CHAPTER 41

 

 

 

 

 

Chen.

 

 

I quietly sat down inside the small office, distracting myself with the certificates hung on the wall as I waited for Hana’s professor to return with her test results. Actually, I’m not exactly free per say because there’s actually a meeting happening right now at Starship Enterprise that had requested for my presence but let’s not tell Suho that because I already told him my presence for that meeting was optional.

 

 

Psh, optional. Meetings involving Wu Enterprise are never optional, I honestly thought Suho knew that by now but I’m not complaining, I’d rather get test results for the chairman’s girlfriend than sit my in a meeting room facing old people and get bored halfway. They’ll schedule another one anyway…

 

 

“Mr. Kim” the professor re-enters with a large brown envelope in his hands, the door slowly closing behind him. He sat himself down on the leather seat behind the desk “Are those the results?” I ask, pointing to the document in his hand and he smiles at me with a nod to confirm.

 

 

Mr. Zhou holds out the envelope to me which I gladly take and open. I pursed my lips in a tight line before tucking the piece of paper back inside and get up, extending a hand out for the professor to shake “Thank you, Mr. Zhou” “No problem at all, Mr. Kim”

 

 

I exit the office and immediately fish out my phone, dialing a number and held it close to my ear as I walked down the quiet hall of the building.

 

 

“Hyung” Sehun drapes an arm around my shoulder as we make our way up to our respective floors; damn this kid and his height. His mom probably shoved growth balls down his throat when he was a kid, tch. I keep a blank stare, it was rather too early but should this maknae pull funny moves, I will not hesitate to make this the worst day of his life.

 

 

“What do you want?” I ask in a blank tone, perhaps he could tell by that that I am not yet in the mood. As I look at him through the reflections on the mirror wall, I see his lips curve up in a smile, his eyes disappearing “You’re gonna get Hana’s results later on, right?”

 

 

I tear away from his grasp, moving away and turning to look at him with suspicious eyes “Why?”

 

 

“Chill” he says, pocketing his hands and dropping his smile “Chanyeol and I made a bet” “It’s about Hana, isn’t it?” he gasped rather melodramatically as if he had been wrongly accused but I just rolled my eyes at the exaggerated act. He laughs “Since you’re the one who gets the results, can you call the winner as soon as you get it? So in the case that it’s me, I can get the papers ready for the transfer of his new Jaguar to my name”

 

 

His eyes disappear again. I cross my arms “You know I don’t do without nothing in exchange” he nods his head “Yeah, yeah, I know which is why if I win, I’m going to treat you out drinking” “I don’t want bubbletea” “Fine” he pouts “Beer then?”

 

 

“I can afford all the beer I want, Sehun… don’t you have a much more interesting offer?”

 

 

He hums and snaps his fingers “Aha! I’ll let you drive the Jaguar for two weeks” “A month” “Three weeks” “Fine” I huff out a sigh “And what if Chanyeol wins?”

 

 

“He’ll most probably spend my card with you or some like that” he says, shrugging his shoulders seemingly without a care. He’s pretty confident about winning.

 

 

A couple more rings later, the other line finally answers my call “Hello?”

 

 

“Yah, Chanyeol”

 

 

---

 

 

The lady sat down by the window of her home, enjoying a cup of tea as she reads a novel. The afternoon has settled upon the city thus giving off a warm orange color to the surroundings; as she turns to the next page of the book, a knock on the door goes off. She tears her eyes away from the novel and sees a young male standing by the doorway of the small library; she places a bookmark inbetween the book before closing it and gestures for the man to come in

 

 

“Good afternoon ma’am” he greets with a formal bow but she could care less about formalities at the moment, what she was more interested in was the brown envelope in his hands. She holds out her palm to him and immediately he hands over the document “I couldn’t get the original one; Mr. Kim Jongdae requested beforehand so they couldn’t give it to me” he explains

 

 

The lady smiles, regardless it was the original or not she didn’t care, she cared more about what was written anyway “Nonetheless, thank you Myungsoo-ssi” in exchange, she hands him a neatly written check and he leaves. Ofcourse, no one does things without exchange these days… she shakes her head at the thought before tearing open the envelope and taking out the content.

 

 

Her eyes ran over the print of the copy before smiling to herself and picks up her cup to sip on her tea. My, oh my, who would have known?

 

 

Kai.

 

 

Breathe Jongin… just breathe. I carefully hold onto the two cups of coffee with one hand while the other turns the knob of the door and poke my head inside; I sheepishly smile as I meet the eyes of the person inside the office

 

 

“Hey Kai” Hana smiles brightly at me and I slip myself inside, holding up the cups “Coffee?” I ask and she brightly laughs, nodding her head. Gladly, I waltz towards her desk and hand her one of the cups then she thanks me before I sit myself down comfortably on the visitor’s chair “Ah ~ it’s been a while, huh?”

 

 

I nod my head.

 

 

It definitely has been awhile since we had coffee like this, she’s been so busy after the incident that I never bothered; it was a way of coping for her loss so I didn’t bother her and other than that she’s been studying like a crazy high school nerd afraid to fail “Yeah well, we’ve all been busy Hana”

 

 

“True” she sighs heavily, sipping on her cup as she leans back. I do the same “You know I missed you” I blurt and as expected, she flusters and looks away much to my amusement. I chuckle “Not funny Kai” she pouts.

 

 

Sigh, still cute as ever. I shook my head; Hana quietly sips on her coffee again before speaking “By the way” I turn to her and she smiles at me, wriggling her eyebrows “I heard from a little bird that you’ve been having trouble with the L word lately” Oh god… I roll my eyes “Does that little bird have blonde hair, has an abnormal love for bubble tea and has the ugliest face on the face of the planet?”

 

 

She laughs “You’re too hard on Sehun but anyway; tell me… what’s up with the two of you?” “Me and Sehun?” I joke and she rolls her eyes “No ~ I meant you and Meifen, she’s a nice girl you know”

 

 

“I don’t know…” I scratch the back of my neck.

 

 

I honestly don’t know what’s gotten into me, I don’t know why I do the things I do but for some reason I never regret doing them like that flight switching matter or when Baekhyun told me to call her and I did; Meifen is a nice girl, I would give points to that and I agree with Chanyeol about his comment about her having nice curves –cough. s. Cough. She’s clumsy and I find her physically attractive but come on… I’ve only known her for what? A couple of days at a summit and up until now all I really know is that she’s my colleague’s PA in China who, if you all weren’t informed, has a liking for the said guy.

 

 

“It’s getting frustrating actually, I feel funny these days” I chuckle to myself, running a hand through the locks of my hair “I think my brain isn’t functioning properly”

 

 

“Do you like her?” she asks; she had placed down her cup on her table and leaned her arms on the surface of the desk. I shrug my shoulders “She’s a nice girl” “Do you like her?” she emphasizes the word; I chuckle and raise a brow at her “Like how I liked you?” and she frowns “Come on Kai, no jokes like that”

 

 

Sigh. “I honestly don’t know, I barely know her Hana” “Then get to know her” she said it as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

 

 

“Why should I?” Why did I even ask?

 

 

“Because” she smiles “You like her; relationships don’t just happen Kai, they’re built by words, effort and time”

 

 

“I’m not even sure if I like this girl that way”

 

 

A sigh escapes her lips, she takes a quick sip of her coffee and locks eyes with me “All the more why you should get to know her; you have nothing to lose Kai, so why not try?”

 

 

I find myself laughing, bringing a palm to kiss my face before I bring it away with a heavy sigh and she grins. You always have such odd words, Hana… “Ah, you’re weird Ms. Kim… good kind of weird”

 

 

And I am going to miss this weird girl if she leaves for China but ofcourse; she has to pass that test first. I check my watch, in a matter of hours Jongdae would be bringing forth her fate in the form of words printed on paper. Kyungsoo booked us a long table at some fancy restaurant for dinner later on so I’m hoping that she passes so we could celebrate because if otherwise, well… I don’t really wanna eat dinner with a dark cloud over our heads.

 

 

“By the way, are you ready to see the results of your test?”

 

 

Hana’s cheeky grin falls into a nervous smile, she shifts in her seat and nods her head “I guess so, Mr. Kim said he would bring it later to dinner”

 

 

Now why do I suddenly feel uneasiness in my gut? I brush off the thought and give her an encouraging smile “I’m sure you did well; I’m gonna miss you if you leave for China” I pout. She laughs and shakes her head “Ah, well I’m still thinking over my decision; I don’t wanna do anything rash and unsure”

 

 

“As expected of you, Hana” I smirk “But you know, sometimes it’s good to take a leap of faith… some sort of free fall, you know?”

 

 

She nods “Yeah… I guess you’re right”

 

 

Checking my watch, I get up from my seat “Well, time to go… see you at dinner?” she nods with a smile and I make my way out of her office. Yep, it has been awhile since we had coffee.

 

 

Sehun.

 

 

Bull.

 

 

One second I was on my laptop typing down words on a blank document, the next second my door bursts open with a big eared idiot marching into the premises of my territory saying “Hear ye, hear ye” like some old English medieval jester and the second after that he takes my card and leaves.

 

 

Bull indeed.

 

 

So now, here I am trying to contact Kim Jongdae and ask him what the is happening even though I clearly know already. To add to my ty mood, the isn’t answering and I am so close to throwing my phone out of the window and have it fall several stories down to the ground or probably some person’s head walking by down below.

 

 

“Damn it!” I end the unanswered call and shove the phone back inside my pocket. The clock struck six and it only meant one thing: time to go.

 

 

Hastily, I shove documents into drawers, my brows almost knotting themselves together. I just want to get out of here and get to that dinner that Kyungsoo has booked for us to celebrate Hana’s –failure? ’s sake, we’re celebrating her failure! Knock. Knock. “What?!”

 

 

“Whoa, chill out” I look up and see Lay, hands up in surrender “Just wanted to see if you wanna ride with me to the resto” “I have my own car, Yixing” I state; he grins for some reason and puts his hands on his hips “Ah, good! I’ll ride with you then”

 

 

I frown all the more “You have your own car too”

 

 

“I’m too lazy to drive” he shrugs; argh, you know what, I’m not even gonna argue anymore. Shoving the last of the documents into the drawer, I shut it rather harshly and move out “Let’s go”

 

 

God, she couldn’t have failed! I wasn’t even listening to Yixing rant on about how his secretary got his coffee wrong –I doubt he’ll say anything to her about it anyway, he’d just smile and say it’s alright because he doesn’t have the balls to scold her- nor did I listen to his complaints about how he’s tired these days and just wants to have some alone time with his bed. I’ve practically been boring holes onto the small LCD screen that flashed the descending numbers and I swear that the elevator ride is ing slow. Like, why can’t there be a turbo button installed in this ing compartment!

 

 

“Yah” I feel a nudge on my arm and turn to Lay “What?”

 

 

He pockets his hands “Jesus, can you lighten up? Your brows are threading together, it’s not pretty… what’s with your foul mood anyway?” I turn away; I tried to erase the scowl on my face but somehow the frown just wouldn’t disappear, I am ing upset beyond borders.

 

 

“Aish, why can’t this ing thing go any faster?!” I kick the wall. Yixing sighs “Seriously Sehun, we’re like three floors away from the ground floor. Why are you in such a y mood anyway?”

 

 

“I you not, you do not want to know, Lay” I tell him, heaving warning in my tone but he didn’t seem to get it at all “Are you on your period?” he chuckles and I just lose it.

 

 

“Stop it, Lay”

 

 

He pokes my side “Little Sehunnie got blood in his pants today? Hehe”

 

 

“Hana failed the exams, okay?!”

 

 

And cue it, the big fat silence just falling upon us both. Sehun, bull.

 

 

DING. ing elevator.

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

“Has she arrived yet?” Suho asks as he arrives at the restaurant from a meeting that took longer than he thought it would. Kyungsoo nods his head and gestures to the garden just outside where Hana was making a call; everyone was already there except Jongdae.

 

 

The room was rather sulky but they tried their best to lighten it up in Hana’s presence, Sehun had informed them as soon as he arrived with Lay, not forgetting to send Chanyeol a glare but the giant was feeling equally gloomy himself. At this point, only Hana was clueless regarding the result. Why none of them were willing to say anything, they didn’t know but all they knew was that she should see the paper for herself.

 

 

Meanwhile, outside she was walking to and fro in the restaurant’s garden because the cellular reception was better compared inside.

 

 

“I’m getting nervous now” she takes a deep breath in, placing a hand over her palpitating heart “I’m sure you did well, Hana” answered Kris on the other line but feeling completely nervous himself, but he’d never admit that. Somehow, it manages to bring a smile to her face but it was only brief as she then asks him “What if I fail?”

 

 

On the other line, Kris sighs. He honestly didn’t even want to think about it but then ofcourse this was reality and that possibility could never be brushed aside as much as he wants it to be. Hana chews on her lower lip as uneasiness churns in her stomach and she suddenly felt like throwing up, her pounding heart didn’t help the situation either “Kris?”

 

 

“I’ll be disappointed” she closes her eyes quietly breathing out. Ofcourse he would be, Hana. “But knowing that you gave it your all, I’ll be proud of you for trying hard”

 

 

Oh god, her eyes immediately watered up at his words “And I won’t love you any less if that’s what you’re thinking” he chuckles. A tear manages to escape but she was quick to wipe it away and suppress her sob “You’re so greasy, Mr. Wu!” she pouts but then laughs as he does too “You love me anyway”

 

 

Her eyes catch sight of Suho “I have to go now; I’ll let you know later on okay? Tell Luhan I said hi”

 

 

“Alright, talk to you later and enjoy dinner”

 

 

The call ends and Hana makes her way back inside, closing the glass door and smiles back at everyone who greeted her before taking her seat between Kyungsoo and Yixing. She notices Sehun’s uneasy looking face and asks him if he was alright, he seemed to be startled by the question but forced a smile and nods his head coming up with a random reason. Baekhyun was quick to rescue the situation y cracking up a joke though he knows that sooner or later, when Jongdae arrives, the laughter will cease.

 

 

Everyone tried their best to play along, making sure the conversation flowed freely as Xiumin was silently thanking the heavens that she was not noticing anything suspicious.

 

 

All of a sudden, in the middle of a conversation where Baekhyun kept imitating Tao’s words, the door to the private room slides open and everyone’s head turns

 

 

“Chen!” Hana grins whereas everyone’s face just suddenly drains in color. “Where were you?” Suho casually asks him, pretending as if he was clueless so the girl would not suspect anything.

 

 

“Ah, my phone got stolen so I wasn’t able to communicate with you guys the rest of the day”

 

 

The newly arrived boss smiles back at the girl, brown envelope in hand as he takes his seat across her. All of a sudden, the air felt thin and it only grew thinner as Jongdae held out the document across the table towards Hana; oh how much Baekhyun wanted to snag it away and have all hell lose after dinner but instead he kept still in his seat. Hana stared at the document for a moment before reaching out a hand and accepting it with a slight bow of the head.

 

 

This is it. She thinks to herself and asks “Can I open it?”

 

 

NO! Lay wanted to shout but instead smiles at her almost sympathetically and nods “Go on, Hana” Sehun kicks his foot under the table but he makes no sound nor reacts upon it… although, in all honesty, it ing hurts!

 

 

Hana takes a deep breath and opens the envelope, taking out the piece of paper inside.

 

 

Everyone hung their head low and silence fills the room before a sigh from the said girl follows. No one dares look up “Thank you, Chen”

 

 

What? That’s it? Baekhyun was the first to look up and look around, he sees a gentle smile on Hana’s face as she slips the paper back inside the envelope and breathes in before breathing out in content “That went better than I expected” he blurts out.

 

 

“Huh?” Hana turns to him and everyone begins to look up looking confused “Y-You’re not disappointed?” Xiumin asks with caution and she turns to him shrugging her shoulders “Why would I be?”

 

 

“Yeah…” everyone’s eyes fall onto Chen as he smirks “Why would she be?”

 

 

Something is not quite right here. Sehun thinks to himself before beaming a glare at Chanyeol from across the table but the guy seemed equally astonished “B-but…” the giant stammers, his mouth falling open in both confusion and shock where as everyone else –excluding Chen and Hana- looks at Sehun in pure utter confusion

 

 

“But Chen called me first!” Chanyeol shouts and Sehun turns to the latter with a confused face aswell. Sehun breaks his mouth open “You said your phone got stolen!” Hana had no idea what they were talking about “Jongdae, speak” Suho commands

 

 

Chen shrugs his shoulders, he props an arm on the table resting his cheek on his knuckle “My phone did get stolen”

 

 

“But you said…” Kai tries to cut through but Chen holds up a palm to stop him and continue with his own words “I was calling Chanyeol because I was gonna ask for Sehun’s number…”

 

 

“Yah Chanyeol”

 

 

And the giant on the other line suddenly bursts into an excited cussing fit; “Holy you called me, I ing can’t, I am so gonna spend to my hearts –buzz- Jongdae you are –buzz- speak of –buzz- ah!”

 

 

“Hello? Aish the receptions not good, Yah Chanyeol!”

 

 

“I am –buzz- -buzz- know that –buzz-“ Chen takes his phone away from his ear for a moment and shook it hoping to get better signal “Yah! Chanyeol, can you hear me?” “—buzz- yeah, I hear you perfectly –buzz-“

 

 

“Ah good! Can I have Sehun’s number? I accidentally deleted my contacts and your number is the only one I can remember, hello? Aish” Chen hurries out of the building and eventually makes it out; he was standing by the side walk holding his phone in the air watching the signal bars rise when out of nowhere it just gets snagged out of his hands.

 

 

“What the f--- YAAAAH!” it was too late; the thief was riding a bicycle and had already reached far. Even if he were to rush to his car, he would lose the dude already “Aish!” he stomps his foot before sighing in defeat “Ah forget it, I can buy another one”

 

 

“And that is the adventure of Kim Jongdae to get Hana’s test results, Yey!” he claps his hands by himself.

 

 

For a moment there was silence, pure utter silence. Chanyeol brings both his hands to cover his face as he hung his head low, his shoulders slumping; Sehun face palms himself and so does Suho, Kyungsoo and Xiumin whereas Baekhyun, Tao, Lay and Kai’s jaws fell open in disbelief then there was Hana –still confused by what was going on.

 

 

“So wait…” Tao shook himself out of daze and snags the brown envelope, taking out the piece of paper inside. Chen smirks “Hana passed the test, dumb-dumb”

 

 

Sehun takes a deep breath and holds out his palm to Chanyeol. The giant heaves a heavy defeated sigh, fishing out his wallet and returning the black card to its rightful owner but Sehun keeps his palm open, he turns to the older guy and flashes a smirk “The deal?” he states reminding Chanyeol. Another heavy breath escapes Chanyeol’s lips, he fishes his car key out of his pocket, kissing it goodbye and drops it onto Sehun’s open palm.

 

 

“Oh my god, that was so full of tension; I think I might grow wrinkles! God!” Baekhyun rants. All of a sudden, everyone just erupts in laughter but let’s leave Chanyeol out for a moment because he’s butthurt over his loss. He’s proud of Hana nonetheless; he just wishes he never made the bet. My baby Jaguar ~

 

 

Though Hana still didn’t get the whole situation but she’s sure that she could ask later on but right now, celebratory dinner was waiting.

 

 

“CHEERS!”

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

Somewhere in the middle of dinner, Tao got up from his seat and asked to talk to Hana in private so she excused herself from the rest and they both strolled out into the garden. For awhile there was silence; Tao gathered his thoughts, mustering up sentences in his head to tell her. He had made up his mind that he needed to give her a piece of his mind or atleast, knock some sense into her that –according to his own opinion- she lacked.

 

 

He takes a deep breath “Can I be honest with you, Hana?”

 

 

They both stop and sit down on a bench. Hana suddenly feels uneasy about the way Tao said it but she nods her head anyway “Ofcourse… what is it?” his face turns serious as he gives her his full attention and she does the same “I know I promised you that I won’t tell Kris” her heart skips a beat; her eyes had widened and upon noticing this Tao quickly reassures her “No, don’t worry I didn’t. I just want you to know that I think it’s wrong”

 

 

She stays quiet and he takes this as a cue to continue

 

 

“Kris is your boyfriend, Hana. You’re both in a relationship and I think it’s not healthy that you keep secrets from him; I mean it’s pretty clear that it should be him you should talk to regarding things like this work transfer not me” he rubs the back of his neck, feeling uneasy about the words himself but she needed to know “It’s unfair for his part, Hana. He would be disappointed if he knew that you prefer talking to others about your problems rather than him, trust me that it would make him feel useless and it would look like you don’t trust him”

 

 

Arrow to the heart. That’s exactly how she felt and she could only bite down her lip because she knew that what he said was true.

 

 

“Gege’s never opened up this much to someone before, he trusts you so much more than he trusts himself but if you can’t trust him the way he trusts you then I’m sorry but I think it would be better off if you both just broke up” Oh god, Huang Zitao what did you just say?! He shuts his eyes close, biting his tongue as he looks away.

 

 

Hana was quiet for the longest time, her hands fidgeting with the hem of her skirt. Tao had a point, why couldn’t she trust Kris the way he trusted her? Why couldn’t she be as open to him as she was with others? Perhaps, she was just afraid? Kris was a man that already had too much in his hands, she was afraid that she would burden him more if she constantly blabbered on issues with him maybe that’s why she found it easier for others… but like Tao said, it was wrong for their relationship. There was so much she couldn’t openly tell him.

 

 

“I’m horrible, huh?” she cracks a smile, hurt was clearly visible in her eyes and Tao felt guilty for it but he believed in himself that sometimes, in order to be kind to others, we have to be cruel.

 

 

“Hana” he turns to her “If anything, you’re the only girl I know fit for him… I don’t mean to hurt your feelings but I want you to realize that Kris has the right to know your problems and secrets. You’re not a burden to him Hana, you’re his girlfriend and he wants to be there for you too so let him”

 

 

A sigh escapes her lips “You’re right… thank you, Tao”

 

 

“Aish!” he pouts before wrapping his arms around her “For a second there I thought you were gonna cry!” Hana finally laughs and breaks away from him, ruffling his blonde hair. “By the way, what was that about Sehun and Chanyeol?” she asks and Tao just laughs before explaining

 

 

 

---

 

 

 

“Yehet baby!” Sehun hugs the roof of his –previously Chanyeol’s- Jaguar as everyone exits the restaurant. Chanyeol puffs out a sigh beside Hana as he drapes an arm around her shoulders and she casts him a sympathetic smile “Sorry, Yeol” he smiles back at her and pats the top of her head “Nah, it’s fine; congratulations on passing” atleast he’s sincere. she smiles at the thought.

 

 

“Don’t apologize to him, Hana; he brought it upon himself” says Xiumin laughing and the giant sends him a frown.

 

 

The night was growing old and Hana has yet to go home and talk to Kris, there was so much they needed to talk about but tonight she was settling for one thing that he deserves to know more than anyone else. Suho pockets his hands inside his coat’s pocket “I’ll go ahead first, you guys drive safe okay?” “Hyung, I’ll ride with you!” Chanyeol yells running to Suho’s side, the latter just chuckles and shakes his head as Sehun gives his hyung one last thanks and the two disappear to Suho’s car.

 

 

“Losing , my luck has been balls lately” Chanyeol complains, strapping himself in the passenger seat while Suho does the same in the driver’s seat “You shouldn’t have made that bet, idiot” he scolds. Chanyeol scoffs “Sehun bet his black card for a week, it was a tempting offer”

 

 

“As if you don’t have a black card of your own” Suho rolls his eyes at Chanyeol’s reason, the other didn’t seem like he would back down reasoning though “Things are better held when it’s bought with someone else’s money” “I beg to disagree” “Well I didn’t ask you to agree” he smugly smiles and Suho could only shake his head.

 

 

Meanwhile, everyone else began to set off in their own ways home. Lay ended up driving Sehun’s car because he didn’t bring his own whereas the latter happily drove home on his Jaguar.

 

 

Dinner was nice. Hana concludes as she smiles to herself after parking her car and entered the building making sure to greet the guards and the front desk lady along the way; it had been a habit, ever since Kris left for China she’s been making friends around the building, sometimes she would go down and talk to the security guards during graveyard shift if she couldn’t sleep. In a way it was nice, atleast she had company.

 

 

“Had a good evening, Ms. Kim?” the lady behind the desk asks and Hana, being Hana, stops by “Yeah, had a nice dinner with friends. It’s already late, aren’t you going home yet Ms. Lee?”

 

 

“Perhaps in a while, my husband’s probably having trouble putting our young one to sleep” she chuckles and so does Hana. Must be nice to come home to that… truthfully, she was a little envious but often kept shrugging it off. She puffs out a breath “Well, I’ll be going up now… keep safe, going home later Ms. Lee” “Thank you, Ms. Kim! Have a good night”

 

 

Hana steps inside the elevator and presses for the floor of her unit; Tao had taken the results with him earlier; he said something about it getting reviewed along with some other documents.

 

 

Sigh. The elevator ride seemed rather slow than usual, perhaps it was just because of her rumbled up thoughts since usually she was distracted by work matters or too tired to care but tonight she was wide awake, her senses seemed to be heightened for some reason and Kris has been boggled up in the strings inside her brain ever since the talk she had with Tao earlier.

 

 

She began to count the times that she’s kept things from him and every addition to the list made her frown and her heart, heavy then she begins to count the times that Kris kept secrets from her and it didn’t even reach half of what she’s been listing. He’s been an open book towards her all along whereas she kept some pages of herself in lock or blank. You’re being unfair, Hana. Very unfair.

 

 

DING.

 

 

She walks out of the elevator and takes a brief walk down the quiet hall before stopping infront of her unit’s door and punches the code in the security pad then slips inside. She suddenly felt exhausted, perhaps because of the thinking and decides to take a shower first before calling him.

 

 

Kris.

 

 

I walked out of the bathroom, towel hung around my waist, hair damp from the shower. It had been a habit of mine, showering after work every day because for some reason it relieved stress in a way.

 

 

Signed, Wu Yookyung

 

 

Atleast, that’s done and over with. I take a deep breath before dropping the folder onto my bed and walked to the closet to get myself dressed, it had been a hectic day and the anxiety bubbling in the pits of my gut about Hana’s test results didn’t help either. I checked the clock she’ll be calling any minute now so I hurriedly dressed myself: a pair of basketball shorts and plain black v neck

 

 

What? Do you expect me to wear a tuxedo to bed?

 

 

I dry off my hair before settling myself in bed placing my son by my arm as my phone rested on my stomach; quietly we waited for the mommy to call. myself for being greasy. RING. RING.

 

 

“Hello” she laughs on the other line and I find myself grinning like an idiot at the sound “I miss you”

 

 

That’s… a first. Cue the sound of my heart stopping and my cheeks going numb, I mentally cursed myself. It’s probably just because of surprise, I really wasn’t expecting it anyway but I have to admit, it felt ing good hearing it “I miss you more than you miss me” You make me wanna puke Kris Wu. Shut up subconscious.

 

 

“I have to tell you something” and everything good vanished as quickly as it has appeared. I sit up in bed “What’s wrong?” “Ah ~” she sighs on the other line “I’ve been unfair to you lately and I want to say sorry” God, I could picture her quivering lips and watering eyes.

 

 

“Hana, tell me what’s wrong” I frown, she’s making me worry. Suddenly, thoughts just flooded into my mind and speculations came with them; did she cheat on me? What did she do? What if she cheated on me? And the worst just came to me that it made my hand ball to a fist as my eyes grew dark “Is it Kai?”

 

 

“Huh?”

 

 

“Did you cheat on me with Kai?”

 

 

“IDIOT! What are you talking about?!” god, I should have seen this coming “Answer my question!”

 

 

“No! Aish, you really think I’m capable of doing that?”

 

 

“Then what?”

 

 

There was silence for awhile, my mind was still clouded and I was still ready to punch the wall, she takes a deep breath on the other line “I didn’t cheat on you but I did keep a lot of secrets from you which is why I feel like I have been unfair” I take a deep breath, bringing a hand to my face as I wipe it off “Hana…”

 

 

“I want to be fair to you, to this relationship so from now on I will tell you everything rather than talk it out with others, so please listen…”

 

 

I was quiet for a moment, feeling a little dumbfounded about my assumption and embarrassed but I’d never admit that “Alright, I’m listening”

 

 

She proceeds. She told me about the things that have been bothering her and about my grandmother; she told me everything. How she brought out Cube discreetly without anyone knowing, about how she was offered a position, I listened to her reasoning, I never interrupted but I just listened not because I had nothing to say, believe me I could rant about it for a whole week, but because it was the right thing to do.

 

 

She needed me to listen to her as she has listened to me.

 

 

Then it just suddenly made my chest tighten because at the end of her long explanation, following her brief silence was a sob. She cried and it so much that I couldn’t stay upset.

 

 

“I’m sorry; I’ve been really unfair to you… I’m sorry, I’m really sorry”

 

 

“Hey come on, don’t cry… you’re not pretty when you cry” I click my tongue, it’s not exactly ideal to comfort a crying person through the phone but unfortunately I couldn’t be there in the flesh “I understand and to be honest… I’m thankful that you opened up” I cracked a smile.

 

 

She apologized some more “Aigo, really Hana… it’s okay already, you made up for it now will you please stop crying or so help me I will jump on a plane this instant”

 

 

“Idiot, you have work tomorrow” she scolds, sniffling while I chuckled “So, what do you plan to do?”

 

 

I really didn’t want to ask that question but I had to. Accept her decision, Kris. Make sure you respect it. I bit back my lip and waited for her answer

 

 

“I don’t know… I don’t want to disappoint you”

 

 

Jesus, this girl is as selfless as a mother hen! Guilt was squeezing my chest because I badly wanted to tell her what to do, what I think she should do but I couldn’t because I didn’t want to be selfish. I have been selfish all my life and the least I could do is to let her decide this for herself.

 

 

, I’ll probably regret saying this “I’ll respect whatever decision you make, Hana”

 

 

“You’re not making it any better… I love you, idiot” and it was somewhere between sniffling and her laughing that I found myself hanging my head low in defeat “Yeah, I love you too pretty”

 

 

Can’t you just stay with me?