Author’s POV

The town centre where the shopping mall was situated flooded with the younger generation making the best of their school break. And yet here you were, soundlessly roaming the streets as you make your way towards the usual place.

Your mind was rather disjointed, only capable of forming incoherencies. The new revelation had surely become quite a great distraction for you, even the thoughts of Kai was slightly pushed aside for the time being.

After countless hesitant steps, you had finally turned up at yours and Kris’ usual place, the fountains.

And he was already there, sitting on the steps, awaiting your arrival.

He was looking more stressed than usual. Something was surely bothering him.

Maybe it’s the whole engagement thing. Or maybe it’s this whole rich family business that you had no knowledge of whatsoever.

Your feet stayed rooted to the ground, reluctant to take another step forward as the question popped up in your head.

If it wasn’t for that news report you had just watched, would you have ever known about this?

If it wasn’t for that news report, would he have told you?

But then again, you don’t even have it in you to be mad at him after all he has done for you.

Like you’re really in the position to feel that way…but despite knowing this, despite being well aware of it…you still can’t help but to feel that bitterness within you, accompanied by a tinge of disappointment that wasn’t exactly directed at him, but rather at yourself.

This ‘oppa’ of yours…you had always regarded him as family. That was how you felt about him. That’s what you’ve always thought. But families would surely know each other much better than what you know of him, right?

I mean, what exactly do you know about him?

Silently standing there, you quietly eyed the older male, your oppa. And the tinge of disappointment in yourself grew bigger.

At that precise moment, Kris looked up, subsequently catching your eyes.

…well he’s seen you now.

With a deep breath, you took small, subtle steps towards him whilst Kris stood up, glad to see you finally here.

He greeted you with a small smile, unlike his usual ones, it seemed a whole lot more awkward? …uneasy?

He was most likely to be expecting the usual chirpy greetings from you. But there was none.

No running up to him.

No hugs.

You were quiet, and a lot less…expressive.

In his eyes, there seemed to be a deadly cold aura surrounding you. And the smile on his face faltered.

He knew something was wrong. And it’s not hard to guess what.

Forgetting the greeting, you spoke up to him - hesitant yet blunt.

“You’re…getting engaged”

Kris flinched at your directness. For a moment, he could not utter a single word.

He let out a breath that he didn’t even realised he had held in. Whilst you patiently waited for what he would say in response.

“I-I er…yeh……yeh, I am. I’m sorry. I was hoping that I’d be the first person you would find out from”

He stared into your eyes.

“Hyeyi-ah, let me explain-”

“Explain what?” your voice sounded calm, too calm “that, not only do you work at the head office here, but you practically own the entire place as well?”

Your voice, your tone, made him speechless. He was expecting you to lash out at him. And right now, he’d much rather you do that.

Because right now, the calmness within you is scary, it made you scarily unpredictable…something he was not used to. He could usually see right through you but right now, he couldn’t.

“…yeh…I…guess you could say that. I’m sorry, that you had found out from someone else”

Looking up at him, you let out a small sigh and took a seat on the steps. Kris followed your move and seated himself beside you.

“You don’t need to apologise to me. Oppa, it’s not like you actually did anything wrong…it’s not like you lied to me.”

“…even so, I did keep all this from you. So it’s completely understandable if you’re mad.”

“It’s true that you only ever told me you worked in the head office, but that’s…basically true. So don’t be sorry.”

“You say that, but you’re still at mad me…” he tilted his head to search your eyes and spoke with caution “…are you not?”

You looked down, biting onto your bottom lip “…not mad, just…disappointed”

Kris’ face fell at your words *great, ‘cause that makes it a whole lot bett-*

“…in myself”

Now that had his brows knitting together as he turns to you questioningly. His eyes themselves were demanding for you to elaborate on that, which you did.

“It seems as though you know a whole lot of things about me…but now that I think about it, I don’t really know much about you.” Placing your hands under your thighs, you continue staring into the ground, kicking a few stones around. “Either you have no trust in me…”

Kris opened his mouth to disapprove of that point but closed it again as you continued.

“…or you’re too busy concerning yourself with my problems. And I’m guessing it’s the latter. So the one should be apologising here, is me…” you turned to look at him with sincere eyes “…opp- ah!”

The moment you turned, your forehead was met with his finger which pushed your head back with little force.

“Yah, what are you apologising for? Pabo, unlike you who would tell me everything, I kept my background from you…so why would you be sorry?”

Like always, he ruffled your hair, messing it up worse than usual as some form of punishment.

Frantically sitting up to sort your hair out with a pout, you turned your body to him.

“That’s ‘cause what kind of background you come from doesn’t really matter. No matter what, you’re still the oppa I know. And as my oppa, all this time, you had been there for me, listening to me selfishly ramble on about my own life…but what exactly have I done for you? … Nothing“

“Aish! This xiao mei” again, your hair was in a complete mess.

“Can you stop thinking like this? … You being here is more than enough for me. Just so you remember, you’re the only reason why I would break away from work. If it wasn’t for you, I would probably dying from stress up there. So don’t even say you’ve done nothing for me…a-ras-so?” with extra emphasis on those late three syllables, he ruffled your hair even more.

Both your hands were brought up to your head protectively as you desperately tried to flatten it out “…arasso”

“Good” he smiled contently.

As though this whole talk had tired him out, Kris sighed and leisurely sat back, swinging one of his long legs over the other.

“…but oppa”

“Hm?”

“…so what’s this…about your engagement?”

The smile on his face immediately dropped, which you did not fail to take note of.

“…about that…”

“Oppa, do you by any chance- did you…not want this? I mean, you…you don’t seem happy about it”

Kris looked down for a brief second and smiled again as he nonchalantly looked up at the sky, acting like he wasn’t too bothered.

“Well, to be honest…I didn’t really have much of a choice”

“W-what?” you sat up, eyes widening

“…arranged marriage” he simply stated.

*Arranged marriage?* you stared at him in disbelief *how could he still be smiling in a situation like this?*

“Because it’s better to smile than to be stressing myself over something unnecessary” he says, without even looking at you. His eyes explored the skies, observing the weather condition “…ah. It’s gonna rain later” but you completely ignored his random comment that went completely off topic.

“Unnecessary?! H-how could you say this is unnecessary?!”

Hearing your outburst, Kris whipped his head to you in shock.

“It’s your marriage! You’re future! Oppa, you’re gonna be spending the rest of your life with this woman, how could you not care?!”

Kris speechlessly stared into your eyes. He immediately sat up, panicking at the sight of hot tears b in your eyes.

Those tears, they had formed because of him, for him.

“Y-yah! Why are you crying again?”

His arms reached out to you but halted halfway

“Because this isn’t right! O-oppa, i-it’s not right to marry someone you don’t love!”

His eyes widened at your words.

“You don’t deserve this. You deserve so much better!”

Hot tears, brewing with frustration, came rolling down your face as you spoke.

It took a while for that last sentence to sink into his mind.

And when it did, he could only smile at you

…wrapping you into his arms

*Pabo. Can you really not see that I’m already satisfied with having you by my side? Even though, I would always just be here as your oppa, and you would always just be my xiao mei, I’m just glad that I have you here…I’m sorry that I can’t say this out loud but I’ve always wanted to get this out of my chest…I don’t know when my feelings had come to this but I love you…I love you, you clumsy girl.*

Though those words were not heard by you, just telling it you like this was enough to but his heart at rest. The two of you stayed like that for a few minutes before Kris pulled back from the hug, and let you go.

“Wei, xiao mei…you really don’t need to worry about me. I’m fine with it, really. just don’t forget that you deserve you own happiness as well. Don’t you see why I kept hoping for the best between you and Kai? … I really wanted you to be able to be with someone you really love”

He wipes your tears away for you as you sniffled. Looking down from his eyes, you sullenly spoke “…but it’s too late. He’s left…he’s already gone”

Kris smiled his brotherly smile and ruffled your hair, again.

“Don’t worry, you’ll see him again…soon…very soon”

A/N: I'm sorry, it seems like i caused quite a bit of confusion at the end of the last chapter. i mustnt of made it clear, but well as you would have realised in this chapter, it is Kris who's getting engaged, not Kai.

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