ღ Chapter Fourteen ღ

Lu Han

Friday night dance practices really were the worst, especially since the manager got to pick who had it. Normally, he picked the members who either had the least schedule that day or, in my case, the member that had accidentally eaten his favorite yogurt.

“So unfair,” I muttered, pausing by the door to massage my sore calves. It wasn’t even my fault. The other members always shared food, so who knew that the enticing yogurt in the fridge had belonged to the manager instead of Yixing?

Swinging my bag more securely over my shoulder, I yanked my keys out of my pocket and angry stuffed it into the lock.

Inside, Mother duck Kris was dressed in the most bizarre outfit in the world. The first layer was the norm: black skinny jeans, navy sweatshirt, white lowcut socks. Then came the not-so-normal. Kris had his feet in a pair of fuzzy bedroom slippers, and was wearing a light blue apron. Correction: a man-pron.

“Dui Zhang (leader), you dropped your mancard. Want me to pick it up for you?” I joked, breezing by. I paused by the stove and took a peek into the boiling pot on the stove. Yumm, smelled good.  

Kris took it, and then he dealt it. “Sure, but no rice noodles for you tonight,” he shot back.  

Touché.    

“The fans won’t like it if they find out that you’re starving their precious Hanhan,” I laughed.

Kris was only joking. Probably. Hopefully, because I loved his rice noodles.

“The Krisus will do as he pleases,” he replied in mocking monotone.

Still laughing, I lugged my made my way to the laundry room and dug the clothes that I had sweated through into the washing machine. I definitely needed a shower, and then the clothes that I was now wearing would have to go in as well.

That was one thing about living in the dorm of an idol group: the laundry gets done every single night. Tonight, it was Tao’s turn.

I turned the light on in the bathroom and located a clean towel. Then I headed for my room, intent on getting some clean clothes. To my surprise, a girl was sleeping in Kris’ bed, her face facing the wall. Wait…was Dui Zhang trying to create a scandal? Since when did he have girls coming over to sleep in his bed?

“Uh…” I stepped closer, confused. Should I wake her up? Maybe Kris meant to get her out of here before I returned and forgot? Did he have a secret girlfriend? Then, I saw her face. “Jae?”

She must have heard me because she stirred, turning a little in her sleep. It was definitely Lee Jae-in.

“Jae-in ah,” I called again, reaching out to give her a little shake.

Her eyes opened and she squinted at me, yawning. “Oh, Lu Han. You’re back.”

I’m back? Is that all she had to say? No explanation at all?

“What-what are you doing?” I asked, sitting down on the edge of my own bed. Jae-in always slept in my bed when she came over…she was ­my best friend.  

“I was sleeping,” she replied, giving me a weird look. “And you should hurry up and shower. I can see your dried sweat from here and it’s grossing me out.”

I chose to ignore that last dig, mainly because I knew that it was true.

“Yeah but…why weren’t you here?” I asked, pointing at my bed and the stuffed animals still neatly arranged on my pillow.

“I know you don’t like other people on your bed,” she shrugged, pulling herself up to a sitting position. She ran a hand through her slightly messy hair, and it came down, rather ily, to frame a slightly somber face. “It’s not a big deal; Kris said that I could use his.”

Where was all of this suddenly come from? Was she mad at me for something? Jae-in knew that I never had a problem with it before, so why was it coming up now?

“But…you’re Jae-in,” I replied feebly. “You know that pet peeve doesn’t apply to you.”

This time when she stood up, her eyes had a dangerous, almost angry look to them. “But it should,” she stated stonily. “I’m no different from anyone else, Lu Han. I know that now.”

She gave me a harsh look, the proceeded to storm out of the room, leaving me mystified.

I think Jae-in and I just had our first fight, and I didn’t even know why.

Yeah, why the hell had I attacked her for sleeping in Dui Zhang’s bed? She was right, I didn’t like other people in my bed, but it was never occurred to me that Jae-in was “other people”.

Besides, she was just taking a nap. What did it matter where she choose to sleep? Jae-in could sleep wherever she damn well pleased.

Still feeling strangely tense and annoyed, I yanked a drawer open and pulled out a fresh change of clothes. It must just be the long workout messing with my head.    

Jae-in

I tried to shake off the weird feeling as I made my way into the warm kitchen. Lu Han was such a jerk. What kind of guy actually asks another girl to sleep in his bed when he had a girlfriend? Why did he seem even offended that she had slept in Kris’ bed? What right did he have, anyway?

Back in the kitchen, Kris was standing in front of the stove, stirring a pot of noodles. I tried to sneak up on him to scare him, but he heard me and turned.

“You’re up, Jae? I was just about to go get you.”

“Stupid Lu Han woke me up,” I grum