The Genius

Chapter Nine

"It's the motherboard I was telling you about," Ben chirped excitedly, showing Ji-Hun the computer motherboard as he pointed at parts here and there.

I looked away from them, deciding to wander about the workshop. We were at Ben's dad's tech repair store. It was closed for the day and Mr. Maxwell had allowed us to take a look inside as long as Ben was there to watch over us.

"I like working with PCs, they're easier to work with than Mac Books," Ben rattled on, his voice becoming fainter as I wandered away from them. I stopped in front of a phone display case, glancing at the phones that sat there idly. The workshop was large, having various sections for different electronics and gadgets. It was a family business that Ben was eventually going to inherit someday.

A sigh left my lips in boredom. I wasn't a tech enthusiast, and I just wished we would just skip to playing video games or watching a movie.

"Ben," I turned to find Ben's sister, Chloe yelling as she popped her head in through the entrance door. She looked about the place before her eyes landed on Ben who was at the far end with Ji-Hun.

"Ben," she said again, a small frown forming on her face as she walked into the workshop. I watched her march all the way to Ben, pinching him on his lower back through his thin shirt to get his attention.

"Ouch!" he complained, turning sharply to toss a death glare at his sister. "What do you want?"

Chloe didn't pay attention to his tone; she just pinched the side of her afro as she muttered inaudible insults under her breath before speaking up. "Mum said I should ask if your friends are staying over for dinner."

"No," Ji-Hun answered on Ben's behalf As he shook his head. Chloe then turned to me, and I repeated the same answer.

"Okay then," she muttered, nodding at our responses before making to leave the room. "And you need a new set of ears Ben," she said, pausing at the door before walking out and slamming it behind her dramatically.

"I swear to God that I actually hate my siblings," Ben groaned, throwing his hands over his head back in frustration. Ji-Hun laughed as Ben turned back to the table with the dismantled laptop. Ben was the first born of three kids and he was the only boy. He was older than both his sisters with less than three years. Chloe was his immediate younger sister and was only a year younger than him. 'She terrorized his everyday life' was a big understatement.

After a little while, we headed to Ben's room for a video game marathon, switching from game disk to disk as we munched on junk food.

"Come on!" Ben groaned when my character knocked his out. "We weren't even ten minutes into the game."

I shrugged, putting my controller aside. I looked up to find Ji-Hun watching the screen although the game was already over. He'd opted out from playing this round since it was a two player game and had just decided to just watch.

"Can you pass me the Cheetos?" Ben asked as Ji-Hun muttered a small agreement, tossing the open bag of Cheetos that had been sitting at the edge of the bed towards Ben. Ben caught the bag, but that didn't prevent the orange chips from flying out the bag to places including his face.

"Dude!"

"I'm sorry," Ji-Hun quickly said in defense as he tried to contain his laughter. The sight of Ben trying to fish out the Cheetos that had slipped into his shirt through his collar didn't help much.

I smiled seeing as I was too tired to laugh. My eyes hurt from looking at the screen for too long.

"What time is it?" Ji-Hun asked as he rolled on Ben's bed, not directing his question to anyone in particular. I let myself look at his sprawled figure for a while, my gaze wandering to his now exposed belly due to his shirt rolling up a bit at the side. I turned away, mentally scolding myself for doing that before looking at my wristwatch for the time.

"It's six twenty-four PM," I muttered as Ben noisily chewed chips at the corner. I gave him an irritated glare and he started chewing slowly, throwing his hands up in surrender.

"You're always judging my eating habits," he accused.

I rolled my eyes at him. "You're always acting like a pig."

"We have to leave soon I have to be back by seven thirty," Ji-Hun muttered, looking up at Ben's decorated ceiling. He had all sorts of glowing stickers and lights pasted and hanging from the ceiling. His walls weren't spared seeing as they hosted everything from posters to to-do lists.

"Yeah, I guess you guys will be leaving in a bit," Ben said, letting his fingers run through the black fur carpet he was sitting on. How he managed to keep it clean with all his snacking baffled me.

We talked for a while, discussing everything from school work to video games. When Ben and Ji-Hun started talking about virtual gaming I decided to take a short snooze seeing as I didn't know anything about it. I was woken up soon after and told it was time to leave.

"We should hang out like this more often," Ben suggested as we Ji-Hun and I wore our shoes at the door. Yes, his house had a no shoe policy.

"Of course. This was nice," Ji-Hun muttered as he slipped his converses on. I hummed in agreement, not really in the mood for an actual discussion. Why did I decide to wear shoes with laces today?

We said our goodbyes before starting to head home together. We walked in silence if you excluded Ji-Hun's humming. I found myself smiling at that. He always did that- hum that is.

"So, when are you going to show me how to use the contest platform?"

I blinked, turning my head a little to the side to look at Ji-Hun in the evening light. He had his eyes on the pavement and had started humming again as we continued to trek.

"I'll show you soon. Maybe you can come over to my place?"

I'm really not sure what made me say that. I rarely invited anyone to my house. I didn't like my friends seeing my parents, and I didn't want the people I tutored from time to time thinking we'd become friends of some sort because of an invitation. I've only known Ji-Hun for a couple of weeks and here I was inviting him over casually. I'm not sure why, but maybe it was because he already knew the deal with my brother.

As I started to think over my invitation a nervous feeling began to overwhelm me. I wasn't sure if Ji-Hun would agree to come or not... why was I even bothered if he agreed to come or not?

"Oh," Ji-Hun mouthed in a shocked tone, bringing me out of my thoughts. "Oh, okay," he said more clearly as he bit on his inner cheek

I nodded at his reply, turning my full attention back to the road as I tried to internalize my feeling of relief. We got to his stop soon. He paused at the junction, turning to talk to me.

"So you can text me when then," he muttered, referring to my invitation as he stared on at me. I let my gaze fall to the floor as I nodded at his suggestion. I wasn't sure why I was so flustered. I should make it quick and head home, not stand here nervously as I tried to engage in some sort of conversation with Ji-Hun.

"Hey," I heard him mutter, bringing me out of my thoughts. My eyes widened in reflex when he took my left hand in his but I didn't pull away.

"Don't feel nervous. You told me something, and it's not a big deal," he said as I felt him squeeze my hand in encouragement. I looked down at our joined hands with a mixture of confusion and delight.

What's happening to me? I found myself thinking as Ji-Hun ran his thumb against my pale knuckles.

"Yeah, I know... Why did you feel the need to say that?" I finally spoke up, trying to take my mind off the warm smooth hand that was presently holding mine in the tightest yet most gentle hold.

"You looked off the whole day. I thought you might be feeling down," he muttered, swinging our joined hands from side to side as he looked beyond me and into the street. "You didn't smile a lot and you seemed irritated. I mean, you don't smile very often in general but it was worse today."

"I guess..." I trailed, shrugging. I wasn't the most cheerful person, and I've never felt the need to pretend that I was happy when I wasn't. "I'm not doing it on purpose, and I'm not sad. I'm just like that I suppose."

I don't know how the conversation turned from when we should meet to practice, and then to my feelings. I was even more surprised that I was openly discussing it seeing as I usually dodged conversations like this. This didn't feel uncomfortable though, and it wasn't as awkward as I'd always envisioned when someone tried to get me to open up to them.

"It's a pity, I really like it when you smile," Ji-Hun muttered. I felt my face heat up. What was that? Why would he say something so embarrassing? I didn't get it. He's been like this since I meet him. Most people would rather die than say things like that. I never knew how to take his compliments since he always said them with a straight face and I never exactly knew if he was being serious or not.

"Err..." I trailed, looking down at the granite floor. How am I supposed to reply to that?

"Give yourself reasons to smile," Ji-Hun muttered as I watched him adjust his stance. "If we were all thinking about the bad stuff we'd all be moody and depressed half the time."

"Yeah, I get that," I replied, looking up at him.

He chuckled, brushing back his bangs as I watched them fly forward again. "You're not much of a talker are you?" he asked, making me shrug.

"I'm not," I admitted, earning another fit of chuckles from him. I felt him let go of my hand, leaving an empty feeling. I looked straight at him, staring at the full deep dimple smile he was throwing my way. He stared at me intently, like he wanted to say something but he turned away.

"So, see you later then?" he said, returning his gaze back to me. He gave me a small smile before turning and walking away. I stood there until he had disappeared from my range of sight, still trying to make sense of our conversation.

I really didn't want to like Ji-Hun. He was competition, and he was probably going to have me buried in my books for the upcoming tests, but he was funny, caring and even though I would never admit it, I liked him a lot more than Ben and Aiyana — I couldn't explain it. Ben and Aiyana were my friends but I was just subconsciously a lot happier and open around Ji-Hun.

I stood there for a while before letting out a low sigh as I tightened the grip I had on the straps of my bag. After a while, I started to make my way home.

As I walked home my mind wondered to the way Ji-Hun had reached out for my hand without a second thought. I was trying to rationalize his series of odd behaviors. Friends didn't do that. Well, my friends didn't. I felt my face warm up again, making me shake my head in an attempt to discourage the thoughts that were taking form in my head.

These past few weeks have been confusing, really confusing.