Chapter 48

Yeojin's eyes almost bulged out of their sockets when Kris kissed the side of her head. In front of her mom.

"How are you doing, Mother?" He asked her mom who was obviously trying to hold back her giggles.

"Better. Thank you, Kris." Mrs. Kwon smiled. "Thanks for the fruits too." She pointed at the fruit parcel he placed on the table beside the hospital bed earlier.

Kris nodded with a small smile. All awhile, Yeojin's rounded eyes kept staring at him. What was up with him, she couldn't understand anymore.

"Ya! Don't do that again!" She scolded him when they were finally on the way to the mansion. "Especially in front of Mom."

"Do what?" Kris teased.

Yeojin scowled. "You know what."

"Oh! This?" His briefly looked away from the road to peck the side of her head.

"Ya!" Her eyes were widened once again. She slapped his arm while he laughed. "Watch the road will you!"

"Didn't I use to do that a lot back then?" He asked with a smirk when his laughter gradually softened.

When Yeojin thought about it, he was right. He did like to kiss the side of her head back then. It was just a gesture from an older brother to the friend he thought of as his own sister. Yet somehow, this time it felt a little different. She knew it was different now.

"Would you prefer a kiss on the lips then?" He continued to tease.

Yeojin felt heat rushing to her cheeks spreading to her whole face. She glared at him from the corner of her eyes before she looked away and pouted. "No!"

"Well," he sighed lightheartedly, "whether you like it or not, I'm going to do that everyday."

"What?"

"We used to do it when we're friends. Why not now?" He briefly glanced at her. "You do want us to be friends, right?"

Yeojin pursed her lips but then gave up and nodded. It was just a kiss on the side of her head anyway, she thought. Nothing to get worked up for. Besides, this might be the least she could do after breaking his heart.

True to his words, Kris made it a habit to peck her temple before he went to work and when he came home. It was awkward for Yeojin for the first week he did so. Then it became embarrassing when Jinho witnessed it by chance once or twice and pretended to barf just to tease them. 

However, after weeks passed, his habit didn't bother her much anymore. Beside the hugs he would give every now and then, that was.

"Hey," he greeted one evening when she was perching in front of her laptop at the living room with a bowl of chips beside her. He sat beside her on the sofa and pecked the side of her head.

She only hummed in reply. With knitted brows, she stayed focused on the screen of the laptop resting on the pillow on her lap. The last draft for the final paper would be due the end of the week. Yeojin needed to finish it as soon as possible.

Kris might not like the fact that he was ignored because the next thing she knew he had his arms wrapped around her torso and his head on her shoulder. She tensed at first but soon deflated with a sigh.

"Kris," she rolled her eyes and stopped typing. "Get off." She jerked her shoulder to nudge his head off and tried to pry his arms from around her.

Kris didn't budge and, instead, closed his eyes with a smile. Yeojin scoffed to the side.

"And aren't you coming home a little early?"

Kris scoffed too in return. "I can go home whenever I want. Perk of being a chairman. And just let me stay like this for a while. I've been having a rough day, you know?"

Yeojin softened at that. For way too often, she overlooked the big responsibilities he had to shoulder as a young chairman.

"Was it hard?"

She felt him shrug before he said, "Not after I hug you like this."

Hearing that made her snort. "Ew! You're getting cheesy. And I hate clingy guys, you know?" She tapped his arms signaling to let her go. "Okay, that's enough time. I'm trying to finish my final paper here and you're distracting me."

Maybe, she thought, this whole letting him initiate skinship thing wasn't good at all. She would only be leading him on when her own heart was still a mess.

Kris' lips curled into a smirk nonetheless. "I distract you?" He raised an eyebrow and brushed the tip of his nose against her neck. "How so?" He whispered before giving a quick peck on it.

"Ya!" Yeojin flicked his forehead and tried to wriggle free. 

"By now, I'm surprised you haven't done the deed," Lin listlessly commented as she entered the living room then plopped down on the armchair adjacent to the sofa.

Flustered by the sudden intrusion, Kris immediately let go of Yeojin and cleared his throat. "Ya! Little kid shouldn't say such things!" he threw a pillow at his sister.

Lin scowled when the pillow hit her right on her face. "Well excuse me! You're the one who's been showing off a display of affection! Even though you guys didn't even sleep in the same room." She pouted while grabbing the TV remote control. "And I'm not a kid!"

Kris softly snorted before he stood up. "Whatever. And who says we haven't done the deed?" He winked making his sister gawk at him.

"Kris!" Yeojin shouted in protest and threw a pillow at him which he successfully dodge.

He laughed. "I'll go change," he announced and walked out of the room.

"Your brother was lying," Yeojin stammered to explain. "You know he's crazy sometimes."

Lin shrugged; her face bearing no emotion. She turned to the TV. "If you overlook his feelings for you, then yeah, he's crazy." She sighed and clicked her tongue. "But I guess you don't have a heart for him in the first place. Oh! You don't mind me changing the channel, right?"

Yeojin nodded. "Y-yeah, it's okay."

She then frowned at Lin's biting tone. Actually, Yeojin had been bothered by Lin recently. She had been growing strangely cold towards her. Considering it some more, she had not seen Sehun dropping Lin off anymore. As a matter of fact, Sehun had not been seen around Lin these past few weeks. Yeojin never really give it a thought because final paper had been seizing her attention. She had not even been thinking much about her confusing feelings for Kris and Sehun.

But with Lin's recent cold behavior toward her, she couldn't help but to think it had something to do with Sehun. The thought of it made her unable to concentrate on her final paper right now. Especially, with Lin being there silently watching the recent drama they both love. The girl never stayed quiet when watching this. She always gushed about the romance. But not today.

After a while, Yeojin couldn't stand the growing silence any longer. She stopped typing and sighed.

"Lin," she softly called. "Are you mad at me?"

"No," the younger girl answered indifferently; eyes still focused on the drama.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."

Yeojin pursed her lips. She knew Lin was lying. "Lin, you're ignoring me. Why are you mad at me?"

Lin suddenly groaned. "Gosh! I told you I'm not!" She raised her voice. Something she had never done to her before.

Yeojin blinked surprised. Her heart was pricked with guilt. She lowered her gaze and bit her lip. "You are mad at me."

"Fine!" Lin stood up and crossed her arms. "You know what? Yes, I am!"

Tears were stinging the back of Yeojin's eyes, but she held them in and looked up only to be surprised. The younger girl's eyes were moist with threatening tears of her own.

"Eonni," she let out with shaky breath. "Do you like Sehun?" Her voice cracked.

This time guilt didn't just settled inside her, it punched her right in her guts. "Lin," she choked. "I think you're misunderstanding-"

"Do you or do you not?" Lin pressed. "Do you or do you not, Eonni?" She repeated when Yeojin only parted her lips without letting out any sound.

Yeojin took a deep breath and briefly closed her eyes. "Okay, yes. I like him. But I know you like him that's why-"

"You broke your promise," she deadpanned.

"That's not it-"

"You didn't even have the guts to tell me?" Lin couldn't hold back her tears any longer. "Eonni," her voice came out softer with a sob. "Am I even your friend?"

Yeojin was stumped by the question. It felt like someone just poured a bucket of ice on her. Sunhee had warned her about this once. She should have listened to Sunhee. She should have told Lin. But she didn't want to hurt her own sister.

"Lin..." Yeojin put her laptop aside and stood up reaching for the other girl's hand, but Lin retracted it. "Lin, please let me explain." She now cried too.

Lin lightly shook her head as she backed away from her. "I hate you." Her voice was just a whisper but it spoke so loud to Yeojin that her heart shattered.

Lin ran out of the room and Yeojin chased her only to momentarily came to a halt when she realized Kris was standing by the wall. By the looks of it, she believed he had heard everything. She wanted to explain to him, but right now Lin was her priority. So with a purse of her lips, she looked away and continued chasing after Lin.
 

Her vision was blurred by the tears as she ran for the door. Her heart was clenched with pain. Right now she really wanted to disappear. Just as she was about to exit the mansion, she bumped into someone who just came in.

"Whoa! Slow down, princess!" 

The person held onto her shoulders. Lin looked up and saw Jongin staring down at her. He was chuckling but soon stopped when his eyes finally locked with hers.

"Lin!" Yeojin called approaching her.

Not wanting to see her sister-in-law, she grabbed Jongin's hand and quickly led him out of the house.

"Give me your car keys," she demanded.

"What? Hey, what's wrong?"

"Just give me the damn keys!"

Jongin relented when she glared at him. He quickly entered his car while Lin slipped inside and sat on the driver's seat.

At the touch of something cold on her cheek, Lin jerked in her seat and wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes. She turned to her side and rolled her eyes when she saw Jongin smiling at her. She turned her attention back ahead where the green grass met the edge of the lake at the park.

"Here." He handed her a cup of iced bubble tea. "To cool your head off."

For a moment she stared at the cup of drink before pushing his hand away. "I hate bubble tea!"

Jongin blinked confused. "I thought you said you like bubble tea."

"Well not anymore!" She crossed her arms and pouted.

Jongin chuckled like usual as if everything about her- including the misery she was currently going through- was a laughing stock. That was what annoyed Lin the most.

"Don't tell me you don't like bubble tea anymore because Se-"

"Don't you dare say his name!" She quickly cut off narrowing her eyes and pointing a finger at him.

Jongin softly snorted and smiled. He grabbed her finger that was pointing at him and opened up her palm. "You can have mine then." He placed his bottle of banana milk in her hand.

Taken aback, Lin stared at him with slightly rounded eyes. His growing smile annoyed her more because it made her stomach churned. She turned away and cleared . 

"Thanks," she mumbled.

"No probs!" He grinned looking away and sipped the bubble tea he initially bought for her.

Silently, Jongin took off his winter coat and draped it on her shoulders. He immediately felt the cold air, but Lin was slightly shivering now. She just had to forget wearing a coat when winter was kicking off. She flinched at his action, but then quickly looked away with another mumble of thanks.

Watching her drink the milk, Jongin had to hold in his chuckle because the girl looked like a kid. Seeing her like this was so much better than seeing her cry like earlier. Somehow, it warmed his heart too despite the chilling air.

He was glad she at least opened up to him earlier and told him what happened. From his point of view, the whole thing sounded like the usual high school drama. But then again, she was still in high school. The drama might feel like the biggest problem to her right now, he understood.

He received a glare from her when he playfully ruffled her hair, but he just smiled. "Smile a little, will you? Don't drown yourself in sadness like this."

"You can't possibly understand my feelings."

"Hey." He ran his hand through her hair again but this time to her head gently. "You know Yeojin loves you like her own sister."

"Yeah right!" Lin replied sarcastically with a roll of her eyes.

"I'm on your brother's team, but you know it yourself that he had been treating her coldly before. You told me." Jongin tucked strands of her hair behind her ear. "I think Yeojin couldn't help but to fall for Sehun."

Lin glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. "Are you sure you're on my brother's team."

Jongin laughed. "I'm just saying that she didn't mean to fall for Sehun. It just happened." He shrugged. "And yes, I'm on your brother's team. He's changing for the better right?" He chortled.

Lin sighed and looked ahead while drinking the milk again. "I'm not mad at her because she likes Sehun," she revealed to Jongin's surprise. "I knew it was bound to happen. I just wished she would've told me. It hurts to think she didn't even consider me trustworthy enough as a friend."

"Stupid!" Jongin placed his hand on top of her head to shake it lightly. Lin protested and tried to slap his hand away, but Jongin continued, "She was just trying to protect your feelings. She must have thought it better to bury her feelings and forget about it all together. And with Sehun constantly giving your a ride home, don't you think she would think you're already together?" He pinched her nose and moved it from side to side. "Silly kid!"

Lin slapped his hand away and hit his arm continuously. "I. Am. Not. A kid!" She huffed.

Jongin laughed and placed his hands on both sides of her face to squish her cheeks. 

"Well, kiddo, unfortunately for you, I am older than you. So you're a kid to me." He laughed keeping his hands on the sides of her face.

With blinking eyes, Lin stared at him laughing. Feeling his warm hands on her cheeks, she felt her stomach churning again. She did not like this feeling. He made everything seemed so simple and easy to be laughed at. He made her feel stupid too, but she wouldn't lie that she did feel better than earlier.

"I should have made you call me 'oppa'."

Lin scoffed and pried his hands away. "In your dreams, Kim. Jong. In!"

Looking away with a sigh, he grinned afterwards. "That's good then! I don't mind you visiting me in my dreams." He turned to her with a wink and she pretended to barf.

He then stood up and opened up his palm at her. Lin blinked at it before hesitantly placing her hand in his which made Jongin laugh yet again.

"Not your hand! I meant my car key."

Embarrassed, Lin retracted her hand and looked away. "No! I want to drive your car again." She pouted.

"You know I will do anything for you, princess, but I still want to live."

Lin glared and stood up slapping his arm. She didn't want to admit that his statement both insulted and flattered her. Reluctantly, she gave him his car key.

He smiled. "I'll let you drive my car once you get your driver license. Okay, kiddo?" He tousled her hair. "Now-" he opened up his palm again.

Lin rolled her eyes. "What else now?"

Jongin softly chuckled, then- to Lin's surprise- grabbed her hand. "Your hand." He intertwined their fingers and smiled when she looked at him with rounded eyes. "It's getting colder. Let's go, kid!"

This time, Lin felt her stomach did a somersault.

This is not good! She mentally cursed.

Sehun quickly crept out of the house after receiving the text message. He heaved a deep breath when he saw Tao with his motorbike by the gate waving to him. Holding the urge to cuss, he jogged to his friend.

"What are you doing here at this ungodly hour, Tao?" was his greeting. He looked back over his shoulder at his house afraid his parents were watching him even though he knew they were fast asleep. "What's so urgent?" He turned back to his friend. "You know my dad will kill me if he saw you. I swear if this isn't important I'll-"

"Emi ran away," Tao cut him off; worry etched his face.

Eyes widened by a fraction, Sehun went silent for a moment. His brows twitched and his heart dropped at the mention of the name he didn't want to remember. He then sighed.

"Tao-" He ran a hand over his face "-why are you telling me this? You know I don't care about her anymore."

"I know, I know!" Tao scratched his nape then threw his head back. "But that's not what Xiu thinks. He thinks you know where she is."

"What?" Sehun groaned. "Well, tell him I haven't even heard about her until today. I don't even care what she does any longer! Heck! I don't give a crap to wherever she is right now or what she's doing!"

"I know! But-" Tao groaned and rubbed his forehead. "The thing is... They got into a big fight."

"So?" Sehun rolled his eyes and crossed his arms.

His friend pursed his lips before he revealed, "They fought after she overheard the boys talking about the fight between you and Xiu the last time you came."

Sehun was frozen by the revelation.

Tao continued, "Emi had been avoiding him ever since. Xiu tried to make it up to her, but Emi didn't really treat him the same way anymore. A week later, she ran away." He looked at Sehun in the eyes. "I heard she defended you real bad when they argued. She didn't like him hurting you. That's why Xiu thought she ran to you."

Sehun looked away squeezing his eyes. It was all hard to process. Why would she defend him?

"It doesn't change anything, Tao." He pinched the bridge of his nose. "I still don't know where she is. You better tell Xiu that."

"Alright. It's fine if you're not worried of her going missing for a month," Tao admitted raising his hands, and Sehun swore there was sarcasm in his tone. "There's something else though. I overheard Xiu talking on the phone." 

An unsettling feeling crept inside Sehun from seeing how his friend looked even more worried than before. He did not like where this was going.

"He said something about setting a plan in motion." Tao his lips before he continued, "I don't really understand what he was talking about on the phone, but I heard him mentioning the name of this Wu guy. Then I remembered that time when you guys were fighting, I just thought-"

"Whoa! Hold up!" Sehun raised a hand. "Are you talking about Kris Wu?"

"That's it! That's the name he mentioned!" Tao slapped Sehun's arm in surprise. "Xiu said something about crushing that guy. Then I remembered when he taunted you about your girlfriend being his wife or something, right? I just..." His shoulders slumped at a grave thought. "I hope I'm wrong, but I got the feeling this whole plan for Kris Wu will affect you too, especially with Xiu thinking Emi ran away because of you."

Sehun curled his hands into fists. I'm sure it does have something to do with me. He heaved a heavy breath. Damn it, Xiumin! What are you planning?

Tada! A longer chapter!

I think I'm loving the JongLin ship. I enjoyed writing them a little too much. Ha! Anyone still shipping HunLin though?

Anyway, I know what you guys are thinking. "Who the hell is Emi? Why new character?" Okay, first off, I did give a hint on her existence (though I didn't mention her name) in the chapter where Xiumin first appeared. Second, don't worry. You don't have to know too much about her. I'll probably reveal a bit more about who she is to Sehun later. But rest assured, she wouldn't mess up with Yeojin's life (or the SeJin/HunJin ship lol)