Kris’ eyes strictly remained on Chanyeol’s face unwilling to take his hand. He never once thought that Chanyeol would have the guts to step inside his home. He thought Chanyeol hated seeing him with Namjoo so much that he’d never come near them.

What was this?

From the corner of his eye he saw movement and noticed that Namjoo watching them. Unable to bring himself to put his wife in an uncomfortable spot he forced himself to shake Chanyeol’s hand.

“Looks like you’ve been well.” Kris stiffly greeted.

“Could’ve been better,” Chanyeol still smiled. “I brought some souvenirs for you two.”

“You didn’t have to, we have so much junk in the house already,” Namjoo told before telling him to take a seat and reminded, “go get dressed Kris.”

He closely watched Namjoo offer Chanyeol a drink before spinning on his heels to start up the stairs. Kris found himself grumbling about whether Namjoo cared about putting Chanyeol on the spot or if she cared about him looking neat.

Hastily changing clothes he headed back down the stairs only to stop midway when he heard them laughing together. Holding back the urge to drive Chanyeol out he walked into the kitchen to join them.

“Do you need help?” He offered.

Namjoo shot him a bizarre glance as if he was out of his mind, “You usually never ask. Just sit down.”

Kris felt himself snort before fighting back, “Never help? I help…” then he nodded his head, “sometimes. That at least means I do help.”

Namjoo only made a face at him before he sat down across from Chanyeol. They only stared at each other before Namjoo started setting the table.

“What’s with all the food?” Kris asked. “You never make this much. I only get a loaf of bread for breakfast every morning.”

“Do you think I’m doing this for you?” Namjoo shot back before walking away.

Kris held his breath in and wanted to shoot a glare at the way she was treating him as if to show Chanyeol that he wasn’t anything special. But Chanyeol never glanced his way as if he really didn’t matter. And when Namjoo finally came to sit down, she chose to take the seat beside Chanyeol which blew the back of his mind.

Wasn’t it only right that she sit by him?

Keeping his mouth shut he kicked her from underneath the table to receive a dirty look from her in return.

“I’m going to go help clean Chanyeol’s place after this,” Namjoo explained after he followed her upstairs, “make sure to come after work, ok?”

Kris leaned against the door frame of the bathroom and watched her tie her hair up. He didn’t want her to go and he didn’t want to go there after work. Yet if he said it straight out he felt like they’d argue and he didn’t want to argue with her in front of Chanyeol. Whatever she was up to though, was something he couldn’t comprehend.

“Doesn’t he have other friends to help?” Kris wondered.

“I don’t know. He probably hasn’t contacted anyone yet.” Namjoo replied with a hair tie between her teeth.

So he came to her first?

“Anyway, make sure to come alright?” She finally turned to him to await an answer.

“I don’t know. The guys might want to go out.”

She dropped a sigh and gave him a face, “You should at least come to help. Just come see Chanyeol for a bit.”

“I’ve already seen him.”

“What is with you?”

They were just around the bend toward an argument. Kris wasn’t quite sure how it started or why, but he reminded himself not to be too obvious about his feelings. If Namjoo couldn’t realize his uncomfortable feelings she might not know Chanyeol’s either. But for some reason, he thought that if Namjoo knew about it she’d side with him and that would leave Chanyeol without anybody. He’d feel apologetic for that.

“Nothing,” he finished.

She patted his face with her fingers as she passed by and grabbed her bag before heading out, “I’ll see you later.”

Taking his chance he grabbed her arm before surprising her with a quick kiss.

“Behave yourself.” He told and watched her smile at him in a way as if she thought he was up to something. Then without a word turned to walk away.

+++

“So,” Chanyeol started as they walked he opened the door to his apartment, “how does it feel to be married?”

Namjoo shrugged, “I don’t know really.”

“You don’t know?” He repeated. “Most people usually start complaining about how things have changed.”

“Really?” Namjoo asked setting her bag onto the couch. “Well Kris still seems the same.”

“Then there’s been no progress?” Chanyeol asked slightly hoping for bad news.

“I mean, just nothing big has happened. We still want to play, so we’re just doing the usual; you know, hanging out with friends, have nights out, and all that.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Wow,” Namjoo walked around, “it is kind of stuffy in here, but nothing’s changed.”

Chanyeol’s eyes trailed over her as she walked over to peer out the window. He wanted to do so much more than just clean his dirty apartment with her. He wanted to dance with her, talk with her, watch movies, and listen to music together.

“So where should we start?” She turned around. “Is there anything specific you want me to do?”

That flash of kindness that shone over her face as she spun around to look at him set his heart racing. And he thought that only if she wasn’t married…if only.

“Lets dust out the blankets. I need someone to help me do that,” Chanyeol suggested. “I have the small things done already.”

“Alright.”

When they brought the blanket out onto the balcony he thought he made the right choice by asking Namjoo to help him. It was definitely enjoyable to be with her. Even without talking, he enjoyed being with her.

As they shook the blanket he watched the dust fly toward her with the wind and laughed out of joy when she turned away to avoid it.

“Lets switch sides!” Namjoo whined. “You’re too strong; all the dust is coming at me!”

Chanyeol wanted to dust her for the fun of it, so he laughed and refused. Instead of working in unison he started shaking the blanket to release more dust and heard her shriek before coughing.

“I’m going to get you!” She threatened before turning her head away as she deliriously shook the blanket.

After fooling around a bit they finally resorted to folding the blanket. When Namjoo walked over to hand him her end of the blanket he fell a step backward when she accidentally tripped forward. Upon collision they glanced at each other; he to ask if she was and ok and she to apologize, but his lips stilled.

The gaze in her eyes deepened on him as if his soul into her body. He hadn’t stood so close to her for such a long time. Mesmerized simply by her he wanted the morning to stay as is. How many times a day would he be able to have her to himself like this now?

Chanyeol wanted her to exist in his embrace only. He wanted all his wishes about her to come true and he wanted to forget about all else. The story should be that only the two of them mattered. Chanyeol wanted Namjoo to feel the same way; want him, need him, and miss him. It’d be perfect if all worked out for them.

It should be this, it should have been this, and it should always be this way.

In Japan he hadn’t been able to forget her so easily. In every one person he met, he saw her in every one of them. It was almost as if he’d engraved her into his bones, his breath, and his very skin so that everywhere he went she was with him.

Stars sparkled in her eyes when she laughed up at him for her mistake. Gripping onto his shirt she straightened herself up before turning to hear the underground train go by. The way her eyes stilled in for concentration and awe made his heart thud like a boy in love for the first time, so deeply and so lost.

He thought she was so pretty that being his friend wasn’t enough of a role for her. Part of him called for her to forget Kris and take him instead. He would do so much more for her than that incapable person who had come to her after he had.

It wasn’t fair.

“I forgot how loud it is here,” Namjoo commented. “It’s so quiet where we are that I hardly hear any life.” Then she laughed, “But that gives me the advantage of yelling at Kris. He’s so dumb sometimes.”

Kris…

“Lets go in,” she turned to look at him before walking inside leaving him with the blanket draped across his arm.

Chanyeol regretted the lost moment. He should have kissed her right then.

+++

Consecutively and repeatedly pressing the button on his phone and pressing it against his ear as he walked out of work he grew impatient about why Namjoo wasn’t taking his call.

“This idiot,” he grumbled and hurried toward his car.

He ended up taking a few detours in order to find Chanyeol’s place because of traffic. It was already very late into the afternoon now and he wondered why Namjoo would even bother to stay so long at Chanyeol’s. Wasn’t it supposed to be bad for a married woman to stay at someone’s home for too long?

“Just wait till your mom hears about this,” he mumbled to himself when he finally pulled into a space across the street before walking toward the complex. He’d definitely nag at her non-stop for not answering her phone.

Stopping in front of Chanyeol’s door Kris waited a second before knocking. He hadn’t been here since he started seeing Namjoo back then. He felt the least welcomed here, so why had he bothered to come anyway?

His insides groaned when he recalled it was Namjoo who had made him come.

The door opened and he stood face to face with Chanyeol who stared back quite blankly before pulling on a smile.

“You’re here,” Chanyeol greeted in a not so enthusiastic manner.

The first thing that sparked inside Kris’ mind was where his wife was. When he walked in he found her curled up on the couch asleep with a movie playing on the TV; one of her favorites he recalled.

“Did you two finish everything?” Kris asked; his eyes still on Namjoo.

“Yea,” Chanyeol nodded. “Do you want something to drink?”

“No,” Kris refused, “since Namjoo’s sleeping we should go.”

As he turned to walk toward her he felt Chanyeol grab onto his arm to stop him.

When he turned Chanyeol said, “Let her sleep.”

Running his eyes up his ex-friend he wondered if Chanyeol had done anything to Namjoo while she slept.

“What?” Chanyeol asked quite innocently, but something in his eyes spoke otherwise. “It’s been a while, lets have a drink.”

Kris watched Chanyeol walk over to his fridge to pull out two cans of beer before leading him toward the balcony. Closing the door after them Chanyeol handed him his beer. Kris felt reluctant to drink since Namjoo was always against him driving under the influence. Either he or she was always DD; most of the time it was him.

Slightly turning his head to make sure that Namjoo hadn’t yet awoken he grabbed the can. A slight smile curved Chanyeol’s lips before he turned to lean against the black railing to stare out at the sun setting.

A perfect dark aqua glow was starting to signal the life of the stars in the sky and the city lights from below helped illuminate it to beauty. He thought Namjoo would have loved this sight, then suddenly wondered how many times she’d been here with Chanyeol watching the sun set.

“I heard that you’re considered a newlywed the first three years,” Chanyeol started. “Still feel like one?”

“You said I am technically one,” Kris replied popping his can open.

“Namjoo says you two still play around; you know, with the night life and all that,” Chanyeol went on. “Everything must still be like before marriage, but I heard things are supposed to change when you get married.”

“Change is inevitable, but it’s not required,” Kris said, part of him wondering where Chanyeol was trying to go with this conversation that probably wasn’t needed. “I don’t see a rulebook about marriage.”

Chanyeol slightly laughed and snorted at him before taking a sip out of his can, “You know what everybody says about you two. If you’re not going to make commitment, you won’t last.”

“Why should I care about what others say? Our personal lives are no one else’s business.”

“Well I’m not lying either,” Chanyeol stated. “Think about it, you’re married, but nothing has so much changed. You two still enjoy partying, going out to drink, and hang out with your still friends like fresh out of college adults. But college is far gone and you still can’t give up that kind of life. It’s no wonder people talk.”

His grip on the can tightened.

“I don’t think you two match. From face to attitude, nothing matches. I can’t see what you two find in each other.”

His insides raged, but Kris couldn’t just lash out. What the heck was going on?

“I don’t think appearance is the problem,” Kris started, “a 20 year old woman could marry a 40 year old man and people would still talk. People always talk, as if predicting the worst is a natural occurrence. We most definitely don’t need to make our feelings evident for others to see nor do we need to make an effort to be accepted. Namjoo and I are happy the way we are. We enjoy life as it is. I don’t care what people say, but we decided to get married for a reason. Wish us apart because we don’t seem to go well together then. I don’t need to hear it from you. I’ll consider our conversation over.”

Setting the can on the ground he opened the door and stared at Namjoo who was still asleep wondering what she was doing. Walking over he shook her awake, watching her eyes blink sleepily.

“You’re here?” sounded dry.

“Come on, lets go,” he reached for her arm to pull her up.

“What? Already?”

“Already.” He grabbed her bag unable to wait to get out.

“But Chanyeol…”

Kris opened his mouth to speak, but Namjoo walked out of his hold to look for Chanyeol and found him outside. He couldn’t bring himself to stop her anyway. The worst was to feel guilty from stopping her from doing something she wanted. Saying a simple goodbye was something that mattered to her.

From where he stood he could hear Namjoo cheerily laughing and speaking before she walked out.

Once they were out the door Kris turned to look down at her with a frown, “How could you fall asleep just like that? Do you know how many times I called you?”

“Oh…you did?” She asked quite blankly. “Sorry.”

“You should always answer!” He stated and even emphasized ‘always.’

“What?” She asked. “Are you mad about that; such a little matter? Come on, don’t be childish.”

Heaving a sigh he made a face at her before locking his arm around her, “Lets go eat out somewhere. I’ll find some place nice.”

“What’s the occasion?” The way her head prickled against the low of his shoulder made him happy.

“Mmm…is your period over yet?” She playfully pushed his face before they erupted into laughter. 

---

***I haven't upgraded my bad guys into evil characters after The Kingdom Panorama, so lets do that here. Hhohoho~~ I'm going to make Chanyeol two-faced; his real intentions hidden behind the mask of innocence. I bet we all know someone like that in real life /winks winks/ 

***I love Chanyeol, so don't misinterpret me. As stated in the forewards, these are just my characters; I have no intentions toward the idols. If you know me, you know I often create my own world with my stories. Nothing coincides with who these people really are. Lets just have fun! 

***It's starting kind of slow, but you know me. I'm just introducing you to the characters and slowly pulling you into the drama. As we have here, just normal everyday life people (like us) but in this case, KrisJoo, just living their life together. But everyone has problems and there's always something this person doesn't know about that person etc. In this case, Namjoo doesn't know Chanyeol has feelings for her, but she's trying to put Kris and Chanyeol back together, which is obviously uncomfortable for both guys since they've grown negative toward each other. Plus, Chanyeol is being Namjoo's all-so-perfect friend who is silently wishing for her marriage to fall apart. I should stop here. You'll find out more along the way.  

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