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"he told me i should ask you why." the words came out before she could think twice. her eyes focused at the single of his actions.

his knuckles grew tight around the wheel and his eyes remained focused on one point of her face.

she felt the tension growing between them on the small place. "kihyunnie?" she called his name once.

with that he quickly reacted, letting go of the wheel and bringing his hands down. "did he... say that?" he mumbled.

but loud enough for boki to hear. "yes... but, why would he say that?" it was too late to turn back, she wanted and needed to know why.

he looked away, clearly worried and even annoyed. "i have no idea – he started as he turned his eyes, now different, empty and even cold, towards her - this time you'll have to ask him."

he looked unperturbed this time, he collected himself and glanced at his watch. "it's late. you should get inside." he said opening the door's secure as he pushed a bottom on the panel next to his door.

boki glanced surprised at the electronic device and swallowed hard. "maybe... he was just joking." she said laughing awkwardly.

this time kiyun smiled at her. "maybe."

she looked at him and she felt bad for a second. the way he reacted made her feel far away from him. for a second, it didn't feel like he was her boyfriend at all.

so she looked for his hand and grabbed it, earning an eerie look from him. it was clearly he wasn't expecting it.

boki squeezed his hand and smiled at him, caressing it softly. "thanks for the dinner, i really enjoyed it." she said opening the door and letting go of his hand.

he blinked twice as he stared at her surprised. "sure, anytime." he said softly as he stared at her through the opened window. she closed the door and leaned on it, smiling at him with a sweet manner.

"have a goodnight." she said finally turning around and walking inside the building, leaving him there confused.

truth be told, she was expecting a clear and straight answer from him. it seemed kihyun had always all the answers.

but this time the answer never came and it made her feel more suspicious about it. what did jooheon mean by that?

"did he have something to do with the fact that he's not playing anymore?" she found herself pondering as she applied her body lotion before going to bed.

it was hard to tell. there was no way she could believe jooheon over her boyfriend. but what could she believe then, if her boyfriend was giving her vague answers?

the night became heavy on her shoulders as she tried to get some sleep, but her mind was too busy over thinking things.

"that's why you're always stressed, you over think things too much!" her mom's words echoed in her mind as she tried to push everything aside.

it was truth. since an early age she'd do this over and over again. single actions or words, she'd over think and find different meanings, meanings that probably didn't even make sense in the first place.

but finally, eventually, she fell asleep.

and after having a short night, with barely 3 or 4 hours of sleep, she made it to the campus. late as usual to the first morning class.

even though it was boring, she never fell asleep. there was something driving her around with energy enough to go through calculus without closing an eye.

once the class ended she made her way out with wonho as he checked his phone. "this new place... they sell ramen, we should visit, look." he said showing her a picture on his phone but her eyes were busy when she noticed a familiar silver head on the distance.

"is that- she started as her eyes recognized the now familiar features – jooheon?" she asked to herself, tilting her head.

"hyung? where?" wonho asked with sparkling eyes.

"there, look." she said pointing at him on the distance. she noticed he was coming out of the administrative building with some papers on his hand. he was walking decisively away from the building.

"excuse me for a second, i'll meet you at the cafeteria." she said to wonho as she rushed through the campus. jooheon was at a considerable distance from her.

"joo- she started when she noticed he turned to the left, making his way behind the building, where usually the dumpster was. she frowned as she made her way there as well.

he was there, but why? he wasn't a student and he had been warned last time he was there.

she approached the place and just when she was about to turn in the same place he did, she noticed jooheon's back tensing as he talked with someone in front of him. her eyes widened when she recognized the person and she rushed back behind the wall so she could not be seen.

"what do you want?" she heard jooheon's harsh tone and then a pause.

he cleared his throat. "i am just worried about all this... what are you doing here? you've been acting strange this whole time."

kihyun.

jooheon laughed. "pff... please, do you expect me to believe such thing? what are you? is this some kind of hidden camera pranks you fancy kids like to do?"

"jooheon you're being too harsh on me. i am just caring about you-

"are you even listening to yourself right now? why are you acting like this so sudden? is she here? is that why you changed your tone? because when you called me, you sounded completely different."

"what are you talking about? i think you're making up things."

boki's eyes widened as she covered her mouth with her hands, feeling her chest growing tight.

"ah seriously? - jooheon laughed sarcastically – making things up? why don't you tell me truth, why did you call me here?"

"i just wanted to know why were you here, that's all."

"that's bullshit!" jooheon exclaimed clearly angered. "you don't give a shit about me, you hate me in fact!"

"that's not true. you always misunderstand things. i just called you because i wanted to offer my help that's all."

"help? – jooheon seemed to be in disbelief – help? is this some kind of sick joke? do i have to remind you who was the one who removed any help from our parent to myself? really?-

"jooheon-ah." now kihyun's tone seemed to be warning him from something.

"no. don't jooheon me on this... you know exactly what i am talking about. you don't give a shit about me, none of you!" he exclaimed with a harsh tone.

boki felt guilty for being there, listening to their fight behind a wall like a coward and a spy. she knew she shouldn't be there, listening to everything but none of them would give her answers and she needed to know what have happened between them.

she wanted to leave but her feet wouldn't move.

"you're playing victim again jooheon. remember what the doctor said-

"what? the fuck you're talking about what doctor? are you out of your fucking mind?"

"you see? this is exactly what he said... you always burst whenever you're feeling like your loosing an argument because you're always victimizing yourself. you need to endure things and face them jooheon-

"shut the fuck up you bitch!" he exclaimed and then she heard noises as if they were fighting. she was dying to take a look but she didn't dare. she felt a big knot in her stomach and powerless over being there without having too much options.

"stop it! you're hurting me." she heard kihyun's agonizing voice.

"i just want to help you!" he exclaimed again but boki couldn't take it anymore. with all the strength she still possessed she made her way out of there, away from all that chaos.

she didn't have the courage enough to step in and she knew it wasn't her place. she wouldn't be able to provide them with a fair alibi of her presence there and she knew she couldn't do anything about their relationship. after all, it was entirely their problem.

but what she heard behind the dumpster left her perturbed for the rest of the day. kihyun texted her to eat lunch together but she refused saying she was feeling sick so she skipped the afternoon class and returned home.

it was hard to think how two brothers could become like this. she was only child and always dreamt about having a brother or a sister and she was completely sure that even if they'd be different, she would have never let their relationship crumble like theirs.

she arrived home and went straight to bed since she was still tired from the previous night lack of sleep.

trying to put away the things she heard that morning, she finally concealed a few more hours or sleep, only to wake up and realize it was past 8.

her stomach groaned as she realized have eaten barely a thing that day. almost against her will, she walked to the kitchen and opened the fridge to realized she had ran out of eggs.

so grabbing her coat and a few wons, she made her way downstairs and towards the local grocery shop.

her mind clouded with thoughts about kihyun and jooheon as she tried to occupy her mind in other things.

"yah! kumquat!"

she stopped on her tracks when she heard his voice. turning around, she found jooheon waving at her with one hand as the other remained on the pockets on his hoodie. "where you going?" he asked as he approached her.

"uh... just buying eggs?" she said tilting her head.

he nodded. "i need milk... let's go." he said motioning for her to walk with him. she swallowed hard at the invitation but went along anyway.

she noticed he seemed perfectly fine but there was a red mark on his neck and wondered if it had been from their fight in the morning. "i saw you on the campus today?" she said with an unsure tone.

jooheon tensed at the mention as he quickly turned to look at her. "you did? when?"

"this morning."

"ah... yeah. it was me."

she pressed her lips in a thin line. "why were you there?" they both walked down the narrow streets next to each other.

jooheon shrugged. "i enrolled there."

"what?" she asked as her feet stopped walking. jooheon took a few more steps but then he realized he was walking alone, so he stopped as well and turned to look at her.

"yah! don't do that... you scared me." he said approaching her.

"you seriously enrolled there? what are you studying?"

"sports." he said shrugging.

boki's eyes widened as they sparkled with happiness. "you followed my advice? are you joining the football club?"

"hey easy on that... i didn't follow your advice okay? i didn't do it for you. i did it for myself... because i am bored, that's all." he said as he kept walking.

boki smiled as she trailed behind him, finally catching up his pace. "how was it? are you happy about it?"

"it's exhausting already... but it's not bad." he said as they both spotted the grocery store across the street.

"when are you starting?"

"on monday." he said opening the door for her. boki felt happy as she heard jooheon talking. they both walked to the dairy hallway.

"if you need anything you just tell me, i know everything about the first year. it's the same for all the careers-

"it's okay. i got this." he said grabbing a bottle of milk from the fridges and winking at her.

boki felt her chest tightening as she quickly looked away, trying to find the eggs she usually bought.

"here." she said grabbing a box.

"so what are you making with that?" he asked as they both walked towards the cashier.

"kimchi pancakes for dinner." jooheon's eyes sparkled as they both heard his stomach grumbling.

"aish... that's so delicious." he said pulling out a few crumpled bills to pay the cashier for his milk. boki did the same.

they both walked out of the store as boki glanced at him. he was cute in a way. his dimples always made either her chest or stomach grow tight.

she wondered if he had a girlfriend or just girls who were interested on him. she knew he probably had.

"listen... do you want to eat kimchi pancakes with me?" she found herself spitting in the middle of the street.

jooheon stopped walking and turned to look at her. the height different made him look threatening but he was adorable enough to look like a big puppy instead.

"yes i want." he said almost shocked. he wasn't expecting boki to invite him to eat. she smiled as she flashed a reassuring nod, inviting him to keep walking. he followed her.

"either way you owe me a dinner." he said with a joking tone, making boki's eyes roll but finally agreeing with him with a smile.

they reached boki's apartment and jooheon was in silence. he, in a way, couldn't believe he was about to go inside her apartment for a second time and alone.

the first time he remembered had been really quick just for her to pack for the trip but this time she was cooking dinner for him.

he removed his shoes and closed the door behind. his eyes diverted around the living room. everything looked exactly the same as the last time he was there.

"clean and organized." he found himself whispering. totally opposite from him.

"do you want me to put the milk in the fridge while i cook?" she popped out of nowhere, scaring him.

"aish!" he exclaimed, hand on his chest. "yes." he said giving her the bag with the milk bottle.

boki smiled as she disappeared inside the kitchen. "so... are you sure you're a good cook? do you know how to make kimchi pancakes?"

boki rolled her eyes as she pulled out the ingredients from the fridge. "yes i am."

jooheon sat on the kitchen counter at the other side of the kitchen as he stared at her washing the vegetables. "should i believe you?"

boki turned to look at him. "my mother owns a restaurant. you can believe me."

his eyes sparkled at the mention of it. "she owns a restaurant? woah... she must be a really good cook. what does she sell?"

"well... all kinds of foods but my favorite things are her tarts." she said smiling.

"is it here?"

boki shook her head. "no. she doesn't live in seoul. she lives around 2h from here."

"ah." jooheon said, crossing his arms on his chest. boki glanced at him. "i visit her now and then... but i've been missing her lately."

jooheon remained silent as he stared at her. "you should visit."

she closed the fauced and turned to him." should i?"

he nodded. "i'll take you." it was cute the way he said it and she smiled. she thought about how kind he was offering to take her when he didn't even owned a car.

"thanks." she simply said, as she started chopping the vegetables. jooheon focused on her hands and how delicately she did her job.

but as all of this happened, boki's mind began to work in all directions. she knew there was no right moment to ask it. she wanted to know what have happened in the morning even thought that hadn't been the real why she invited him to eat.

"what happened to your neck?"     

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