"What ever it is.. I hope you're okay..."

♥♠♥

It wasn’t until one in the morning that the cops had finally left, the neighbors had called, much to Kyungsoo’s mother’s dismay. Getting the cops involved was the last thing she could ever want with these people.

Ha Yi had just been finally put to sleep after much coaxing on Kyungsoo's end once her room was cleaned enough to fit her in.

Kyungsoo had half a mind to call up Jongin and ask if they could stay the night, just in case the men came back looking for ransom again. He decided against it when he realized he’d be waking Jongin and his father at one in the morning. The other half of his mind was to call Baekhyun and ask as well, but there was no use in getting anyone who didn’t need to be involved. 

All this scared Kyungsoo to an extent he couldn’t even comprehend. He sat in the middle of the living room, trying to clean the house up bit by bit. Memories were flooding all at once, and very much unwanted. 

He was glad nothing was taken, and left with just a very messy house.  But that wouldn’t stop the men who did this from coming back. Money. That was what they wanted. A large amount of money that his mother owed them was what they were looking for. And after twelve years of moving around Kyungsoo finally understood why.  His mother was running away from them.  She was hiding from these people who she knew could never pay.

The anger Kyungsoo harbored for his mother only intensified.  His mother was running away from her problems again; only causing bigger problems.  Ha Yi’s life was at stake and their home.  Who knew who could come around in the middle of the night and take them out of their home and destroy it?  Kyungsoo knew nothing of these people but of the little memories he had; ruthless behaviors that made him scream into the night with fear.  The absolute last thing in the world he wanted was for Ha Yi to experience that; he needed to get her out.  As soon as possible.

Kyungsoo sighed as he placed the broken pieces of glass in his hands back on the ground.  He had no idea of what he was going to do about this, all he knew was that he had to be by Ha Yi’s side more than ever.  And to make sure she is always in his line of sight.

His mother was the last thing he was worried about.  He couldn’t careless that the woman had retreated for the night to her room instead of picking up a broom and helping out.  Kyungsoo needed to be alone, but at the moment, cleaning really did not suit him.  Instead, Kyungsoo found the comfort of making room for his bed and sleeping for the night to go to school in the morning.

That morning Kyungsoo was on the verge of death.  His skin was paler than normal and the bags under his eyes were darker.  Ha Yi had almost the equivalent, but they managed to push themselves off to school.

Kyungsoo worried restlessly the entire way to school if Ha Yi would be alright alone in her school.  He made sure to note that he would leave school in a heartbeat and race over to Ha Yi’s school and wait for her to come out. 

As soon as Kyungsoo entered his own school he was met with Jongin’s smiling cheeks. 

“Hey, good morning.”

“Morning.”  Kyungsoo mumbled as he pushed on.

“A-Are you okay?”  Jongin asked genuinely worried for Kyungsoo’s health.

“Yeah.  I’m fine.”

He clearly wasn’t, and Jongin was a little peeved once again.

He placed the back of his hand on Kyungsoo’s forehead once they stopped in front of his locker.

“You don’t look so good.  Are you sure you’re alright?”  Jongin questioned again, not willing to give up until Kyungsoo told the truth.

“I’m seriously fine, please not now Jongin.”  Kyungsoo opened the door to his locker and paused when he spotted a folded piece of notebook paper sitting on top of his books.

“What?”  Jongin asked not understanding what Kyungsoo was looking at.

Kyungsoo took the note and opened it up to read:

Meet me on the roof at lunch time, alone.

-W

“What the..”  Jongin mumbled as he read the letter over Kyungsoo’s shoulder.

Out of the blue the letter was ripped out of Kyungsoo’s hand.

“Well, well, well.  A love letter?  And it’s not from Jongin?”  Baekhyun teased as he waved the note in Kyungsoo’s face.

“Baek st—”

“Ah-bupbup!  Sh, and let the love guru do his magic.”  Baekhyun looked down at the note and furrowed his eye brows. “Wendy?”

“Who?”  Kyungsoo asked.

“The first year?  That’s impossible, she wouldn’t have given you this.”

“What does a first year have to do with this?”

“She’s the only person I can think of with a name that starts with a ‘w’.”

“What’s a ‘w’?”

“It’s English.” Baekhyun said with a slight condescending nod.

“Hey guys!”  A chipper Zitao sauntered over to the boys.

“Hey Tao.  Look, Kyungsoo got a love letter!”  Baekhyun handed the letter over, making Kyungsoo reach out for the note before Tao could read it.

Tao’s face frowned, “Who’s it from?”

“It’s from a first year, her name’s Wendy.”

“Are you gonna go?”  Jongin asked meekly.

“No.  I don’t have time for that.”  Kyungsoo shrugged as he closed his locker door after gathering his belongings.

“Oh come on.  You have to go!  This could be the best rejection of the year!  You should make her suffer.”

“Now why on Earth would I do that Baek?”

“Because we’re third years, duh.”

“That doesn’t mean that I’m going to be mean to someone for having more authority.  Now if you’ll excuse me I have a class to attend.”

Kyungsoo brushed his shoulder into Baekhyun’s harshly as he left for his homeroom.

“Geez, someone woke up on the wrong side of the bed.”

“Or didn’t sleep at all.  He looked terrible.”  Jongin frowned and watched the retreating melancholic like figure of Kyungsoo leave.

“Really?  I should have paid a little more attention to him then.” 

♥♠♥

“When do you think Chanyeol’s going to be back?”  Baekhyun asked as he sat in Chanyeol’s seat again during break.

“I dunno.  Could be a couple days.  He’s technically at fault for the fight.”  Kyungsoo shrugged as he finished jotting down the homework answers from Baekhyun’s sheet.

“Well what do you know?  It’s the devil himself.” Baekhyun looked up with a playful smile, as if ready to seriously hurt the person.

Kyungsoo and Tao looked over to find Kris searching for someone amongst the crowd of kids.

“You.”  Kris pointed Kyungsoo out, earning complete silence from everyone in the room. “You’re coming to the roof at lunch.  I’m dragging your poor if I have, too.. Alone.”  Kris’s stoic expression still showed off his cold persona and almost made Kyungsoo whimper.

However, Kris left before anyone could respond to his challenge.

“Kyungsoo, there is no way I’m letting you up there alone.  Nope.  Nada.  Zilch.” Baekhyun panicked as he jumped from Chanyeol’s seat.

“Do you even know what any of those mean?”  Kyungsoo asked with a grimace. 

“No! You can’t go!”  Tao nearly screamed as Kyungsoo sat in his seat, face now void of all emotion.

“Kyungsoo!”  Baekhyun called his name several times and tried to draw the attention away from them as other students whispered amongst themselves. 

“I have to do it.”  Kyungsoo finally whispered.

“Uh, no you don’t.  Screw that.”

“Baek, I have to.  He’ll never leave me alone unless I settle this for good.  I need to talk to him.  There’s gotta be a way to settle things without getting physical.”

“Kyungsoo, he will pulverize you and rip your throat from your neck. Chanyeol could be dead for all we know.”

“Chanyeol’s not dead, the police would’ve been involved.”  Kyungsoo sat back in his seat and tried to relax his shoulders.

“Kyungs—”

“Baek, I’m doing it and you’re not stopping me.” 

Baekhyun sighed and closed his eyes.

“I know.  But I’m eavesdropping and if I hear the slightest movement I’m rushing in and taking you out of it.”

“Fine, fine, fine.  But if you get caught, I’m not helping you out.”

“Can I come too?”  Tao asked as he got up from Chanyeol’s desk.

“Yes!  I need back up! And you know kung fu or something.”  Baekhyun fist pumped.

“Wushu.”

“Whatever.”

It was during the remainder of class that Kyungsoo realized he did not want to go through with this.  But he had to if he wanted Kris to leave him alone.  He had enough to deal with at home and the last thing he needed was to have more to deal with in school.  School was meant to be a place where Kyungsoo could be himself more often than naught.  It was a place he could be with Baekhyun and be comfortable with someone his age.  And lately he had been hanging out a lot with Jongin, Tao, Chanyeol and a couple days with Oh Sehun.  They were nice days for the most part but would be better if Kris wasn’t always interfering.

Kyungsoo had to do this, as much as he would like to avoid it, he knew he had to stand up for himself.  He couldn’t just run away like his mother always would.

“Mr. Jeong, I have to use the bathroom.”  Kyungsoo raised his hand.

“And?  Are you gonna tell the whole class every time your body has a daily function?”  Kyungsoo almost bit his tongue trying not to roll his eyes and giving a sarcastic comeback.

“May I use the bathroom?”

“You may.”

Kyungsoo took off from his seat, causing Baekhyun and Tao to stare more than usual.  Baekhyun leaned over in his desk and noticed all of his belongings were neatly placed just like they usually were during lunch.  He looked up at the clock above the door and realized the time was literally two minutes before the lunch bell would ring.  Baekhyun cursed and looked over to Tao who had been staring back just the same.

“Do you think?”  Tao mouthed.

“I think so…” Baekhyun answered when the realization dawned on him. 

Both boys looked up at the teacher and shot their hands up into the air. 

“Okay, what could you possibly want right now at the same time?”

“Can we use the bathroom?”  Baekhyun asked in a rush, causing the teacher to grimace.

“Really?  Three boys in the bathroom all at once? I don’t think so.  Wait till the bell.  Huh… I should have made Do wait.”  The teacher shrugged and went back to the blackboard.

Baekhyun and Tao looked over at each other with grim faces.  A few students turned around in their seats, knowing full well where Kyungsoo went as well.  The ones who turned around gave looks of sympathy to the boys.

Kyungsoo on the other hand was just as apprehensive as Baekhyun and Tao.  He walked through the halls to the stairwell that lead four floors up to the roof.  Everything was quiet except for the occasional classroom applause or loud voice of certain teachers.

He was nervous, but tried to keep his breathing under control as he climbed the stairs to the top floor.  He had hoped that Kris wouldn’t be there if he arrived earlier than lunch, but those hopes were little to none.  He should have left earlier if he really wanted to beat Kris to the roof.

Kyungsoo stopped just before the door that led to cold wintery air.  It suddenly dawned on him that he should have brought a jacket with him, his school uniform blazer would have to do in the meantime.

He placed his hand on the door knob and turned it quietly to prevent any possible distractions to Kris.  Once the door was open though, Kyungsoo found Kris leaning against the railing on the complete other side of the roof top. 

He stepped out into the open air and closed the door behind, quietly, as to not disturb Kris.  Something seemed odd about the situation.  Kris was leaning on the ledge with his elbows, leaving him to have a very casual air to him.  Kyungsoo was still wary, though, as he slowly and quietly made his way to the teenager.

Kris shifted his feet, causing Kyungsoo to jump a little.  He took a deep breath and took his feet close enough to Kris to look over the edge and take in the view of the city.  It wasn’t the most aesthetic view in the world, but it was better than staring at the teachers who came in and out of the class every day. 

Kyungsoo walked up to Kris’s left and put both his hands on the ledge to watch whatever Kris had been viewing. 

“Oh.  You’re here.”  Kris looked to his side almost startled yet his voice was softer than usual towards Kyungsoo.

He kept his distance from Kris, a good couple feet away from the boy clad in his uniform as well. 

“I didn’t even hear you come.  And the bell didn’t ring either.” 

Kyungsoo made his lips into a line, not really sure how to respond to him. Kris stared at Kyungsoo for an awkward second, not really sure of what he wanted to start off with himself.

“Uh—” He cut himself off several times, stuttering to try and find the right words.

Kyungsoo slowly started to back away from Kris, finding his behavior all too weird to really be around.

“I-I’m not gonna hurt you.”  Kris said softly when he started to notice Kyungsoo’s retreating figure. 

Kyungsoo, however, stood away from Kris, not really willing to get any closer.

“I uh, I guess I should start with an apology.”  Kris’s hand found the back of his neck as he awkwardly it.  “I-I’m sorry for…”  Kris paused for a really long time, a little too long in Kyungsoo’s opinion.  “There really is no way for me to just apologize for what I’ve done to you to be honest.  And this was a stupid idea.” Kris his teeth and rolled his eyes as he turned back to the edge of the roof.

“No, finish what you were gonna say.” Kyungsoo asked in a small voice, a spark of curiosity flowing through him now.  He hadn’t expected anything slightly similar to come out of Kris’s mouth, but he hoped.

“I-I… I can’t ask you to ever forgive me.  But I know… More than anything in this world that what I’ve done to you is horrible.  And I just want you to know that I.. Am sorry.”  Kris refused to look at Kyungsoo until the very last line leaving Kyungsoo a little taken aback.  “I completely understand if you want to leave right now and not say anything and hate me forever.  But I won’t bother you anymore…  That I can promise…” Kris paused again as if to wait for Kyungsoo to respond.  “Yesterday…  Chanyeol made me realize something…  And-and it wasn’t any fair for me to push you around when I’m not even comfortable in my own skin. And!  And!”  Kris started becoming red in the face through frustration.  “And!  You have every right to punch me in the face or kick me in the balls or punch me in the gut—”

“Kris!”  Kyungsoo called out to the boy who had been offering his body to the pain. “Kris, I’m not gonna hit you.”

“… Y-You’re not?”

“No.”  Kyungsoo smiled slightly at Kris’s bewildered face.

“B-But..  I’ve been such a to you.. God I’ve been such a to you.”

“I’m just glad that we could resolve this without any violence.”

“Uh.. Oh..  Y-Yeah.”

Kyungsoo stared at Kris for a moment, taking in his emotions and trying to deem them as genuine.  “…You know… I haven’t seen Chanyeol yet.  How is he?”

“Chanyeol?  H-He’s fine… I didn’t lay a finger on him.  I couldn’t.”

“Why not?”

“Cause he’s still my best friend… And despite all that happened between us and me being who I am… I love him dearly, I don’t have the guts to hit him.  Or break his heart.  But that was honestly the only thing I did.”

“But he got you good.” Kyungsoo pointed toward his own eye. “Why’d you break his heart then?”

“Because..  I.. Well I became someone he never approved of.  And after throwing the word ‘’ out there, it really snapped him in half.”

“Why that word?”  Kris liked Kyungsoo’s voice a lot.  And this was a new side he’d never heard, something soft and silky like that drew his inner most demons out and lay them flat on the table.

“Cause that’s not the kind of person Chanyeol is.  He’d never approve of something like that..”

“Then why’d you become so mean?  Chanyeol used to tell me that you weren’t always like this.”

“He’s right… The persona kinda came along with just being me.  People just assumed I was mean because I was rich and had chronic face.  But..  In the last couple years I started distancing myself from Chanyeol… And that made me angry…  I was upset that I was doing that to myself while trying to discover who I was and try to make it worthy of being his friend still… And then…  Then as time went on I just started living up to my persona and it started to become second nature to me…”

“But why did you start distancing yourself from Chanyeol?”

“B-Because… I-I was…Having an… Identity crisis and… I didn’t want to be near Chanyeol because I was afraid he’d hate me because of who I thought I was becoming.”

“Who were you becoming?”

“Well… To put it honestly… I was becoming me.”

“And… Who are you?”

“Are we really going to play twenty questions?”

“No, I just feel like you’re missing out on something, like you’re purposely not telling me something.”

“Well… I was exploring my uality for a while and came to the consensus.. That I’m… Well… I like guys.  And there was no way in hell I could tell Chanyeol any of that.  Like, what if he became uncomfortable? What if he was homophobic?! What if—”

“Kris!”  Kyungsoo interrupted again. “Calm down.  You don’t have any proof of any of those things.  You have no idea that he would think any of that.”  Kyungsoo lowered his head with a shake, thinking he knew the boy just as well as Kris did.

“Well… No… But…  I-I was paranoid about everything, though…  If he found out then he might hate me.  Or he might think that I liked him…”

“Did you?”

“Did I like him?  Oh god no. He’s… He’s like my brother, but a lot more than just a brother.  He’s like… My right hand man.  My other half really.  We’ve been together for so long that I can’t imagine life without him.. I mean we get annoyed with each other easily because we’ve been together so long… But it’s like…  He’s all I know…  So new people are just, weird in my life… But then the transfer student came.  I met him by accident on the first day he came and I was so… Captivated by everything about him.”  Kyungsoo’s smile fell when he started to realize where this was going.  “And then during lunch when the cake fell on me, granted, I wanted to laugh along with Chanyeol; I just turned to my jerk self and looked for the culprit.  When I turned around I saw Tao.  And I got embarrassed that he had to see me like that.  And then I saw you and noticed you had cake on your hands.. And so I tried showing off… And then subconsciously it stuck to show off by constantly bullying you since you were the closest thing I could get to him… And I just..  I just hurt you… So much…”  Kris turned away from Kyungsoo giving him a full view of his backside.  “I’m so ing stupid… Goddamn it.. I’m really sorry Kyungsoo…  I just..  I don’t even know where to begin.”

Kyungsoo stood there for a while, not really sure of the right words to say.  He wasn’t exactly hurt but he was very surprised to see something like this to be the case.  He wasn’t even sure he could offer Kris any advice based on the fact that he really didn’t know what to say.

“You know… I think you would feel a whole lot better if you talked to Chanyeol. He needs a good explanation to all this.  It really hurt him to lose his best friend.”

“How would you know?”  Kris snapped.

“Because I’ve heard enough of his complaints.  We became friends too, you know. Chanyeol’s...  Well he’s Chanyeol and he’s very accepting to anything. He does hate the word afterall.  I mean he’ll be sore about this all for a very long time, but you better act now than make things any worse..”

“I mean.. Y-You’re not wrong…  Then what about Tao? What do I do about him?”  Kyungsoo shook his head back from the startling question.

“Wh-what about him? I don’t.. Know enough about that kind of thing to really say much.”

“Wait… You mean… You’re not gay?”

“Well, no.  Not that I’m aware of at least.  It’s not really something I think about.”

“Then what about you and Baekhyun?  I thought you two were..”

“Oh my god, together?!  No! Holy crap, no!”  Kyungsoo looked over at the door entrance of the rooftop knowing full well that he was on the other side of the door.

“Baekhyun is gay.. But we’re not thing.  I’d probably kill myself before that ever happened.”

“Oh my… Oh my god… I just admitted this all to you because I thought there was a mutual thing going on here..  I’m embarrassed, I’m so freaking embarrassed.  ing… .. this, everything.”  Kris turned around and started for the door.

“Wait!  Kris!  I don’t care.  I really don’t care.”  Kyungsoo called out before Kris could make it any further.

Kris stopped, slightly looking over his shoulder.

“I just care about the fact that you won’t run away anymore.  I know one too many people who run away from their problems and watch it haunt them later.” 

Kris turned his head back to the front, absorbing Kyungsoo’s words. 

If it hadn’t been for the fact that Kris was already mortified, he would have turned around and thanked Kyungsoo.  But he kept on to the door and left Kyungsoo outside, alone.

♥♠♥

Kyungsoo literally had no idea that he had the potential to say something like that.  He’s had some time to himself in the last month that it’s created a whole new wall of discoveries on his end.  But with Kris, just a couple minutes ago, he was speaking completely out of body, like he wasn’t in control—it came so naturally.

“Kyung!”  Baekhyun’s eccentric voice yelled out as he stepped out of the stairwell.

“Baek, hey.”  Kyungsoo spoke as he normally would have as Baekhyun and Tao scurried their way over.

“Are you okay?!”  Baekhyun engulfed Kyungsoo’s face with his hands, inspecting every inch of him.

“I’m fine, Baek.”  Kyungsoo smiled meekly as he held onto Baekhyun’s wrists.  “Let’s go eat.”

He patted the tops of Baekhyun’s hands and gave a small smile to Tao as he passed the two to the lunchroom.

Both boys stared at the retreating figure with mouths agape.

“You can’t just expect us to follow you without an explanation!”  Baekhyun yelled after the latter. “Do Kyungsoo!”

Kyungsoo shrugged and kept on his way to the lunchroom.

When the three boys reached the hallways of the lunchroom, they were met with a heaving Jongin and trailing Sehun.

“I came.. As soon… Did… You… The roof..?”  Jongin tried so hard to catch his breath but ended up hurling over and holding onto his knees to do so.

“Stupid , don’t breath like that.  It’s bad for your lungs.  You should know that.”  Baekhyun snapped at Jongin.

“Shut up, I know.”

Kyungsoo looked back and forth between the two wondering how they each knew that.

“Why’s it bad to breathe like that.”

“It’s bad for the expansion of your lungs.  I mean, you don’t need it as much as we do so don’t worry about it.  What you do need to worry about is whether you’re willing to live another day unles you tell me what happened.” 

Kyungsoo rolled his eyes and walked away from the growing group of boys.

“Wait, what happened?”  Jongin asked as he stood back up with slight strain.

“It was Kris.” Baekhyun answered for Kyungsoo.

“What was Kris?”

“On the roof?” Baekhyun spat back.

“WHAT?!”

Kyungsoo was silently seated at their normal table when everyone had finally decided to join him.  Each of them setting their tray in their respective spots at the same time.  Baekhyun had a slight scowl on his face while Jongin seemed timid and reluctant to sit in his usual spot next to Kyungsoo.

“So.  What happened?”  Baekhyun asked as he sat down with extra disdain.

Tao sat down watching Kyungsoo carefully with puckered lips.  Sehun was a little lost in the whole situation except for the little bit that Jongin ran by him earlier in homeroom.

“Nothing much.  He apologized and we talked civilly.”  Kyungsoo took a rather large mouthful of kimchi when he finished.

“Bull .  Kris doesn’t speak civilly.”  Baekhyun threw his chopsticks down and started to become frustrated with Kyungsoo.

“Well he did.  He had a predicament that we needed to sort out.”  Everyone at the table gasped except for Tao.

“Did he… Did he, confess his love to you?!  I knew it!”  Baekhyun covered his mouth, eyes wide and shocked.

 “No, Baek!” Kyungsoo shot back almost appalled by the question.

“Then what happened?!”

“I told you already!  Will you quit bugging me?!” Kyungsoo was ready to hit Baekhyun hard in the chest right about then.

“He seriously just apologized?” Sehun chimed up through their bickering.

Kyungsoo looked over at Sehun accidentally sending him a glare.

“Yeah… He did.” Kyungsoo picked at his rice.

“And that’s all you talked about?” Jongin added.

“Y-Yeah.”  Kyungsoo knew better than to share with his friends what he and Kris talked about.  Kris never said anything about keeping it a secret, but it was clear that it was best for no one to know just yet.

Kyungsoo looked over at Tao who had been quiet the entire time and almost gave off a melancholic feeling as he did so.  This hadn’t gone unnoticed by Jongin, he had seen right through the stoic face that Kyungsoo tried to pull off and found the sadness that laid hidden in it.  Something more happened on top the roof and everyone at the table knew it.  Especially Jongin who was taking in extra notice at the little things Kyungsoo was doing.

“He just didn’t hurt you did he?”  Jongin asked to get rid of preceding thoughts about competition. 

“No.. He didn’t.”  Kyungsoo looked over to Jongin and searched his face for his voice.  Jongin spoke so softly yet sincerely that it almost seemed scary.

♥♠♥

Kyungsoo was long out of the school when the second bell rang.  He hadn’t told anyone where he was headed off to, leaving the screams of a worried Baekhyun behind.  He really couldn’t care less for his screams at this point as he sprinted down the sidewalks of the roads.

He met Ha Yi at the front entrance of her school with a breathless smile.

“Hey, how are ya?”

“I’m good.  How are you?”  Ha Yi asked with a blinding smile as they linked hands.

“I feel energized now.”  Kyungsoo smiled back as they took back to the sidewalks.

“Where are we going today?”  Ha Yi asked not really looking forward to going home.

“Hm..  I don’t know. I think it’d be nice if we spent the day at Jongin’s house.  And I have today off, too.”

“Really?”

“Yup.  But I think I’m gonna go home for a little bit and clean up while you stay at Jongin’s house.”

“But why don’t you stay with us?” Ha Yi gave a small pout.

“Because, the house needs to be cleaned. And no one else is going to do it unless I go and do it.”

“Why don’t I go and help you?”

“No Ha Yi, you need to stay with Jongin and do your homework there.  Okay?”

“Okay.”  Ha Yi sighed in defeat, losing her motivation to keep walking.

“Oh come on, don’t be a mope.  Jongin said his father made sweets.  And I’m gonna get there first and eat them all if you keep up like that.”  Kyungsoo started to pick up his feet and jog ahead of the two while holding hands.  Ha Yi laughed and picked a pace beside Kyungsoo as they both ran down the sidewalk, all the way to Jongin’s house.

“You should have just come with my dad and I in the car to pick her up you know.”  Jongin threw out there as he removed Kyungsoo’s jacket after taking Ha Yi’s.

“I…  I could have.”  Kyungsoo said when he realized that he could have made it to the school in double time with the use of a car.

“Are you okay?  You’ve really been out of it all day.”  Jongin put his hands on his hips as he checked Kyungsoo up and down again.

“I’m fine, Jongin.” 

Ha Yi had long run into the kitchen to give Mr. Kim a hug and start a small conversation about the sweets being made.  The house was full of fragrant scents of desserts and it made Kyungsoo feel extremely comforted being in the Kim household.

“Sehun’s downstairs playing video games if you wanted to join us.  But my dad wanted to make cookies with us so you can do that too.”  Kyungsoo walked into the dining room and peeked his head around the corner to take a look at the kitchen.  He wasn’t sure if he wanted to hang out downstairs with the boys or make cookies.  Part of him smacked his forehead for even considering hanging out with Jongin over Ha Yi.

“I think I’m going to make cookies.”  Kyungsoo started for the kitchen. 

“Okay, lemme tell Sehun.”  Kyungsoo watched as Jongin disappeared to the game room downstairs and left a lingering eye on him for some reason.

“Good choice, Kyungsoo.”  Mr. Kim smiled at him as he gave Ha Yi a bowl to stir the contents of.

“I thought you’d be at the restaurant sir?”  Kyungsoo asked as he stood at the edge of the island counter.

“Nope, I left today in Minseok’s charge.  Good for his resume if he ever decides to leave.”

“Has been thinking of transferring somewhere else?”  Kyungsoo asked slightly shocked by the sudden statement.

“No.  But just in case.”

Kyungsoo sighed internally and watched as Mr. Kim picked a recipe out of its holder. 

“Here, I want you to start this.” Kyungsoo took the paper and looked it over quickly.

“Strawberry crème filling?”

“Yup, we’re gonna make little mini pies.”  Mr. Kim gave Kyungsoo a smile as he started to bring over various tools and ingredients for the pies.

“Okay, so what shall I help with?”  Jongin clapped his hands together as he walked into the room.

“You can help your boyfriend over here by cutting up the strawberries while Ha Yi and I mix up the dough ingredients.” 

“Dad, what the hell!?”  Jongin exclaimed as he took a spot next to Kyungsoo.

Kyungsoo’s face turned a little red, but gave no signs of restraint towards him.

For the next half hour, Kyungsoo spent his time chopping up three cups worth of strawberries with Jongin as the two bickered and fooled around with their knives.  It was nice to spend time just like he normally would have at the restaurant prepping food.  But it was even more satisfying when he was able to make the recipe himself.

Kyungsoo would read off the recipe and have Jongin add in the measurements as he mixed the strawberries enough to be slightly mushed.  And of course you couldn’t have any fun without the foolishness of wiping someone with the food. Ha Yi had made herself known as the master of doing so.  They all laughed and enjoyed the time they spent putting the mini pies together; Jongin finding an extra sweet treat whenever Kyungsoo would laugh.  Mr. Kim even took note of it, how Kyungsoo’s laugh would make the house a couple shades brighter.  It was an effect that both Ha Yi and Kyungsoo had. 

But their antics were cut short when the pies had been put into the oven to bake.

“Okay, I’m going home for a little.  I’ll be back in time to have a couple pies though.  So don’t eat them all.”  Kyungsoo directed his comment to Ha Yi.

“Just stay here and play with us.”  Ha Yi pulled on Kyungsoo’s sleeve.

“Yiyi, you know I have to go home and clean.”  Ha Yi pouted and turned away from Kyungsoo.

“Do you really have to go so early?  Just clean later.”  Jongin asked as he placed a reassuring hand on Ha Yi’s shoulder.

“Yeah.  I really have to.  Don’t worry, I’ll be back in time to get her.”

“Don’t take too long, okay?”  Jongin gave Kyungsoo a look of apprehension.

“I’ll try not, too.”  Kyungsoo opened the door.

“Are you sure you don’t want me to drive you?”  Mr. Kim asked as he came around the corner wiping his hands.

“I’m sure!”  Kyungsoo yelled back as he left the house, closing the door tightly. 

“Should I follow him?”  Mr. Kim whispered over to Jongin.

“No…”

“He seemed distant.  I don’t think he’s going home to clean, Jongin.”

“He is.”  Ha Yi chimed in.

“He is?”  Mr. Kim looked down at the small girl who watched her brother walk down the driveway.

“Mhm.”

what even is this anymore