Author’s POV

After saying your goodbyes to the boys, you let Kris drive you home despite the short walk-able distance. He pulled up right outside your house.

“Give me your phone”

You watched as he punched in some numbers, before his own phone started ringing.

“If you need anything, just call me”

“…aren’t you supposed to be really busy?”

“I am, but you can just be my excuse for a little break”

“Tch”

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next day

“I’m off!”

“Eo~, Have a nice day sweetie!”

As usual you would set off and see Kai waiting for you outside your front gate.

“Hey”

Without even saying a ‘hi’ back, you walked towards him with your eyes fixed on that bandaged hand.

Kai was about to reach out to support you like he did yesterday but was interrupted.

“It’s fine. I can walk on my own”

Your voice sounded neutral but Kai was taken aback as he sensed a subtle hint of annoyance in your tone.

“Oh, ok then”

Once again, you glanced down at his hand.

“How’s your hand?”

The possibility of you being annoyed left his mind as you asked that question.

“A lot better, thanks to you”

He smiled brightly at you, which didn’t put you in an any better mood.

“I heard about Miyoung”

The smile on his face dropped. He couldn’t care less about Miyoung, someone ought to have taught her a less sooner or later anyway…but what he did care about is you and you only.

“Did Sehun spill it?”

“It doesn’t matter who told me…fair enough, you wanted to teach her a lesson, I understand that…but punching the window?! Are you crazy?! Have you seen the state of your hand now?! Idiot. Stupid. Stupid Idiot. I swear, you are the most idiotic person I ever met”

Kai froze in shock. (Forgetting the breakup scene) this is the first time you had had an outburst on him.

His eyes observed the way your brows furrowed and how your cheeks heated up with a reddish glow. You were angry, at him, no doubt…so is it really strange that he felt a nice, tingly feeling inside of him?

His lips curved up into a smug smile. And deep down, even he questioned himself…has he actually lost it? Has he finally gone crazy?

Because despite watching this girl shout at him, only one thought occupied his mind

*Even like this, you’re still unbelievably cute*

Noticing the smile on his face, you inhaled some air in frustration. *Is this supposed to be funny?!* Your cheeks puffed up and slowly deflated as the air is let back out.

“Right now, are you…” his eyes sparkled with mischief as he spoke “…worried about me?”

Your eyes fluttered, struggling to form words with your voice lost in your throat.

“sh…shut up!”

Ignoring the fact that your footsteps were rather uneven, you power walked ahead.

“Yah! Wait up! Hyeyi-ah!”

With little effort he quickly caught up, energetically jogging along…though it was completely unnecessary with his long legs in comparison to your short structure, not to mention that your ankle wasn’t in its best condition either.

In no time, Kai had already found himself back at your side. And to inform you of his presence, he decided that it’d be fun to playfully bump into you, causing you to stumble to the left.

It took a few steps for you to regain your balance and you had stopped walking, looking at him with a bewildered expression.

Seeing you look at him wide eyed, drew out a little chuckle. One that wiped that expression off your face as you narrowed your eyes at him instead.

Now it was your turn to bump into him, a bit more harshly in attempt to make him keep his distance from you.

And once again, you quickened your pace…only to have him catching up again

“Yah…stop leaving me behind”

…and you felt him bump into you just like last time, only this time you weren’t so surprised and quickly bumped into him back.

Needless to say this resulted in quite a competitive game of bumping into each other. Each little bump got a little harsher, breaking you two apart for quite a distance before you both closed in again.

Half the time, yous even bumped into other pedestrians and to be quite honest you were rather amazed that you did not go crashing into a lamppost or even a bin

…and that’s literally how it went for the rest of the journey to school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

In school, Kai has remained really giddy, which only meant that he’d bother you even more. He’s never been so giddy before and you weren’t quite sure whether you should be laughing or crying.

As the day went on, you as well as everyone else were starting to question whether he had been possessed by the happy virus, Chanyeol himself.

By the end of the day it was safe to say, you were completely exhausted.

Afterall, with Kai being so energetic all of a sudden, it was none other than you who suffered the most.

And there was only one way you could recover from such fatigue.

…so here you are, stood inside your favourite sweet shop - located in the mall.

It’s time, to stock up.

It took quite a while for you pick out your favourites, which obviously had to include the number 1 must have fruit rocks.

Your purse was emptied out in that one shop…a whole month’s worth of allowance gone…but you had no complaints. I mean who cares about buying new clothes every weekend, when you can keep your permanent sweet tooth satisfied.

Now that your mission has been accomplished, you were planning to head back home, when you realised that you were at the ‘mall’…

*I wonder if it’s a bad time to call. He’s probably busy……but he did say I’m his excuse…so. I guess it’s time for his break then!*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Up in the office, the table has been piled up with documents and files that required reading through and signing. Other than the physical paperwork, extra bits and pieces were being sent to him via email.

Kris leaned back in his chair, resting his head. His eyes felt heavily strained, even with them closed, he could feel a heavy strain.

His eyebrows twitched in annoyance when he hears his phone go off, signalling a new message.

Clumsy Mei:

Break time hehe ^^

At the mall now, wanna meet up?

A small smile fought its way up his face. He looked around the messy table which he had longed to escape from. Thanking God you messaged him. Because true to his words, you really did make a great excuse for him to take a good break

Kris got up from office chair, grabbing his blazer with one hand and making a call with the other.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“I weren’t expecting to see you so soon”

“You’re here!”

Kris stopped walking and looked at you disapprovingly.

“What’s wrong?”

“Is that how you greet me?”

“Oh, well…hi?”

He shook his head in disappointment.

“…good afternoon...? … evening?”

Instead of answering, he silently stared at you expectantly.

“…am I suppose to bow at you, or something?”

His lips let out a quiet sigh as he took a seat besides you. *I should have expected this from you*

“So what’s bring this xiao mei here today?”

“…mei…ah! Oppa!” you beamed

Kris smiled and ruffled your head.

“See, it’s not that hard”

You tried to duck away and sort your hair out.

“Not the hair!”

But he still continued ruffling it teasingly.

“Oppa!”

You threw him your angry face – basically looking like a 6 year old on the verge of having a tantrum.

Kris laughed at your failed attempt to be angry and took his giant hand off your head.

“Ok, I’ll stop…so what did bring you here today then?”

His question immediately lit up your face with glee.

“Sweets!” you took out an already opened packet of strawberry pencils and offered him some, which he gladly took.

“Thanks”

“No problem” you brightly smiled whilst pulling one out for yourself.

“How’s work, still really busy?”

“Mm…really busy”

You noticed the dark circles underneath his eyes and eyed him worriedly.

“You’re not getting enough rest”

You stated flatly, although he wasn’t really affected by it.

“I know, but it can’t be helped”

“You know, if you ever consider transferring job, I’ll gladly help you fill out the form. Current occupation: slave labour”

Why the hell that popped up in your head, you had no idea. But I guess you could say it’s normal for you to say something like that out of nowhere.

But it was considered normal to you, considering how you’re able to say it so nonchalantly.

Kris bursted into laughter

You said that comment so nonchalantly not to mention how random it was, yet he did not expect anything less from you.

“Seriously, what goes on in that head of yours?”

“…suggesting?”

“You’re really unique, you know that?”

“What a way to call someone weird”

“Not weird, just…special”

You childishly glared at him, causing him to chuckle

“I’m joking…so what about you, how’s school?”

Just the question you needed. You could literally feel all the frustration seeping back into your mind.

“Don’t even remind me”

Kris smiled knowingly, urging you to let out your rant.

“What’s he done now?”

And it started.

15 minutes passed. You were still rambling on about how Kai stuck to you all day with all that unforeseen energy of his, whilst Kris listened in amusement. No, he wasn’t amused by the events that happened. He was amused by the fact that you could remember such little details – to the point where he could clearly picture how everything happened like he was there.

When it came to Kai, you would always have so much to say…or rant about. He was amused at how you could let this boy affect you so much without even realising it. And from the sounds of it, you seem to have quite a big effect on him as well.

Yes, somewhere in his heart he could still feel that tinge of aching pain. The feeling was still there, but yours were clearly with Kai yet you still stubbornly refuse to accept it.

“…and if he does something like that, it’s inevitable that’s I’d laugh! But why the hell did he have to do that when I was in Voldemort’s lesson?! Now I have friggin detention with him! Oh god, one hour with the dark lord…I. Am. Doomed”

“Wait, you actually call your teacher Voldemort?”

“Yeh. You have no idea how scary he is. Seriously…no joke…when I heard him shout my name, I literally…almost pooped myself internally!”

Kris bursted into another round of laughter at your words

“Yah, a girl shouldn’t be talking like that” he lightly thumped your head “…and besides, I don’t even think that’s possible”

Rubbing your head, you, also gave that comment a second thought “…yeh I don’t think so either…”

His brows scrunched together into a ‘what?’ face as he laughed to himself at how ridiculous you sound

“…but how am I going to survive one hour on my own with that walking evil?”

“I’m sure you’ll be fine. He can’t be that scary, can he?”

“He is. Ohhh~ it’s all his fault”

There was a look of annoyance on your face. No words were said between yous for a moment. Kris observed you closely *and your mind always find itself back to him*

In that moment, all it took was for him to take a step back to get a grander view of your current situation. And from this analytical point of view, your current mindset all became clear to him.

What he believed he sees, he did not hesitate to say. Maybe he was quite similar to you in this aspect, but he knew better than to let you go on like this.

“You know…right now, don’t you think that you’re trying too hard to dislike the guy?”

You looked at him with your big innocent looking eyes “what do you mean?”

“…it’s just that you’re always full of complaints when it comes to him, yet even then, you are still drawn into every little detail surrounding him”

“Well that’s ‘cause-“

“You’re in denial”

A firm statement that had cut you off and kicked you out of your own comfort zone

“Why the sudden change of topic?”

He smiled softly at you, although it exerted a little bit of a bittersweet vibe.

“I don’t think you realise that he is basically all you spoke about for the past 20 minutes”

His words hit you like a good old slap across the face.

Kris noticed how lost and confused you looked. He felt bad about it but this is probably the only way to push you forward. This is for own good.

“I don’t know what exactly happened between you two, nor do I have the right to into your problems, I’m only saying this because I care. Hyeyi-ah…”

Now that completely caught your attention. Your eyes rounded at the sound of him saying your name.

If you’re not mistaken, he has only ever called you clumsy or xiao mei but for him to actually say your name, that’s a first.

But you had no time to marvel over this foreign experience as it only added to the seriousness in his words. And to be honest, a serious Kris isn’t exactly something you would like come across although you could practically feel hear his sincere concern for you.

You really don’t know how to put it…is this what it feels like to have an older brother who truly cared for you?

“… if you keep dragging this on then both of you are gonna end up getting hurt. If you like him, you like him. If you don’t, you don’t. You need to make your feelings clear and get them out to him. Right now, you’re just leaving him hanging. Don’t you think it’s about time for you to actually move on now? … or are you too scared?”

Someone was finally giving you the scolding you needed. But it was all happening so fast that you don’t even know how to respond. Your mind was all muddled up. It was like a massive mix and match of Kris’ words going on in your head.

And in the end you find yourself mindlessly repeating his last word.

“Scared?”

“Mm…scared of getting hurt again”

Just then, his phone started ringing. It was time for him to head back to the office.

You already knew.

And you actually felt a bit relieved. But at the same time, you felt lost…it didn’t feel right that he’s gonna just leave after saying all that. It made you feel even more lost…kind of like he was abandoning you…which you knew, very well that that isn’t true.

“You should get going”

Your voice was very soft spoken. It’s not that you wanted to send him away. You just needed to think rationally. And you knew you shouldn’t be keeping him here for too long, that would just be too selfish.

“…about what I was saying-”

“I know. I understand. I’ll think about it.”

You noticed how he looked a little reluctant to leave you there and forced out a tiny smile to tell him it’s ok. Only then, did he give you a nod and turned to leave.

“Oppa!”

Kris turned and instinctively caught something you threw. A packet of fruit rocks

“If the stress starts getting to you, eat one. It’ll cheer up…seeya”

Kris watched your leaving figure and smiled to himself *idiot. Even in a situation like this, you still care about other people more*

A/N: ...'cause everyone needs a good oppa to knock some sense into them every now and then.

btw yous do remember the voldemort teacher right? haha we actually have a teacher like that in our college, only that our voldemort is woman lol and yeh she is as scary as hell, some students actually bursted into tears 'cause they were that scared of her...this sounds so exaggerated but im seriously speaking the truth...well they didnt just randomly cry, they were having normal one to one 'chats'