“Why are you staring at me?” I asked him pointedly.

“Because you’re standing in front of me,” Kai replied simply. He looked up at me, his eyes framed by dark lashes, and there wasn’t any hint of embarrassment or even denial about being confronted. It was definitely unnerving.

“You’re always staring at me,” I persisted, trying to be as calm and collected as he was. “It’s weird. You’re weird.”

“I wasn’t trying to fit in,” Kai said. I twisted my ring on my thumb and hated that I had to fumble for a response.

 “Why do you look at me all the time?” I rephrased my original question.

“Does it bother you?” Kai’s eyes flashed at something that might have been surprise, but it disappeared so quickly, it was probably nothing more than my imagination.

“Answer the question,” I demanded and stood up straighter, trying to make my presence more imposing so he wouldn’t realize how much he was rattling me.

“Everyone always looks at you,” Kai replied coolly and leaned back in his chair. “You’re very attractive.”

That sounded like a compliment, but his voice was completely emotionless when he said it. I couldn’t tell if he was trying to make fun of a vanity I didn’t even have, or he was simply stating facts. Was he flattering me or mocking me? Or maybe something else entirely?

“Nobody stares at me as much as you do,” I countered as evenly as I could.

“If it bothers you, I’ll try and stop,” Kai offered.

That was tricky. In order to ask him to stop, I had to admit that it was getting to me, and I didn’t want admit to anyone that anything got to me. If I lied and said it was fine, then he would just keep on doing it. I had no way to win in this situation

“I didn’t ask you to stop. I asked you why,” I amended. That didn’t really help, but it made me look slightly less weak. Maybe.

“I told you why,” Kai said.

“No, you didn’t,” I shook my head. “You just said that everyone looks at me. You never explained why you looked at me.”

Almost imperceptibly, the corner of his mouth moved up ever so slightly, revealing just the hint of a smirk. It wasn’t just that he was amused with me; he was pleased with me. He was glad that I had caught him, like he had been challenging me somehow and I passed. That pissed me off, but what pissed me off even more was that I was happy I had passed, that I had made him happy in some insignificant way. My stomach did a stupid flip thing I had never felt before, and I swallowed hard, hoping to fight it back.

“I look at you because I can’t look away,” Kai answered finall