It was beginning to get dark now.

Not that she cared – she was too far gone for that. She'd been at it for hours now, despite her promise not to shed anymore tears for him and she knew her eyes were swollen. But every time she thought she'd run out of tears, she started anew.

She wiped her eyes again and swallowed, determined this time she wouldn't give in. So what if he'd broken up with her? He was a jerk who didn't care that it was an accident – all that mattered to him was that their lips had brushed. Big. Freaking. Deal.

Well, she hadn't done anything wrong and he'd broken up with her. So now, she'd kiss Kai for real. In front of him. To give something to really stew over.

Cannot be undone, my foot. She wiped her eyes angrily again because they'd started leaking of their own accord. Stupid eyes, don't know when to stop, she thought, sniffing. Stupid heart, doesn't know when to stop hurting…

Stupid jerk! She started crying again. She'd even brought chocolates for him, planned a proper apology for initiating that stupid fight.

And stupid Kai! Why did he have to go all passionate and kiss her out of nowhere? And it wasn't even a good kiss – like the one she'd imagined her first kiss would be. It was just a lame, plain old lips brushing. Heck, she'd had that sort of kisses with her girlfriends when there greetings got too enthusiastic and they bumped lips instead of cheeks. If she ever saw him again – which was doubtful because she knew she'd be awkward if they actually met face to face – but still, she'd ask him why he'd bothered to kiss her at all if he couldn't have the courtesy of making it something worth breaking up over.

She sniffed again and wiped her eyes, her vision blurred and watery.

Which was why she didn't realize he was actually there when she saw him. She thought he was another hallucination brought on by her overwrought nerves. 'Ya!' she pointed at him accusingly, coming out of her hiding place underneath the bleachers. 'What makes you think you can kiss me out of nowhere? Huh??'

……………………

'Mei!' Relief flooded through him at finding her safe and whole.

'Don't 'Mei!' me!' She snapped at him, furious. 'It was my first kiss and it wasn't even good!'

Kai blinked, unsure how to react to that. '… Sorry?'

It hadn't been intentional, otherwise he would've made sure it was good. He could remedy that if she was willing… no, snap out of it!  

She huffed, turning away. 'Whatever… it doesn't matter anyway…' her voice broke a little at the end and she sniffed. Kai felt guilt churn through him.

Intentional or not, Luhan was obviously – mistakenly – trying to acknowledge his claim and that touched Kai more than Sehun's concern – he knew, better than anyone, just how possessive Luhan could be. Heck, he could almost – almost – forgive Luhan for being such an idiot.

Not really, though. He might let it go if it'd been just him involved… but Luhan's idiocy was making Mei cry and that was something Kai couldn't forgive – not without landing a punch or so first.

But before he could do that, he needed to deal with Mei.

Who was now sitting back under the bleachers and crying heart wrenchingly. Cursing his luck – why did he always end up the crying girls? – he made his way under as well, bending low so he wouldn't hit his head and sat down beside her.

She huffed again and turned in the other direction. 'Go away…' she mumbled into her knees, voice muffled.

Kai's hand hovered over her shoulders before wrapping around them and pulling her into his side. She tried to push him away but he didn't loosen his grip and finally, she gave up resisting, just kept her head buried and cried. He patted her shoulder comfortingly and waited.

When she lifted her head, his heart went out to her. She'd had a rough week, hadn’t she? There were bags underneath her puffy eyes and her face blotched and looking haggard. She looked at him. 'You're really here.'

'Yeah.'

'I thought I was hallucinating.'  

'If that's what makes you comfortable…' He was willing to be considered a hallucination.

She let out a watery chuckle. 'Why are you so nice?'

'…'

'I want to hate you…' she whispered, not looking at him. 'For starting this mess…'

'I'm sorry…'

'See? You make it hard.' She pushed against his ribs. Then sighed and looked down at her shoes. 'But… why…?'

Kai looked down at her. Wondered if he had the guts to confess to her again and see if his heart would shatter again the same way – it had been so painful, it felt like a nightmare, unreal. Was it even possible for anything to be so agonizing?

Thankfully, his rational side won over. No way was he going through that again. He told her honestly. 'It was an accident.'

'Hmm?'

'I… was going to say goodbye… and you turned…'

She stared up at him with wide eyes and he looked away, blushing a little as he continued. 'It was totally unintentional. If I'd meant to actually kiss you, I would've made sure it was good and that you liked it…'

She giggled, then suppressed it. He glanced down at her, then pulled his arm – which had dragged her closer still until she was buried in his wings – away from her shoulders.

She grabbed his hand. 'I'm sorry, I didn't mean to laugh…'

Then, to his complete surprise, she kissed his cheek.

'Thank you.' She told him, smiling at his surprised face. 'For being there for me. Then and now.'

'S..sure…' he stuttered, sure his face was on fire. She gave a sad half smile. 'You're such a sweetheart.'

Not sure his heart could take much more of this… whatever this was… moment of bonding between them – his feelings for her were far from platonic and she obviously saw him only as a friend – he tried to think about Luhan, the real stakeholder in the claim game.

They're fighting now… who knows if they'll even make up… the beast growled its approval at his thoughts. He shook his head, dislodging it. He'd decided, hadn't he? Thankfully, Mei distracted him.

'How did you find me? Did Tiffany…'

'Crap, I totally forgot!' Mentally cursing himself, he whipped out the cellphone from his pocket and fired off a couple of texts to Sehun, to take care of Tiffany.

Putting the phone back, he turned to face her. She looked back at him and they stared at each other for a few moments.  

'So?' She broke the silence, obviously uncomfortable.

Kai shrugged, then asked. 'You wanna talk about it?'

'About what?' She feigned ignorance.

'You and Lu…'

'What's there to talk about?' She shrugged indifferently but Kai saw her eyes glimmer before she blinked. 'He broke up with me over a chance kiss. End of story.'

'And you're going to let it go at that?'

'I'm done chasing that jerk!' she burst angrily. 'If you're here to defend him…'

Kai lifted his hands in a peace making gesture. 'I'm not. Really. He was an idiot and a jerk and of course, you have every right to be angry…'

'But… you're going to say 'but', aren't you?' She accused him.

Kai nodded. 'Guilty.' She opened to say something else but he stalled her. 'Hear me out, please.'

She pursed her lips, then nodded reluctantly. 'Fine.'

'Will you give him another chance?' Kai asked.

Well hello Masochist Kai, it's been a while since we last saw you, hasn't it? Kai dislodged that thought from his head. He wouldn't give in to this sort of negativity again.

'No way!' She replied immediately. Ardently. He squelched the hope that raised its head. Oh yeah, Masochist Kai was back in full force.

'Really? I was under the impression that you really liked him.'

'Pfft…' She didn't meet his eyes. 'As if! I don't like him at all!'

'Oh? So you cry like that for just about any guy?'

'Of course no…' she stopped, catching on to his trick and glared at him. He smiled back innocently. 'You were saying?'

'I'm not giving him another chance.' She minced the words out.  'Why should I? I have no reason to! It's not like he's special or anything!' The sudden, hard blinks failed to completely mask the tears that slipped loose. She wiped them angrily. 'He's a jerk!'

'Agreed.' She'd get no arguments from him on that point. 'You're still hung up on him.'

'I am not!' she exclaimed. Kai just looked at her.

She was, in her own way, as stubborn as Luhan. And convincing her to give him one last chance – yes, thank you, masochist Kai – after all the blows to her ego and heart would be an intimidating task. Lucky for her, he was a determined guy as well. And he'd decided, for better or worse, to be the helping hand here and get them back together.

'Fine.' He closed the distance between them. She looked a little surprised and a slight flush appeared on her cheeks at his sudden proximity. 'W…what?'

'Luhan's broken up with you.' He whispered, looking into her eyes. '…and you don't like him anymore. So…' He leaned in even more, deliberately dropping his voice an octave lower, his breath fanning over her cheeks. 'I guess this is my chance, then.'

'Excuse me?' She blinked, backed up hurriedly.

'I really like you, you know.' Goodbye, my heart. It might've been better if he'd just dug it out his own chest. 'Always have.'

'But…'

'Just a kiss, it's all I ask.' He told her advancing steadily, until she was completely backed into the wooden scaffolding. 'And this time, I'll make sure you enjoy it.' He gave her a y half smile, half smirk. Her eyes lingered on his lips before quickly moving away. She gulped.

'S..stop it, Kai!' She tried to push him back but he leaned forward until they were only a breath apart.

'You don't want to do this!' The vein in her neck fluttered invitingly.

Good to know he wasn't the only one being affected.

Her scent, which he'd somehow forced himself to ignore, was so much more potent this close and the beast in him was all but banging inside his head to be let out. He thanked his lucky stars he was more in tune with himself these days or he might've jumped her in earnest.

As it was, he tried to squelch the hope that was banging inside his head right along with the beast. Hard to do that with that appealing blush on her cheeks or the slight – ever so slight but there – glimmer of interest in her eyes before she glanced away again.  

'But I do.' He assured her, putting his hands around her head so she couldn't turn away. She gulped again before meeting his eyes. 'Trust me.'

………………………

Mei couldn't believe Kai was doing this.

More importantly, she couldn't believe she had agreed to go along with it. Her body was nearly shivering and she wasn't sure it wasn't from excitement.

Although, she supposed, anybody would be excited in this situation, with Kai's potent pheromones – too potent, why are they so potent? – acting like some sort of buffer in the situation, making it seem y instead of scary like it actually was. She was under the bleachers with a guy who'd all but cornered her like a prey and convinced her to let him kiss her. If that wasn't scary…

'Ouch!' she blinked at the sudden flick on her forehead.

'Stop thinking.' Kai ordered. She nodded. Yeah, she was ready for this. Luhan had dumped her, hadn't he? So she had nothing holding her back. And Kai was right – he would never break her heart like that.

That's right, her mind whispered snidely. Because no one else can ever get where Luhan did…

Shut up, she told her stupid mind. Preaching reason at the wrong moment. Luhan had started it, hadn't he?

So what if he did? Can you imagine what went through his heart when he saw you like that, kissing another guy? It doesn't matter that it was purely chance, that doesn't nullify his pain…

A sudden picture of his face flashed through her mind – the heart broken look on his face when he'd told her it couldn't be undone. Like he was dying inside, like the words were hurting him as much as they hurt her…

No! She gave herself a mental shake. Stop it, stop justifying him! Stop trying to find reasons to forgive him!

Another image flashed behind her closed eyes. Then another and another.

Luhan, stretching out his bandaged hands to help her up. Luhan, grabbing her so she wouldn't fall. Luhan, carrying her on his back while she sniffled, right after their foolish fight, because she couldn't walk and more. Luhan, smiling with her, laughing with her and arguing with Kai to impress her. And then…

Looking at her like he couldn’t see anything else. Looking at her like she was the most beautiful thing in the world. Looking at her with that intense, possessive look that gave her butterflies just by thinking… staring into her eyes as he leaned in to kiss her…

I never even kissed him, she realized with dawning horror, not once! Not even on the cheek or anywhere else…

Lips were precious, yes. But so were the other kisses – kisses that signified everything she'd wanted to tell him in words, kisses that would show her that he felt the same…

Admit it, you want to forgive him. No, you have to. Because, right now, you're just playing out your anger and in doing so, you'll hurt not only Luhan but Kai as well.

Sweet, caring Kai who'd held her while she cried her heart out, who'd helped her through her toughest exams and had, in an inconspicuous, completely unfelt way, always been there for her, putting her happiness above everything else. The only person who'd actually managed to find her even when she'd hidden herself away in a corner.

Who even now, she realized with a flash of insight, was acting like this to make her realize just how much she did like Luhan. Love, even.

Her eyes flashed open just as his lips closed in.

She put up her hands to cover her lips, hoping against hope that she'd be lightning fast and stop this madness. Her eyes shut just as quickly because she knew she was too late…

The soft, sad chuckle made her open her eyes and look up. Kai was looking down at her, eyes sad… as if he'd known this would happen right from the start and had still dared to hope.

She felt tears prick at her eyes. 'I'm so sorry…' her whisper was a broken sound.

He gave her a sad half smile. 'You see, you are hung up on him.' Then, stretched out his hand to wipe away the tears that'd managed to escape. 'It's okay to say you love him.' Choked a little, blinking his own tears back, still sad smiling. 'I know it; always have.'

She held his hand against her cheek and just cried, not sure what to say or how to say it. He was breaking her heart by being so… so utterly sweet and so utterly sad. So utterly Kai.

'Ya…' he sniffed a little himself, then pulled her against his chest. Again. To comfort her. 'Stop crying.'

That broke her heart even more, made her cry even harder. 'Why?' she mumbled, not sure what she was asking. Why did it have to be so painful? Why she couldn't reciprocate his feelings? Why it was hurting her so much?

He didn't reply but his arms tightened around her and she let herself go, crying so hard that his chest was wet by the time they parted. She was still occasionally sniffing, hiccupping because she couldn't quite catch her breath.

When she finally settled down enough, she dared to look at him. Not sure what she was expecting – did he have that sad look on his face still? But he looked contented and when their eyes met, his were clear. And he smiled. Genuinely smiled – it made him look younger and livelier. Sweeter too.

'So… you'll give him another chance, won't you?' he asked casually.

As if she hadn't cried all over his chest, as if he hadn't had his heart broken by her again; she wasn't unaware of how cruelly – unintentionally but that was no excuse – she'd pushed aside his first confession and how, rejected his second just now.

'I don't seem to have much of a choice here.' She muttered, looking down at her hands. Yeah, she didn't have a choice because it was Luhan and there was no one else for her but him.

'Good, that's good.' He nodded firmly, the stood up. 'Come on, then. You've been out here long enough, I bet your feet are sore.'

Now that he mentioned it, they were. Aching like crazy. Well, she had been more or less crouching underneath the bleachers in her heels. No wonder.

She stood up with his help, then stumbled along with him as he led her out of the soccer field and into the street.

………………………

Kai led her out of the soccer field and then, took her back to the dorm, calling a cab so she wouldn’t have to walk.

'I'll talk to him.' He told her as they stood in front of the dorm gates. 'Get it through his thick head even if I have to beat sense into him.'

She laughed. 'Please don't do that.' Then, murderously, 'I'll do that myself.'

'Aren't you being a little bloodthirsty?' He commented, lightly flicking her forehead.

'Ya!' she smacked his hand away and snapped her fingers at him. 'This.' She gestured towards her face sassily. 'Is private property – do not, ever, touch without permission.'

'Sure.' He nodded, waited until she relaxed then flicked her again.

She smacked his shoulder. 'Go away!'

'This is the thanks I get?' he muttered, backing off. 'After all the trouble I went to…'

'Hmph.' Then, 'You're really okay?' Concerned. Genuinely concerned for him.

He smiled, relishing the bliss. 'I feel great.'

'How…?' She looked confused. A little bewildered and a whole lot cute when he kissed her forehead.

'Because you care.' He told her, smiling. 'And that's enough for me.'

She did and it was – he would make it so. He'd realized that when she'd cried against him like that, crying not only for Luhan but for him as well. She loved him too – not like she loved Luhan, of course not, but just as much. She would care if something were to happen to him… did care that his heart had broken, had and would shed tears for him. That, truly, was all he really wanted.

To matter.  

Her smile wobbled and he put up his hands in mock defense. 'Ya, don't start the waterworks again! I don't even have a spare shirt!'

'Idiot!' she smacked him again, smiling. 'Now go away. I mean it this time.'

'Okay.' He nodded towards the entrance. 'Get in and I'll get going.'

'Bye.' She smiled over her shoulder.

'Good bye.' He gave her a wave when she poked her head out of the entrance. She waved back. He waited until she vanished inside before teleporting.

Right outside Xiumin's shop.

He and Luhan really needed to have a talk now.

……………………

A/N

KAIIIIII!!! I cry :'( Kai makes me cry *sniffs* I'm sorry I did this, baby, forgive me please  

Aarghh! I was seriously considering making him the hero but my sister aka Mei wouldn't let me live. I think I lost all the nerves in my arm, she beat me up so much just 'cause I suggested it. Ah well, I did promise her that she'd end up with Luhan but she wouldn't even let me have some fun O_o

anyway, I'd really like to know what you guys feel after reading this chapter - I kinda-sorta-cried when I wrote it - though it could be because I was half-asleep and I'd more or less dreamed the entire scene - wrote it super early in the morning because it wouldn't leave me alone :3 so, do comment.

thanks for reading <3