Chapter 13

            “Why are you here?” AJ asked nonchalantly.

            “Where is Kevin?!” Eli sounded frantic.

            “He’s still asleep.” I could practically hear the shrug in AJ’s voice, see him rolling his eyes at Eli’s ridiculousness.

            “Wake him up then!” There was a loud bumping noise, and I could imagine Eli trying (and failing) to shove AJ out of the way.

            “Why. Are. You. Here?” AJ enunciated.

            “I need to talk to Kevin.”

“Well Kevin doesn’t need to talk to you.” I was not surprised by the snarky tone AJ used.

            “Wake him up! Now!”

            “Leave.”

            The conversation went on like that for about five minutes before I became fed up with their argument. I slowly pulled myself out of the bed and, using the wall for support, made my way to the door. “Eli!” I called cheerfully.

            “K-Kevin, why are you awake, you should—“

            “Can you go cook some eggs?” I asked sweetly. “You make the best omelets!” Both of us knew it was a blatant lie, but still AJ went along with it.

            “Of course,” he smiled sweetly. “With cheese?”

            “As always,” I laughed. He nodded, tousled my hair a bit, and went straight for the kitchen.

            “H-he… You two… and… eggs… how does he… what…. WHAT IS GOING ON HERE?!” Eli looked, to say the least, very disturbed. His hair was dangerously underdone and he had begun chewing on his fingernails. His eyes were wide and a little bloodshot.

            “Did you find anything out about the snoring?” I questioned innocently.

            I expected him to argue. I expected him to go on about how he knew AJ didn’t snore, about how they were just having a little hiccup in their relationship. I was going to make a game of it. However, he said nothing.

            “I guess not then,” I shrugged. “Can I help you with anything?”

            “That’s AJ’s shirt,” he whispered.

            “What?” I glanced down at the plaid flannel shirt I had hurriedly picked up earlier. “Oh, yeah,” I chuckled, only then realizing that the shirt was, indeed, AJ’s.

            “Why are you wearing his shirt?” It sounded more like a demand than a question, but I answered it anyways.

            “I guess I just accidentally grabbed it when I woke up.”

            “You accidentally grabbed it.”

            “Yes.”

            “Which means he wasn’t wearing it.”

            “Yes.”

            “And which also means you weren’t wearing a shirt when you woke up.”

            “That’s correct.” It was fun watching Eli freak out. Really, making him paranoid was the only bright side to the entire situation.

            “Omelets are ready!” AJ called from the doorway of the kitchen.

            “I’ll be there in a minute,” I called back, plastering what I hoped was a lovesick grin on my face. “If that’s all, I have to go. See you later?” Before he could answer, I closed the door.

            “That was beautiful!” AJ laughed. “You should have seen his face from here!” He came up beside me and continued chortling lightly.

            “Serves him right, showing up so early in the morning!” I grinned brightly.

            “Wait a minute,” AJ paused. “What was that thing about snoring?”

            After my laughter subsided, I retold the story of how I attempted to embarrass Eli in front of the office girls by mentioning AJ’s snoring habits. “I was surprised when I found out that I was right!”

            “I don’t snore though,” AJ claimed defensively.

            “You do, actually. That’s what woke me up this morning.”

            “Oh… Well, I won’t do it again!”

            “Pinky promise?”

            “Pinky promise!” We linked pinkies and giggled a little. “How about some omelets then?” AJ grinned.

            “That sounds delightful!” I exclaimed. AJ grabbed my hand and pulled me to the kitchen, helping me sit down in a chair (since I was still in pain) before placing a plate of steaming food before me. To be honest, the omelet looked horrible. But for some reason, it smelled like the most delicious food I had ever encountered, so I gave it a try.

            The rest of the meal, I pretended as best as I could to enjoy the horrible, overcooked eggs. Whenever AJ wasn’t looking, I snuck bites into my napkin. I didn’t want to upset him when he seemed so proud of his cooking skills. When his plate was empty and the food on mine had been pushed around enough to look like I had enjoyed it, AJ stood and put the dishes in the sink.

“Let’s get you to bed,” he sighed, offering me a hand. I took it willingly, still unsure of my ability to walk properly. Slowly but surely, we ended up in my room. I crawled onto the bed and cocooned myself in the blankets. “Mind if I take a shower?” AJ asked, pointing his thumb in the direction of the bathroom.

            “As long as you don’t mind lilac-scented shampoo,” I shrugged.

            “Thanks, sweetheart.” AJ leaned over and planted a quick kiss on my forehead, then went straight to the bathroom. It was only after he was gone that I realized what he had done. It took only a moment more for me to discover that, for some strange, twisted reason, I had enjoyed it. Rendered breathless by the very thought, I retreated to the safety of my laptop and the engaging task of editing my novel.

            Several pages of editing later, I felt the mattress dip as AJ plopped down next to me, peering over my shoulder at the screen of my computer. I made a mad dash to cover it, and ended up zooming out as far as possible so the words were illegible.

            “What’s that for?” AJ snorted.

            “No one reads it until it’s done!” I was pretty sure that was common knowledge, especially among fellow members of the writing business.

            “Why not?” AJ reached over to the computer as if to take it, so I slammed it shut as quickly as possible.

            Apparently, I had overestimated my own strength, and ended up crushing his fingers between the screen and the keyboard. I never imagined that AJ Kim, president of Mister Kim, would scream like a girl.

            Ten minutes later, we were back in the kitchen, sitting at the table tending to his wound. He had managed to help me through the hallway to the kitchen, and I had found an ice pack for his fingers with little difficulty.

            “I’m really sorry,” I said for the umpteenth time.

            “I’ll survive,” he shrugged nonchalantly.

            “Seriously, though. I’ve never heard anyone scream like that before.” I practically shuddered at the memory.

            “Well, hopefully you never will again,” he laughed. I caught myself thinking of how endearing the crinkles by his eyes looked whenever he laughed, and how his voice sounded so light, and my mind jumped back to the morning, the memory of the toned, tanned muscles on his chest…

            “Kev, hello! Earth to Kevin!” he waved a hand in front of my face.

            “Sorry!” I shook myself out of my reverie, and immediately began mentally berating myself for once again thinking those thoughts about… Well, my boss!

            “Daydreaming, are we?” he winked.

            “N-no, I was just… just…” I began spluttering, unable to form coherent thoughts.

“Just joking,” he chuckled. “You’re pretty gullible sometimes.” He reached over with his good hand and ruffled my hair a little bit.

            “Is your hand going to be okay?” I asked, trying to change the topic.

            “Oh, so you were daydreaming!” AJ exclaimed.

            “I was not! Why on earth would I daydream about you of all people?!” I crossed my arms, trying to look defiant.

            “I never said that.” His face suddenly became serious. “You were daydreaming about me?”

            “I didn’t say that…”

            “You might as well have,” he breathed, brow crinkling.

            “I—“

            “Kev, you can’t do that anymore.”

            “Do what?”

            “I promised I was going to fix everything, but I can’t make things go back to the way they were if you don’t act like you used to as well.” He shook his head and ran a hand through his hair.

            “Fix everything…” I muttered. I hadn’t realized that, to him, fixing things meant to erase them.

            “Unless…” he whispered.

            “U-unless?” Suddenly, he was close. Very close. I could feel the heat radiating from him; feel his breath on my cheek. I flashed back to that night in the park, not too long ago, when he had kissed me the first time.

            But this time, as he slowly pressed his lips to mine, I was not afraid; I didn’t feel like screaming or running away, and I certainly wasn’t mad at him. Instead, I felt warm and fuzzy, like I was melting. Despite being seated, I felt as though I would fall over, so I reached up and clutched at AJ’s shirt for balance. He took it as an invitation, and I found myself not entirely opposed to the idea. He wasn’t being pushy or overbearing; he was being sweet, gentle, and it only made me want more.

            Soon, though, I had to come up for air. I pulled away, gasping for breath, and quickly looked down. “K-Kev?” AJ whispered hesitantly. “A-are you okay…?”

            All I could do was nod, too stunned to speak. I was nearly too stunned to form coherent thoughts, but one sarcastic comment managed to shove its way to the front of my mind. No wonder you slept with him last night!

            “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean—“

            “It’s okay,” I whispered hoarsely.

            “What?”

            I sighed, decided to pause my internal conflict and throw caution to the wind. What I did next surprised both myself and AJ. I stood, grabbed his shirt, and pulled his mouth down to mine. It only took him a few seconds to push me away. “Kev, what are you—?”

            “Please?” I searched his eyes, willing him to realize that I had given up on fighting.

            “Slowly,” he whispered, proceeding to mimic the slow, measured movements he had made before, kissing me gently once more.

            Then, as luck would have it, the doorbell rang again.

            “I have to answer that,” I whispered as I pushed him away, using the walls for support to make my way to the door. I pulled it open and didn’t know what to say.

            There, in my doorway, even more unexpected than Eli, stood Lee Kiseop, a box of chocolates and bouquet in hand.

“Are you feeling okay?” Kiseop asked, concern written all over his face. “When you didn’t show up for work today, I figured I should drop by at lunch to check on you,” he shrugged shyly.

            “I… Thank you…” After what had just transpired, it felt strange to accept flowers and chocolates from Lee Kiseop.

            “Can I come in?” At this, my eyes grew wide, and I panicked. “Or… maybe… not?” he chuckled. “Oh, well. I’ll just leave these with you, then!” He shoved the gifts into my hands and took a step back. He turned to leave and then looked back at me. “You know, it’s weird,” he said, “Today you got sick, and President Kim isn’t their either. The office is ridiculously quiet!” He laughed at his own joke. “Hope you feel better!” he winked, sauntering off to his car. As he drove away, I shut the door, still unable to form words.

            “Well that was awkward,” AJ muttered, stepping up beside me.

            I looked down at the gifts in my hand and felt nauseous, the full force of all that had transpired smacking me upside the head. “You do realize that we have to keep this a secret,” I stated quietly.

            “And why is that?” AJ cocked an eyebrow.

            “Well we can’t very well go flaunting it around the entire office, now can we?!” I cried, accidentally throwing the flowers into the air. They plopped on the floor with an almost painful sounding thump, and I didn’t bother to pick them up.

            “Why should they care?”

            “It looks a bit suspicious,” I pointed out. “Also, I’d rather not face the wrath of Eli. As much as I enjoy teasing him, I don’t want to be completely on his bad side. He looked ready to kill this morning!”

            “He won’t hurt you,” he laughed.

            “I care about more than just me, you know.”

            “He can’t do much harm,” AJ brushed my comments off.

            “Yes he can!” I couldn’t bear his offhandedness anymore. “Look at what he did to Kiseop!”

            “He doesn’t know about it, though, so it’s perfectly alright,” AJ shrugged.

            “AJ!” I exclaimed.

            “Look, Kev, I won’t go bragging about it, I promise. But don’t stress out over this, okay? I’m the president of the company; no one can do much before they get fired.” He placed his hands on my shoulders and turned me towards him. “I promise, I’ll protect you.”

            I ignored him, refusing to believe that everything was actually that simple.

            “Kev, look at me,” he demanded softly. Determined to be defiant, I continued avoiding his eyes. A gentle but firm hand pressed under my chin and lifted my face. “Do you trust me?” he asked when I finally gave in and met his eyes.

            The words echoed in my mind for a moment, pulling back the memory of the evening before, when I had asked him that same question. He had trusted me then. Even though things turned out horribly, he had trusted me. So, I nodded in affirmation. “I trust you,” I breathed.

            “Then relax, because I promise I will do everything in my power to make sure that you are safe.” He smiled and ran his thumb over my cheek. “I have an idea.”

            “What is it?” I was curious.

            “Just go get changed and meet me on your front steps in an hour!” he said excitedly, rushing towards the door.

            “What should I wear?” I called after him as he ran out the door and down the sidewalk.

            “Something pretty!” Not long after those words reached my ears, he was out of sight. I smiled and frantically waved goodbye anyways.

            It was a strange feeling, being comfortable around AJ. It was even stranger when I began missing him after a few minutes. I pulled his shirt closer around me and inhaled his somehow familiar scent. What a strange sensation it was, knowing that just the day before I had loathed the same man I now dearly longed to see again.

            An hour later, I stood on the front steps of my house, looking around for AJ excitedly. He soon pulled up in his silver car and climbed out, making it up the steps in a mere three strides. “Ready to go?” he asked with a grin.

            “Where are we going?” I really, genuinely wanted to know.

            “You’ll see,” he winked, pulling me behind him. He opened the car door and helped me get in, still aware of my now dully aching middle.

            “Thank you,” I smiled sweetly at him. It was warm in the car, and I snuggled contentedly into the soft seats. AJ climbed into the driver’s seat and took off, heading to his secret location. “You’re really not going to tell me?”

            “Our first date should be a fun surprise!” he exclaimed.

            “But shouldn’t yesterday count?”

            “Of course not!” he scoffed. As far as I know, yesterday you still didn’t really like me.

            “Still,” I huffed. “I really, really want to know where we’re going!”

            “Not a chance,” he chuckled. We drove on in silence for a few minutes when I felt a hand slip in to mine. I looked over at AJ to find him grinning ridiculously, and I couldn’t help but smile.

            We finally pulled into the driveway of a quaint little building. It was pale yellow with shutters only a shade darker than white and a front porch that wrapped around three-quarters of the house.

            “What is this place?” I asked, drinking in the beauty of both the house and the surrounding afternoon scenery.

            “There’s someone I want you to meet.” AJ took my hand and led me up the steps of the house, ringing the doorbell once when he got there. Several minutes later, a short, gray-haired man full of smiles pushed the door open.

            “AJ!” he exclaimed, wrapping the younger man in a large hug. “And you are…?”

            “His name’s Kevin,” AJ volunteered.

            “Did I ask you?” the man said with just a hint of a grin.

            “Kev, this is my grandpa.” I smiled for a moment and reached out to shake his hand.

            “Nice to meet—“ I froze as realization dawned on me. I turned to AJ. “You mean the one with the locket?!” I asked incredulously.

            “That’s me!” his grandpa said. “But you can call me Ted.” I nodded and numbly shook his hand, allowing the shock to set in.

            “Can we come in?” AJ asked politely.

            “As long as he doesn’t break anything like the last one did!”

            “He’s not going to break anything, Gramps!” We followed him inside and were hit almost immediately with the stench of bleach. My eyes began to water and I tried not to breathe in, but it wasn’t working out that well.

            “Don’t worry, darlin’, it only lasts till you get to the kitchen,” Ted chuckled, noticing my discomfort. “I was cleaning the bathroom when you two showed up!”

            “Aw, come on, I told you I’d help clean!” AJ exclaimed.

            “Well, I didn’t want you taking off work to come clean a bathroom when I can do it just fine myself!”

            “Uhm, where’s the kitchen?” I interrupted.

            “Follow me,” Ted grinned, taking the lead. He led us through a maze of hallways that somehow managed to get us into his obnoxiously mismatched kitchen. It was a very disconcerting room. The walls were the same yellow as the siding of the house, but the curtains were a pink plaid and all of the doors were a deep brown color. It was topped off by a rainbow polka-dotted tablecloth that bore a strange resemblance to a Twister board, and three metal fold-out chairs, all with a cushion of different size, shape, and color on the seat.

            “You redecorated?” AJ joked.

            “Shut up, boy, or you’re out with the pigs!” Ted joked back. “So, what brings ya here in the middle of the day?”

            “I just wanted to introduce Kev to you,” AJ shrugged.

            “And why is that?” Ted raised an eyebrow.

            “We’re dating now.”

            “Since when?”

            “This morning.”

            “That early?” Ted laughed. “Geez, boy, you move quickly!”

            “We’ve known each other for longer than that!” I interjected. “It’s just that we decided on it this morning.” I smiled, trying to impress Ted.

“Oh, well that settles it, then,” he smiled.

            “Do you have any food?” AJ asked suddenly.

            “I might. What’s it to ya?” Ted questioned.

            “Well I’m hungry and I figured Kev might be, too, so…”

            “I might be able to fix something real quick,” Ted shrugged. He stood. “You two just sit here and I’ll see what I can do.” He walked over to the refrigerator and began inspecting its contents closely.

            “Like him so far?” AJ asked quietly.

            “He’s not too bad,” I shrugged.

            “Oh, come on, you love him!” he nudged me with his elbow.

            “Well, he is pretty funny…” AJ gave me a mock stern look. “Okay, okay, he’s great,” I laughed.

            “I think he likes you, too,” AJ grinned.

            “Really?” I felt nervous around the old man, especially after having heard his story the evening before. I felt as though I had something monumental to live up to.

“My ears are turning red!” Ted called from the refrigerator.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked.

“It means that he knows we’re talking about him,” AJ chuckled.

“It better be somethin’ good or I’m not feeding ya!”  came Ted’s cry, his head still partially submerged in the contents of the fridge.

“Yes sir!” AJ called back.

Thirty minutes and several jokes later, we were seated around the table with heaping plates of mashed potatoes and fried chicken in front of us. “Well, dig in!” Ted said, picking up his fork and literally shoveling food into his mouth. I watched, captivated by the man’s strange eating habits, as he used his chicken to scoop potatoes onto his biscuit, topping it off with green beans and shoving the entire thing into his already cramped mouth. It was disgustingly interesting.

“Don’t be scared to eat your food,” AJ laughed, nudging me with his elbow. I looked over and found him mirroring his grandfather’s eating habits. It crossed my mind that I had never before thought I would see the day when AJ Kim was stuffing his face with a homemade Southern meal.

So, stunned by their strange eating habits and at a loss as to what else to do, I rolled up my sleeves and very literally dug into my plate of food.

When I came up for air two minutes later, both Ted and AJ were bright red, laughing almost maniacally at me. “What?” I asked, a soggy section of mashed potato sandwich in my hand.

“Okay, I give up,” Ted chortled.

“Give up on what?”

“Anyone who’ll mimic the eating habits of a pig simply for the sake of AJ is alright to me!” I put the sandwich down on my plate, wiped my mouth and fingers, and rolled down my sleeves.

“AJ,” I said calmly, “I hope you’re good at sleeping with one eye open.” With that, I picked up my fork like a sane person and polished off my meal. Ted laughed for the rest of our early lunch, and AJ remained rather silent.

All too soon, it was time to leave. Ted had a Bingo tournament to attend and we didn’t want to interfere. So, we said our goodbyes and drove off in AJ’s shiny silver car.

“Wasn’t that fun?” he grinned.

“Well yeah, if you like being tricked into eating like a pig,” I muttered, still a little unhappy with him.

“If it counts, you still looked gorgeous to me,” AJ chuckled.

“It doesn’t, actually, but thanks for trying,” I retorted. He frowned and stared blankly at the road, not saying another word. I smiled to myself, glad that my plan of revenge was actually working.

A/N: DUNH DUNH DUNHHHHHH!!! xDDD So... this is another case of the characters-took-over syndrome that I seem to be recently infected with. This chapter was nearly 4,000 words. Yeah. WOOT!