8

The Best of Friends

CHAPTER EIGHT

Kai was sitting in his chair overlooking documents on his laptop, scrolling and looking attentively for a special piece of information. He didn’t stop working when he heard a knock at his door.

“Kai, may I come in?” Hyoyeon poked her head through the door.

“Yeah come in.” Kai closed his laptop and swiveled on his chair away from Hyoyeon to fix his tie and his hair. Then he welcomed Hyoyeon in with a wide smile.

“You look like you’ve been crying are you ok?” Kai asked leading her to an empty chair in front of his desk.

“If it’s ok, can I just sit here and eat my lunch. I don’t feel like talking.” Hyoyeon took out a small bag and showed it to Kai, holding a drink in her other hand.

Kai nodded and resumed to his work. Every once in a while he would peek at the blonde eating a delicious looking sub-sandwich and he would sigh. He sat wishing that this were happening in a table at their home and not an office desk. He would kill to be in Kris’ position.

He imagined that it must have felt something like this; to arrive late from a hard days’ work and have a meal prepared side by side with the wife. In Kai’s fantasy, Hyoyeon was this wife. But there was somebody that stood in the way of that dream.

Just then that exact obstacle knocked on his door interrupting his thoughts.

“Kai, may I come in?” Kris asked behind the door.

Hyoyeon’s eyes opened wide and pleaded Kai not to let him in.

“Tell him to go away.” She grabbed Kai by the shoulders and copped out a plea. “Please, tell him you’re busy.”

Kai quickly got up and stood at the door and covered the entrance.

“I’m a little busy right now, can you come back another time.” Kai lied.

“I just wanted to see how my friend was doing?” Kris lied as well and tried to peak into the room, but was blockaded by Kai’s shoulder.

Kris had looked all over the building for Hyoyeon and he hadn’t found her. He knew she was in the building, though, because he had seen her go in, and no one had seen her come out. Kai’s office was the last place he needed to look, and now it was more than obvious that he had found her.

“Did you lose something?” Kai asked; the annoyance beginning to drag from his voice.

“No, but I would really like it if you let me in. I just want to talk.” Kris persisted, slightly shoving Kai backwards.

“I said I’m busy” Kai said through gritted teeth and pushed him back out. He stood erect and rigid like a wall barricading the door.

Kris his lips and pursed them together, his arms crossed in front of his chest, holding his anger together.

The two stood, facing each other, locked in an eye contest, a virile man-to-man showdown.

 The lobby outside Kai’s office had become a testosterone filled atmosphere that was both frightening and menacing; both refusing to move an inch as they threatened each other silently with their glares.

“Alright, if you say you’re busy,” Kris let out the first words. “I suppose I can come back another time. We can talk about anything right? FRIEND.”

Kris said that last word with a sinister overtone, making the meaning behind anything but friendly. And the heated rivalry between two close friends had only just begun.