Chapter Twenty-One

The Reveal

A/N: My apologies if my cliffhanger made you want to strangle somebody, aka me. 

Kai frowned when he saw the pained expression on Sungmi's face. "What are you talking about?" What she had just said didn't make any sense to him.

Her eyes began to tear up, but the rain dripping down over her lids blended in with the salty liquid, making it unseen. 

"K-Kai, just listen to me, okay? You have all the right reasons to hate me and I totally deserve it," she choked out with difficulty. 

Now Kai was downright puzzled. He had expected a different reaction from Min, maybe one of joy or of blissful cheer because Kai had just confessed to him, but why was he looking like someone had just stabbed him instead?

Conflicted, Kai trudged back over to stand in front of Min and grasped his wrists tightly. "You didn't even let me finish," he said. The atmosphere between them was stuffy, and Kai wanted so badly to clear it up and spill out his guts.

But Sungmi looked up at him and shook her head violently. "No, you don't understand--"

For the second time that day, Kai leaned down and kissed her full on the lips, effectively shutting her up. All thoughts escaped her mind as the only thing she could process was her wildly beating heart and his warm mouth on hers, making her insides melt into mush. It took her a while to lean into him and return the kiss with equal fervor, her stomach exploding into a gazillion butterflies.

When he finally broke the kiss, Kai looked down at her, this time with not fear, but affirmation, in his eyes. "Min, I really can't fight it anymore. I'm just so damn attracted to you and God knows why I'm feeling like this." He sighed. "In the beginning, it was all good. You were, and still are, a weird and eccentric person, and I thought you were a crazy lunatic. Because, I mean, when I first saw you, I didn't expect you to be so young. But somehow, I still wanted to be friends with you, because you piqued my interest." 

Kai closed his eyes and bit his lip, as if he was debating whether or not to say the next thing on his mind. "And I don't know how the hell it happened, but after a while, things started to change, and...and...it's just, something about you. You're just so...different." 

Sungmi found that her words were caught in . Hearing Kai admit everything out loud was exciting, yet terrifying at the same time. She didn't want him to stop talking, but his admission was killing her inside, reminding her that she was going to hurt him ten times worse than what she was feeling at the moment. 

"You're not like anybody I've ever met, Min," Kai continued. "You're different from all those pretentious people I see all the time. Even your flaws, I love them. At first, I couldn't understand why I always felt like protecting you, why I always thought about you when you weren't around, why I always found you interesting to stare at. Hell, I even got jealous of another guy. That's messed up, do you know that?" His eyes bore into hers with blazing intensity. He chuckled dryly, but the smile didn't reach his eyes. In a voice softer than a whisper, he said, "I called you crazy, but look who's the lunatic now."

Oh Kai. I really don't deserve you.

Sungmi lips quivered. "Kai, you have it all wrong; I'm not really--"

But Kai wasn't done. In fact, he had so much on his chest that he wanted to get off that he was going to suffocate if he didn't let it all out. "But I don't ing care anymore. It creeps me out that I'm thinking like this, but fighting it takes too much effort and avoiding you feels like . I tried, Min, I really tried. I tried to deny it. I thought my brain was just dysfunctional because I had been around you so much, but I was wrong. Now, I'm just too tired to stay away from you. It doesn't even matter if you're a man, because you know what?" He moved his hands down to grip Sungmi's hands tightly. "I give up. I'm done. I'm just going to take my chances and jump off this cliff blindfolded, as long as I'm with you." 

Oh my goodness, somebody shoot me now. Sungmi's mouth went dry as she stared back into the passionate and penetrating look in Kai's dark eyes, his orbs searing through her soul and cutting her heart in half. She couldn't move her gaze away because Kai was practically demanding all of her attention with his intensity, as if he was asking her to question the earnesty of any