8 Months later

Leerang pushed open the door to Kris’ bedroom, his sleeping form met her eyes and she smirked before quietly making her way over to the bed. It was his first day working at the café after having graduated from Le Cordon Bleu, and she’d been appointed to wake him up, an ordeal Leerang was looking forward to. But everything didn’t go as planned and she got no time to react when the older male pulled her down on the bed, “I thought you would’ve learned by now,” Kris leaned in ever so slowly until his lips pressed against the skin right beneath her ear, “that you can never sneak up on me.” he smiled, satisfied he’d managed to get Leerang before she made her move.

The girl though, frowned, “you’re no fun.” she moved about to get up, only to be pushed down into the mattress whilst Kris hovered over her, “I never said you could leave.” Leerang’s eyes flew open and she stared up at him in disbelief, “w -what?” goosebumps formed on her skin and her eyelids fluttered close as he, once again, leaned in. But the kiss she expected never arrived and Leerang opened her eyes a few seconds later, only to stare right into Kris’, who’s face were just inches from hers. “Were you expecting something else?” he flashed her a smile, the special one that caused Leerang’s inner to shiver in delight. But it was not without slight annoyance she replied, “you are being mean now.” the statement gave her immediate trouble though, as Kris began to tickle her sides, “okay, okay,” she writhed around all the whilst laughter filled the room, “you win.” Leerang breathed out, she needed for him to stop before it got completely out of line, especially since people were waiting for them. Kris however, couldn’t care less and continued until the girl let out a low cry, which startled him so much he came to a stop, something that gave Leerang the chance to recover. She was panting hard, her cheeks red and stained with tears from having laughed.

A knock on the bedroom door sounded all of a sudden, thus interrupting the moment and the two glanced over just in time to see Chanyeol, who’d decided to check up on them, enter, “ehm, is it a bad time?” Leerang blushed at the question, more so since the scene must’ve looked different from Chanyeol’s point of view. “No, it’s okay.” Kris moved away, thus giving her a chance to sit up as well. “Right. Well. I just wanted to inform you we’re opening soon.” Chanyeol stated, obviously flustered, before he exited and closed the door.

And it didn’t take many seconds for Kris to burst out laughing, something that caught Leerang off guard, “what’s so funny?” she questioned as the male moved about to face her, “didn’t you see how embarrassed he was.” her cheeks flushed a light shade of pink because she, too, had been quite embarrassed by the situation. “And you’re still embarrassed despite everything we’ve -” Leerang panicked in the middle of the sentence, her cheeks now sporting a deep red color, and she found no other option but to silence him with her lips, a kiss he more than welcomed. She couldn’t have him going around telling everyone what they’d done and how far they had gone. Not when her mother was still skeptical about their relationship. Something he knew.

The two of them headed for the café, which was located a block away from the apartment, once Kris had showered and dressed. The journey there didn’t take long, but it was enough to spark a certain nervousness for Leerang, one that had to do with the surprise party they were throwing for Kris to celebrate his graduation from Le Cordon Bleu. Eight months, that’s how long he’d spent studying and perfecting his skills as a pâtissier.

Leerang however, hadn’t been so lucky. She didn’t get accepted into K-ARTS, at least not on the first try. But giving up was not an option. Not after having received an immense amount of help and guidance from one of Kris’ friends, who’d attended, and also graduated from K-ARTS. In order to survive though, had she, whilst studying, worked at a nearby supermarket. The pay was just enough to live on, but it was so much better than to live on her step-father’s money, because it gave her a new sense of responsibility.

She could feel her heartbeats increasing as they got closer and closer to the café, and it didn’t take long before Kris spoke, “the lights are out. I thought Chanyeol said the café were opening soon?” Leerang could literally feel the sweat building up. She wasn’t particularly good at keeping surprises so it was quite the feat she managed to keep it a secret, “y -yeah, he said that.” she avoided his gaze as to not give herself away. “Weird.” Leerang played it cool all the whilst watching Kris reach for the door handle, one he pulled down to let them inside. The place was empty and none of them could hear a single sound. “Chanyeol are you here?” there was no response and Kris moved about to flick the light on, an action that was met with loud cheers and confetti raining over the two. The suddenness of it all shocked the said male, who were beyond speechless. Not a word slipped from his lips.

“CONGRATULATIONS!” a sense of ease filled Leerang as she glanced between Kris’ friends, Chanyeol, Lay, Jungah and his mother. It was really nice having them all there, especially after everything that’d happened the past eight months. “Someone get the cake.” the girl took it upon herself to retrieve it and was halfway there when Lay interrupted, “I’ll get it, you can stay.” she did as told and returned to Kris’ side, but not without having given Lay a smile of appreciation. Seeing him were hard nowadays since he’d decided to take a break from school to travel the world. I need to go away for awhile, to get some time for myself and think, was something he had said at the airport. She understood that, probably more than he thought. “Leerang.” brought out of her thoughts she glanced over at Jungah, who’d been the one to called her name, “hm?” a small blush became evident and she cleared once she noticed that everyone was looking at her, “oh, sorry.”

The nicely decorated cake became the center of attention after that, which was a huge relief considering how she didn’t particularly like the attention herself. “Blow out the candle before it melts and destroy the whole cake.” Tao exclaimed, thus urging Kris on. Jungah though, gave her boyfriend a light punch in the side, “don’t stress him.” the situation was a bit comical in a way, how everyone were so focused on Kris and the cake. Like everything else was of no importance.

“Hyung, the cake.” both Jungah and Luhan shot Tao a hard stare, as if to dare him to say another word. “Yeah, yeah.” putting a stop to the nagging Kris blew out the candle before gently pushing the cake towards Tao, who was right about to dig in when Jungah shoved him aside, “the first slice is for Kris, the person we’re celebrating. Not you.” Leerang had to give it up for her friend because it was astonishing how the other girl succeeded taming Tao, almost. There were still some work left to be done. “It’s okay, Tao can get the first piece.” there was a commotion of disapproving voices and Xiumin were the last to add on with, “you are spoiling him too much.” all the boys agreed to that, even Chanyeol and Lay. “Okay, okay, okay. Give me the first slice then.” Kris stated with a low sigh, believing that it was the only way to get everyone to shut up. It did, even Tao decided to remain silent as Luhan cut the cake into sizable pieces. Kris was interrupted a second later by Chanyeol, something that caused him to completely forget about the cake.

“Right, before I forget.” Chanyeol disappeared, only to return a moment later with a keychain in his hand, “your graduation present.” Leerang sent the older male a curious look since she hadn’t expected for Chanyeol to buy something, not when he’d been the one to pay for Kris’ education. “We all contributed with money to buy it.” she glanced at the keychain in a try to understand what it could be, and why no one had notified her about the gift. It was as if they didn’t want her to know. “I thought you said no presents.” Kris pointed out, to which Chanyeol replied, “well, that sort of changed after a while,” the male let out an awkward laugh, “so you have to accept it no matter what.” Leerang was suddenly really curious to know what the gift was, “what did you buy?” about everyone looked nervous or hesitant by the question, even Kris’ mother who stood at the side. “Ehm, that, something you need a key to?” Chanyeol let out yet another awkward laugh, he didn’t know how to explain the situation, and did therefore hope someone else would do it for him. But no one did and he was left to do the job himself. “We bought an apartment.” several seconds of complete, utter silence followed. Kris was not the only one surprised though, Leerang was as well. It didn’t make sense as to why they would go as far as to buy an apartment. Not when the more part of them were still in school, with the exception of a few of them, who worked. But then again, both Chanyeol and Lay were loaded with money.

Still in slight shock Kris spoke, “why would you do that?” he couldn’t possibly accept it, not a gift like that. It wouldn’t feel right. “We thought it was time you got a place of your own.” Chanyeol explained, to which Kris raised an eyebrow, he’d never seen it as a burden to live together with his mother, “you do understand I’m not going to accept it.” Lay rolled his eyes, it was so typical for Kris to decline every gift someone tried to give him. It was something his step-brother did every time.

“Why? It’s kind of rude not to.” Lay didn’t normally care for the decisions the older male made, but it was different this time around. “Just take it.” having had enough Lay moved about to retrieve the keys from Chanyeol, “there,” he placed them in the palm of Kris’ right hand, “you’re making people uneasy, so shut up and eat some cake now.” it was not only Leerang who was taken aback by the straightforward words, everyone were, including Kris. In fact, for a second she even feared her boyfriend would create chaos because of Lay. But he didn’t and she was incredibly relieved when he, believe it or not, picked up the plate with the slice of cake Luhan had cut just moments earlier and began to eat.

Soon enough was the previous subject long forgotten and everyone had settled down with their own piece of cake, which in turn sparked another conversation. “I hope you are ready to start working later?” Chanyeol was quite excited about it, to finally having Kris there, in the café. The older male was looking forward to it as well, especially after he’d spent the past eight months in school. “Yeah.” he smiled and shifted his attention towards Leerang, who sat opposite of him. A sense of immense gratitude filled his heart and Kris knew he had everything to thank because of her. She had given him so many things to appreciate and be happy for. All the bad were long forgotten and the only thing he cared about was the future. One he wanted to share with Leerang forever.

As if sensing his gaze Leerang glanced up, their eyes met and she smiled.

~~~

That’s it. The end for this story =)
I hope you’ve, somewhat, found this worth reading.
God I’m so awkward with these kind of things =S
Anyhow, I truly appreciate all the love you guys have given this fanfic ^^
No words can describe the happiness I feel... god I’m crying now

If you’re interested, I’ve started a new story;; Forbidden Boys.