Anyway, thank you.

Chen read that line over and over again. It was Saturday. Three days have passed since he received the notebook from Misung. Not even once had he seen her during that time. She went to school later than usual, she left as soon as the bell rang. It looked as if she was troubled again…or she was avoiding him. Whichever the case was, Chen was frustrated that he didn’t have a chance to talk to her. He needed to speak to her soon because she was the reason why he couldn’t pay any attention to what teachers taught. They needed to meet and talk so he would rest his mind.

He took the headphones lying on his table and put them on, turning on the music – the music she seemed to hate so much. A wide smirk appeared on his lips.

It was 9:30. She surely was up at that hour. She always learned during the morning. Chen knew that because she always would pop her head out the window and scream at him to lower the volume. His fingers tapped on the wire as he thought. If he was to annoy her so much that she would come up to his apartment, it would be great. Nodding at his idea, he pulled the wire and in less than a second the music began to blast out of the speakers.

Misung gripped the pencil in her hand. She wished that she would never have to go through this type of problem again – she never wanted to hear how Chen listened to his favourite songs at almost full volume. It annoyed her to no end. She tried to block the sounds and continue working but it didn’t help. She couldn’t concentrate at all.

She dashed to the window and screamed a few curses and pleads directed to Chen. The latter could barely muffle his chuckles.

“Damn it, Kim Jongdae! Can’t you drop the volume at least a little?!”

After a few minutes of waiting, she screamed again, this time much louder, yet there was still no answer from Chen. Then she closed the window. Chen ran to the door and listened carefully for her steps. As he predicted, she came to his apartment and furiously banged her fists against the door.

“Jongdae, I swear I’m gonna kill you if you don’t stop the freaking music!”

“I know.” Chen chuckled as he opened the door.

“You find this funny? I really can’t learn when your music is so loud.”

Chen rolled his eyes. Even though he was expecting her to say that, it still was a bit annoying to actually hear it. Why would she learn so early in the morning?

Chen pressed the stop button and soon, the two of them were embraced by silence. Misung bowed her head, ready to leave when Chen grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

“Where are you going?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Misung shrugged. “I’m going back to learning.”

“No way. You’re coming with me.” Chen shook his head, taking his jacket and locking the door. “You can give me a few minutes of your time, can’t you?”

Misung bit her lower lip. She had avoided him successfully the entire week and now she was in front of him, being asked to accompany him.

“No. I don’t have time for fooling around.” She tried to leave but Chen didn’t let her go.

“Come on, just this once.”

Misung stomped her foot, annoyed. “I said I don’t have time. If you’re displeased with that answer than I’ll give you another one: I also don’t want to go anywhere with you right now.”

Chen frowned. She was being plain stubborn. Well, he was even more stubborn than her. With a swift movement, he managed to grab her body and throw it over his shoulder. That was a crazy move, he knew that much, but he wanted to talk to her so badly.

“Let me down!”

“I won’t let you down until you agree to go out with me today. It’ll be fun.” He said in a much gentler tone. “Come on, just for a few hours. After that you can go back to learning.”

“A few hours?” Misung whined. “I can’t stay a few hours.”

“Alright, alright. We’ll stay exactly two hours. Then I’ll take you home. How does that sound.”

Misung sighed. There was no way he was going to give up, right?

“Let me down.” She mumbled, annoyed.

Chen smiled widely. Two hours was also fine. It was more than enough.

Misung was now curious what he wanted from her. Actually she was more curious where he would take her. It was Saturday morning. Where did that crazy boy want to go out with her?

“Bowling?” she asked, blinking at the building in front of her. “You wanted to go bowling?”

“Yes. Why you don’t like it?”

Misung shrugged. “I’m not really fond of it but it’s okay.”

After paying for two hours, Chen led Misung to their lane. He let her choose a ball and go first. The way she moved when she swung her hand and let go of the ball made it so obvious that she was used to bowling.

“Damn it, I rusted.” She muttered, making Chen come back to reality. He looked at the pins. He didn’t intend to laugh, he really didn’t want but when he saw that she hit only one bowling pin, he burst into laughter.

“Oh, I wanna see you do better.” Misung pouted.

“Y-You have one more hit.” Chen said between laughs.

Misung glared at him then turned her attention back to the lane. This time she managed to knock down three pins. She crossed her arms over her chest in annoyance. She really had rusted.

Chen inspected the balls. He needed a heavy one because whenever he chose a light one, he would end up scoring nothing. Misung glared at his back.

“Hurry up!”

“Alright, alright.”

As soon as Chen let go of the ball, Misung took her revenge and started laughing while clutching her stomach.

“G-Gutter ball!” she cheerfully said.

Chen was fuming. He quickly grabbed another random ball and hit aimlessly. This time, he managed to knock down a pin.

“I can’t believe this.”

“You’re going to get your kicked by a girl.” Misung giggled.

“I won’t. Just because I started bad, it doesn’t mean I can’t win.”

“Yeah, right.”

“Alright, then let’s bet on it.”

“Alright. I’ll kick your anyway.” Misung agreed a bit too fast. “What are we betting on?”

“If I win, you’ll spend the entire day with me. If I lose…I don’t know. What do you want me to do?”

Tapping her chin, she thought. What did she want from him? She wasn’t sure.

“I’ll think of something later.” She answered as she took a ball and hit. She managed to strike 5 pins, then 3.

Chen bit his lip. He had to win.

“Come on!” Misung whined from her seat as Chen took a long time to select a ball once again.

The ball that left Chen’s hand hit 7 pins but the next one was again a gutter ball.

“For a second I thought you tricked me in the first round but I guess you really at this game.”

“I haven’t warmed up yet.”

Misung giggled in a mocking manner. She once again chose a ball and hit all the pins.

“Oh, strike.” She said as casually as possible, even though she was having a hard time not laughing at Chen’s expression. It was priceless. He was staring at the fallen pins with his jaw ajar.

“Are you so eager to go back to learning?” he muttered.

“Nah, I just want you to lose to me.”

“But seriously, you should get a break from all the learning.” Chen continued as he knocked down 3 pins. “After I read your note, I realized we are not too different from each other. We both struggle to get our parents to praise us.”

Another 2 pins down. Now it was Misung’s turn.

She was more concentrated on Chen’s words rather than the pins. It felt so nice. He cared about her and tried to comfort her. In the end, she was glad she gave him the notebook. Even though she had been so ashamed for a few days, she could now act normal in front of him.

Gutter ball.

“Good. Way to go, girl. That’s how I want you!” Chen widely smirked. “And as I was saying earlier, I also have that problem with my parents but I am a bit more rebellious. I don’t give a damn about things I don’t like. I only learn what I want. Oh, do I need to talk more so you lose?”

Misung sighed as she went back to sit down. She had just hit one pin.

“We are different, Jongdae. I have to struggle a lot just to pass a freaking subject. Have you seen how miserably I failed the last test?”

9 pins down.

“Yeah, I’ve seen. When are you retaking the test?”

“Next Friday. Why?”

Spare. Chen knocked down the last pin as well.

“Let’s learn together. I will help you.”

“I don’t want to.” Misung answered between gritted teeth.

“How about forgetting about your pride this once?”

“I don’t want someone to help me.”

“Yah, it’s not like it’s going to kill you. And anyway, it’s not for free. I need help with math. I saw you have perfect marks in that subject. I help you with this and you help me as well. It’s like a trade.”

“I’ll think about it.” Misung mumbled.

“You’ll think about it? How about saying yes or no now?”

Misung glanced at the scores. While they were busy talking, Chen scored more than her. He had an advantage of 5 points.

“Let’s talk after I beat your .” She said.

15 minutes later, the game ended. Misung won. She scored 81 while Chen scored 80.

“We still have time left. Let’s play another round.”

“You want a girl to kick your twice?” Misung raised her brows. 

“The difference was of one point. Now that I am all warmed up, I am sure I can beat you.”

“Yeah, sure.” The girl snickered.

The second game ended up as Chen losing, once again. He was complaining all the way out of the building and during the walk back to their apartments. Even when she tried to ignore his whines, Misung failed. She even tried to come up with a way to stop him from crying over his hurt ego. The only idea she thought of was a game of basketball since there was a basketball court right behind the building they lived in.

“Jongdae-shi, let’s play one more game.”

Chen looked at Misung, then at the basketball court. He wasn’t too great when it came to basketball but if it meant spending more time with her, he was more than fine with playing. He was also taller than her so it was his advantage.

An hour passed, two, three.

The sky was already an orange shade.

Both Chen and Misung were covered in sweat and panting heavily. They have played without taking even a small break. Even though their bodies were worn out, they could still go on. Chen wrapped his hands around Misung, trying to get the ball but she was faster. She successfully got out of his embrace and jumped up in the air, shooting the ball right through the hoop.

“Yah!” Misung panted loudly. “How can you lose at this as well?”

“How can you be good at so many things?” Chen shot back. “Are you a multitasker? You are good in school, at bowling and now at sports as well. Is there anything you can’t do?” he whined as he let his body crash on the floor.

“There are so many things I’m not good at.”

“Give me an example.”

Misung tilted her head to the side as she thought. Something she was not good at…

“Cooking, dancing, drawing. I at those things.”

Chen shook his head. Yeah, right. He bet she was still better than him. Well, maybe not at cooking.

He stood up to take his jacket – since he had gotten rid of it a while ago and threw it on the ground beside the court – and felt its pockets. When he found the object he was looking for, he took it out and handed it to Misung.

“I’m not good at writing my feelings. I am the type to talk about my problems…anyway I…I would like to read another entry in that notebook of yours. If you ever feel like writing in it again, I will always feel more than happy to be the one you’d give it to.”

“Thank you, Kim Jongdae.” Misung smiled widely. The first genuine smile of the evening.

Chen smiled back as he gazed at her stretched lips.

“What are you thanking me for?” he joked. “I stole your entire day. Weren’t you supposed to learn for school?”

A few curses left Misung’s lips as she started running towards the apartment building. She didn’t even wait for the elevator. She simply dashed towards the stairs and climbed the 3 floors. She had completely forgotten about the many books that were waiting for her on her desk.

“Seriously, this girl…” Chen sighed.

Yah, Kim Jongdae, you are soooooo dead. Because of you I couldn’t finish learning. Do you know how many questions I couldn’t answer?! And don’t forget you still owe me for losing all those games. I’m gonna torture you the entire weekend.

The school trip is the day after tomorrow. I’m so nervous. When I listened to my friends talking so eagerly about the things they want to do, I noticed I don’t fit in with them. They want to sneak out and go to the club right before midnight. What is so good about clubs anyway? They go there to get drunk and inhale all the smoke. Am I weird for not seeing the fun part in that? Are you going as well in this trip?

Yah, idiot! Why haven’t you told me you have a test in math next week? I am still supposed to help you out since you also helped me so tomorrow wait for me in front of the gates. We’re going to the central library to study.

My mom saw my new marks. She is not pleased at all. I got so many perfect scores but she only sees the 80s and 90s ones. What am I? A robot? How can I be perfect at everything?

Last night was a disaster. You remember how mom kept pushing me to go to that stupid party? I ended up going. It was the worst night of my life. I will never go to such stupid events again. I am satisfied with going out with my closest friends only. I don’t need any more friends.

Last entry – as you saw, the notebook has no more blank pages and I decided to not start another one. So this is my last entry, Chen. Good bye!

Chen frowned as he saw the words scribbled on the paper. He didn’t like them at all.

“What’s this? Good-bye? How can she throw me aside like that? Why won’t she start a new notebook? Does she not need me anymore?” he pouted.

“You whine too much.” Misung laughed at the figure whose back was facing her. When Chen turned around, his lips automatically lifted up in a smile but after a few seconds, they went down in a firm, tight line.

“What’s this? After all the things I read about you, you will just get rid of me?”

“Have I said that in there?” she giggled.

“Then what’s this? Why aren’t you starting a new notebook? Why are you saying Good-bye?”

Misung bit her lower lip for two reasons: one, to stop her lips from smiling again and two, out of nervousness.

“I…” she began to say but couldn’t finish so she tried once again. “I will try to tell you directly from now on.”

Chen blinked. And then blinked again.

“Say that again.”

“Yah! It took me a lot of courage to say those freaking words and you want to hear them again?!”

“I think I heard wrong.”

“What have you heard wrong? I said I will talk about my problems with you from now. Are you happy?”

Chen smiled softly after hearing her confession.

“So I haven’t heard wrong.”

Misung couldn’t hold back the smile that threatened to widen on her lips anymore.  I’ll let you in, Kim Jongdae, since you’re the one who saw my broken side.