I must’ve been drunk. I had to be. Maybe Sehun spiked my drink? But he was practically underaged to do so. Baekhyun, maybe? He wasn’t to be trusted. Chanyeol? No. And Tao looked like he couldn’t be bothered. Lay was too clueless—I mean, harmless.

But I already came to the conclusion that I was drunk. Right after Henry left, Kris appeared after calling me using Krystal’s phone.

What made me wonder if I was drunk was how much I suddenly felt like leaping over to him.

I was drunk. I probably was. It wasn’t possible for you to suddenly feel like your heart was being ripped and stolen, and suddenly the most awkward stranger had just suddenly become ‘cute’ to your eyes.

I felt kinda bad by labeling him as a stranger, but, heck, I only knew the giant for not more than a short while. And not to mention I met him after banging my nose on a door. He banged my nose with a door, to be more precise.

I was way out of my mind.

But then, staring back at him, drenched and confused, hair tousled and bow tie hanging loose, I felt pity.

Wait. Hold up. Why did he look like he just swam a hundred laps?

“Um.” I gaped. “May I ask why you look like you just swam the ocean?”

“I—” He panted. “—went through a short trouble.”

It hit me, and I shut my eyes. “Defining ‘short’ as blonde and dangerous.”

“Pretty much.”

“You idiot.” The word passed through my gritted teeth, and I stomped over to him, untying my jacket from my waist and using it as a towel to squeeze the excess water from his soaked hair. “What.Were.You.Thinking? Do you know how much I want to punch you right now? Heck, I would love to, you eight-feet tall giant. Do you have a freakin’ death wish?”

He cringed.

“Do you want Jessica to murder you?” I asked him. “She is going to—”

“C-Come on, it was just a joke!”

I stopped. My hand slid down and I let the jacket hang over his head. “Oh.”

A joke.

Of course it’s a joke, what did you expect?

Nothing. I expected nothing, of course.

“Oh,” I said again. Then I slowly started to laugh, weakly. “Hah. Hahah. Funny.”

The change of look. The expression dropping. Kris saw it.

“What, did you…” He looked at me. “Did you really…think I was—”

“NO,” I said quickly. “Sheesh, course not, giganto.”

“Then why’re you mad at me?”

“Psssh. Mad? Have I ever been mad?”

“Yes,” he said. “The times when you hit me, punch me, permanently scarring me for life?”

I frowned. “Shut up.”

“You are mad.”

“I’m not mad. Sheesh, Kris, why would I be mad at nothing?” I didn’t notice that my voice got higher, and then I tried to tone it down a little. I was avoiding his gaze, but he tried hard to look down at me. He was actually staring, trying to take a glance from behind the jacket that was covering half his eyes and all his dripping wet hair.

You would think that was the worst, when he tried to look and see and read me. The worst was after that, when my cheeks actually flushed when he cocked his head sideways and stooped down to look at me.

And at that moment I really loathed myself.

“You thought I was…confessing.”

I thought he was trying to tease me, but then I replayed the tape and found his expression grave.

Just what have I gotten myself into.

Usually I’d spit out a laugh, punch in the arm, and forget it all. But then I realized I’d be lying. I would be lying. Lying to his face. Lying to myself. Lying to obviously the truth. I, whether I liked it or not, couldn’t avoid the fact that what he said is true, right from his own mouth.

But what else was I going to say? Heck no was I going to say yes. So I ended up standing there like a short statue. I wasn’t short, just so you know, he was too tall like a skyscraper.

I scoffed and laid my gaze on the ground beneath our feet.

“Yeah, okay, I was freaking out, actually,” I told him with a small, decent enough chuckle. “You really had me—me and everyone else there.”

He put aside the serious look and started to smile like his old self again.

“Good,” he said. “But I always thought that if I wanted to die I’d do that to Jessica instead.”

“She’d torture if you did that to her, but murder you if you do that to her sister.” I beamed, and sent him laughing at the statement.

“True that. And, okay, I have to admit,” he said, “maybe I did have a death wish.”

He was actually kidding this time, but I paused and took a moment to think it over. “What?”

“Well,” he began, slowing down suddenly, “you’re leaving. And…I thought it’d be cool to have a little something to make it explosive. Like, say pressing Jessica Jung’s buttons to see her behead a poor SM trainee?”

“Huh. I thought I was the one who’d be beheading SM trainees.”

He scoffed. “You sisters are too alike.”

“Good to know,” I said with a grin.

“Shut up and don’t make me miss that precious smile.”

My muscles tensed, then I easily shook it away and groaned.

“Idiot,” I told him.

He straightened, ready to beat me. “Loser.”

“Jerk,” I shot.

“Dweeb.”

“Giant.”

“Elf.”

“WOULD YOU JUST SHUT IT ALREADY?”

He snickered, and I dropped my arms and sighed aloud. Honestly, I didn’t know what to think anymore. I should go back and leave the restaurant. With Baekhyun and Chanyeol back there creating the atmosphere, they’d barely notice I’m gone. I bet they didn’t even see Kris leave—except for Sica who managed to dump ice on him.

Thinking about it all, it made me weary. And I know it was obviously seen, because then Kris started to ask whether I needed to sit down. I shook my head, pulling myself over to the side, then practically doubled-over a trash can with my jelly legs. I could tell he was raising his brows, but let it be.

There was a stone cube on the solid ground, and I sat on that instead, rather than my own . I sighed internally, rested my cheeks on my palms, and sat quietly.

“Okay, what did I do?” Kris asked anxiously.

“Huh?”

“Did I do something wrong now?”

“No, why would you?” I said, and it came out harsh to my surprise. My entire body was shaking, my stomach was dancing, and my head felt like it was caught in a whirlpool.

“Sorry, then.”

I cocked a brow. “What’s to be sorry for?”

He sighed. “You’re still mad at me, I get it. The joke went a little too far, and— well—” He panned down to his soaked attire, then glanced back at me.

“Uh-huh.”

When his hair was dried enough, he took the jacket off his head and curled it into a ball as he slowly approached me. “Hey, uh—”

I looked up. He was hesitating.

“Thanks,” he said, and he shoved the jacket back to me.

I didn’t know how, but the atmosphere just turned a tad cold. Did I do that? It was starting to affect Kris, so maybe I did do that. For some reason, I was being unpleasant.

I kept toying with the jacket in my hands.

“I’m being a brat, aren’t I?” I asked him.

He looked at me for a second.

When he didn’t answer, I sighed to myself. I really was being a brat. I had that problem, just not all the time. There’re only moments where I’d be a pain in the neck, and this was one of the times. I was freezing everything with my glare for no absolute reason, and Kris could feel it. He still thought I was mad.

Maybe I was? But I was surely not mad at him anymore for almost getting himself killed by my darling sister.

What was that word?

Disappointment. That’s what you’re looking for, girl, the little voice inside my head told me. I laughed at that. Had I ever been disappointed in my whole life? I didn’t even know the meaning of it all.

“Okay,” Kris said, shutting me out of my desperate thoughts. “I know you’re still mad. I can read it all over your face.”

And for some reason I felt like he knew what was going on inside me more than I did and my cheeks reddened.

I inhaled deeply. “Yeah, maybe we should just go back.”

I hopped off the stone cube, when he stopped me by standing in front of me. I gasped. It was a lit