Idol(s): Kim Jong In / Kai (EXO)

Genre: Comedy, Romance

Inspiration: Many readers from my friendship-focused, genie story Three Wishes expressed their desire to see the main characters Kwon Ji Won and Kai get together, so this is just a romance-centered one shot that takes place in an alternate universe from Three Wishes (as in no genies) with these characters. You do NOT have to read Three Wishes to understand this story.

Synopsis: Kai wants to take his relationship with Ji Won to the next level, but Ji Won is hardly prepared for him to pop the big question.

Individual Story Link: The Big Question

Posted: 07 November 2015, 18:00 EST

Word Count: 4,782

~//~

When Kwon Ji Won first met Kim Jong In four years ago, she never would have expected to land herself in her current situation. To the few strangers who passed by them at such a late hour in the park, the two looked like an ordinary couple on a stroll, holding hands and sipping their smoothies. They had no idea the history the two had and just how much contempt Jong In and Ji Won had for one another upon first encounter. But time was a funny thing and just as it could separate long-time lovers it could also join long time frenemies.

With a loud bubbling slurp through her straw, Ji Won finished the last of her strawberry banana smoothie. Jong In somehow managed to be more graceful in his drinking and didn’t make a sound while emptying the last of his peach mango smoothie. But Ji Won had long gotten used to this disparity in almost everything the two did. She was still under the impression that Jong In wasn’t fully human – it was the only explanation for his insane hotness, killer athletic skills, and cool demeanor.

Many might wonder why Ji Won had once disliked someone so presumably perfect. Well many didn’t have the “privilege” of meeting the person behind the perfection. Around the few people he felt comfortable with, Jong In – or Kai as he was known to them – revealed a more abrasive and less deferential side. Ji Won was one of those “lucky” few who’d been in acquaintance with who she liked to call “Devil Kai” since their first encounter.

And even as the two started dating, Devil Kai still made an appearance. Of course Kai was a caring and attentive boyfriend, but with the people he really cared about, as well as the people he really disliked for there was a fine line between love and hatred, he could be a prickly character with brutally honest and often times caustic remarks. Though if Ji Won was being honest she was grateful for his tough love approach in those few instances when what she truly needed to get out of her rut was a reality check.

But for the most part when he was with Ji Won, Kai exhibited a happy medium between the angel people thought him to be and the devil that few knew he could be.

With his empty drink, Kai aimed for the trash can on the other side of the wide brick walkway. Not surprisingly, he scored. Ji Won followed his lead and tossed hers as well. She didn’t throw far enough and the plastic cup hit the rim before falling to the pavement, causing Kai to snort next to her.

“Oh, shut up,” Ji Won snapped as she made for the rolling cup. She returned by Kai’s side to attempt a second throw. This time, the wind picked up and what would probably have been a basket ended up being a second miss. “Ughhh!” she seethed through her clenched teeth.

Laughing, Kai picked up the cup and took a few paces back. With a calculated arch of his hand, he shot the cup clean into the trash can opening and turned to Ji Won with an arrogant grin.

“No one likes a show off,” Ji Won said as she crossed her arms and continued ahead.

Kai quickly caught up with her and slung his arm around her shoulder. “Funny, because you seemed pretty satisfied with my showing off last night and then again this morning.”

Ji Won abruptly halted in her tracks and gave him a cutting look with her wide eyes. Slapping him on his chest, she loudly whispered, “Keep it down, will you? What if someone hears?” She whipped her head back and forth checking the premises.

“There’s no one else here,” Kai replied loudly as he gestured around them.

It was true. At least in the vicinity, they seemed to be the only ones in the dimly lit park. But just as Ji Won relaxed, Kai suddenly pulled her towards the waist-length stone wall on the edge of the walkway. He sat down and situated her between his legs.

“What are you doing?” she whispered.

“There’s no one else here,” he repeated before pulling her face down to meet his lips.

Ji Won didn’t protest and while Kai’s hands drifted to her hips to pull her closer, hers slid around his neck and tangled into his messy, dark brown hair. Their tongues danced with one another in an explosion of mango, peach, strawberry, and banana flavors.

With a soft grunt, Kai pulled back. “Wait,” he said between shallow breaths, “I have something to ask you.”

“Your place,” Ji Won mumbled as she caught his lips again.

Kai obliged with her kiss for a few seconds before he again retreated. “What are you talking about?”

“You were going to ask if we should take this to my apartment or yours, right? Well Joo Hyun’s home so I think she’d appreciate it more if we went to yours,” Ji Won explained.

“Duly noted,” Kai said with a small chuckle. “But that’s not what I was going to ask.” He stood up and spun them around in a half circle so that Ji Won now sat atop the wall while he hovered above.

She furrowed her eyebrows and stared up at him. It was hard to tell with the low light, but she thought he looked nervous. Kai rarely got nervous so this in turn made her nervous and as she was prone to do, she started formulating theories in her head.

Oh my god, he’s going to break up with me.

“I’ve been trying to figure out the right time to bring this up for a while,” Kai hesitantly began.

I knew it, we’re over. He’s going to ask to take a break from each other and during that time he’ll realize that he can do better than me and that temporary break will turn into a permanent break-up.

Ji Won had to do something. She couldn’t just sit there and let him attempt to break her heart as gently as he could. Heartbreaking was never gentle. “Um, you know what,” she said, getting up, “it’s late and I’m pretty tired, so I think I should head home.” She tried to side-step Kai.

Kai blocked her. “Wait, what happened to going to my place?”

Ji Won gaped incredulously. He was going to break up with her but not before getting some one last time? She’d heard about break-up before and never quite understood the concept. If two people wanted to separate, seemed like the last thing they’d want to do together, and she had always believed that girls who allowed their boyfriends to break up with them in that manner must have had little self-respect for themselves.

Yet as she eyed Kai with his well-defined jaw that she’d run her fingers along multiple times, his thick lips she was only minutes ago ravishing with her own, and that serious look in his eyes that got her heart pumping fast, she thought letting him “show off” one last time might not be a bad idea.

Dammit, I’m that girl.

But she couldn’t help herself when she wasn’t the one who wanted to call their relationship off. So she was going to take whatever time she had left with him, however she could…even if she knew she’d regret it later.

“Fine,” Ji Won sighed, “one last time.” Turns out I’m also the clingy type, she miserably thought to herself.

“One last time? What are you talking about?”

Ji Won squinted an eye. “What are you talking about?” If he didn’t want , then why would he want her over after breaking up with her?

Kai exhaled a single breathy laugh. “Let me guess, you’ve concocted a crazy scenario in your head about what you think is going to happen and completely misunderstood the situation.” He placed his palms on her shoulders and pushed her back atop the brick wall. Leaning down to meet her gaze, he said, “Whatever it is, I’m sure you’re totally off.”

Ji Won sure hoped she was.

“What I wanted to ask you about…” Kai trailed off and bit his lip, seeming to contemplate his next words. “You and I are in a really good place right now, right?”

Ji Won quickly nodded. This was good. This didn’t sound like a break-up talk.

“And while I’m really happy with the way things are now, I kind of also want more.”

He wasn’t satisfied with her. So again Ji Won found her mind circling the thought of a break-up.

“I mean I know we’re still young and I might be taking things too fast between us, but,” Kai knelt down on one knee in front of her and reached into his jacket pocket for a small velvet box.

Ji Won’s eyes widened. He wasn’t breaking up with her, he was going to propose. This was a complete one-eighty from what she’d envisioned.

Time seemed to slow down in that moment, and not for the reason she imagined it would when the man she loved proposed to her. Though to be fair, she didn’t think this moment would occur for at least another five years or so. No, rather than feeling the heart palpitations indicative of euphoria and nervous anticipation, Ji Won’s heart was racing out of fear and complete shock.

I can’t believe Kai is going to propose. Marriage? We’re both still in college trying to figure out our lives for crying out loud, and he wants to settle down as husband and wife?

The thought made her internally cringe. She was too young to be called anyone’s wife.

I don’t know what being married even means. What do married people do? Who do I know that’s married? Right, my parents, they’ve been married for over twenty years. But all they do is work and nag me. Oh god, kids. Marriage means having kids. Oh god oh god oh god. I’m not ready for kids. I’m practically still one myself. What is Kai thinking? How can he just spring this on me out of nowhere?

While Ji Won was sweating bullets trying to figure out how she would answer, Kai took her hand and with a smile, said, “Ji Won, will you m–”

At that moment, an obnoxiously loud clip of the chorus from Taeyang’s Ringa Linga cut in. Relieved by the interruption, she quickly stood up and upon seeing that the caller was her roommate, said to Kai, “Joo Hyun’s calling. I should get this, it might be important.” She then stepped aside to answer the call in privacy.

“Thank god you called when you did,” Ji Won said into her phone in a hushed tone.

“Why, what’s wrong?” Lee Joo Hyun, her roommate and best friend since middle school, replied.

“You are not going to believe this, but Kai is about to propose to me.”

“You’re right, I don’t believe you,” Joo Hyun answered with an amused chuckle.

“I’m serious,” Ji Won snapped.

“You mean he actually asked you to marry him?”

“Well, no, he hasn’t popped the question yet…”

“Ji Won, are you sure you’re not jumping to conclusions again?”

“There’s no way I’m wrong about this. He got down on one knee and pulled out a jewelry box and was just about to ask, ‘Will you marry me?’ when you called.”

“Okay,” a skeptic-sounding Joo Hyun said, “let’s say he is going to propose. How are you going to answer him?”

Ji Won rubbed a temple with her free hand. “I don’t know,” she lamented. “But I do know I’m not ready for marriage.”

“So then just tell him that.”

“But I also don’t want him to break up with me, and he just told me that he wants more. If I’m not ready for more, then he’ll find someone else who is. But seriously, how could he just surprise me out of the blue with a proposal when he’s never once brought up marriage in conversation before?”

“Ji Won, this is Kai we’re talking about. He loves you and he’s not going to break up with you because you’re not ready to take your relationship to the next level. Besides, I highly doubt he’s going to propose to you.”

Contrary to Ji Won’s earlier dread of the idea, she took offense to her friend’s last comment. “What’s that supposed to mean? You don’t think Kai would ever propose to me?”

“I didn’t mean it like that. Of course I think he could propose to you…one day.”

“Which is obviously today,” Ji Won insistently maintained.

Joo Hyun softly giggled. “Just go back to your date, Ji Won, so that Kai can propose to you.”

Ji Won briefly yanked her phone away to give the screen a dirty look. “Fine, so what did you call for anyways?”

“Oh, uh, I just wanted to ask about the massage chair.”

“What about Binnie?”

“You know what, now doesn’t seem like a good time so how about we talk later?” Joo Hyun quickly hung up, leaving a confused Ji Won to momentarily stare at her phone. What did her favorite massage chair that she’d gotten a once-in-a-lifetime amazing deal on and which she’d named after her favorite actor Kim Woo Bin have to do with anything?

After taking a few meditative deep breaths, Ji Won rejoined Kai who was patiently waiting for her against the nearby lamppost with his arms crossed. “Everything all right?”

Ji Won forced a smile. “Yeah,” she replied, slipping her phone away. Why did her perfect boyfriend have to be so captivatingly in love with her that he wanted to tie her down before she’d even gotten her college diploma?  

Kai reached for her hands and pulled her towards him. “Joo Hyun really has some impeccable timing,” he joked with a small smile.

Ji Won nervously laughed. Bathed in the light of the streetlamp above, she could clearly see the love and adoration in Kai’s dark brown eyes.

How can I say no to him? Face it Ji Won, you’d be lucky to marry Kai. So what if we’re a little young and we’ll probably have a lot of opposition from our parents? Does it really make a difference if you tie the knot now or a few years from now when you know he’s the one?

“So about the thing I wanted to ask,” Kai continued, reaching into his jacket pocket to pull out the velvet box again. “Kwon Ji Won, will you…” Ji Won shut her eyes and waited for the life-changing question that every girl dreamed about hearing one day. “…move in with me?”

Ji Won’s eyelids fluttered open and landed on Kai with a dumbfounded look. “What?”

Kai flipped open the jewelry box with his thumb, revealing a silver key inside. “Will you move in with me?” he repeated.

“That’s what you wanted to ask me?”

Kai tipped a brow and Ji Won thought she saw the hint of a knowing smirk on his face. “What did you think I was going to ask?”

“Nothing,” Ji Won evasively answered. So he wasn’t proposing. After spending the last few minutes mentally prepping herself for the moment, she had to take a few moments more to mentally un-prepare herself. Only after she’d done that did Kai’s actual question sink in. “Wait, you want me to move in with you?”

“Well yeah. You’re over a couple nights a week already and it just got me thinking, you might as well stay over every night of the week. And it would save us the trouble of figuring out my place or yours, especially since with Joo Hyun being home a lot, it’s usually my place anyways.”

Ji Won narrowed her eyes. “Might as well?” she repeated lowly.

So this was simply a matter of convenience, was it? And here she was, thinking he was about to perform one of the most romantic gestures by asking her to spend the rest of her life with him, when in reality he just wanted to shave off the few seconds it took to ask “my place or yours”. Ji Won was finding Kai to be less amazing than she’d pictured just a few seconds earlier.

“Well in that case I might as well spend every night at my apartment with my trusty Binnie, who only knows how to ease my stress and tension, not fuel it.”

“You’re angry,” Kai stated with one of his patronizing smiles that came out whenever he thought she was being unreasonable.

“No,” Ji Won huffed as she moodily crossed her arms. “Why would you think that?”

Rather than feeling any sort of remorse, Kai actually chuckled like he was amused by her small tantrum. After snapping the jewelry box shut and returning it back to his jacket pocket, he slipped his arms around Ji Won’s waist from behind and tugged her towards the wall where he sat her on his lap as she continued to pout. “Alright, let me try this a different way. How long have we been dating?”

“You don’t know?” Ji Won scoffed. “I never knew you were this insensitive and apathetic about us.” She didn’t exactly have the right to say those words. She couldn’t remember exactly how long they’d been dating either.

“One year, ten months, and fourteen days,” Kai answered.

Ji Won’s frown faded and her annoyed features transformed into a touched surprise.

He smiled. “That’s kind of a long time, almost two years. But the thing is, it doesn’t feel like we’ve been dating that long, at least not to me.”

Was that a good thing or a bad thing?

“Which doesn’t make sense when we see each other practically every day.” Kai paused for a short while and then resumed in a softer, more vulnerable tone, “So it made me think, why not change that practically every day to every day?” He took out the velvet box again. As he opened it, he asked, “So, will you move in with me?”

Ji Won stared at the shiny key sitting atop the soft red fabric and let Kai’s offer sink in. It wasn’t the proposal she thought she was going to get, but melted by his sweet words, her heart was already saying yes. “Why didn’t you lead with this way?”

The corner of Kai’s lips curved in the beginnings of a cocky smirk. “Is that a yes?”

However, it wasn’t her heart but her head that made the final decision as Ji Won reached her hand for the box and shut the lid. “I can’t.”

Kai’s lips made a U-turn. “Your reason?”

With a regretful smile, she looped her arms around his neck and drew her face close to his so that she met his confused and somewhat hurt gaze head on. “If you want me to answer without thinking about the consequences of us moving in together, then yes, I’ll do it.”

“But?”

“But you know I’m currently living with Joo Hyun. If I move out, she’ll have to pay full rent on her own until she finds another roommate, and you know how particular she is about the people she can trust to sleep in the bedroom next door with. It might be months before she can find anyone remotely close to tolerable after such a perfect roommate like me.”

With a small chuckle likely directed towards Ji Won’s sense of self-importance, Kai pressed his forehead against hers. “So if you didn’t have Joo Hyun to worry about, you’d say yes?”

“In a heartbeat.”

“Then I guess it’s a good thing that we’ve already got her blessing for you to move out as soon as tonight.”

Ji Won abruptly drew her head away. “What are you talking about?”

His confident grin restored, Kai explained, “I’d already considered how this would affect Joo Hyun and asked her if it was okay a couple of weeks ago. She was on board with us living together and already has a new roommate who’s ready to move in this week.”

“A couple of weeks? That’s all it took her for her to find a new roommate?” A miffed Ji Won prodded until she’d fully registered Kai’s words. “Wait, you asked Joo Hyun?”

“Of course, you think I’d try to get in the way of you and your best friend?”

Kai’s thoughtfulness made Ji Won smile when she yet again realized something from his earlier statement and frowned. “Hold on, she just assumed that I’d say yes and started looking for my replacement as soon as you asked?”

“Was that really a far-fetched assumption to make,” he arrogantly countered, “when she was the only reason you might have said no to me?”

With an unamused look on her face, Ji Won took a deep breath and exhaled. Sometimes he could really make it hard for her to refrain from slapping some modesty into him, as if she couldn’t have a hundred other reasons to reject him...Well, maybe she couldn’t think of any right now, but still. However, when Kai suddenly pecked her on the lips, that animosity and desire to punch him instantly receded and she giggled.

“Now there’s just one order of business to take care of,” Kai said with what Ji Won detected was slight hesitation. “About your massage chair…”

Ji Won angled her body away with a suspicious look. Why was her massage chair being brought up again?

“I promised Joo Hyun I’d convince you to let her have it.”

Nostrils flaring, Ji Won fumed, “You what?!” So this was why her best friend had called earlier? To make sure she got what she was owed?

Kai held his hands up in a defensive, placating manner. “Hey, I think it’s a fair trade-off considering she had to find a replacement roommate on such short notice.”

“And what makes you qualified to make that call?” Ji Won huffed as she slid off Kai’s lap and burned a hole into his head with her flaring, angry eyes. “Actually, what right did you have to use Binnie as a bargaining chip in the first place?”

Kai stood up and took on a reprimanding air. “Hey, don’t you think you’re overreacting a little. I mean it’s just a chair.”

“Just a chair?” she incredulously repeated. “Woo Bin is more than a just a chair. When I got a crick in my neck from studying all night for my Biology exam, it was Woo Bin who pushed the knot out so that I could turn my head again. When I gave in to your suggestion that we go running together in the mornings, it was Woo Bin who massaged my calves so I could walk again. When I –”

“Okay, I get it, you love the chair, but you talk about it like it’s a person,” a slightly annoyed Kai interjected. “And honestly, your obsession with Kim Woo Bin is a little overboard. Am I supposed to be okay with you fantasizing about being in his arms every time you sit in that chair?”

“Yes,” Ji Won flatly replied, “just like I’m okay with that Playboy magazine under your mattress.”

Clearly in a fluster, Kai’s eyes widened as he stuttered an explanation, “Th-that isn’t mine. I was holding it for a friend. I only hid it because I didn’t want you to think I read it.”

“You can stop with the excuses,” Ji Won said with a roll of her eyes. “I don’t mind, just as long as your fantasies stay just that, fantasies. And same goes for me with Woo Bin. They’re just innocent fantasies.” Though of course innocent was open to interpretation.

Kai released a sigh of relief and took a step forward so that his arms wound around her lower waist. “I know I’m asking you to give up something big, and if you really can’t part with your massage chair, then I’m sure we can convince Joo Hyun to give up on it.”

Ji Won placed her palms against his chest as she pursed her lips in a brief moment of thought. “No, I guess she can have Binnie. It’s only fair when she’s losing the best roommate she’ll ever have and will probably need it more than me to cope with whoever she ends up with.”

Kai let out a humoring chuckle. “Well, I can be your massage chair.”

“Thanks,” she said with a soft, saddened sigh. But as she thought on his offer more, she had the strangest feeling that she’d naively taken his words literally. Her eyes slipped up to find him smirking with a look that only reinforced her suspicions. “Was that a euphemism?”

“Only if you want it to be,” Kai shrugged. He leaned forward till their lips were just a breath apart. “And even if you don’t…” he said in a low, husky voice, before he closed the distance and kissed her.

Ji Won welcomed him into her arms and drew him closer so that she could feel his heart hammering against her own. She felt his warm hand travel underneath her top and rest on the small of her back where his fingers imitated the circling motion of her massage chair. She smiled into his kiss. He was actually giving her a massage.

So this was it, she was really moving in with her boyfriend. This meant she’d have to change the address associated with her bank, her cellphone, her credit cards, everything. She’d have to let the landlord know she was moving out. She was going to have to actually commit to memory his apartment’s numeric password even though he’d told her hundreds of times.

Wait a minute.

Ji Won tried to pull away from the kiss, but Kai seemed unwilling to stop now. His body followed hers and their lips met again.

“Wait,” Ji Won murmured.

“What? You want to take this back to my place?” He chuckled. “Or I guess I should say our place.”

“No, it’s just that your place doesn’t use a key.”

“Yeah, so?”

Ji Won freed herself from his grasp and arched a brow with a slight tilt of her head. “So, when you asked me to move in, you did so with a key inside, of all things, a jewelry box. And you even got down on one knee and you were saying stuff about being young and taking things too fast. You know I really thought you were going to –” She cut herself off before she could finish her words.

Kai impishly grinned. “To?”

Eyes narrowed and nose scrunched out of indignation, she replied, “You did that on purpose, didn’t you?”

“Only to make it more memorable,” he said with a laugh in his voice. “You should have seen the look on your face.”

“I’m glad I could amuse you,” Ji Won fumed. She her heel and marched ahead.

Kai had the audacity to keep laughing even as he ran after Ji Won and caught her elbow. “Oh come on, don’t be mad.”

Ji Won jerked her arm back and glared. “Do you like toying with me?” She scoffed. “What am I saying? Of course you do. It’s your weird sense of humor, playing with the emotions of people you supposedly love.”

“I don’t supposedly love you. I do love you.”

He encircled his arms around her and no matter how much Ji Won wished to remain firm in her anger towards him, her resolve was wavering and she let herself be tugged into his embrace. But she did manage to affect an air of annoyance by refusing to meet his eyes.

“Look at me,” he gently urged.

Ji Won’s eyes darted around for a minute before she gave in. Why was she so weak against him? He smiled, and it quickly became clear why when beneath his abundant cheek, she saw with one look just how much he loved her.

“How about I make a promise,” Kai said, “that the stunt from earlier, I’ll only pull it again when it’s the real deal.”

Ji Won’s expression flattened. So he meant to pull it again, did he? Wait a minute that means… “When?” she reiterated, “You mean…” She couldn’t find it in herself to finish her question for fear of misinterpreting his intentions again. Did he really mean to propose to her one day?

With one of his frustratingly impudent smiles, he answered, “Only if you want me to.” And then more tenderly, he added, “and even if you don’t…” His words trailed as he leaned in to seal the deal with a kiss.

~//~

Author's Note