Several hours later, you're awakened to the smell of green tea. Your eyes flutter open, and you see Jinyoung hovering over you, replacing the warm wet cloth on your forehead with a cool one. She looks faintly surprised.

"Oh, you! You were awake?" She asks quietly.

 

You nod weakly and she asks, "Are you actually pregnant? Is it true you were by..." She trails off and you narrow your eyes at her.

 

"How can you believe that, Jinnie? I thought we were friends." You croak weakly.

 

"No, we're not friends, you." She says. "We're more than that! We've known each other for a long time now, but you're still keeping secrets from me! That's why I had to ask." She looks sad.

"I was going to tell you." You gently protest. "Really! It's just that there were so many people around that time and... I didn't get to tell you."

Sighing, you tell her your entire story, of your needing money, finding the ad, getting lost in Busan, being nearly gang-, and Kris helping you out.

 

Though you leave out the more erted details involving Kris.

 

As you finish, Jinyoung gives a huge sigh of relief.  "Oh, that's all? You should hear some of the rumors flying around the school! And let me tell you, they're not pretty. Pregnancy, , ion...if it's illegal, they have a story for it!" 

 

You groan and lean back. "Ugh, Kris was right. Our entire school is built on gossip and rumors! It's really..." You trail off as Yuri comes into the room with a small food tray.

 

She smiles at you gently. "It's all liquids. It's a good diet for the baby." You and Jinyoung glare at her.

 

"There is no baby." You say in unison.

 

Yuri laughs. "I know, I can hear you guys from the kitchen. Gosh, take a joke, you!"

 

You roll your eyes weakly as she sets down the food tray. You start to sit up, and Jinyoung throws herself forward, ready to help you.

 

You wave her away. "I'm not that weak." You grin.

You hear the sound of a throat being cleared outside of your room, and your breath hitches in your throat for a moment. Yuri and Jinyoung glance at each other nervously. Your eyes fly back and forth between them, watching the silent exchange. Jinyoung throws a glance at you, and then looks back to Yuri and gives a slight nod.

 

"By the way, there's someone here to see you." Yuri pipes.

Your curiosity is piqued for a second, and then plunges as Kris walks into the room. He regards your situation with a troubled expression on his face. 

"Nice place." He says awkwardly. You feel the level of uncomfortable-ness in the room rise substantially.

 

There's more silence and then, "Can I...talk to you?"

 

You nod.

 

He glances at your friends. "Alone, I mean." 

 

Both Yuri and Jinyoung look at you, concernedly, and you feel a rush of gratitude for their kindness.

You lift a side of your mouth in a lopsided smile, "It's cool, guys."

 

They glance at Kris and then back to you, and then slowly back out of the room. As soon as they're gone, Kris shuts the door to your room. Then he sits directly next to you. 

 

You reach for your food tray, but it's a bit too far for you. You stretch a bit more, and some of your tea sloshes out of it's little mug and onto Kris' pants.

 

"Ohmygosh, I'm so sorry!" Your words rush out of your mouth.

 

Kris sighs and picks up the food tray. "No, you. I'm sorry."

 

He picks up the spoon on the tray and stirs your soup. Then he picks up a spoonful, blows on it and brings it to your lips.

 

You look up at him, but his eyes are concentrated on the spoon. You open your mouth and the soup flows in.

"I...don't know how to say this without it sounding...I-I'm just gonna start. I didn't know it would be this bad." Kris starts.

 

This wasn't going to be good. But all you can think about is of how much you're in awe at his humanity. He trips over his words, but continues to plough through his small speech. Kris has never seemed so imperfectly human before.

 

"I didn't mean to take it this far. Even as a joke, it's sick and it's cruel. I...I'm really sorry you had to go through that. Even being someone such as myself -not to say I have no feelings, because I do, you know? They're there...- but I know what you went through was hell. It must have been."

 

He continues to spoon feed you, and keeps his eyes on the soup as he talks, refusing to look you in the eye.

 

"I didn't think it would end up this way. So, I think you should just pretend not to know me anymore." As he says the last words, he brings up another spoonful of soup to your mouth.

 

You make a face.

 

"Are...are you breaking up with me?" You ask quietly.

 

Kris's hand jerks, and the soup spills off the spoon onto your exposed collarbone, slowly dripping downwards. Kris lurches forward to wipe it off with a napkin. Your eyes meet amidst the mini-chaos, and he looks away frantically.

 

Finally regaining composure, he hands you the napkin and mutters an apology. Then he laughs bitterly. "Break up. Ha...ha..." His voice is hard. His hands clench into fists so tight his knuckles turn white.

 

"Well, that's all I wanted to say...so, I guess this is where we part." He finishes smoothly, and you realize with a start that he had said the same thing at the train station just two short days ago.

 

He gets up to leave, and you're frozen, watching him as he gets up, places the tray of food carefully on the ground. He advances towards the door, then pauses for a split-second -you're not even completely sure whether he hesitated or not- and then he's leaving, pulling the door closed behind him.

 

You don't feel any immediate reaction, but as soon as he's out of your sight, you regret having let him go.

 

---

Ooh! I think I'm starting to get a little bit better at this...
Stay tuned, you, because things are only going to get more dramatic from here!

Chapter 7 Preview: "...he doesn't care about me. I'm nothing. I'm nothing to him. We don't even know each other."