-09

Chapter Nine
"It's nothing."

"This doesn't seem like nothing."

15th of March 2014

"Min! You're surprisingly ear-oh..." The older girl on the table's voice trailed off the moment she met gazes with someone unexpected. Minseok gulped but patted Kai on the shoulder, "He's joining us for lunch."

Hee Min glanced around, looking for a familiar pair of eyes but Minseok simply tugged Kai to sit down beside him. They were in a cafe by the campus and as usual, they chose a place that was much quieter than the usual busy ones - much to Kai's surprise. Minseok gave Kai a toothy grin, pushing the menu towards Kai who simply swallowed hard, taking the menu in his hands with his eyes roaming around the well-decorated cafe. The retro feeling had kicked in with the mixture of bright and dull colored walls - with a pinch of pastel for the details of circles. The walls had pictures of singing legends back in the 90's as well in the 80's (Elvis, The Beatles and Michael Jackson being part of the collection), paper ball lights hanging from the ceiling along with the jazzy music in the back - this place was very comfortable and cozy. Though, he's never came here before.

Minseok noticed the way Kai was looking around that he had to say, "The food here is good and the price is reasonable. The place is very relaxing too - not many people come here, though."

Kai glanced at Minseok for a moment, nodding once before he gave a small smile, "I can see that."

"Take a look at the menu. When you're ready, we'll order." Minseok grinned at Kai whlist Kai was too busy looking at the girl sitting opposite Minseok who was currently dialling a number. It wasn't long when both Kai and Minseok stared at her as she tried to get a hold of her sister who was supposed to be here right now too.

"Young-ah, where are you?"

Kai's eyes widened, fingers fiddling on the menu as he swore that the woman opposite Minseok was on the phone with a very familiar girl. Minseok took the menu in Kai's hands, opening it where he lifted it up to cover Kai's view from Hee Min, "Order up, Kai."

Kai was rather startled, but he gained conscious, well aware that Minseok noticed him staring that he gave a hurried nod before getting a grip on the menu to lock his eyes on the appetizing photo of a plate of chicken chop with side orders surrounding it but his mind was somewhere else.

Yeah, definitely somewhere else.

"Me? The spring dinner?"

All Kai got to make up from what Hee Min had said was, "Alright.", "N-No, here with Minseok and a friend of his. Aren't you joining us?", "Ah... I see. I... I'll see you then. Take care.". Right after that, all he heard was a beep from her phone and right in the next, Minseok's voice boomed into his head.

"Kai, what would you like to eat?"

Kai blinked rapidly, lowering down the menu where he made eye contact with the woman before he looked down on the menu before he managed to glance at the waiter standing by their table with a pencil and a small notepad, "I-I'll have the chicken chop."

Minseok grinned at the waiter, "One chicken chop, and for drinks?"

Kai gave a polite smile, "Warm water will do."

"And give us the usual, JJ." Minseok took Kai's menu, passing it back to the waiter who smirked along with returning Minseok's fistbump, "On it, Min."

Kai was left rather impressed - he never knew Minseok was such a easy going yet friendly type of guy. Has he really been hiding under a rock throughout his whole college life? Or was he just too busy caring about the unimportant things until he let this all slip past his mind? Yeah, probably all of the above possibilities.

"So..." Hee Min croaked out awkwardly, unsure of how she should handle things that she remained staring at Minseok who returned her with a smile along with using his hands to gesture around Kai, "Noona, this is Kai." He then proceeded to gesture his hands towards the woman sitting opposite him, "Kai, this is Kwan Hee Min - she's four years older than us."

Kai gave a respectful bow along with Hee Min doing the same, "Nice to meet you." Hee Min's voice was pure and gentle, making Kai gulp as he nodded once, "S-Same here, noona."

With a friendly smile Hee Min gave, she simply turned her attention on Minseok who was already smiling at her, "How is work so far, noona?"

Hee Min gave a nod before murmuring, "It's alright but... where's she? Did she say where she's going?"

Minseok shook his head with a sigh, "You know she never tells me."

There was this pause of awkwardness, until the two of them noticed they weren't alone. Their heads turned to look at Kai who stared at them blankly until he pulled out a quick smile, "T-Talk ahead. It's fine." With a motion of his hand, Minseok shook his head and glanced back at Hee Min. "You said you had questions about Hee Young. It's best you ask now."

Hee Min's eyes widened, a look on her face that she gave to Minseok that meant 'are you trying to get us killed?!'.

Minseok yelped quietly, Kai's eyes widening like saucers when Hee Min had reached over to tug Minseok by his collar until he was off his seat, looming over the table where he came face to face with Hee Min's as she sat back down on her chair swiftly. "You do realize, if we reveal anything, we're so dead..." Hee Min tried to keep her voice as low as possible, but Kai was no idiot. Clearly there was something that only Hee Young could reveal and that this woman was definitely Hee Young's sister. The same middle name along with the family name Hee Min had, gave it all away.

Kai cleared his throat, earning looks from Hee Min and Minseok. "It's alright, actually. She's my dance partner and I can ask her myself."

Hee Min's eyes popped wider, staring at Kai weirdly as she let go of Minseok's collar to let him fall back onto his seat.

"D-Dance partner?" Hee Min's voice cracked in the middle - a vivid sign she didn't know anything. Minseok's awkward chuckle gained him the attention of the conversation, "Y-Yeah, noona. She decided to take back dancing as one of her majors again..."

Hee Min furrowed her eyebrows, "But the other day she just-"

"She's so good at playing pranks - you know her." With that small awkward laugh Minseok gave, it was so obvious that Hee Young wasn't just 'joking' the other day. After a short silence, Minseok decided to break the quiet atmosphere by asking, "So, Kai, how is it like having her as a dance partner?"

As Kai's lips parted to answer, he couldn't exactly answer when the doors of the cafe flung open sharply, making the waiters by the door gasp quietly as she stormed in, making her way towards the table. She turned and walked around the tables blocking her before she managed to take a seat beside Hee Min, along with Kai and Minseok opposite her. Minseok blinked at her rapidly, her sister gave her a worried look but Kai simply stared at her.

She noticed from the corner of her eye that the waiter was walking towards her that she raised up a hand, looking at him where she said, "I'm just here for a while, JJ. I'm fine."

With a small nod, the waiter backed away and headed back to the counter silently.

She had her hand up to rake it through her hair, letting out a soft sigh where all eyes were on her and she was well aware of that. Her hands ped her bag where she pulled out a lavender scented candle, placing it in front of her sister. Hee Min gulped, but reached for the candle where she sighed upon looking at her younger sister's expression, "Burn this at midnight for me, unnie."

Hee Min gave a nod, but used one of her hands to hold onto Hee Young's hand, "Young-ah, maybe this year you could burn it for him yours-"

"I'm not going there." Hee Young objected almost too quickly, voice trembling as she pulled her hand away from her sister. Hee Min sighed heavier this time, "But Hee Young, he's our broth-"

"I have to go." Hee Young cut her sister off just like that, standing up where she tugged on her bag just to walk out of the cafe.

Hee Min leaned back against her seat, hands fiddling with the lavender scented candle, "It's the same every year..."

Minseok was watching Kai's expression the whole time, and need he say that Kai's face was rather unreadable. Kai tilted his head a little to meet Minseok's eyes where he let his lips part to ask quietly, "What's the candle for?"

Minseok wanted to answer, but the moment the waiter came with a tray to serve them their food along with drinks, all Minseok could say was, "I'll let you know."

"I'm sure that you could tell that Hee Min noona is actually Hee Young's sister." Minseok said casually, hands in his pockets as him and Kai made their way towards the university as they walked by the park. Kai nodded once, noticing how Minseok's smile was slowly changing into a thin line on his lips. "They actually have a little brother, too."

Minseok then turned his head to give Kai a small smile, "Well, they had a younger brother."

Kai felt like his insides were going to turn upside down just listening about this - why does everything about her triggers his mind? He stopped walking, staring at Minseok and all that he could say is, "W-What happened...?"

That was Minseok's cue to halt his tracks as well, just give Kai a pat on the shoulder with a grin, "That's for Hee Young to tell you on her own."

He stared up on his ceiling, eyes narrowing at it as if something was going to pop up but nothing did. A frustrated cry left his lips as he sat up on the bed where he glanced over to see if his roommate was asleep and based on the minor snores along with completely frozen figure on the bed, it confirmed that his roommate was indeed in a deep slumber.

How the hell... He grumbled, not believing that his friend could already sleep based on how they just got in bed a few minutes ago but it seems like his friend was already in dreamland while he was stuck here in reality. He sighed, realizing that he couldn't fall asleep even if he tried and with that, he pushed himself off the bed where he grabbed his phone and keys to head out as silent as possible.

Humming a tune that was stuck in his mind for a while now, he walked calmly down the halls as it was already late at night and just as he passed by an opened door, he noticed how cold it was that he stopped. He furrowed his eyebrows, looking over his shoulder where he noticed that the doors to the balcony was slightly opened - which leads to how he felt a cold breeze brushing against his skin. Gulping with a pinch of nervousness, he turned around carefully.

Half of his mind told him to leave, because this is none of his business but the other half told him that he would not regret going to see who was out there. He brought himself back towards the door where he stood there, hand lingering on the handle where he wasn't sure if he should do it or not but the moment he heard an exhausted sigh on the other end, his eyes widened with curiosity.

That voice... His mind was puzzled but at the same time, it felt like something clicked. With that little thought, he placed his hand on the cold metal handle, slightly pushing it open where his guess was right.

She was here.

He took in the image of her standing there, a tank top wrapping around her body in this cold night - Jesus, he thought. It's ing cold here! He cursed, not liking the fact that she was freezing and don't get him wrong, he might have this thing against her that he would like to pick on her but he had a heart. And that heart, wasn't feeling good to see she was being this way as he stepped out to the balcony but she didn't move an inch because... she couldn't be bothered.

Noticing that she didn't care, he stood there, choosing his words.

"What's a girl like you doing at a place like this? At this hour?" A voice boomed into her ears and just like that, she could sense it at the tip of her fingers. Her heart remained calm as she looked over her shoulder, meekly peeking at the person who spoke only to be right when he gave her a blank look - the same one she was greeting him with as well. She sighed, proceeding to face forward where she shook her head, focusing on looking down at the quiet road below her - it gave her peace as she stared at the people walking casually at this time and before he could even say anything, she had beat him to it.

"Just let me have a day of peace. Torture me all you want another day - just not today."

He was left gaping at her, that was not what he had expected her to reply with. It seems like she wasn't even done when she added in sadly, "At least, not now..."

She swallowed hard, her hands gripping onto the railings where she closed her eyes to appreciate the silence that he replied her with. She could hear the door closing, a soft click - whether he had left or not, was still boggling her mind but she chose to ignore it. There were other things messing up her mind as well.

He made quiet steps towards her, standing beside her where he pressed his elbows on the railing just to get a clearer look of her face. Her eyes were closed as if she wanted to disappear and really, for the day, she wanted to. He saw how her eyelids tremble, as if whatever was playing in her mind horrified her, but she didn't open her eyes at all. His lips parted when her hands clenched on the railings tighter but all in all, her eyes remained closed.

What she saw when her eyes were closed, wasn't darkness.

No.

It wasn't pitch black - they were images. Images of how things were years ago. The smile on her younger brother's face, the very first time her eyes laid on her newborn brother, the first time her younger brother called out her name out of the blue and that was his very first word. His eyes that gleamed with happiness and joyfulness - his pure heart that loved his sister more than anything in the world.

She missed that very much.

Her eyes opened, making all those beautiful images that collaged up in her mind, disappear. They vanished into thin air as she stared ahead of her, realizing that she was just on the rooftop of the building. As her eyes flickered down to look the bracelet around her wrist and that was when he noticed how sad her eyes looked, how for just today, she managed to let him see that even if she was a girl who is known to be a rebel - she was only human. And there's only so much a person's heart can take.

He wanted to find out, how much her heart could take.

And what was filling up the corners of that itty bitty heart of hers - it was a desire, a wish, a goal.

"What happened?" His voice was soft, hushed as it blended in with the atmosphere and for a split second, she thought her heart was about to drop. Just when she thought she was alone again for the day, she wasn't.

He was here beside her.

With just small movements, her head turned to meet with his eyes that were coated with concern. Indeed, he was a bit worried for her but he wasn't going to blow his cover just like that. She was, after all his partner. And he cares for her just as a partner... right?

He then frowned at her when his heart reminded her that she was only wearing a tank top and a pair of sweats that he continued to furrow his eyebrows at her. "It's cold here - we should go in."

She shook her head, "It's fine. I'm not cold."

He scoffed, a hand shooting at her direction to place it on her bare arm where he could easily feel how cold she actually was. Her eyes widened slightly, relishing on the feeling of his warm palm on her skin that she looked down to stare at his hand but it seems like he didn't care at all. "You're a terrible liar."

She managed to give a weak smile - one that made his heart skip a beat, "I didn't say I was a good liar, anyway." Her hand then lifted up to push his hand away but he gripped onto her hand, eyes flaring with curiosity, "You still haven't answered my question."

She looked away, prying her hand from his, "It's nothing."

He gave her a boring look, "Nothing?" He straightened his back as he stared at her, "This doesn't seem like nothing."

She got agitated but it wasn't because of him - it was because what today was that made her feel this way. It was just a really, really bad day, even if it was just the beginning of it. She rolled her eyes at him before she gave him a glare, "Why do you suddenly give a ?"

His lips parted, his heart stopping where he truly start to think what his intentions were. He couldn't say anything, which leads to why he closed his lips until they formed a thin line - a sign that she saw that he was only trying to be caring for once. She felt a bit bad, but she wasn't going to take them back - words couldn't be taken back, anyway. She stared at him as he shook his head with a smirk, as if this was all a joke.

"Yeah, I don't know why I do but it seems like I don't. Stay out here for all you want. I'm leaving." With that two last words he gave her, he his feet to bring himself back into the building - furious and equally agitated as she was.

Not because she had snapped at him like that, because he found himself growing weak around her just because he tried to be soft around her. He cursed at himself the moment he wanted to close the door behind him but he didn't have the heart to. Something was tugging on his heart, making him look over his shoulder where through the small gap, he could see how she sighed and raked a hand through her hair - a tiny assumption that he made, thinking she may have regreted her actions and words.

He sighed, "I can't just leave her like that..."

As she continued to stare ahead of her, a voice spoke up asking her in her mind, 'why did you do that?'

She sighed, shaking her head as she didn't know as well.

I don't know... I just...

Her mind argued with her, 'it's been so long since you've seen him - why are you being like this?'

She closed her eyes, trying her very best to just stop thinking but the human brain doesn't work that way. The more she wants to stop thinking, the more thoughts flood her mind. And it didn't help that today was also an important day that she wants to avoid.

But in that very moment, she felt a warm piece of clothing on her shoulders, making her pop her eyes open where a soft gasp emitted from her lips. Her head looked over her shoulder, meeting with Kai's eyes that greeted her with the same amount of blankness as he stared at her. She swallowed and she saw how he his lips nervously. Oh how he wanted to just run away right now, but he knew he had to say something before he leave.

"You can't possibly be sick before you even have a chance to dance with me."

With his words echoing into her ears, her hands inched up to tug on his jacket where he gave a small smile upon seeing how she appreciated his kind act, even if it was just something simple - he felt good. "Get some rest, it's getting late." His hand lifted up to salute her vaguely along with his signature smirk before he turned around, with a much lighter heart as he walked back into the building.

He had left the door open with a gap just so he could see how she faced forward to stare ahead of her, with his jacket on her as she hugged it around her body appreciatively.

He couldn't stop smiling that night.