Chapter 4

 

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The three of them sat awkwardly in the living room. More likely, it's Kai who sat awkwardly on the left side of the small sofa, watching Luhan and his 'Sehun' chattered happily and being all touchy-feely in front of him. This Sehun, Kai mulled, had a very smooth, pale milky-white skin, his eyes were small but sharp, with his perfectly sculptured nose and small mouth that when he's not laughing at whatever Luhan said, would pulled down into a permanent frown. Kai glanced once again at the boy's milky skin and then looked down at his own tanned golden skin. Oh. 

 

"Erm." Kai tried to get Luhan's attention. Luhan looked away from Sehun's face and look at Kai like he forgot he was here in the first place.

 

"Oh! Right! Sehunnie, this is Kai. The I've told you before in my letters. Ki, this is my close and dear friend, Oh Sehun." introduced Luhan excitedly.

 

Sehun offered his hand to Kai, in which Kai accepted it and they shook hands while staring intently at each other. Mentally seizing one another up. But then Sehun smiled and his eyes turned into pretty crescent moons, and Kai thinks it was kind of similar with how a puppy would look. 

 

"What happened with your forehead, Kai?" Sehun asked innocently.

 

"I, uh, jumped into my bathtub....yeah." he answered while keeping his straight face. He could hear Luhan laughing silently behind Sehun. Damn.

 

Sehun just blinked at Kai for a few minutes and then the corners of his mouth slowly lifted up before he broke down into a small chuckle. That face, Kai thought, is the cutest face he ever seen. Well, Luhan is a different cute because he's cute without any effort. They both laughed at Kai for God knew how long and he pouted. Luhan must felt that it was embarrassing enough for Kai already and patted Sehun's arm to stop him from laughing too.

 

After that they exchanged friendly greetings and just like that, Sehun and Kai became good friends already. The three of them chatted along into the middle of the night. It was when Luhan stifled a wide yawn that Sehun decided its time to end the night with a good night's sleep. Kai bid his good night to the both of them and went to his room. But after a few steps, something told him to look back. And what he saw stun him a little; Sehun and a sleepy Luhan walking to the other way with Luhan's head on Sehun's shoulder and Sehun's hand on his waist, steadying him as they walk. But then Kai thinks, that was what a friend would do anyway.

 

He continued walking down the hallway to his temporary room and opened the door. Sighing, he plopped down on the bed without so much as changing his clothes. Kai fell asleep just like that.

 

*******

 

Back in Luhan's room, Sehun tucked Luhan into his bed after he finished changing Luhan's clothes

 He did this often when they both were little. Even of Luhan is the older one, Sehun felt like he was the one who's older because of his hyung's attitudes. He smiled softly at Luhan's sleeping face and leaned down to kiss him on the forehead. He suddenly struck with the memory of Luhan, the day before he departed for Paris, crying at the airport and saying that he loved Sehun.

 

Sehun did not know how to respond back then because he was still so young and not knowing about the concept of love. But he was sure of one thing though; he only regarded Luhan as his precious older brother.

 

Sighing at the sudden burst of memory, Sehun got up from Luhan's bed and fixed the blanket for him. He grabbed Luhan's dirty clothes and tossed them into the laundry basket (a deer-printed one at that), giving Luhan one last look and went out of the room into the guest room that is located two doors away from Luhan's own chamber.

 

*******

 

The next morning, Kai woke up because of the alarm clock. He wasted no time in showering and getting dressed, and he prayed to whoever kind enough to listen that the butler would not have anymore intention in torturing him with more chores. He's had enough of it. There were light footsteps heading towards his room and Kai gulped, thinking it was Xiumin. He cautiously peeked out from his door and sighed in relief when he saw that it was just Sehun. 

 

"Kai? What are you doing?"

 

"I thought you were that crazy butler Xiumin so I tried to hide."

 

Sehun laughed at that and he said he understood how Xiumin can be such a pain in the sometimes but he had a big heart.

 

"Yeah, as big as his cheeks anyway." mumbled Kai under his breath. 

 

Sehun just looked at him funnily and invited him to joking breakfast together with him. He also said that you could not expect Luhan to be a morning person so he would likely to skip breakfast together. Kai widened his eyes because he and Luhan had breakfast together almost every day since Kai worked at this mansion, but he kept that fact to himself. He just hummed at Sehun's statement and called Luhan a lazy deer. Sehun laughed lightly at Kai and ushered him into the dining room where Xiumin was already there, barking instructions to the poor wide-eyed personal cook (his name is Kyungsoo or something). Kai yelped and hid behind Sehun's body to protect himself. However, it turned to be an unnecessary action because Xiumin told him that he can have a few days break, saying about how sorry he is about yesterday while cooing at Kai for doing a good job at doing household chores. Kai's forehead throbbed again hearing this.

 

Chef Kyungsoo cooked both of them his special breakfast, Korea style, to celebrate Sehun's arrival. The breakfast consisted of a small portion of rice, a warm soup and stew, and any number of side dishes (banchan). Some fruits were also there, because Korean did not have a fixed 'breakfast food' like in the U.S. Sehun praised Kyungsoo's cooking and Kai just gave him a y smirk and watched in fascination as the cook's face turned very red. 

 

"Kyungsoo, oh my god why are you frying that pomegranate!" Xiumin shrieked suddenly. 

 

Well, it's good to know that Kai's charms still worked out on people.

 

*******

 

It turned out to be as easy as his smirk to get close with Sehun. He's by no means extremely friendly and all but it's easy for Kai to open up in front of him, probably because of they're in the same age. By the time they finished their delicious breakfast, Kai managed to know that Sehun and Luhan are childhood friends, their mothers are the best of friends, Sehun went to Paris for high school, that he's here only for a week, and Luhan is afraid of height. The last information shocked Kai because that would make sense of how Luhan refused to have his chamber at the third floor, where the bigger chambers were located, how he asked for Xiumin to climb the tree where his precious toy plane (yeah, twenty-two years old indeed) got stuck.

 

Kai thought that there are things about Luhan that he did not know. Sehun got up from the chair, excusing himself to his room to take a shower in which Kai just nodded dumbly at him. Long after Sehun had gone, he still sat in the dining room pondering about all the information he obtained from Sehun. Aside from height, he also did not like food that are too salty but he loved spicy foods. Now Kai is determined to dig more information about Luhan himself. After all, he was still trying to get closer to Luhan. This was how to move things forward. Right?

 

A light tap on his shoulder was enough to rendered him into a mess of flailing limbs. Luhan only laughed at Kai's mortified face and said that it was not good to space out in the morning. In which Kai scoffed and said it's no longer morning you lazy deer. Luhan retaliate by tapping Kai's forehead none too gently by a fork. Lets just say Kai's wound hasn't completely healed. He watched how Luhan devoured his cereal in big gulps and thinks it was so damn cute stop it. He shook his head in wonder about how could it change from thinking of Luhan as a cougar and now....this. Luhan broke the silence by asking where Sehun was and how Kai seemed to be warming up to Sehun quickly.

 

"I'm glad that you two can get along quickly. Sehun doesn't usually approve people who gets close to me because mostly, they only after my money." said Luhan, somewhat sadly.

 

Another new fact, Kai's mental note dotted down the newfound information quickly. Kai waited for Luhan to finish his food and then they leave together and went back to their respective room, chatting about his plans with 'Sehunnie' and how Luhan was glad to have Sehun all for himself for a full week.

 

Something in Kai's chest hurt. Maybe because of the soup earlier, yeah that must be it.

 

*******

 

Despite having his much-needed break, Kai did not get to spend his free time with Luhan. The doe-eyed boy took Sehun to the town immediately after the both of them finished showering. Sehun, being the polite one asked Kai to join them but he knew better than to ruin Luhan's happiness. Sure he realized his feelings for the other boy but he know when to surrender, for a while that is. So he declined Sehun's kind offer by saying that he's going to meet some of his classmates because he hadn't seen them for a month. Sehun nodded in understanding and both of them wished Kai a 'have fun' and strolled outside of the mansion. Kai's keen eyes did not miss the way Luhan wrapped his hands around Sehun's arm as they walked to Luhan's Audi.

 

"Yeah, you too." 

 

*******

 

What Kai meant by classmates were of course, Baekhyun and Chanyeol. Because they were the only one who could stand Kai's antics and attitudes. He called Baekhyun and told him that he was going to meet them at their usual hangout place, Kona Beans Coffee. Baekhyun squealed so loudly on the phone that Kai had to put the receiver (he used Luhan's telephone, free calls!) away from his ear, until Chanyeol grabbed the phone from Baekhyun and said they would meet at 2PM sharp.  

 

Kai took the bus to reach the coffee shop because he was still trying to save money for that new dancing shoes he always wanted. During the trip, he listened to his iPod and sat on the very back of the bus because its his favorite spot, idly wondering where Sehun and Luhan went off to. He got off the bus after several bus stop, fixing his shoelaces and walked towards Kona Beans which was a  few blocks away from the bus stop. 

 

He could hear his best friends long before he sees them; they always banter loudly regardless of the environment they were in. Kai rolled his eyes and make his way towards them. Baekyeol spotted him first and began flailing their arms and shouting his name. He wondered how can he ended up with these two idiots, but Kai had to admit that they had been supporting him through the years when he first got addicted to alcohol and night clubs. When he neared the two idiots, he pulled at their hands and dragged them into the coffee shop where a nice, good looking cashier named Kyuhyun greeted them lazily from the counter. Kai wondered about how that Kyuhyun guy looked sleepy all the time, or is it just the way his face looked. 

 

The trio took a seat near the window, their usual spot. Baekhyun went to the cashier to get their orders; Vanilla latte for himself, Caramel Machiato for Chanyeol, and Americano for Kai. When he's back from the pick-up counter, bothe immediately asked Kai about his well being in the cougar's mansion, in which Kai had a hard time answering them and he contemplating whether to tell them about his feelings or not. Baekhyun gushed about how tanned Kai looked now, and Chanyeol had to ask about the food in the mansion. Typical of his best friends. He feigned annoyance when bothe of the start poking at his cheeks and abs, saying about how much they missed his tanned and how holiday seemed bland without 'our precious womanizer'.

 

Kai did not realize that he missed his friends so much until he watched Chanyeol accidentally tripped a poor waiter named Sungjin because he sticks his long leg too far from their table. The result was chaotic. The waiter was holding two cups of Americano, a fresh one at that, and it flew upwards beautifully until it landed on a table behind the trio's where two teenagers sat. Kai did not know if it was a hallucination or not because he swore one of them resembled a panda, a lot. Chanyeol gaped at the other one, until Baekhyun elbowed him nine too gently on his ribs. The other one had eyebrows as thick as a bush in savanna and face as stern as a rock, but clearly not lacking in good looks though that was why Chanyeol gaped at the guy, dazed.

 

The coffee shop had gone eerily silent for a few minutes until the spluttering waiter apologized to the two drenched customers before proceeding to glare at Chanyeol as he went back to the kitchen to grab a cleaning cloth. Chanyeol sunk into his wooden chair and smiled sheepishly at their table. Baekhyun smacked him on the head, and a resounding crack could be heard around the coffee shop. Kyuhyun looked as bored as ever, still.

 

After the incident, Baekhyun proceed to ask him about what kind of job he was told to do for the cougar (stop calling him cougar, damnit!) and Chanyeol wriggled his eyebrows at him. Kai scoffed and told them it was just the usual chores and Luhan had been treating him well. His friends were also asking if Kai had managed to get into his cougar's pants or not and cackled loudly as if the mere question itself is funny.

 

Kai narrowed his eyes and was about to retort back at them with some sarcastic jokes when he saw two familiar figures sitting in a restaurant across Kona Beans. 

 

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