Two days had passed since the incident, but that bittersweet feeling never left Mira. She was literally at the verge of walking up to Jongin to ask him why he had acted in that manner a few days ago. 

Was she expecting too much from him?

She thought that they had gotten a bit closer after when he took her to his secret place, she thought that maybe they were starting to get to know each other.

Why would he take her there if he didn’t think of her as a friend?

Are we even friends? Mira rubbed her temples in frustration.

Why was she even fretting over this?

She told herself to forget about what had happened and promised to stay away from Jongin from now on, but that didn’t last for too long.

Mira realised that she hadn’t even started on the project and the fact that it was due in two weeks made her feel anxious. She was worried and definitely didn’t want a bad score. After mentally fighting with herself, she came to the conclusion that she would talk to Jongin after school regarding the project since he was her partner.

I don’t want to though. In frustration, she ruffled her hair while she ignored the glances she got from her classmates.

---

School soon came to an end and Mira was once again fighting with herself to make a decision.

Stuff this. Without thinking twice, she headed toward the school parking lot and hoped that Jongin hadn’t left yet. To her relief, she saw him opening his car door. She started to quicken her pace, but stopped when a wash of nervousness came over her.

How was she supposed to start the conversation?

Focus, you’re doing this for the project. Her mind literally encouraged her. Luckily, she didn’t have to start the conversation as Jongin caught sight of her. Mira held her breath as his brown eyes locked on hers, but to her surprise a smile appeared on his face. She literally rubbed her eyes. I am seeing things now? Jongin was in fact smiling at her, he even waved for her to walk over toward him.

What the heck was happening?

Why was he friendly all of a sudden?

Had he already forgotten about the whole incident two days ago?

Wait, was I seeing things back then? Was he even there? Mira shook her head and cursed at herself for thinking so stupidly. Of course, he was there. Everyone else saw him just like her, but why was he smiling at her right now as if nothing had happened? Mira couldn’t help but feel angry at him.

How could he even smile like that when he left her there with no help?

She knew he wasn’t responsible for her, but here he was smiling like an idiot as if nothing had happened between the two of them.

Are we suddenly friends now? She wanted to laugh out loud, but kept her blank look as she walked toward Jongin. 

“Hey,” he greeted normally with a happy tone, but it had no effect on Mira as she gave him a cold shoulder.

“Do you even take the project seriously? I rather work alone on it if you don't have any interest,” she stated angrily. She suddenly felt so fiery.

Jongin was surprised to see this reaction from Mira, but he quickly nodded his head to her question. “Let’s work on the project now,” he said as he took Mira's hand which angered her even more.

This time, she had the energy and the strength to pull away from him. She wasn’t going to deal with his reckless actions anymore. She wasn’t going to have a change in emotions. She wasn’t going to get swayed by his inconsistent behaviour. “I can perfectly walk on my own!” She growled. 

Jongin simply walked with her to the school library in complete silence. He didn’t know how to start a conversation with her. Mira looked beyond furious, he could definitely tell that she was angry at him and he perfectly knew why. He had only ignored her a few days earlier because he didn’t want to cause her more trouble. He already knew that she was having a hard time with students glaring at her nonstop. He also knew that his crazy admirers were giving her a hard time as well.

Of course, he wanted to help Mira out when he saw Taejoon ridiculing her in front of his schoolmates, but he knew that if he got involved it would result in Mira being more hated on and he didn’t want that. She was suffering enough. It was beyond a difficult decision for him to walk away as if nothing had happened, but he did it to protect her. However, he regretted his bold move after the incident.

Luckily, there weren’t many students in the library, only the nerds and the bookworms and Jongin knew they wouldn’t cause them trouble. Mira sat down on a seat and Jongin did the same. He sat in front of her and he could clearly see that she was still pissed off at him.

“What issue do you want to address?” Mira asked. She decided to forget about what had happened two days ago and to just focus on her project. This project is much more important. She kept on telling herself while Jongin decided that it was best for him to apologise to Mira.

He couldn’t stand it anymore. “Look, I’m….I’m sorry,” he suddenly blurted out.

Mira stared at Jongin in disbelief. She knew what he was apologising for, but his apology made it even harder for her to trust him. Why is he so confusing? She was confused at the way he acted. He was full of surprises as his actions were unexpected and she never knew what would be waiting for her next. She made up her mind and told herself not to let her guard down as she didn’t want to feel disappointed and upset because of him, again. 

“Can we please focus on the project? I don’t want to receive a zero,” she avoided the topic. She didn’t want to discuss it even further.

“How can I focus when you’re clearly angry at me?” He asked and ran his fingers through his hair, frustrated.

He noticed that? Mira hadn’t even realised that she had been showing her emotions on the outside.

Or was she that easy for Jongin to read?

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she coldly shrugged and flipped the next page of her textbook.

“I just…I just wanted to protect you ok?” He let out a sigh. Jongin could see that Mira was still looking down at her textbook, trying to make it look like he wasn’t there with her but he knew she could hear him. She had no choice but to listen to him. “I know you're having a hard time from other students here because of my reckless act and I didn’t want to cause you more trouble,” he finally told her his reason why. 

Suddenly, a warm feeling swept through Mira's body.

Why did she feel so touched?

She finally looked up to see Jongin who was still trying to explain to her why he had acted that way a few days ago. She could genuinely see and feel that Jongin was sorry for what he had done and now since she knew the reason why, all the anger in her vanished away. She suddenly felt silly for even getting pissed off at him in the first place. 

“Thanks,” Jongin heard Mira speak. He was shocked when he saw her smiling.

Wasn’t she supposed to yell at him for his stupid decision making?

But here she was, smiling while thanking him.

What was she even grateful about?

He hadn’t done anything for her to thank him yet. All he did was cause her trouble. He was nothing, but trouble to her. 

“But you’re an idiot you know?” She quickly remarked, making Jongin puff out his cheeks. Mira couldn’t help, but chuckle at the sight. Did Jongin just pout in front of her? “I could have taken care of myself, but thank you for thinking that way.” She still had a smile on her face. 

This smile that Jongin was receiving from Mira was different from the few others he had seen. It was a genuine smile, he could tell that by the way her eyes sparkled when she smiled. He hadn't even realised, but he was smiling back at her as well. 

The two of them sat there, childishly smiling at each other.

Nothing else seemed to matter at that moment for the two of them.  

---

Over the week, Mira and Jongin had been working on their project together after school in the library. Other students had also noticed that as well so they would come over to the library to watch them two. Mira was still getting a hard time from all the fangirls, but she got over it. She knew Jongin would be there for her as they had already talked about the misunderstanding.

Jongin didn’t really care about what score he was going to get from this project, but he knew if he didn’t put in much effort Mira would fail with him as it was a partner work. However, he wanted to do the best for Mira. They had decided to do their project on the Social Class of this world. Mira was the one who had suggested it and he agreed to it right away. He actually didn’t want to work on this issue, but he could tell that Mira was really passionate about this whole thing so he couldn’t help but agree.

Overall, there was no stopping the nosiness from the other students as they would often find ways to distract the two of them. Jongin could see that Mira was finding it difficult to concentrate and to focus on working for the project, but still she kept her patience. However, it was different for Jongin. He had had enough. 

“Let’s go,” he suddenly stated as he started putting the things that they were working on into his school backpack. He looked over to see a confused Mira who sat there on her chair while titling her head. “I don’t know about you, but I can’t concentrate,” he let out his frustration and Mira agreed with him right away.

They then walked out the school library and headed to the parking lot where Jongin quickly unlocked his car. Mira didn’t need to be told, she got into his car and Jongin did the same as well. After a few minutes, he drove out off the school gates.

“So, where are we going exactly?” Mira finally asked.

“My house,” he replied as if it wasn’t a big deal.

Mira nearly choked on her own saliva. She looked at him with wide eyes, checking if he was pulling a prank on her but he seemed serious. She couldn’t help but suddenly feel nervous, but at the same time she was excited. She didn’t want to deny it, but she was growing fond of Jongin and liked his company. Over the past week, they had grown a bit closer and she was glad that she actually agreed to work with him for the project. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have gotten the chance to know him better.

Jongin was genuinely a nice guy. Well, he was always nice whenever she was with him, but sometimes she could tell that he was in deep thoughts. He often got distracted and zoned out while they worked on the project together. He seemed to be in his own world and sometimes he would come to the library in anger, but tried not to let it get to him. She wanted to ask if he was ok. She wanted to know what made him act that way as she was worried about him.

After half an hour, or so they finally reached their destination. She blinked when Jongin's place seemed small in comparison to the other rich kids. Jongin was one of the richest chaebol in Korea, but his house looked like it was bought for an average price.

“I live by myself,” Jongin suddenly said as if he had just read Mira’s mind.

Mira sighed in relief. She had been worried about how she should act in front of his parents and what she should do to make a good first impression, but in the end Jongin lived alone. She was comfortable with that, but soon a nervous feeling took over her. She was going to be alone with him. Don't get her wrong, she didn't mind Jongin's company, but she really didn't know him that well for her to be at his place. 

“Are you going to come in or not?” He asked with a smirk. Mira thought about the project, she was doing this for the project. She had no choice, but to enter his penthouse. “I’ll be back after I get changed, stay put and don’t touch anything,” he exclaimed before disappearing into his room.

Mira couldn’t help, but let her curiosity take over her. She walked around in the lounge room. There wasn’t much to see to be honest. She had at least thought that she would see some photos of him and his family, but there was absolutely none. Jongin's place literally felt cold even though today’s weather was pretty warm. She was about to go explore someplace else when Jongin appeared from his room. He wore a white wife beater and a black track pant.

“Do you want anything to drink, or something to eat?” He politely asked as he made his way toward the kitchen.

“I agreed to come here so we could work on our project together in peace,” she blandly reminded him, totally ignoring Jongin's question.

Rolling his eyes, he quickly warmed up some left over pizzas from last night and came back into the lounge room with his food.

Mira’s nose wrinkled at the smell of the unhealthy snack, somehow she felt sorry for Jongin. He was the son of one of the richest chaebol in Korea, but here he was eating what looked like left over pizzas, she was sure of it. She had expected him to live his life in luxury, but here he was living by himself while eating left over food. She wondered if Jongin had a good relationship with his parents.

“Why are you living alone?” She found herself asking.

Jongin shrugged his shoulders as he bit into one of the pizzas. “I thought you wanted to work on the project.” He cockily commented, totally avoiding the question regarding his parents. 

---

They had been working on the project for only an hour straight, but Jongin was already worn-out. He yawned and rested his head on the glass table, he was feeling drowsy all of a sudden.

“What do you think you’re doing? Get up!” Mira shouted as she glared at him.

They hadn’t even done much yet and here this boy was already dozing off to his dream land.

Jongin groggily rubbed his eyes which made him look like a little kid. “Just five minutes,” he cutely pleaded, hoping that his aegyo would work on her.

Before Mira could shout endlessly at Jongin, the doorbell suddenly rang which got both of their attention. Jongin scratched his head and wondered who the guest could be. He wasn’t expecting anyone here today and it was just too rare for his parents to visit him. He let out some curses, annoyed that he had to get up from his comfortable position as he made his way toward the door to check who the person was through his monitor. Just like that, his eyes shot open and he was back in the lounge room.

“Hide!” He hissed as he quickly cleared the table.

Mira could tell by Jongin’s tone that he was nervous about what would happen next and it scared her. She panicked with him as well, not knowing what or who she was hiding from. “Where?” She asked as she frantically looked around, trying to spot someplace safe to hide.

They didn’t have enough time to find a place to hide so Jongin quickly made her hide under his kitchen sink. It wasn’t that spacious, but he knew Mira could fit in there. Plus, he knew that hiding her in other places in his penthouse would be useless because his friends would literally walk around and make it seem as if it was their own home. They did this every time they visited Jongin's place.

The doorbell rang once again.

Jongin rushed to open the door, but stopped when he saw Mira’s shoes. Not having much time, he quickly threw them in the nearest bin. He didn't want to place it on the shoe rack because his friends would obviously see the unknown pair of shoes. He then quickly fixed his hair and calmed down his heartbeat as he finally opened the door to let his friends in.

“What the heck took you so long?” Sehun growled at Jongin who simply mouthed sorry.

Chanyeol had a dirty look on his face. “Were you watching again?” He cheekily asked.

“You’re sick!” Jongin wrinkled his nose in disgust, but it was completely normal for them.

Junmyeon and Kyungsoo then entered into Jongin's home, already feeling comfortable.

Baekhyun held up a plastic bag which seemed to have something in it. “I brought chicken and beer!” He declared and rushed over to set up the table.

. Jongin had thought that they had just came over for a chat, but they were planning to eat here. He worriedly glanced at the small component under the kitchen sink. It looks like you have to stay in there for a while. In helplessness, he walked over to the lounge room to eat fried chicken with his friends.