Ho here I am! /bows/

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Chapter 4

   “Now, let’s get something to eat.”    

He didn’t know going out to eat was going to be such a hassle.

“Chanyeol…you need to change,” Kris raised his eyebrow, carefully testing the name. He didn’t know how she came up with that name or why she wanted to use the name. His eyes followed her body as she explored his living room, hand brushing a few things here and there and stopped in front of his bookshelf. The Goddess turned to Kris, her blush pink lips almost pouting.   

“But I am perfectly fine in these clothes,” Loki – Chanyeol – frowned. She looked down to see what was wrong with her garment. All looked perfectly fine to her.

Kris sighed heavily, running a hand through his wet hair. He left her earlier, not really trusting she would not break a thing, to take a short shower.

Why was it so hard to tell people what they were supposed to do – nicely? Kris was always the blunt type. If he needed to tell somebody something, it was always his style to get it straight to the point. If he liked things, he’d say it. If he didn’t like it, he’d say it too. What was the point in beating around the bush? A total waste of time.

But that was dealing with people. Now he wasn’t actually sure how he was supposed to deal with a Goddess. What if one wrong word earned him his doom? He wasn’t really keen on meeting Chanyeol’s ‘flaming’ hands again.

“You see…it’s really cold out there and you’re not really dressed for the weather,” Kris said slowly, trying to make her understand.

Chanyeol blinked and laughed.

“Oh, it matters little. I’ve Jotun blood in me. A little cold will have no effect on me,” Chanyeol said earnestly.

This time Kris did introduce his palm to his face. It landed onto half his face with a loud smack. Why was this woman being so difficult?? Kris huffed. And Chanyeol looked at him expectantly.

“Okay. Screw ‘me being nice’. I’ll tell you straight. You’re y and all but your clothes are kinda revealing. Like right now, I can so see your um…chest. See? That’s how thin your shirt is. People here are going to think you’re a woman who’s trying to sell her body. Er, get it?”

Chanyeol was silent for a moment. Her mind was contemplating Kris’ words. Ah, she got it. Humans were different from Asgardians and if she was going to live in Midgard from now on, she should abide by their rules. She looked up at Kris in wonder, clapping her hands once.

“Is that so? Okay.”

Kris sighed. That wasn’t so hard at all. Silly.

Then there was one problem.

“Chanyeol, do you have any other clothes?”

Chanyeol shook her head. “No, I brought nothing when I ran away.”

Kris sighed again. This girl was seriously going to be the death of him.

“We are going to buy some clothes for you then. And lots of food. But wait…your clothes were different last night. I swear you were wearing a dress!”

“Oh, I use magick to change what I wear. Unfortunately, I ruined the dress with hot water earlier. Pity.”

Kris rolled his eyes. She should’ve told him earlier that she could do that. But that still didn’t change his mind to satisfy her wardrobe needs. The idea of this girl using magick in his home didn’t settle well in his stomach. There was no way in hell he would be homeless because of one God(dess) of Fire. What if he got her angry again and she decided to burn down his house or the entire apartment complex for fun? God, there were so many things they needed to discuss.

“We need to make some ground rules now. Since I presume you’ll be staying here for a while?” Kris muttered. He thought he could feel his head throb. He doubted dealing with Chanyeol would be easy.

Chanyeol only nodded and sat on the sofa, Kris with hands akimbo in front of her.

“Number one,” Kris lifted his index finger, his voice suddenly all business-like, “you’re not allowed to go out of this apartment without my permission or without me.”

Chanyeol nodded. Easy enough. Not supposed to go out of the house, she could do that.

“Number two – I go to work on weekdays so what you have to do is just stay in the house. Got it?”

Chanyeol pursed her lips. But that would be just like back home…

“Okay,” Chanyeol sighed, slightly dejected. Kris didn’t miss that but he’d ask her later. He was doing this for her safety as well. She was pregnant with his child, by right she was his responsibility from now on.

“Rule number three – never, and I repeat never open the door to strangers when I’m not home. It doesn’t matter if they ring the bell or they say they know me or anything - just don’t open the door. You can never trust people these days.”

Chanyeol nodded again and Kris was attacked by her trademark smile. “Alright, whatever pleases you Kris.”

It was when Chanyeol shot him a worried look that Kris realised he was silently staring at her. Kris cleared his throat uncomfortably – embarrassed when he actually realised he liked seeing Chanyeol smile. His hand flew up to rub at the back of his neck, a sure sign he was nervous.

“Now that’s done – for now. I’ll think of something else that we can work with as we go along.”

“Okay,” Chanyeol hummed.

There was a slight jump in Chanyeol’s stance when she stood up and Kris couldn’t help feeling anxious for the girl who didn’t seem to remember she was pregnant at all. He could feel his body tensing up as Chanyeol swayed on the balls of her feet, happily humming. It was as if his mind was on alert and his arms were held out in case Chanyeol would lose her footing. Man, he was becoming such a worrywart. Not that he would show it, of course.   

‘Oh please God, please make this if not easy, slightly tolerable for me.’

“Oh.”

Chanyeol’s soft exclamation broke him off of his small mental dilemma.

“What? What is it? Is it the baby?” Kris asked invading Chanyeol’s personal space as his arms hovered over Chanyeol’s body, not knowing what to do, as he stared wide-eyed at Chanyeol’s sour expression. Her hand was resting on her slightly showing stomach. All he got was Chanyeol’s unhappy sigh.

“It looks to me that this child is going to be handful when it’s born,” Chanyeol said, her rose painted lips automatically pouted. Kris raised a confused brow.

“What?”

Chanyeol patted her stomach gently and tilted her head forward, now her turn to invade Kris’ comfort zone and smirked when Kris’ head unconsciously backed away. Kris’ eyes drifted to Chanyeol’s midsection before his eyes went up in realisation as he looked at Chanyeol’s melted brown eyes. Oh.

“We are hungry,” Chanyeol grinned, proving Kris’ theory. “Extremely hungry.”

 ~~

“This…is going nowhere,” Kris exhaled. Now they were in a supermarket just around the block.

Before they went out, Kris found a fashion magazine and was glad when he found the winter collection line. Why he even had a magazine that he didn’t even read, he had no idea. But that wasn’t the matter in his current situation. He had asked Chanyeol to magick her clothes to one that he saw well for the weather.

“This okay?” Chanyeol had asked – wearing an exact copy of a cream-coloured flowery long blouse topped with a long-sleeved grey cardigan. Gone was her training pants, instead she wore elastic black skinny jeans. Kris hummed his approval – it looked good on her. He wouldn’t admit it out loud, but she looked ravishing. She was glowing.

He thought over the next few hours, things would be easy. How hard could it be to shop for grocery? It wouldn’t be that hard, even for Kris.

But Chanyeol proved how much difficult it could be.    

A walk to the food court which was supposed to a 2-minute journey became a 20-minute one. Well not exactly but it was going to be with Chanyeol’s constant distraction spree.

“Ooo, Kris. What is that?” Chanyeol squealed. Chanyeol was obviously elated but Kris didn’t know if he liked this hyperactive version of her. Even if she looked gorgeous. But he wasn’t going to tell her that.

For the nth time, Kris sighed. He turned around. Chanyeol was a few feet behind him and was making a young salesgirl blushed in discomfort with Chanyeol’s blatant stare at the blender the sales assistant was working on. A glance told Kris she was offering those packet instant drinks. Of course, only Chanyeol would be fascinated with a working blender with light green liquid swirling in it. It was probably honey dew or kiwi or something.

Defeated, Kris trudged back and reached the childish Chanyeol, in time to hear what the salesgirl said to the pregnant Goddess. One of Chanyeol’s hands reached up to rest on his elbow. Whether she realised it or not, Kris wasn’t one to point it out. He stood still, his left shoulder lightly touching her right. His eyes landed on Chanyeol’s tummy.

“Would you like to try some, miss?”

The teenager was offering the green liquid in a small recyclable cup, one made from cardboard, to the wide-eyed Chanyeol. The doe brown eyes of the Trickster were sparkling before those puppy-eyes were turned to Kris. Oh, Kris knew that look too well – that ‘please~ Kris, let’s me have it or I’ll cry’ look.

Oh damn woman.

~~

This place called ‘supa-market’ was downright intriguing for Chanyeol. It was like the marketplace within the citadel of Asgard yet people were only taking whatever they want and putting them inside those metal cart things or inside those green baskets. No one was watching one stall or one section of things sold. Kris even took one of those metal cage things and directed it into this place. Oh, how she wished Asgard was like this place. She even forgot that she was hungry and that was why they were there in the first place – for breakfast.

Being the curious being that she was, she couldn’t help asking Kris everything that amazed her. And she admired Kris’ patience (or what looked to be a controlled temper to her), explaining things as best as he could to her. She knew and she liked making the human man’s blood boiled. And she liked him for that. Another trait added to her list of good human.

“Would you like to try some, miss?”

And she brightened at the offer. But was it safe for the baby? Her hand instinctively came up to rest on her stomach. Kris’ presence calmed her a bit as she felt the taller frame loomed over her shoulder. She smiled. A drink wouldn’t harm the child. It looked as normal as any other drink. Surely, Kris wouldn’t mind too.

“Kris…?” Chanyeol tilted her head to the stoic man by her side. A thought passed her head. This man needed to learn how to enjoy life. That frown and that expressionless face of his made Chanyeol wanted to cast a ‘happy’ spell his way.

Kris sighed. What was the use of saying no to this woman?

“Go on.”

And Chanyeol’s full teeth smile looked like a child just got her best Christmas present.

                “Here you go, miss,” the young girl said – smilingly. It didn’t escape Chanyeol that the girl was now standing somewhat leaning on top of the small table, exposing her ‘mounds’, barely concealed with her tight red shirt with a nametag ‘Sunny’ – to Kris specifically. And that smile, the intentional fluttering of eyelashes.

Oh, Chanyeol knew flirting when she saw one. She felt like someone just pinched her and she narrowed her eyes, she disliked this girl. The Goddess felt her enthusiasm to try out the Midgardian drink vanished in an instant. Her nose scrunched up.

“Hey, do you want to try some too, Kris?”

Chanyeol watched as the girl offered Kris too. But her tone made Chanyeol clenched her hand. She did not just say Kris’ name that casually.  

“No thanks,” Kris said indifferently and turned to Chanyeol, “you done?”

Chanyeol didn’t know why she felt relief when Kris completely ignored the sales assistant and from her peripheral view, she could see the frown on Sunny’s face and something cheered inside of her.

Without drinking it, Chanyeol handed her minute cup to Kris and smiled.

“Yes, we are famished, let’s go?” she chuckled before her nimble feet walked slowly past Kris.

And Kris rolled his eyes before downing the green drink. Yup, honey dew. Not bad.

He threw the cup into the recycle bag by the small table and was about to walk away when he heard his name called. He turned and frowned when the salesgirl handed a piece of paper to him. He raised an eyebrow but didn’t accept the paper. Well, he was waiting for her explanation.

“Call me if you’re free, maybe?” Sunny said hopefully.

And we all knew how blunt Kris Wu was.

“Er…not interested, sorry,” Kris said. It showed on his handsome face.

“Oh, you’re with that girl then?” she said and Kris noticed the dejected tone.

“Yeah,” he answered without much thought. Well, Chanyeol was living with him and added to that she was pregnant with his child – made with that prophecy Chanyeol blurted out. But he was sure he wanted to raise the child. He wanted to be in the child’s life.

“Whatever,” Kris heard she said and she smiled, “you can always find me here when you’re done with her, eh? I’m always available.”

She winked at him.

And Kris felt goose bumps up his arms and neck...the ones caused by a bad reason. Kris cleared his throat loud – he needed to really show the girl he was not interested – not ever. This girl was definitely thick-skinned and desperate.

Kris chuckled lightly but any sane person could hear the sarcasm dripping from his voice.

“Listen. ‘That girl’ is pregnant. I’m to be a father soon. Sorry, ‘done with her’? …isn’t going to happen anytime soon.”    

And Kris walked towards the waiting Chanyeol. And man, that felt good!

~~

Kris exhaled. His hand snatched Chanyeol’s pale one when he saw Chanyeol’s slightly drifting away legs. Here we go again, he thought.

“Okay, now I’m going to hold your hand. Seriously woman, you need to stop…stopping at random places!”

“But Kris-“

“No buts, you can explore things or whatever later. Now you really need some food. You’re eating for two, remember that,” Kris reprimanded sternly. He tugged at Chanyeol’s fingers, intertwining them (for the sake of keeping her focus, nothing else…but her hand felt so warm and small and smooth) and walked in the direction of the food court. Bold red writings saying ‘HEALTHY EXPRESS’ were embedded at the top of the archway and some mouth-watering aroma floated in the air.

“Oh,” Chanyeol replied softly.

She forgot she was now carrying another life. What a fool she felt she was. Guilt ate at her heart. What was happening to her? Where had the proud prince gone off to? Since when did the icy heart of the Asgardian god melted and touched by a mere human emotions. Chanyeol sighed. She convinced herself that it was the pregnancy making her feel vulnerable.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered.

Kris caught it but didn’t say anything. Instead, he squeezed Chanyeol’s hand slightly. An unspoken message passed between them. Chanyeol was forgiven.

“Now let’s put some food into that stomach of yours.”