“Wow I haven’t been to the movies in so long.” I say, as I walk alongside Sunghyun, with his arm around me. It feels nice to have him beside me, it’s like having a pillar to support me up.

“Uh..Same here” he says, flashing a smile. “Probably because we’ve both been so busy.”

We’re both walking towards the ticket booths, when all of sudden Sunghyun grabs me by the arm and we make a quick turn.

“Let’s go this way!” he says playfully, and I follow along. He then sits me down at a bench, while he goes to get tickets and popcorn.

I sit at the bench, staring at my feet, as I wait for Sunghyun. I still feel uneasy about the whole thing with Hanbin. Even though what he has in mind worries me, the thought of me being in the spotlight for allthe student to see makes me want to lock myself in my room. I continue losing myself in my thoughts when I hear a familiar voice.

“Well, well look who it is.” I look up and I was all six of the Seoul National Six standing in front of me, with Hanbin looking at me with his signature smirk.

===

“So what movie are we seeing?” Bobby asks, as we’re walking in the theatre. We’re all talking over each other, when Donghyuk nudges me and asks.

“Hanbin hyung, isn’t that the girl from the library yesterday?”

“Huh what girl?” Jinhwan asks. I haven’t had a chance to tell him about Yoonjin yet.

“Hanbin hyung’s new target.” Junhwe says. “Speaking of, you never did tell us what she did to you to make her your new target.”

“I’ll tell you guys later” I wave them off, “But first, we should go say hi to my classmate.”

As we make our way towards her, I notice that she’s just spacing out and staring at her feet. She seems like she has something on her mind. Why is she by herself anyways? We’re standing right in front of her, yet she still doesn’t notice us.

“Well, well. Look who it is.” I say, trying to get her attention. She looks up, and her eyes widen after seeing us standing in front of her.

“Wh-what are you doing here?” she asks, horrified. Geez, I think to myself, I know I tend to torment students, but I haven’t done anything to her, why is she so scared of me.

“My friends and I can’t come to theatre?” I reply, teasingly.

“N-no. I just wasn’t expecting all of you to be here.” She says, looking back down at her feet.

“Great. Then come see a movie with us.” I blurt out, and I see the other look at me.

“What?! No! I mean I can’t.” she exclaims “I’m waiting for someone, and he’s-“

“Yoonjin?” I hear a guy say.

===

“Yoonjin?” I hear Sunghyun’s voice. Relief rushes through me when I see him walking towards us.

“Oppa!” I get up and practically run towards him.

“What’s wrong? Who are these guys?” he asks me.

“Just students from my school.” I reply quickly, and Sunghyun gives me a worried look.

“You a friend of Yoonjin’s?” Hanbin asks in a rude tone, as they’re walking towards us.

“Yeah I am,” Sunghyun answers, as he takes my hand and leads me behind him. “In fact, I’m her boyfriend.” He sounds irritated.

“Boyfriend?” Hanbin repeats, and looks at me with an expression I can’t seem to read.

“Yes, boyfriend.” Sunghyun says, in a tone that sounds like he’s trying to intimidate Hanbin. But Hanbin remains unfazed, and is still staring me. I look at him, still trying to read his expression, when he quickly turns around and walks away. What just happened here? Confused, the guys of Seoul National Six run after him, while Jinhwan-sunbaenim stays behind.

“I’m not really sure about the whole situation,” he says, looking at me “But I’m sorry for whatever he’s done. He’s a stubborn and reckless one, I’ll be sure to talk to him.” He gave a reassuring smile, and turn around to catch up to the rest of the guys.

Sunghyun faces me and looks at me with an expression of worry mixed in with a sort of irritation. Without saying anything, he takes me by my hand and we walk to where are movie is being shown. Are Sunghyun and I not going to talk about this? Is he not curious about it at all? Throughout the whole movie, I’m so distracted with my thoughts about everything that I have no idea what the movie is about.

===

I’m her boyfriend. Those words resonate through me, as I’m walking out of the theatre. That guy pisses me off. What was he trying to do, intimidate me? Thinking back, why didn’t I say something? I should’ve said something back to him, but instead I just turned around and walked away.

I can’t believe Yoonjin has a boyfriend. And of all people, she’s dating that annoying piece of trash. I may not know who he is, but just something about him feels off to me.

I continue walking, when an arm goes around my shoulder.

“Hey, what was all that fuss about?” Bobby hyung says

“Nothing.” I reply, trying to act like nothing is bothering me “Just didn’t feel like seeing a movie anymore”

“Just didn’t feel like seeing a movie, or just didn’t want to be in the same vicinity as your love interest’s boyfriend?”

“Love interest?” I exclaim, “Who, Yoonjin? No way, hyung!”

“Don’t lie to me, I can tell! Looks like our little Hanbin has found his first love” Bobby hyung teases, as he pinches my cheek. As the other guys catch up, Bobby hyung stops bugging my about it. As much as I don’t want to admit it, I think Bobby hyung is right.

===

Sunghyun is driving me home from the theatre, and it’s dead quiet.

“So…” I start “About what happened with the group of guys earlier…”

“Have they been bugging you?” Sunghyun asks before I could continue my sentence.

“Yes and no” I answer. “I mean Hanbin only started talking to me yesterday, but with them it’s not really a good sign when they start talking to you and-”

“Why didn’t tell me?”

“Well it never really came up, and nothing really happened. It-”

“So if another guy talks to you and shows his interest, you’re not gonna tell me about him?” he snaps at me.

“What? No! Why would you say that?” I reply defensively. “What do you mean shows his interest? Nothing happened between us!” I’m so lost right now, why is Sunghyun getting mad about this? I don’t see how what happened is so significant that I have to tell him and ruin our date. Sure it’s been bugging me, but it’s not to the point where I have to burden him with worries, after not seeing him for such a long time. I just wanted to spend some quality time with him.

“You know what, whatever” Sunghyun says, waving it off. I’m staring at Sunghyun, speechless. After a couple of seconds, I turn back to face the front, and try to piece together what just happened.

We don’t say a word to each other for the rest of the car ride, until we reach my place. I get out of the car and before I close the door I say” Thanks for the ride.”

No reply from Sunghyun. So I close the door, and watch him drive off.

In a daze, I make my way up to my apartment, and start to wash up for bed. I keep replaying everything that happened tonight in my head, and I still can’t seem to figure out why Sunghyun acted like that in the car.

I go on my phone, before sleeping, and I decide to message Sunghyun.

Did I do something wrong? If I did, please tell me. I’m really confused as to why you snapped at me out of nowhere like that. If I did do something, I’m sorry.

I press send. I’m lying in bed, when I get a reply from Sunghyun.

It’s nothing. Good night.

Well that doesn’t tell me anything. I give up. I put my phone down and try to sleep. But I can’t help but feel weird about all of this. Did we just get into our first fight?

===

“I’m home.” I call out, as I step into the living room of our house.

“Hanbin, you’re home!” our house’s head housemaid says, as she’s running out from the kitchen. “Are you hungry? Would you like me make some food for you?”

“No, thank you Ahjumma, I’m not hungry. I think I’m just going to go up to my room.” I reply.

“I will bring up some water for you.”

“Thank you.” I say, and I make my way up the stairs.

“Ah I forgot.” She calls up to me. “Master Kim would like you to see him in his office.”

“My father? What does he want?”

“I’m not sure...”

I knock on the door of my father’s office. Come in, I hear him say, and I slowly open the door.

“Sit down” he says sternly without looking up from his work, and I sit on one of the couches in front of his desk.  I wait for him to finish him work, and when he finishes he stands up, with a folder in hand, and comes to sit on the couch across from me.

“I’ve been told that your grades have not been up to par.” He says while flipping through the folder, and he still hasn’t looked up at me. The folder that he’s flipping through has everything about me in it. It has all the information that my father’s employees give him at the end of everyday, from school records to what I did that day. “You’ll have a tutor starting next week” he continues, “And if your grades are not high enough by the next progress report, I’m reducing the amount of your monthly allowance. You may go now.” I get up and I’m leaving his office when he says. “And you’re being asked to go to work tomorrow morning.”

“Kitchen duties again?” I ask him, before he can continue talking.

“I never asked you to speak. And yes. You’re working from 6AM to 2PM.”

Without speaking again, I go back to my room. Just as I’m about to open my room door, the head housemaid comes out.

“I’m sorry, Hanbin! I was just folding up your laundry, and I left the glass of water on your desk.”

“Thanks, Ahjumma.”

“Oh, what did you father want to tell you?” she asks

“Not much, just to talk about my grades and that I have work tomorrow morning.” I shrug.

“Aigoo, Master Kim sure does work you hard. But I know you can handle it.” She smiles, as she pats my cheek.

“Have a good night, Ahjumma.” I say, faking a smile for her.

“You too, sweetheart. I’ll be sure to wake you up in the morning.” She says, as she walks away. I go into my room, and close the door behind me.

After washing up, I plop onto my bed and stare at the ceiling. I look over at my desk and I see the glass of water Ahjumma left for me. I get out of bed, and down the glass of water because Ahjumma wouldn’t like it if I didn’t drink it. I get back into bed, and close my eyes. Soon I fall asleep, and, as usual, I dream about my mom.

My mom left us when I was seven years old. Before that, from what I remember, we were normal happy family. My father worked while my mom stayed at home to take care of me. When I was six, my father’s hotel company became very successful, and our family became rich very fast. We immediately moved into the mansion I live in now, and we hired help so my mom didn’t have to do as much. Over time, I saw my father less and less because he was busy with work, so I spent all my time after school with my mom. When I was seven, my mom was acting strangely when she dropped me off from school. I remember it like it was yesterday.

“Have a good day at school, Hanbin.” She said. I saw her eyes watering, and before I could ask, she pulled me for a tight hug. “I love you so much, don’t you ever forget, okay?”

Clueless as to what was going on, I hugged her back. “Okay, mom.” I said, and I let go, and ran into my school. I remember looking back and waving at her, and she waved back.

She would always be waiting to pick me up after school, and she was always there. But that day she wasn’t. One of my father’s chauffeurs picked me up and dropped me off at home. I went through my usual after school routine, while patiently waiting to see my mom. At dinner, my mom still hadn’t come home yet. I asked Ahjumma where she was, and she told me that she should be back soon. Before I went to bed, I asked Ahjumma again where my mom was and she gave the same answer.

For the next week, I kept asking Ahjumma where my mom was, but after that, I realized she was gone, and not coming back.

As a child, I was constantly missing my mom. And being the amazing woman that she is, Ahjumma stepped up and filled the mother role the best she could for me. Of course, it wasn’t the same as actually having my mom here, but it made things more bearable. Which is why, I’m willing to do anything for Ahjumma, even fake a smile like everything is okay, when it’s not.

As I grew older, I figured out why my mom left. My father had another woman he was seeing. In middle school, I went into my father’s office without knocking and I caught him and a woman together. I’m not even sure if that was the woman he was cheating on my mom with, because after I caught them, the various women my father was seeing came in and out of the house as they pleased. That day, after a beating from my father, I also learned my lesson about always knocking before entering his office.