contract
Skinny Love
~chapter twenty-seven~
contract
____________________________________________
Lights will guide you home
and ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you
Sooner or later Kai had to face his mother. Before it happened, a week passed; he felt tired and panicked all the time. He was a coward and he was running away from her, he knew it. It took some time for him to gather his courage, and when it finally happened, he wasn't the one to talk at all.
His mom was looking at him with those big, pleading eyes, and when he opened his mouth, only a sigh got out because she was already hugging him tightly. And this time, it was a honest and warm hug.
"I'm so sorry" she said, squeezing him. It was almost painful, but it was one of those good pains that actually made him feel alive and wanted, so he squeezed back. "I'm so proud of what you did. You're the bravest son ever born and I want you to know that I'm proud of you"
The amount of emotions that collapses on him in the second she says it is unpredictable. At first it's love and relief, then pride and happiness, then some bitterness (this one is already a part of him and it will always kick him in the ). Then it's just pure love and relief.
"Thank you" he says. His mom actually chuckles at that. Then she pulls away, holding his face between her hands, so he looks her in the eyes.
"And what happened to Choo Hee was never your fault" she says quietly. Kai's heart flutters and his throat clenches. "We blamed it on you because it was our fault, mine and your father's, but it doesn't matter anymore, because Choo Hee would want us to forgive each other. You know that, right?"
Kai knows, so he nods.
The rest of the conversation seems to move in a blur. His mom tells him that she's found a job and she's going to move to an apartment, so she won't be a burden to "him and his young, hard-working friends with perfect hair". She also decided that she's going to see a psychologist who'd help her with her past.
Kai says that it's great and they hug again. They somehow ends up curled on a couch until Suho comes home with a giant pizza.
~*~
"Does that mean that you'll stop talking again?" Mari asks, stuffing her phone deep into her purse. They're working through the park. It's evening already, and Mari didn't work today, so they went to the lake. It somehow turned into her interviewing him and her tone is slowly getting on Kai's nerves.
"I won't stop talking to her" he says through clenched teeth. Mari raises her brows at him. "And stop interrogating me"
"I haven't seen you in a week, what can I do" she shrugs. She starts looking for something in her purse again and it makes this weird sound of stuff crashing onto each other. Two minutes passed and Mari still has her hand down the damn bag, and Kai just growls.
"What the hell are you looking for in there?" he asks. "And how come you can't find a thing in such a small purse? I always thought that women can make wonders when it comes to finding stuff"
"Oh shut up" Mari sighs under her nose.
Kai opens his mouth to start a new topic, when someone suddenly grabs him from behind. He turns back and sees a tall man in a suit. His stomach drops immediately, and Mari stops to look at him. Her face gets pale all of a sudden. If not the fact that Kai is scared less, he would probably laugh at their coordination.
"Excuse me my rudeness", stranger says, and Kai is ready to bail. But the man pulls out a business card and Kai sees a very well-known logo on it. He frowns. "My name is Choi Siwon, I'm one of the main managers of the VOGUE magazine"
Kai frowns and looks at the man like he's insane. In the same time, Mari hiccups. Both of the men look at her in the same time and Kai laughs dumbly at her. Siwon only raises his brows. Mari covers .
"How can I help you?" Kai says to the man, looking at him sharply and taking in his stylized hair and expensive suit.
"Can you please turn aroud for me?" Siwon asks, and that makes Kai blink at him and open his mouth slightly.
"Why would I..."
"Oh just turn around" Mari pushes him by his shoulder slightly and Kai turns. He can hear Siwon taking a few steps back and humming. He can also feel his face getting red and he gets nervous.
"Okay" Siwon says. The guy grabs his shoulder and turns him around once again, so they're facing each other. Kai rolls his shoulder out of habit and throws the stranger's hand off. The older man seems a bit taken aback by that movement and his eyes linger a bit on Kai's hands and torso. Then, he pulls his business card towards him again.
"I want you to work in my firm" he says with a tone that does not stand disagreement.
Kai takes the card, but then frowns.
"Wait, what?" he asks. "As a...?"
"A model, of course" Siwon says, smirking. He looks kinda creepy like that, but also very handsome. He hides his hands in his pockets. "You have a perfect face and you're very well-built. I'm surprised that nobody has ever noticed you before. If you want the job, come to the adress on the card on Wednesday, around 2 pm. Say you're looking for me and we'll think about a deal"
Kai looks at the business card once again and is completely clueless. Was he just offered a job as a freaking model?
He looks at the manager again, and the man winks at him.
"It was nice meeting you both, see you soon" he says and walks about quickly. Kai stares at his back for a few seconds and then finally turns towards Mari. She looks as dumbfounded as him, if not more.
"He wants you to be model" she states, "In VOGUE. IN VOGUE."
Her eyes are big as saucers and shinier than usually.
"I understand that it's a firm I should know?" he asks. He gets smacked in the head.
~*~
Kai can't believe that something like this actually happened to him. Also, he wouldn't be freaking out so much if not the fact that Mari decided to visit his house, which led to her talking about VOGUE all the way. And after her very graphic descriptions of VOGUE prestige, he actually felt nervous, as if he's about to perform on a scene. When they're finally in front of his house, he opens the door with relief. It doesn't seem to move Mari though, because she talks and talks and talks.
"All the newest trends are there. You're not a real star before you get a photoshoot in VOGUE, seriously. And you just got a job offer there! Just like that!" she snaps her fingers to emphasize her words and Kai rolls his eyes.
"I never said that I'm going to work there!" he says.
"Oh, you are going to work there" Mari says, taking off her shoes. She looks around the hallway. "It's nice"
"You haven't seen half of it yet" Kai mumbles. "And I hate that tone of yours"
"What tone?"
"That duh and you're going to do what I'm saying tone. You're not my mother, for godssake-"
"You're back!" Taemin suddenly shows up at the doorstep. He's beaming. Then he sees Mari and his face gets that sneaky expression. Kai can already feel his skin itching.
"Mari, what a pleasure to have you here" he says, doing a fabulous hairflip and walking towards her with a giant smirk on his face. He looks like one of those renaissance ladies welcoming their influential friends in their household. Which, okay, too much Downtown Abbey. And was that even happening during renaissance?
He's torn away from his thoughts when there's Taemin throwing his long arm on his shoulders and staggering them both.
"Baekhyun is here, wanna play some xbox?" he asks. Kai laughs and they walk towards the living room, where Baekhyun is eating Lays' in loneliness.
"Hi Baek" Mari says, waving at him. The boy's eyes light up and he beams.
"Mari, nice to see you! You fleed so quickly last time I didn't even have a chance to talk to you properly" he says.
"Yeah, I had something important to do" Mari says and looks around the living room. "This place is so sunny" she states.
"Yeah, well" Taemin stretches out and yawns. "Nobody likes to be dark and broody except Kai here, so"
Mari laughs and high-fives him and Kai doesn't like where their conversation is going. After that, they order some food and sit on the couch. Kai tries to interest Mari in a few games, but she waves him off. Still, she does watch as Kai and Baekhyun plays for a few hours. Baekhyun is terrible, really, absolutely no competition whatsoever. But he improves steadily, and every time he does he flashes them all with his incredibly stupid, earnest smile. Taemin though, he is a real competition, and when Kai starts playing with him, all hell broke loose. Mari has never seen Kai swear and shout so much and she was just staring at them and laughing her off. Baekhyun seemed scared, but it wasn't the first time he had flailing limbs and controllers almost stuck up his throat.
They choose some quiz game after that and Taemin is thinking about the answer when Mari gasps.
"Right, guys" she said. "Kai was offered a job"
"What job?" Taemin asks, not one hundred percent focused on his friend. Only Kai's sigh gets his attention.
"What job?" Baekhyun repeats after him and Mari giggles at Kai, who is currently rubbing his eyes.
"They want him to become a model" she says. Taemin chooses and answer in the same time and there's a pleasant ding saying that he got it right. Then both him and Baekhyun suddenly howl and start laughing. Mari raises her brows.
"No way!" Taemin somehow throws himself on Kai and pats him on the shoulder. "Wait, like, he already has the job?" he asks, and he asks Mari, and not Kai.
"No, he has to have an interview, but the guy who gave him his business card was totally charmed with him. All lingering eyes and stuff"
"Oh my god, he's not a e, is he?" Baekhyun gasps. Kai throws a pillow at him.
"Don't think so, he looked really rich and professional. But yeah, if Kai decides to go, he has that job in his pocket" Mari says, beaming.
"That's great! Wow" Taemin is flailing again. Kai really wonders if his tests for ADHD were correct.
"Okay, first of all, guys, I'm still here" he says, pulling Taemin off his thigh and pushing his hair back. "Second of all, I have no idea how to be a model"
"Says the guy who just did a y hair " Mari mumbles and rolls his eyes. Kai looks at her in utter shock and both Baek and Taemin laugh.
"She's so right! Just be like this. Be yourself. Pose like a bad boy or like... you know. Come on, you can pull off everything you can. I will get you some magazines and show you the poses, you can totally do them" Taemin says, standing up.
"I don't know" Kai says, scratching his head. "That takes a lot of work, right? And I'd have to work out and take care of my skin and stuff, I'm too lazy of that"
"Think about all the money you can get for that" Baekhyun says. "Being a model is one of the best jobs right now, cus you get all the attention, and all the chicks, and tons of money"
"I wouldn't exaggerate the money thing-" Mari mumbles, but then Taemin is back with twenty or more magazines in his hands. He throws it on Kai's thighs, making him hiss and jump.
"What the , man?" he asks with pained expression and Taemin just beams, again.
"Where did you get these?" Mari asks, taking the first magazine from the pile.
"I'm secretly a drag queen" Taemin says, sitting down, with a small, pleasant smile on his lips. There's complete silence in the room and everybody is just looking at him with wide eyes. "Oh my god I'm kidding. Come on" he kicks Baekhyun on the calf and the other boy giggles.
"I didn't need that mental image to be honest" Kai says under his nose, opening the first magazine.
"Oh but you've seen be in a dress already, remember? On that party at-"
"SHUT UP" the younger boy shoves a magazine up Taemin's face and his voice gets all muffled. Mari and Baekhyun just laugh.
"Wait, was it the night you two decided to make out?" Mari asks with a gasp, and Kai throws all the magazines at her and stands up.
"NO WAY, YOU TOLD HER?" Taemin shouts and starts laughing, and soon, the three of them are a laughing mess on the couch. Kai stares at him with eyes full of terror.
"I can't believe you're my friends" he says and walks around the room.
They calm down after a few minutes of weird mumbling sentences. Kai eventually joins them, but only when Taemin mentions how Jonghyun looked when he saw them making out. That makes Kai crack.
"But no, seriously, give it a try" Mari finally says when they're done laughing. "Modeling, I mean". She still has teary eyes and Taemin's face is all red, but he doesn't speak about himself crossdressing anymore. Baekhyun is hiccuping. "You don't have any idea how much money you can make on that. And all the fame? Totally worth it. If you at modeling, that's a shame, but if you don't try, you won't know"
"Yeah, totally" Taemin says. "And if you're going to try, go all the way. Otherwise, don't even start. This could mean losing girlfriends, wives, relatives and maybe even your mind." Baekhyun, Mari and Kai looks at him, frowning. "It could mean not eating for three or four days. It could mean freezing on a park bench. It could mean jail."
"Did you just quote Bukowski?" Kai asks, or rather spats, and Taemin sends him that stupid, proud smile. Mari rolls her eyes, Baekhyun cracks up and Kai raises his brows, not sure if he should smile or cry, which makes his face look ridiculous.
"You are truly my brother now" he says, and Taemin goes all 'aww' and suddenly there's a lot of hugging. Mari and Baekhyun just laugh together.
Kai spends the next two days debating with himself if he should go or not. He decides on going, but it takes a lof of confidence to do so. When he's standing in front of the giant glass building, he wonders how would it be like to come here everyday for photo sessions. The thought alone seems completely bizarre.
He walks toward the reception, where a very young girl is sitting. She has pretty eyes and plump lips, and very short hair. She's currently talking on her phone, but she gestures for him to wait a minute, then scribbles something on her notepad.
"Thank you sir, have a good day" she says and hangs up. Then she looks up at Kai and smiles widely. "How can I help you?"
"Um, hi" Kai frowns and looks around awkwardly at all the people wearing expensive suits and holding briefcases; he looks like a homeless here, with his blue blouse and leather jacket. Thank god he wore skinny jeans and not the baggy ones he prefers (Mari's decision). "I had an appointment with... Choi Siwon?" he says. The receptionist raises her brows.
"Ah, yes" she says, sudden realization in her voice. "I can see why he wanted you to work for us" she smiles. "My name is Sulli, I'll take you to him".
Sulli turns out to be very talkative, but she keeps her distance and doesn't ask about anything personal. She tells him where everything is and where he'd find the toilet. She also tells him that Siwon is incredibly kind and funny and there's nothing to be scared of.
When he finally gets to Siwon's office, he's welcomed with a nice cup of coffee and football match playing on a huge tv on the wall.
"Ah, welcome" the older man says. He shakes Kai's hand and the boy tries not to flinch. It doesn't really work. "Not really fond of touching, huh? I'm sorry, I'll stop this. I mostly grew up in the States, all that body touch barrier here is quite shocking for me"
Kai nods, his guts all knotted.
"You haven't intoduced to me properly" Siwon notices.
"Kim Jonging" Kai says.
"Okay, Kim Jonging. Let's get started then" the man clicks something on his phone and Kai frowns nervously. "Strip"
Well .
~*~
Naturally, when he tells this Mari, she just laughs at him. Very openly and very loudly.
"And what did you do?" she asks.
"Well they brought a lot of clothes and showed me where the locker room is, and yeah, I did strip, but I also wore some clothes and them took me for a photoshoot"
"And how was is?"
"Awkward, I guess"
Kai enjoyed it, really. At first he was shy, but there was still something like in him from that bad boy he was before he met Sang Hee. He kinda liked the attention and he had to admit that he liked the photos they took of him quite much. When it was over and they showed it to him, all the photographers and makeup artists and designers around them, they were all pleased and told him what he should work on and what are his best features. Turns out his whole face is his advantage, oh well.
"I told you it's going to be fine, great even" Mari sighed. "So? Do you want to work for them?"
"I told them I'm gonna think about it. I have time till the end of the week"
Mari hums and takes a sip of her cocoa.
"Hey" she says suddenly, after a few minutes. Kai raises his brow to let her know that he's listening, even though his eyes are closed; he's pretty sleepy.
"Can I draw you?" Mari asks quietly. At this, the boy opens his eyes and tilts his head a little to see her.
"Right now?"
"Yeah, if you don't mind"
"You never asked me this"
"I know I didn't, but I want to try. You said that you can be my model, remember?"
"Yeah" Kai nods. Mari's eyes are shiny with hope and he smiles at that. "Yeah, go ahead, I don't really mind" he yawns. "Can I keep my eyes closed though?"
Mari laughs, but doesn't answer. Kai guesses that she nods, but he can't see it, because he's already slowly falling asleep.
He signs a contract two days later, Mari shows him her drawing of him and he's dumbstruck, because they seem so real and amazing.
"You got my jaw perfectly" he says, mocking her, and she nudges him with her elbow, smiling.
He can't remember when their relationship got from mysterious, angsty and quiet to open, pleasing and so warm. He doesn't know when he stopped to be his old, brooding self and started to become himself again. He doesn't know when Mari started to smile honestly again, but he knows that he's happy.
"God" he says, staring at his portrait on the wall. Mari looks up at him. Her hair look even redder than always; warm, orange sun is flowing into the room, making the floor all golden, and her skin glowing. Her eyes look darker than usually, or maybe it's just her pupils that are widened and makes them completely black, he doesn't know.
"I'm really happy right now" he says. "Everything is... returning to its place, somehow, it's just..." he looks at Mari and he feels his skin tingle. There's warmth spreading in his stomach every time he looks at her and now it's so overwheling that he just wants to hold her and keep her close. Mari seems to get the clue, because she steps a little bit closer and their shoulders touches.
Kai's heart seems to ache in the moment their skin collides. He can also feel a wave of electricity going up his spine. All those sensations mix with incredible fondness he has for her and it's just enough to make him all fuzy and butterly inside.
"I feel fuzzy" he says.
"Or maybe you're an actual teddy bear stuffed with cotton and sweets" Mari laughs, and Kai giggles. It's a manly giggle, though, he tries to convince himself. "I should draw you as a bear"
"Ohh, don't you dare" Kai jumps away from her, but Mari's eyes are already shining.
"And cotton candy will just flow out from your stomach!" she claps her hands, proud of herself.
"That's the stupidest idea I've ever heard of" Kai states, shaking his head. "And just so wrong"
"Gah, you're no artist" Mari says and disappears in the kitchen. Kai glances at his portrait again and smiles.
~*~
When he starts working at the firm it all seems pretty easy and organized. But after four days, he's exausted and he can't even comprehend how Sulli can be so calm when doing everything. She's always on time, she knows everything (like, everything. Want to hear about the last affair in the firm? Go to Sulli. Wants to know how many money does another firm earn a week? Go to Sulli! Coffe machine doesn't work? Go to Sulli. Curious about the situation in Guatemala? Ask Sulli) and she helps him every time he s something up. She's incredible and he owes her a lot, because she's the only person ever who saved him from walking around without his pants on. Because Taemin would never save him from that, he would join him.
On his fifth day it gets better. He still gets yelled at quite a lot, and the older models all act like pricks, but Kai is kind used to those kind of people. He just keeps cool and if they're crossing the line, he uses sarcasm until the other dude can't catch up with him. There's nothing better than their dumb faces when he does that.
He gets his real photo session on the sixth day and one of them shows up in the next magazine. It's a small one, and it's mostly just his torso in a suit from some new collection, but that's something. He gets his first paycheck after a month and that's when he realizes that he's a model.
Taemin stares at the money with his eyes wide.
"That'll pay off your rent for three months" he says.
"I know" Kai gasps.
"That's crazy" Taemin states, blinking furiously.
"I know" Kai looks at him.
"Maybe I should think about getting into this business"
Kai snorts.
"Oh how humble you are" he says. "But, yeah. It would be awesome to work together, wouldn't it?"
"Are you kidding me? We would be the hottest stuff in the whole magazine! Two attractive male friends with amazing hair and many talents and don't forget the cheekbones" he his cheeks, like it's something sacred, to ephasize his words. Kai can't help but to snort again.
"It's a shame I can't show anywhere right now" he sighs. "Since I have that stupid contract with that stupid entertainment"
"When are they even going to let you perform, man?" Kai asks, and Taemin suddenly seems out of air completely. He pouts.
"I don't know, but it's been almost four years. I think that I'm trained enough. And I don't even need to have a makeover, look at me. I'm the only artist ever who was hot predebut"
"God you're so narcisstic" Kai rolls his eyes.
"You love it" Taemin answers, smirking. "What's with you wearing all black?"
Kai looks at his black jeans and black blouse and gets stuck in his own thoughts for a second.
"I have to do something" he says. Then he glances at the clock. "I should get going really"
"Wait, what re you doing?" Taemin asks, turning on his chair when Kai walks towards the hallway. "You're not doing any shady business, are you? I know that industry can change a man, but you're not becoming a dealer, are you?"
"No, I'm not!" Kai shouts.
"Jongin-ah!"
"I'm not, hyung!"
Taemin puffs and gives up.
"Just don't get beat up and don't fall from the roof!"
Kai’s head popped around the door.
"How do you know I'm going to go rooftopping?"
Taemin scoffs and waves his hand at him.
It's quite dark when Kai gets to the place he intended to. It's warm and the the last rays of sun are making the clouds orange at the horizon. He puts his hoodie on and jumps from one roof to another; it's barely one meter long, but still makes his blood boil a little; it's been a long time since he has been up here. Seems like ages really.
He has just one target: to find Mari.
He's not stupid. He knows that she always pays her debt off on the last day of the month. He just doesn't know how it all looks like.
At first it was curiosity that made him ever think about following her. Then, it was concern. Then it kinda mixed.
Kai wanted to help her. He wanted to make sure she's safe and than there's really nothing he could do. He didn't want her to be alone in this. That's why he decided to do what he was about to do.
He gets to the same street she lives on and waits. When she comes out he simply follows her. He's keeping his distance, but slowly gets closer and closer, but always above her. When she enters that slightly abandoned part of the city and her hands starts to tremble, he's starting to get nervous.
Seeing her fraightened like that doesn't make it much better. He can see how wobbly her legs are and how her hands are shaking; how she looks around, her head twitching unpleasantly at every sound and move, every shadow on the wall. She stops at some point, and Kai lays on the roof and hides. But then he decides to change his position a bit, so he can see her face. When he finally gets from one rooftop to another, he sees three silhouettes making their way towards the red haired.
His guts are twisted and he's barely breathing. He has a feeling that even the tiniest sound he makes will get their attention. He can't even imagine how scared Mari must feel. How scared she'd felt for all those years.
And she was completely alone in that mess.
He can't hear the man talking, but Mari's face is getting paler and paler with every word, and it doesn't look good. The girl takes a step back at something and winces. One of the three man, the one with a hat, makes some gesture at her and Mari pulls out an envelope from her purse and hands it to him.
The man takes it and counts the money very, very slowly. Kai can't take his eyes off the girl. She's scared and wrecked, and her eyes have never been as alive and jumpy as they're now.
He clenches his fists and fights with every muscle in his body to not get up, get down there and kick the guys' asses. But he knows he can't.
He's going to follow them next. He's going to find out where their hideout is and he's going to call the cops, or... whatever. Do something. He's going to fix this.
But then he sees Mari's eyes widening and she suddenly looks to the right. Kai frowns and waits. That's when he notices a tall man walking towards the red haired. His first reaction is to stand up, but when the man turns, he sees it's Mari's brother.
And maybe it should've calm him down, but it only makes him even more nervous. Seems like Mari is going through the same thing.
Kai wants to get closer. He wants to hear them talking, but he can't, he's stuck; they hear him, they see him, and that won't end prettily.
So he stays and watches.
He watches as Jaejoong talks with the man and pulls out a check from his suit. He notices Mari's stare full of utter shock and fear. Her eyes are jumping from Jaejoong's to the gangster's face and she's pulling and squeezing her fingers.
"You'll break it, you idiot" Kai says quietly.
That's when the guy in a hat pulls out a gun.
Kai reacts immediately; he shots up and runs towards the ladder, but a shot has been made when he was on his way. The sound of it is incredibly loud and it actually makes his ear hurt. It's not how it is on the movies.
He hears Mari's gasp and short squeak and a lot of footsteps; when he's back on the ground, there's no gangsters, just Jaejoong laying on the ground and Mari holding him, and squeezing her hand to him stomach.
His whole shirt is dripping with black.
Kai's mind goes timid, but sharp. He runs towards them. Mari doesn't even give a lot of thought to him suddenly showing up.
"CALL AN AMBULANCE!" she shouts, her voice breaking. She's violently pushing onto the wound, trying to stop the blood from falling. Kai's already calling.
"Look at me" Mari says, careesing Jaejoon's face and sobbing quietly. "Don't you dare to die on me. We're not done yet. Don't sleep, Jaejoong, don't sleep"
"I'm-" he rasps, but a trick of blood rolls out from his mouth.
"Shh"
"They're coming" Kai says. His voice sounds completely different from the way he's feeling. He's feeling panicked and scared, and yet, his voice it strong and loud. He bends down and takes off his blouse. He puts it on Jaejoong wound.
"Press" he says, and helps Mari to press it. Jaejoon's eyes are slowly getting sleepy and he's not far from unconsciousness. The red haired sobs violently and Kai tangles his fingers with hers, even though it's covered with fresh, warm blood.
He can feel that hideous scent. He feels the fluid sinking into his jeans and smearing all over his hands. His heart is the only sound he can hear, right after Mari's heavy breathing and Jaejoong's raspy ones; he's on the verge of panic, and so is Mari. The only thing that keeps them sane is the fact that they're together. They're each other's anchors.
They can hear the sirens wailing.
"The ambulance is here" Mari says, patting Jaejoong's cheek. "They're here, you hear me? You're going to be okay"
Jaejoong is looking at her like she's a saint. Kai isn't completely sure if he's still in their world.
Kai can feel a pair of strong hands taking his blouse away and pushing him off the man's body. There're doctors everywhere. There're sirens and people and ruckus, and Mari's tears are streaming down her face. He gets to her and embraces her.
They're both shivering so much that he's not sure if the world isn't falling apart.
~*~
There's red water all over the floor. It's sticky and it smells, and now all his shoes are covered with it. There's more and more of it. Kai has never seen any water getting higher so fast.
"Kai"
There's a snake inside the water. He sees it sneaking towards him, a sharp, graceful shape in the water. It's going to bite him.
"Kai, wake up"
The snake is right beside him. It touches his leg and Kai can feel it's cold body climbing up his calf. Then he sees it's red eyes and sharp canines, and the snakes moves it's head to bite him.
"Kai!"
He jerks on his seat and sees copper hair in front of him.
"Are you okay?" Taemin asks, his eyes full of worry. "Suho called me. He couldn't come"
"I'm-" Kai looks around. He remembers the shooting and the whole evening and his heart rate speeds up. His lungs feels like...
"Wow, easy" Taemin is right beside him, and he puts his head between his thighs. "Breathe"
Kai does. After a few minutes he's calmer.
"I fell asleep"
"Yes you did"
"What happened to Jaejoong?"
"You mean the guy that got shot?" Taemin asks. "He's fine. He's alive. Mari is with him"
"Is she okay?"
"Go see yourself" Taemin waves at him and Kai can already sense something else to it. He can see impatience in that little wave and anger in Taemin's eyes, but he decides to leave it. He stands up, his legs really sore, and he points at some doors. Taemin nods, and Kai enters the room.
Like any hospital space, it's all white with some green elements and it smells of antibiotics. He sees Jaejoong with an oxygen mask and Mari sitting beside him.
"Mari?" Kai says, when he gets close enough. He's frowning, and the red haired shots her head up. She stands up and makes her way towards him. "Are you oka-"
Slap.
Well, that was something Kai wasn't expecting for sure.
He opens his mouth in an 'o' and stares at her. Mari pursuses her lips and then her eyes get watery again.
"What, no, wait, don't" Kai says, pulling her into an embrace. "Don't cry, it's okay" he says, and he can feel her tears on his shoulder. Mari doesn't make a single noise, not even a quiet sob; Kai can't believe that she's actually crying. "It's okay. He's alive. He's going to be okay"
"Just so you know" Mari says, squeezing him hard. Kai pulls her even closer, if that's even possible. "I gave you a slap because I'm mad at you and not because I have some weird mood swings"
"Are we really going to have a discussion about your obvious-"
"Don't even finish that sentence"
Kai scoffs.
Mari pulls away and tries to get rid of her tears, but only smears them more.
"What was he even doing there?" Kai asks.
"He wanted to pay off the whole debt" she said. "But it's not his debt, so they shot him for interrupting the translation. Of course, they took the check and my money, and I still have a debt" Mari explains.
She looks devastated, but sure reliefed.
"I..." she starts, her voice quiet. "I thought that I'm going to lost him right there"
"But you didn't" Kai says, taking her hand. "He's okay. He'll get healthy right away, you'll see"
And at that, Jaejoong stirrs in his sleep. Mari watches his for a second and turns towards Kai again.
"More importantly, what were you doing there?" she asks, and yes, she's angry. She almost looks like a snake in Kai's dream and that thought is more than disturbing.
"I was just walking past-" he tries, but Mari scoffs.
"Yeah, on the rooftops" she says. "We promised each other we will be honest, remember?"
Kai stares at her. There's a long minute of them just looking at each other. He takes in Mari's dirty clothes and hands. She didn't get rid of the blood completely; her fingernails are red and her skin is pinkish. She has a smear of red blood on her cheek and Kai gets closer to clean it. He rubs his finger on her cheek quite strongly and Mari just obeys, closes her eyes and waits.
"I wanted to follow them" Kai says, still rubbing. "I wanted to see where they'll go. Where is their... groundwork, or something. I wanted to find out who they are"
"I tried to find out" Mari says. Kai got rid of the stain. "But they're always going somewhere else and they're good in what they're doing. They know when I follow them. I don't know much about them, just their nicknames and that Garn is the boss"
"Garn is the one in a hat?"
"Yeah. And the one who's got his nose broken by you is Flash"
"Isn't that a superhero's name?" Kai frowns. Mari rolls her eyes. "That's sick"
"Well, yes, their names aren't really original" she admits. "The skinny one is called Laser. Garn is dangerous, but Flash and Laser? Flash is just violent, but he's an idiot, and Laser is a sarcastic and vicious piece of-"
"Rainbow" Kai interrupts, and gets Mari's frowned brows and a little smile.
"What?"
"I don't like it when you swear" Kai shrugs, admitting. Mari laughs at him. "So... Garn is their boss?"
"Yeah, but they have another boss, that is higher than Garn" Mari says.
"Someone a'la Vito Corleone?"
"I think that he wishes to be Corleone, but he's not. He just tries. Also, he's skinny like Death in Supernatural"
"I love your cultural references" Kai laughs and Mari rolls her eyes at him.
Jaejoong stirs in his sleep once again and he snaps his eyes open, his heart rate speeding. Mari lets go of Kai's hand and goes to her brother, and Kai clenches his fists.
He exits the room, but he stays in the hospital and waits until Mari is ready to go.
____________________________________________
Hi guys!
First af all, wow, I was shocked that there's so many new subscribers! I just wanted to thank you all for reading this, it's really amazing that so many people are interested in my writing lol. I'm sorry that it takes so long for me to write /sigh/. Life is a .
Tell me what you think and thanks for all your comments, I do read them and they make me really motivated to write more, so. Also, yes, I'm gonna try to write another chapter today to add it in a week and not in next month like I usually do /hides in a hole in utter shame/
Also if anybody is not okay with some language in there just let me know.
Thank you all so much for reading and I hope that you're still enjoying it!
(and forgive me if there's any typos gaah)
Comments