Kris’ session at the Senate had taken a long time than expected. The Senators were debating on whether or not to approve the budget proposal for the next calendar year. It shouldn’t have been a problem but the minority, Senator Wu included, had fought for the budget appropriation. Peace and Order was getting more budget appropriation than Education and Senator Wu, along with his fellow Senators in the minority, battled for more budget appropriation for Education.

Kyungsoo found himself sitting as an audience in the House of Senate, while one of the Senators were delivering his speech about why the budget proposal was fit for the needs of the country, addressing someone elevated on the podium. Kris wouldn’t have enough time to pick him up at the apartment so they agreed to meet instead so they could go together to the Opera House.

It took Kyungsoo by surprise when Kris approached the stand across the one where the Senator delivering his speech was to ask the latter a question.

“Mr. Senate President, your Honor,” Kris addressed the man at the podium before continuing. “I would like to ask Senator Im a question.”

“You may proceed, Senator Wu,” the man at the podium permitted.

Kris turned his attention to the Senator across him and asked his question. “Senator Im, do you seriously think that what this country needs is more budget for purchasing weapons of warfare than educating our youth?”

“Yes of course, Senator Wu. We are always at war especially when our North counterpart is brewing nuclear weapons. I believe it is of great priority that we safeguard our country against attacks.”

“But these are our youth we are talking about, Senator Im. The future of our country rests in the hands of these young people who will be us someday. Would you rather equip them with guns and bombs than empowering their knowledge so they can lead the betterment of this country in the future? I’m sorry but arming our youth with weapons than education sounds bull to me.”

“Senator Wu,” the man at the podium interrupted, “there is no need for that kind of language. We will be continuing this discussion on our next meeting. I move to adjourn this session.”

“I second the motion,” another Senator added and the Senate session was adjourned.

Kyungsoo was slightly surprised at Kris’ behavior in the Senate. The man was a fighter with no regard for choice of words. He was impressed and he couldn’t say that it didn’t add to the reasons why Senator Wu was not hard to fall for.

“Did you wait long?” Kris asked Kyungsoo when the former approached the latter at the audience.

“No, I just got here.” Kyungsoo replied.

“I’ll meet you outside the hall. I just need to get back in the office to settle things with Minseok and Luhan.”

The smaller male just nodded in response and then the Senator walked off to the door at the side of the podium. Kyungsoo went out of the session hall and waited for the Senator at the hallway. He was standing on one foot while he kept on knocking his toes to the floor with the other when a familiar voice called out to him.

“Kyungsoo, is that you?” The said man whirled in place to locate the owner of the voice and when he did he was surprised to know who it belonged to.

“Mr. Lee, it’s good to see you.” Kyungsoo reached out a hand for handshake and bowed at the elder.

“It’s good to see you too. What are you doing here?” Mr. Lee asked, also surprised to see Kyungsoo out of all the places they could have bumped each other into.

“I’m waiting for someone.”

“Oh, I see. Well, let me introduce you to my nephew first. Hongbin,” Mr. Lee turned around to get the attention of a young man talking to a group of people. “Hongbin, this is Do Kyungsoo. The one I told you about at the park. And Kyungsoo, this is my nephew, Lee Hongbin. This guy right here will be the heir to my legacy and who will replace me. I’m just glad I have somebody who would follow my footsteps when my own son didn’t.” Mr. Lee introduced with a side hug to his nephew to give it conviction.

“Oh Uncle, nobody can ever replace you,” Hongbin said and turned his attention to Kyungsoo when he was finally free from his Uncle’s hug. “And sorry my Uncle is so dramatic. He always makes it sound like I’m Superman or something. It’s nice to finally meet you, Do Kyungsoo-sshi.”

Kyungsoo received Hongbin’s hand in a handshake. “Please, call me Kyungsoo. And it’s nice to meet you too, Mr. Lee.”

“Wow. I wonder if I should turn around to look for my father when you’re addressing me like that. It’s just fair that you call me just Hongbin too.” The man smiled and Kyungsoo did not miss how gorgeous his smile was. It made him smile back genuinely.

A fake cough had disturbed their smile exchange and alerted Kyungsoo back to the situation. He realized that his and Hongbin’s hands were still held together—minus the shake—so he let go abruptly to divert his attention to the man who stood beside him.

Kris immediately slipped an arm around Kyungsoo’s waist, making the latter slightly turn to the side so the Senator could peck him on the lips. The kiss was so unexpected that Kyungsoo could only blink his eyes in reaction. It was so sudden that he couldn’t find his voice and have the manners to introduce Kris to Hongbin and Mr. Lee. Good thing he didn’t need to because the Senator seemed to be familiar with the other two.

“Senator Lee, I see you’ve met my fiancé already,” Kris started, addressing the older Lee, and it suddenly clicked in Kyungsoo that Mr. Lee was also a Senator.

“Yes I have, Senator Wu. I didn’t know Kyungsoo is already engaged to be married,” the old man acknowledge but there’s a hint in his voice that the conversation was turning to be unpleasant

Kyungsoo could only watch the two; his vocal chords still stuck to his throat, and wondered why there was a dark aura looming over the two Senators. He looked in Hongbin’s direction and was puzzled to see the disappointment in the younger Lee’s face. Well, he could be just imagining it because there was no reason at all for Hongbin to be disappointed. Unless the latter’s expression was in response to the tension between the two Senators. That meant Kyungsoo wasn’t the only one who noticed it.

“Well, I guess you don’t watch the news, Senator Lee. It was pretty much the headline in every newspaper and TV news when it came out.”

Kyungsoo looked at Kris in disbelief. Why was the Senator acting that way? Why was he so insistent to the point of rubbing it in Senator Lee’s face that Kyungsoo was engaged to him? On top of that, Kris’ hold around him was getting tighter by the minute, as if the Senator was afraid of letting him go.

“I don’t watch the Entertainment news,” Senator Lee retaliated. “Kyungsoo, if this man gives you a hard time, you have my number. Hongbin, let’s go.”

“It’s really nice meeting you, Kyungsoo. I’ll see you around,” Hongbin said his goodbye to Kyungsoo and nodded to Kris before he joined his Uncle who was already heading to the exit.

Kyungsoo slowly peered himself away from the Senator’s hold when the Lee’s left. When he was already a few feet away from Kris, he let out a sigh of relief. Kris’ gaze lingered on the two that were already out of the building so Kyungsoo decided to snap the Senator out of his reverie.

“Kris, we should go. We don’t want to be late,” Kyungsoo announced.

“Oh, right. Let’s go,” Kris agreed.

They went to dinner first at a fancy hotel restaurant and Kyungsoo wished they went to a fast food chain instead. The dinner table had too many spoons and forks, he didn’t know what to use. Thankfully, he was able to survive his first fine dining experience with only a minor untoward incident. He was trying to get the flesh part out of the shell for appetizers when it flew over the next table. Kris only laughed but Kyungsoo wanted to sink in a hole somewhere out of embarrassment.

After dinner, they went to the Opera House to watch The Phantom of the Opera. It was also Kyungsoo’s first time. He was not exactly the son of billionaire and he didn’t live the good life considering that he didn’t even know who his parents were.

“You know what they say about the opera?” Kris started when they were finally seated at one of the balconies in the Opera House. “The first time you see it, you will either love it and it will speak to your soul, or it won’t move you at all. You may learn to appreciate it later but it will never speak to your soul like it would have the first time.”

The opera started and Kyungsoo was engrossed. It was in Italian but the language didn’t matter. It spoke to him directly to the heart.

Halfway through the opera, Kyungsoo felt Kris’ hand slipping in his, fingers intertwined in a tight hold. He pretended to use the hand to reach for a tissue just to slip out of the Senator’s hold. He kept his hands close to him so Kris wouldn’t attempt to hold them again.

He had been avoiding Kris’ touches that night. Yixing’s words kept on replaying inside his head to serve as a reminder that the touchy-feely between them should stop. If he wasn’t caught off-guard, the kiss at the House of Senate wouldn’t have happened.

It was hard avoiding Senator Wu’s advances in skinship. The blonde was relentless in his attempts. He would take every opportunity presented so he could rest his hand on Kyungsoo’s back or put his arms around the smaller male’s waist. Just like the hand-holding, it was one of Kris’ efforts to enable skin contact and it was harder for Kyungsoo because he couldn’t say he didn’t like the touches. In fact, he wanted it. He just couldn’t allow himself to want it because the man was engaged to someone else. Theirs was a pretend setup that would end once Baekhyun came back.

The Senator was not unaware of Kyungsoo’s tries at eluding his ministrations. He had noticed it the moment he placed his hand on Kyungsoo’s back when they were about to get inside the car. The younger male shifted so his hand would slide off of him. His observation was proven more when he slipped his hand in Kyungsoo’s. The latter wasn’t so subtle in pulling his hand away, pretending to be using it for something else.

When the opera finished, Kyungsoo immediately composed himself. He didn’t want Kris to see that he had been crying. The Senator was right all along, the opera had this magic where a first time spectator would either love it or not be moved at all. And it was pretty clear that he was the former.

“So, what do you think?” Kris asked when they were already in the car to go home.

“About what?” Kyungsoo inquired back in response.

“About the Phantom of the Opera. Did you like it?”

“Yes, I did. It was something, how the Phantom just gave up his love. It was such a selfless act. Do you think you can do something like that, Kris? Give up your love so the person could be with someone else more worthy of their love?”

The Senator was taken-aback by the question. He did not expect Kyungsoo to be taking the point of view of the Phantom instead of the lovers. Normally, people would go that way, but not Kyungsoo. Kris wasn’t able to answer the smaller male as he never thought about an answer to that question before.

“I think I would,” Kyungsoo continued when he didn’t receive a response. “I would give up my love for a person especially when the person deserves to be with someone else more worthy.”

Their conversation ended there and they were met with silence all throughout the car ride to the apartment. They rode the elevator from the parking lot where the driver dropped them off and they were still awkwardly silent. Kyungsoo was standing as far away from the Senator as possible and the latter noticed again.

Kyungsoo was about to open the door to the apartment when Kris stopped him by the arm. The Senator spun him around and pinned him to the door. The younger male gasped at the action.

“Why are you avoiding me?” Kris finally questioned after holding it in since the start of their date.

“What? I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Kyungsoo denied.

“You’re avoiding me. Every time I touch you, you find something else to do to avoid it. Why?”

“Because you are engaged to be married to someone else, that’s why,” Kyungsoo confessed. “What we’re doing is wrong, Kris. Me, pretending to be your fiancé is already wrong in the first place, but acting like we’re really engaged is just downright wide of the mark. We are hurting Baekhyun.”

Kris’ hold on him loosened. Kyungsoo took that as an opportunity to finally gain a few feet away from the Senator. “I can still be your pretend fiancé until this is all sorted out. We just cannot share kisses and touches anymore because that wouldn’t be appropriate.”

With that, the Senator opened the door and went inside the apartment first, slamming the door behind him. Kyungsoo couldn’t do anything but sigh away his heartbreak as he opened the door to enter the apartment as well.

To be continued…

………………………………….

Noona’s Notes:

Nope. I’m not gonna say anything. Yup. I’m gonna keep my mouth shut and I know you know what I’m talking about. Nah, I’m not going to. Okay, I’m gonna say it. KRISOO FOREVER, OKAY??

Anyway, on a less depressing topic, for the one who asked if there was someone who would save Kyungsoo from the heartaches, he’s here in this chapter. /wink wink/ And the dinner and opera watching was taken from Pretty Woman. The movie was on replay on my cable that it was itching to be written. LOL.

Holy this is 2.6K more or less words! Kinda got carried away there I think.

Leave me positive and mushy comments about krisoo. I need that after all this crying. And upvotes would be nice too.

Cheerios! Ivee Noona (sunskyivee)