Part 3: Chapter 9

Despite how well the guys had taken everything, the next day, something nagged at Kai.  He’d woken up feeling off and he wasn’t sure why.  The only thing that felt right was the new intimacy between him and Sohee.  The nagging feeling got worse when Luhan didn’t show up for class and made Kai edgy that he hadn’t seen Luhan since the morning before.  

After he snapped at one person too many, Sohee finally dragged him away during a break and shoved him into an empty classroom.

“What is wrong with you today?” Sohee demanded.  “Did something happen on your way home last night?  You seemed fine on the way to school this morning.”  He had even greeted her with a kiss on the cheek and held her hand all the way to school.  Even the memory of it brought a slight blush to her cheeks. 

Kai paced, running his fingers through his hair before dropping both hands and rubbing at the back of his wrist.  “I don’t know,” Kai admitted.  “I’m just on edge.”

“Well, you’re putting everyone else on edge too,” Sohee informed him.  She watched him walk the length of the classroom and back.  Finally, she pulled a chair away from a desk and pushed Kai into it as he walked by.  “Just stop moving,” she ordered. 

Kai sat in the chair, but immediately tensed to stand back up again.  Instead, he froze when Sohee wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled him into her until his cheek pressed against the soft fabric of her shirt at her stomach. 

“Just close your eyes for two seconds, Kai,” Sohee said.  She gently ran the fingers of one hand through the hair at the back of his neck and the dug the fingers of her other hand into the muscle of his shoulder.  “Everyone is safe,” she told him, her voice soft and comforting.  “No one is flipping out over the wolf stuff.  We’re going to go visit Luhan after school today and he’s going to be fine, just like he was when we saw him yesterday morning.  There’s nothing for you to worry about right now.  Try to relax.”

Kai sat stiffly for another moment before he gave in to her advice and closed his eyes.  The moment was too intimate to suggest that it would have happened before the change in their relationship that took place the night before.  But it felt right all the same.  It felt natural.  It felt like their relationship had always been like this.  Skinship easily given and received, close contact natural and comforting. 

With her arms around him, her fingers on his skin, he was finally able to relax. 

Classes started again after the lunch break and Luhan still hadn’t shown up at school.  Even though Sohee had helped to calm him down that morning, Kai was starting to fidget again.  The back of his right wrist throbbed and the skin had turned red from all the time he spent rubbing at it trying to ease the ache.  He seriously regretted storming out of Luhan’s place before they’d had a chance to talk about this lack of communication thing. 

During a break between classes, Kai exited the classroom and stopped short.  Down the hall, Sohee stood talking with a boy.  She was smiling up at him.  He had one hand tucked into his pocket while the other rubbed at the back of his neck and he looked down at his feet.  A smile played over his lips as well.  Kai instantly recognized Minhyuk, the guy that had taken Sohee to the nurse the day before when she had fainted.

A sense of déjà vu washed over him.  Kai hadn’t felt even slightly jealous the day before when he had walked in on Sohee and a sleeping Luhan.  But now, that jealousy hit him like a punch in the gut and all the relaxation that Sohee had helped him with earlier vanished.  He wanted to rip out the guy’s eyes just for looking at her.  Beat him bloody for smiling at her.  His hands closed into fists and a growl rumbled in his throat. 

“Easy,” a voice said from behind him and a gentle hand landed on his shoulder.  He recognized the voice as Luhan’s but couldn’t take his eyes off Sohee and the kid. 

“He’s walking a thin line,” Kai said tightly, then filled Luhan in on history he didn’t know about.  “A couple months ago, we had to scare him off when we found him following Sohee.  And he just happened to be there when Sohee fainted the day before yesterday.”

“He’s the one that carried her to the nurse?” Luhan asked, his level voice giving nothing away.

“Yeah,” Kai bit the word out.  His fists clenched at the thought of the bastard putting hands on her. 

“I should go thank him for helping her than,” Luhan said.  Again, his voice gave nothing away.  “You seem a little on edge.  Wait here, I’ll be right back.”

With that, he headed down the hall.  Luhan didn’t appear to notice, but his new black hair drew quite a bit of attention.  Kai followed him with his eyes until he reached Sohee and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as he turned to say something to Minhyuk. 

Sohee looked up at him and her lips curved into a real smile, not the small, polite one she’d given Minhyuk.  This smile lit her eyes and the lines of worry that had been deepening in her forehead the past few days smoothed.  She leaned into Luhan’