Kris starts choking again, and I feel really bad.

He must be extremely sensitive to this, so it makes me wonder if this is supposed to be one of those 'huge secrets' of some sort.

Reaching out for the jug of water, I quickly refill his cup, and then hold it out for him, to take. The coughing soothes, as soon as he gulps down the drink, but he's still trying to recompose himself, so I wait. His voice appears to still be a little raspy, as he's now trying to tell me something, but all I can hear is "no", and it makes me arch up a puzzled eyebrow. The discomfort on his face, makes me shake my head, and then gesture for him to regain himself, and so he gives up.

"Seriously, don't die on me, okay?" I say, with a frown. "Just tell me afterwards, when you start breathing normally again."

Kris somewhat rolls his eyes at me, and before he can even say anything else, another presence suddenly appears, making us both direct our attention over to them.

It's the guy from the elevator, and when I see his adorable dimpled smile, my lips can't help but also curve back at him.

He and Kris are now speaking in Chinese, and I'm not sure if it's because they're arguing, or...?

Elevator boy is now sheepishly rubbing the back of his neck. "Ah, I guess I forgot..." he apologetically says. "But I really did thought you meant the other cafe, though."

Kris' features ease up at him, as he breathes out a small sigh. "It's fine…" he softly assures.

Taking a seat down in front of me, elevator guy eventually orders himself the same brunch meal as myself, and I soon learn that his name is Yixing, but he prefers to be called Lay. And unlike Kris, Lay is actually a lot less rigid than him, so our conversation sails a little more smoothly, even if his Korean isn't as fluent as Kris. But it's okay though, (it's actually quite fun!) because I don't mind helping him out with a few pronunciations, or the correct way to word things, as Kris just quietly eats.

"So how do you know Kris?" asks Lay, as he cuts through a sausage.

I'm not sure how to tell him, and surprisingly, I don't have to.

Because Kris answers for me, but it's in Chinese.

And whatever he's just said to Lay, it makes him raise his eyebrows up in amusement, and the only thing that I can understand, is his surprised, "Really?"

The two go on to talk, with me just noiselessly picking at my food, patiently waiting—Chinese is such an interesting language, I wish I could learn it, if I wasn't so confused with where to start. I'm not sure why, but Kris now looks annoyed, and my guess is probably due to Lay laughing at him, about something. Maybe he's told him about the house issue, or how my packet of peanuts exploded in my face, and how he had to face the consequences of them raining on him, too.

A twinkle now appears in the brunette's head, as he very playfully nudges his friend. "Come on, let’s tell her," chimes Lay's voice.

Kris doesn't seem to like his sudden touchiness, and deepens the wrinkle in between his brows. "Are you crazy?" he scolds. "You shouldn't—"

But whatever Kris is planning on saying, becomes smothered by Lay's hand, clamping his mouth shut.

I blink at the two, now feeling a bit more confused than before. Their conversation reverts back to Chinese, with them rapidly talking about something, that Kris doesn't seem to really like—he sounds as though he's completely rejecting whatever that's being said to him. Seeing this, Lay is now counting something on his fingers, looking as though he's making a list of something—that, or it’s kind of like the thing you would do, to try and convince someone why they should go through with a certain plan or so.

Or that he could just be counting something on his fingers for the heck of it, I'm not too sure.

Hooking his arm through Kris' one again, Lay now gives me that really cute airy smile of his. "Kris is just a little shy..." he gently enlightens.

The older male's jaw tightens. "Zhang. Yi. Xing," I hear him mutter, through gritted teeth.

I think I know where this is going, and it makes me chortle, as I wave a dismissive hand at the two. "Oh, it's absolutely fine," I say. "You guys make a cute couple, though!"

With the smile on his face, Lay is pleased by my comment, but Kris on the other hand, appears as though he's wanting the ground to open up, and swallow him whole. The entertained sparkle in Lay's eyes continue on, as he now goes on, to tell me how the two have been together for a year or so, as I eagerly listen. Kris looks as though he's completely given up, on taking part in any of our conversation, with how his hand is currently resting against his forehead.

That is, until something suddenly gets brought up by Lay, that somewhat stuns both Kris and I.

"So I heard about your housing situation, and my suggestion is...why don't you just stay with Kris?" he says, with that very innocent look on his face. "He'll eventually end up moving anyway, perhaps, at the end of this year, so you'll be able to get your house back, faster than you think."

"Yixing, you are dead to me," growls Kris, but Lay just proceeds to sit there, with his ever so angelic expression.

I'm also too distracted by the proposal, to make a comment about Kris' threat, and so I slowly frown. "I...don't know..." I unsurely say. "I mean—"

"Kris only has eyes for me—and maybe Tao—if that's what you're worried about," chimes Lay. Now turning over to the said male, he brightly smiles at him. "Isn't that right?" he harmlessly questions.

But instead of returning the happy gesture with something just as warm, Kris gives him an electrifying stare, that he, strangely, is immune to.

Lay continues on, now showing me that cute dimpled smile of his, and asks me a question, that's slightly off-topic.

"Can you cook?"

I nod my head at him.

"Can you clean?"

I bob my head at him again.

Satisfied with my two simple answers, Lay brightens up slightly. "Ah, that's great," he praises. "Right Kris? You say that you like girls who can cook and—ow!"

Another deathly glare is received from the golden-brown haired male, as I blink at the two of them.

Lay eventually straightens himself up, to nudge Kris a little. "Come on, let her live with you, so then you can learn a thing or two," he says, with a hint of cheekiness. It makes me question if there's a hidden meaning to that, but I forget about it, as soon as he redirects his attention back over to me, seeing as how Kris has just brushed him off. "Subin-ah, I like you," reveals Lay, rather boldly. "You seem like a good person, who can help me take care of Yifan, when I'm not around."

"Yixing," cuts in Kris. "I can take care of myself just fine—"

Although, he doesn't get to finish off the rest of his sentence, as Lay is now speedily saying something to him in their native tongue.

I'm confused, and am not really sure of what to do, as I watch their bickering continue onwards, because the only thing that I can do, is slowly sip away some water, from my cup.

This is weird—is this what it feels like, to be caught in the middle of a lover’s quarrel?

And I'm not sure why, but something deep down inside of me, tells me that maybe, just maybe, the two aren't exactly talking about the house, but are talking about me.

———————————————

Twisting the doorknob open, he pushes the door out wide enough, for me to step through, with my suitcase. I watch him close the door, slip off his shoes, and then when his figure finally disappears into the lounge room, I breathe out a small uneasy breath. Thanks to Lay, (should I really be thanking him, though...?) a solution has been found for my dilemma, but it feels a little odd. Like as though I really shouldn't be doing this, and should instead, be staying elsewhere.

But maybe because I only feel like this, because I know how uncomfortable Kris is, with me now being under the same roof for him, for...an extensive amount of time.

To be honest, I'm not even sure how Kris (and myself, included, now that I think of it...) came to agree to this. It must have been due to Lay's constant probing, and because I find it really hard to say no to adorable people like him, it just…happened? And with Kris probably feeling the soft spot for his boyfriend kick in, it's how we've...well, eventually come to a mutual agreement. A mutual agreement that just feels so awkward, with me standing here, right at this second.

Taking off my shoes, I now begin to ascend the stairs with my things, and thankfully, my room is still an empty open space—Kris has picked the other room for his own, and from the quick peek that I took, it looks very neat. There isn't much unpacking that I can do, with there not really being any furniture for me to put my things into, so the only thing that I can do, is set my suitcase against the wall, to then quietly stand there, in the silence.

I don't have a bed, or any blankets to make a bed, so I frown to myself at that—I'll probably be sleeping on the couch down stairs for a while, or something. Unless Kris might have an extra duvet lying around, then maybe I can sleep with that. But because I don't exactly want to approach him right now, (the car ride here was painfully awkward as it is…) I temporarily push that into the back of my mind, to worry about, a little later on.

Heading out, I now make my way down the stairs, with the kitchen in mind—I wonder if there's anything to eat in the fridge?

Right at this moment, Kris walks past me, and now decides to go up the steps, to most likely disappear into his room.

I shrug him off my thoughts, and go back to looking through the refrigerator, to see what it is, that he has in here. There's enough ingredients for me to make a simple kimchi fried rice, and that's what I resort to doing. I make the right amount for myself, and then enjoy the meal in silence, at the dinner table. When I'm finished, I then wash the cutlery, and then put them onto the drying rack to dry. Kris hasn't seemed to come back out of his room, and so I now take the chance to explore.

My curious eyes go to sweep over every inch of the house, interested to see what and how he's placed his things in here. Fancy rugs, and pretty artistic artworks decorate the place, with a few ornaments, here and there. I nod my head to myself at some of the things, liking his taste in decoration, while the others, not so much. When I find myself coming back out into the lounge room again, so that I can finally inspect the huge plasma TV, I see that it's already .

Kris is sitting there, on the black leather couch, with his attention on the screen, for some movie.

And since I've paused in my steps for a tad bit too long, turning around right now would be even more awkward than continuing to stand here, and so, I force myself forward, so that I can go and take a seat next to him.

The two of us sit here in silence for a bit, with only the television as the source of sound, until he thankfully, says something.

"I'm probably returning back to China, at the end of the year," I hear him suddenly announce. "I'm just letting you know, that this will probably only have to last for...roughly nine months? So...yeah."

My head understandingly nods at him. "I see," is my response. "That's okay."

From here on, we somehow come to agree on equally sharing our responsibilities with the house, except that I’m more chore based, while he’s more on the house-water-electricity-and-such bills side. He’s also said something about helping me out with getting a bed, but I’m not sure. It feels a little weird, since I've usually had to worry about all of this on my own, so this change is…a little nice, I guess. And from what I've seen, I can tell that Kris is the type of person to only speak when spoken to, so...

I'm hoping to maybe change this?

Or at the very least, make things not feel so agonizingly awkward, if I want these nine months to fly by, within a blink of an eye.