Kris took a sharp turn, tires screeching on the dirt road, throwing small rocks in all directions. Out of the corner of his eye, he watched your grip on the side handle tighten. The tell-tale headlights were coming into view. Strong vibrations from too-loud speakers blaring rap music shook the car the closer they got to the meeting point.

Cheers erupted from the crowd when they spotted Kris’ car. It’s pure white paint job stood out from the other souped-up cars parked all around the long stretch of empty asphalt that were splattered with neon greens and blues. This area was the most popular drag strip for the illegal racing ring since it was far out of town, rarely ever used by the general population, and sparsely patrolled by the troopers.

“Where are we?” you asked in a very judgey tone.

Kris chuckled to himself. Of course you’d be on high alert in this crowd. You were the good girl who followed the rules. Always had been, always will be.

Why Kris brought you here was a question he couldn’t answer himself. His original plan was to take you to the farm house, show you his deep, dark secret, explain the mate principle to you and just be done with it. But he chickened out. He didn’t know how to say it. He didn’t know how to tell you. So, instead, he brought you here to see his other somewhat dark secret.

“Kris,” you growled, “where are we?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” he smirked, putting the car in park next to a long row of other racers. Opening the door, he got out of the car and went to the front to lean on the hood. He didn’t turn around when he heard you get out of the car and slam the door with force.

“Hey, man!” Jimmy came running up the car, hand outstretched for the half hug. “I wasn’t expecting you tonight!”

“Changed my mind at the last minute,” Kris shrugged.

“Nice, nice,” Jimmy nodded. Then, over Kris’ shoulder, he noticed you. “Well, hello, there,” he purred, running a hand over his close-shaven head. “And you are….”

You ignored the hand Jimmy had outstretched towards you. You didn’t even reply with your name.

“Oo, ice queen. I like the attitude.” He took a step in your direction.

Kris’ instincts kicked in, a small growl rumbling in his chest as he grabbed Jimmy’s arm and stepped in between the two of you. “Back off, Jimmy.”

The fixer shuffled back quickly, the smile on his lips failing to mask the slight fear in his eyes at Kris’ protectiveness.

“Hey! Jimmy!”

Some other racer called for him and Jimmy took off, happy for the save.

“Take me home,” you demanded as you stalked up to Kris.

Kris barely looked at you out of the corner of his eyes as he leaned back up against the car, hands in his pockets. “Not yet.”

You huffed at him, crossing your arms. “I have class tomorrow.”

“And I have to work.” Smirking, Kris turned to look at you fully. “Now that we’ve established our schedules, when are you free for a date?”

“That’s not funny.” By the way you set your jaw and narrowed your eyes, someone might think that you were mad at him. But Kris could hear your heartbeat increase as he closed the space between the two of you.

He raised an eyebrow. “I didn’t realize it was a joke.”

You rolled your eyes. “Stop it.”

The sounds of engines revving stopped Kris from arguing further. Grabbing your hand, he smiled and pulled you towards the track. “Come on. The race is about to start.”

“Race?” you screeched. “Isn’t that illegal?”

Kris just threw you a look of “please” before pushing through the crowd to the front. He adjusted so you were standing in front of him, even taking a risk at softly wrapping his arms around your waist. The wolf in his chest purred with happiness when you didn’t pull away. You were probably just too distracted by the flashy cars to notice.

The typical flag girl stepped out from the crowd, white flag raised high. Both drivers made their engines purr loudly. When the girl threw the flag in the air, it was like an explosion as the cars took off down the road. You gasped at the speed they zoomed away. In ten seconds, it was over.

Turning to look at him, you frowned. “How do you know who won?”

“It’s Jackson!” The man on the walkie-talkie screamed. Half the crowd roared with enthusiasm while the other half groaned, thinking about all the money they must have lost.

“That’s how,” Kris chuckled. He pointed to the far end of the road where the finish line was established. “A group is posted down there, watching the line. They pass on the message of whoever crossed first over the walkie-talkie.”

“Simple,” you mused. Your initial coldness toward the spectacle was thawing. He could see it in your eyes; that little sparkle of curiosity.

You stayed for a few more races, Kris explaining the past statistics of all the drivers and their odds of winning the match. The surprising thing was that you actually seemed to be genuinely interested in what he was saying.

“Come on,” Kris whispered in your ear. Your hand in his, he pulled you away from the crowd of people and back to his car.

You sighed heavily. “So, does this mean you’re taking me home now?”

Kris couldn’t interpret your sigh and he hated that. He couldn’t tell if it was out of disappointment that he was taking you away from the races or out of relief that you’d finally be away from him.

“No,” he replied. “Not yet. Just one more thing.”

Something shined in your eyes, but Kris wasn’t able to decipher it before you opened the door and got in the car. With a sigh of his own, Kris slid into the driver’s seat, ignoring the waving girls who tried to make him stay longer. Turning the key in the ignition, he roared the engine to life and drove away.

He didn’t stop until he’d driven far away from the city lights. The open field he pulled off into actually wasn’t too far from the farmhouse, but he knew the boys wouldn’t find you out here; they rarely ever ran in this area and he didn’t hear any paws thundering through this part of the forest.

Getting out of the car, he once again walked to the front, this time laying all the way down on the hood, his foot and bent knee keeping him from sliding. When you came out of the car, you simply stood next to it, staring at him.

“Do you ever race?” you asked softly.

Kris shrugged as much as he could with his arms behind his head acting as a pillow. “Every once in awhile.”

You scoffed. “How long have you been doing that?”

“Just a few months,” he confessed. “But I have the best record out of anyone there.”

“Of course you do,” you mumbled. The tone in your voice made him chuckle.

After blowing air through your lips, you finally joined him on the hood of his car, lying down next to him, but keeping a distance between the two of you that made Kris’ wolf growl in irritation.

“So,” you turned your head to look at him, hands resting softly on your stomach, “what exactly are you wanting to do now?”

Kiss you.

Kris pushed that initial answer away. He couldn’t move too fast with you or else risk scaring you away. So he kept that urge pull you in and feel your lips against is his to himself. Instead, he deployed a different tactic.

“I want to play house.”

You snorted. “Excuse me?”

Turning his head to look at you, he smiled. “I take care of you, you take care of me.”

That made you shoot up. “What did you just say?”

But Kris didn’t answer. He just let those words hang in the air, floating along to let you make of them what you would.

You shook your head as you stayed sitting up. “I don’t get why you brought me out here, Kris.”

Kris sat up with you, adjusting his upper body to face you. “I just wanted to watch the races and I thought you might enjoy it.”

“You tracked me down at the university and waited for me just because you thought I might enjoy some illegal street racing?”

Yeah, it sounded dumb to Kris, too. But he couldn’t tell you the truth. He didn’t want your view on the little boy you used to know to change. And he didn’t want to effectively destroy your world just make his feel more complete.

“I just wanted to see you,” he murmured, focusing his eyes back up towards the sky.

“Why?” you challenged.

Kris looked at you with a shocked expression. “What do you mean mean ‘why’?”

You threw your hands up. “We don’t know each other anymore. Things have changed since we last saw each other. I mean, you race cars on an illegal drag strip, for Pete’s sake. So how could you want to see me this badly already?”

“Do people in mascots still weird you out?”

You blinked. “What?”

“People in mascot suits,” Kris smirked. “They weirded you out, ever since your parents took us to that pizza place for your birthday.”

Clearing your throat, you looked away. “Yeah, they still freak me out.”

“Still like cinnamon in your pancakes?” Kris guessed.

“Yeah,” you giggled. Kris loved that sound, so much. He wanted to hear it again.

“And I’m guessing you never outgrew that strawberry allergy?” Kris smiled at you, even playfully nudging you with his shoulder.

You pouted. “Yeah. Thanks for rubbing it in. But,” you raised an eyebrow at him, “that doesn’t entirely prove your point. There’s still things for you to relearn about me.”

Leaning forward, Kris didn’t stop until he was only a few inches away from your face. He could hear your heart rate jump up radically from his closeness. Every nerve in your body was reacting to him, screaming at you that he was the right one for you, even if you didn’t entirely recognize it. His own body was echoing yours. He hadn’t felt his heart beat this fast in years, maybe ever. It hurt, like his heart was swelling two sizes in his chest.

“Does that mean you’re going to let me try?” he whispered.

Your voice came out just as soft. “I don’t think I have a choice at this point.”

“I’m not going to force you,” he promised.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Kris had to hold himself back from smiling victoriously. You were going to continue to see him. Maybe not alone in the woods like this, but you were going to let him get closer to you, to get to know you again.

Before he could stop himself, he was lifting his hand to your face, gently brushing your cheek with the tips of his fingers. Just a breath away, he only needed to lean in a little closer then he could taste you. All thoughts of your fiance were out of his head as the wolf egged him closer. But that Huan guy wasn’t completely out of yours.

You pulled away. “I really should get home now. I have class in the morning.”

“Yeah,” Kris sighed, dropping his hand. “I’ll take you home.”

“Thank you.” Sliding off the hood, you got into the car.

For a second, Kris just sat there, staring up at the stars, The sky above represented freedom to him, the ultimate escape from the cruel fate he was dealt. Why couldn’t he have ran into you years ago? Why couldn’t he have had his first shift before moving away from you? Then he could have always had you, never had to experience the pain of loss or the guilt that the feelings for Jiyoon no longer mattered, no longer existed.

Cursing under his breath, Kris jumped off the hood and slid into the driver’s seat to take you home. This was going to be a long, hard fight, but he was willing to keep going. If only you’d meet him halfway.

**

Kris was sitting on the floor, arms crossed with a scowl on his face. It was raining outside - pouring to the point that you couldn’t see five feet in front of you - making it impossible to play outside in the woods.

“Please play with me, Kris!” you pouted.

“I want to go outside,” he grumbled.

You were in your home, in the living room. Kris’ parents had dropped him off for the afternoon while they went to visit friends. Your own parents had run to the grocery store for a short trip but would be back in fifteen minutes or so. So far, Kris had turned down every attempt you’d made to get him to play with you. He’d even stuck his nose up at the movies you’d offered.

“If we go outside, my parents will be mad,” you reminded him. “We’ll get soaking wet. And muddy.”

“You’re no fun.” He stuck his tongue out at you. All that did was make you push out your bottom lip.

Rolling his eyes, Kris shuffled over to where you rummaging through your toy box. Most of its contents were from your younger years. You’d outgrown them long ago, but you cried the last time your mother tried to get rid of your precious treasures. She managed to convince you to give up a few toys, but most were still untouched and buried at the bottom. Unfortunately, nothing seemed to stick out to you as fun and Kris wasn’t any help.

“Then what do you want to do?” you whined.

“I don’t know,” Kris snapped back.

An idea donned on you. “Do you want to play house?”

Kris scrunched up his face. “Play house?”

“Yeah!” you giggled.

“What exactly does that mean I have to do?” he asked.

You frowned. “I don’t know.”

“You want to play house, but you don’t know?”

“Mom and Dad only ever said that playing house meant one thing,” you sighed.

Kris tilted his head. “What’s that?”

You smiled broadly. “I take care of you. You take care of me. That’s how it goes.”

“We do that anyway,” Kris scoffed. He was trying to stay mean, but it wasn’t working. It never did when it came to you.

“Then I guess we’ll always play house.”

**

You woke up from the memory-filled dream to a dark room. The sun wasn’t even starting to come up yet, but now you were wide awake.

Sitting up, you could already feel the tears prickling at your eyes. Slowly, they overflowed and fell down your cheeks.

At first, you just sat there quietly, letting the tears flow down freely as you stared into the darkness. But soon, sobs collected in your throat before escaping, echoing around you in the empty bedroom.

Why couldn’t you stop crying? Why were you crying in the first place?

Kris was the only reason you’d had that dream. How could he remember that inconsequential day at your house? That wasn’t even the way you were supposed to play house. Why did he even bring that up?

You were so confused. You never should have gotten in that car with Kris. What was he even doing, taking you to those car races? That… you actually kind of enjoyed once you were able to get past the fact that it was against the law. Then he took you to freaking look at the stars. You couldn’t remember the last time Huan took you on a sentimental date like that.

Huan.

You felt so lost. So guilty. Kris had been so close to your face you could feel his breath against your skin. And you wanted him to kiss you. You wanted to know what it was like, even just once. But Huan’s face popped up in yours and you pulled back just in time.

Never, in the entirety of your relationship with Huan, had the thought of cheating ever crossed your mind. But Kris… Kris was making you doubt everything. Your heart raced faster than the drivers on that empty road every time he was around. It was like your entire body was hyper aware of him whenever he was near, setting you on edge. You had no idea what to do.

So, you just cried it out. All your frustration and questions, you released it, just enough to get on with your day.

While class was still another three hours away, there was no way you could go back to sleep. For a little bit, you watched TV, not absorbing even a minute of what was playing. Eventually, you were able to get ready for school, putting the bare minimum effort into looking somewhat presentabl.

Class dragged on. It was Friday, so that wasn’t too unusual, but the reason for it was drastically different than the typical anticipation of the weekend.

You wanted to see Kris.

You wanted to hear about his day, really hear about what he’d been up to for the past decade and a half. And… you wanted him to hold you again.

Back at the race, you’d pretended that you didn’t notice his arms loosely hanging around your waist. But you knew. And you liked it. Too much.

You liked Kris. Too much.

Like might even too discrediting towards what you were feeling.

But you couldn’t think like that. You had to remind yourself about Huan. Maybe when he got back, the two of you could spend more time together and that would get you back on track. Maybe you were just lonely and being back with Huan would correct that.

After your last class for the day, you drove home, still wrestling with yourself. Your mind was bouncing around and you just wanted to quiet it. Even for a few hours. Maybe you’d try to go to sleep early tonight.

Road construction had randomly popped up some time during the day on your normal route home, causing you to take an unwanted right turn. At the next red light, you made the mistake of looking to your left, your eye catching the bright neon sign of a local bar.

Before you could stop yourself, you turned into the parking lot and walked into the building.

The bar was actually fairly busy, many of the tables filled with college students gathered around in groups to get an early start on their night of partying. One of the only seats available was at the bar. You weren’t much of a drinker, but what you wanted was a few hours of quiet. In your mind, at least.

Sitting down, you waited patiently for one of the bartenders to notice you. The one that finally approached you was a pretty boy with light blonde hair and a friendly smile.

“Hey, what can I get you?”

“Um, something strong but fruity.” You didn’t care for the smell of beer and cocktails had a higher alcohol content.

“I’ve got just the thing,” he chuckled. “The Luhan Twist.”

You laughed. “The Luhan Twist?”

“You making fun of my name?” From the smile that wasn’t disguised in the slightest, you knew he was feigning the hurt.

“It’s an interesting one.” Arms folded on the bar counter, you leaned forward. “But what exactly is in the Luhan Twist?”

Luhan the bartender shrugged. “Little bit of watermelon, little bit of lemon, maybe some vodka.”

You smiled. “That sounds like exactly what I need right now.”

As he started to pour the ingredients into the shaker, he asked, “Rough day?”

“More like a rough week,” you admitted.

A week? More like the last couple of weeks. You didn’t know what it was about bartenders that made them so easy to talk to, but as you down the first glass (it was too delicious to drink slowly) and asked to move on to your second, you just started blabbing about your poor, pathetic life.

“So, you’re engaged?” Luhan reiterated.

You nodded. “Yup. Almost a year now.”

“Why so long?” Luhan asked as he dried a glass with a white linen cloth.

You shrugged. “Huan keeps saying that he wants to make sure we can afford the big wedding I’ve always wanted. That’s why he took the promotion here.”

“You want a big wedding?” he chuckled.

“I don’t really know,” you admitted. “I think for a while now, I’ve just wanted to get married. But now-”

Luhan raised an eyebrow. “But now?”

You finished off your third drink. You were definitely starting to feel the alcohol, but there was no stopping you as you motioned for another. “Kris.”

The spout of the bottle clanked against the measuring tool as Luhan jumped in surprise. “Kris?”

“Yeah,” you tilted your head. “You know the jerk?”

Luhan laughed. “Yeah, I know him. Do you not like him?”

“No,” you rested your chin on your folded arms, “I do like him. That’s the problem. I like him too much.”

Over the next two hours, you continued to drink - albeit a little slower - and talk to Luhan about your confusing life. He didn’t have much advice to give, mostly just letting you vent back and forth about how much Kris irritated you but that you couldn’t stop thinking about him. It was amazing how Luhan could just pick the conversation right back up from where you left off after he left to help another customer before coming back to you.

Around midnight you started nodding off, the alcohol completely taking over your system. Your thoughts were incoherent, exactly where you wanted them to be….

**

When Kris got the call from Luhan that you were currently intoxicated at the bar where the elder wolf worked, he’d jumped in the car, ignoring Tao whining after him about leaving in the middle of their night out.

Walking into the popular college bar, Kris scanned the room until he found you slouched over at the bar playing with napkins while Luhan kept an eye on you.

“(y/n)!” Kris ran up to you, taking the pieces of the wet, torn apart napkins form your hands.

At first, you perked up at his presence, then you pouted, waving your arms about. “No, no, no, I don’t want to see you.”

“How much have you had to drink?” Kris shot Luhan a sharp glare. The latter just held his hands up innocently.

“It doesn’t matter,” you grumbled. “Go away.”

You were wobbling on the stool. Kris stabilized you with his hands on your shoulders. “Come on, (y/n). Let me take you home.”

Kris was barely able to dodge the swing you took at his head. Not that you could actually hurt him.

“No,” you whined. “I’m mad at you.”

Kris scoffed. “Me? What did I do?”

“You left.”

It was simple statement. A simple, two-worded statement that was filled with so much pain it nearly broke Kris’ heart.

“You left without saying goodbye And now….”

“And now what?” Kris kept one arm wrapped around your shoulders as he held your gaze in anticipation.

“It was just a silly crush. Just kids. So why am I still in love with you?”

Kris collapsed in the empty seat next to you. Did you- did you really just say that?

Drunk or not, he still couldn’t believe those words left your mouth. He didn’t know what to do with himself. But in this moment, he couldn’t focus on how to wrap his head around what you’d accidentally let slip. You were in no condition to be out right now and he needed to make sure that you got home safe.

“Come on, (y/n). Let me take you home.”

Where he thought you were going to push him away again, you instead threw your arms around his neck, resting your head against his chest as you murmured happily, “Home.”

Kris couldn’t hold back the satisfied purr of his wolf. Scooping you up, he told Luhan to put your drinks on his tab and carried you out to his car. As gently as he could, he opened the passenger side door and sat you down in the seat.

Once he was behind the wheel, he turned to you. “(y/n), what’s your address?”

You didn’t answer.

“(y/n)?”

Kris nearly laughed. You were out cold, head resting against the window. If you couldn’t tell him your address now, then there was only one place he could take you. When you woke up in the morning, you definitely weren’t going to be happy with him.