Keo’s exam was delayed today. Thick snow was covering the ground to the point where cars couldn’t drive. Her school was said to open in the afternoon for exams so that the snowploughs could clear the way for those who take the school bus or taxi.

                Having already woken up early, Keo decided to make her visit to Soonyoung before her exam. She could tell that these frequent visits weren’t necessarily going to be entertaining.Or normal for that matter.

                Soonyoung was now sitting cross legged on a chair with his head tilted, watching Keo as she read pages of a book that she had picked off the shelf out loud. He liked having her read to him, although he wasn't really listening. He enjoyed it more than watching television. It gave him the opportunity to study her without it being weird. His gaze went over her hair that sometimes fell over her eyes, her downcast eyes, the curve of her lips as they moved with the words.

                “Because she is here and she is so beautiful," she read, dragging her thumb along the edge of the paper. He couldn't have agreed more.

                She stopped suddenly, closing the book and placing it onto the table. She slid it to Soonyoung. “That has to be one of my favourite books.” Soonyoung straightened up and smiled gently at her, hoping she didn't realize he wasn't listening.

                Keo looked around the empty apartment. Iris and Kris had left for work a short while before and the apartment was looking rather ... boring. “What do you do all day?”

                Soonyoung covered his mouth as he yawned, “I help Kris make breakfast for the three of us. When they leave, I watch TV or sleep.”

                Keo raised an eyebrow. “Well that sounds boring.”

                Soonyoung chuckled to himself, agreeing. “Yeah. But Kris said I get to do something starting next month. So I’m excited.”

                Keo smiled back looking at Soonyoung intrigued. He seemed very innocent and charming, like he wasn’t aware of the outside world being trapped inside the apartment.He seemed so happy just to be in her company. It made her a bit sad. She wondered how long he must've spent alone in this apartment. It only increased when Keo realized she had to leave him again to take her exam.

                On Keo’s way to school the train station was empty. She figured that most of her classmates had decided to take the bus rather than tread through the heavy snow to reach the station. Keo stomped around the cement ground shaking snow from her boots while slipping past the entrance gate. She’d have to wait fifteen minutes until her train arrived.

                Keo didn’t really mind the wait. She tucked her hands in her pockets, pressing play on her phone letting her music flood her ears. She didn’t realize her soft humming and foot tapping while she listened, but neither did the other people in the station. She rocked back and forth to the beat, looking out at the cold walls covered with graffiti.

                Something caught Keo’s attention, causing her to stop moving. A person, she assumed a man, dressed in black was faced towards her, standing a good twenty feet away. Keo looked at him through her peripheral vision. He looked tall, maybe muscular. Keo couldn’t tell underneath the thick coat he was wearing.

                She wanted to look back to see exactly who it was, but she stopped herself. She could see he was staring right at her and could feel his eyes burning craters into her skin. Keo looked down at her watch, 12:15. Where was the train? It was supposed to arrive at 12:15

                She distracted herself by bouncing slightly on her heels. Then she felt it. The still atmosphere around her broke and the man took a step towards her. Keo froze and looked straight ahead. The man was walking at a steady pace towards her. Keo started moving, but she didn’t know where she was moving to; she just wanted to move away. Something didn’t feel right.

                Keo walked along the subway’s underground, following the tunnel the train would be coming, when the man picked up his pace. She was sure now, this man was after her and she didn’t know why. Panic struck her like a bag of bricks. Keo whipped her head from side to side, looking for some place the man couldn't follow.

                A group of high school girls stood together gossiping not far down the strip. Keo thought that maybe if she reached them, the group would scare off the man trailing behind her. She scooted faster, hiding behind the group and earning some dirty looks from the girls. She gave a weak awkward smile, looking through the gaps in the group only to find the man still coming closer.

                Keo ditched her hiding spot and continued to try to keep that twenty foot distance, but the man didn’t seem to want to quit. She heard the whirl of the train coming down the tunnel fast and screech to a halt on her right. Quickly she dipped into an empty cart, praying the man didn’t see where she ran off too.

                There was a bing over the intercom, telling passengers to hang on or sit because the train was leaving. Keo looked out the window to the strip. He was gone. She breathed out in relief, seeing that the man hadn’t come on. She grasped the metal bar above her head looked down at the ground.

                “Keo” A muffled voice rumbled at her.

                Keo’s head shot up and saw the man covered in black standing in front of her. Her first reaction was to start screaming. Keo screamed at the top of her lungs, cowering away. Too bad there wasn't anyone else on her cart to hear her. Her second reaction was to run, but she didn’t know where too. She scrambled to the other side of the cart, getting as far away as the man as she could.But he advanced, making Keo scream more.

                “Keo.” He said more clearly pulling the scarf off his chin.He held his arms up in surrender.

                Her scream died in .Keo smacked his arm. “Soonyoung!” she yelled angrily, “I thought you were a or something! Don’t do that!”

                Soonyoung mumbled an apology into his scarf as he pouted,handing her a bag.

                “What’s this?” Keo said finally calming down.

                Soonyoung blushed slightly and looked down. “Lunch. I made it when you said you were coming over and forgot to give it to you.”

                Keo looked down at the bag in her hand. She felt bad for screaming. She smiled up at him.

                "Thank you."

                Soonyoung blushed even more, trying to hide his face in his scarf.

---

                The last of Keo’s exams was finished and she was lying back on her bed talking to Dominik. “That means we have no classes together next semester.” She whined into the phone, listening to Dominik laugh. “Unless you switch gym, that is.”

                Dominik laughed again. "And what? Take biology instead? No thanks."

                It was 10:30 and Keo was starting to fall asleep after having such a busy week. She began nuzzling herself into her covers while on the phone. She bade goodnight to her boyfriend and threw her phone into the drawer beside her. Suddenly there was a knock at her door. Keo groaned and ripped the covers off her legs. She went to her door, then hesitated. Her parents weren't home. Who would be knocking? She opened it anyway, expecting a serial killer, but no one was there. The knocking continued and Keo looked around. Her eyebrows knitted together in confusion as she tried to locate where the noise was coming from. She opened the doors to her closet, still expecting a serial killer, but found nothing.

                Another knock.

                “Really?” She muttered tiredly to herself. “Where the hell?”

                Keo paced over to her window, opened her blinds and looked out. The sky was pitch black, no stars visible for Keo to see. Keo heaved the window up, letting the coldwinter air flood into her room.

                “Keo.” Soonyoung’s voice called from outside.

He was sitting on the small roof ledge decorating the front of the house where Keo’s room was. Keo started to scream. Soonyoung panicked and immediately reached towards her through the window, breaking through the screen protection that was there and falling into the room.

                Soonyoung’s hands folded around Keo’s mouth muffling as much of her screams as possible. "Stop screaming. Please stop screaming."

                Keo squirmed, pushing Soonyoung’s large lanky body off of her and tearing his hand from .

                “What the hell do you think you are doing?!” She yelled. 

                Soonyoung’s eyes were wide and childlike, looking back at Keo. He sat cross-legged in front of her. “I needed to get out of the apartment. Kris said I should come here. Please stop yelling.”

                “How do you know where I live?!How did you get here?!”

Soonyoung shushed her by putting a finger to his lips.“Kris told me. I got lost for a couple hours though. All the houses here look the same, I kept walking in circles.”

                Keo looked at the older boy, completely astonished. It was 10:30 at night and he had managed to find out where she lives, climb up the front of the house and break into her room. Thank god her parents had gone out for dinner with some coworkers or she’d be dead.

                “Are you mad?”

                Keo debated screaming some more, but decided against it in fear of the neighbours calling the police. Not like that was a bad thing, considering Soonyoung had quite literally broke into her house. Keo looked at the window where he entered. The screen was broken into two pieces, with its frame hanging inside the house by its bottom two pins. Shelooked up at Soonyoung, who was looking at her like a kicked puppy.

                She groaned quietly. “No.”

                Soonyoung broke into a smile, sitting on the ground like an obedient kindergartener. She wasn't sure if it was cute or obnoxious. This person was older than her and was acting younger than both of them.

                “Why didn’t you just come to the front door?” She got up and pulled off the pieces of the screen and shut the window.

                Soonyoung twiddled his thumbs around. “Kris said not to let anyone know I was coming. He said something bad might happen if your parents knew.”

                Keo huffed out a breath, pulling herself up on her bed. “Well, they're going to know something happened with this.” She held up the broken screen frame.

                Soonyoung apologized,slumping his shoulders and looking around Keo’s room. He tried to change the subject so she wouldn’t be mad at him anymore. “Your room is small. Well smaller than mine.”

                Keo helped Soonyoung to his feet. “Take off your shoes. You’re getting my floor all wet.”

                He looked down and saw the melting snow at his feet. He quickly took them off and placed them in the corner, looking a little sheepish. Soonyoung walked around, careful not to touch anything in case it broke. He did pet the plush toys though. He squeezed their heads and smiled.

                Keo caught herself watching Soonyoung roam around her room curiously. She shook her head and opened the door. “I think you should leave now. It’s almost 11 and the last train leaves at midnight. If you’re quick you can catch the 11:15 train.”

                Soonyoung looked disappointed having to leave Keo’s room. He followed Keo down to the front door with his wet shoes in his hand. “I’ll tell Kris you need a new screen for your window because of me.” Soonyoung put on his shoes, patted Keo’s head and left down the driveway.

                Keo shook the feeling of Soonyoung’s hand on top of her head out of her mind and shouted to him while he walked down the street. “Don’t come through my window anymore!”

                She closed the door and locked it in case Soonyoung got the idea to come back. Step by step,Keo climbed back to her room. She the light and looked at the broken screen she left on the ground. She went to close her blinds when she saw Soonyoung standing on street, gazing at her house. When he saw her at the window, he grinned and waved. She made a shoo-ing motion with her hand.

                “That kid,” she muttered.

---

                “Are you sure you’re up for today, babe? You sound kind of tired,” Dominik’s voice sounded over the phone. She could hear the wind from outside as he walked to her house. “Did you get much sleep last night? I thought you went to bed after we talked.”

                Keo stifled a yawn. She groaned slightly,pushing her hair out of her eyes and scanning her face in the mirror to see if she was fit to go out. “I did, but something was ... distracting me. I fell asleep at 11:30 though, don’t worry.”

                The line fizzled slightly while Dominik walked. “Is there something you aren’t telling me, Keo?”

                Keo thought about telling Dominik, but thought it was too soon.  She laughed as if at his overprotectiveness. “No. Just come over quick so we can go out.”

                After half an hour on the computer,the doorbell rang.

                “He’s early.” Keo said to herself, skipping stairs to make it to the bottom. Keo happily primped her hair slightly before opening the door, but Dominik wasn’t there.

                “Hi Keo!”Soonyoung chimed.

                Keo frowned. “What are you doing here Soonyoung?” She tried not to sound too disappointed, but she could still hear the bitterness in her voice. Soonyoung was still smiling though.

                “Kris said you were off school today, so I came over.” His expression changed suddenly. “Is that okay? Am I not allowed to come? I used the door this time.”

                Keo made a mental note to shoot Kris in the head later on before responding to Soonyoung. But one look at his distraught face made her frustration melt away. She sighed.“Soonyoung, I’m sorry. I’m going out. I was going to come see you this evening for dinner.” Soonyoung looked sad. His shoulders fell, slightly making Keo feel bad. “It’s just, my boyfriend is coming and we wanted to be together today.” Soonyoung nodded understanding,

                “I get it. I just thought I could hang out with you since you have a day off. I’ll go home and wait until you come over then.” His smile returned to his face, although not as big as before. He ruffled Keo’s hair and turned to leave.

                “Who’s this?” Keo leaned around Soonyoung as saw Dominik making his way up her driveway.

                Keo pushed Soonyoung to the side to greet Dominik with a hug. She didn’t notice Soonyoung’s smile droop off of his face. “He’s just a friend my sister’s husband introduced me too,” she said simply, hoping Dominik wouldn’t ask any further questions.

                Dominik looked Soonyoung up and down and laughed. “Hey kid, stay away from my girlfriend. Don’t hang around her. She doesn’t need something like you when she has me. I don’t want to see you around here, or her. Next time I see you near her I’ll punch you I swear.”

                Keo tugged on Dominik’s shirt.“Dom, don’t say that. He’s my friend. You’re going to make him feel bad.” Dominik shushed Keo for a moment, annoying her slightly.

                Soonyoung didn’t look too phased by his words. “I’m pretty sure I’m older than you.” He looked down at the blond boy holding his soon-to-be-wife. “And I’m taller than you too.”

                “So what was Mr. Friend doing here anyways?” Dominik asked, ignoring the other’s comment, poking Soonyoung in the chest.

                Soonyoung took a step back and innocently responded, “I came over to be with Keo, but she said she was going out with you.”

                “And so you were leaving because you don’t amount to me, right? Well be on your way.”

                 Keo smacked Dominik’s chest lightly. “Dom!”

                “I’m kidding!” Dominik held his hands up and grinned at his girlfriend. He turned Soonyoung. “No, but really. Go.”

                Soonyoung walked down to the end of the driveway and looked back, only to see Dominik trying to cuddle Keo closer. She wore a look of regret for a moment but it slipped right past Soonyoung. His shoulders sunk down to the pavement and he dragged his feet. He didn’t like seeing Keo be close to someone else, let alone that jerk.

---

                Soonyoung avoided seeing Keo for the next couple of days. He didn’t want to run into Dominik by accident and start a problem for her. But when Kris told Soonyoung that he was being enrolled into the same school as Keo, and on top of that would have the exact same time table, he couldn’t help but get excited and call her.

                “What do you mean you have the same time table as me? You’re a year older.” Keo questioned. She didn’t know if she was annoyed with the fact he had the same classes as her, or if it was just unusual and confusing for her to comprehend.

                “The institute didn’t really have a school, so my hyungs mustered up money for me to go to one nearby, but I skipped last year to work.So I have to take all the courses I missed.”

                Keo nodded to herself, biting her tongue. She didn’t think Dominik would be very happy with Soonyoung around.

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