“Hello, Song Jihyo speaking. Who is this?” after hearing the caller’s voice and reply, Jihyo’s eyes became twice bigger, luckily her eyeballs did not popped out.

“MOM?!” Jihyo’s voice echoed in the car which made Kai jumped a bit on his seat. He became interested to hear the conversation between Jihyo and her mom.

“Yeah, I’ve been doing fine,” Jihyo answered nonchalantly while her eyes never left the road. Kai turned his head back to the front when all he heard was a normal conversation between a mother and daughter. But not until,

“WHAT?!” Jihyo struck a look with a hint of worried on her face to Kai. The young man, who sensed the changed in the atmosphere from the tone of Jihyo’s voice, turned his head to face Jihyo.

“What’s wrong?” Kai asked with the mixture of concerned in his voice but he lowered his voice so he would not interrupt Jihyo’s conversation. Jihyo still looking at Kai, eyes widened.

“You’re coming to Seoul this evening?” Jihyo muttered but still could be heard by her mother on the other line. After hearing Jihyo’s words, Kai also made the same reaction as Jihyo.

“Okay, I’ll wait for you,” and she ended the phone call. Coincidentally, they arrived at the apartment complex right after Jihyo’s phone call ended.

“So… your mom is coming for a visit tonight?” Kai broke the silence while turning his head to Jihyo who was staring at the steering in front of her, as if thinking of something.

“Hmm,” she hummed and still looking at the steering. After a minute of silence, she turned to Kai and asked,

“What will we do if she find out I’m living with a boy. And he’s younger than me. And he’s a high school student. And he is a delinquent. And he had a blonde hair which obviously not his real hair color. And…” Jihyo’s words stopped there as Kai’s palm was placed against . Jihyo’s eyes widened in surprise which clearly shown at Kai’s sudden action. He stared at the stunned Jihyo and leaned closer to her and made the young woman’s heart skipped a beat.

He came closer…

…and closer until there was only a few centimetres apart from his face and Jihyo’s which made the tip of their nose touched.

“So, are you ashamed for living with this high school delinquent boy who was 6 years younger than you and had a dyed blonde hair?” Kai asked with a tone that made Jihyo thought he was angry. Well, he really does. He was mad at Jihyo’s words and he felt hurt by them. Kai gave a cold stare to Jihyo.

“Is it…” Kai spoke again when Jihyo did not give him any response. “…is it really wrong for me to love you?” Jihyo blinked several times at Kai’s questioned.

It was a moment filled with silence for five minutes when suddenly, Jihyo broke it with her abrupt laughter. Even Kai was startled by it and back away from Jihyo with his jumbled face.

“You better said that you’re kidding,” Jihyo said between her remaining laughter while pointing her pointer finger at Kai’s face.

“No I didn’t. I’m serious. I’m seriously in love with you, Song Jihyo,” he answered back with his serious face. Jihyo became dumbfounded again with Kai’s confession.

“No, no. This is not true. You didn’t love me,” Jihyo looked at Kai with her assuring face.

“I did love you,” Kai shot back. A hint of confirmation could be heard from his voice.

“No, you didn’t.”

“Yes, I did.”

“No!”

“Yes!”

“You didn’t!”

“I did!”

“Hmph…!” both of them huffed with frustration and was doing a staring competition. After 30 minutes (seriously?), Jihyo gave in and sigh while turning her head from left to the right, looking at her surroundings. She just noticed that they were still in the car.

“At least you should try to find a nice place to confess to me,” Jihyo shifted her gaze to Kai who was looking at her blankly. “What kind of man you are? You’re so not a romantic type for confessing to me in MY car. Geez,” Jihyo made a disappointed face and crossed her arms in front of her chest. After a few minutes of spacing off, Kai’s lips suddenly turned into a smile while looking at Jihyo beside him as if he knew what hint Jihyo was giving to him.

“Then… Does this mean… I…” Jihyo turned to Kai who was hesitating with his own words. She raised her left eyebrow and told Kai to say what he wanted to express with her face (and that’s pretty amazing, don’t you think?). “I, uh, does this mean that I can have the permission to like you?” Kai asked warily. Jihyo sent him a “what the...?”- face to him and opened the door. She went out from the car body and took all the groceries from the back. Kai also got out from the car when he did not receive any answer from Jihyo.

“Hey, you didn’t answer me. Hey, wait up,” Kai tagged behind Jihyo like a lost puppy. However, she was just acting deaf and walked faster.

“Shut up. I don’t want to talk about this again,” Jihyo declared and there was stern notice mixed with her words. She gave a stern face to the frowning Kai however his lips turned to a smirk when he saw there were small red tints on Jihyo’s fair cheeks.

“Heh, I got you now,” he said in his mind while still smirking. Jihyo who had a sudden shudder with a blend of bad feelings toward Kai’s famous smirk, turned around and started to walk away before there would be something worse happen. Kai just traced Jihyo’s footsteps with his eyes and still smiling in triumph.

-At Jihyo’s apartment-

“That stupid frog Kai…!!! He always tried many ways to annoyed me and tease me. Aarrrggh…” Jihyo screamed and slammed the cabbage on the kitchen counter brutally. Luckily, that the cabbage was still fine. “What was he saying? He loves me? Yeah right… my . You think I’ll believe that? Huh?” Jihyo kept blabbering but suddenly she blushed when she remembered about Kai’s not-so-romantic-car-confession. As she was spacing out, Kai entered the kitchen and stood beside her.

“What are you thinking about?” Kai asked with his unreadable face. Jihyo jumped a bit on her spot and stared at Kai with terror.

“YOU SCARED ME, MORON…!” Jihyo shot a death glare to Kai with her hand on her chest after being shocked.

“Geez, you’re the one who spacing out. What makes you worried?” Kai took an apple from the plastic bag and ate it. Jihyo who was making herself busy with the groceries, turned her head to face Kai. Before she could say anything, Jihyo was stunned for a while when Kai his lips after taking a bite of the apple in his hand.

“Why did he have to eat the apple ily,” Jihyo thought, feeling annoyed that she was mesmerized for a moment by Kai’s small action.

“It’s not your business,” Jihyo answered simply and continued with her task arranging and unpacked the groceries. Kai raised his left eyebrow and stared at Jihyo before he went to the living room. After he left, JIhyo secretly looked at Kai who was sitting on the couch and watching at some TV programme on the screen. He seemed too engrossed by the TV show while eating his apple. Suddenly, as Jihyo kept looking at him, there were sparks created and Kai was shining like a star in front of her. Every single reaction he gave while watching the TV made Jihyo smiled and wanted to look at him more.

“Haaa… why did he looks handsome in a sudden?” Jihyo sighed whispered while her eyes still on Kai. She looked like a girl daydreaming about her fantasy life with her prince charming.

Uh-oh… Did Jihyo have been strike by a cupid’s arrow???

-Evening, still at Jihyo’s apartment-

Jihyo was preparing for dinner while Kai was showering in the bathroom. She hummed a song while looking through the fridge. Suddenly, the door-bell echoed in the medium-sized apartment.

“Hmm, who could it be?” Jihyo asked herself and closed the fridge’s door. She washed her hand and wiped it on her apron while walking towards the door. Her steps were stopped when a woman voice at the other side of the door called her.

“Jihyo-ah, are you home?”

“Huh…?!” Jihyo’s eyes became wide in surprise and she gasped in panic. “Mom?” she whispered slowly.

She turned her body against the door while hearing at her mother call. She was in a panic mode now when she remembered that Kai was still in the bathroom.

“How can I forget that mom is coming tonight? Haish, I’m so stupid,” Jihyo knocked her own head before walking back to the living room when she heard the bathroom door was opened. Jihyo hurriedly went to Kai after confirming that he was already finished showering. Kai was standing in front of the bathroom door while drying his wet hair with his towel.

“Hurry, get into your room and hide,” Jihyo said while holding onto Kai’s arm. The latter was dumbfounded by Jihyo’s words. He looked at Jihyo confusedly, asking for an explanation with his towel still on his head.

“Hey, what’s going on? Why I should be hiding?” Kai tried to stop Jihyo from pushing him. Jihyo huffed in annoyance and glared at Kai. Before she could speak, a voice was yelling from outside.

“Jihyo-ah, what are you doing inside? Why you didn’t pick up you phone?” Kai shot a surprised look at Jihyo and she returned Kai’s gaze. They looked at each other with a panic mode.

“Is… is that… your mom?” Kai was stammered and waiting for Jihyo’s answer. She just nodded absent-mindedly while looking at Kai with her blank face.

“What should we do?” he asked again. They were anxious due to the terror at the thought of Jihyo’s mom barging into the apartment with some police because she thought that her daughter was dead in a suicide attempt after being dumped by her boyfriend. (ookaaay… Is it too overreacting? Well, whatever)

“First, we need to hide you first. She will faint if she saw you. Second, I’ll go and opened the door for her,” Jihyo said as if they were arranging some strategy to defeat an evil monster (I’m talking nonsense again~)

“Okay, I’ll hide now,” Kai nodded his head and went into his bedroom. Jihyo waited until Kai was disappeared from her view and then, she walked back to the door. She took a deep breath and pasted her best smile. Jihyo opened the door and in front of her was a figure of a middle-age woman standing with her back facing Jihyo. When she knew that the door was finally opened, the woman turned around and smiled at Jihyo. It was really, Jihyo’s mom…

“Oh, my lovely daughter~” the woman went towards JIhyo and hugged her.

“Mom,” was all Jihyo managed to say.

“Oh, I miss my daughter so much,” her mother patted Jihyo’s back. Jihyo broke their hug and smiled at her mother.

“I miss you too. Let’s go in first. It’s cold outside and you must be tired, right?” Jihyo led her mother into her apartment. Her mother caressed her face before coming in. She removed her shoes and used the home slipper.

“Are you cooking something?” her mother asked when she smelled a nice aroma in the kitchen.

“Oh yes, I’m cooking dinner,” Jihyo followed her mother to the kitchen.

“Let’s go to the guest room. I’m so tired now,” her mother walked out from the kitchen. Ten seconds later, Jihyo realised that Kai was hiding in the guest room. She gasped in terror as she saw her mother walking closer to the room. Jihyo hurriedly ran towards Mrs. Song and grabbed her mother’s hand before Mrs. Song could twist the door knob.

Mrs. Song was startled by her daughter’s sudden action. She turned to face Jihyo who was putting an awkward smile on her face.

“Why are you stopping me, young lady?” Mrs. Song asked her daughter with a hint of suspicion. Jihyo gulped as she looked her mother’s doubtful expression.

“Uh…I…was…uh… I mean you should rest in my room instead. Because my room is more comfortable than here,” Jihyo finally managed to say all the words in one go. However, that answer did not please her mother.

“Hmm, are you hiding something from me?” her mother asked again but before Jihyo could answer her, Mrs. Song pushed the door opened and her sharp eyes scanning around the room. Jihyo closed her eyes tightly but she opened it slowly when she did not receive any smack from her mother. She followed her mother action, scanning every corner of the room but there was no glimpse of a young man with a blonde hair.

“Hmm, where did he go?” Jihyo was dumbfounded when she did not see Kai’s figure in the room. “Oh, maybe he took the initiative to hide somewhere, perhaps in the closet,” Jihyo thought. As if her mother could read her mind, Mrs. Song walked towards the closet and opened it.

“Oh no,” Jihyo gulped once again. And…

…………….

……….

……

…

There was nothing in the closet, including Kai’s clothes. That made Jihyo flabbergasted.

“Okay, this is weird. Does Kai being abducted by some alien? How could he be gone along with his clothes without passing the one and only exit door?” Jihyo became more confused now as she kept thinking where Kai would be hiding. Her mother closed the closet again and walked calmly near the bed. Jihyo watched every action her mother did absent-mindedly. Suddenly, her mother crouched down and peek under the bed which made Jihyo widened her eyes with disbelief.

“Mom, what are you looking for?” Jihyo asked, frustrated with her mother little detective game.

“Ehem,” Mrs. Song got up from her position and cleared . “Well, I guessed there’s nothing here,” her mother said while glancing around the room. “Yet,” she continued and shot a sharp glare at Jihyo.

“What?” Jihyo asked, again feeling so confused by her mother strange attitude. She rolled her eyes as her mother just walked passes her without answering Jihyo’s confusion.

“Okay fine, I’m going to your room now. So, that means you are going to sleep in guest room?” her mother asked while raising her left eyebrow. Jihyo was panicking with her mother’s golden question. She did not know how to answer that simple question. If she said yes, Kai was in the room too, but if she said no, then her mother would think that she was suspicious.

“Yes, because I want you to be comfortable while staying here,” Jihyo finally made the decision and she gave a sweet smile to her mother.

“Aww, my daughter is so sweet,” Mrs. Song kissed her daughter’s cheek and turned around. She stepped out from the guest room leaving Jihyo alone.

“Heh, I know you’ve been hiding something from me young lady. You can’t fool your mother,” Mrs. Song smirked when her daughter did not pay any attention to her. She went into Jihyo’s room with her luggage and closed the door while pulling out her phone to text someone.

Back to Jihyo,

“Now, where did that frog Kai go?” she whispered as low as she could to avoid her mother from listening. Jeez, her mother really had a sharp eyes and ears.

“Kai…” Jihyo called him repeatedly until the window was opened and Kai jumped into the room.

“OH MY GOD! You scared me,” Jihyo exclaimed with her hands on her chest.

“Sorry, didn’t mean to,” Kai apologised and he walked towards his bed to sit on it.

“Where did you go?” Jihyo took a seat beside Kai. They talked as low as possible so, they would not catch Jihyo’s mother attention.

“Luckily, outside the window is the balcony pathway,” Kai answered Jihyo’s question while resting on the bed. She just nodded her head as a response. She remembered the reason she did not choose Kai’s room which was the guest room as her personal bedroom when the first time she move in was because the room was located near to the balcony. And she did not like being disturbed by people passing by the balcony (well, who knows that some ert might take advantage on her).

“Ehmm…Kai,” Jihyo glanced to Kai who was lolling comfortably on the bed with his arms spread wide. “I’ll be staying in this room for this whole week, until my mom leave Korea.”

“What?!” Kai immediately sat upright at the mention of “staying in this room”. He did not know how to react. At the other side, he felt extremely happy and thankful to Jihyo’s mother but on the other side he felt somehow nervous and bewildered at the situation.

“Hey, lower your voice. My mom might hear us,” Jihyo made a panic face with her index finger on her lips.

“Oppss…sorry,” Kai smile sheepishly which Jihyo thought it was cute. She shook her head a little and tried to brush the crazy thought off. (heh, she tried to denied it again).

“So, to avoid my mother suspicion earlier, I had to say that I’ll be staying in this room for a while and she got to use my room cause it was more comfortable,”  Jihyo tried to explain in one go.

“Okay, I understand and so?” Kai gave Jihyo his I-need-more-explanation face. Jihyo rolled her eyes and looked at Kai firmly.

“So, that means you have to sleepover at your friends or maybe Jong Suk’s house in this week,” Jihyo explain with her hands moving here and there while explaining. Kai raised his left eyebrow and gave Jihyo a bad feeling about it.

“You forgot that Jong Suk was living with his damn girlfriend,” Kai rolled his eyeballs irritably when he mention “damn girlfriend”.

“…and my friends lived far from here and plus some of them have their own family issues,” Kai lied again. Like, hello~ he had a freaking eight friends and all of them had a better live without any family issues except for Luhan and Kris, their parents was divorced. (and please don’t asked any explanation about it, that thing just happen- only in this story okay… no offense). Moreover, he did not want to go back to his grandpa’s mansion because he would probably met some unknown young ladies that brought by his dictator aunt.

“Oh, I forgot about that,” Jihyo’s face suddenly became guilty. Kai turned his head away from Jihyo and smirked in victory but at the same time he felt guilty for lying to her. Nevertheless, Kai would do anything in order to stay by Jihyo’s side.

“Can’t I just stay here?” Kai asked Jihyo with his cute puppy eyes which were Jihyo’s weakness. When Jihyo did not gave him any feedback Kai tried his last resort,

“And, I don’t want being a miles apart from you,” Kai said while leaning closer to her. Jihyo suddenly became restless and her cheeks turned into a bright red colour.

“Wha…what are you…” before Jihyo could finish her sentence there was a knock on the door which made both of the main stars to jump a bit on their spot. Both of them looked at the door with fear. Does Jihyo’s mother found out about Kai?

~TO BE CONTINUED~

Sorry for the delay. I hope you enjoy this chapter. I'm sorry if there's any grammar and language mistakes. Pardon me for any use of bad words.