flipped. | kaiyuna

chapter nine

[hueningkai's p.o.v.]

the bell rings, signalling our dismissal time. i started to pack up my stuff while wonyoung did the same. after school, me and taehyun will stay at beomgyu's house to 'study', although i know beomgyu will end up doing somethig else, and distracting both of us.

'hueningkai, are you free after school?' wonyoung asks.

'what?' i say, seeing if she said it to the wrong person. but then i remember this was the girl who liked me.

'me, yujin and a few others are going to the coin karaoke after school. wanna come?' wonyoung asks, slinging her backpack over her shoulder.

'well, actually-'

'sure.' beomgyu cuts in, swinging his arm over my shoulder.

'i thought we were gonna stay-'

'kai, you've been so stressed with studies! besides, we haven't had real fun for months.'

'i guess it's fine.. but what about taehyun?'

'what about me?' taehyun asks.

'me and kai going to a coin karaoke after school. you should come.' beomgyu says.

'why not?' taehyun smiles.

'i guess it's settled! let's go before anyone changes their mind.' wonyoung says, taking hold of my hand while she walked out of class, leaving beomgyu and taehyun to trail behind.

[timeskip]

when wonyoung said 'few others', she meant a lot of other people. there were a few more seniors joining us, like the twins felix and chaewon, jaemin and jeno, jeongin and seungmin. the rest were people i still talked to in my grade, like hitomi and nako. how would all of us fit in a small karaoke room? unless wonyoung rents out a really expensive room.

we were walking out from the gate when i spotted yuna talking to jisung. she was smiling a lot of the time, it was similar the ones she used to do to me. jisung was also talking more, and he's really quiet in class.

yuna catches me looking at her. she notices the crowd next to me, and looks back at me. why am i suddenly so nervous? i feel the same way like i was getting back my test results.

'hueningkai? what's wrong?' wonyoung taps my shoulder.

'huh?'

'you were blanking out. did anything happen?'

'no, it's just..'

i lool back at yuna, who suddenly mounted jisung's bicycle. jisung left school, with yuna on his bike. now i was starting to think there was something going on between the two.

'it's nothing. let's go now.' i say.

and i did something i thought i would never do. i held her hand, and suddenly she was the one flustered, her pale skin turning to a faint red. i should forget about yuna and just relax. wonyoung wasn't as bad as before, and i've got other friends.

i shouldn't be concerned about shin yuna.

[yuna's p.o.v.]

'thanks for the ride.'

'no problem. i could pick you up before school, if you are okay with it. i live just aroud the block.'

'no, it would be a burden. or i could use my bike too!'

'that would be nice. it's your choice, yuna. see you on monday.'

'bye!' i wave, as he left the store, leaving me alone.

hueningkai was hanging out with wonyoung? i mean, it's not like they're on a date, since there's loads of other people too, but i can't believe wonyoung had the guts to do that when they knew each other for like 2 days.

and he had the nerve to talk to her in front of me.. what is he up to?

forget it, i should be starting the shift soon. i enter the store to see bona already on the counter, reading her college textbooks. (a/n: the faceclaim for bona is wjsn's boma).

'what's this?' i ask.

'i'm taking over. be thankful.' bona says, not looking up from her book.

'oh. thanks?..' i respond. she seems to be in a good mood. maybe she moved on from her ex.

i went upstairs to my bedroom and changed to a nice pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt. i was on the way downstairs to get some snacks before studying when i saw dad painting for the first time since.. forever. i slid open the balcony door and watched him drag his paintbrush across the canvas, paying full attention to the artwork.

mom married a dreamer. what i mean is, she married someone who has always been laid-back and philosophical. he was a popular artist before he had me. bona, mom and dad lived in a bigger house but he got bankrupt and they moved here, and mom had me. everytime i watched him paint, he would ask me about school and my friends. often he would even ask about hueningkai, and that's what he did today.

'how's hueningkai?'

'..i don't know, dad.'

just with the tone of my voice, he could tell something was wrong. i've always been a bad liar.

'you see this painting? what can you say about it?'

dad's paintings always had alot of details. he was panting a sunset, but it had a great amount of work put on the details. the birds flying, the shade of the color, everything seemed detailed.

'it has a lot of details?'

'correct. when you're painting, you shouldn't just focus on one object. you need to look at the whole picture.'

when it came to this kind of talks, i would always nod along but never really took it to heart, since i was younger back then.

'and it's the same thing with people. you shouldn't just focus on one of their traits, you should see their whole picture.'

it was the first time since i was 7 that my face lit up hearing his advice. i think he knew what was going on between me and hueningkai.

'so whatever is bothering you between you and the boy, you should consider him. see his whole picture.'

i was speechless, honestly. i didn't know how to respond. there was a long silence before i said,

'i think i know what to do now. thanks dad.'

i stood up from the stool i was sitting from and made my way to my room.

maybe dad was right. maybe ryujin has always been right. back then, i thought my lifelong dream was to be with him. i watched him fron afar and tried my best to befriend him, even though i know i annoy him at times. i thought he and i were meant to be, and i imagined my days with him like i was a princess in my own fairy tale.

but all those years i liked him? i never really knew him.

[the picture used above is what bona looks like, since she will become a more important character later on.]