Chapter Twenty One

 

She was frozen. She didn’t know what to say. As he inched closer to her, she was able to make out his features better in the dim lighting. She recognized him as yet again, another man from the first vision with the white screens. She knew with her current track record, it was going to be inevitable to meet the scary boy. She prayed and hoped she wouldn’t, considering just looking at him through the screen was scary enough. She never thought actually meeting him in person would be far, far more terrifying.

Her back remained flat against the door as the man reached over and took the sword out of the wooden door. Fantastic, now he’s armed with two weapons. She thought as she eyed the sword and the sturdy looking stick in his hands.

“I said, where do you think you’re going?” The man asked, eyeing her with his fierce stare. She opened and closed it, trying to will words to come out. It took a few tries before her vocal box actually decided to form sounds.

“I-I was leaving to look for the bathroom.”  She stuttered out, attempting to ignore the lump of fear growing in . 

A hand slammed down next to her head as the man leered in close to her. He tilted his head to the side and inched his face toward hers. He whispered into her ear. “You’re a long ways away from a bathroom.” He pulled back and stared intensely with her eyes, “Now…why don’t you tell me the real reason you’ve found yourself here?”

His tone was mocking at best and it nearly drove her up the wall. She felt her palms sweat as he called her bluff. The increasing fear she felt intercepted with any sort of useful thought processes. Thought processes like how to get out of her current predicament. She was drawing a complete and utter blank.

“Hmm.” He hummed out after a few moments of silence, “Still not answering?” He broke his gaze and switched it to the mask that covered her upper facial features. “Curious thing, aren’t you? You’re even equipped with a mask. I wonder what’s under it.”

She twitched when she felt hands run through the locks of her hair. She felt a tug from the back of her head and realized he was untying the mask. The mask loosened around her face and with the help of gravity, fell completely to the ground.

She didn’t fight him or try to keep the mask in place. She thought of how she was supposed to try to conceal her identity with the upmost care. At such an affair like a banquet, an entertainer with a mask wouldn’t be questioned. However, if she were to walk into a room she obviously shouldn’t have gone in, the first thing they’re going to wonder about is her identity. Even if she tried to keep her face covered; facing a man quite like the one before her now would make her efforts futile. So she concluded that if she let him have his fun, he would maybe let her go with her life. Maybe, being the tentative word.

“My, my. What a pretty face underneath that mask. Why would you want to hide that?” He voiced out in a taunting manner. The smirk that matched his tone dropped a little, “You seem familiar.”

She hoped her expression remained as frozen as the rest of her body felt. He raised an eyebrow as his eyes ran over her features, “You’re not from Sector M.” He mumbled out, his eyes still searching her face for the answers. Her blood went cold when she saw his curious stare turn into a scorching glare. “Sector K?” His voice uttered out like acid with its harshness and burn.

A door from the side of the gymnasium at that moment decided to angrily slam open.

“I cannot deal with that man for another second, Tao. I can’t stand to stay any longer. Besides, half the reason I even decided to appear at this idiotic show of self-boasting is gone. Why did I even hope she would-Tao, what are you doing?“

Her heart stopped when her ears picked up the familiarity of the speaker’s voice.  She saw Tao tilt to the side and subconsciously mimicked him, hiding herself from the view of the other person.

“Trying to help a lost mouse.” Tao’s voice rang out in a dull tone.  He turned towards her and raised an eyebrow at her actions. She just stared at him with wide eyes, completely unsure of why she was hiding in the first place.

“Just quickly deal with it. I want to leave.” The voice echoed in the air with a chill that nearly made her shiver.  Tao nodded and assessed her. She wasn’t sure what he was plotting. She thought it might have been how he planned on killing her or maybe it was something else entirely. She was praying on the second option.

“Tao.” The voice echoed out louder as she heard footsteps slowly make their way towards them.  Tao nodded again and swung the hand with the wooden stick up in the air. She stared at it with complete fear. She raised her arms to block the oncoming blow but didn’t feel anything.  She peeked through her arms and saw a hand had stopped the stick midair. Lowering her arms, her sight followed the hand and met with a pair of shocked eyes.

“Ileana?”

“H-Hi.” She stuttered out with a shuddering breath.  Tao looked between the two with an unhappy glare, obviously not liking the confusing situation.

“Leave.”

“But-“

“I said leave!”

She could see Tao hold back his tongue as he straightened up and stepped away from her. He casted her one final look before opening the door behind her which pushed her forward and then back when it closed.

She felt her heart beats escalate as the silence filled the space between them.

“You’re here.”

“I guess I am.”  

“Why?”

“Change of plans.”

A stuffy silence formed between them again.  She rubbed her arms as slowly, staring at the shoes of the person before her.

“Ileana…”

She quickly jumped up and her eyes met with his.

“C-Can I touch you?” He stuttered out, with his hands clenched to his sides. She blinked at his request and found herself nodding before she really processed what he asked.  He took a hesitant step toward her and reached out a hand. It inched closer and closer and paused just before touching her forehead. She closed her eyes at the odd sensation. The touch grew heavier as it trailed down the side of her face. It reached the bottom of her jaw before it retraced itself back to above her brow.  She opened her eyes when she heard him let out a long sigh.

“Kris.” She murmured out, “I’m really here, this isn’t a vision.”

Kris visibly loosened his tensed stance with his hand still attached to the side of her face. “I know. But I can’t seem to bring myself to believe it.” His hand traveled down her face to her neck, passed her shoulders and elbows and then latched itself on her gloved hand. She gripped it lightly and observed his expression. He was looking down at their hands, looking a little troubled with his thoughts.

“Rough night?” She asked. He quickly brought his eyes to match hers.

“A little. But, it’s all right now.”  He shot her a look with a small smile. She smiled back and lightly nodded.  “I’m pleased you made it…and I’m glad to confirm you’re not just a figment of my imagination.”

She couldn’t help but laugh, “Yup, all real and no imagination.”  She gripped Kris’ hand with another squeeze.  Kris' smile widened in return, his trouble expression disappearing.

“Shall we head downstairs? Although the host likes to boast about all his finery, the food his kitchen prepared is admittedly something to rightfully brag about.” Kris tugged on her hand toward the door but she firmly stayed in place. She hoped panic wasn’t showing on her face. “What’s wrong?” He asked, searching her eyes.

“Um…” She paused, trying to find the words, “I already ate. So, could we just…stay here and talk? I know that’s all we’ve ever done and if you don’t want to, I und-“

“It’s fine, less people to disturb us anyways.” Kris reassured her and she definitely felt a portion of the panic lift away.

She still found herself with a tricky fork in the road. For one end, she was supposed to be an invited guest of Kris. Another end, she was supposed to be a spy disguised as a dancer with Kai. To make matters worse, she was under a time constraint. It wouldn’t be long before Kai would notice her disappearance and begin to search for her. Then what would she do if Kai found her? How would she begin to explain herself to Kris or to Kai? 

“Are you sure you’re all right?” Kris’s voice stopped her train of thought.  She stared up at Kris and sighed.

“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry; I guess I’m a little more tired than I thought.”  She frowned, and lightly rubbed her eyes for added effects. She met his eyes again and swore internally. The look of guilt was unmistakable on his face. “It’s not your fault; I’m just tired from helping my friendout earlier. Besides, it was my decision to come here and I should be sorry for being such a party pooper.”

She felt a small amount of success when his guilty expression decreased and it was replaced with a light smile, “Don’t apologize. You’re fine and I’m thankful you came... even if you are tired.” Kris said.

“Thanks for understanding.” She mumbled out shyly, trying hard to hide her guilt. She leaned back on the door behind her and started to play with Kris’s hand.  She observed that they were quite big and definitely masculine. What surprised her was that his hand was calloused and the amount of scarring it had. She looked between his fingers and his face, confused. Someone of high class shouldn’t have work riddled hands like that.  People of high class usually had things done for them, didn’t they?

“Are my hands that fascinating?” He asked. She bit her lip and stared up at him.

“I’m just…surprised. You have a lot of scars.” She lightly traced the scars with her fingertips.

“It’s expected, the streets are a tough place with there always being people bigger and stronger than you.”

She paused in her tracing and looked up at him, puzzled. “Streets?”

“I was orphaned and had to fend for myself for a while.” She stared at him, completely in shock.  He misread her, “Yes, I was a dirty orphan. No need to be surprised. I was tired of living off of others and worked hard to get where I am today.” Kris looked off to the side with a sour look.

She quickly shook her head, “There’s nothing wrong with being an orphan. It’s just...your story is sort of inspirational, isn’t it? An orphaned boy from the streets becomes an honored guest at an exclusive banquet. I think others can look to you for hope and well, I’m happy for you.”

“You’re not bothered by it then?” Kris squinted his eyes at her, almost unsure of whether to believe her.

“What? That’s you’re an orphan? That you came from the streets? No! Of course not! Why would that bother me? Unless you’re going to act differently now that I know or something…”

Kris shook his head and gave her the greatest smile she’d seen him wear. “No, it’s nothing like that. I’m glad. Thank you.” She nodded and whispered her welcome. There was a small silence between them forming. But it wasn’t burdensome or anything of that sort. They just stood there. She began to trace his scars again and hummed a little made up tune.  

She traced all the scars she could find before meeting his eyes again. She nearly jumped back. The look in his eyes was something she never saw in them before. She knew the look though and it worried her a little. As he inched closer to her, her worries increased. She couldn’t do this. Not here.

Suddenly, she was pushed forward with her face forcibly meeting with the nape of Kris’ neck and Kris reflexively caught her in his arms. She turned around and saw Tao had opened the door behind her.

“Sorry for the interruption, but I think it’s best you have a look downstairs.” Tao declared in a rather monotoned while eyeing the two.

“Could it not wait?” Kris growled out and tighened his arms around her.

“No.” Tao promptly replied and left, leaving the door opened. Kris’ teeth visibly gritted and glared at the door. She felt the grip on her hand tighten and she was dragged out of the room.

“This shouldn’t take too long.” Kris reassured her, traces of anger still evident on his face before turning back around. He led her to the door and she resisted. She could not enter that banquet hand in hand with him. Nope, not happening. But Kris’ grip was strong and refused to let her go easily. So, in she went and the sight before her made her gasp.

It was chaos. People were fighting and screaming everywhere. The main fight was down the stairs on the dance floor between what looked like the men from the criminal organization and some other group of men.  There were other small fights scattered about the banquet hall, women were either bickering at each other, actually engaging in physical fighting themselves or off to the sides, screaming their heads off.

“Can they not keep their bloody fists to themselves…” She heard Kris utter under his breath.

“Now that you’ve seen it, you must understand we have to leave immediately.” Tao popped up beside them. Kris gave a sharp nod and turned towards her.   

“Come on, I’ll give you a ride home.” And before she could protest, she was once again dragged by the hand and led down the stairs by Kris. She tried to pull away but Kris wouldn’t have it.

She felt herself come to a complete stop when something latched onto her other wrist and pulled quite harshly. She whipped around and saw Kai. She turned to face Kris but he was focused on Kai with a confused expression. Kris pulled on her hand and Kai pulled right back. The crowd around them didn’t really care and thus bumped and pushed as they pleased to try and exit the banquet hall. She looked to Kris and let her hand go slack and pulled. He tried to keep his hand attached, but with one final shove from a fleeing damsel, her hand was free.

They stared at each other as the distance between them grew. Kris stood out with his frozen stance among the crowd of rushing people. She could only mouth her apology to him before turning around and fleeing the banquet with Kai.

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This update is coming to you from Disney. I cannot talk long. I must sleep. NOW. I have to wake up in 5 hours and go play in Animal Kingdom with my family.  

 

BTW, I just passed 100 pages in word and have wrote over 50,000 words thanks to this update. YAYYY CONGRATS TO ME!!! 

 

THANKS ALL SUBBIES AND COMMENTERS. I WILL COMMENT BACK WHEN I CAN.

I WILL TRY TO UPDATE FOR A SPECIAL SOMEONE'S BIRTHDAY (AND MY OWN BIRTHDAY, WE'RE ONE DAY APART) 

HERE'S A PHOTO BOMB:

Cause I love you all so much. You make me giddy.

Do you feel my love yet?

Hope you enjoyed the Kris directed chapter. I wasn't originally going to include him in the banquet...but you guys were all like "WHERE'S KRIS?!" So, I caved.

BTW, CHANYEOL. WTF. YOU CAN'T JUST SHOW UP WEARING GLASSES. DAMNNNNN BOYYY

FML, my standards for mates has just skyrocketed thanks to this picture. Goddamn, I will forever be unmarried.

 

KAY BYE loves, kisses, hugs and other good things.