~chapter twenty-four~
trust
____________________________________________

 When you try your best but you don't succeed 
When you get what you want but not what you need 

Kai picked up the last piece of shreds left from Mari’s paintings and only then he felt how tired he was. But he was tired physically – he knew the next second he looked at Mari that she was also exhausted mentally. He wasn’t surprised, he wasn’t blaming her. To be honest, he was impressed of how well she was holding. Someone broke into her ing apartment and burned almost all her paintings, destroyed her furniture, broke her-

“Kai” he heard and snapped his head up. Mari was eyeing him with worried expression, even though he should be the one looking at her like that. Girl’s eyes slid down and stopped on his hands curled into a fist. His knuckles went white. He quickly turned and tried to maintain his peace.

Mari didn’t say a word. She grabbed a bag of rubbish (which contained broken glass, shreds of paintings, even pieces of walls that has been scuffed) and put it outside, on the stairway, with two others. They still had to vacuum the whole floor since it was still covered with ash and small as rice pieces of mirror and glasses. Mari sighed when she came back to the room.

Kai glanced at the paintings that he left untouched because they weren’t completely burned or broken. There was half of a giraffe, quarter of roses, and a few pieces of some sort of abstractive version of a field. There was almost the whole piece of the only paint that showed a person. Kai wondered many times about who that person was, and when he asked once, Mari said that it’s someone who helped her out a lot when her mom was ill and Mari had to take care of her.

“What happened to the man on the painting?” he asked out of curiosity, pulling it out from the stash of the pictures. Mari glanced at him to see what he’s talking about and his eyes softened with sadness.
“He died, sadly” she answered, but she smiled a bit. “But it was a good death”
“How can death ever be good?” Kai whispered. Mari didn’t hear him. She only saw his jaw clenching and eyes fluttering. It took her a few seconds to realize that something was off. Once again, she wanted to ask something, but got interrupted with Kai’s voice.
“We can still do something out of these” he said, pointing at the paints that were left.
“I don’t see a sense of hanging paints that got torn apart on the wall” she snickered. Kai shook his head.
“I don’t see either, but we can cut little squares of what’s left” he explained. “And make some kind of collage out of it. Or something like a patchwork.”

Mari hummed and thought about the idea.

“That’d actually look really good” she answered. As she observed the paintings, she suddenly stopped blinking, and Kai saw her stare getting sharper, but also disappearing behind some kind of mist. She dazed off completely. Kai placed the paintings in a safe place, looked at the watch and cursed, making the red haired jump.
“What?”
“It’s pas 3 am already” Kai answered. Mari’s eyes widened.
“Holy sh-“ she looked around, opened and didn’t know what to say. She stopped at Kai with the most puppy-like face Kai have ever seen on her. “I’m so so sorry. I’ll repay you somehow, I promise-“
“That’s not the point at all!” Kai grabbed a handful of his hair. “You’re working tomorrow! You have to sleep!”

Mari looked completely lost. Kai rolled his eyes.

“You have like three-“
“Four”
“-jobs a day, you can’t just miss the whole night of sleep. Go to sleep”
“Kai, it’s not like it’s the first time”

Kai opened his mouth, ready to pick the rest of the rubbish himself and leaving the vacuuming for the next day, but he froze instead.

“What do you mean: not the first time?” he asked. Mari understood her mistake and got tense all of a sudden.
“I mean that it’s not the first time I won’t sleep” she said in a ‘duh’ tone. She went to the kitchen and Kai knew that she did it to escape from him, from his judging stare, but he was quicker and went through the other door, so she almost bumped at him.
“They knew where you live all this time?” he asked, quietly.
“Of course they know, Kai” she said, rolling her eyes. She tried to sound annoyed, but her voice was weak, and all the anger and sadness from earlier was gathering inside her all over again. Kai could see it in her eyes. “They always know. They just don’t do anything about that. Sometimes they would like… replace something with something else, or leave a piece of paper with smiling facey on it, or something like that. It’s not like they can rob me”
“But they just broke into your house, devastated it! Have you ever thought about changing your locks?”
“Way ahead of you, Sherlock” she answered with a tone that screamed ‘don’t be stupid’ and ‘leave me alone’. “I did, four times. Waste of money. Now can you please move out of my way?”

In Kai’s head it seemed ridiculous. It was a whole new level of ridiculousness and freaking creepy.

“But that’s something you can sue them for” he said to her. She was already in the kitchen, pulling ham out of her fridge.

Kai suddenly realized that Mari, this Mari, had actual food in her fridge. It hit him like a wall of bricks. She had enough food to make him waffles the other day. Mari had real food.

And it was all thanks to the paintings.

As she was peacefully making sandwiches, she realized that Kai went silent and glanced at him. He was staring at her food like a hungry wolf.

“Okay, Kai, easy there, I’m making you food, yes” she said, jokingly. “No surprise Hoya calls you ‘doggie’”

Kai’s head snapped at this comment and he raised his brows.

“He calls me… Okay, I don’t want to know anyway” he said, making a giving up motion with his shoulders and hands. He sat by the table. “Why don’t you move?”
“I like this place” Mari said. “They can’t rob me”
“Oh, but you’re okay with them creeping around you while you sleep?”
“They don’t do that” Mari sighed. “They’re… I don’t know, they have a code or something. They only come here when I’m away. They don’t take anything. That’s the first time something like this happened. They can’t lay a finger on me because I’m here to pay to them”
“They always put their fingers on you” Kai was getting angrier with every second of this conversation. It was like talking to a wall.
“Just to scare me. And I don’t think that their boss know what they’re doing”
“Who’s their boss?”

Mari shrugged.

For the whole conversation, her tone was normal and relaxed, but Kai could see how her hands still trembled, how tense she was, how every sound not made by herself of Kai scared her. She was freaked out and sad. Kai was prepared to catch her any moment, because he had a feeling that she may just break into tears and slip onto the floor.

He knew that she wouldn’t though.

“Listen, Kai” she finally said, placing a plate with sandwiches in front of him and sitting beside. “I’ve checked every option. Anything that I can use against them. But I can’t do anything. I have a reason of being silent. You don’t need to know it. I will probably never tell you, and you have to bear with it, if you’re honest and really want to help me somehow”

Kai rolled his eyes, ready to bicker, but Mari raised her pointing finger up in the air to stop him from talking.

“Let me finish” she said. “I know them for a long time. Only thing I can do it so pay them the money I owe them”
“You owe them? I don’t believe that you owe them money”
“Then what?” Mari was annoyed, she crossed her arms.
“Someone made you pay for them or even blackmailed you. I don’t know. But it has more to do with your family than with you. I know that” Kai said, leaning closer. He saw fear spreading in Mari’s eyes and she trembled, her breath stopping in her lungs. Kai immediately felt guilty for telling her this, not because it was something that might hurt her, but because he knew that he was right, and Mari never wanted him to know anything.

How did he know anyway?

“I also know that it has something to do with your brother, whoever he is” Kai added. Mari started breathing again, her eyes unmoving, fixed on his own.
“No” she answered simply, shaking her head. “It’s not about my brother at all”
“Really?” Kai scoffed. “Because every time you talk with someone, they always bring up your brother. And you don’t want to talk about him at all. I know that it’s about him-“
“He helps me out, okay!” Mari shouted, but it wasn’t even than loud. Sandwiches laid untouched. “Well, he wants to, since he has a lot of money, but it’s not his debt”

Kai stared at her for a few seconds, jumping from her eyes to her ears, mouth, nose, and basically everywhere, he just couldn’t focus on anything in particular. His brain was working like crazy.

“Holy ” he whispered in disbelief, finally looking her in the eyes. His shoulders fell. “You have a brother who can pay off your debt, and you still don’t want his help?”

Mari didn’t answer, only swallowed hard.

“Okay, that’s beyond stupid!” Kai shouted really loud. Mari jumped and he felt guilty right away. To think that any girl would make him feel stupid for his normal, very sane reactions…
“Why?” he asked quietly. Mari sighed and stared at the ceiling for a long time. Kai observed the curve of her neck, how the dim light of a single lamp in the kitchen made its features look gold, and almost dozed off, but she looked at him and he had to meet her eyes.
“If I tell you, will you tell me what have you been doing for the past two months and why?” she asked sincerely. Kai thought about it for long seconds, lump forming in his throat, but nodded.

Mari sighed and swallowed, bit her lips, pursued them, then swallowed again. Kai was getting inpatient, but still waited.

“My brother has a big company” she started. “He’s a CEO” she added with a sarcastic smirk that she quickly bit off. “But he’s not my full brother. He’s my step brother”

Kai frowned.

“Wait, what?” he asked. He remember Mari talking only good things about her mom, how lovely she was and all, but now it sounded like she had an affair. Kai also thought that maybe it was her father who had an affair, and that would really… .
“He’s older than me” Mari said. Another hole appeared in Kai’s logic. “My dad had an affair even before I was born” she finally spat. It looked like she was ashamed of it. Maybe she was ashamed of his father, or maybe she just couldn’t understand how could he be with someone else beside her mom. “And it was already after he got married with my mom” she added.

Kai raised his brows.

“So… your dad married your mom, had an affair, had a child with the other woman, then he came back to your mom and then you were born?” he said, staring somewhere into the air, trying to imagine it or something. “What a ” he said without thinking and gasped, slapping his hands onto his mouth immediately, but when he looked at Mari, he saw her slowly smiling and finally snorting too.
“I’m sorry” he said anyway, ashamed. The red haired shook her head.
“Don’t worry, he is a ” she said, nodding at him. Kai never thought that he will smile at the girl who cursed easily like that. Sang Hee never cursed.

Sang Hee popped out in his mind and disappeared as fast.

“So how old is your brother?” Kai asked.
“Three years older than me” Mari answered.
“So you two are…?”
“What?”
“You don’t get along?”
“It’s usually hard to get along with a normal sibling, and he’s a step brother only…” Mari mumbled under her nose, playing with her fingers. Kai looked down. She caught this movement. “I just don’t trust him much” she said. “I… It’s not like he’s a bad person, he’s really protective about me, that’s why I ran away from him. All of a sudden, when my mom was dying, he remembered that he has a sister. He took care of the hospital bills, since my dad was away at that time…”
“Your dad left your mom when she got ill?” Kai’s eyes looked like they were about to pop out of his skull. Mari’s mouth got dry and she got even tenser.
“Look, it’s all pretty complicated” Mari said, her eyes begging him to stop talking about it. Kai was curious, he wanted to know, but he also didn’t want to push her, so he nodded.
“I get it” he said, nodding. Mari’s eyes softened. She suddenly grabbed her sandwich, but she was hesitate. Kai took one too.
“You eat more” Mari noted. Kai shrugged.
“You will tell me one day, right?” Kai asked. “Tomorrow for example”
Mari laughed. “Once I’m focused and rested enough, yes. But only about my brother” she said, and Kai made a mental note not to forget about her word. Then, she deadpanned him. “And now it’s your turn”

Kai felt the lump in his throat again and choked slightly. Mari patted his back and stood up to make tea. Kai really wanted to be over this, and he was glad that Mari stood up, so he could just threw it out quickly and without having her eyes on him.

“I sued my father and I spend last two months in court” he said all at once, his voice incredibly high.
“What?” Mari asked, turning her head so quickly to look at Kai that he could have gotten whiplash. “Why?” she asked quietly, almost hissing. Kai made some nervous motion with his hands, not sure if he wanted to lean on them or touch his lips in thoughts or whatever. He just wanted to look away, wanted Mari to look away, because guilt was already eating him up, his heart hammering onto hid ribcage. The red haired saw his hesitation and sat down again, waiting for the water to boil.

“Why?” she asked softly, frowning.

Kai just looked at her and his body wasn’t so tense anymore. Mari was sincere, peaceful, and worried. Her eyes were soothing, her soft breath relaxing. She knew how rough life could be, she also knew that you can’t really choose your family. Everything seemed simple with her. No judging. And even though it was probably the most secret and mysterious and unsure relationship he ever had with anybody, it was easy to tell her everything, so he just let his words flow and he told her everything, pouring it out of himself, with every detail of the trail. He’d only spared her graphic descriptions of his father beating him, but that was a small detail.

~*~

They sat on the floor, leaning their backs on the couch, floor vacuumed and mopped, shiny and clean.

“It looks better without the carpet” Kai noted.
“There’s more space” Mari nodded.

Kai didn’t realize when did they finished cleaning and sat side to side, their hands suddenly tangling. They were sitting, staring at the ceiling in silence, holding hands, both exhausted and totally worn out, Mari a bit less tense and sad, and Kai less guilty after what Mari told him. And she told him that he made a good decision and that’s he’s brave – which were the exact words Taemin said to him. She also said that she’s sorry, and he knew that she is, he could see it in her eyes.

“I have no idea how I ended up in this crap with you” Kai suddenly said, chuckling. Normally, Mari would feel guilty and probably it would hit her like a bucket of freezing water, but this time she laughed along with him, because they were in it together. And Kai was okay with this. They both were.
“You know, I must’ve really pissed them off” she said. “With all my paintings and paying more every month. It saved my two times already, they would chase me again if there wasn’t enough money” she said. “So they must’ve been really angry, since it’s the first time they did something like this. And I’m sorry. They burned most of the canvas you bought me”
“It’s fine, you still have some, right?”
“Yeah. Because I’m not so stupid to keep everything here”

Kai turned to face her, shock painted all over his face.

“What?”

Mari grinned and squeezed his hand.

“Most of my paintings that are for selling are kept somewhere else, not in here. I also keep the new paints somewhere else until I’d run out from the ones I have”
“Where?” Kai frowned.
“At my friend’s place” Mari simply answered shrugging. “I won’t tell where though”

Kai hummed and opened his mouth, staring at the ceiling again.

“You’re smart” he said after a moment and Mari smiled.
“That I am” she said playfully. “I’m just sad because those were my favourite ones”
“You can keep them at my house if you want” Kai said and the red haired turned to him. “I can keep them until everything is over. That way every painting will be safe. Because they can’t break into my house. I have security and all this stuff. And I’m just a normal citizen too. Right?” he frowned. “Their code is really weird”
“It saves you though” Mari said quietly. “If anything would happen to you…”
“It won’t” Kai cut her off. This time he was the one who squeezed their hands together. He sighed and leaned his head on the couch.

He felt really tired and sleepy. He glanced at the clock. It was half past four in the morning. He growled quietly when he felt sudden weight on his shoulder.

Mari leaned on him and was quickly asleep, her eyelashes fluttering softly. Kai could’ve sworn that he felt as if he was melting at the sight.

Before he could give it a longer thought, he was asleep himself.

~*~

His phone woke both of them at eight o’clock. Mari’s head jerked up and bumped Kai’s chin, both of them growling and standing up right away.

“ ‘m sorry” Mari mumbled, looking for the source of the sound. She grabbed Kai’s phone and threw it to him before disappearing in her bedroom and then jumping to the bathroom.
“Hello?” Kai said to the phone.
“Where are you dude?” Taemin asked on the other line.
“Uh” Kai looked around, finally knowing what’s going on. “I stayed at my friend’s for the night”

There was silence on the line.

“You disappeared in the middle of the night without a word and didn’t come back” Taemin said sounding like a robot. “I wanted to wait but I was too tired, and everybody went to sleep thinking that you’ll just be late, but you actually stayed overnight at someone’s house” Taemin continued.
“And the point of this monologue is…?” Kai asked, grabbing his stuff from the furniture. He heard the water running, Mari was showering, he still wasn’t sure what’s going on.
“Where are you even?”
“Chanyeol’s” Kai mumbled. He made a mental note to ask Chanyeol to cover for him right after he was done with Taemin. That was when he hears a panic shriek from his best friend and his heart jumped up to his throat. “Taemin? You okay? What-“
“I just ing talked with Chanyeol ten minutes ago you ” Taemin said. Kai’s cheeks got red, because he was caught on lying. But Taemin wasn’t angry. Why wasn’t he angry?
“Did you get laid?” he asked suddenly, and something in Kai twisted and rolled.
“Taemin, just… no” he gasped, breathless, trying to stop Taemin from even thinking that way. “You’re impossible”
“Did you?”
“NO!” Kai disconnected in disbelief, completely dumbfounded and tired. But he actually laughed under his nose before he remembered that he just spend the night with Mari, and that was just so not right to even think about it, to joke about it.

Taemin was just an idiot and a jerk. Sometimes.

“I’m out!” he shouted, but Mari jumped out from the bathroom, her hair damp, toothbrush in , some white t-shirt wore back to front, bare feet and shorts from her pajama set.
“It’s been like three minutes!” Kai gasped. “How did you even-“
“Thank you for your help” she said, almost choking on her toothpaste. “I’ll call you” she added, giving him thumbs up, and Kai nodded, ruffled her hair quickly and ran out from her apartment, already late for work.

He jumped outside, slipping, and almost bumped onto Myungsoo. He was with his friends. All of them looked at him with wide eyes, he turned to them quickly.

“Don’t ask” he warned, and he was already sprinting towards the library.

He could easily say that the last time he had such a busy night and completely crazy morning when he was still in high school and Taemin threw a party, and they got drunk, and they both had job interviews the next day, and they both went there without any shower, wearing bunny slippers.

It was one of the most embarrassing but also one of the funniest days in his life, but now he just felt exhausted. It was nice to wake up with Mari though, he realized.

~*~

Once Taemin saw him in the afternoon, he scoffed and then laughed aloud until his stomach hurt and tears flowed from his eyes. Kai was so worn out and tired that he didn’t even move, making the best face he could at the moment, and Taemin was just delighted.

“Did you sleep with a wolf or something? Because you look like you just came back from war” he said between choked giggles, and burst out laughing again. Kai’s mom suddenly leaned out from the kitchen, but they didn’t even notice her.
“Sometimes you’re the biggest pain in the , you know” Kai said. “And also dumb”

Taemin laughed more, but then Kai manhandled him and actually gave him a noogie. Taemin almost lost his balance, whimpered and tried to fight him off, laughing and gasping for air, and Kai chuckled, before Taemin started tickling him and just… no. So he jumped on Taemin’s back and the older boy tried to shove him off, but once Kai’s legs tore away from the floor, they both landed on their butts, laughing and breathless. They couldn’t even open their teary eyes, they were just laying on the floor and making so much noise that their laughs echoed through the whole house.

Kai’s mom smiled once. She was laughing with them, but silently, so they didn’t even notice her. Soon, she disappeared into the kitchen, before the boys could spot her.
“Okay, now really, go get a shower” Taemin said, patting Kai’s back. “Will you tell me what really happened?”
“Repeat from 2008” he said. Taemin’s eyed widened.
“Job interview?!” he gasped. Kai nodded, holding back a laugh. Taemin laughed first, but also frowned and made an offended face. “Wait, you went to a party and didn’t invite me?”
“No, this time I was actually helping someone out. And also, I’m not drunk” Kai grinned. "Felt like drunk tho."
At this point, Taemin just couldn’t stop laughing and chuckling.
“I’m going to take a shower. And go to sleep. And don’t you dare to intrude me” he said, pointing a finger at the older boy. Taemin giggled and ruffled his hair, shoving his head onto the stairs, pushing him there.
“Have a nice sleep!” he waved his hand. Kai scoffed and disappeared upstairs.

~*~

He woke up with his stomach growling from hunger. He hasn’t eaten the whole day and now he felt ill. He grumbled and checked the hour. It was past 6 pm. Once he exited his room, he felt an amazing smell of meat and went downstairs.

It looked like his mom and Suho joined forces and decided to cook together, because the table was full of food. There were so many that he could easily feed a small class. His eyes widened.

“How do you intend to eat it all-“

Someone opened the door with a loud thud and he turned his head left, seeing Xiumin, Chanyeol, Kibum, Chen, Luhan, Kris, Minho, Jonghyun, Sehun and Baekhyun entering their house. His mouth opened widely, when all of them greeted with him and with Suho, and with his mom of course. He was standing in the middle of the hallway, his mouth ajar, his finger pointed at the boys, dumbfounded. Sehun hugged him and only then he tore away from his daze. Someone patted his back.

“I see that you’re up” Taemin said, squeezing his shoulder. “I figured that we should throw a party, it’s been a long time and there’s a lot to celebrate, right?” he asked with a smile.
“I… guess?” Kai said, his lips breaking into a chuckle. “You really want to repeat…”
“Okay, that’s not the point, jerk” Taemin said before Kai could finish. “Enjoy the food and brilliant company”
“Just… okay” Kai gave up, earning a beaming smile from his hyung and then he was dragged towards the couch, where everybody was already sitting.

Two hours later, they were all watching a movie in complete silence and darkness. Kai didn’t find it interesting, but all of his friends were nervously biting their fingernails, curling beside each other and gasping once in a while, so fixated on the movie that they wouldn’t feel an earthquake until it would stop the electricity.

He was sitting by the table, glancing at the screen with the corner of his eye, already falling asleep, when he felt his phone buzzing. He opened a text from Mari.

Everything good? she was asking. Kai smiled.

Yep, had a good shower and a nap after working. You?

My pillow is calling me (double highlight two last words)

Kai chuckled and wondered if she’s going to sleep already, but he remembered that she also worked at the bar at this hour and his heart clenched.

You’re still going to work?

Have to. Don’t worry, I’m used. Let you know when I’m home

Kai didn’t reply, but nodded to himself and put the phone away. Someone sat beside him and he turned to face Suho. His hyung beamed and Kai leaned back, startled.

“Whoa” he mumbled.
“What?” Suho asked, frowning.
“You’re blinding me, dude” he joked, and Suho rolled his eyes. “What happened? Because you look either high or like your dream just came true” he said, straightening up.
“Hyo Rim finally said yes” Suho said. Kai’s face fell.
“To what?” he asked, smiling, but it was a fake smile. He had a feeling that he won’t like what he hears, of course if his guess from earlier was right.
“We’re going to eat something on Saturday” he said. “But she’s working on the weekends too, so we only have like two hours. She was really tired today, I think that she didn’t even want to make excuses, she just said yes” Suho laughed. “But it’s not like it’s forcefully or out of pity-“
“I know hyung” Kai laughed. “Anybody would go out with you. She’s just always busy” he mumbled. Suho frowned.
“Uh… Right” he said. “Right, because she even works on the weekends” he said as if he wanted to make sure that Kai deduced it from this fact.
“Yeah. I’m glad, hyung” Kai smiled sincerely at him. “How does she even look like?” he asked after two minutes, after watching some of the movie.
“She has red hair” Suho said. “She’s not Korean I suppose”

At this point, a huge weight pulled Kai’s heart down, hard. His mouth went dry, and he didn’t even know why.

Well, maybe because he just spend the night with his friend’s biggest love, he thought. He turned away from Suho, staring to the front with blank face, and them slapped himself suddenly, making Suho jump and choke.

“What the… What are you doing?!” he hissed, grabbing Kai’s face into his hands and looking him in the eyes. Suho’s eyes were sharp and moving instantly, while Kai’s were empty and tired. “Kai, are you…”

Kai sighed and smiled at him, grabbing Suho’s hands and putting them down. Suho was caring and kind. Suho was his friend. Suho worried.

He did spend the night at Mari’s, but there was nothing to it. They were friends. She was keeping Kai alive, Kai wanted to help her. It was okay.

“I’m really happy for you hyung” he said. “Congrats”
“What’s with that slapping thing…?” Suho mumbled, still freaked out.
“I’m so tired that I can’t even keep myself straight” Kai said, chuckling, and Suho rolled his eyes, taking a deep breath.
“You’re so creepy” he noted. “Go to sleep” he said, pointing at the stairs. “I’m thinking about doing the same thing actually, that movie is crappy”
“I know, right?” Kai threw his hands a bit in disbelief, they landed on his laps. “I thought that there’s something wrong with me because I don’t like it”
“Well, you’re not alone” Suho said, making a face at the screen.

Kai went upstairs after taking a huge slice of cake to him room and eat it. He wanted to wait for Mari’s message saying that she’s home, but he was too tired to wait. He got so used to sleeping most of the time through past two years that now a day without a sleep made him feel like a doll. Or a robot.

He stared at her name on his telephone. Something kept on aching inside him, and he wasn’t sure if it was his heart or his soul, or he was just freaking out. But some sharp pain was hiding inside him. He knew that it’s there. And he couldn’t figure out where it came from.

He wanted so badly to forget his old love that he has forgotten love in its entirety.

____________________________________________

Okay, I hope that this chapter wasn't so boring. 
As you can see, Mari and Kai got both so used to each other that they even started to joke about their situation. 
We also got to know that the thugs have some sort of a code - they can't really hurt Mari, and they also can't hurt or assault her friends or normal civilians because they're clearly scared of the police (which doesn't really stop them from doing whar they're doing though, but at least they don't chase after Kai anymore)
Also, Kai has a secret that only his parents and Taemin knows about but they never talk about this; I've thrown some hints in this chapter, but you will find out anyway in the next chapters, probably in 25th or 26th. And then all the goes down. 

I hope that you're not offended with references and all, it's not to offend anyone, especially not Mari (obvs) but let's be serious, two best friends who knows each other for their whole lifes, it's normal for them to talk about this and they're about 20 already so. 

Just tell me if it bothers you somehow, same goes for light swearing. Give me your opinions pls. 

Thank you for reading!