She opened her eyes and the light from the window brightly shimmered through her face. She squinted a bit before sitting up. She had slept peacefully and she was quite glad to have no encounter with a certain man named Kris while she slept. She slowly stood up from her bed and went to the bathroom to take a shower.

After putting a towel and draining the water in the tub, she headed out the door. She was almost on her way to the closet when she caught a figure on her bed.

‘Oh sh-‘

‘Relax, honey, it’s just me,’ Luhan said as he was fixing his nails with a file.

 ‘You scared me,’ she said as she put her hands on her thumping chest. For a moment she thought it was Kris or even worse, one of his men.

‘I’m just here to tell you that Kris told me to tell you that you have some clothes in the closet. But since you’re managing well so far, I think you don’t need me anymore.’ He stood up to leave, but she stopped him immediately.

‘Wait-‘

‘Yes?’

‘Can you.. please stay?’

Luhan looked pleased as she was finally willing to talk to him.

They talked about a lot of things, mostly about how she was, and what kind of life she had before getting kidnapped..

although Luhan already knew about her. He had a lot of things he knew about her.

‘So, you mean your parents are separated?’ he asked as he looked at her for answers. He didn’t know that about her. How unfortunate, he thought.

‘Technically, yes. I’ve lived with my mom ever since.’

‘I’m sorry.’

‘What are you sorry for? You weren’t the one who left me and my mom, right?’ she asked jokingly. But he could clearly here a lot from her voice.

Luhan felt bad for having asked her about her family.

‘Don’t worry, though, Luhan. I’m fine,’ she assured. He smiled.

She was a clever girl indeed. No wonder Kris and Jongdae fell for her. It wasn’t a surprise to him anymore. He knew those two were the competitive type. He knew they weren’t going to stop until they achieve whatever they longed for.

But this was unfair and uncalled for. She wasn’t a prize they could fight each other about just to get. It was obvious she loves Jongdae, but then, it was Kris who grew fond of her first.

It was a matter of brother to brother. It was their brotherhood that was in line. Luhan wasn’t sure though, who broke the bond first.

Was it Jongdae who claimed her as his, or was it Kris who didn’t even make an effort to make her his? Both was at fault in Luhan’s eyes. If Kris weren’t so busy, he would’ve given her his full attention. But no, he busied himself more although he had finished his work and assigned Jongdae to ‘keep her company’. What was he expecting? Katherine was indeed a lovely girl. If only Luhan were straight, we would’ve liked her himself.

But it doesn’t mean that Jongdae wasn’t at fault either. He promised Kris he would never hit on her. Kris had asked him often if he liked her, but he would refuse. Kris took his word for it. But then all of a sudden, for some unknown reasons, Katherine and Jongdae became a thing. If only Kris weren’t the smart man that he is, he wouldn’t even notice the couple’s budding relationship.

With that, Luhan unconsciously closed his eyes, obviously disturbed by the fact that two of his valued friends were currently on a feud against each other.

‘Luhan?’ he was brought back to reality by her curious voice. Luhan jerked his head to her and met eyes with eyes.

‘Huh?’

‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes, dear, I’m fine. I’m sorry. Did I zone out?’

‘Not really. Just recently. Are you sure you’re okay?’

‘Yes, no worries. Now where were we?’ He smiled at her warmly. Before she could answer, though, he asked her again, ‘Tell me about your man. I mean, you do have one, right?’ he asked curiously. He seemed excited on the outside but in reality, he just wanted to know how she thought of his old comrade.

‘Yeah. Yeah, I did,’ she said weakly as she bowed her head down, fiddling with her fingers in the process. His ears caught the melancholy in her voice. He noticed how she used the past tense did.

She did have a man.

He immediately felt bad once again. Oh dear, I’m sorry, he could only think.

‘You two must’ve been in love,’ he said wisely. In all his twenty-three years, of course he had known how it felt to be in love.

‘I love him, that’s sure. I’m just not sure if he still feels the same about me,’ she said with such sadness that it began to strike something within Luhan’s chest.

‘He was there for me when I got my first job ever since dad left,’ she said as she smiled upon remembering their times together. ‘He would always ask me out for coffee. He never made me feel alone and I was so thankful for that.’ She smiled and her voice began to crack.

‘Why are you crying?’ Luhan asked as if the answer wasn’t obvious.

‘I just miss him, that’s all.’ She looked at Luhan with slightly red eyes and smiled, ‘It’s been a week since I last saw him.’

He pulled her into an embrace and patted her head.

‘Dear, dear,’ he could only comfort her in one too many ways. ‘You must love him so much,’ he added. She sniffed, ‘More than I thought I would.’

Kris felt the same pang in his heart. The girl he loves was proclaiming her love for someone else. Had life been this unfair to him? It wasn’t his fault he didn’t get the chance to show her he cared for her.

Now it was too late. Now she was proclaiming her love for his friend on the other side of the door he was cautiously leaning onto.

Had he been that careless? Had he been that blind? Had he been that numb to not notice that she was slipping away from him and into Jongdae’s arms?

Why would the two of them end up in this kind of situation?

Who did she really belong to?

The one who claimed her heart officially, or the one who claimed her heart first?

Damn you, Jongdae, he quietly hissed.

Chapter seven, done :)

How's it? I hope I've cleared out some of your concerns and questions.. or have I?

Is it still confusing? :) Well then you'll have to wait a little longer since the other stuffs will be revealed on the future chapters.

Stay tuned, yes? ♥