~chapter fourteen~
how to deal with kids
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Now I'm breaking at the britches
And at the end of all your lies

Kai awkwardly crossed the doors and saw three little heads sticking out from behind the sofa. Mari patted him lightly on the back.

“You look horrified. You don’t have to help me” she said, giggling. It was weird, but she was feeling very comfortable around him. She didn’t mind being touched by him. She didn't feel like she can't touch him too. She wanted to know him better. She thought that maybe he feels the same.
“I’m not. And I will help” Kai stated, pouting slightly. They crossed the hallway and saw the kitchen on the left, which was connected with living room. There were steps in front of the doors and another two rooms on the right. It was very similar to Kai’s house, only a few rooms and steps were in different places.
“Hey guys!” Mari shouted, making Kai jump. Two boys and one girl turned their heads and looked at her with big eyes.
“Noona!” two boys chimed, jumping off the sofa. The shorter one clung onto her immediately, when the taller one started jumping up and down in front of her, mumbling and, how Kai thought, tell her some story.
“Get off, Eunhee” Mari growled, tickling him. The short boy with straight, quite long hair giggled and get off, looking at Kai with curiosity.
“Is that your boyfriend, noona?” he asked, spitting slightly on the floor.  
“Nope, this is an ahjussi which will take care of you today together with me” Mari answered, nodding. She ruffled the older brother’s hair.
“I’m not an ah-“ Kai started, but he was quickly pushed away by the older boy.
“So he’s not your boyfriend?” he asked.
“No” Mari stated again. “His name is Kai. Kai, this is Eunhee” – she pointed to the smaller boy. “And this is Dongkyung” she added, pointing at the tall boy with curly hair and glasses.
“Nice to meet you” Dongkyung said, bowing lightly. Eunhee hid behind Mari’s leg.
“Nice to meet you” Kai repeated.
“And there I understand is your cousin” Mari said, looking at the little girl who was still sitting and hiding on the sofa. “Hello”
“Hello” the girl said cutely, biting her lip. Kai almost blushed.

He never thought that a child can be this cute.

Mari looked at him, amused, and laughed loudly.

Soon, the girl came and introduced herself as Yongjin. She had two little braids and very long eyelashes. Kai stared at her for a minute, looking back and trying to remember, how he looked as a child. He glanced at Mari and wondered how she would look as a kid and it made him smile suddenly. The red haired didn’t even notice his good humor. She took off her shoes and told the kids to do what they want until she will make them something to eat.

“What do I do?” Kai asked, stopping awkwardly between living room and kitchen and looking at Mari, who took out some bread, ham and tomatoes.
“First of all, do you really want to sit here?” Mari asked skeptically, raising her brow.
“I already told you. I don’t have anything better to do. And I’m your bodyguard from now on” he said, shrugging. Mari blushed lightly and he chuckled. He felt his old, flirting side coming out, and he thought that this part of him is gone. He smirked. “Why are you blushing?”

He was sure that she will deny it, or get angry at him, like most of the girls did. Or at least will get even more embarrassed. But Mari looked him straight in the eyes while cutting bread.

“No one ever wanted to protect me in any way” she said. “It’s weird when a person I don’t know says that is my… bodyguard”. She looked down to
get a knife and smear the butter on the slices of bread. Kai blinked a few times, quite taken aback, but soon understood.
“What do you want to know, then?” he asked. Mari raised her brow and looked at him.
“Really?”
“Yeah, ask whatever you want”
“You don’t even know me” she scoffed and looked down again, her red hair falling from her shoulders and touching her cheeks lightly.
“I don’t know your past. But I know you already” he said simply and spotted cookies on the table. He went to get the whole bowl and placed it beside him. Right now Mari was in front of him, on the other side of the furniture, when he was munching on the cookies. “So?”

The red haired wondered for a few seconds. She got out plates from the cupboard.

“Are you living alone?” she asked first.
“No, I live with my two friends” Kai answered, mentally getting ready for any questions. His mind sent him a warning signal. What if she will somehow exchange her debt and he will have to pay, because he will say too much?

He mentally slapped his rationality. It was a very bad way of thinking. She wasn’t bad. He knew that she wasn’t.

“Taemin is your best friend?” she asked, frowning. She started cutting the ham.
“Yep. We know each other from… childhood, I think. We moved here together”.
“Are you in college?” she asked.
“No” Kai swallowed. “I quit. Two… times” he said. Mari felt that she stepped on this part of his life which was dangerous to talk about.

She realized it some time ago already. Kai was making the same face every time when she asked about something uncomfortable for him. His right brow winced and he moved his throat like there’s a lump inside or it was itching. And not looking at her curiosity, she changed the topic.

“Um… do you have any pets?” she asked, grunting quietly. She put away the ham and took out the tomatoes.
“Nope. But I would like to have a cat” Kai said, yawning and continuing on eating cookies. Mari giggled and washed the tomatoes.
“A cat? I thought that boys prefer dogs” she pointed.
“Dogs are too loud and it’s hard to hug them because they are jumping at you like crazy. But in fact,
I would like to have a dog too… They are smart and I would train him. I like parrots, too. And any kinds of birds are good too. Bunnies are cute, but they bite sometimes. I once had a rat. Rats are cute. They don’t bite and likes to sleep in your pockets” he smiled suddenly. “I once had a rat. I named her Pirate” he shook his head.
“This is the longest sentence you said to me” Mari said, waking him up from his sudden daydream. Kai looked at her with big eyes and got embarrassed suddenly. “So you really like pets, right? And animals?”
“You can say so” Kai answered quietly, coughing.
“That’s good. It’s said that people who likes animals and respects animals, will respect people as well” Mari said, smiling. She already put the tomatoes on the sandwiches. “Why can’t you buy yourself any pet?”
“I didn’t think about it really” Kai said, frowning.

The red haired put the sandwiches on the plates and went over to the kids, who were bickering on the sofa. She herself sat on the other sofa, on the other side of the wall. Kai sat beside her and kids didn’t mind them, watching some cartoon and talking energetically.

Mari turned to him.

“What kind of music are you listening to?” she asked.
“I don’t really” Kai said. Mari frowned.
“You’re not… listening to any music?” the red haired tilted her head again.
“No” Kai wanted to focus on the cartoon suddenly.
“Do you like cartoons?” Mari asked after a few seconds.
“Yeah” Kai said, smiling and looking at her. “I like cartoons. I know it’s silly”
“No. I prefer watching cartoons over some heavy movies about life” Mari stated, chuckling. “Life is already hard itself…” she added quietly and Kai almost didn’t hear.

Mari thought that he was supposed to meet her and satisfy his curiosity, but instead of that, he only made her curious about him. Really, what a person he was.

“What do you plan on doing in the future?” she asked. Kai looked at her with sudden fear, literally. Mari shivered and leaned back. Before Kai answered, he was staring at her without blinking. It looked scary and the red haired questioned why did she let him enter this house.
“Um… I will work in the library” he answered.
“No, I mean… who do you want to be in the future?” Mari explained. “Where do you want to work-“
“In the library” Kai shrugged. “I don’t have any plans or talents. I just want to have a peaceful life”
“Isn’t your life already peaceful?”
“Is yours?” Kai asked suddenly. Mari frowned.
“I’m asking you” she said.
“And I’m asking you” Kai smiled in a sad way. The red haired thought for a few seconds, brushing her hair with her fingers and frowning.
“No one’s life is peaceful really, is it?” she asked.
“Of course not. But yours doesn’t seem peaceful in any extent” Kai pointed. Mari sighed.
“Because it’s not” she said, getting up.
“Noona, let’s play Monopoly!” Eunhee said, munching on a sandwich.
“Sure” Mari said, sighing lightly.

~*~

They were sitting around the table and playing.

Dongkyung was winning; Mari was on the second place, Eunhee and their little cousin Yongjin on the third, and Kai was staring at them playing without knowing what to do completely. Eunhee threw his cubes and growled when he discovered that he found himself on Dongkyung’s city.

“Nooooo” he growled.
“Yes! You have to pay me 1 million. Please~” Dongkyung said, tilting his head and stretching out his hand.
“Why did you place a hotel here?!” Eunhee suddenly burst with anger. Mari patted his shoulder.
“Oh come on, that’s the game! And you are on a good place!” she said, giggling. Kai threw his cubes and stood on an empty city.
“Are you buying?” Dongkyung asked.
“Yeah?” Kai said, frowning.
“Buy it, buy it” Mari whispered to him, poking his arm. In the end he bought it. They were quietly playing, when Eunhee jumped suddenly.
“Don’t kick me” he said to his older brother.
“I’m sorry” Dongkyung said.
“Why did you kick me?” the younger continued.
“I said I’m sorry! You are kicking me too!”
“But not this hard!”
“Yes, this hard, even harder” Dongkyung pouted.
“No, I’m kind you like this” Eunhee showed him, kicking him lightly.
“No, you are like this” Dongkyung said and kicked him hard. Eunhee shouted and fell on the ground, tears in his eyes. Mari stood up.
“Dongkyung!” she said and went to the younger boy.
“He’s kicking me the same way!”
“No, I don’t!”
“It wasn’t that hard at all” Kai said suddenly, munching on a cookie and randomly surfing the net in his phone. Mari started at him, blinking, and laughed out loudly. Everyone looked at her right now, but she helped Eunhee get up and came back to her spot.
“No more kicking, okay?” she asked. Two boys nodded and completely forgot about the whole thing. Kai smiled under his nose.

~*~

In the end, he lose the game completely and everyone were making fun of him. Only Mari wasn’t saying anything, but still laughing, laying on the floor with Eunhee on her stomach.

“How can a boy in your age lose? Even I did better!” Dongkyung said, laughing nervously. He always did so when he was bragging about himself, but felt weird about doing so.
“You can’t think?” Yongjin said suddenly with a quiet voice. Kai looked at her in disbelief.
“Even you?” he asked, gasping and leaning on the sofa. Everyone laughed.
“Let’s watch a movie now” Mari said. “I brought something from my friend” he added, getting up and walking to her bag. She took out a movie called ‘How to train your dragon’ and everyone clapped their hands.
“Did you see it yet?” Mari asked Kai, but he shook his head as a ‘no’. She smiled then and turned DVD on. Soon, they were sitting and watching. Mari on the left, beside Eunhee and Dongkyung and Kai on the right, with Yongjin his arm and tickling him all the time. It was hard to focus on the movies when she was petting him like this.

Kai thought that he would like to spend every afternoon like this and looked at Mari, who was ruffling her hair and smiling to the screen.

But still, there was something nervous in her behavior and she was glancing at the window all the time. Kai frowned and crossed his arms. Yongjin protested, because she had nothing to now, but leaned on his shoulder and fell asleep when the rest watched.

~*~

Kai slowly put Yongjin on the bed, while Mari watched him closely. He was doing this with such delicate movements, his hands slowly slid from the girl’s body as he stepped back, her hair. She reminded him of someone from his past, but he couldn’t remember that person. He watched Yongjin for another five seconds, until Mari came and covered her with a blanket. She raised her eyes and looked at Kai’s sharp jawline and his hair. The light in the room was dim and she could see his misty eyes and beautiful profile clearly.

She didn’t look at him like that from the beginning. Right now she realized how handsome he was and wondered why he hasn’t got a girlfriend. His friend’s words appeared in her mind.

“But he had a girlfriend?” Mari asked, raising a brow.
“Yeah, but she left him” Sehun said.

Kai looked at her questioningly. She didn’t turn back, she was just still looking.

“What’s love for you?” she asked, whispering. Kai’s eyes started straying on her face, until he stopped on her eyes and got lost in them for a few seconds. He chuckled suddenly.
“Love?” he said. “Is there something like this in this world even?” he scoffed and turned to the doors. Mari felt a throb. His eyes were so cold. So angry all of a sudden. She almost shivered and watched his back disappearing in the corridor.

She made sure that Yongjin was warmly sleeping before she got out as well. When she slowly crossed the living room, Kai was talking with Dongkyung about something, but raised his eyes with a glim almost warning.

And like this, the boot is on the other foot, she thought, when curiosity washed over her.

~*~

Mari started to make dinner when the boys said that they were hungry. It was almost 5 pm already and she decided to make kimchi stew, which was the dish she could cook best. Kai watched her as she focused completely on the food and almost didn’t notice him standing and staring. When she did, she looked down all of a sudden and he felt wrong for being so cold to her.

“Sorry for earlier” he said quietly.

Mari sighed and he frowned, but she nodded quickly.

“It’s okay. If you don’t want to talk about this, then don’t. We can talk about something else” she said, smiling lightly. “About… things”
“Things?” Kai leaned on the counter. “Is it my turn to ask now?”
“Sure” the red haired nodded, pulling out a frying pan.
“What’s your favourite book?” he asked first.
“I like Stephen King’s books” Mari said without thinking. “I can’t choose among them. And Ruiz Zafon’s books… especially the newest ones. There’s so much difference between his second and fourth book for example. He’s getting better with every line” she added.
“Yep, I agree” Kai said with animation in his voice. “What’s your favourite movie then?”
“I don’t watch a lot of movies” Mari shrugged. She was now frying some vegetables on the pan.
“Favourite band?”
“I don’t have a favourite band, but I really love Sigur Ros. His songs are so mysterious” Mari turned to face him while she waited for vegetables to be ready. “Anything else to ask me?”
“There’s a lot, but most of the questions aren’t answerable for you” Kai said, crossing his arms.
“Well, I’m sorry about that” the red haired shrugged again. There was a long minute of silence and they both looked like thinking about something really important. Finally, Kai raised his head, but in the same moment, Mari got her voice out.
“Why do you want to help me?” she asked, this time even more serious than before, than ever to be exact.
“I don’t know really” Kai answered. Yes, you know. She’s like a little light for you. “I don’t know you. I’m not a type of person who helps people. You are sitting in some crazy that I would like not to involve myself into, but I’m already in it” Mari made a pained expression.
“You don’t have to be with me if you don’t want to get-“
“Let me finish this” Kai interrupted her. She looked at him patiently. “I just… want to help you. I can’t really explain it. We are bumping into each other all the time, I already said it. I think that…” he stopped. He wanted to say something really embarrassing, which could be heard as a love confession. That’s why he couldn’t describe it well without Mari thinking something completely different. Still, she waited, until she felt a weird scent and had to put meat on the pan.
“Look, I just like to be with you. You are funny. You are… similar to me” Kai said.
“Is it because I’m as sad as you are?” Mari whispered. Kai froze.

Only TV and the sounds of food preparing were heard after that. The red haired felt her heart bumping rapidly, but she said the truth. And… oh come on. He’s always sad. Even when he’s smiling, he’s sad. Is eyes are so sad that she would sink in them.

Kai sighed. She looked at him. He was looking at the floor. She saw his long eyelashes and nose. His fridge was covering his forehead. His shoulders were tense and she saw shaped muscles under his shirt. His Adam’s apple moved and she suddenly realized, that he’s a man.

She knew, of course, but the reality hit her. She was sitting in one house with a man she didn’t know a bit. With a sad boy who was never smiling honesty. She didn’t know his past. And she still let him to know her.

Wasn’t it weird that he wanted to know her better? What if he was just a great actor? What if Garn and his boys got him to do it?

She turned to the pan with shock. How could she be that stupid?

But then, he started talking again, and this time, his voice was honest, deep, a little bit husky, but very honest.

“It’s because with you, I can feel my life running. I can see that we’re still living. And that there are worse things… than the ones I have to face” he said. “I’m sorry for saying that. I just feel good being with you. That’s all. Just… let me be with you”

Mari nodded simply, exhaling deeply, but quietly; her heart got peaceful again and her mind spun for a second, but she smiled under her nose, with a very sad smile.

~*~

Kai discovered that Mari’s food was just delicious. He didn’t say a word of course, but he was eating in silence, munching on it crazily.

His stomach protested right away though and he couldn’t move for next ten minutes because he ate so much. Mari sat beside him and poked his shoulder. Eunhee was jumping on the sofa crazily and Dongkyung was playing with Kai’s hair, trying to make braids out of it.

“Are you okay?” Mari asked him. The boy heard a concern in her voice and his heart softened.
“I’m fine. I usually don’t eat this much” he said.
“I understand that you liked it?” Mari smiled widely. Kai chuckled.
“Yup” he said, looking at her.
“Why don’t you eat a lot though?” the red haired asked, tilting her head.
“I just don’t like it. I usually eat only sweets” Kai said. “That’s another thing you should know about me”
“Are you a vegetarian or something?”
“I just like sweets” Kai smiled.

They heard a doorbell and Mari got up. Kai did it as well and when Mari was opening, he started cleaning up the plates from the table. Eunhee and Dongkyung shot up from the sofa and ran towards the doors, when they heard their mom’s and dad’s voices.

Kai awkwardly went to the corridor and watched and Eunhee jumped into his father’s arms and their mom ruffled Dongkyung’s short hair. He felt a throb.

“Thank you for taking care of them” their mother said and spotted Kai in the hallway. She raised her brows and looked back at Mari. “Oh my, is this your boyfriend?”

Mari and Kai smiled in the same moment.

“No, he’s not. He just helps me out today. Yongjin fell asleep. I left dinner for you and for her as well”
“Thank you so much, you are a great help to us!” father said. “Thank you as well” he added, talking to Kai, who bowed and smiled.
“We will be off then” Mari said.

They packed their things and in the end, the father gave each one of them the same amount of money. They got out and saw the world covered with white.

“Goodbye, see you tomorrow!” the boy’s mother chimed to them, waving from the doors. Mari waved back, Kai bowed, and they walked out on the street.
“This is yours” Kai said, handing her an envelope with his payment. Mari looked at him, blinked and scoffed.
“I don’t need it” she said, taking a step to the side, to be as far away from him as possible.
“I want you to take it” Kai said.
“Kai, this is your payment” Mari said strongly.
“Mari-ah, I didn’t help you with anything today” Kai said back.
“You kept me company”
“You did the same for me. Come on, take it. I already have a job, I don’t need these-“
“I have a job too. And I have to turn there” she pointed at the alley. Kai frowned.
“You have another job yet?” he asked, shocked. “How many do you have really? And where are you working at this hour? Are you insane?”

Mari looked at him, surprised, and frowned.

“What do you mean: insane?” she asked, but started walking again, a bit faster this time.

Kai quickly approached her and grabbed her wrist. She her heel because of his move and bumped onto him.

“It’s 8 pm” he said.
“That’s early!” Mari protested with a small laugh. “Who are you, my dad?” she added, smiling widely.
“How many hours will your job take?” Kai asked strongly.
“A few” Mari shrugged. “And now, let go” she said and jerked her hand away. “I’m fine. I’m working there for two years already. Nothing to worry about” she added and crossed the road.

Her silhouette looked very sharp on the snowy background. The street lamp was making her red hair even redder and she walked towards her destination with a smile. Then, she turned to Kai and waved to him.

“Thank you for today!” she shouted. Kai stared at her without any reaction, and she turned again to disappear in the alley.

Kai waited for her to completely disappear and then headed home with a smirk.

On her way, Mari discovered an envelope hid in her pockets and cursed under her breath when she found another one in the other pocket.

“Sneaky bastard” she said, on her teeth. But soon, she smiled widely and chuckled once. “Who are you really?” she whispered to the air, steam puffing out of her lips. “What are you hiding?” she added in wonder.

She heard footsteps approaching. They got quieter soon. When she turned, she didn’t saw anyone. Dark alley welcomed her with all its secrets and dark shadows.

She could feel someone’s presence, which was making her shiver. But no matter how many times she turned back, she saw no one behind her. And her heart was racing by the time she finally made her way to another job. She stood in front of the bar and looked around, disturbed and scared.

It was as a shadow followed her.

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Ta-dah! I'm so proud of myself that I updated for the second time this week lol. 
Thank you for reading and for all your comments! They are making my day. <3