Imbroglio

Kai sat beside Krystal awkwardly, the small space between them on the sofa feeling more like an enormous gulf. Whilst he understood why the atmosphere between the two of them was so awkward, it didn't help make it any less uncomfortable. How was Kai supposed to know that his mother happened to be Krystal's therapist for the past year? 

If anything, it made him feel only worse for Krystal; she was the reason he'd come back, the main reason he even was doing anything these days, yet he couldn't even bring himself to be honest with her about that fact. Whilst his mother was the professional helping her through her pain and suffering, Kai held the key piece of knowledge that could either make her progress. 

And she had been making progress it seemed. Krystal smiled more, seemed to mean it every time she laughed at one of Kai's dumb jokes or Sehun's misfortunes, and even seemed to speak up more. Who was Kai to jeapordise all of that? 

Kai, who was usually so witty, so loquacious and gregarious, was completely lost for words. 

Thankfully, it was Sehun who came and ended the uncomfortable silence. 

"Jeez did someone die in here?" Sehun asked as he swung the apartment door shut behind him. 

Krystal and Kai immediately stood up from the sofa, as if trying to cover up the fact that they'd been sitting in silence for 10-minutes. 

Kai raised an eyebrow as they approached Sehun, "Dude, have you been out all night?"

Sehun shrugged, "Yep. I'm going to shower and then get changed. We're getting dinner."

"Cool, where you guys going?" Krsytal asked, clearly avoiding eye contact with Kai. He willed himself to act natural. 

"I don't know." Sehun shrugged again, "Luhan comes up with the plans."

"Apparently Luhan's his future husband." Kai mumbled. He saw Krystal stifle a smile out of the corner of his eye and eased up a little.

Sehun however, wasn't impressed, rolling his eyes "Yeah because unlike Kai, Luhan doesn't spend all of his time brooding. See you later." 

The two of them watched as Sehun stalked into his room and nudged the door firmly shut behind him. 

"Ouch." Kai remarked, pulling a face as he finally turned to look at Krystal.

"You? Brooding?" Krystal raised an eyebrow at him, "I didn't think that was your thing?"

"I didn't think it was either," Kai shrugged, trying his hardest to shrug off how accurately Sehun had called him out, "Maybe I should get out more."

Krystal looked up at him, her dark eyes impossible to read in that moment, vacant in their usual way that only made Kai want to find out more about out her, climb inside her mind and discover everything he possibly could about her, to find out what made her tick and what drove her. Yet even after their couple months or so of friendship (if you could really call it that), Kai knew that Krystal was the probably the toughest of nuts to crack. Luckily he was never one to back down from a challenge - even if it only meant him putting off his real reason for befriending her.

"Do you wanna' get out of here?" Krystal asked out of nowhere, her eyes suddenly seeming to light up in that moment.

"Sure," Kai nodded, "Anywhere in mind?"

Kai did not expect to end up in some edgy, student bar in a quiet part of Itaewon. In fact, he did not expect Krystal to take him to a bar at all. 

It was Krystal who shielded the two of them from fierce rainfall underneath her umbrella as they made the short journey with public  transport. When they got into the bar, it was Krystal who led them through the crowds of students in this noisy bar, expertly weaving in and out of the various groups with an elusive skill and confidence that he didn't even know Krsytal possessed. Kai followed, vaguely amused by what was happening as Krystal led them to a booth in the corner of the bar, away from the commotion. 

"Nice find," Kai said in approval as they slid into either side of the booth, Krystal putting her wet umbrella underneath the table, "I didn't picture you as the type to hang out here?" 

"I'm not," Krystal said over the noise of the bar, "Amber comes here with Key after work whenever they make bets with one another. They all talk about how amazing the special offers are so I figured why not?"

"That's as good a reason as any," Kai shrugged.

"Also," Krystal sighed, "Today's been pretty weird."

"Yeah," Kai said awkwardly as he scratched the back of his head, "Shall we uh- address the elephant in the room?"

Krystal nodded, her face not giving anything away as to what she was feeling inside as usual, "Your Mom's been my therapist for a year."

"So it seems."

"I- I haven't exactly made things easy for her," Krystal explained as she shifted about in her seat, "I'm sure you know everything that- that happened with me a few years back."

Kai nodded. He didn't dare make Krystal explain everything that happened with her sister; not just for Krystal's sake, but his own. He didn't know if he was prepared to have that conversation, and tell Krystal the truth about what he saw just yet. 

"I haven't exactly been myself since then." Krystal mumbled as she fiddled with a strange little, beaded bracelet on her wrist that had her name on it. Kai wondered who made that bracelet for her. 

"Who could blame you?" Kai asked, unable to take his eyes of the bracelet out of fear of having to look Krystal in the eye.

"Your Mom's tried really hard. I- I guess maybe she worried I would give up on myself."

"Are you kidding?" Kai scoffed, "My Mom's like the most relaxed person ever! I can hardly imagine what she must be like stressing out over you."

Kai could feel Krystal's eyes on him, and he found himself powerless to resist her gaze. 

"Maybe because you were travelling the whole time your Mom had to find someone else to worry about." Krystal shrugged, a slight, warm smile making its way onto her face as she looked at Kai with steady eyes. 

"That was incredibly perceptive of you." Kai raised an eyebrow, a smirk playing at his lips.

"I have my moments," Krystal shrugged, "Do you wanna' get a drink?" 

Kai had to do a double take, "I thought you didn't drink?"

Shrugging again, Krystal replied, "I have my moments."

"Well count me in for this wonderful moment." Kai beamed as he got his phone out to order from the bar's app. 

Soon enough their drinks arrived and sat before them, a glass of wine a bottle of beer that looked innocent and unassuming enough - yet as soon as they arrived, Krystal had done nothing but stare at her wine as if it was wine from Mars. 

"You sure you wanna' drink it?" Kai asked. He figured that Krystal's aversion to alcohol was part of some, long-standing problem with alcohol in general, and he certainly wasn't prepared to enable whatever vice that had been locked up in Krystal up until now. Yet on the other hand, if she wanted to let her hair down, who was he to stop her?

It would also make simply being around her a lot easier on your conscience...

Nodding, Krystal replied, "It's just one glass. Grown-up girls do this all the time."

A few sips of the red wine seemed more than enough to get Krystal feeling more talkative, however.   

"Why does your Mom always have so many gift vouchers to restaurant chains?" Krystal asked, her cheeks flushing ever so slightly as she sipped on her glass of wine.

Kai almost choked on the beer he'd been sipping on at the thought of his mother's voucher collection, "She subscribes to all of these weird gardening magazines. She's very particular about this vegetable plot she and my Dad have outside of the city, and the magazines always send her these gift vouchers to these weird restaurants."

"You're telling me," Krystal scoffed, "I didn't think anyone on this side of the world even liked I-HOP."

"Well my Mom certainly doesn't," Kai chuckled, "She just doesn't believe in eating out when she can grow and cook her own food perfectly. Me on the other hand? I once set an Airbnb on fire trying to cook toast."

"What?" Krystal laughed, one of those rare, adorable Krystal laughs that reached her eyes and made her whole face crease up. It made Kai's stomach flutter in ways he wished it didn't. 

"As usual, I got the blame for it when in reality, it was Sehun's fault." Kai groaned.

"Isn't that your excuse for everything?" Krystal smirked knowingly.

"It's not an excuse! It's a fact!" Kai defended humorously, "And besides, you have no idea how convincing that guy can actually be when he puts his mind to it. His powers of persuasion are mythic."

"I think that's also known as being a brat. Tends to come with being the youngest sibling, believe me." Krystal said, but the smile on her face quickly dissapating as she realised what she'd just said. It made Kai's stomach wrench in guilt.

"What else have you been up today?" Kai asked trying to change the subject.

Again, Krystal shifted uncomfortably in her seat, but a rueful smile appearing on her face as she went to take a big gulp from her wineglass. 

"You remember that guy who was rude to you at that party? Taemin?" 

"How could I not?" Kai scoffed as he sipped on his beer, thinking back to guy from the party a couple mo