~Chapter 16

It was almost 6:30 a.m. when Paige turned over in her bed the next morning. She didn’t mind waking up slightly early. In fact, the sun had just begun to light up the sky providing her with a perfect opportunity to see a sunrise in Seoul. She quietly got out of bed and threw on a change of clothes, including a jacket. Her ankle was feeling much better, if not completely normal. She rotated it, after putting on some socks, deciding that she no longer needed to wrap it.

Amy was still asleep and Paige knew her friend better than to wake her early. Paige opened the door slowly and closed it quietly behind her. She could hear some slight movement downstairs and supposed that some of the guys could have already woken up. It wouldn’t have bothered her to have company during the sunrise, but she wasn’t about to go out of her way to ask for company. Paige quietly made her way up the staircase leading to the third floor.

At the top of the stairs she turned to the right and walked towards the glass doors that led to the patio. A few steps towards the door and she stopped. Kai had just stepped out of his room and into the hallway facing her. Paige’s heart immediately started to race. Since their first kiss, this was the first time she’d been around him without anyone else anywhere near them. He had seen her, and they both stood still. Paige told herself to smile at least a little and to take another few steps to the patio doors. She succeeded at one step, but stopped again.

A completely intimidating feeling took over again. She couldn’t understand why she froze whenever in his presence, or somehow thought she was doing something wrong by occupying the same space as him. In the time it took her to take another breath and consider taking another step, Kai walked down the hallway towards her. The look on his face was unreadable, but his eyes sparkled with a subtle flare of mischief. Kai walked the ten or so steps until he was directly in front of her. “Come here,” he ordered. He grabbed her wrist and pulled her to the corner of the hallway, just tucked in from sitting room.

“What?” Paige said breathlessly.

“What exactly were you doing yesterday?” he asked, in a voice only barely louder than a whisper.

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

“Are you trying to drive me crazy?”

“I’m really not following you,” Paige stated. She wasn’t sure which part of yesterday was upsetting him.

“Yesterday. You wore Luhan’s shirt to the fan meet. Plus, there was that whole thing with the camera and taking a picture with Sehun,” he whispered waving one of his hands around in frustration.

“You told me not to touch your things, so of course I picked someone else’s shirt to wear. Plus, it was only for 1 evening,” she replied. “And we were just being ridiculous at the fan meet. It was all just for fun.”

“Fun?” he questioned. Paige couldn’t stand him staring down at her. She felt so small next to him. His presence alone seemed to engulf her as if there was no oxygen left in the room. Even in the morning, his hair was perfectly hand combed out of his face. He wasn’t scowling or visually giving off any hint of anger or frustration. However, his dark eyes and natural slope of his eyebrows gave off the sensation that he was intensely thinking of something. She’d seen him smile a few times, and in those moments he truly looked childish and sweet. He rarely stared at her that way; instead he always looked like he was trying to dissect everything about her. It was unnerving and unsettling.

“Yes, fun,” she whispered. He ran a hand through his already perfect hair. He glanced down the hallway and through the sitting room before returning his gaze to hers. Slowly, one corner of his mouth lifted into a half smile. His eyes danced just slightly, taking Paige by surprise. Without touching her, at first, he leaned his face close to hers until she could feel his breath on her skin.

“It was agony, not fun,” he whispered a mere inch from her lips. She felt his left hand brush away the hair at her shoulders so he could cradle the back of her neck, again. She could feel blood rushing to her head. She put up no resistance when he nudged her the extra inch to his lips. At contact, she felt herself go completely weak. He wasn’t crushing her against the wall like he had done last time, but the kiss was no less thorough in making her feel completely in his control. Would it always be this way? Would she continue to wait despite his moods until the next time he actually wanted to kiss her? She hadn’t actually spent any great deal of time around him. The time she had spent with him was spent apologizing.

His lips moved slowly against hers, as if showing her the state of agony had suffered the previous night. He didn’t indulge her when she tried to kiss him back and encourage something deeper from him. Instead, he pulled back just slightly, still cradling the back of her head as his kisses became feathery and light.

When he pulled away completely, she stared into his eyes. Without any words, she tried to beg for him to explain himself. What was he thinking, feeling, wanting? Why did he always walk away or keep quiet? He was about to take a step away from her when she grabbed his wrist. “Kai?” she barely managed. She was hoping he would just read her mind so that she didn’t actually have to confront him.

“What?” he asked, never looking away.

“This,” she started, trying to indicate the now second kiss, “I’m confused.”

“So am I,” he stated. He looked away first. Again, she felt all of her hope and resolve somehow crumble into the pit of her stomach.

“Then, can we talk?” she pleaded.

“I need to think,” he started, running his hands through his hair again. Paige let go of his wrist and tried to keep her composure. He looked at her and then seemed to be exasperated with the entire situation.

“Is it really this complicated? Can’t you just tell me if you like me?”

“Kissing you twice doesn’t make that clear?” he asked incredulously.

“No, it’s doesn’t. You barely talk to me!”

“Shhh,” obviously embarrassed to have anyone hear their conversation. “I’m just trying to figure out what to do. I do like you. I realized that last night when I was frustrated as hell when you wore Luhan’s shirt and asked for a picture with Sehun.”

“Neither of those things meant anything,” Paige clarified.

“Good,” Kai stated. They stood staring at each other in silence for another minute. There was still so much that Paige felt unsure about, but she also had no idea how to confront the turmoil going on in her head. If he needed to think, then she would wait. Paige made herself calm down. And then she remembered what had brought her up to the third floor.

“I was going to go watch the sun come up. Do you want to come outside with me?” she asked.

“The sun is already up now,” Kai mentioned, nodding towards the glass doors. “I’m going to grab some breakfast, why don’t you come down with me?”

“Alright.” Paige was somewhat disappointed that she’d missed the sun coming up, but she was not about to pass up eating breakfast with Kai. He started down the stairs and Paige followed a couple steps behind.

He couldn’t tear his gaze away. If he did, he might have been able to convince himself that he hadn’t seen what he, in fact, had seen. Luhan stood just off to the side of the glass doors on the patio. His chest felt tight. His first inclination had been to rip Kai off of her. But, as though cemented to his place on the patio, he hadn’t been able to look away or make a move of any kind. If she had seemed even the smallest bit opposed to Kai, then he would have gone in there in a second. But she hadn’t. In fact, when she looked up at him afterward, her expression was everything he’d ever wanted to see any number of times he’d looked at her. He would do anything to replace Kai with himself and have her look at him that way.

When he thought it had been over, and Kai was turning away from her, she had reached for him. Luhan’s chest felt tighter, as if it was him she was holding onto, not Kai. He hadn’t the slightest clue as to what they were saying to each other. If her body language was any indication then somehow, when no one was paying attention, Kai had managed to worm his way into her world. And here I thought he was annoyed with her. Luhan took another step back from the doors. He felt like he needed to do something, but felt like anything he could do was already too late. He kept watching as the conversation continued. His anger at Kai shifted to Paige. He wanted to scream that Kai had only been standoffish and stubborn. But he couldn’t. He knew Kai well enough to know that his personality wasn’t just that of a grumpy workaholic. But, he wanted a reason to be mad at him more than at her.

He thought he had done everything to be there for her. He had enjoyed watching her. Her expressions were easy to read and blatantly amusing. But, he hadn’t seen this coming. He had never read anything from her indicating that she’d liked Kai. Most of the time she seemed nervous and worried around him. Maybe that had been what he was missing.

Luhan continued staring at the doors after the two of them had gone down stairs. He knew he wouldn’t be able to be around either her or Kai without giving away the fact that he’d seen something between them. He would have to put up with Kai later, during practice this afternoon. He could easily concentrate on his work and just refuse to say much of anything to Kai. But, he had no idea what to do around Paige. In the time the girls had been there, he’d grown too attached to watching her and being around her. He had no idea how to be any different to her without allowing the disappointment and anger to take hold. He couldn’t imagine his chest feeling any tighter, but it did. He sat down, placing a firm hand on his chest and hoping he could counter the tension going on inside. For now, staying out in the fresh air and avoiding everyone was the only thing he could do.

Paige and Amy were left up to their own devices again as Exo left for another afternoon commitment. They had both deserted the main floor and were in the second floor sitting area.

“What do we do?!” exclaimed Amy.

“I don’t know. Would we have been this bored if we’d been here by ourselves?” Paige wondered.

“No, but we had more access to cash and we probably would have spent more time being indecisive,” Amy rationalized.

“True, I guess.” Paige picked at her nails, not actually trying to think of something to do, but rather letting her mind wander.

“You and Kai were sitting next to each other at breakfast. Does that mean things are any less weird?” Amy asked.

“I guess,” Paige muttered.

“That doesn’t sound less complicated,” Amy stated.

“He kissed me this morning,” Paige said, exasperated. She threw her hands into her lap and stared at the ceiling.

“You sound like you’re complaining,” Amy almost laughed.

“I am,” she began. “He was jealous that I wore Luhan’s shirt and asked for Sehun’s picture…”

“AH HA! See! I told you!” Amy interrupted.

“Yeah, he told me he liked me, but he said he was confused and needed to think about it. He said he didn’t want to talk about it with me,” Paige explained.

“Why?”

Paige shook her head in bewilderment. “I honestly don’t know. I just thought we would talk about what it all meant. I mean, I’m not exactly staying in Korea forever. There are probably a thousand reasons why we shouldn’t have even gone down this road. But, shouldn’t we at least discuss it?”

“He might just be taking advantage of the situation,” Amy offered, thinking of her own encounter with Kris.

“I guess. I really hope that isn’t it. I just wish I could get inside his brain and understand what is going on with him. We could be on the same page, but he is keeping it all to himself,” Paige stated.

“Ugh, this is aggravating. Since they’re gone for tonight, lets just have a girls night. We can take what we have and go get some stuff for facials and whatever. Then we can just relax and not think about them,” Amy suggested.

“Oh, that would be fun. We can pick up some of the products we’ve seen in dramas!”

“Well, provided we can afford it. Lets go to the store!” Amy and Paige rushed to their room to get their purses and phones.

Paige threw open the front door as Amy followed behind her with a couple of bags from the store. Amy rushed up the stairs, having to climb two flights to get to the TV room upstairs. Paige closed the door behind her and made sure everything looked vacant and nothing was in the main room or the second floor. She closed their bedroom door and then followed Amy up to the third floor. Paige flipped on the lights in the TV room and helped Amy take all their items out of the bags. They had a few goodies to eat, some pampering products, and some candles. They wanted to have the lights off while watching stuff, but they needed to be able to see where things were. Amy had justified the lavender scented aromatherapy candles as a necessary remedy for Paige’s stress about Kai. Paige just thought the candles would be fun.

They had decided to re-watch one of their favorite dramas. It would be easier to pamper and have fun if they weren’t paying attention to something they’d never seen before. Plus, they had every intention to skip through to their favorite scenes instead of watching each episode all the way through. Paige lit a couple of candles near where they were sitting. They planted themselves on the floor sitting against the middle couch. All of their goodies were spread out around them. They smiled at each other and started the show, immediately debating on what to fast forward through first. Since they were in the beginning episodes, both girls grabbed bottles of the cheap nail polish they’d found and began giving themselves pedicures.

“HA! I so would never do this with the guys around,” Paige laughed.

“No kidding. At least we know they’ll be gone all evening, so we can do this without being locked up in our room or the bathroom,” replied Amy.

“Yes, this is much more fun.”

Around 8 p.m., the boys returned to the dorms after another full day of activity. The house was completely quiet as each of the guys let their eyes wander around the main room when they entered.

“You don’t think they’re asleep already, do you?” Chen asked.

“It’s early still,” Kai replied, deciding to stifle any sleeping jokes about Paige.

“Are they out?” XiuMin wondered.

“The last time that happened, it was a mini disaster. Lets hope they stayed in this time,” Sehun replied.

“They’re on vacation, remember? Why would they stay in all day?” D.O pointed out.

“They’re probably just upstairs watching TV or something,” Chanyeol assumed.

“So, go check,” Suho urged.

“Right.” Chanyeol went upstairs. His first inclination had been the third floor, but he did a quick sweep of the second floor anyway. XiuMin, Suho, and Chen had followed him. The four of them reached the third floor and split up. Suho checked the patio. Chen looked in their rooms. XiuMin checked the studio. Chanyeol walked around to his left to check the TV room.

“Hey, they’ve got to be in here. I can hear the TV,” Chanyeol stated. Suho, Chen, and XiuMin followed Chanyeol to the door of the TV room.

“What is that smell?” Suho asked.

“Lavender,” replied XiuMin.

“Why? Where’s it coming from?” Suho continued to question. XiuMin only shrugged.

“Shhh,” Chanyeol tried to hush them. He frowned and listened at the door for a moment. “It sounds like someone is crying,” he whispered.

“It could be the TV,” Chen suggested.

“No, it sounds like one of them,” Chanyeol stated, indicating the girls.

“Well then open the door!” Chen urged, reaching for the doorknob.

The four of them stumbled slightly into the room. They were blasted with the overwhelming fragrance of lavender. After taking a second to ignore the scent, they stared at the faces of the two very shocked girls looking back at them. XiuMin stifled a laugh by covering his mouth. Chanyeol bit his bottom lip and tried not to smile.

“GET OUT!” Paige yelled. She had stood up and whirled around at the sound of the door opening. She might have been happy it hadn’t been management, except she was more embarrassed in front of the guys. She looked down and covered her face as she yelled for them to leave.

Suho was the first to bolt from the room followed by Chen who was in a fit of hysterics as soon as he was out the door. XiuMin walked out joining Chen and Suho in the sitting room. Chanyeol backed out of the TV room slowly, still taking in the scene before him. Both of the girls were obviously in the middle of some cleansing routine. There was an empty carton of ice cream sitting between them on the floor. However, to prevent a second scream by Paige, he finally left the room and shut the door behind him.

The four of them stood in the hallway laughing for another minute before going downstairs. The look on everyone’s face meant that they had at least heard the commotion. However, the four of them were still laughing too much to adequately explain anything.

“So?” Lay asked, impatient of their giggle fit.

“They’re upstairs, in the TV room,” Chanyeol stated.

“Yeah, we understood that much,” Kai retorted.

“I don’t think they expected us home so early,” Chanyeol continued.

“Will you just tell us what happened?” D.O asked.

“We walked in on them watching dramas and pampering,” XiuMin explained.

“The best part was the empty carton of ice cream,” Chen laughed.

“I thought I heard one of them crying, so we just walked in,” Chanyeol stated.

“We should have knocked,” said Suho.

“You should have taken a picture,” suggested Baekhyun.

“Chanyeol was the only one who stood in there long enough to even think about doing that. The rest of us had escaped to the hallway as soon as Paige screamed,” Chen laughed.

“That was Paige?” Luhan asked incredulously.

“She was covering her face with her hands. It was pretty funny,” Chanyeol continued.

All twelve boys looked up at the sound of the second floor bathroom door slamming shut. The entire main floor quickly filled with the sound of laughter.

A/N

Sorry, I couldn't keep the chapter just about Luhan and Kai... So I had to add a light, crazy ending.... sorry if there was a mini rollercoaster of emotions there at the beginning...

:D

Until next week! <3