(PLEASE LISTEN AS YOU READ) 

He stares impassively at me as I hold the flashcard over my head. I’m helping him study for his first test in Chemistry. It’s not going well. 

“I don’t remember any of this .” He finally gives up.

“What do you do in class? Jesus.”

He laughs. “Hey, don’t judge! The class .” 

“Have you gotten a tutor?”

“Not yet, mom.” I roll my eyes. 

“Get one, pronto.” 

“I didn’t know you were bilingual.” He comes dangerously close. 

“There are a lot of things you don’t know about me.” Well, he knows almost everything. 

“Oh, really? Like what?” He smirks.

“Oh, there’s this little secret you don’t know.” I try to give him a coy smile. 

“What is it?” 

“I can’t tell you.” I think I’ll never be able to you get out of my system. Is it okay to say that?”

“I can’t keep studying if you don’t tell me. You are interrupting my studying, Chaerin. Shame on you.” He smirks, coming closer. His lips are hovering over mine.

“I can’t think straight if you’re this close.” I breath into his lips. 

“Tell me.” 

“I like you.”

He furrows his eyebrows, clearly not understanding.

“What?”

“I think I’ll like you forever.” I try to be as vague as possible, regretting letting the words come out of my mouth. 

His eyes widen, realization clear. I feel so ing embarrassed and I don’t know why. I don’t want to sound stupid.

“You think you’ll like me forever, huh?” A grin blankets over his lips and it soothes me immediately. I nod my head and look down at my feet. I’ve gathered my legs close to my chest, by now.

“Well, I think I’ll like you forever, too.” His words startle me and I look up to find him smiling at me. And I don’t know what comes over me but I wrap my arms around his neck so fast he falls back on to the bed and I suddenly lie on top of him. His stare burns into me and I feel all my secrets unraveling in front of me. I feel so scared that I’ll never feel this way again but I don’t want to feel like this if it’s not with him. I kiss his nose first and then the corner of his lips where I feel his lips grow into a smile. I feel so much love for him that it consumes me and I feel so crazy sometimes. I don’t get enough sleep because I stay up thinking about him and his eyes and the way his arms wrap around me just right, like they were made for me. I rest my head on his chest and feel the darkness wrap around me as my eyelids slowly droop down. 

“Baby, wake up.” I don’t know for how long I’ve been sleeping but the sky is dark and clouds cover the city. 

“, my mom’s going to kill me.” I quickly get up and pick up the notecards and throw them into my bag. 

“Can’t you tell her you fell asleep?” He tries to help me pick up my pencil pouch and binders. 

“With you? She’ll cut my head off and yours too.” I pack everything up and hastily kiss him goodbye. I hear him mumble something but I walk out too fast to hear what he said. 

I drive away hoping my mom won’t notice me coming home this late. After driving recklessly, I park in front of my house and open the front door to find screaming and cursing filling the rooms. What’s going on? I try to find the source of the screaming when I walk into the kitchen to find my mom yelling histerically at my dad. 

“She’s coming home late and you- Well, look who decided to show up.” My mom glares at me behind the kitchen island. My dad turns to look at me and damn, he looks so tired. I feel like I haven’t seen him in days. He’s always so busy. 

“Chaerin, where were you?” He tries to act mad for the sake of my mother, but I know he doesn’t give a . 

“I was with Jiyong.” That’s the only explanation I’m willing to give. 

“Couldn’t you at least call?” He sounded so tired. My mom was probably driving him crazy.

“I’m sorry. I fell asleep, but we were studying. Nothing happened.” I reassured them both so my dad could get some sleep and my mom could calm the down and leave us alone. My answer seemed to satisfy my dad since he left and pat my shoulder before walking out of the kitchen. My mom watched him walk away, shaking her head. When he was out of earshot, she glared at me and told me I was getting out of control. I walked out after that, feeling heavy and tired. The only person I wanted to see was Jiyong and he was the one my parents cared about the least. He would always be different in our family. With our degrees and phd’s, he couldn’t match up with his music and guitar, and I hated my family for that. They made it so obvious that we were privileged and that we had a better shot at a better future in a prestigious college. My sister was just like them. Her nose stuck in the air and her books close to her all the time. It was as if she was always studying for something big, when really she was avoiding the other kids. She was too busy to realize she wasn’t living. She didn’t go out and watch movies or even took a breath of fresh air. She was going to turn out like my parents, either really uptight or really indifferent. I close my door and head straight for my bed. I finished all my homework and don’t have anything else to do, so I call him. After a couple of rings, I hear my favorite sound in the world, his voice.

“You miss me already?” I could sense his smile.

“Yes, I do.”

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter