Chapter Six 

The Surprise

"Hey, get up." 

Sungmi felt several taps on her shoulder. Groaning in discontent, she brushed the hand away, only to feel it again right after she moved it. 

"Hey, I said get up." 

Sungmi buried her face in her pillow. She hated having to wake up from a deep sleep. Her alarm wasn't ringing yet so that meant she didn't have to get ready for university until it did. 

She felt the taps stop and footsteps recede from behind her. Just as she was about to fall back asleep, the footsteps reappeared. 

"If you don't get up right now, I will be forced to dump this bucket of ice water on your head." 

That woke her up. Sungmi groggily rolled backwards a full 360, forgetting that she was on the living room couch which boasted limited space for her entire body. She tumbled off the side with a thunk! 

Grumbling in pain, Sungmi rubbed her eyes and opened them, only to stare up at a face that had occupied her mind all night. Kai hovered above her, juggling a bucket of water in a threatening position. His mouth was lifted in a slight smirk.

Sungmi waved her arms frantically. "I'm up! Please don't do anything!" Her voice came out rather husky and deeper than usual (the usual was already pretty deep for a girl). It was way too early to be up anyways. Sungmi focused her eyes in the dark to look at the clock, only to realize that it read 5 A.M. The sun had not yet protruded through the clouds. Exhaustion filled her limbs as she tried to sit up. Kai finally lowered the bucket from above her head and settled it down on the ground beside him. 

"Why am I up so early?"

"We're going on a run." 

What? "Are you kidding me?" Her eyes widened. 

"Nope," Kai responded, popping the 'p'. 

What the hell was he thinking? At five in the morning? Sungmi couldn't even remember the last time she had done physical exercise of any sort. They were all too time consuming and tiring for her to attempt. The many times she had tried to go on a diet per her parents' wishes, she had ended up succumbing to food. A push-up was wayyyy too hard and doing lunges? Forget it.

But now this kid wanted her to run? He had better be bluffing. 

"Again, I'm not bluffing," Kai quipped as if he knew what she was thinking. "I'll give you five minutes to get ready or this--" he pointed to the bucket of ice water, "will land directly on your head."

Sungmi had no choice. Even running in her horrible shape sounded better than cold water wetting her clothes. The thought made her shiver involuntarily. She went into the bathroom and changed into a pair of sweats and a sweatshirt. She made sure to wear a sports bra just in case her s decided to jiggle. That would be awkward. 

When she came back out, Kai was already waiting for her by the door, dressed in a pair of basketball shorts and a red sleeveless muscle tee. He was leaning against the doorframe with one leg crossed behind the other. Lord, help me. Those arms are too much. Sungmi could feel her hormones raging again and she mentally fanned herself. Sometimes, she really hated being a woman. 

They started out with a slight jog. Kai's plan was to make three rounds around the neighborhood and make it back to the house. Sungmi managed to keep up with Kai's incredible stamina for about, hmm, five minutes before she was heaving for air. "Oh my goodness, I can't do this," she breathed.

Kai looked at her as if she was crazy. "What? We've barely started. I'm already going slow for you. At least keep up." 

Thanks for the encouragement, jerk. In case you were too dense to notice, I'm fat. Sungmi pulled herself up from her slouch and shuffled to keep up with the athletic ahead of her. He was steadily gaining speed by the minute, and Sungmi was only losing speed. She could feel her legs start to give in to exhaustion before they had even completed the first round. On the other hand, Kai didn't even stop. Heck, he wasn't even sweating and she was looking like she got drenched in a downpour. The idiot continued ahead of her, not bothering to look behind him. The distance between them grew further and further until she could only see a speck of his red basketball tee. Sungmi stopped for a minute to catch her breath again before following after Kai in a fast walk. Well, fast for her standards. 

Kai made it back to the house, say, ten minutes before she trudged in through the door and slumped like potato on the ground. She panted heavily as beads of sweat drizzled down her forehead. "Never." Breath. "Make." Breath. "Me." Breath. "Do." Breathe. "That." Breathe. "Again." 

Sungmi rolled over on her stomach and planted her face into the carpet. Kai looked at her for a long time and clucked his tongue."That's pitiful. Don't worry. I'll make you do it with me every morning. We'll increase the laps too." 

Sungmi let out a loud moan and moved her face to stare up at Kai with a murderous glare. He gave her a smirk. 

"I hate you," she said. 

Kai responded with a simple, "I don't really give a ," before trudging back inside her room. 

Sungmi looked up at her clock. It read 7:15. Her eyes widened. Crap! She had to make it to school in fifteen minutes and here she was slumped on the floor. She got herself up and got ready. Her books and bags were all in her room that was currently occupied by the facetious jerk. Only he was sleeping soundly on her bed, completely knocked out. He looks so cute, Sungmi thought.

But she changed her mind immediately after remembering that he had just made her run. And it was probably going to happen everyday from now on too. Sigh. 

Sungmi unlocked her closet (thank goodness for a lock; if Kai had gotten in, she wouldn't be able to explain why there were bras lying around) and quickly picked a baggy set of clothes. She changed in the closet and headed out with her car keys. Before she left, she took one last glance at Kai. For the first time, Sungmi felt...relieved? For the first time, there would be somebody she could come home too (after all, her brother was always gone). For the first time, she had something to look forward to after school aside from food.

And for the first time, she felt like she had a friend. Even if Kai never admitted to it, she saw him as a friend, a thick-headed one, but one nonetheless. Sungmi smiled. 

Goodbye, Kai. Until later. 

Kai woke up around noon. He shifted in the bed, digging his nose further into the pillow that smelled of citrus. He would never admit it out loud, but the smell was really nice. He couldn't u