His Innocence and Mischiefs

"Loving can cost a lot but not loving always costs more, and those who fear to love often find want of love is an emptiness that robs the joy from life."

– Merle Shain

"So, you've two younger sisters?" he asked me as we were walking side by side through the morning glory-filled green field.

Even after I got ready and went down to eat my breakfast I hadn't seen him. I'd searched for him on the way. I doubted whether he had gone into one of my sister's rooms. But guess not, he was standing in the middle of my courtyard, admiring my mom's garden. He only appeared before me when I was eating my breakfast. He just roamed around the kitchen looking at the dish and eyeing it deliciously yet sadly, realizing he can't eat. I'd already figured that out. He was slightly excited looking around and all. But when Liya came inside, late as usual, I saw him staring at her. He even stood beside where she was eating, watching her carefully. I shot him a glare when I saw him checking her out from top to bottom. The protective big sister I am, I won't allow even a ghost to check my sister out. He immediately stepped away and smiled sheepishly at me. Hm...I'd expected that already. The flirt he is!

"Yeah.." I said running my eyes through the equations on my flashcards.

"And they're beautiful" he commented with a mischievous glint in his voice. I saw him glancing at me sideways.

"I know." I sighed, concentrating and chatting the equations again and again.

I could say he was trying to start a convo but was hesitating because I was currently studying. And I appreciate his effort. It must be hard being a social butterfly trapped with the definition of an introvert, which is me!

"Oh and Jimin, don't ever eye my sister like that" I said in my stern voice.

"Like what?"

"Seriously?" I turned to him "You don't know?"

"I was just... admiring my fan" he rejected my accusation.

"Fan or not she's my sister. I won't allow it" I glared at him.

"Aren't you being a big protective sister?" he teased with a goofy smile.

"Yes, I am" I agreed "Next time I see you doing something like that, you can find someone else who can see you, speak Korean, and tolerate you."

"Woah Woah I'm sorry. It's natural for people to admire beauty" he retorted.

"And it's quite natural to find people who can see ghosts" I muttered.

"Okay!" he raised his hands in mort surrender "I won't admire your sister's beauty".

"Not in this anyway." I gestured to his ghostly form "If you really want to admire her beauty come to India and date her when you wake up from your coma"

"Huh? I thought you won't even allow me to set my eyes on her?" he widened his eyes.

"Nope" I popped the 'p'.

"I thought you were jealous, Mia" he said right away.

I scoffed "Jealous of what? Your chipmunk face?"

"Yah!" he touched both of his cheeks "I'm called 'cute, sexy, lovely' by my fans".

"They were just trying to make you not feel bad about yourself being ugly among six perfect handsome guys" I cooed putting on a sympathetic face.

"What?!" he looked alarmed "No!!!"

I laughed at his reaction. I haven't laughed in months like that. I literally had tears in my eyes. I saw him smiling at my laughing form.

"Mia" a voice asked from our front. My laugh stopped immediately as we both turned towards the owner of the voice.

"Are you alright?" asked Vishnu, who was a guy in my school. He looked surprised.

"What-" I straightened myself and my expression went blank "I'm fine" I replied flatly.

"Okay...?" he said eyeing me suspiciously "What were you laughing about anyway?"

"Oh" I saw Jimin looking between us obviously not understanding a word we are saying."I was just laughing thinking about my sisters. You know, they're chaotic" I rolled my eyes annoyingly, cementing the lie smoothly.

"Aah, I know they are" he laughed.

Vishnu is in the same class as Liya, yeah, two years younger than me. He's a nerd like me too. The difference is he's a popular social figure as he is good looking while I'm notorious. We were science club assignment partners and we became friends as we are also neighbors. Well, a little secret too. He likes Liya, a lot. We talk like a big sister and younger brother sometimes and he made me promise not to tell her about it. I decided not to interfere either; it's their business. Besides, I won't rise his hopes though his feelings are genuine because my sister is a playgirl.

"Can I accompany you, sis?" he asked as we matched pace.

"Sure" I glanced back, where Jimin was following us like a lost puppy.

"Just teleport there Jimin" both of us were standing at the Bus stop and I was muttereing under my breathe.

"But I don't know how" he was standing right beside me still admiring people and his surroundings with wide eyes.

"Then how did you teleport to my house?" I gritted my teeth and smiled back at an aunty who smiled at me.

"I just did. I just wanted to follow you and puff I was inside your room" he said waving his hands in the air. "Why can't you take me with you on the bus?" he pouted visibly. This kid!

"Jimin, see these people" I pointed towards the crowded bus stop including students, teachers, and other people going to the workplace. "All of'em are waiting for the next bus".

"All of them?!" he exclaimed glancing at the crowd.

"Yep and even if you get inside the bus passing through the people where will you stand unless you can sit at the roof of the bus" I explained.

"Then how do you get inside the bus?" he looked at me with wide eyes.

"It's called the art of mounting a bus in Kerala" I playfully said like a duke "You'll see".

He was still confused staring at me.

"Well, what's the name of the place?" he asked finally.

"Kozhikode" I said.

"Koyi- what??!" he said with a face of disgust.

"Koozheekoode. Yeah it's a mini tongue twister for you, dude"

"What kind of name is that?" he folded his hands, shaking his head.

I chuckled earning a few glances from a group of giggling school girls beside me. I smiled innocently at them muttering a 'good morning' to which they smiled back and gave each other weird looks. Girls! Note the sarcasm.

"Here comes the bus!" exclaimed a girl beside me as she ran towards the front.

"Okay, gotta go" I turned to Jimin "If you can't teleport make sure you don't lose your way"

With that, I rushed towards the crowd to get on the bus. Ready for a war!

"You look like you just came after a war" chuckled Jimin eyeing my messed-up form.

I was fixing my loose ponytail and straightening my uniform after getting down the bus rather safely. Wow! I steadied my breath and adjusted the strap of my bag, and turned towards him.

"Because it kind of is" I shrugged "I see you made it".

When I'd gotten off the bus, I saw Jimin standing a few meters away from the school bus stop. From his expression then, I could say that he was kinda lost, looking all around the place. That's when I walked to him and he sighed contently seeing me.

"Yeah, I did" he cheered happily clapping his hands like a seal.

"Can I ask how, for future references?" I asked him as I walked towards my school gate.

"Oh I just willed myself to follow you." he smiled. That's weird. I haven't heard anything like that anywhere. Sure ghosts can teleport but never not knowing the surroundings. I really should write all these things somewhere. It's not every day you get to see ghosts or anything.

"It's pretty hot in here right?" he asked looking at the people passing by us and the road.

"Yeah. Can you feel hotness?" I asked him still curious about ghost characters.

"Nope. I just guessed by the way you're dressed."

"Well observed" I obliged.

We finally reached the school.

"Waa~" I saw Jimin gaping at my school with mouth wide open. "This is your school?"

Honestly, there is absolutely nothing to gape at my school. Just a typical school in the country. But for the idol Park Jimin this might be a first-time experience of coming to India and seeing stuff. Yeah yeah, Kerala is known as God's Own Country and all, with its characteristic green natural beauty and accompanying blah blah blah, to me it's just LAND FULL OF COCONUT TREES.

I think Jimin is very fascinated by the plants all around the school. My school is known for its love for plants and stuff. Everywhere you look there are plants and trees. It's a pleasant atmosphere for students because the fresh air on the campus is literally heaven.

"Your school is awesome!" he was still looking at everything with awe and his eyes were filled with amusement and wonder like a kid. Everything about him was childish.

A butterfly just passed in front of us and Jimin just giggled like a schoolgirl and ran behind it into the garden. Trust me when I say that I've never seen a 23-year-old guy behave like this. He looked so innocent and adorable laughing around with it. His bright smile causing his cute little eyes to form crescents and a small dimple on his right cheek when he laughs widely is enough to make him seem a true angel right out of heaven.

A small smile just couldn't help but form on my lips.

I wonder why he'd to be involved in an accident almost losing his life.

I just shook off the daze and decided to leave him there to walk into my class.

"Okay" Shameer sir clapped his hands finally handing all the question papers to the students "You'll have 1 hour. After that no writing is allowed, got it?" to which everyone nodded absentmindedly.

I was scribbling down my name and details when I saw a head being popped out of the blackboard. I saw the head looking all around the classroom and finally his gaze fixing on me. Jimin smiled widely and passed fully through the blackboard into the classroom. I saw him gliding towards me who by the way who was sitting on the second bench.

"Why did you leave me alone?" he folded his arms and pouted right in front of me. "I was afraid you know"

I just ignored him and started writing the exam. Even if I didn't ignore him there was no way of replying to him in a class where pin drop silence was seated with a scale in the hands.

"Are you ignoring me?"he asked me with a sad face.

Still I couldn't do anything.

"Mia~" he whined.

Now it's annoying me.

I looked up at him a shot a glare "Ahem, I'm writing an exam" I coughed.

"Oh oops" he rubbed his head looking at the answer sheet "Sorry"

He then started roaming around the class peaking into everyone's answer paper and once in a while giggling. He was seriously taking my concentration away but I managed to finish the test easily as the questions were quite simple. I was checking my answers again and again to rectify any errors.

"Psst" I heard a voice "Mia".

I turned around and saw Jimin standing at the very back of the class behind the last bench students. He gestured towards two boys who were huddled together with heads dipped down.

"These are copying" he whispered pointing at them.

Huh? Why is he whispering? Even if he shout out loud no one will hear, right? I guess he might have forgotten about that. Silly guy!

I merely stared at him. What's he implying? I can't do anything about that. If I told the teacher he wouldn't believe because how am I supposed to see them 5 benches apart unless I'm some sort of a diety.

"Oh you can't do anything" he realized then."I guess I will. They can't just copy easily when others studied hard." he was thinking about something now.

I turned to my paper and kept him out of my thoughts for now. After a couple of minutes, I heard a loud screech that caught the attention of everyone in the class as we all turned around in the direction where we heard the noise. There sat the same two boys completely drenched in water with a surprised plus horrified expression. Everyone in the class burst into laughter but I was staring at the ghost which was laughing loudly crouching on the ground.

"HAHAHA LOOK AT THEIR FACES" he laughed out loud pointing at the confused boys which fortunately only I heard.

"SILENCE" Shameer sir shouted sealing everyone's mouths successfully.

But Jimin's muffled laughter was still heard.

Everyone was eagerly waiting for what was coming next. Shameer sir is our Class teacher and he's literally a monster when he's angry. And yes I could see him fuming and shooting daggers at the two shook boys.

"Rashid and Ramu!!!" he shouted making the boys flinch with fear "What the hell are you doing in between the exam? Are you having a bath in the class?!!"

Everyone laughed silently under their breath.

The boys were so shaken that they didn't answer anything just stared at the water bottle which was lying on the floor beside them.

So Jimin poured the water over their head huh?

"S-Sir w-we d-didn't d-do anything-g" Ramu was stuttering so hard "That water bottle just poured water on us" he pointed at the bottle on the floor, dead.

Everyone roared with laughter.

"I SAID SILENCE" everyone went silent again.

"So you are saying that a ghost poured water all over your head, huh?" he crossed his arms over his chest with a stern look over his face.

Oh, little did he know that's exactly what happened. I looked over at Jimin who was watching them with amusement in his eyes though he had no idea what they were talking about.

"S-sir we don't-"

"At least, when you are lying come up with a reasonable excuse" Shamer sir rubbed the bridge of his nose with frustration "I'm fed up with you boys. GET OUT and stay outside for the rest of the day"

"But sir-"

"GET OUT"

The boys got up and dragged themselves outside the class with head hung low.

"Yay! Serves them right!" Jimin fist-bumped the air.

I really should talk with him at home. Or worse things can happen. Of course, what he did was great but I can't let people face the paranormal fear you know they'll freak out if people saw a water bottle floating in the air and pouring water over their head. I can't just let the balance in the nature break. There must be a reason stuff like this is hidden from people. Am I overthinking? Nah, it's for the best.

I glared at Jimin as he walked up to me like he had won a race. His smile was immediately replaced by a frown probably seeing my glare.

"What? Didn't you like it?" he asked crouching down beside me.

I continued glaring at him as I had no way to shout at his face for his deed. So I controlled my anger and turned away from him.

"Hey Mia, what is it?" he kept asking trying to catch my attention.

I ignored him and for the first time ever willingly started a conversation with my classmate who was surprised when I talked to her.

"Yah! You can't ignore me." he shouted to which I rolled my eyes and continued talking to her.

For the rest of my class, he kept bugging me and talked non stop with me. At one point when he stopped talking I thought he gave up and sighed internally. But when I looked up I saw him standing next to my Chemistry teacher and mirroring her actions making weird expressions on his face. She had the habit of waving her hands all around while teaching and he mirrored them perfectly. I really had the urge to burst into laughter then and there but I held it in miserably putting on my infamous blank expression. When he saw me not reacting he then started jumping up and down the classroom, dancing weirdly. I had read that he was an amazing dancer but didn't expect what I was witnessing in front of me. He dangerously started to wiggle his limps with a silent beat. He danced like a ballerina after that skipping around the classroom. He really was an entertainer.

I couldn't help it anymore. I smiled gently at his actions.

I was the best person at hiding my emotions and no one could persuade me when I am angry. But for the first time ever, this stranger whom I'd met only yesterday was able to make me smile like this. I don't know but I couldn't be angry with this fluffball ghost.

Jimin smiled widely seeing my small smile as he stopped whatever he was doing and ran towards me with his arms wide open. He stood beside me as I stared at him and his open arms.

"Oh," he retraced his hands and rubbed the back of his head "We can't hug".

I rolled my eyes and looked forward as Jimin leaned on the wall beside me with a satisfied smile on his face.

Unknowingly, a soft spot was forming inside me for this ghost over here.

The cold walls I built inside my heart was slowly melted by his warmness.

And this was the start of something new.

Something both of us had never experienced.

But yearned for, deep inside.