Kai comes over a lot more often now. Suho doesn't mind anymore. Sometimes, they would even be chatting about mundane things like soccer, news, the economy. Suho no longer tiptoes around him like he is a bomb ready to explode. Kai has broken down his walls a little, enough for Suho to step half a body through. But with you, he is now completely bare and open. You see the bones, the veins, the blood that you said you wanted to see. You see just how human Kai is despite his anger management.

Kai is in your room again, using his laptop as he gets an assignment done. His eyelids are heavy and you know that he hasn't been getting good sleep lately. You're worried, so you ask him how long it has been since he last went home to sleep. He thinks about it. 

"Last I went home to sleep... A week ago?" he mutters. "I got home late and went out early." 

"And when was the last time you actually slept?"

"Yesterday—" 

"On a bed," you emphasize.

"A week ago...?" 

You sigh, glaring at him halfheartedly. Just in time, Suho enters the room, eyebrows in a knit. "Did you just say that you've not slept for a week?" 

"I slept," Kai mutters, a little annoyed by all the interrogation. "Just not properly." 

"Why don't you go home to sleep, then?" 

You clear your throat when you feel Kai's discomfort. You speak for him, hoping your brother will understand when you vaguely hint, "Family issues, oppa." 

Suho looks at you, takes a moment to scrutinise you. Then he nods and asks, "Do you wanna stay over? You can sleep in my room with me." 

Kai turns to you, that same look on his face when you asked him if he wanted to sleep in your brother's room alone. But your brother is a conservative man and he would never let Kai sleep on the same bed as you even though you've already done it several times (but he doesn't know that). You sigh, giving him a subtle shake of your head, and he looks outwardly disappointed. Nonetheless, he takes up the offer because he really needs the sleep and he knows it. 

When Suho goes back out, Kai stares at you. You laugh at the look he has on his face, like a pleading child. "Sneak into my room when he's asleep," you suggest. 

"'Kay," he nods, going back to his work now that his worry is gone. 

You wonder why he wants to always sleep with you. Because you know he can't be scared of the dark when he's always alone outside at night. It isn't that you don't like him sleeping with you, in fact, you welcome him. But you're just curious. So that night, when you're staring up at the ceiling on your bed, waiting for Kai to enter your room, you promise to ask him about it. 

In half an hour or so after you've turned off the lights, you hear the door to your room click open softly. Kai climbs onto the bed silently, like a lithe wolf. You are on your side when he settles into bed with you. You stare at him looking up at the ceiling. He glances at you and you feel him nudging you away. 

"Stop staring," he mutters. 

"I'm curious, Jongin," you finally murmur. 

"About what?" he sighs, placing an arm over his eyes. 

"Why do you always want to sleep with me?" 

He stills for a second. Then he drops his arm and turns to his side, facing you. In the dark, you can see his eyes shining as he stares at you. He is open and exposed and you can see through him, see the anatomy of his body. It has been a month and half since you met him and he is so vulnerable with you that you find a need to protect him even though he can probably to that himself and more. 

"Because," he whispers so softly that you have to move closer to hear him. Your heart is thudding in your chest and you wish you hadn't developed feelings for this boy who possibly only sees this bond between the both of you as platonic. "You calm me," he says quietly, eyes flickering all over your face. "I feel... I don't know, I just sleep better with you around." 

"Then what about lately? When you're alone?" you murmur, heart fluttering like a butterfly's wings. 

He shakes his head. "I wake up in intervals. Sometimes all I get is an hour of shut-eye, then I can't go back to sleep."

You brush his hair from his eyes, finger lingering on his skin. You feel bad for him, that he has to struggle with insomnia when he has so much to think about already.

You smile gently, "Go to sleep, Jongin. We have to be in uni early, tomorrow."

He nods and shuts his eyes. You have to keep yourself from tracing his features. How does one look this innocent when sleeping but fierce when awake? You end up falling asleep when you hear his deep breathing, your finger on his chin from when you had been unconsciously lining his jawline. 

The next morning, you wake up to Suho frantically opening the door to your room as he exclaims Kai's gone! But then he sees the supposedly disappeared boy on your bed. You squint open your eyes, feeling too tired from sleeping late last night. You're closer to Kai than you were before you slept. Your head is close to his chest and his nose is buried in your hair. 

Suho crosses his arms, glaring at you and Kai, who is still dead asleep. "Explain," he demands quietly but firmly, not wanting to wake Kai up. 

"He's more comfortable with me," you murmur, your voice coming out like a croak. "We didn't do anything." 

"If you did, I would've heard," he breezily counters, causing you to blush. Kai shifts onto his back and suddenly you realise that you're sleeping on his arm. Suho seems to notice that too, because his eyes drop to Kai's bicep. But he only sighs as he leaves the room, shaking his head. "You have one more hour before you have to wake up for class."

But you can't sleep anymore. You're entirely too aware of the fact that your head is on Kai's arm and your legs are kind of hooked with his because of how long his legs are. So you just lay there, staring tiredly at Kai's chest, hearing him sleep soundly. When your alarm finally rings, you sigh and sit up to turn it off. 

"Kai," you whisper, shaking the boy's shoulders slightly. "Jongin."

"Hmm?" he groans, cracking an eye open to look at you. 

"Get up," you murmur, already tying up your hair. "School, remember?" 

"You go shower first and then wake me up," he mutters, rolling slightly and burying his face into your pillow. 

You sigh but do so anyway. When you leave the bathroom all refreshed, Kai is already snoring softly. You dry your hair as you wake him up again, tapping on his leg under the duvet. He kicks you lightly, making you laugh. You throw your wet towel on his face, expecting him to wake up, but he still continues lying down. You quickly take the towel away in case it suffocates him.

"Smells like you," he mumbles when you're staring down at him. 

You cluck your tongue. "Come back and sleep somemore, Kai. For now, we need to get to class." 

With that, Kai groans loudly and sits up, looking like a zombie. You throw him a fresh towel and while he showers, you make breakfast for the both of you, since Suho had already gone to school. Kai comes out of the room, rubbing his tired eye while yawning. You smile fondly. 

"Sit down and have breakfast," you gesture to the dining table where two plates of breakfast are already sitting. You pour two glasses of milk before joining Kai at the table, setting one glass in front of him.

"Where's your first class?" he mutters, drinking the milk.

"The biology building. You?" 

Kai makes a face. "On the other side of the campus; the Bowie building." He starts on his breakfast quickly, "I'll fetch you there, so hurry." 

When the both of you finish breakfast, you guys get your stuff and leave the apartment. Kai drives the short distance to the uni and drops you off before going for his own class. Halfway through the day, you and Kai meet again for your tutorial together. You sit together, just like how you always have since the day you met him. Eyes are on the both of you, as usual. Kai has his head down, not really liking the attention. But he is still responding to your chatter, though you have to go closer to hear better.

The teacher splits you up to do group work. Kai and you are always paired together, since you're the only person he can deal with in this class (or this world). So as you the both of you work out the calculations, your conversation keeps going, too. 

"I need to go home to get fresh clothes," he tells you when you're planting numbers into your calculator. 

"Okay," you nod. 

After a second of silence, he asks, "You're coming with me, right?" 

"Yeah," you answer absentmindedly. 

So when class finishes, you promise to meet him at his car in the usual parking area after your days end, which is only an hour later. Kai is already walking towards the car when you enter the car park. His head is down again, his shoulders slumped as if to make himself look smaller. You decide to disturb him as you sprint forward and jump onto his back, your arms clinging around his neck and your legs tight around his waist. You know he would fling you off in reflex and that is exactly what he does. 

But then you murmur a soft Jongin into his ear and he relaxes, wrapping his hands on your thighs to keep you from falling. He turns his head slightly, glaring at you. You're giggling and he has a soft smile on his lips, so common these days that you almost forget the days in which he had always been frowning. 

"I almost hurt you," he narrows his eyes on you, tone a bit scolding. 

"I wanted to surprise you," you grin back, resting your cheek on his neck. 

He sighs, shaking his head. "When people surprise me, they receive a black eye." 

"But I'm not people," you counter. "I'm special," you shamelessly say. 

Kai chuckles softly, hiking you up higher on his back. "Just a bit."

"Where have you been, Jongin?" his mother asks the moment she sees him. "I haven't seen you in days."

"That's not unusual, mom," his sister says as a reminder, following after her mother and creating a short human train.

"Your therapist said you were going for your sessions," the mother murmurs, looking at her son softly. 

Kai doesn't say anything as he gets his clothes and stuffs them into a duffle bag. Then he holds your hand and brings you to the kitchen, where the two women are following behind again. The cooks stop working as they scamper out of the room, giving the four of you more space. 

"Do you want any food?" Kai asks you as he opens the refrigerator. You shake your head and he turns to look at you. He quirks his eyebrows. "No?" 

"Jongin, I'm speaking to you," his mother's impatient voice is heard and you glance at the older woman. Kai rolls his eyes but squeezes your hand, pulling you towards the exit. "KIM JONGIN!" the woman finally explodes. 

You jump at the sudden rise in volume, causing Kai to tense and pull you behind him protectively. You glance at his sister, who is looking at you, sizing you up. His mother looks angry. 

"Yes, mother?" Kai his head to the side, the action extremely mocking. 

His mother's nostrils flare. You wish she remembers what you told her about being patient with Kai. Before she can say anything else, someone enters the house and you hear a chorus of Good evening, Master Kim. You turn around when a man enters the kitchen, interrupting the little commotion with his heavy presence. Kai also focuses attention on him.

"Oh, Jongin-ah!" the man beams. You realise that he has the same jawline and the same eyes as the boy holding your hand. Kai's puffy lips came from his mother. "Have you been out exploring?" he asks in a teasing tone. "I heard from your mother that you haven't been home for a week!" His eyes flies to you and you blush when he smiles at you. "Who's this girl, Jongin?" his tone too suggestive to ignore. 

"His girlfriend," the sister says from behind. You're too shy and nervous to say anything in return, neither does Kai speak up too. 

"Really?" Mr. Kim comes closer, looking very excited to meet you. He holds out his hand, "I'm Jongin's father. Nice to meet you." 

"Nice to meet you too, sir," you murmur shyly, extricating your hand from Kai's so you can shake his father's hand.

"Have you been with her lately?" he asks his son, eyes worried and so fatherly that you start to miss your own dad too. "We heard from your therapist that you're making progress. Is it because of her?"

"She understands me," Kai finally says, tone quiet and tentative. 

His father grins, looking too happy that it's almost scary. "Good, good," he nods in content, now beaming at you, eyes seeming to translate Thank you and you just wish people took more time to get to know Kai like you do, because then they'll know that there's nothing to thank you for. "Will you be staying for dinner?" 

"No—"

You nudge Kai's side and he looks down at you, gaze unreadable. "I think your family misses you, Jongin," you whisper. "Stay for dinner." 

"But I don't want—" You give him a look and he sighs, "What about you?" 

"I'll just wait for you at home."

"No, you stay too or I won't stay," Kai says, a little childishly. 

"Yes, yes, have dinner with us," Mr. Kim smiles gently at you. 

Kai is pleading you with his eyes, so you give in. The father goes to tell the cooks that five people are having dinner and then all of you leave the kitchen while they get to work. Kai lays his duffle bag by the door so that when you leave, he won't forget it. When he goes to the toilet, his father approaches you. He radiates a warm personality, but maybe it is his seemingly high position in the house that makes you slightly nervous.

"Has Jongin hurt you in any way?" is his first question. You shake your head and he smiles in relief.

"My son..." he sighs, "Perhaps it was the lack of attention when he was younger... But he has been angry at the world since he was a teenager. He has been going to see a therapist about his anger management and it hadn't been working for years. And suddenly, when we got our monthly overview from the therapist last month, he said that Jongin is doing a lot better. All because of you." 

"Dad," Kai mutters, hovering behind you protectively like how he always does when you're outside. He always looks like he is ready to fight. 

"I'm just talking to her, Jongin," the man promises. "I'm not going to hurt her."

You turn and smile at the boy, tilting your body slightly so that he can come closer. When he does, he is so close that your shoulder is brushing against his chest. It is normal though, because there's something about Kai touching you that makes him calm and less violent. But still, it makes your blood rush to your face, makes your heart pump a lot faster, makes you feel all shy and bashful. 

"How have you been, Jongin?" his father finally asks, a little softly. "I know I haven't been around much, but then you're not around much either..." he gives a humourless chuckle, "I guess that's where we're alike, huh?" 

Kai's lips tilts slightly to the side when he shrugs. "You have a million-dollar company to run. And I have a family, that doesn't want me, to run from."

You rub his back gently, soothingly. His father sighs, shaking his head. "We want you, Jongin. Of course we do... It's just that your attitude makes it difficult for your mom and your sister." 

"What about you?" Kai asks suddenly. "Is it difficult for you?"

The older man looks taken aback by the question. But he shakes his head. "No, Jongin. I know to be patient with you. But I'm hardly home and I can't help. And you know how women are always more irritable..." 

You notice Kai glancing at you when he murmurs, "Not always."

A small smile forms on your lips.

"Eat more, Jongin," his mother says, scooping some fried pieces of pork on his plate. "The cooks made your favourite." 

He gives a stiff nod, his head down and not saying anything. But then he shares the serving with you, picking a few pieces and putting them on your plate. You give his mother an apologetic smile and she sighs, shaking a head to tell you that it's not your fault. 

"Are you leaving again, after dinner?" Mr. Kim asks his son, who nods in reply. "When will you come back home?" 

Kai shrugs. He hasn't spoken since he sat at the table and you feel kind of bad for his family. So you place a hand on his thigh and he turns his head to look at you. You lean in closer so that you're whispering to him. 

"Talk to them, Kai," you urge. "They miss you." He rolls his eyes, ignoring you. He never likes it when you try to tell him that his family cares for him. "You haven't been home for so long, talk to them for at least five minutes. Please." 

Kai puts down his chopsticks a little roughly, the metal clattering on the table. His sister jumps and you notice three worried looks directed your way, as if feeling sorry for you for whatever that is going to come from Kai. But the boy only lets out a long sigh, breath a bit shaky. He cards a nervous hand through his fading pink-brown hair as he sits back in his chair. The table is heavy with silence, three of them just waiting for the ticking bomb to blow up while you're waiting for Kai to say something because you just know he will. 

"I'll come back when I need more clothes," he finally answers his father, who looks surprised at his son's voice. All three of them, actually. 

"Where do you stay when you're out?" his sister speaks this time, sounding a bit more worried than she let on.

"My car," he snaps in irritation. You absentmindedly squeeze his thigh as you continue to eat. He sighs, focusing his eyes on you and watching you chew on your food. "I stay at her place sometimes." You send his family members the best smile you can offer with food in your mouth. Then he sighs again, this time a bit tiredly. Kai picks a grain of rice from your shirt as he mutters, "You can't eat like the twenty-year-old you are, can you." 

His stated questions are back again and it makes you grin. You kind of missed them. Kai answers a few more questions before the table lapse back into silence. When dinner is over, he hurriedly pulls you away, a bit too eager to leave his home. But his family goes to send you off as well. 

"Thank you for being with him," his mother says to you when Kai goes to start the car. She looks a bit teary-eyed, her entire being looking so relieved. 

You shake your head as you glance at the black Mercedez. Kai is frowning at you from behind the steering wheel, but you turn to his family.

"He really does take a bit of warming up to and a lot of patience, auntie... You have to remember that."

She sighs guiltily and nods. "Yeah... It's just so hard... He's not... He's not easy."

You glance back again and Kai has his arms across his chest in annoyance. You laugh softly under your breath.

"He's a child sometimes. I wish he'd open up to you guys," you murmur, smiling sadly at them. "Then you'll understand that you don't have to thank me for anything. Kai— Jongin is a pleasure to be with and I—"

"Hurry up," you hear Kai mutter behind you before he grabs your wrist.

You giggle, letting him pull you away. You wave to them, "Bye, Mr. and Mrs. Kim! And bye, unnie!" Then you nudge Kai slightly. "Say bye too, Jongin."

"Bye," he grumbles, only loud enough for them to hear.

When Kai drives out of the car porch, you catch glimpses of soft smiles on his family's faces, like the ones you see in movies when the family is sending off their son off to marriage or something. The proud but happy kind of smile.

You wake up in the middle of the night, feeling the sudden urge to pee. You quickly get out of bed, not even registering the fact that you have to push Kai's limbs away from your body. When you have relieved yourself, you walk back into the room, only to see Kai sitting up on the bed, the silhouette of his bed hair looking extremely adorable even in your half-asleep state of mind.

"Where'd you go?" he mumbles, his voice thick with sleep. 

"Toilet," you whisper. "Why'd you wake up?" 

"Because you were gone," he says, laying back down when you've done so too. "I thought you were in trouble, or something." 

"Yeah, it was bladder trouble."

"Funny," he mutters, moving closer to you, so that the tip of his nose is buried in your hair.

You try to move him away. "Why are you getting so close to me, Kai?" 

"I just," he utters, burying his nose deeper into your hair, until his lips are pressed to your head. "I like the smell of your shampoo," he slurs before he falls right back to sleep again. 

Author's note:

This is giving me jongin feels again....... i wanna write another fluffy Jongin fic... but no time........ T_T

Till next time
xoxo