four; Serendipitous

Kyungsoo walked awkwardly between the tight aisles, his leather boots harshly clanking against the floorboards alongside his awkward posture made the young boy looked even more helpless. His back hunched as he read the unfamiliar labels, not really knowing where each food was, and even more confused with what he could make with the ingredients the small shop sold. The convenient store was different from his usual 'overpriced' grocery store (Baekhyun's words), but it was the closest one to Chanyeol's house. His parents were due for the day after tomorrow, and he had decided to cook something for the occasion. He doubts they'll even eat it, the 'meeting' will probably be them asking about his grades and any inconveniences he has living in Koreas - just an excuse to send him back to England. But Kyungsoo did everything he could to stop that, making sure his grades were always shining with straight A's, eating regularly, learning Korean and even made sure not to do anything that could make him a target for bullying (it would be embarrassing, really, if the company's stockholders find out the future CEO is incapable to maintain a strong image). 

His apartment was clean, crisp, and although a smaller than is house back home, Kyungsoo had adjusted easily to the downgrade in size, in fact, it had been him who wanted a smaller apartment (even the penthouse his parents bought him wasn't small by any means, it was as close as he could get, and as much Kyungsoo hates to admit it, he knows he couldn't handle the shift from a mansion to a cheap Seoul apartment). The large glass panels illuminated with the with a midnight tincture of the full moon, sky full of bright stars had Kyungsoo captivated. 

With a warm ceramic cup radiating warmth to his hands, Kyungsoo hummed at the taste of dark chocolate running down his throat. A content sigh escaped Kyungsoo's lips, long enough to forget the heated argument he had with his parents earlier however this was cut off with the ringing of his phone drumming rhythmically in his ear, and with a groan, he dragged his body up to the coffee table where he left his phone. 

Kim Jumyeon was calling. 

The two were cousins but became friends in the prestigious private school their parents had put them in and were really one of the only friends Kyungsoo had in England. Although sometimes Kyungsoo believes that Jumyeon's only really friends with him due to the family bonds. They first came to become friends with each other on the first day of school, when they both had been paired in chemistry with Jumyeon being pleasantly surprised with Kyungsoo attending the same school as his, and to calm the tension he ended up pulling a lame science related pun as an ice-breaker that left Kyungsoo in giggles (something amongst the lines of Jumyeon saying "So oxygen went on a date with potassium today...it was ok", but Jumyeon was too mortified after saying it, so they've promised to not bring it up again). 

"And who is the person that gets the pleasure to speak to me?" Kyungsoo said giggling. 

"Your Highness, it is I, your loyal companion Kim Jumyeon," cam as a reply, "Sorry I haven't been able to talk in a while, school has been crazy lately, but it's probably tougher in Korea, eh?" 

"It is different, but not that bad," Kyungsoo sighed, leaning back on his sofa.  

"Mmm," Jumyeon hummed, "It's been boring without you," 

Kyungsoo scoffed, "Please, you at least have friends," 

"Oh, aren't you with umm, that Baeksomething and Chanyhyun kid?" Jumyeon asked

"Baekhyun and Chanyeol!" Kyungsoo corrected, rolling his eyes, "Yeah I do have them, but how can I possibly live without your constant stabs of sarcastic comments?" 

Jumyeon chuckled on the other end, "Is that all I'm good for?" 

"Pretty much," Kyungsoo laughed, "You're the Chandler to my Joey~" he cooed, teasing his hyung 

"I always told people you were the dim-witted one,"

"Ya!" Kyungsoo whined, "I just live in a constant state of crippling self-loathing that makes me too insecure about what I say!" 

"...damn," 

And with more constant jabs at one another, and then an actual conversations catching up with one another, Kyungsoo bought up something that had been bothering him. 

"So, there's this guy..." Kyungsoo began quietly, slightly unsure.

"What, does baby Kyungsoo have a crush?" Jumyeon teased lightly. 

Kyungsoo wasn't unattractive, oh by all means, nooooo. Perhaps it was his shy and reserved character that had people see him as unapproachable. 

But if only Jumyeon was in the room, to see Kyungsoo's widened eyes, flushed cheeks and eyes flickering around the room, stupidly checking if anyone was in the living room. 

"No!" he quickly dismissed the touchy subject, he doesn't even know where that came from, but Junmyeon always found a way to intrude in Kyungsoo's non-existent love life "It's just-" Kyungsoo sighed, choosing his next words carefully, "I just feel weird around him, but I don't think I fancy him, I've been here for like 2 weeks,". 

Kyungso chewed on his lips nervously as he waited for Jumyeon's response, "Well... I mean you could, there's not a set time you should know someone before you can harbour feelings for them," 

"But don't be quick to jump to conclusions, it may just be physical attraction, and you may find out you don't actually like him, leading him and yourself on," 

Kyungsoo nodded his head, not wanting to mention that this particular boy had an identical twin who he didn't have much of an attraction towards. Regardless, he took Jumyeon's advice to heart and appreciated having such a knowledgeable cousin. 

"My parents are coming tomorrow," he said after a while, not really knowing who else he could speak to about the rather personal subject.  Jumyeon, although not fully aware of Kyungsoo's family situation, he was only one that Kyungsoo had told of the distance him and his parents have. 

"Isn't that good?" Jumyeon asked, confused about why Kyungsoo would be upset that his parents are coming to stay with him for a week. 

Kyungsoo pouted, "I mean, it should, but I don't really feel like they're here to spend time with their precious son," Kyungsoo bought his legs up to his chest, head resting on his knees, "I just feel like that there's something more...my parents aren't the type to get off work and stay with me..," he nervously bite his lips. 

"Soo, maybe this is your chance," Jumyeon said after a while, "I know it's weird, but maybe they just want to spend time with you, is that really that hard to accept?" 

Kyungsoo closed his eyes, nodding, "Yeah, you're right,". 

--
 
"Kai, hurry up!" a high pitched voice shouted from downstairs, their rushed movements echoed by the frantic sound of keys clashing against each other. 

Steady footsteps walked down the stairs, bronze eyes downcast, being covered with brown hair, and shoulder hunched forward. He took a second to look up at his mother, his heart clenching in something like longing. His parents were perfect. Highschool sweethearts who moved to a nice neighbourhood and had a perfect family. Only that him being a part of the family ruined his parents perfect family. 

His mum was quite small, her thin frame making her look even smaller than she actually was but her strong posture, affluent clothes, perfect makeup made her have this powerful aura.

Kai wished that one day he could be like that. 

As the two walked into the large hospital Kai felt guilt fill him up. He wasn't ignorant of this fact, but he knew his treatments were expensive and despite his parents being relatively well off, it had been a huge cut off in their expenses, and despite him not being overly fond of his brother he could see him being upset over the fact he had to cut down on his monthly spending. God, he was such a burden. 

"How have you been recently Kai?" Dr Jung asked with a polite smile. 

He was a kind man, always patient with the stubborn child, and despite the said kid's resilience of getting better, without Dr Jung's positivity and persistence Kai doubts he'd still be here. 

"I've been doing better than last month," Kai mumbled, his arms crossed over his chest and a set frown on his face. 

Despite his having a fondness for Dr Jung, he was still far too uncomfortable around his mum. 

"Have you been having any back pains, joint pains, chest pains over the past month?" 

"Um, yeah, mostly chest pains," Kai said, looking away from his mum's shocked face of 'why don't you ever tell me this stuff?'. 

"Are they frequent?" asked Dr Jung, frantically typing away on his computer. 

"Ah, no, I just had a couple this month," 

"Yes, well, have you been taking your antibiotics regularly, and have you been taking care of your skin and oral hygiene?" he stopped typing, clicking some other files, "When was your last dentist appointment?" 

A bit overwhelmed with being bombarded with all these questions, "Umm," he cleared his voice, "I've just run out of antibiotics, I've been taking care of my skin with the creams you recommended and I went to the dentist last month," 

"Okay, good, here I'll write a prescription for you to get more antibiotic, but let's go get a blood sample," he smiled, pressing print on his computer. 

--

Jongin pouted when he noticed no one was home. He was so tired after hours of street dance, and his stomach was yearning for food. 

"I'll be home in an hour or so," was all his mother said when he inquired. She had also told him to stop being a lazy bum and cook food for himself, but knowing his cooking skills, Jongin decided he'd rather go out and pay for food than be 'productive' whilst also risking his kitchen burning down. 

Chewing his lips, Jongin shook his head, quickly running up the series of stairs, dropping his duffle bag on his bed, changing into more fashionable clothes before grabbing his phone and wallet and heading out to his favourite overpriced ramen place. 

Winter bought darkness earlier into the town and Jongin almost regretted not just staying home and ordering in. Damn his picky taste. His warm breath exhaled into a puff of white, and his cold hands struggled to pass heat to one another, and he once again damned himself for buying a jacket from ZARA, one that doesn't have pockets, and he even lets out a small groan when he realised he didn't even have any gloves on him. 

Lucking his self-pitying ended once he saw the small lit up 'open' sign at Jung Yung's Ramen. Hurried steps, Jongin made long strides to the entrance, sighing in content once he stepped into the warm inside, his body being engulfed by the scent of spicy egg noodles. Making his way to the counter, and placing his order, Jongin chose to sit near the window, where he could have a clear view of the street and the glimmering fairy lights that had been put up in the upscale area. 

"Here's you order," said a small girl, her cheeks rosy as he not-so-studly checked Jongin out. 

Jongin smiled at her sincerely, before going grabbing his metal chopsticks and preparing to eat, dismissing her completely. 

Wait. Jongin's actions came to a halt when he realised he completely ignored a conventionally attractive girl, but it was too late as when he looked back up he noticed the girl was gone. 

"You're losing it, Kim," he mumbled to himself before stuffing his face with spicy beef ramen. 

Amidst him eating, he decided to look around mindlessly, and this resulted in him almost choking when he noticed a familiar figure walking in a macaron cafe nearby the restaurant he was in. 

In rapid motions, Jongin stuffed his face with the remainder of his ramen, before carelessly handing cash over to the counter and made a run for the cafe. 

-- 

One more day. His parents would be here the next day, and in a final attempt to make sure everything was perfect for them, Kyungsoo went the extra mile by heading out the closest macaron place to buy the French delicacy for his mother. 

His lips formed into a frown when he looked at all the flavours, not sure which ones his mother liked, all he really knew was that they were a deep red colour but behind the glass display there were various red macarons, all uniform, glaring at him mockingly (he wasn't overly fond of macarons, so he didn't even know what flavour it was she liked). 

"I like the raspberry and kirsch," a voice said behind him. 

Flinching at the deep voice, Kyungsoo turned around to be faced with a smiling Jongin. 

'What are the chances?' Kyungsoo thought to himself. 

"Good afternoon, Jongin-ah," Kyungsoo smiled at his dongsaeng, "What brings you here?" he asked innocently. 

. Quickly think of something, Jongin thought to himself, "Umm, I'm here to buy some macarons," he blurted quickly. 

"Ah, same here," Kyungsoo said before turning back to the display, "Which one did you say you like?" he asked Jongin. 

"Raspberry and kirsch," the said boy repeated. 

'I'm not sure if they're the ones, Mum doesn't like liquor..' Kyungsoo reminisced to their family dinners, where his mum would always reject alcohols. 

"Umm, which other ones do you like?" he asked nervously. 

"Chocolate!" and Kyungsoo smiled lightly when he saw Jongin's eyes light up childishly at the mention of chocolate. 

"Could I have four of each of the red macarons?" he asked the lady at the counter, and glancing at a pouting Jongin with barely enough cash in his hands to buy macarons, he also added, "Also a box of chocolate and raspberry-kirche," he smiled at Jongin when the boy gave him a surprised look at his order.  

"Ahhh, hyung, you didn't have to buy them," Jongin said softly as both of them walked out the cafe, Jongin guilty that Kyungsoo bought him such expensive macarons (who knew they cost that much, then again, he didn't really visit that district often), "I'll pay you back," he quickly added. 

"No, it's fine," Kyungsoo smiled, "I do owe you," 

"What for?" Jongin asked in confusion, he never remembers doing anything for Kyungsoo to give him something. 

"Welcoming me to school," he smiled, and god Kyungsoo should stop giving out smiles so carelessly.   

-- 

Despite his many protests, Jongin insisted that Kyungsoo comes to his house, for tea and to thank him for buying a pricey dessert. Kyungsoo appreciated the kind gesture, he really did, but he was super nervous to actually go inside Jongin's house, not really knowing how to act with the boy outside of the school. The other reason, the one he doesn't really want to admit, but he's nervous to go into Kai's house, but he was also curious to see how the boy lives outside of school. He needed some sort of distraction from tomorrow as well, and it's not like he had to prepare a bunch of stuff today, his parents are coming to visit sometime in the afternoon, so he doubts a detour would put a dent in him trying to impress his parents. 

"Let me give you tour Hyung!" Jongin smiled after taking the boxes of macarons from Kyungsoo's hands and putting them safely in the fridge. 

Kyungsoo smiled and nodded, following him around the spacious house, which wasn't massive, but not small enough to be cramped. It was decorated very simply, with personal photographs which made the house seem more like a home, and Kyungsoo felt a bit envious of the more homely house, comparing his own house to Jongin's made him realise how much of an empty shell his parents' mansion really was. 

"This is my room, though it's really messy," he smiled sheepishly as he embarrassingly looked at Kyungsoo who was looking through his room and regretted not cleaning a few days back when his mum nagged him about. 

"Is this Kai's room?" Kyungsoo asked, pointing at the furthest room, surprising himself and Jongin.

"Um, yeah," his voice did a weird crack and Jongin was really confused when Kyungsoo walked over to Kai's bedroom door, standing outside the room hesitantly. It was a surprise that Kyungsoo even knew who Kai was seeing as he's never seen around school, but then again the word may have just slipped out considering Kyungsoo's new, however, what really surprised him was that Kyungsoo was actually taking interest in Kai, a bit weird considering usually people opt for him. 

"So, let have some tea?" Kyungsoo turned to him, and Jongin nodded, simply dismissing Kyungsoo's interest in Kai, either from him simply not caring, or not wanting to delve too deep into the possible reasons why. 

Why would Do Kyungsoo know, let alone have interest in Kim Kai?

A/N: It's been so long, I'm sorry, and there was more I wanted to write about Kyungsoo's parents, but it just didn't seem right. I'm sorry, the chapter is super rushed, but I'll try to update next week.Btw, maybe too cheesy, prehaps not the right time, but should Kai come in whilst Jongin and Kyungsoo are drinking tea? Or is that too tense and should be saved for a while later?

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