Leaning forward, I stared blankly at the empty space before me and let my mind wonder off into thoughts that bothered me.

Kyung—that jerk—thinks he can order me around and I somehow comply to his dumb requests like a servant. How did things fall into that sort of order when I’ve only spent one afternoon with him? I’m sure Seohyun doesn’t see me as someone who wanted to be friends with her—what with how I had reacted earlier. My lips frowned at the thought; the only face that came to my mind was Kyung. His goofy smile; annoying laugh; inconsiderate demands. I shook my head of his face and asked myself why I had even made effort to talk to him. After all, his main goal was to get Seohyun—so why was I being dragged into this?

“Ahhhhhhhh,” I messed my hair up and lied onto my back, not wanting to think about this anymore. I was going to go to school and act like nothing happened. I don’t care if Seohyun thinks I’m some weird person because I never thought of befriending her until Kyung told me that he would stop seeing me at the coffee shop. I placed the palms of my hand over my face and exhaled, “I’m just going to go to sleep and forget everything that happened today,” I said to myself and as soon as I took my hands off of my face, I found my brother in my room and giving me a weird look. I sat up and cleared my throat, “What do you want? I didn’t even hear you come in,”
He smirked at me, “I tried riding my bike today and found that the chains were messed up,” he explained, “I guess I have my answer seeing that you were telling yourself to forget what had happened today,”
“Uh,” I scratched the back of my head, “well, sorry. I mean, I didn’t think it would break,”
He sighed, “Fix it,”
“Fix it?” I repeated and sighed, “Fine,”
“I need it by the day after tomorrow because there’s no way I’m going to walk my way to school,”
“Fine,”
“You better fix it well,”
“Fine!” I answered, annoyed. “I’ll have it fixed by then,”
He closed the door and I fell back onto my back.

Great, another problem I have to take care of.

-

Walking into class the next morning, I ignored Seohyun and walked towards my desk like any normal day. To be honest, my heart was beating like crazy within my ribcage because I hate it when my classmates see a side to me that I don’t show in class. In class I was this average student with average grades and an average attitude. If they were to experience my menacing personality, I’m sure their opinions of me would change right away. Just as I placed my bag on the ground, I felt a presence stand next to me. I glanced to the side and noticed that it was Seohyun. What did she want from me? An apology? With a sigh, I cleared my throat and turned to look at her.
She pulled a smile onto her lips, “Good morning,”
I nodded and mumbled, “Morning,”
“Um, about yesterday, I’m sorry about it,”
Great, here it goes with the “I didn’t know you were like this” statement.
“It was my fault for not taking responsibility of my bag and it caused you to lose your balance,” she explained to which surprised me. “I’m terribly sorry about it and I don’t want you think that I’m some person who doesn’t care,”
I shook my head, “N-No, it’s fine. I just… lost my cool yesterday,”
“Do you, by any chance, want to get coffee later with me?”
Shocked as I was, I was able to answer her with a nod, “Yeah, sure,”
She gave another innocent smile and waved at me before walking back to her desk.

For some strange reason, I felt like as if I had been asked out on a date. Or maybe it was because I wasn’t used to people inviting me to go hangout and actually agreeing to go. Or maybe she just had some magical powers to make anyone agree to her requests—like Kyung. Either way, I found myself almost excited to head to the coffee shop with Seohyun later on.

Afterschool, Seohyun and I exited the school together. This time, rather than an awkward walk to the coffee shop, she actually talked to me, asking me questions about me. It was weird, but almost comfortable at the same time. It had been a long time since I had a friend to go out with—or well, more like it had been a while since I had gone out with a friend. Once we reached the coffee shop, Seohyun insisted that she would buy the drinks, so I went to my usual table to sit. Unfortunately, I found Kyung sitting there already with his phone in his hands. He looked up and immediately our eyes met. I frowned as I stopped before the table and crossed my arms.
“Not going to sit?” He asked, which I don’t answer to. “Still mad about yesterday?”
I exhaled and turned my back against him.
He chuckled, “Hey, no need to be that mad. You should be thankful that I saved you from falling flat on your face.”
I scoffed, but said nothing else.
“Do you want an apology or something?”
I shifted my weight from one foot to the other.
“Man, you’re a real hardhead. Seohyun doesn’t even think badly of you; she actually admires you, you know.” He reasoned, “She's thankful that you stood up for her even when you didn’t have to and that you even invited her to go out when she felt that you were only pitying her.”

“Are you done yet?” I asked, “I kind of need you to get out because I need to sit,”
Suddenly Kyung was standing before me; his face seemed only inches away from mine. He looked into my eyes and twisted his lips, “Look, sorry for making you carry Seohyun’s book bag when I should have been the one to carry it. You said that you didn’t mind, so I let you.”
“Oh,”
He sighed, “What do you want from me?”
Though I thought I would keep my mouth shut, an idea popped into my head at his question. I cleared my throat, “Do you know how to fix bikes?”
“Bikes?”
I nodded, “My brother broke the chain of his bike and needs it fixed.” I explained, “If you can fix that for me, I’ll forgive your conniving attitude towards me yesterday.”
He clucked his tongue, “Fine. When do you need it done?”
“Hm,” I thought about it, “I’ll be out of here in about hour so meet me here and I’ll take you to my place to fix the bike.”
“Fine,” he answered, “I’ll see you then,”
I waved at him and watched him leave the coffee shop.

After an hour, I told Seohyun that I was going to be leaving first because I had to meet someone. She didn’t ask any further question and told me that she’ll see me tomorrow. Walking towards the exit of the coffee shop, I could see Kyung leaning against the window with crossed arms. I cleared my throat, catching his attention; he turned his head to look at me and gave me a grave smile. I scoffed in response to his “friendly” smiled and walked towards him. “You actually waited,”
He raised a brow at my doubt, “This was the only way to make you forgive me, isn’t it?”
“Sure,” I shrugged, “well, let’s get going,”
“When is Seohyun heading home?” He asked, looking into the window of the coffee shop.
I looked from Kyung to the window and shook my head, “I’m not too sure,”
“Maybe we should invite her to come along too,”
“Look, I need to get my brother’s bike fixed right now, either you’re coming or you can stay here and creep on Seohyun.”
He looked over at me and nodded, “I’m coming,”

I began to walk, swinging my hands freely at my side and almost bouncing with each step. Kyung walked at a slower pace than me, probably worrying about Seohyun because every few seconds or so he would sigh. We both kept quiet while walking. The only noise that circulated was the chattering of people and the soft gust of wind that blew every minute.
“How far do you live?” Kyung questioned, “I thought you only lived 5 minutes away,”
“Just another turn and we’ll be there,” I answered him and unconsciously said, “stop worrying so much about Seohyun, you’ll see her after you get done fixing my brother’s bike. I’m sure won’t take you long to work on it,”
Kyung sighed, “I can’t believe you’re making me work on something that you broke,”
“Hey,” I stopped walking and turned to look at him, “you said that you would fix it and didn’t even reject my suggestion, so you have no right to complain,”
He smirked at me, “I only complied because it was the only way to make you talk to me,”
“You wanted me to talk to you?” I repeated, “For what reason would you want me to talk to you? We have no relation with other that requires us to have a conversation.”
“Well, you seemed to have agreed that we had some kind of connection since you told me to come fix your brother’s bike,” he reasoned, “otherwise, you would have just ignored me.”
I stiffened at his comment, seeing that he was right about that. I had just told him to follow me to my house without realizing that I was making some kind of relationship with him. He was not just some guy I knew that I go to school with, but rather he was someone I was depending on right now. I clenched my fist and swallowed in my pride, “Our only relationship with each other is… that we need each other for something—friends with benefits!”
“Are you suggesting that we do it?” He raised a brow at me, “I didn’t know you were a person like that,”
“W-What?” I took a step back as he took one towards me, “What are you talking about?”
“Friends with benefits,” he said, “simply means that two friends get together and… well, get busy in bed,”

I pushed him away from me and scoffed, “I meant we’re benefiting off each other from something else—not that!”
He laughed amusingly, “Your reaction is so innocent,”
“Shut up,” I barked at him, “we need to fix the bike.”

Kyung followed me from behind as we entered behind the gates to my small home. I showed him my brother’s bike and the chain that had fallen off by itself.
He examined the chain and the bike carefully. “Looks like you’ve worn out the chain,”
“Worn it out?”
He nodded, “There’s no other choice but to buy a new chain because this one won’t last,”
“Buy a new one?” I frowned, “How much does one cost?”
“A few bucks or more; depends,”
I sighed, “Fine, if I buy one, will you fix it?”
Before answering, he narrowed his eyes at me and twisted his lips. “What if I bought one and fixed the bike and in exchange, you will have to give me your number,”
“No,” I answered without hesitation, “I’ll buy it; there’s no way I’m giving you my number,”
“Why not?” He asked, “If I had your number and you have mine, we can call each other and depend on each other like you had mentioned earlier.”
“No,” I stood by my answer.
He sighed, “Fine, I won’t fix the bike then,”
“W-Wha—but you said that you would!”
“I said that I would, but now I’m saying that I won’t,”
“Fine, I don’t need you to fix it anyways,”
He laughed, “You’re going to fix it yourself?”
“I hope you know that I have friends,” I said and quickly added, “Male friends whom can help me,”
“Oh is that so?” He stood up and stretched out his arms, “Well, then, I guess I’m done here then,”

Something felt off, but I couldn’t quite figure what it was. Kyung seemed a bit too… calm about it. But I let it slip, “You can go home,”
He waved at me, “See you tomorrow and good luck asking your male friends,”
I rolled my eyes and walked into my house without turning back to look at him. What a stuck-up jerk!