The next day when you wake up, you're mildly surprised that Kai is still here. You would have thought he would just up and go, just because he seems like he's that kind of person. He is sitting cross-legged against the wall, scrolling through his phone. When he senses movement from you, he looks up. Your gazes are locked and you feel something in your stomach. Could be your hunger.

"Morning," you mumble, rubbing your eye.

"It's noon," Kai replies. His morning voice is rougher than it normally is.

"It is?"

You're surprised. You normally don't sleep in so late on a Saturday, only because you have to go back to your hometown. Picking up your phone, you call your mother. She answers in a few rings.

"Mom, I don't think I'll be going home this weekend."

Kai is staring at you silently. Your mother asks, "Why not?"

"I overslept and if I have to get ready to depart, I'll only be able to ride the night train."

"Oh," she sighs. "Alright, then don't bother. It's dangerous riding the train at night. See you next week. Love you."

"Mmm, love you."

You put down your phone. Kai is staring at you with a calculating gaze. Then he asks, "Where were you from?"

"Bucheon."

Kai continues interrogating, "And you're studying in Seoul with your brother?" You nod. "And you go back to your hometown every weekend?"

"Yes... Why?" He only stares back with an unreadable gaze. Sensing no answer to come out of him, you ask him, "What about you? You're a Seoul person?" He nods once. "Did you tell anyone that you're staying over with me?" You carefully try to word your sentence, hoping not to annoy him in any way.

He stares at you in a calculating way, as if debating in his mind what you will do with that information. You feel slightly uncomfortable, which makes you fidget slightly. He finally answers.

"No one cares, really," he mutters softly. You almost couldn't hear him. You eventually toss him your phone and he looks up at you with question marks written all over on his face. "What?"

"Give me your number," you request. "I'll care for you."

Kai scoffs, tossing your phone back. "What am I, a baby?"

"You're a friend," you gently explain to him. You wriggle until you're lying on his side of the bed with his knee touching your stomach. You place your phone on his lap as he stares at you with a blank face. "And I always take care of my friends."

"Even if they're bad people?" Kai murmurs, taking the phone slowly.

"Define bad, Kai."

"Getting into fights, hurting people's feelings — possibly even yours — temperamental, rude, insensitive..."

"Oh, I thought bad people as in murderers," you laugh. "Of course even bad people — your definition of it — they don't sound dangerous. Except the 'getting into fights' part and hopefully not with me."

Kai stares at you for a few more seconds as if trying to do an evaluation. Then he keys in his number in your phone. He calls his own number so that he has your number too, which you didn't think he would do. You didn't think he would want your number, actually.

"Do you want food?" You ask as you watch him save your number. "I'll cook for you. Or should you be going home?"

"My parents don't like me home," he spits quietly, almost to himself. He locks both your phones and gives you his full attention now. "Cook for me... please...?"

You grin at how awkward he looks when he says please. You sit up and push the duvet away. "Of course, Kai. Do you want to eat anything in particular?"

He doesn't say anything but shakes his head. He isn't much of a talker, which should be a nice balance with you. If you ever stay as friends. You nod anyway, smiling. You rub your face and tie your hair. Kai climbs down the bed and follows you to the kitchen. You take out everything you need for breakfast. Kai is hovering on the opposite of the island, watching you.

"Do you want to help?" you offer. He walks around the counter and stands next to you.

"I don't cook though... I don't know what to do," he mutters. However, he looks like he wants to help and that is enough for you.

You teach him how to whisk the eggs, though he learns to do that really fast. Then you teach him how to cut some vegetables, which is a struggle for him.

"So do your parents do all the cooking at home?" You can only guess when you see bits of vegetables flying off his cutting board.

"I have servants," he murmurs, glancing at you to check your reaction. He's probably rich then. That's another thing you learnt about him now.

You only nod. With him, you can never act rashly. Because he is already so cautious and wary of everyone around him.

"How old are you?" you ask.

"I'm 21." He stops cutting and looks up at you, curious when he returns, "You?"

"I'm a year younger than you," you grin at him. 

He doesn't respond to that, nor to the grin you send him. "And your brother?"

"Four years older than me. He's doing Masters in our uni."

"What's his name again?"

You answer slowly, "Junmyeon... Why?"

Kai makes an annoyed sound. "He's a popular guy, your brother. Heard he doesn't like me."

You want to clear your brother's name, but you don't know how to. You fluster, "No, no! He just thinks you're bad influence—" Kai grits his teeth. "I m-mean, h-he just—"

"It's okay," he sounds so okay that you have to stop doing what you're doing to stare at him.

He keeps repeating it's okay to himself, and you realise that he's trying to calm himself down, maybe even to tell you that it is okay. 

"I'm sorry," you whisper.

"No," he breathes, as though he had been running for many miles and is trying to catch his breath. He has to try not to growl when he says, "It's not you."

You wrap his trembling hand with yours and squeeze. You do it as reassurance, as support. To let him know that you're with him and you'll be patient, that he will be okay.

You're in the lecture theatre again, waiting for a boy with pink-brown hair to show up. When he finally does, you sit up straight. But Kai is still looking down as usual as he walks to a random empty seat. You pull out your phone and text him for the first time since you got his number.

Come up to the second last row and sit with me
Sent || 11:58AM

You watch Kai read the text when he sits down. Without replying you or even turning back to look for you in your seat, he stands up and climbs the steps. He sees you on the other side, so he goes around the last row of seats to get to you. He sits next to you. People are staring at him and at you, curious about why you're sitting together. Kai is always known as the Lone Wolf, he is never seen with friends. And in lecture theatres, he's always sitting alone.

"Any new bruises?"

Kai looks like he hadn't expected this question. Well sure, it isn't exactly a conversation starter either. Nonetheless, he shakes his head. "I've been pretty good."

A boy wants to get to the empty seats in the middle of the row. There is a group of friends on the other side and it's just you and Kai here. So you stand to let the guy pass through. He accidentally steps on your foot and you yelp softly. Kai holds your arm firmly in reflex while the guy keeps apologising. You doubt he would be this apologetic normally, but then again you have someone comparable to a wild animal next to you.

"Son of a—"

"It's okay," you place a hand on Kai's chest, soothing him. You turn to the terrified boy and tilt your head, asking him to go on. He scurries to his seat with Kai glaring at him all the while. "I'm okay, Kai. It wasn't on purpose."

"Nice of you to defend him when he'd just literally stepped on your toes," he snaps back.

You don't know how else to answer him. You really want to know him better, to understand his character, his temper. You just want to know how to respond to him, how to react to the things he says and does. However, it's not enough for you to just sit with him in a lecture theatre. You want to talk to him, make him open up to you so you can see the blood, and veins, and tissues, and bones. You want to see how human he really is, how human he can be.

So after the lecture, you turn to him. "What do you have after this?"

"Another lecture... Why?" he asks you with furrowed eyebrows as he packs his things.

"Do you want to have dinner together?" Kai stops his movements just to narrow his eyes on you. You shrug, "I just thought—"

"I don't think it would be a nice sight for a girl like you to be having dinner with a boy like me," he says softly, almost whispering. He sounds slightly resentful.

"What kind of girl am I?" You raise an eyebrow. When he only continues packing his stuff, you ask, "And what kind of boy are you?"

He stops. Lifting his gaze, he stares right into your eyes. "The Lone Wolf. The boy with anger issues. The monster known to be a danger to the people around him." 

The surprise might have been evident in your eyes if not in your expression. Of course you couldn't have been deluded, thinking Kai hasn't heard what people call him. But you just never thought, he'd have heard all of the things he's been named. You feel embarrassed, because you are probably seen as one of those people who call him these nasty things. 

"You're not all that," you whisper, hoping not to offend him in any way if you've not already done so. 

Kai continues staring at you, his dark brown eyes just boring into yours. Your heart rate only quickens with every passing second, like you can sense his eyes seeing you through, all the veins, the bones, the flesh. Just like how you wanted to see him. 

Then, all so suddenly, Kai flashes you a small, brief smile. It isn't the kind of tight-lipped smiles you see people wear when they're trying to be nice even if they're exhausted with you. It's the kind of friendly, loose smile that you certainly had not been expecting from Kai. 

"Thank you for thinking so nicely of me," he whispers.

He stands, leaving you to stare up at him, still awestruck by his beautiful smile, even if it had been a tiny one. It was still a smile all the same. He looks down at you, his eyes slightly shadowed by his fringe. You have to hold your breath when he brushes his knuckles on the apple of your cheek, just so lightly that it almost feels like a tickle. A nice tickle, that is. 

"A lecture's waiting for me. I'll have to take up that dinner another time, I'm afraid," he murmurs.

And he's gone, leaving you breathless and confused.

The moment you enter the house, you suddenly remember that Junmyeon isn't home. And he won't be for the next week. It is not only going to be boring but you're embarrassed to mention that you're also (sometimes) a little wuss. You're afraid to be home by yourself, especially for a few days at a time. 

Just after washing up and cooking dinner, you sit before the TV to have your dinner. The drama playing on the screen is boring and you find your thoughts drifting off to Kai. You sigh. You wonder if he is doing fine, if he is perhaps outside fighting. It is almost ten at night, the perfect time to find trouble. But you quickly dispel that thought in your head. Of course he doesn't live every night getting into fights. How tiring would that be! Besides, you hardly even know the boy, what gives you the impression that that is all that he does? 

Just out of sheer impulse, you call Kai's number. He doesn't pick up even if the ringing went on for a minute. You debate whether to call him again. What if he had been ignoring your call on purpose? You put down your phone. However, a thought occurs to you that something might have happened to him, so he couldn't have answered the call. You quickly dial for him again. 

This time, just as the ringing was about to end, a soft click is heard. Then silence. 

"Hello...?" you venture carefully. The person on the other end grunts. "Kai? Are you alright...?"

It takes him a while to answer. He takes in a deep breath and when he speaks, his voice is gruff and laced with sleep. "You're a tenacious little devil, aren't you." 

You couldn't keep from grinning. "You hadn't answered my first call, so I just thought something bad might have happened to you..." When he doesn't say anything else, you clear your throat awkwardly. "I... Um... I was just worried about you so I called... But since you're sleeping at home—"

A snort from the other line cuts you off. "Home," he almost spits venomously. "What's a home?" he mutters, more to himself than anything.

You frown. What is he going on about? 

"Are you okay, Kai?" you ask softly, worriedly. 

There is silence for a bit. Then a bit of ruffling like he is moving. "I'm fine," he finally answers.

"Kai—"

He interrupts you before you can get any further. But what he says next sounds so gentle, so touched and so unlike the Kai that everyone sees that you're thrown off guard a little. 

"Thank you for being so worried over a boy you hardly know." 

You just have to make Kai trust you. Because the world has been unjust enough to him. And you cannot do the same.