The days went by but I heard no word from either Sujin or Inna. I tried to text Sujin a couple of times, but received no reply. Once I saw both of them on campus, but they hurriedly ran away before I had the chance to open my mouth in order to call out their names, Inna glancing apologetically in my direction. Yeah, I started to realize they were avoiding me, no matter how much I wanted to deny it to myself.

       “Are you okay?” Yixing’s voice broke the silence and I raised my gaze and met his worried eyes.

       I wasn’t sure, but I nodded. He didn’t look too convinced but he soon let it go without questioning. We had gone to a park to study, well, that had been the plan at least. The grass seemed so soft and comfortable, so we had simply plopped down onto the ground to enjoy the beautiful day.

       “I just have a lot to think about,” I explained and he raised an eyebrow.

       “Yeah, sure,” he said, still not convinced.

       I reached out my hand to ruffle his hair, but he caught it in mid-air and shook his head.

       “Nu-uh. I don’t know it,” he smiled widely.

       With my other hand, I flicked his forehead.

       “Pabo, it’s ‘don’t do that’,” I scolded jokingly and he let out a sound laugh.

       “You know my Korean isn’t perfect yet, don’t bully me,” Yixing’s expression quickly changed from a glittering smile to a disappointed pout and his eyes widened in order to make them look bigger.

       “Aish, trying to look cute, are we?” I teased and he immediately stopped.

       “I’m not cute,” he stated, dead serious. “I’m very manly. Not cute.”

       “Of course you are,” I laughed. Not a chance.

The hours passed and the sun started to set.

       “Hey Yixing, it’s getting dark,” I pointed out and he gave me a confused look.

       “Yeah?” he said as if my statement hadn’t made any sense at all.

       “Meaning it’s almost dinner time,” I started and his eyes lit up when he heard the word ‘dinner' mentioned. “I have to get home before eomma gets worried.” I continued.

       “Oh, yeah, of course you do,” he mumbled and tilted his face downwards. I giggled.

       “You should come too,” I proposed.

       “Really?”

       “Really.”

Opening the front gate to my house, I heard a faint yell from inside the house. Approximately 4 seconds later, my mother threw the door open and stumbled out on the porch.

       “Aigoo! Aigoo!” she repeated as she made her way towards us.

       “Yixing! That was really a while ago!” she said as she embraced the tall boy in her arms. I grinned when I saw the baffled confusion in his eyes.

       “Aigoo, have you eaten properly? Look at you, you’ve become so scrawny lately,” she said when she led us into the house.

       Yixing smiled awkwardly and turned around to take off his shoes.

       “Are you making sure he eats enough?” eomma whispered to me.

       “Are you kidding me? The guy’s stomach is basically a bottomless pit,” I whispered back and she laughed out loud, causing Yixing to turn his head and glare suspiciously at us.

       “Are you talking about me?” he asked, still squinting.

       “Ah, what makes you think that?” I said and winked to eomma, who giggled in return.

       At dinner, appa kept talking about last night’s sports game; Yixing nodding enthusiastically whilst listening. The glimpse in Yixing’s interested eyes triggered something. Appa explained and waved his hands and gesticulated, until he had no words left. At last he was just sitting there by the table, all quiet.

       “We should go to the game this Saturday,” appa muttered. Yixing pointed his index finger towards his chest and made an overall surprised expression.

       “Me?” he asked.

       “Yeah, you,” appa smiled and leaned back towards a wall. “You seem like a nice guy, I’d like to take you to the game.”

       “Really?” Yixing looked at me and I laughed.

       “Yeah, really. You should go. It’s his way of saying that he approves of you. And don’t you dare try to buy something yourself, it’ll apparently offend him.” I patted him on the shoulder.

       He shrugged, not enough to shake off my hand though, and snorted.

       “Sure, I’ll come.” he said to appa.

       “It’s decided then! I’ll call you tomorrow when I’ve booked the tickets,” appa said with a smile of satisfaction playing on his lips.

       Yixing turned to me.

       “I have to get home, I’m sorry I can’t stay longer.”

       “It’s okay, let me at least follow you to the gate,” I said, even though I had a feeling it wasn’t all okay. Oh well, I’ll see him tomorrow, I thought and shook the feeling away.

       “Yeah, sure,” he said and went out to the hall. I followed him.

       “Are you okay Yixing?” I asked him; now it was my turn to be concerned. I’d been having this weird kind of feeling all evening so I just had to know.

       “Me? Yeah, I’m alright,” he said and smiled reassuringly, but I didn’t feel like it was okay.

       “Are you sure? I mean, you’re always asking me how I feel but you rarely tell me about what’s going on in there. I just want you to be happy.” I confessed and his whole presence softened.

       “I’ll share it with you, I promise. Just… not today. And I promise, I’m alright.”

       “Alright then. I believe you.”

       I followed him outside to the gate.

       “Well, I’ll see you tomorrow then,” he said and opened the door.

       “Wait!” I exclaimed. Just wait a little while.

       “Yeah?”

       “Just… Appa appreciated that today. Thank you. And yeah, I’ll see you tomorrow.” I stumbled on my own words.

       “No problem, I’m going to enjoy it. Don’t worry.” he said as he stepped out and wandered down the street. I could hear his footsteps get further and further away until the sound was completely gone.

       I headed back inside where eomma waited. For a split second she gave me a very peculiar glance and I stopped and looked back at her.

       “What-” I started.

       “That boy,” she interrupted. “The way he looks at you...”

       “What about it?” What could she possibly mean? Yixing didn’t look at me in any special way. He just… looked at me. Sometimes. And at other times he didn’t. Nothing more than that, nothing more than what can be expected from a normal human being.

       “Just the way he looks at you when you look away. If I had a camera at that moment, I’d show you what I mean. It’s the same way your father looked at me at our wedding day.”

       “I still look at you like that, you know,” appa remarked from the living room.

       “Of course you do darling,” eomma giggled and turned back to me.

       “So, what are you trying to say?” I asked, tilting my head to the side, feeling all numb inside.

       “What I’m trying to say is that the poor boy loves you,” she said and headed back into the kitchen to clean up the dishes.

       No, he doesn’t. He doesn’t.

       Right?

Hello people!

Sooo it's been a month but through all the exams and essays lately I have managed to finish this chapter! I really hope you'll enjoy it, I cerntainly enjoyed writing it!

I'll try to publish next chapter as soon as possible.

Stay awesome everyone <3