81 "Don't Blow up the Cover!"

Ting Tong~

The door bell rang and then in a minute Mia opened the door panting a little.

"Hey!" Ye Rin chuckled as she saw her.

"H-Hey Ye Rin…Come on in." Mia's face was bit tensed when she welcomed Ye Rin.

Ye Rin entered the house.

"The girls will be here soon. Am I too early?" She asked removing her shoes and then her coat.

"Oh No! Not at all…."

Both the girls entered the living room.

"It is really cold out." Ye Rin said sitting on the couch.

"Hmm. Wait, I'll get you something…" Mia said and entered the kitchen hurriedly. Taking her phone out, she sent a text, "Ye Rin is here. You can come now."

Jun, who was sitting in the backyard, freezing in the winter outside, under the window, got Mia's message.

Crawling from under the window, Jun came at the front door.

Ting Tong~

"I'll get it." Ye Rin shouted to Mia who was still in the kitchen. Then she went to get the door.

As she opened it, "Hey there!" She greeted Jun.

"Hello." Jun said hurriedly and entered the house. He was cold as he was out there without any warm sweater or any coat. He had just run out with his shoes from the back door of the house, as soon as he and Mia had seen Ye Rin at the door from the peek-hole.

"You are quite early." Ye Rin said looking at him from head to toe.

"Yeah. I live here so— I mean I live nearby so I came early…." Jun said.

"Ohh…Yeah I remember Mia telling us that…You two live really close then."

"Yeah. You can't imagine how close." Jun whispered to himself.

"What? Did you say something?" Ye Rin asked raising an eyebrow.

"No. It's nothing."

And both of them sat on the couch.

"Jun! You are here!" Mia said coming out from the kitchen with some hot chocolate. An awkward and tensed smile was resting on her face.

As Mia passed the cups to both of them, Ye Rin noticed something on Jun's clothes.

"Hey, why are your clothes wet?" She asked pointing at his knees.

Due to crawling in the backyard in the snow, the area around the knees of his pants had got wet.

Jun hurriedly started brushing off his pants by his hands. "Oh this….It's nothing….I was just…"

"Did you come here crawling or something?" Ye Rin said jokingly and laughed on her joke.

"Hehe…." Mia and Jun also played along by forcing laughter.

.

After a while everyone arrived at Mia's house one by one.

The last ones to arrive were Ray and Jin Kyu.

"Is it okay, if I invited him?" Ray asked as he and Mia were left behind at the door while Jin Kyu had already entered the living room. "I'm sorry. It was so sudden, actually. He has also failed in two subjects and he asked my help so…"

"Oh! That's absolutely fine with me." Mia said with a kind smile.

"Really?...Thanks." Ray smiled back.

.

Everyone was sitting in the living room enjoying the hot chocolate.

"Ahhh!! It feels so nice to have a cup of hot chocolate when the weather is so freezing out there." April said taking a sip.

"Hmm…Mia?" So Hee asked.

"Yeah?"

"Are you alone at the home right now?"

"Yeah. Where are your mom and dad?" Ye Rin asked.

"And you have a sister too, right?" Hana asked.

As Mia opened the mouth to answer,

"Uncle and Aunty had gone to do shopping." Jun answered casually without realizing.

Everyone's heads turned to him in confusion, while Mia was looking at him with widened eyes.

Jun understood it the next instant and he said, "You must be curious how I know about it, right?.....Haha….Well….I live nearby….And….I know Mia and her family since a long time….So….I know that they go to the market every Sunday…..Hehe....Isn't that right Mia?"

Jun looked at her expecting to answer.

"Y-Yeah. Y-Yeah….He knows that….Haha…"

An awkward silence of two seconds spread all over the room.

"That's great then." Ray broke the silence with his cheerful voice.

"Yeah…And my sister, Jina had also gone out for some time. She'd be back in a while…..So?.....Should we go up now? To my room? For the studies?"

"Yeah. Yeah."

"Let's go."

"Let's study."

Mia showed everyone the way up towards her room. "The first room when you go up." She said.

As everyone started walking upstairs Mia called Jun, who was at the very last.

"Psst! Jun!" She whispered.

Jun turned back. She came near to him.

"What are you doing? You are gonna blow up the cover!" She whispered in a scolding tone.

"I'm sorry. I'll be more careful." He said apologetically.

"You better be!"

Then nodding to each other both of them went towards Mia's room.

.

After about an hour.

"Aaahh!!!" So Hee spread both of her hands in the air. "Let's take a break now…" She said getting up.

"This early?" April said. "We were just getting concentrated."

"I need a break too." Jin Kyu said and looked at Ray.

"Okay then. I'll get some snacks for us." Mia said getting up.

"I'll help you." April said as she followed Mia out of the room.

As they were coming down the stairs, April was talking, "See. She does this every time. She can't sit much at one place and if it's about studies….I know how hard it gets…" She was complaining about So Hee.

"That's okay. But she is doing a nice job today. She knew a lot of concepts. We just need to push her a little and she gets the answer."

"You are right I guess." April said.

As they were about to turn towards the kitchen, Mia looked up and she saw Hana and Ye Rin standing in the door of the Jun's room.

Ye Rin's hand was on the door knob and she was about to open it.

"WAIT!!!" Mia's loud and sudden shout made not only April, but also Hana and Ye Rin jump in surprise.

"What's wrong?" April asked keeping a hand on her fast beating heart.

"Wait a minute…" Mia said to April without looking at her and then she ran upstairs.

"Where are you two going?" Mia asked as she reached at both the girls.

Mia's face was turned pale and due to running up the stairs she was panting heavily.

"Yo. Calm down girl. What happened?" Ye Rin asked looking at her face.

"Yeah. You okay, Mia?" Hana said. "We were just searching for the washroom…"

"W-Washroom?"

"Yeah.."

"It's not here…It's downstairs…Come with me, I'll show you the way…" Mia said as she turned back to go.

"Okay!" Hana said while Ye Rin was looking at Mia's actions suspiciously.

.

"So? What is there in that room that you wanted to hide?" Ye Rin asked to Mia as Hana had gone into the washroom.

"Huh?" Mia looked at her shocked. "W-Which room?"

"The room you didn't let us enter just now." Ye Rin said bluntly.

"Ohh…That room….That room is just a store room. There is a lot of useless stuff in there and it's dusty a lot. That's why I didn't let you go." Mia said the exact same words Jun had told her to say.

"A store room?" Ye Rin asked again.

"Hmm. A store room. There is nothing to hide….Hehe…" Mia laughed out the question.

"O-kay…" Ye Rin nodded understandingly.

~

Meanwhile;

"Hey, Mia!" Jun called Mia's name before entering the kitchen but when he saw April standing at the counter alone he stopped in his way.

April looked at him, her cheeks turning a little red. "Hey…" She said.

"Hey…"

"Mia is not here." April said looking down. "She'll be back soon."

"Okay.." Jun said abruptly.

Then no one talked for a minute. An awkward silence was spread all over the kitchen.

"O-kay then.… I'll get us the snacks." Jun broke the silence as he walked towards the refrigerator and opened the door.

"Ah! Here they are!" He said and took out a box from the fridge.

When he opened it, there was a whole set of different flavored cupcakes.

"There are some packets of chips and cheese rings in that compartment." Jun pointed towards the shelves above.

April hesitated first, but then she went towards the shelf and opened it.

"Look in the right corner." Jun said taking the cupcakes out one by one and placing them on the plate.

"Okay." April said and extended her arm to get the packets.

But she was too short and was unable to get till them.

Standing on her toes, she tried again. But no use.

'What's taking her so long?' Thinking that Jun turned back to see what April was doing and as he saw her struggling, he walked towards her right away. Her back was still facing him. She didn't sense that he was standing right behind her.

And before she could understand anything, Jun stretched his arm and took out the packets from the shelf.

Putting them on the counter he said, "There you go…" And then he went back to his work of plating the cupcakes. Casually. Like nothing had happened.

But on the other side, April had just frozen to her place. Her hand was resting on her really fast beating heart. Her cheeks were turned fully red. And her mind was gone blank completely.

'...…' And then when it started thinking,

'What?....What just happened?.....He….He was so close to me….Like…So close!.....I felt like I stopped breathing…'

"Ha! Done!" Jun said as he finished plating all the cupcakes.

Then he turned back to see, if April's work is also done. But he saw her standing in the same place, facing her back to him, still. Without any movement.

"Hey! April?" He called her name.

His voice brought her back to senses. "Huh? What?" She turned back to see Jun staring at her with confused look on his face.

She quickly looked down. "Yeah. Yeah. I'll do it."

She said hurriedly and got the packets. Jun gave her a big bowl and then she started emptying the packets in it.

As she was doing it, Jun went towards the burner and put a pot on it.

"What are you doing?" April asked.

"I am making us all some tea. A cup of tea will be great for this weather." He said as he added water in the pot.

Then after a while, he took out the box of tea from one of the shelves and added the tea powder in it.

April was observing him carefully, as he was making the tea; a question started peeking in her mind.

"You seem really close to here." She said.

"Huh?" Jun looked at her. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, you know everything about this house. Like what is kept where and all. You know it really precisely."

"Yeah. Because I help aunty in the kitchen a lot. Not like that nerdy Mia. She doesn't even step inside the kitchen…Hehehe…."

"You help Mia's mother???" Now a big question mark was visible on April's face.

Realizing that he did it again, Jun bit his tongue.

"I….I mean….Yeah….Our families….Mine and Mia's….are really close. So….It's normal for us…to you know…come into the house….or run some errands for each other….or helping her mother in the kitchen….It's pretty normal…Hehehe…."

"Ohhh! That's nice….!" April said with a smile but her eyes were saddened.

As the tea was ready Jun poured it in the tea pot and started taking out the cups from the shelves.

"Can….Can I ask you something?" April said hesitating.

"Yeah. Sure!" Jun said still busy in what he was doing.

"Umm….Are you two….I mean you and Mia….are….d-dating?" She asked the question but regretted the next instance, so she looked down in embarrassment.

Jun looked at her. "Didn't that idiot tell you about our relationship?" He was referring to Mia.

"Mia said that….you two are childhood friends….and….and you are really special to her!"

Hearing April's answer Jun gasped. '…Special….Just like she is to me….'

"So? She has given you the answer already. Then why are you asking me now?" Jun asked coldly.

"Umm….I….I just wanted to hear from you….I'm…I'm sorry…" April was feeling really bad now that she asked such question to him.

'Now what will he think of me….?' Her face got clouded with worries.

"…And to be honest..." Jun talked further. "Who'd want to date that idiot? She is nothing but a great pain in a—"

"Are you talking about me??" Mia interrupted Jun as she entered the kitchen.

"Yes! So what are you gonna do about it?" Jun teased her.

"You—" Mia glared at him in anger.

"Mia…Wait…." April took the plate full of cupcakes in her hands and went towards Mia hurriedly.

Then handing that plate to her she said, "Take these upstairs. We'll bring the remaining…"

"Hmph!" And Mia turned back to go.

April successfully dodged the fight before it could take place.

~

After the snack break, they studied more.

So Hee cleared all her doubts and practiced all the difficult problems with the help of Mia.

While Ray helped Jin Kyu in his studies.

~

"See you tomorrow in the school then."

"Yeah. Bye Bye."

"Goodbye~"

"Thanks for the help again."

"That's fine."

And with those words, everyone left Mia's house. Even Jun came out with them to pretend that he lives elsewhere.

As they all got out on the road, Jun asked, "So? Where are you all heading?"

Ray pointed towards the right. "We two are going to the railway station." He answered.

"Yeah. And my car will be here soon. I'll drop So Hee at her house." Hana said.

"And I'll drop Ye Rin then." April said.

"Okay..So…I'll go now…" Jun pointed at the exact opposite direction, pretending that his house is there.

"Wait!" April stopped him.

"What?"

"We wanted to talk with you all about something." April said.

"What is it?" Ray asked.

"Well…." Hana started talking. "Most of you might not know….But Mia's birthday is coming."

"Mia's birthday?" Ray widened his eyes. "When?"

"It's this Friday!" Ye Rin answered.

"This Friday?"

"Yep."

"And we all have decided to throw a surprise party for her."

"A surprise party? That's a great idea." Ray's face lightened.

"Yeah. And so we need some ideas. I am giving you one day. When we'll meet in the school tomorrow, we'll plan this party completely. Okay?" So Hee asked.

"Okay!" Everyone agreed.

While others were talking all this, Jun was just standing in the side, his face a little saddened.

'….I had some plans for her that day….But now….Maybe I have to say pass on them….' He thought.

"Okay then."

"See you tomorrow."

"B-Bye!"

And everyone parted their ways.

Jun also started walking on the footpath in the opposite direction.

Still lost in his thoughts.

~