Chapter 15 Kris-py Monday

Second week of March

"Hyung!" Kyungsoo called out to the tall blonde male standing near the school's entrance. Kris had been waiting for him since school ended, and Kyungsoo texted him earlier, asking him to wait for a while. He had to help Baekhyun with something first. It was a good thing the senior student had good patience.

"Hey Soo." The taller student waved back. "Ready to go?"

"Where are we going?"

"The mall. I need to loosen up a bit." Kris said, getting into his parked Mercedes nearby. Kyungsoo followed him closely from behind, and slipped into the passenger seat at the front. There was obviously something wrong with the senior student, because he didn't say one word during the twenty minutes drive to the mall. Only Kyungsoo did the the talking, feeling as though he was obligated to cheer the latter up.

He managed to put a smile or two on Kris's face before they finally arrived, and it was one of those luxurious malls where Kyungsoo could only dream about shopping in it. "We're hanging out here?"

Kris gave him an amused grin. "You've never been here before."

"I don't usually have a reason to be here. We're high school students, after all." Kyungsoo shrugged.

"I come here often. It's a pretty cool place, you know. I want you to see the fountain they have in their indoor garden."

"They have an indoor garden?!" The shorter male gasped. Dear god, all he ever had in his house, that was even remotely close to nature, was a cactus in a pot. And that one only lived because his mother took over his plant duty ("At this rate, you'll be killing the plant before the week ends," his mother had chided him).

"Don't be surprised." Kris chuckled. "Though...I think you look adorable when you're surprised."

Kyungsoo blushed at the remark. He hated being called 'cute' or 'adorable', and his two best friends had already crossed the line ages ago but the difference between them and Kris was that they knew him for a long time. Kris was just someone who popped into his life two weeks ago. "Let's go. I want to see the garden." Kyungsoo said, changing the subject.

Kris parked the Mercedes into a red spot marked VIP---yeah, Kyungsoo gasped again. How rich is this motherer?!---and the both of them got out. Kyungsoo felt a little dizzy when he realized that the other cars parked nearby were all luxury cars that Kyungsoo only saw on televisions. He had always wanted a Lamborghini, but after scouting for the prices online, his dream was irrevocably crushed. Stomped on by an elephant. Chewed and swallowed by some rich fat kid in his class during middle school. How depressing.

"This way, Soo." Kris led the way, taking the elevator up to the ground floor, while Kyungsoo checked himself in the mirror. The whole elevator had mirrors surrounding it, so it was now or never. Kyungsoo had to make sure he didn't stick out like a sore thumb. "Calm down, cupcakes. No one's gonna throw you out for your bed hair." The older male chuckled, leaning forward all of the sudden, until their faces were only inches apart from each other. "Though...I think it looks y on you." Kris rasped, his voice thick with lust as he inspected Kyungsoo's face with a dangerous glint in his eyes. 

Kyungsoo gulped, feeling hot all of the sudden. Either the air cond had stopped functioning, or it was just his head. His pants also felt tight. What the hell was wrong with him? He pushed Kris's face away just as the elevator's door opened on the ground floor, and he rushed out before anything else could happen. Dear god, he didn't even want to know what else could have gone wrong in that stupid elevator. With Kris, no less.

"Soo, wait up. The indoor garden is this way." Kris pulled Kyungsoo's arm to lead him into the right direction. And there it was, a garden right in the middle of a mall. Kyungsoo was surprised to see something so green and huge in the middle of a luxury mall, because it stood out like a sore thumb; of green and red and yellow admidst the gold and silver setting of the mall. There was a large fountain in the middle, which had a cupid statue in the middle, and water gushed out from his arrow like a silver waterfall. The plants around the fountain were strategically placed, so that one side of the fountain was actually facing the public, and the other was covered in assorted greens and other multitude of colors.

Kyungsoo liked it very much.

"Do you like what you see?" Kris asked, ruffling the shorter male's hair like a father would towards his kid. Kyungsoo was too amazed with the fountain to care, but he shyly nodded anyway.

There were coins scattered all over the inside of the fountain, and Kyungsoo always believed that when a person throws a coin in, the genie living in the fountain would grant a person's wish. Now was such a time to make a wish. He hurriedly took out his wallet and gleefully fished out some coins.

"I wanted to do this for so long." He told Kris, showing a small silver coin to him and the blonde male could only smile.

"Make a wish then."

Kyungsoo wished that Kai would finally realize his feelings. He wished that Kai had the same feelings for him too. He wished for so many things centered around Kai that he forgot about the older male beside him until he felt soft lips against his cheek. "W-what?" Kyungsoo jerked back in surprise, his owlish eyes now trained on Kris. "Y-you kissed me."

"I did." Kris said, rather smugly. "Let's go. I want you to meet someone."

"S-someone. Who is it?"

"My mum."

This is wrong. This is so wrong. I shouldn't follow him. What if she hates me later? Oh god, I'm not even dating this bastard, and I keep forgetting the point of coming here with him in the first place. You're supoosed to confront him about the love guru thing, Kyungsoo. And now you're meeting his MUM?! Tch, run away squishy! Run away before she forces you to marry him.

Apparently the mall had apartments built upstairs, and Kris's family owned the penthouse, like what the ASDFGHJKL! Kyungsoo could only cower away from the older male more and more as the elevator zoomed up to the highest floor in every passing second. He was afraid Kris might suddenly whip out a marriage proposal or some like that and expect Kyungsoo to say yes. He had the money to do it after all, so anything was possible.

Kyungsoo also expected Kris's mother to be the snobbish sort of parent who ate gold for her breakfast, silver for lunch, and diamond for dinner. He didn't expect to see a warm motherly smile on her face when she greeted the door (no maids?!) and gave her son a hug. "Welcome home, sweetheart. Oh, is this your school mate? Come on in, sweetie." She cooed, giving Kyungsoo a hug too.

The doe eyed could only stand there like a rock, shell shocked and speechless.

"He's Kyungsoo, mum. Don't you recognize him?" Kris said.

What? What do you mean 'recognize me'? So you knew me before? Kyungsoo shot the older male a quizzical look, and Kris simply shrugged.

"Oh! Is this really Kyungsoo? Oh my! You're all grown up!" She pulled him into a bone crushing hug this time, and all good-motherly aura was gone by then. It turned out she was one of those mothers who spoke in a loud voice and fuss over little things. She happily dragged Kyungsoo into the penthouse and seated him down on their massive white couch. Kris chuckled in amusement as he took a seat next to his confused friend and watched his mother slam mugs on the kitchen counter to make drinks for their new guest.

She came back with three mugs of hot chocolate. "I don't know if you take coffee, but everyone likes hot chocolate, especially my baby boy here."

"Mum..." Kris whined, rolling his eyes. "I'm not a baby anymore."

"Pish posh, I don't care. Anyway, Soo dear, tell me: how is your mum? Is she well? Oh dear, look at you. You're confused, aren't you? Well, let me start from the beginning. I'm Mrs Wu, but you can call me 'mum'. Your mum and I were best friends since high school, and we haven't met up for years after we got married. She travels a lot, you see. Even when she was carrying you, she still traveled a lot, and I don't know if she's around these days."

"She is." Kyungsoo politely replied.

"Oh good. I miss her terribly. I went off to Canada to stay with my husband for a year or two after I got married and baby Kris here popped out around that time. We exchanged photos of the both of you while you guys were still in diapers, and good grace, you were such a cutie pie. Your mum had you two years after Kris came along, and we stopped keeping in touch after you were old enough to crawl. She had to stay in Russia for a while."

Kyungsoo couldn't recall any of this, of course. He was too young at the time.

"But strangely, Kris still remembers you even after all these years. We recently transferred back from America after staying five years there, and Kris had to go to a school here. He kept telling me lately that he met someone I knew from a long time ago, so I told him to bring you here. And here you are..." Tears were welling up in her eyes, and Kyungsoo could see that she really missed her best friend. He reminded himself to call his mother later.

Or maybe now. Maybe she would like to speak to her now. "Do you want to call my mum? She's just hanging around at home these days, and my house is actually in Ilsan. It's not that far from here."

"Yes, please!" Mrs Wu beamed. "I miss talking to her." He handed over his phone to her and she took down his mother's number. While she talked on the phone with her long-time best friend, Kris dragged Kyungsoo to his room, shutting the door behind them.

"Thanks, Soo. I've never seen my mum this happy since forever. She's been kinda depressed for a few years now because she couldn't bear another child after I came along, and I know she's just lonely. I'm glad you agreed to follow me up here."

"Sure thing." Kyungsoo nervously said. He may have been happy to appease Mrs Wu, but there was still something he needed to clear with Kris first. "Hey, can I ask you something?"

"Sure. Shoot me." Kris said, falling back onto his bed, while Kyungsoo sat on a leather-made office chair in front of his study desk.

"I'm thinking about...going after Kai again." Kyungsoo started out slowly, judging Kris's reaction. He wanted the older male to come clean with the lie himself, because Kyungsoo didn't want to start off as rude. Kris turned his head to stare at the younger male first before sitting up on his bed.

"Why, Soo? Why do you like him so much?"

Kyungsoo shrugged. They had this conversation before, but maybe he didn't explain it clearly to the blonde senior. "I just do. I guess it's because I've been following him for more than a year and I've learned a lot of things about him, things that people wouldn't know until they knew him as well as I do. I tend to see through the things I do until the end, and giving up halfway without even trying in the first place is not who I am.You may not know me so well, but if there's one thing I take seriously, it's loyalty. People may perceive me as a stubborn person, or maybe someone who's just too blind to see the light, but it's a principle I stand for, and at the moment, it involves my feelings for Kai. I hope you understand." He finished off, anxiously biting his lips once he was done.

Kris didn't seem happy with the small speech. His fingers twitched for a moment, and it legitly shook Kyungsoo to his core. He was suddenly afraid of what the older male could do to him. They were alone in Kris's room, behind closed door, possibly few thousand feet high from the ground outside, so Kyungsoo was basically stuck between a rock and a hard place. There was no escape, unless Kris expressly allowed him to leave.

"Are you scared of me, Soo?" The blonde male suddenly asked, and Kyungsoo forced himself to face the other once more. He didn't know he was actually staring at anything but Kris.

"W-what do you mean?" The crack in his voice gave him away, and Kris sighed, getting up.

"Look, I know it's too late for me to say this, but I have feelings for you, unless you don't already know that."

Kyungsoo's eyes widened at the remark, and Kris sighed again. "I guess you don't." He chuckled bitterly."I'm sorry for freaking you out. I thought I was doing a pretty good job at making you fall for me actually, but it turned out I was wrong. I've seen the way you stare at Kai, and I guess...." He stared at his feet, comparing his toes with Kyungsoo's little ones. Even his toes are small, this little cutie, he thought. "...I guess I was j-just jealous of him. It's like you said, he's perfect---"

"You're good-looking too, Kris." Kyungsoo subtly added in.

"Yeah, I know." A smug grin spreaded across Kris's face for a second, and Kyungsoo thought, he's so full of himself sometimes, bloody prick. "But I guess I can't stop you from liking him more than me, right?"

Kyungsoo noticed the pain in his eyes and wondered if he should say something about the love guru thing. it, of course I have to! He ing lied to me!

"Hyung....I have to be straightforward with you on something right now, and I expect a straight answer from you too. Do I get your promise?"

Kris looked taken aback, but he nodded anyway.

"Is it because of your feelings for me...that you lied about being my love guru?"

A/N:

Yes, sweeties. It's divided into two parts, cause it's bloody long. And now we know that Kris actually likes Kyungsoo. It's also because of their close family relations once upon a time. Kris and Kyungsoo were childhood friends.