Things changed after that phone call with Lay.

He stopped trying to contact you; he even deactivated his social networking accounts.

Your spirit was gone. You could not function well. You just felt so down you almost never left your room.

You didn’t know what to feel. You didn’t know whether to hate Lay or continue loving him. You were so torn. You tried to understand why he would do that to you. But in the end, there was still this gaping hole in your chest. Yes, you had hurt him. But did that justify his actions? Was it right for him to team up with his “best friend”, whom he hadn’t bothered to introduce to you before, into fooling you? 

Luhan apparently got tired of your downcast attitude and took matters into his own hands.

He forced you to watch a comedy movie with him in his room, even giving you the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to stay on his bed. He never permits anyone to get on his bed. No one could lay on it, sit, or even touch the covers. He has issues with it that even you, the beloved sister, could not be exempted from it.

But now he was letting you.

He even arranged his pillows so you could comfortably prop your back on it.

“Now will you tell me what’s wrong with you?” Luhan asked for the umpteenth time already as he squeezed you so tight. He was pushing your head tightly on his chest, you could barely breathe. You just stayed limp in his arms, trying your hardest to search for oxygen as you tried not to die.

He must have felt your lack of breath since he finally let go of you.

You stared at his face and you could see how he was trying to conceal his worry.

“Dongsaeng… Don’t be like this.” He put his hands on both of your cheeks and played with them, pulling and tugging, trying to make you feel better through his silliness.

 “C’mon…” he whined and then kissed you on top of the head.

You sighed and pushed him away.

“I thought you want to watch, oppa? Stop this nonsense now. I told you I’m alright. Nothing’s wrong with me,” you mumbled the last part. You moved back to your previous position against the pillows and resumed watching the movie.

Luhan sighed audibly.

What is he going to do with you?

You had never lacked in response to his antics like this.

He was so bothered about your recent behaviour that he called up other people to ask about you. He asked Kris if you were already this gloomy the last time he met you, and he said no. He also contacted Yin but she said you didn’t tell her anything.

Luhan was doubtful with her answer. She was your best friend; it was automatic for you to call her up whenever you are troubled. It was fishy how you wouldn’t contact her. But then, she just might be lying to cover up for you.  But why must she lie? What could you be hiding from him that would force Yin to even lie to him in the first place? Since he knew where Yin’s loyalty lies, he just decided to stop pestering her. He thought that with just a little bit more perseverance, he’ll make you open up to him.

But that goal is proving to be rather hard for him to achieve. You were not budging from his numerous attempts to make you talk about it, and he was running out of ideas. As a brother, he was deeply disturbed with the thought of you concealing things from him; making him feel upset and nervous at the same time.

Luhan moved to mirror your position on the bed. But instead of watching the movie, he was watching you, your facial expressions.

He knew that you weren’t watching. You were just looking blankly at the TV screen, not even paying attention to the story. If you were, you would’ve been laughing right now. But you just remained like that, passive.

Luhan moved closer to you and draped his arm over your shoulders.

He gave you a look and you just stared at him in resignation. You knew very well that there was no way you could stop Luhan when he was determined about what he wanted.

You just slightly shook your head at his actions and snuggled your body to him.

“You’re really worried about me, aren’t you? Well you shouldn’t. I just simply want to mope around.” You said softly while your eyes were glued to the TV screen.

Luhan rolled his eyes at your statement and poked your cheek with his finger. “No one mopes around just because they want to try moping around. If you’re going to lie, please try a little harder.”

He then pushed your hair back with a hand, and started to lightly massage your head. You closed your eyes from relaxation.

“You know you can tell me anything right? Anything. What happened to ‘Luhan oppa is the best oppa in the whole world’? I always watch out for you and I have your best interest at heart. Maybe you should open up to adorable Luhan and let him help you with whatever you’re going through?” he asked, his voice laced with expectation.

“How can you help me when I don’t even have a problem?” you sleepily told him.

Luhan’s hand in your hair stopped moving and his brows twitched in irritation. It was annoying him how you would tell an outright lie when it was obvious to the two of you that you were not alright.

“Okay. Fine. I give up now.” He threw his hands up in surrender. “When have I stopped being your brother? You grew up so fast and you don’t need me now.”

He rubbed his face in exasperation and pushed you away from him.

You calmly watched your brother as he got out of the bed and left the room, slamming the door shut.

You slapped your face, and blew out a heavy breath.

It made you feel bad that you had to put barriers between you and Luhan, when all you wanted was to let him in, take comfort in him.

It was just that you were ashamed of him for going behind his back, hiding your past relationships.

You were scared. Scared of how he might react when he finds out how you were lying in omission to him for years.

You were 20, old enough to make your own choices. But to Luhan, you were not. Luhan was not normal to you in that way. He was almost, if not, acting like your father. You felt like you have this unspoken duty to Luhan to ask him for permission before doing anything you want to do. And the awful thing was he had already set out the rules of what he didn’t want you to do. One of those was not being with any guy until you graduated. He said he was a guy and he knew what guys do and he was just looking out for you. That was a rule you found nonsensical, and that was why you weren’t threatened to go against Luhan then. But now that he was back with you and more protective than ever, you were scared less. You knew how betrayed Luhan would be sure to feel.     

You lied down on your stomach and buried your face in his pillows in remorse.

---------------------------------------------------

“I better like this place you’re bringing me to, Kris,” you told him as you fastened your seatbelt in the passenger’s seat.

That day, you woke up to Kris’s incessant ringing of your doorbell. When you opened the door and let him enter your apartment, he just looked at your almost fully recovered knee and forced you to go out on a date with him.

“Even if you won’t like the place, you should pretend to like it for my sake. Be appreciative of my treat?” he said as he narrowed his eyes playfully at you, and gave you a small and sweet smile before shifting the gear.

Soon, the two of you were on your way already and the ride was eerily quiet.

“I’m getting deaf with your silence, ____,” he complained as he stopped his car at an intersection, waiting for the traffic light to turn to green.

“Then play some music.”

“No. I want to hear your voice.”

You ignored his statement.

“Luhan told me you sing. Sing for me?” he gently requested from you.

“I don’t sing, Kris. Luhan was just messing with you.”

“Then talk. Just talk. Let me hear your beautiful voice.”

You raised a brow at him incredulously. “Why are you flirting with me?”

He gave you a look. “I just really like hearing your voice. Besides, I’m dating you. What’s wrong with that?”

“You know I am still in lo---…” You remembered your situation with Lay and that shut you up.

Kris glanced at you as he caught your change of mood. He opted to remain silent and just continued driving towards your destination in concentration.

He wouldn’t force you to tell him anything. But he would willingly offer himself to you if you needed someone to talk to.    

Later on, you were starting to feel restless. And just like Kris, the deafening silence was taking a toll on you. You decided to open his stereo and tuned it on the radio.

♫ When the world turns dark and the rain quietly falls, everything is still.
Even today, without a doubt, I can’t get out of it.
I can’t get out from the thoughts of you. ♫

You leaned back and looked outside of the window as you take in the lyrics of the song, your thoughts inevitably going to Lay.

♫Now, I know that it’s the end. I know that it’s all just foolishness. Now I know that it’s not true.
I am just disappointed in myself for not being able to get a hold of you because of that pride. ♫

You abruptly changed the station when the song got too much for you.

♫ Don't tell me it's over… ♫

You changed it again.

♫ Baby I’m so lonely lonely lonely lonely lonely… ♫

You harshly turned the radio off.

Kris neither questioned your frantic actions nor told you off for not being gentle with his property.

“Are we there yet?” you asked as you rubbed your forehead.

“Yes, we are, actually.”

Your head turned to look outside, to the store where Kris was currently parking in front of. Your eyes widened at the sight.

Your head snapped back to Kris and you stared at him in wonder. “How did you know?”

He chuckled at your apparent amazement. Your mood was changing into something better and it made him feel good to see a small smile tugging at your lips, which is a feat in itself. According to Luhan, you weren’t smiling nowadays. Maybe he was doing something right after all. “I’m your soul mate.”

You just scowled at him.

By the time Kris successfully parked the car and turned off the engine, you couldn’t help but feel excited at the thought that you were finally here once again. Thoughts of Lay vanished when you saw the familiar colourful logo of the store. Kris took you to the place you had been wanting to go to for weeks now. It was your favourite dessert shop that caters to mouth-watering cakes, delicious ice creams, and whatnots.

Just as you were about to open your door, Kris stopped you with a hand on your shoulder. You stared at him shaking his head.

He hurriedly went out of the car and ran towards your door, opening it like a gentleman.

“Now, even though you’ve almost recovered fully, you need to take it easy for a day more. We’re bending the rules here so you need to take it easy, okay?”

You rolled your eyes at him. “Who forced me to leave in the first place?”

“Why? Do you hate it? Do you want to go back now?”

“No! I mean we’re here anyway, let’s make the most of it.” You cleared your throat.

Kris offered his hand for you to take, and you took it.

You gently got out of the car and Kris closed the door for you.

As you were walking towards the store, you made a move to remove your hand from him but he tightened his grip on you.

You glanced at him in surprise. He just continued looking at where you both were heading.    

Kris took you to a seat near the glass windows.

“What do you want to eat?” he asked you when the waiter came over and handed the menu to the two of you.

“Mmmm.” You placed your index finger on your closed lips as you thought about what to eat. The food in the menu all looked so delicious, making it difficult for you to decide.

Meanwhile, Kris, who was sitting in front of you, was distracted by your actions. The way you continually bounced your finger over your lips made him look intently into those soft-looking pair.

“Banana split,” you told him but he did not respond.

Curious with his silence, you stared at him and saw him looking at you, seemingly transfixed with your face. You suddenly felt self-conscious and you wiped your face from any dirt.

You looked at his unresponsive face again.

“Hey!” You snapped your fingers in front of him and moved your hand from side to side. “Earth to Wu Yifan!”

He jolted slightly on his seat and cleared his throat. “What?” he asked carefully, testing if you knew he was fantasizing about your lips.

“I said I want Banana split.” You tutted. “This person. Asking me out just to space out on me…”

 Kris ignored your last statement. “That’s all?”

“Yes. I don’t think my throat is up for too much sweet and cold stuff.”

“Okay.”

He then turned to look at the waiter.

“One banana split and 2 bottles of water please.”

“You’re not going to eat?”

“I will. The banana split.”

You gave him a mildly quizzical glance. “What are you saying?”

“Banana split is for two people,” he slowly told you as if he was talking to a kid.

“Duh. I know. I want it all to myself.” you said as you crossed your arms over your chest.

He just gave you a look and then turned to the waiter to say that your orders were complete.

You stared at him in disbelief.

“Well I hope you’re prepared to go hungry ‘cause there’s no way I’m letting you share my ice cream," you told him petulantly.

“I’m paying so I am more entitled to that ice cream than you are.” He leaned his body to the table and rested his crossed arms over it.

You bit your lower lip and chewed on it as you thought of possible ways to win over this argument. You would just say that you were going to pay for it instead. But unfortunately, you left your wallet at home. You were currently broke and at his mercy.

Once again, Kris’ eyes trailed over your abused lips, his thoughts tempting him to find out whether they were really as chewable as you made them out to be.

You looked at him and saw him donning the same look from before, and you were taken aback for a moment.

You studied his expression intently.

When you came to his eyes, your breath hitched, and you felt the heat creep up to your cheeks.

That was the same way Lay used to look at you whenever he wanted to kiss you and get intimate with you!

Instead of feeling violated, you didn’t know why you were feeling embarrassed.

Clueless on how to stop him, you hastily covered your face with both of your hands and stayed like that.

Kris finally snapped out of his desire-induced haze when you rudely covered what he was fantasizing about.

Kris would’ve been embarrassed himself in this kind of situation during normal times. But right now, he was feeling a little playful and figured that he should tease you for a bit.

“Why are you covering your face?” he asked you in his normal voice.     

“You’re looking at me,” you mumbled through your hands.

“Do you normally cover your face when people look at you?”

“Well you were looking at me weirdly.”

“Weirdly? Maybe you should describe it to me more sensibly.” He smirked as he propped up his chin on his palm.

“Well you look like you’re…”

“I’m…?” he leaned closer to you.

“You’re… just weird! Weird! Weird! Now stop looking at me!” you screamed at him and he laughed soundlessly. He couldn’t help it. Kris finds your reaction cute and entertaining.

“I’m not even looking at you now,” he said when his laughter abated.

You parted your fingers to peek at him and saw that he was indeed telling the truth. He was facing the side, looking at the hustle and bustle of the people outside the shop.

You figured that you were already safe from his heated stare and removed your hands from your face.

You calmed down your worked up nerves and started to breathe regularly.

Just as you were about to feel completely at ease, you felt the wind got knocked out of you as Kris turned his head to you in a charismatic way, his thumb sliding purposely on his bottom lip. His eyes bore into you as he ran his tongue seductively on his lower lip, biting it in an extremely enticing manner afterwards.

'Oh. My. God'

You gulped before your saliva could choke you to death.

He was staring at you as if he was undressing you with his eyes, and you were too stunned with what was happening to move.

The moment was soon disturbed though by the slamming of your dessert on the table.

You saw another waiter, a female waiter, glaring at you. She even slammed the bottled water in front of you and you were suddenly annoyed at her untoward attitude.

On the opposite side of you, Kris was confused with how the waitress was acting. The waitress turned to him and he was surprised when the girl gave him a sweet smile, gently placing his water in front of him.

The waitress scooted closer to him. “Is there anything I could help you with, sir?” she softly said as she fluttered her eyes at him.

You looked at the waitress in disbelief.

'The waitress was being territorial over Kris? Kris, the guy I’m currently on a date with? Oh hell no! This won’t disrespect me like this! '

You gave the waitress a nasty glare as she bravely flirted with Kris right in front of you.

Kris looked over to you and saw your face contorting into contained anger.

He glanced at the waitress and reached his hand over to yours on the table; his thumb caressing the back of your hand to appease you. “No, I don’t think there’s anything more I’ll need. But maybe you can ask the same for my girl?” he said as he looked at you with a smile.

“No. You can leave now,” you arrogantly told her as you turned your hand over so that you could hold hands with Kris.

'Yes. Die of envy, you rude girl.'

The waitress had the guts to look insulted at your actions, but then she just shrugged as if she could care less. She flipped her hair at you and walked away like a prima donna.

Even though you were mad at her actions, you still smiled smugly as she walked away.

“Why are you looking like you won something?”

You laughed at him, your first laugh in days. “Well, she was stepping on my ego.”

He raised his brow at you and teasingly smiled at you. “Were you jealous?”

“No. Why would I be?” you childishly stuck your tongue out at him.

For the second time that day, you made a move to remove your hand from him. But again, he refused to let go of you.

“Hey! Let go of my hand. I want to eat now,” you slapped his hand that was holding yours.

“Let’s just stay this way.”

Kris moved the ice cream between the two of you.  He then grabbed a spoon and started digging in.

You just looked at him as if he was insane.

“C’mon, Kris. Free my hand so I can eat now,” you whined at him, envious of him for already tasting the ice cream.

“If I can eat with a hand, you can do so as well,” he said as he continued to eat.

“No. I can’t. I need my other hand. Let me go now, please,” you tried to act cute around him. Desperate time calls for desperate measures! You couldn’t let Kris eat the majority of your ice cream!

He didn’t let go of your hand, instead he pushed his spoonful of strawberry over to your mouth.

“Eat it.”

“No, I don’t want to.” You turned your face to the side.

“I won’t be letting go of you so just eat it already.”

“Why? Why are you so intent on doing this?” you asked him as you made a face.

He just winked at you and smiled at you.

“I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time now. Just couldn’t find the right girl before.”