ღ Chapter Twenty-four ღ

Amazingly, I didn’t catch a cold from the rain the next day. I had class again in the morning, and then interning in the afternoon, but the whole day, I tried to get a call through to Kris. I needed to talk to him, to apologize to him. I had to sort everything out, but my calls went to voicemail every single time. Seven texts and 5 phone calls went unanswered. It was blatantly obvious: Kris Wu was avoiding me.

I decided right after work to go look for Kris. The silent treatment was killing me.

The door was opened by Jongdae, who gave me a nervous look.

“Hey noona,” he greeted me with a bow and let me into the dorm.

I shuffled around him carefully. “Hi.”

“Um…who are you looking for?”Jongdae asked awkwardly.

“Kris,” I answered.

He nodded, then pointed towards down the hall towards the bedrooms. “Kris hyung is in his room but ah…he’s in a bad mood.”

“Bad mood?” I repeated.

“He’s been moody all day, and won’t leave his room.”

“What happened?”

“Well he and Lu Han had a bit of a yelling match after you left yesterday and I had to separate them. Kris hyung and I traded rooms last night, but Lu Han hyung left early this morning so Dui Zhang kind of just holed himself up in there…”

“I’ll go talk to him”

I opened the door cautiously and peaked in. The room was a mess. Lu Han’s bed, which was always meticulously clean and neat, hadn’t even been made. He must have left in a hurry that morning, because blankets, pillows, and plushies spewed everywhere.

On the other side, Kris wasn’t much better. His blankets were pushed down near his feet, and he was dressed in a wrinkled white tshirt and dark sweatpants. His blond hair was messy, brows furrowed as he laid on his back. He was obviously sulking.

Minseok was sitting on the edge of Lu Han’s bed, trying to make conversation with a terse Kris. Minseok looked up as I entered, and gave an audible sigh. Was it one of relief or exasperation, I didn’t know.

“Jae-in ah,” he greeted, voice just as nervous as Jongdae's when he first opened the door.

Minseok, could I ah…I want to talk to Kris, alone, for a little bit. Do you mind stepping out of the room?”

Minseok’s eyes traveled from me to Kris, then back to me before he nodded and exited quietly.

Kris, who had also looked up at the sound of my name, turned away again with a sour look on his face.

“Lu Han’s not here,” he said, coldly. “Come back another time.”

I sighed, and sat down on the edge of Kris’ bed. He shifted to make room for me, but continued to stare straight ahead up at the ceiling.

“I’m not looking for Lu Han,” I told him. “I’m looking for you, Kris. Why won’t you talk to me?”

His eyes finally snapped to me, and there was an intensity in them that made me recoil.

“Because you like him,” he exploded, voice raising angrily as he sat up. “All I know is that you like him. You’ve liked him for so long, Jae-in, so who am I to get in your way to happiness, even if I love you like crazy?”

Get in the way of my happiness? I was silent as I continued to look at him. I noticed that Kris’ eyes were rather bloodshot and had dark circles, showing that he must have lost a lot of sleep last night. He looked so sa