.

“NO IT’S ING NOT.” Another stranger yelled in Korean from his seat as he drank his own coffee.

“YES IT ING IS, SO SHUT THE UP.”  Lulu screamed just as loudly back to the man in his seat in Mandarin.

“What the hell was that for?!?!”  Kyungsoo screeched, making Ha Yi giggle.

“I told you! It’s how we say hello!”

“You’ve never ‘said’ it like that before!!” 

“Oh quit your hollering. It’s nice to see you.” Lulu wrapped her arm around Kyungsoo’s neck and bunked their heads together playfully.

When Lulu looked up, she found her worst nightmare and the kid with him on the floor trying to help each other up.  Both Kyungsoo and Lulu clicked their tongues; Ha Yi squealed in delight as she saw Jongin and ran up to him.

Once the two boys were up and Ha Yi had finished her hug, Sehun barely gave out a whisper, “so there’s someone else in your heart?”

“Ugh,” Lulu rolled her eyes. “I’m a guy for pity’s sake.”  Lulu ripped off his wig and threw it at Sehun; leaving his short auburn hair sticking out in every way.  Sehun let it fall to the ground as he watched the wig blankly.  “So will you please stop bothering me all the time?”  Lulu asked snottily.  

Sehun was so speechless he didn’t know how to answer.  Jongin was just as shocked as he was, but their faces were the best part of the entire situation.  Ha Yi couldn’t help but laugh at them. 

“You kissed me on purpose didn’t you?”  Kyungsoo asked, now understanding the situation.  He’s known for quite some time that a weirdo has been following him around, but he never knew it would be Sehun from school.

“Well of course I did.  You wouldn’t really kiss someone by accident would you? If you liked them?” Lulu smirked.

“Actually, it’s possible if it’s an accident.  But you just used me for that kiss to get rid of those two air heads, you jerk.” Kyungsoo frowned.

“Heyyyyy, come on now, don’t take it like that!”  Lulu begged as he pinched Kyungsoo’s cheeks.

“Hands off! Don’t you have somewhere to be?”  Kyungsoo pushed Lulu away.

“Ah , that’s right.. Alright fine.  I’ll see you later Kyung!  I miss you, so try to text me more or hang out with me more.”  Lulu gave Kyungsoo a quick peck on the cheek, ruffled Ha Yi’s hair as she went back up to them and ran out the café.  “Lovin’ the new hair by the way!”  He yelled for the very last moment till he was running off to his next job.

“Ugh, I swear I’ll beat him up one day.”  Kyungsoo kneeled down to fix Ha Yi’s own hair and smiled when he caught her smiling.

“Are you happy you got to see Mr. Hwang and Luhan today?” Kyungsoo asked with a bright smile.

“And him!” Ha Yi pointed at Jongin across the way, making Kyungsoo frown.

“Lovely.”  He rolled his eyes as he saw the sad kicked puppy look radiating from both boys.  Kyungsoo paid no attention to them and went to the front counter to order for himself and Ha Yi. 

Jongin and Sehun had finally found themselves seated near a window booth, expecting to have Kyungsoo and Ha Yi sit with them.

After ordering himself a hot chocolate and Ha Yi a strawberry bubble tea with a cheesecake to share, they found a seat on the other side of the café on tall stools.  Jongin snickered after Kyungsoo clearly avoided his gaze and got up from his seat to talk to Kyungsoo.

“Hey.”  Kyungsoo jumped a bit, but stuck his chin out.

Jongin cleared his throat, “hey.”  He spoke a little louder, leaving Ha Yi to stare at the two’s tense atmosphere.

“What?”  Kyungsoo asked a bit harsher than he anticipated.

“Why don’t you sit with us?” 

“Because, we’re fine here.”

“But I wanna sit with Jongin too.”  Ha Yi’s voice started off strong but then gradually turned into a whisper.

Kyungsoo stared between the two of them and eventually gave in. “Fine.  Here take your stuff with you Yiyi.” 

The two took their drinks and food and found their seats next to Sehun and Jongin.  Ha Yi took her seat next to Jongin as Kyungsoo bowed his head to Sehun and sat next to him.

Sehun gave no response or Kyungsoo a second glance; he only stared out the window.

“Don’t bother with him.  He’s not gonna speak for a couple days now.  I’d rather sit with you guys than this kill joy right now.”

“Well, I wanted to try your cake, can I have some?”  Ha Yi asked slyly.

Jongin smiled, “of course you can.” He said as he pushed his custard over to her.

“Big brother and I got haircuts today!” Ha Yi said rather loudly as she showed her hair to Jongin and pointed at Kyungsoo’s. 

“I noticed!  You look very adorable with short bangs.”  Jongin cooed as he bopped his finger on her nose.  When he looked over at Kyungsoo, who had been staring at his food, he cleared his throat.  “You also look very handsome with your new hair cut, Kyungsoo.  I like that I can see most of your face now.”  Jongin made no eye contact as he played a bit with his dessert, letting a soft hue of red flush over his cheeks.

Watching Jongin get embarrassed made Kyungsoo embarrassed, so his own cheeks turned red as well.  “Th-Thanks.  I guess.”  Kyungsoo mumbled.

Jongin looked up at Kyungsoo for a split second, shocked at the words that left Kyungsoo’s mouth.  Kyungsoo awkwardly looked up at Jongin as well and right back down to the cheesecake Ha Yi and him were sharing.

Jongin smiled to himself as he looked back down to his own food as well.  Ha Yi grabbed Jongin’s sleeve and tugged at it.

“What’s his name?” She asked pointing to Sehun.

“Him? Oh geez.. Where are my manners!  This is Oh Sehun.  My best friend… Sadly.” Ha Yi’s face lit up.

“Well, Mr. Oh Sehun. Is it true, that you really like Luhan?”  Ha Yi asked mischievously.

Sehun clenched his legs together even harder and turned himself more towards the window.    

“Uh, let’s not talk about that Ha Yi, okay?”  Jongin asked nicely.

“Well, I can honestly say, I think he likes you too.”  Sehun’s interest was hit. “Yup.  I know for a fact, you would be crying and or on the ground with your face smashed in it if you were really a bother to him.”  Sehun half smiled to himself but refused it and kept looking off in the distance. “If there’s one thing in this world you shouldn’t do, that’s make my brother upset, and definitely never make Luhan upset.”

“Yup.  I’m actually glad he didn’t see my hand.  It would have been a disaster trying to explain what happened.  You’d probably be dead Jongin.”

Sehun pursed his lips even harder to keep from smiling and almost made his body face completely away from Jongin and Ha Yi.  Jongin’s face however, went pale.

“Um, Ha Yi..?”  Jongin asked quietly.

“Yeah?”

“Sehun doesn’t like boys.”

“Why not?”  Kyungsoo snorted as he drank his tea and quickly grabbed a napkin to clean his face.

“Because, he just doesn’t.” Jongin couldn’t find any more words to say really.  How could he make a ten year old girl understand that?  He really would have thought it’d be the other way around, she’d be asking why does Luhan like boys even though he is a boy?

That also reminded Jongin of something. He frowned as he cleared his throat to speak once again, “sooo… Kyungsoo.. Was that.. Your first kiss?”  Jongin made no eye contact with him.

Kyungsoo looked up at Jongin in disbelief.  Um, what the hell kind of question is that? Kyungsoo thought to himself.

“Actually, no.  It’s not.”  Jongin shivered as a wave of grief flew around him.

“Oh.. Well… I-It must have been awkward, huh?” 

“Well it was definitely gross I’ll tell you that.  If I’m kissed by another boy I swear I’ll throw up.”

Jongin slowly put his fork down and sank back in his seat with a sad smile on his face.

♥♠♥

So he doesn’t like guys…

Here's a KaiSoo story! Come read it!!!!!

"A Winter's Lament