“Serves you right” he snorted and you could fell his breathe on the palm of your hand that was pressed against his cheek “Don’t worry, I was just trying to teach you a lesson?” he remarked before moving away from you to the window.

“w…what?” you bated your eyelashes.

“I told you to not let your guard down in front of men, remember?” his voice was soft like velvet but was hiding an edge that made you wonder if he was lecturing you. “I think that your friend could see right through you and took advantage of that. He knew you would stay by his side even if he was engaged just by asking you so” he opened the curtain and the night view behind his back made a perfect picture but the growing anger in you made it oblivious.

“Kris is not like that!” you yelled but lowered your voice almost instantly “he tried to stop it but there were…circumstances that you wouldn’t understand” it came out like you were saying that to yourself.

His eyebrow rose up in a silent question and you considered telling him the entire story you had with Kris but your subconscious said otherwise. Leo noticed your troubled expression and assumed he had touched a subject he shouldn’t have. He cleared his throat and took a few steps towards the sofa.

“It’s late and you must be tired, right? Use the bed, I’ll sleep here” he pated the sofa after he sat on it. “I’ll leave first so don’t forget to lock the door when you go out”

You nodded.

“Can I use your charger” he asked.

“It’s on the table” he was already lying down “good night”

“Good night”

It was a long night full of nervousness, sadness and between glimpses from you to him and vice versa while faking to be asleep; you had too much to process, like Kris face while you walked away with Leo or his look when he announced to the world that you two could no longer be together.

Or that you had to appeal to an almost stranger for help and he had accepted like nothing. Maybe you could do nothing about Kris but there was something you could do about Leo, your new friend.

Morning came slower but Leo woke up an hour before his alarm clock went off, he look at you who were sleeping soundly and the outline of a smile appeared on his face. He took his phone and blinked a few times when he saw a notification on the screen. It had been sent at 4:35 in the morning:

User3021: Thank you.

This time he couldn’t stop the wide grin taking over his mouth.

After getting ready he left the room at a fast pace, he was in high spirits until the now familiar blonde hair appeared in his field of vision. Kris walked towards Leo, gaze firmly fixated on him and eyebrows knitted together.

“Where is she?” he groaned.

Leo had thought he could talk like civilized adults to Kris if they were to meet but he dropped the idea the moment Yi fan stood in front of him with that threatening tone and murderous look.

“Who does he think he is?”

“What? Can’t you find her?” Leo scoffed sending a jab directly to Kris’ ego. Your friend tried to answer in a way his pride wouldn’t be stepped in but it was futile “Of course you can’t” he finished him.

Kris grabbed Leo by the collar of his jacket and slammed him against the door of his room, making a loud thud that even you could hear in your sleep.

“If something happened to her, I swear I’m going to kill you” he showed his teeth.

Leo pushed him back, Kris stumbled.

“If something happen, you say, but if she had died frozen out there yesterday it would have been nothing but your fault.”

“Died?” Kris gasped “What are you saying?”

“She almost froze last night while you were…” Leo was clearly at a loss of words “you weren’t there so don’t come to look for her when she is fine” Leo’s soft but sharp voice sent a shiver to Kris’ spine.

“You are no one to talk. You know nothing. Tell me where the hell is she?!”

Leo moved his chin to his room and Kris’ jaw tensed at the thought of whatever happened in there. Before nothing his fist flew straight to Leo’s face and he fell back to the door; it took him a few seconds to react and clean the fine line of blood running down from the corner of his lips that lifted up in a cynical grin.

“I may know nothing but I can tell you this…” he leaned closer to Kris so that he could hear him better. “I’m going to take her away from you”

 The blonde boy froze at Leo’s words and only reacted when his fiancée called him from afar.

“There you are” she said catching up “Your father wants you to accompany him to the event”

“Tell him I won’t go”

Charlotte recognized Leo and nodded politely. She, as smart as always, quickly noticed the tension between the two of them.

“He said: now” she ignored her fiancée and pulled his arms to almost drag him across the hall.

You looked around the room and turned off the annoying alarm of your phone, Leo was nowhere to be seen. It took a few minutes to the memories from last night to strike back but you pushed them back again. It was going t to be a busy day so there was no place for depression.

The place for the conference was more crowded than expected but the content of the forums and talks were above your expectation. You took note of everything and even managed to ask questions to the Doctors and Bachelors in the same field as you.

It was almost at the end of the first half that you found Leo talking to a group of older people dressed in suit; they all looked interested in whatever the dark haired guy was saying. You couldn’t avert your eyes and even fell a little bit envious of him but at the same time you were proud of having met a person capable enough to draw the attention of the seniors.

You had to stop looking when someone tapped your shoulder; your blood started to boil when you met those green eyes of Charlotte. She smiled at you as if you had met before.

“Hi, I think we haven’t been introduced” she was clearly sarcastic “You are Kris’ childhood friend, right?”

“yes, I am.”

“Or should I say “his lover”?”

You felt an ice bucket dropped on you; and she grinned victorious. You looked around confirming that no one heard her and gladly there were no people around.

“I don’t know what you are talking about”

“Oh, come on, did you think I wouldn’t find out? Dear, for people like me and Kris it’s easy to find out these kind of things. Lovers are a common thing in our world” she snorted.

The way she said “our world” made you want to slap her right in the place but you controlled your hatred.

“We are not lovers. I think you got the wrong idea”

“Fear not” her eyes narrowed “I’m not going to cause a scene, that’s so low class. I’ll just warn you that if any of that affair you have with Kris comes to light, I will crush you and your family without hesitation” The tone in her voice was calm just like a snake hiss before catching its prey. “You could say goodbye to your brother’s college education and your future employment as well as financial well-being”

Your bottom lip started to shake out of anger and fear.

“Do you love him?” you managed to ask.

 “Love him?” She snorted again, this time louder. “Of course not and I can assure you he doesn’t love me but love is the last thing we, the people like me, care about. It’s all about the money, mutual interests and pride; so your relationship is a clear threat to that”

“How sad” the words escaped from your lips before you could stop them.

Her face was twisted in a mix of anger and surprise but before she could talk back Kris appeared behind her.

“What are you doing?” he asked her with a killing glare.

“What has to be done” she answered.

“I told you to stay away from her”

“You can’t tell me what to do” she had the nerve to talk back to Kris.

“Yes I can, unless you want me to cancel the wedding”

They had a silent battle that you didn’t dare to interrupt until she finally huffed and gave you a final look before walking away followed by a man that joined her steps after, probably her bodyguard.

“Sorry about that”

“No problem”

It was awkward between you two.

“are you alright. I heard you almost froze last night, I’m sorry”

“yes it wasn’t you fault , though. I run to the woods on my own”

“But if I hadn’t … you know…” he scratched the back of his neck “I just can tell you that is for your own good”

“I believe in you Kris but I’m getting tired of going back and forth with this” you huffed.

“And that’s why you went and spent the night with him?” he roared.

You were about to tell him that it wasn’t like that but realized that it was the perfect excuse to let him feel the same way you felt last night. Revenge wasn’t your thing but just for once you wanted him to realize that he could lose you anytime.

“It just happened and that was your fault, Kris”

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Hello everyone! I passed my exam! Thank you for wishing me luck! You are the best of the best!

And also, I hope you have an amazing new year full of blessings and love and concerts of your favorite idols!

xoxo