CHAPTER 12

“I honestly preferred my last night to be spent alone with you” Kris said, leaning against the fridge with his arms crossed. He was watching as Hana prepared the food; she had informed him the last minute that they were to have dinner with the boys thus forcing him to abandon his original plans which he was pretty sure involved handcuffs and the bed.

So much for planning... tsk. Hana places down the stained cutlery on the sink before washing her hands “But you seldom see each other now and get together... with you being in China and all; come on” she walks over to him; he stands up straight and his hands automatically slid around her waist as her arms landed on his shoulders.

“Just bear with the dinner, it might go better than you expect it to be” she gives him a smile and he sighs to the side in defeat “Alright... fine” her smile turns brighter and she pecks a kiss on his cheek “Thank you ~”

Ding Dong. Kris rolls his eyes and parts away from her “I'll get it”

He spots the idiots appearing on the screen of the security lock, Xiumin being the very first in line. Kris presses a button and speaks “Yah...”

Xiumin jumps at the sound “Omo --” “Aish, you gave me a heart attack” Chen says, placing a palm over his heart. Kris tuts and keeps his finger pressed on the button “Why'd you come?” he asks. Chanyeol pushes himself through Xiumin and Chen, his face leaned close to the camera “Hana invited us all for dinner”

“You should have declined. I'm fine not seeing you guys before I leave, you won't be missing me anyway...” he releases the button. Baekhyun pushes Chanyeol to the side, causing him to bump into D.O. “Yah, who said we came for you? We just came for the food”

Mentally face palming himself, he presses the button once more “Idiot” he says before pressing some numbers and unlocked the door. He grabbed the handle and glared at the people standing outside while as they grinned at him “Long time, no see!” Baekhyun was first to chime, stepping inside, Chanyeol following and giving Kris a quick headlock.

“Yah, we missed you giant!” Chanyeol laughs as the rest pile into the condo unit.

Hana appears from the kitchen, carrying a bowl of salad in her hands “Hey guys” she smiles brightly at the boys who greet her. Kyungsoo takes the bowl away from her hands “I'll take care of that” he smiles at her before heading to the dining area. Chanyeol releases Kris.

“Thanks for the invitation, sunshine” Chanyeol ruffles her hair before slinging his arm around her shoulders. Kris shook his head as Suho stands beside him and chuckles; the rest of the boys have already made themselves feel at home like they always did whenever they came over.

Meanwhile, Kai quietly enters the premises and Hana's eyes land on him “Hi, Kai” she smiles at him. Kris turns around and their eyes met; for a moment, the boy looked nervous but then put on a small cocky smile “Hey” he says. Kris raises a brow at him and speaks “Didn't notice you, Jongin” the said boy walks towards Kris

“I missed you too, hyung” Kai chuckles, patting Kris's shoulder. Chanyeol and Suho exchange looks for a moment then Chanyeol gives a light shrug of his shoulders and Suho breaks the small moment of silence among them “So... dinner?”

Everyone sat around the dining table, Kris –as expected- sat beside Hana and to her left was Kyungsoo, across her being Kai. Unlike what Xiumin expected, the table was quite lively and everyone seemed comfortable with each other; they threw jokes at each other here and there, occasionally slipped a few business topics here and there but nothing out of ordinary really.

“So, have you guys been taking care of Hana?” Kris asks, sipping on his glass of wine as his other arm rested on the back rest of Hana's chair. “Ofcourse we have! Look at how fat she is!” Sehun chimes, pointing his chopsticks at her thus Luhan elbows his side “Ow ~” he pouts at the older boy.

Kris frowns at him “She is not fat” “You became curvy though, Hana-ssi” Baekhyun points out. Tao almost choked on his drink. He coughed at the same time hitting his chest, trying to drown them.

“Did you have to point that out?” Suho asks him and Baekhyun laughs “What? It's true!” and this causes Hana to fluster. Kris rolls his eyes “Seriously, you guys are still erts” he goes back to eating.

“What do you think, Kai?” Chen –trolling as always no matter how sensitive any matter is- asked his friend. Tao and Suho snap their heads at the questioner but he merely ignores the two and keeps the mischievous smile painted on his face. Kai quietly chews on his food for a moment then lifts his head to look at the flustered Hana then Kris and Chen.

He clears his throat “Hana looks the same, nothing changed... looks as plain as the first day she stepped into Wu Enterprise” that was all he said before going back to eating. Then befalls the awkward silence upon the table.

Desperate to save the situation, Suho chimes “So... is there still dessert?” Kris kept his look on his friend, looking at him blankly but inside he was in wonder as to why the guy was suddenly so blunt towards his girlfriend. However, it seemed to him that things were taking a turn for Kai.

What a way to move on, Kai. He thinks to himself, pulling his gaze away as Hana gets up from her chair “I'll get it from the fridge, excuse me” she smiles before leaving to go to the kitchen.

“Awkward ~” Sehun sang in a low volume as he raised his glass to his lips “Shut up, Sehun” Luhan tells him. The attention was divided, some had their eyes on Kris and the others on Kai.

Hana returned with dessert: a tray full of multicolored mochi rice cakes. “Waaaah ~” Xiumin voices out his excitement and amazement with the dessert and as soon as Hana's fingers leave the tray, everyone digs in.

“Bwo!” Lay's eyes widen as he takes the first bite. He pulls away the dessert from his mouth and looks at it in great surprise; Luhan –who was sitting beside him- turns to him “What is it?” he whispers in question. Lay takes another bite and exclaims “It has ice cream inside!”

Suho takes a bite and sinks back into his chair; it was like a mini stress reliever. For a second, he seemed to have forgotten all his problems and just lets out a great breath of relief “Ah, really, Hana...” Chanyeol starts “You're wife material”

“If Kris lets go of you, I'm willing to catch you” Luhan jokes and Hana laughs it of, her face turning red again “Aigo ~ don't joke like that Luhan-ssi” she says. Kris gives him a warning look to which he then rolls his eyes at the chairman. Kai quietly nibbles on the pastry, just giving a nod here and there, agreeing with whatever the others said without a care.

After dinner.

Everyone gathered in the living room to talk over some beer; Hana greatly disapproved of Kris drinking alcoholic beverages –in fact, he hasn't drank for months now- but since this was a night with his friends, maybe a few wouldn't hurt.

“Should we play a game?” Xiumin suggests; some agreed, a few didn't, the rest were mutual. The night was still young –yes. 10 PM for them was still considered young- and they were slowly running out of topics to talk about. They've already talked about their high school days, which Chen insisted to call: The Dark Ages.

“Xiumin-ah, we're too old for games” Baekhyun tells him. Suho took a sip of his drink “Then let's play adult games; arm wrestling!” he raises his fist. Chanyeol snorts out a laugh, the tip of the bottle pressed onto his chin “You're so uncool, hyung”

“I'm in” Kris says, raising his bottle. “Hana can be the referee” Xiumin announces as he takes a pen and makes the layout for who will go against who. “But playing alone can be boring, let's have a prize” Luhan suggests and almost immediately, everyone agrees. “So, what will it be?” Lay asks.

“Shall it be private island?” Kyungsoo asks. “A brand new private jet? I always wanted one” Tao said. “How about a full expense weekend vacation in Hawaii?” Lay suggests and Chanyeol and Sehun snort out a laugh “Been there...” Sehun said “Done that” Chanyeol finishes.

Suho scrunches his face a bit “Let's go for something different... any ideas Chen?” and oh, how wrong he was to turn to the guy. Chen smirked as he leaned back on his seat and crossed his legs, his arms dangling over the arm rests, one of them holding his bottle of beer.

“Let's go medieval” he smiles “Winner gets a kiss –on the cheek- from the damsel...” he looks at Hana –whose eyes widened slowly upon realization of where he was trying to get at- “...in distress”

Everyone turns to Kris and not wanting to back out, he turns to Hana “I'll win this, don't worry” and only gulps. Have a little faith in me, Hana. Just a little. He takes a sharp intake of breath, readying himself.

“Let's start then!” Chanyeol said, raising his bottle in the air. Suho suddenly felt regret creeping on his shoulder, he seriously needed to talk to Chen about his trolling ways. Sigh. The CEO thought, shaking his head.

The game began.

First off was Kris and Baekhyun. The latter cracked his neck from side to side, relaxing himself a bit; he puffs out a sigh and also cracks his knuckles before taking his place on the floor, on his knees, across Kris on the small center table “Should I go easy on you?” he asks the chairman –who just ignores his question.

The two rested their elbows on the flat surface and joined hands; “Geez, loosen up Kris! For petesakes, your grip alone can break my hand!” Baekhyun exclaims. Kris rolled his eyes at him; Hana leaned forward from the couch and placed her palms to the two's adjoined hands “Ready?” she asks.

Baekhyun puffed out a breath and nodded his head.

“Ready. Set. Begin” she pulls her hand away and the battle begins. Baekhyun's jaws clenched while as Kris didn't seem to even put on some strength in his arms. He just blankly looks at Baekhyun as the guy struggles to knock him out.

“Yah...” Kris calls out to him but he doesn't look up as he still keeps struggling “Are you even trying?” and the simple question from the chairman sends everyone in the room in a laughing fit; Tao's laugh being the loudest since it's unique. Baekhyun breaks out a small snigger and Kris takes him for the kill.

Slam. Winner: Kris... obviously.

Other just followed soon after with Xiumin calling their names out:

Luhan vs. Lay –Winner: Lay; Suho vs. Kai –Winner: Kai (everyone questions why and Suho answers “It's because I'm stressed lately!” to which Baekhyun shouts “Reasons!” in a mocking tone); Chen vs. Tao –Winner: Tao; Sehun vs. D.O. – Winner: Sehun; Chanyeol vs. Xiumin –Winner: Xiumin; And the battle continues to the next level.

“Next level!” Chanyeol announces “First up: Kris and Lay”

Kris quite had the struggle with Lay at first but the thought of Hana kissing one of these guys was keeping him from giving up just like that. I swear to the moon that I'll kill Chen once this is all over! He growls as he puts all his strength into it; Hana focused fully on every match.

Having Lay push over Kris for a moment made her heart skip a beat.

Slam. Silence falls upon the room.

“Winner... Kris!” Baekhyun and Luhan roar as the said person then slumps back in great relief. Four to go. He thinks to himself and glances at the proudly smiling Hana sitting on the couch just behind him.

Next in line was Tao and Xiumin; it was quite the battle. Xiumin was –as agreed by many- the one with most arm strength despite his child like looks but they also couldn't leave out the fact that Tao was doing martial arts. Hana was surprised –ofcourse. She had no idea that her bosses had specialties in offense and defense so she made sure to make a mental note not to mess with them especially these two.

In the end though: it was Xiumin, who prevailed.

Last was Sehun and Kai.

“Go” Hana said, pulling her hand away from the two and the battle starts. Sehun didn't show much interest because halfway through the whole process, he just wanted to see Kris and Kai battle it out. “Yah, Sehun-ah! Do it more willingly!” Luhan complains.

Hana gets up momentarily “I'll get more drinks” she says, leaving for the kitchen as the boys kept their eyes on the battle.

It was much more quiet in the kitchen; all she could hear was the faint sound of the boys throwing words at each other, perhaps a few swears here and there and laughter. She opened the fridge and took out a pack of beer; smiling to herself as she remembers throwing these babies away before.

It's been a long time. Who knew you'd be standing where you are today, Hana? She smiles at the thought before standing up straight and closed the fridge.

“Hana-ah ~” Kyungsoo appears in the kitchen doorway with an uneasy look on his face, he was squirming around, his hands placed just a little on top of his private part. She blinks her eyes “Are you okay?” she asks him. He quickly shook his head “Can I use the bathroom in the bedroom? Chen's being a troll and hasn't left the other one” he says as he continues to squirm.

“S-sure” and with that, he dashed off. Hana collects herself for a moment then returns to the living room and just as she enters, Sehun's hand slams on the table with Kai on top.

And so comes the second to the last round: Kris vs. Xiumin vs. Kai.