Lips Red As Blood

25 |

Kai flings open the hotel door, not caring how loud the door bangs against the wall. "Asher, my little poopsie darling," he trills, overhyped — apparently from all that "juicy details" Cora revealed. "We're back, so there's no need to shed more tears from us being away." 

It's too dark to see anything, yet Cora is ninety-nine percent sure Asher isn't "shedding tears" over them. "He's probably sleeping," she sighs. "Also, did you just call him 'little poopsie darling?'" 

"Yes, I did." There's a rustling noise, as Kai fumbles for the light switch. "Are you jealous that I have a nickname for him and you don't?" 

He finally switches the light on and the momentarily burst of brightness startles Cora so much, she accidentally trips over the carpet and falls on her face. 

"Oh, no. You fell." Kai makes a faux sad face, though his glee shows. When Cora sends him a death glare, he starts laughing. "That's karma for tripping me in the marketplace." 

"You suck," Cora replies, before glancing up. 

The hotel room leaves her breathless. She got a peek of it when they dropped Asher off, but up close, it's more gorgeous than before. 

The floor is made out of marble, a modern chandelier dripping from the ceiling. It's like a tiny house shoved into one: the kitchen and living room to the right, bathroom and study room to the left. In the middle, tiny stairs trail all the way up to another glass floor, where there are three beds neatly made. 

There's a balcony, translucent white curtains swirling through the wind. Beyond that, the view is breathtaking. The night sky sets as a background, a dark beautiful shade of black, as the city lights flicker with color. 

Outside hums with lights  — tiny gold and electric red lights pouring through — and traffic rushes. For a moment, even if it's just for a second, Cora savors the tiniest hint of electricity that threads through her. 

"Do you know how to cook?" Kai asks and Cora nods. After living with a sister who barely knows how to use a microwave, Cora took it upon herself to learn how to cook so they wouldn't have to eat any more take-out food. "Alright, then you start preparing the tteokbokki and I'll make Asher's delicious drink." 

The way he says "delicious drink" sounds so suspicious, Cora almost feels bad for the person drinking it. 

Thirty minutes later, the delicious mouthwatering scent of spicy sauce wafts through the air, as Cora sets the tteokbokki on the table with a satisfied smile. Her smile disappears when her gaze moves slightly to the left, where Kai's holding a drink. 

Chunks of random black jelly are filled up to the top of the glass, huge cubes of sugar slowly falling to the bottom. The liquid portion is a mix of clear water and golden-brown, as if it's not sure what color it wants to be — and if that's not worse, Kai decides to stuff boba, yellow pudding, and freaking jelly beans inside. 

"That looks quite unhealthy," Cora mutters, eyeing the multi-color jelly beans. "I'm pretty sure Asher would've been fine with just the boba." 

Kai shrugs, making a silver shard materialize. Then he stuffs it into the drink, tilting his head in consideration. "Should I add whip cream?" he asks innocently. "It looks like it's missing something." 

"No!" she shouts, before lowering her voice. "I mean, no. It already looks too sweet, so there's no need to add more things." 

"Oh, really?" A soft frown appears. "Maybe you should try the drink to make sure it's suitable for Asher." 

He tilts the drink in Cora's direction and she watches in horror as the nauseatingly sweet liquid is two inches away from her face. 

"That looks disgusting," Cora says, when she sees the evil grin on his face. There's no point in keeping a façade up if the other person isn't even trying to hide their malicious intent — which, in this situation, is most likely trying to make Cora puke from all that disgusting spasm of sweets. "Get it away from my face, Kai." 

"Suit yourself." Taking a big chug of the drink, Kai lets out a contented sigh... only to spit the liquid out. Sputtering, he starts coughing. "Why is this so sweet?" 

Cora facepalms. "Oh my lord, are you an idiot or something? You legit put, like, five separate desserts inside!" 

He goes beet-red. "Whatever. You know nothing." With an embarrassed huff, Kai clumsily starts forcing the drink down Asher's lips. "See? Asher loves this so much, he's peacefully and contentedly drinking this, as he should." 

Asher's dark lashes abruptly move upwards, revealing blood-shot green eyes. Making a choking noise, frantically motioning at Kai, he tries to shove the drink away. 

Kai, who isn't paying attention, just ignores the writhing body. Right until Asher can't take it anymore and shoves the drink. "Bloody hell—" Kai yelps. 

Everyone watches in utter horror as the drink soars through the air, launching all the way. Then it smacks up on the ceiling, splattering both the ceiling and TV with liquid. 

Silence. 

"Uh..." Kai slowly backs away. "That was Asher's fault. Anyways, since this is his fault, he should clean it up. Bye!" 

He darts up the stairs and hides underneath the blanket, pretending to be sleeping. Asher looks so shocked, he lets out a disbelieving scoff. "What just happened? Did he just force clean-up duty on me for being unconscious?" 

Cora laughs softly at Asher's expression. "Don't worry," she sighs, taking pity. "I'll help you clean." 

They are so preoccupied with wiping off the liquid, that it isn't until Asher sets down a napkin and stares intensely in Cora's direction that she feels butterflies flailing through her stomach. "What?" she stammers. "Why do you keep staring at me?" 

Asher hesitates. "When I was... paying for the bottles, did I say anything strange?" 

What should I say? Cora starts panicking, trying to think of an answer. Yes? No? Maybe? 

The harder he stares, the more Cora flails for words. "Like, um, a specific person?" He scratches his neck inconspicuously. "I don't know, I just feel like I said something wrong because you've been giving me weird looks ever since we were cleaning—" 

"Yes!" Cora bursts out, and he blinks, startled. She takes a deep breath and tries again. "Yes, you did. You mentioned someone named Leticia." 

Author Note: 

who thinks asher's going to reveal anything about this leticia person?