Kris and I are mute as we drive back. I don’t think either of us can bear to say anything at all.

When we reach my condo he staggers inside and flings himself face down on my couch. For once I’m too drained to tell him to move. Instead, I sit on the floor and bury my head in my hands.

“What should we do?” Kris finally rasps, breaking the solemn silence we were sitting in. 

“I don’t know,” I mumble. “Do we report this to Headquarters... or do we ignore it?”

“I don’t know either.” he groans.

I bite my lip.

“That bastard.” Kris mutters under his breath. 

I’m not sure who he's talking about. I let it slide anyway.

“How do we know which monsters are part of the Kado and which ones are part of the Hado? How do we know which ones to fight?” I ask quietly.

“We know the… the Hado monsters' chi sensation now. So when we sense monsters with that chi, we leave them alone, I guess.” Kris clenches his jaw. I know what he's thinking. The notion of "leaving a monster alone" is unthinkable for us. 

But we have no choice. 

Both of us are blatantly ignoring the elephant in the room; the other horrifying, shocking sight that we witnessed today. The sight of crushed, bloody bodies under the beast’s claws. Although we don’t say it out loud, we know that if we’re not careful, or if we’re not good enough… we’ll end up like that.

I was close to becoming Kado food once, back at the swimming pool at school. Thankfully, Kris was there to save me.

But what if he’s not there?

I furiously shake my head from side to side, trying to dispel the thought.

"We have to get better. We have to get more powerful and train harder." Kris says firmly. I turn around and give him a strange look. 

"What does that have to do with the Hado monsters?" I demand. 

"There's nothing else we can do. We have to distract ourselves from this, otherwise we'll be thinking about why our side's using beasts. This'll distract us from fighting the Kado." 

"But what's the point?" I burst. "Monsters are monsters and both the sides use them to kill humans! It's not fair! The Hado are such hypocrites-,"

"There's nothing else we can do," Kris emphasizes. "Hana, I've learned over the years that if you know something you're not supposed to, you ignore it. The Hado is a powerful organization. Things might happen to us if we spread the news. Or... who knows, everyone else may know already. We may be the only ones that just learned this information." 

Kris' explanation is eerily chilling. He speaks as if he's personally experienced someone getting in trouble because they knew too much. I tuck my knees into my chest. What exactly have I gotten into? 

We stop talking.

After a few minutes of sitting in tense stillness, a question pops into my head. “Kris, you’ve stayed at my house tons of times, but I’ve never been to your house. Where is-,”

“It’s on the other side of town,” he replies.

“Do your parents get mad at you when you stay at my house all the time?” I chuckle softly. Over the course of the days we’ve known each other, Kris has stayed at my condo  numerous times for various reasons: he’s too tired to go back home after fighting a monster, he’s hungry, he needs help on homework (total bull- he’s the smartest guy in the class. Most of the time he helps me with my homework). It’s gotten to the point where he keeps a set of toiletries in the bathroom off the guest bedroom.

It used to be embarrassing when Kris stayed at my house. Now I barely notice (except for the times when he finishes all the milk. That's annoying.)

But apart from that… we live like roommates.

Or a couple-

No. Stop. Hana. No.

“I don’t live with my parents.” Kris says in a low voice, snapping me out of my flustered state. “I live alone.”

“Oh… really?” I raise my eyebrows. “Do your parents live somewhere else or-,”

“My mother lives by herself in Paris. She doesn’t know that I exist. And my father…,” Kris clenches his teeth. “I’d prefer not to talk about him.”

A heavy weight descends upon the room. I thought that Kris’ parents were just negligent rich country clubbers who let him stay over at a random girl's house every other night, not… this. Suddenly I remember Kris' conversation I overheard the first time he stayed at my house. He was arguing with someone… his father.

Swallowing the lump in my throat, I murmur, “I… I’m sorry.”

Kris doesn’t reply.

I slowly rise up from my position on the floor and walk to the couch where he is lying down. 

And that’s when I see Kris' eyes. They’re bright with unshed tears.

Kris Wu is about to cry. 

My eyes widen for a split second before I catch myself.

Gently placing myself on the small sliver of open area on the sofa, I grab Kris’ hand. He gives me a surprised look full of embarrassment and something else that looks very, very familiar to me. I recognize that look from my days before I found my sisters, the days just after my parents abandoned me.

Loneliness. 

“It doesn’t matter where our parents are,” I tell him fixedly. “The only thing that matters is that we have each other." He raises his eyebrows. "I mean, as friends and all,” I add quickly, my face turning a shade of coral. “God, I sound so cheesy and weird. Okay, just ignore me, but basically you know what I’m trying to say, right-,”

Kris pulls me down and wraps his arms around me in a tight hug.

I inhale sharply, my face turning an even darker shade of pink.

“Thanks,” he whispers in my ear, his breath lightly tickling the nape of my neck. “I thought that worrying about my parents was a thing of the past, but apparently not. I- I don't care about them anymore. I’ve accepted what they are and what they think of me now…” He trails off.

And at that moment I feel a giant rush of affection for Kris. He's been there for me 24/7, always a steady rock, always there to defend me and educate me and tease me and ask me if I have anymore vanilla ice cream. And now he's finally letting down his walls and letting me comfort him this time. 

He's my best friend. 

I exhale and close my eyes, resting my head on Kris’ chest. The steady beat of his heart throbs against my cheek, causing little tingles to travel down my spine with every beat. The sensation strangely touches me. It feels like I'm sharing something intimate with Kris, something private and secret that we can feel together for a few moments. He sighs contently, smoothly moving one hand up to my hair…

But almost in unison, Kris and I realize the compromising position we’re in.

I'm on a couch...

Lying on top of a guy...

Hugging him...

I topple off of Kris and fall to the floor. He shoots up from the sofa and trips over the coffee table, barely catching himself from falling to the floor. “Um… sorry…,” he coughs.

I don’t reply.

I’m too busy shriveling up and dying of humiliation.

“But… really, thanks, Hana.” I spin around and look at Kris. His face is red but he’s giving me one of his half-smirks.“You really did make me feel better.”

I turn my face away from him, hiding the smile that's spreading across my face like butter on a frying pan.

“Glad to hear it.”

A/N: Kris and Hana are making progressions in their relationship xD Feel free to comment/upvote if you like the story!

Sorry for the recent lack of updates by the way- I was in Canada! It's so beautiful there!