Step by step, I trudged my way back to the apartment. Arriving at the foot of the building, I tilted my head to meet the view of the living room window of Kris’s penthouse. Pleasant memories of the first days of school played back in my head, again bringing tears to my eyes. Would it be a better idea to find my own apartment and move out?

The moment I stepped into the penthouse, I confirmed that the previous thought was the best idea.

I punched in the familiar door code and pushed the door open with one hand. Immediately, I wished I hadn’t come home just yet. Laying harmlessly by our shoe rack was the familiar pair of ankle lace-up boots. I dragged myself to the living room and a dreadful sight welcomed me.

“J-Jiayi,” she stuttered. Her nose was ornamented with a royal purple bruise and a shear band-aid. Kris never once looked up from his books.

“Xinyi, these are the notes from the days you were absent,” Kris murmured, pushing his noted towards Xinyi. Without saying another word, I locked myself in my room and shut out the rest of the world. I plugged in my headphones, played my favorite pop song, and began studying for the first time in a while. Since I had nothing better to do, I might as well use the remaining of my energy to try to get the best marks in the class.

After what seemed like centuries of studying - and some distractions in between - I finally exited my room when my stomach started protesting in hunger.

When I got into the kitchen, I saw Kris cooking and Xinyi sitting at the island and watching him intently. This sight...reminds me of a newly-wed couple.

I was about to start making pasta when Kris halted my actions, “I’m making fried rice. For the three of us.”

“O...kay…” I obediently sat at the dining table since I didn’t want to disturb the lovely couple in the kitchen.

“Jiayi-ah, you’re still living with Kris?” Xinyi purred as she took a seat across from me.

“Can you stop stirring up trouble?” I retorted, obviously annoyed.

She was silent after that. Kris came into the dining room and place the three bowls of fried rice on the table before each of our seats. Dinner was beyond awkward. No one said a word to another - well, Xinyi was trying to start conversations with Kris the entire time but he seemed to be distracted by something and thus limited his responses to single word answers.

I volunteered to wash the dishes afterwards and for some reason Xinyi decided to join me.

Oh, never mind. She had a reason - to victimize herself.

We cleaned and dried the dishes in silence, afterward, she jerked my arm to make me face her.

“What’s your problem?!” I yelled in her face.

“You , you bruised my nose,” she angrily muttered while staring me down.

“Your nose is bruised. You sprained my ankle so that I had to wear a cast for a month and a brace for I don’t know how long. Who’s the now?” I rebutted. Her smile faltered for a minute but she soon replaced it with a smirk when we heard footsteps approaching the kitchen.

SLAP!

Did she just…?

Please Subscribe to read the full chapter