“I am not going to your place,” I repeat for the umpteenth time. I was lucky that Kyungsoo was asking on the phone and not in person, because I didn’t know how long I’d be able to say no to those big eyes of his.

“But I want to cook you dinner,” Kyungsoo said softly into the phone.

“And I want to eat your delicious food but if Kai’s going to be there, I’m going to be thrown into prison faster than I can say Sehun is .”

“He feels really sorry about it, Adrianna. If you just let him apologize—”

“What could he possibly say to make it better? Sorry I almost sabotaged your relationship and made you heart-sick over hurting Kyungsoo but can we still be friends? Kyungsoo, not everyone can kiss and make-up.”

“He’s one of my best friends,” Kyungsoo said simply.

I sighed, massaging one of my temples. “I know and it , but he brought it down on himself. Who’s to say he doesn’t get suspicious and try something else?”

“Do you trust me?”

“Of course I do.”

“Well, I trust Kai so that means you indirectly trust him too, so you should come over,” said Kyungsoo with “this discussion is over” in his tone. I was silent for a few seconds which made Kyungsoo cave. “I miss you,” he admitted.

I groan “You’re not allowed to use the ‘I miss you’ card!” I knew I was going to say yes now.

“If you don’t say yes, I’m revoking your snuggling rights.”

“You, Sir, are a very cruel man indeed. Fine, I’m coming over. But I want Chanyeol to crack jokes the whole time and Sehun needs to do aegyo for me. I won’t take anything less.”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Kyungsoo replied back and I could hear his excited grin.

“See you soon,” I said and hung up the phone. I had a feeling this wouldn’t be the last time he used his adorableness against me.

I pulled up to the boys’ apartment building and turned my mom’s car off. I looked up to Kyungsoo’s 6^th floor apartment. I was going to need a lot of endurance and patience to make it through this evening.

Like always, Kyungsoo was waiting for me on the ground floor. I saw him chewing his bottom lip and chuckled to myself. I don’t think I’ll ever break that habit of his. His face broke into a wide grin when he spotted me making my way to the door. Everything about him just shouted how happy he was to see me. He pushed the door open so I could come in.

I put a familiar hand in the back pocket of Kyungsoo’s jeans, making him slightly blush. If he was going to use his charms against me, I was going to use my ual prowess against him.

Kyungsoo cleared his throat. “I convinced Sehun to cheer you up and well, Chanyeol doesn’t need encouragement to make lewd jokes, so I hope that will be okay.”

“As long as Kai stays 5 feet away from me at all times, I’m good to go,” I replied as we took the stairs. I’ve learned, the longer I took to get to Kyungsoo’s apartment, the more time I’d have alone with him.

Kyungsoo sent me a pained look. “Can’t we all get along?”

We were only on the first floor platform, but I stopped Kyungsoo; pushing him up against the wall. I started to play with the collar of his shirt. “I don’t play well with others, especially ones such as Kai. You, on the other hand, I do very well with,” I held onto Kyungsoo’s collar and pulled his body to mine so I could kiss him. I gave him a very thorough kiss to ensure he’d be properly dazed.

“Now,” I started after finishing the kiss. Kyungsoo did indeed look very stunned. “I’m going to be a little snarky with Kai because he deserves it, but I promise I won’t be deliberately hurtful. That’s the most you’ll get from me, understood?”

Kyungsoo looked a bit bashful “I suppose I deserved that, didn’t I?”

I patted his cheek endearingly and started up the stairs again. “When you act too cute, it either makes me want to pinch your cheeks or kiss you. I chose the latter this time.”

The two of us entered the boys’ apartment quietly, but too many boys lived there without someone noticing we had arrived.

“Ah, the two lovebirds finally decide to return. You didn’t happen to take the long way, did you?” teased Suho.

“We always take the long way,” I joked back, making Kyungsoo blush.

Chanyeol slugged him in the shoulder “I would think he would be used this kind of talk by now.”

I gave Kyungsoo a peck on the cheek. “I don’t want him to ever get used to it.”

“I’m going to start on the food,” Kyungsoo said, using the food as an excuse to remove himself from all the teasing.

“You’re in for a treat,” boasted Baekhyun. “He’s really trying tonight.”

“How come we only eat good when Adrianna is here?” complained Sehun.

“Because he loves her,” Kai interjected, coming into the room to join us at last.

“And I also give him something you can’t” I slyly wink at Sehun, ignoring Kai as he hovered uncomfortably in the hallway.

Chanyeol guffawed at my bawdy joke, pushing Sehun and they started to wrestle. Baekhyun sidled up beside me.  “How are you?” he asked politely.

“Much better now that everything is out in the open and behind us,” I replied.

“I won’t say that I hate to say I told you so...” Baekhyun didn’t need to say anymore.

“I know,” I said, blowing my bangs out of my eyes. “But what Kai did was uncalled for and you know it.”

“I didn’t condone it but I will say it’s the best thing that happened to the two of you,” Baekhyun watched Chanyeol try to console Sehun when he went too rough and hurt the big baby.

“Yeah, well, that doesn’t make me any less pissed,” I said. Kai decided on sitting as far away from me as possible, eyes down-cast.

Kyungsoo poked his head from the kitchen. He had adorned an apron and had a chef’s hat jauntily placed on his head. “You said you liked green beans, right?”

Sehun stuck his tongue out “Blach.”

Kyungsoo shot him a dirty look and Sehun quickly put his tongue away. I smiled and nodded and Kyungsoo disappeared again.

Sehun swiftly came to my side. “Please say no to the next vegetable. I hate cooked vegetables.”

I pretended to think about it “I don’t know, Sehun. I believe I’m due some convincing.”

Sehun gave me puppy eyes. I was treated to some quivering lips and he even got the water works going, which wasn’t hard because he had pulled the same thing with Chanyeol.  “Please?!”

“Alright, but I’ll have you know if Kyungsoo tries some cuteness on me to change my mind, he’ll trump you. It can’t be helped.”

Sehun looked nervous. “I’m going to find all the vegetables and throw them out,” and he ran to the kitchen. It wasn’t long before I heard an infuriated Kyungsoo shout “What are you doing? Put those down!”

The group of us chuckled simultaneously.

“I’ll go make sure Sehun doesn’t disrupt Kyungsoo too much,” offered Suho, leaving the room.

Baekhyun had moved near the couch and had started a rock, paper, scissors contest with Chanyeol to see who had control over the remote for the TV. Kai took this moment to talk to me.

“Do you think we could talk?” he asked in a low voice.

“The last time I talked to you, you made the one person I cherish in my life avoid me like the plague. You don’t have a good record,” I drawled.

“2 minutes, I just need 2 minutes of your time,” Kai pleaded. I studied him: he wasn’t smirking, there was no condescending tone and he had a hard time meeting my eyes. Either Kai was a really good actor or he was genuinely troubled by his actions.

“Time starts now,” I grudgingly said.

“I’m an . I messed up bad with you and Kyungsoo. I really underestimated his feelings for you. I know Kyungsoo told you I did it to protect him and I did but there’s more to it than that. See, I knew you in high school, you may not remember me but I approached you one day. You were the one girl everyone wanted but couldn’t have. You shot me down immediately. I suppose I should be thankful, but at the time, I was love-sick. So I started to slowly change my image, so I matched the sort of guy you went after. I had no idea you went after those types of guys for a reason. Eventually, I lost myself in the playboy image I had created and forgot about my original goal. So when you popped up with Kyungsoo, I was both happy and jealous. Kyungsoo was everything I’m not. I wasn’t sure at first, so I dug a bit, but when I confirmed you were who I thought you were and what you did, I knew I had to take action. I didn’t want Kyungsoo to get wrapped up in your games because I wanted to be that guy instead. When Kyungsoo wouldn’t come out of his room to eat and stayed locked up all day after what I did, I knew I was wrong. Wrong about everything; you, him, me. So I want you to know, I’ll be sure to stay out of the way. Kyungsoo means the world to me so I’m glad you feel the same way.”

I blew some air out. “Okay, can’t say I was expecting that,” Kai looked at me, unsure as how I was going to continue. I placed a hand on his shoulder. “I’m sorry you got caught up in my revenge plans. I guess it was only karma getting back at me once again. As long as you’re willing to change your ways, I’m willing to move past this.”

“Really?” Kai looked too hopeful for words.

To prove my point, I yelled “Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo came to the kitchen entrance, arms full of vegetables he was trying to save from Sehun. “Yes?”

I smiled at Kai “Set Kai’s plate beside mine.”

Kyungsoo’s face lit up at the idea “It would be my pleasure.”