Fourth

Kai

As much as I hated to come to the realization, having Kyungsoo as a tutor was actually helping me. It turned out that I wasn't stupid after all, I just needed things explained in a slower, more broken-down way. I didn't think I'd be making it into one of the top ten class ranking spots by the time I graduated, but it was nice to not have the weight of nagging teachers on my back. 

I couldn't really identify what had changed in me, but a lot of it had to do with Kyungsoo. At first, having someone around that was actually willing to put time and energy into helping me do well was off-putting; it made me feel weird, especially considering he barely knew me. But as we got more comfortable around each other, it started feeling nice and the idea of having someone in my corner wasn't starting to sound so bad.

We had exchanged numbers, so we could keep in touch on days when our tutoring plans fell through or if I ever had any questions while studying on my own. It was the weekend and Sehun had already confirmed that he would look after Taeyoung for a couple of hours in the afternoon. As I was waiting for Taeyoung to finish getting ready, I heard my phone start to ring and saw it was Kyungsoo when I took my phone out of my back pocket. 

"Hey, I was just on my way over," I said, looking to see if she had come out of our room yet. "I should only be like 15 more minutes."

"Oh, okay, well, I-I was actually thinking that since you've been coming over here so much, m-maybe I could go to your house for a change," he said. Just then, she came running down the hall, giving me a thumbs up after she stopped in front of me.

"U-Uh, you sure you want to do that? I mean, let's just say your parents probably wouldn't want you hanging out in my neighborhood," I replied, glancing down at Taeyoung as I fixed a few stray strands of her hair. 

I heard him chuckle lightly. "Yeah, I'm sure I want to. Besides, you'll be there, so it should be fine. I trust you." My faltered a little when he said that. I wondered why he trusted me. 

"O-Okay," I said as I let out a sigh, still feeling slightly unsure. "I'll text you my address. It'll probably be easier to just put it in a GPS or something like that." 

"Sounds good. See you in a few," he said and I swear I could almost see him smiling. Quickly, I hung up, texted him my address and then shoved my phone back in my pocket.

"You still want to go to Sehun's?" I asked Taeyoung. She nodded her head excitedly. "Alright then let's go. I'll be here if you need me though, okay?" 

"Okay." She nodded and then we left the apartment, making the short journey to Sehun's place. I let her knock on the door when we got there. 

"Aw, you're back?" he said, pretending to be upset when he opened the door and saw her.

"Don't act like you didn't miss me," she retorted, making both of us laugh. "Did you get out the dolls?" 

"Of course, how could I forget them. It's only our favorite activity," he answered, which made a wide smile appear on his face.

"Alright you guys have fun playing with dolls. I'll be back in a little later," I said, giving her head soft pat. 

"Bye, oppa! We will," she said after she hugged me. "Let's go, Sehun." She grabbed his hand and practically pulled him inside.

"Okay hang on. I need to close the door," he said before giving me a small wave. 

I shook my head and then headed back over to the apartment, tidying up as much as I could before Kyungsoo arrived. Weekends usually always meant that my parents would be out doing whatever it was they did besides be actual parents, which meant he wouldn't have to experience the terrible pleasure of meeting them. Not long after I was finished cleaning up, I heard a knock on the door. I assumed it was Kyungsoo, but I still looked out of the little hole to make sure. 

"Hey," I said once I opened the door, trying to smile a little. 

"Hi," he replied, standing awkwardly outside until I invited him in. 

"Was the drive over here okay?" I asked as I closed the door behind me. 

"Mhm, it was fine," he answered, bending over for a moment to take his shoes off. 

I nodded a few times. "Good, that's good," I said.

"Are your parents not here?" Kyungsoo asked, stepping inside a little more and briefly looking around.

"No, they're out for the weekend," I said quickly, hoping to just gloss over the subject of them. "My friend is watching my sister, so we should be all good for a few hours. We can study in the kitchen. There will probably be a little more room out there."

"Oh okay. I didn't know you had a sister," he said from behind me, following me into the kitchen.

I turned around briefly and looked at him. "There are lot of things you don't know about me," I said.

Kyungsoo

I suppose it was only natural to not know a lot about him at that time. Still, there was something about the way he said that irked me, not in a weird way that made me feel unsafe or triggered my fight or flight response. If anything, it made irked me in a way that peaked my curiosity, as if it was an invitation to get to know him more.

We stayed in the kitchen for just about two and a half hours, going through every review packet and all the most important notes I figured he would need for finals in a few weeks. 

"That's it. I'm done for today. I can't look at another textbook for at least 12 hours," Jongin said, slamming his history book shut and leaning back in the chair. 

"Well, I'd say two and a half hours without one complaint and or impatient sigh is pretty good," I said. "I guess we can stop for today." 

Chuckling, he smiled faintly and sat back up. "You hungry?" he asked me. 

I looked up at him as I was putting my stuff away in my bag and nodded. "I could eat."

"Good 'cause I want pizza," he said, pushing the chair back and standing up. I continued to put the rest of my supplies away as went over to the fridge, pulling out a frozen pizza. 

"So, do your parents usually leave you and your sister alone on the weekend?" I asked, leaning back against the chair as he preheated the oven.

"I could probably count on one hand the number of time they're here during the week," he responded rather bluntly. I didn't say anything, mostly because I didn't know what to say. He glanced back at me, chortling again. "Don't look so serious. It's not like I'm not used to it. I actually like it better when they aren't here," he added.

"Why?" I said, pressing on.

"Because they aren't fit to be parents. They are too concerned with themselves to care for a child, let alone two. That's why I take care of my sister. I don't want her to grow up like I did, with no one there for her," he explained. I smiled faintly, lowering my head. I found it sad that that was his reality, but it made me admire him and it certainly made him look a whole better than any in likes of Baekhyun or Suho. "What about you? I'm surprised your parents even let you come over here," he said, changing the subject.

"If it has to do with school, then it's okay with them," I replied, moving my hands from the table to my lap. "That's all they care about really. Getting perfect grades will get me into a top university, and a top university will make me into a great lawyer. Or so they say."

"What do you want to do?" he asked, fully turned around now and leaning against the kitchen counter with his eyes locked on mine. 

I remained quiet and looked down at my hands briefly. "I never thought about it," I said lowly. I lifted my head and made eye contact with him again. "I guess I just want to make them happy." 

"What about your happiness?"

"I don't know...I just figure if I do what they want, I'll find happiness in that one day." 

I heard him scoff. "Sounds like we do have something in common," he said.

"What do you mean?" I asked. 

"Both of us are amazingly talented at making others happy during a time in our lives when we should be focused on what makes us happy," he explained, letting go of a light exhale at the end. We kept looking each other for a while until the oven went off, causing him to turn back around so he could stick the pizza inside.

I still watched him though. He was a completely different person outside of school. As much as I tried not to judge him, before we started spending more time together, it was difficult for me to imagine him being any other way than how he presented himself at school. But I really liked this part of him. I wanted to see more.