Okay, heres the third chapter.. pretty darn exhausting to write it.

Enjoy!

It wasn’t supposed to be that way.

He was supposed to go back to UKISS, apologize profusely for being an idiot, be forgiven (of course), and things go back to the way they used to be. He wasn’t supposed to be tormented or anything. But of course, things didn’t quite go that way. How was he supposed to know that Hoonmin and Alexses(or more popularly known as L-XS: Light of the Xilver Star) knew each other? Or that somehow, Alexses was merging with UKISS in a contract?

Kevin cursed himself  for believing that she’d returned because of him. Of course not. A multi-million dollar contract with NH Entertainment would have been reason enough. He was just a side trip she made for the sake of her friendship with Alexander.

<< BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!>>

His alarm sounded quite loudly, jolting him awake Monday morning, two weeks after Alexses’ fated return. Heart thumping, mind racing, he rolled over in bed and peered anxiously at the time.

8:30

His stomach lurched unpleasantly. Why didn’t anyone wake him up? They had the contract-signing  today with (who else?) Alexses, and the last thing he wanted was to prove just how worthless he was, even in fame. Even at just eighteen, she had a way of doing that. So he had to get up

<>

Like now.

He grabbed his alarm clock and flung it to the other side of the room, without even bothering to think about just hitting the off button. He threw back his sheets .

The alarm was now silent. Well, dead, I suppose, he thought. But for a moment, he couldn’t rouse the energy to get up. Arms and legs outstretched, he lay starfish-wide on the mattress. Downstairs, he heard ‘Neverland’ playing and Soohyun singing. To him, everything seemed pretty dire, that someone singing so early in the morning irritated him. As though it was one of the niggling thoughts at the back of his head.

Feeling particularly nasty, he jumped up and plodded downstairs to give the older boy a piece of his mind. At the bottom of the stairs though, he stopped himself. After all, why take out his frustration on Soohyun when he didn’t have anything to do with whatever it was that was nagging him?

Actually,he told himself. They don’t even know that something’s wrong.

Another voice in his head muttered, “It’s actually only you with the problem.”

He shook his head, hearing voices in your head? Never a good sign.

“Okay. His ten minutes is up.” It was Eli. Kevin ignored the other voices and Kiseop shouting at him not to draw blood and continued thinking.

Suddenly Eli appeared in front of him  shouting a booming “KEVIIIIN!”.

“Holy !” Kevin’s hand slipped from the railing in his surprise and collapsed on Eli with a dull thud. The boy groaned and grabbed Kevin by his shoulders. Kiseop and Soohyun were running to check what the commotion was all about.

“I thought I said something about not drawing blood,” Kiseop muttered.

“I didn’t,” Eli groaned.

Kevin hastily stood up and helped Eli up. “Mianhae hyung-nim.”

“What the hell were you doing, standing there anyway?” Eli asked. “We’ve been waiting for you to wake up. Didn’t you know we had a schedule today?”

Kevin scratched his head. “I do. I just didn’t wake right.”

Soohyun pushed him towards the kitchen. “Go on. Before Dong Ho finishes off everything.”

An hour later, they were in the driveway, waiting for their ride. Kevin was once again puzzling over something. Specifically, it was about the pancakes he’d eaten earlier. Something about them was weird. Not in a bad way though. But it still bugged him.

“Aish.” He kicked himself mentally. He’d been doing that a lot lately. “Thinking about pancakes. What’s it going to be next time? My toothpaste flavor?”

“What?” Soohyun asked.

Holy , did I just say that out loud? “Nothing, hyung,” he answered as the van stopped in front of him. “Just mumbling about the pancakes.”

“Oh. Good, were they?”

“Delicious.”

“Really? I’m glad you liked them Kevin-ssi.”

Kevin closed his eyes. This could NOT be happening. (Cue: Open mouth, Insert foot). He turned to the shotgun side of the van. The window was rolled down to reveal a fresh, make-up free ivory-white face with  sparkling gray eyes framed y dark wavy hair arranged in a loose ponytail. Of course.

“Annyeonghaseyo! I’ll be riding with you today!” Alexses waved at him as if she didn’t have a clue who he was(well, technically, she shouldn’t. since nobody knew exactly that thing with them). Too much like provocation.

Fine, he thought. I can play too. “Annyeonghaseyo.” He bowed with exaggerated politeness and climbed to the back of the van. She really wants to push me, he thought. Unfortunately, push didn’t mean anything like when they were eleven and he was on a swing and laughing. But it was something like him, face down on the dirt, gasping for breath while some PE teacher demanded fifty push-ups.

“Okay, maknae. Why don’t you stop looking at the rearview mirror before you drown everyone in your drool?”

Dong Ho aimed a playful punch at AJ as he turned beet red.  Kevin understood their youngest member’s fascination, of course. Alexses looked like a porcelain doll. Not the cute kind. The ones that always look like people. Okay, that was confusing. The point was, Alexses was pretty, but not in the usual way. She had wide eyes that gave her the perpetual look of surprise, arched brows, a straight small nose and lips that looked too full to be true(but of course they were). One of those people who looked prettier the less make up they had on.

Alexses let out a tinkling laugh, and blew a kiss at Dong Ho, which surprised Kevin. Since when did she learn to do that?

“Puberty,” he muttered, remembering that the two were the same age.

“Be thankful,” Eli muttered back. “Puberty did it right this time.”  And ha aimed a wink at the girl.

Kevin groaned. Now everyone was onto her. He wondered what they’d do if they knew that he and Alexses had a past. After all, Xander knowing was due more to his carelessness than anything.

“Don’t worry, Kevin” Eli turned back to him. “He ALMOST did it right for you too.”

Kevin shook his head. If he wasn’t sure of their total ignorance,  he could almost swear they were  onto him too.

Alexses smiled indulgently. She was used to boy groups being complete idiots with each other, and it didn’t bother her as much as a year ago when she decided to go against her sacred rule and dive into fame. And so dive she did.

Stealthily, she looked at Kevin from the rearview mirror, feeling just the least bit guilty. She didn’t mean to provoke him, but who the hell knew that their dorms were right next to each other?  Her mind went back to two hours earlier when she woke up in time to realize that the album contract with NH meant that she and Kevin would work with each other, see each other for the next six months. Heaven knows he acts almost scared of her.

She wrung her hands, wondering why one year later, he still had that effect on her.

That’s because you’re always a brainless where he’s concerned, she told herself. And I just can’t chill out and let him be. She buried her face in her hands then stood up.

Tugging off her pjs on her way to the bathroom and let herself relax. When her manager mentioned the merger deal with NH, she wasn’t too big on the idea. But then Xander called and her Edward Cullen-complex kicked in. no matter how much she loathed the idea of going back to Korea, she couldn’t quite get settled knowing that Kevin wasn’t okay. So she threw her pride away and flew back, on the pretense of signing the deal. Although she was, in reality, weeks early.

She was jitter again.

“Okay. Face?” she felt her manager follow her around the room with her eyes, and was thankful she didn’t ask anything. “Hair?” She let it fall to its usual waves but decided it too messy so she gathered it up in a side-swept pony tail. “Check. Outfit?” She stood I front of the full-length mirror to check out her long sleeved mini dress and shook her head. She changed into an off-shoulder light sweater, ripped skinny jeans and stepped into midcalf-high boots. “Street and chic. Perfect.”

She turned to Shane, who muttered, “Perfect. Lex, I haven’t seen you like this since that time you found out you were having a kiss scene with Jun Matsumoto.”

“Really?” Her voice came out higher than usual. She cleared and tried again. “I mean, I’m ready.”

She’d almost recovered from her anxiety attack when she stepped into the van. Only to start again when she realized she was in the UKISS van, to ride with them to the company.

“Holy ,” was the only thing she managed before rolling down the window , only to look straight  at Kevin’s face.

And it as the only thing playing in her mind as she turned to the boys behind her to listen to their idiotic rants. Holy . When she caught Kevin’s eye. Holy , when she realized he’d caught her staring at him. And Holy when she reached  out to  touch him, only to realize what a bad move that was

Kevin looked up from his phone, indulging Eli’s summon so as not to appear zoned out again, only to see Lexi staring at him. Not the stare that creeped you out though, although that was probably what she was aiming for. But one that you’d see on somebody’s face when they saw something surprising. Like she’d never seen him before.

“What?” he asked, more to Eli than her, but she was the one who answered, in a voice that reminded you of someone enchanted.

“You look better,” she muttered, reaching out to touch his hair. Her hand hovered between them momentarily before she touched his jaw lightly.

Kevin shivered at her touch.

Kiseop cleared his throat tactfully.

Alexses seemed to shatter from a trance and she flushed darkly. “I mean, better than the last time I saw him, that is.” She apologized profusely to Kevin, which he didn’t quite understand.

“Oooh.” Soohyun exclaimed. “Oh!” He looked at Kevin then at Alexses. “Alexses fancies our Kevin!”

Kevin threw them a disgusted expression, all the while thinking just how reversed what the leader was thinking. But when he saw Alexses, she was flushing again. Was it an acquired skill? Flushing at will? “Okay, hyung. Stop. Not funny.”

Then they started to chant that ridiculous rhyme.

“Kevin and Alexses sitting on a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!”

“What are you, kids?” Kevin asked.

“Never mind,” Alexses muttered. “It’s not a big deal.”

Kevin looked at her, not quite sure about her behavior anymore. He knew she was 4D, but this was confusing. Totally confusing. He shook his head and typed in his note: “As soon as I saw her looking at me with those wide silver eyes of her, I knew I as in for it. Things would never settle down until everything was finished.”