Chapter 23 A Promising Note

Second week of June

> It's been a while. How is everything lately? Text me.

Silly boyfriend, Kyungsoo giggled. He still doesn't know that I know?! He's using the same phone number!

It was amazing how Kai missed out one very fine, very grave detail about his not-so-secret occupation, the fact that he texted his clients using his own phone number. Kyungsoo thought a scholarship student like Kai, an all-star player of the school, should have noticed this little mistake by now.

But no, apparently, his silly boyfriend missed out the most crucial part in their relationship. Of course Kyungsoo would already have Kai's number, because the latter never bothered to ask if he had it.  In fact, if Kyungsoo recalled back the first time Kai oh-so-innocently keyed in his number in Kyungsoo's phone, the shorter male knew he was just fumbling around with the keypad, pretending to be giving his number. 

When Kyungsoo checked the number after that (and yes, he memorized it by heart), the name he gave the love guru---y God (Kai didn't know why)---turned back into Kim Jongin. It was a good thing that Kyungsoo remembered to change it a few days before, from Kim Jongin to y God, or else Kai would have known that he knew.

*wipes away sweat* Fuh!  That was intense.

And now, Kai seemed to have not noticed the greatest detail to his plan. Kyungsoo supposed he couldn't blame his boyfriend. After all, the last time he spoke to his love guru was almost two months ago, before Kyungsoo confessed his feelings. How was he supposed to text his love-guru--boyfriend now without making it seem like he already knew about it?!

"Kyung-kyung, there you are!" Baekhyun's sharp voice rang out from behind, almost scaring the bejeebers out of Kyungsoo.

"ing ! Don't scare me like that!"

"Sorry, babe. I need your help. Luhan has Home Economics in an hour, and he's cooking some uh....something. He texted me just now, asking me to attend his class. Apparently, the more people you could get to try out your food, the higher the chances of you not failing class, or some like that. I don't want to go alone."

"So you're dragging my along?"

"No, I'm dragging you along. Your could join us too, if it wants."

"Ha ha, very funny." Kyungsoo mocked. "Who else is going? I don't see anything good coming out from this. You know how bad his cooking is."

"It's not as bad as Kai's."

"Someone called for me?" Kai suddenly emerged, and started attacking his boyfriend with kisses on the neck. Kyungsoo could only go limp in his arms, but he welcomed every kisses with a giggle.

"You guys need a room."

"We could switch dorms." Kai suggested.
 

"No one takes our baby Soo away from us and that's final." Baekhyun glared back, before wrenching his best friend away from Kai. "Anyway, we were just talking about Luhan. He's cooking in Home ec today. Wanna tag along?"

"The more the merrier." Kyungsoo added, pouting cutely at his boyfriend. And really, how could Kai resist that?

"Of course sweetheart. Anything you want." He planted a gentle kiss on Kyungsoo's forehead this time, and the older male almost swooned. Almost. Do Kyungsoo never swooned. "Why are you guys standing in the middle of the hallway anyway? Don't you have class?"

"I did. But Mister Squishy Pants here disappeared in the middle of class suddenly, and didn't come back after ten minutes. The coach's mad at you, Soo. He told me to tell you that."

"He sent you out just to tell me that?" Kyungsoo laughed.

"Coach Yunho works in mysterious ways. I think he's just worried if something happened to you. I wouldn't usually give a but he was starting to get on my nerve."

"Good to know you still cared about me, Baek." Kyungsoo remarked sarcastically. He turned back to his boyfriend. "I was on my way to the restroom, but then I found this. Remember that one time I told you about me getting love advices from someone in school? He probably taped this to my locker this morning."

Kyungsoo passed the note to his boyfriend, who took it nonchalantly.

Jongin's a good actor, Kyungsoo thought.

"I'm too lazy to text him back, so I'll probably just write a short reply at the back and tape it back to my locker." He tried to read his boyfriend's blank expression, and found nothing promising. "You okay with that, baby?"

"Yeah sure. Why wouldn't I be?"

"He might be a guy. Aren't you jealous or anything?"

Kai shrugged. "If he doesn't bother you, I don't see what's wrong."

"Ok then." He took back the note and wrote a reply in the back, before taping it back to his locker.  "I'm just gonna tell him that I confessed already, and thank him for helping me. I wish I know who he is though. It's amazing how he managed to bring a lot of people together without even meeting them."

"A miracle worker." Kai smiled.

"More like social worker." Baekhyun suddenly in. "I don't see what he gets from doing all this."

"Appreciated, I guess. To do something selfless by helping others without any conditions, it tends to make a person feel good after that."

"I'm sure he could try a different venue to get people to appreciate him. Like you for instance. Everyone in school loves you." Baekhyun said, patting Kai's shoulder.

"Most of the time, people don't appreciate me for being who I am. It's always about my looks, my physique, my bad-boy charms. It's never about my talent these days. Or the fact that I'm a bright student in every subject I take. If the team wins another match, I hear people saying, "That's expected. They have Kai. He's so hot."  Or, "Who is that good-looking guy playing the main striker?"  Even when I make a mistake, they praise me for it. If the team loses, the others get insults thrown at them, but I get praises and compliments. I don't see how that amounts to appreciation."

Kyungsoo could tell how much his boyfriend was bothered by this, and he almost felt bad for thinking that way too before he met Kai. Even though he never threw insults on the team when they lose, but he was always unconditionally siding with Kai at the end of the day. "I understand what you mean, Jongin." He said.

"You do?" Baekhyun questioned his best friend with a raised eyebrow.

Kyungsoo nodded. "I do. I'm a geek. I ace every subject in class and win every non-physical competition in school without even breaking a sweat, but I don't see anyone praising me for it. Yeah, I know I get the occasional compliments from you and Luhan, and sometimes from the teachers, but I've always been overshadowed by the soccer team. From Jongin, specifically."

"I swear I didn't mean to---"

"I know, baby. I know. But despite not feeling appreciated for my hard work in school, I still can't help loving you secretly. I'm one of those people who could never find fault in you, whether the team loses or wins. I'm sorry if it bothers you so much. Anyway, I think I can see why the love guru does what he does now."

"Yeah, probably." Baekhyun shrugged. "Anyway,  we better get back to class. Coach Yunho will flay us alive if we skip his class completely."

"Yeah. See you later, Jongin. I love you!" Kyungsoo said, planting a kiss on his boyfriend's cheek before running off with Baekhyun.

Kai took the note from the locker after that and read it.

Let's meet after school. Genie Cafe. 3pm.

Kai decided that it was time to come out from hiding.

3.01PM later, Kyungsoo waited inside Genie's Cafe for his love guru to appear. Of course, he was fully expecting to see Kai so he already had a speech in mind; to tell his boyfriend later that he already knew the secret for a long time.  

But after three orders of latte and a chocolate creme eclair, he checked his watch and was surprised to see it was already 3.45PM. His mind began to wonder if Kai was ever going to turn up. Does he know that I know?! He thought worriedly. But if he knows, it doesn't make sense that he's not showing up. Maybe something happened....

Tears began to pool in his eyes a few minutes later when the boy still hadn't turn up. He thumbed through his contact list until Kai's name appeared and contemplated whether to call him or not.

He pressed the call button.

And waited.

"Hey baby, what's up?" Kai's husky voice echoed through the receiver. 

He could still ask me that?!

"Aren't you coming?" Kyungsoo asked slowly, feeling his first hot tear rolling down his cheek now. 

"What do you mean, angel?" 

"When are you ever going to tell me?" His voice was breaking but he didn't give a damn. It hurt so much to get stood up for something so important. And Kai sounded like he forgot about it completely.

Or maybe he didn't read the note. But that was impossible. He was standing right there at the time. Why wouldn't he want to read it? 

A deliberate act? Was he planning to keep it a secret forever?

"I don't want us to keep secrets from each other,"

Kai had been the one who said that, and now he was going back on his own words. "Forget it, Kai. You don't have to say anything. I guess I'm the only one who believed what you said about not keeping secrets from each other." He sniffled. "And while we're still on the subject, I just want you to know that I know everything. I know about you being the love guru and your feelings for me before you confessed. I know it doesn't matter much to you, but I wanted to tell you everything today, and I can't believe you stood me up for an hour. An hour!"

He was sobbing bitterly now, ignoring the weird looks around him. "I just want to go home right now and sleep this off. I'll see you later if I feel like it, so don't bother callin----"

A hand suddenly gripped his shoulder tightly and roughly spun him around just as he was getting up. He found himself face-to-face with his boyfriend, drenched in sweat and panting for air, as if he ran a marathon to get there on time. One hand was holding up his phone to his ear, while the other was still gripping on tightly to Kyungsoo's shoulder. "P-please don't cry." He said hoarsely, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. They ended the call and kept their phones aside before Kai continued, "I-I can't bear to see you cry, angel. I'm sorry for turning up late. Coach Yunho needed me to help him with something, and I couldn't say no."

"Don't lie. You forgot."

"I guess I was too caught up with it that I did. I'm sorry, baby. I'm really sorry. I wanted to tell you everything today too, I really did."

Kyungsoo noticed that his boyfriend was wearing the team's jersey, and realized that he was telling the truth. He couldn't stay angry with the boy even if he wanted to. After all, it wasn't a big issue. Kai had brought them together, after all, so the love guru exploit wasn't such a bad idea.

"You could have called me or something. I thought you weren't ever going to come."

 "I know. I'm sorry. Please forgive me." He wrapped his arms around Kyungsoo and pulled the shorter male closer, sweat be damned. He was still cleaning up the field when he received Kyungsoo's call, and after hearing his boyfriend's choked sniffles, he immediately dropped everything and ran off towards Genie Cafe. His heart thundered in his ears, pounding madly against his ribcage as he listened to everything Kyungsoo said.

How could I be so stupid to forget about the appointment?! He scolded himself, praying to God that Kyungsoo hadn't left yet.

When he saw the boy getting up from his seat, he could finally breathe properly again. But his boyfriend was obviously crying, and that broke his heart.

"You're all sweaty, Jongin." Kyungsoo chuckled. "Let go of me before I catch your smell."

Kai tightened his embrace instead and the older male literally squealed in delight. He wasn't at all bothered about the smell or the sweat or whatever the younger male had on his body. Kyungsoo was just glad the whole thing ended the way it did. It was their first real fight as a couple, and he was somewhat proud at Kai for handling it well.

"Let's get something to drink first before we go home. I literally ran all the way here just now." Kai said, finally letting go of Kyungsoo.

"I'll just watch you drink. I had way too many latte in one day." He pointed to the empty mugs on the table. "Cappucino for you, I guess."

Kai smiled. "You know me too well." 

"Like I said, I won't stop stalking you even though we're dating now."

 "As much as I find that creepy, I don't think I mind anymore. Baby, I'm sorry for not telling you about the love guru thing when we first started dating. I mean, I should have said something, but I always forget about it when we're together. All I could think about is you. I guess guilt finally got to me after a while, and I just had to tell you. I wanted to avoid the same thing earlier from ever happening, but since it did happen, all I could say now is that I'm sorry. I really am. Will you forgive me?"

Kyungsoo shrugged. "I can't stay mad at you even if I wanted to. You're precious to me, Jongin. I love you so much, so of course I'll forgive you. And I have my own confession to make anyway. I knew about you being the love guru a few months ago, but I didn't say anything until now. I wanted you to come clean first before I say anything, and we were having exams too so I just held on to the secret a little longer. But since we're letting out everything now, I might as well be honest to you. Even though I knew about your feelings for me, I didn't say anything because I was a coward. I was waiting for you to say something first, so I pretended to be your love guru instead---"

"Holy cow, that was you?!" Kai laughed.

"Yes, that was me. I thought that if i could push you to confess first, then I don't actually have to say anything. But then I didn't expect you would just kiss me like that...and well, my mind went blank for a second." Kyungsoo blushed. Their first real kiss was the best memory ever.

"Aigoo, you're so cute. I love you so much, Do Kyungsoo. You know that right?"

"I know." Kyungsoo chuckled prettily. "Now kiss me before I'm forced to attack your face with kisses."

Kai didn't need to be told twice. He pulled Kyungsoo's face closer to his and brushed their lips in chaste kiss, tongues tasting of cappucino and latte, with a slight taste of chocolate somehwhere. It was gentle and sweet, and whoever had the guts to pull of disgusted look on them. In Kai's eyes, there was only Kyungsoo, and the other felt the same way too.  

Their eyes held promises for a long future ahead of them.

Together. Forever. 

HM:

> It's been a while. How is everything lately? Text me.

A/N: 

Ok, I know what you're thinking. It's OVER?! Just like that. Of course not, sweeties. I don't just go off without a bang. Since AVG was supposed to an innocent Kaisoo fic (not so innocent with all the curses thrown in between), I actually planned out a sequel for this. And this time, there shall be !

Yes, in the sequel, their relationship will be tested. And maybe Kyungsoo will help Jongin with the love guru thing this time. Also, more moments for other pairings too. 

I'll only start the sequel after I'm done with OMY, and Vodka Shot. Writing is always a bit of a challenge for me. Hahahaha. 

Look forward to this. XD *hugs everyone* Thanks for being such patient and wonderful readers. I can't tell you how happy I am for all the support you've given me. I know this fic isn't as good as many of the fics you've read, but I'm always trying my best to improve my writing. I hope you guys could provide me with constructive criticism too. 

Note: everything else I'm planning to write, like the science fair in busan and the short holiday to Soo's house in august....will be written in the sequel. No worries. There won't be any more gaps.