Falling into place

Chapter 9

"Yeah." Ren didn't want to make promises. She felt that Laney had been hiding something since before she even moved back.

"What are you going to do about Kai?" Laney lifted a brow

"I guess I'll stay here tonight, make sure he's okay, and talk to him in the morning." Ren looked threw the door of Kai's bedroom where he lay there sleeping.

"Do you want me to stay?"

Ren shook her head. "No, I've got it handled," she lied, she didn't know how to handle this.

With that, Laney left. Ren looked around the apartment and decided the couch would be the best place to stay. She plopped down and started scrolling through her phone. The apartment was dark. Only the moonlight illuminated the room dimly. About an hour later like clockwork, Chan texted her asking if she wanted to FaceTime, and of course, she did not deny it.

"Hey," She greeted him silently.

He gave her a weird look as he looked at her surroundings "Where are you and why are you whispering?"

"Kai," she said simply. It's not like she didn't want to explain everything to Chan, but with Kai only a few feet away from her, she didn't want to risk him waking up and hearing whatever she had to say.

"Ah, do you want to talk about it?" Chan asked quietly. Ren could see the concern in his eyes and it made her want to spill everything right there.

"Not now. I'll tell you about it later."

The two sat on the phone with each other for a couple of hours until they both fell asleep. When Ren woke up the next morning, she came face to face with Kai. His head was tilted to the side as he furrowed his brows.

"What are you doing here?" he asked as Ren sat up on the couch. She rubbed her eyes before looking at Kai with wide eyes.

"You don't remember?"

Kai furrowed his brow again as he shook his head. "I can't recall much from last night. All I remember is drinking and flirting with this girl, persuading her to come back with me, and then everything goes blank."

Ren let out the breath she didn't know she was holding. She had wondered if he'd remember anything he said to her last night and she was thankful that he didn't. It would have made things very awkward for them both.

"You passed out. The girl you were with called Dae who then called me and Laney. Then we picked you up and brought you here."

Kai hummed in response. He caught flashes of Ren and Laney bringing him home and laying him in bed, but anything before that was a blur. He couldn't make out any faces or any words that were said. For once, he was thankful the alcohol clouded his mind.

The male stood from the couch before pulling a fake smile. "Well, thank you for making sure I was okay."

Ren returned his smile as she said, "It's not a problem, Kai. Just drink responsibly next time, please."

He nodded, the smile still plastered on his face. "Promise."

Ren gathered her things and left not long after. As she got in her car and started the engine, she hoped that he'd keep that promise.

Ren let out a sigh as she entered her apartment, feeling completely drained from the past week's events. She couldn't wait for this upcoming vacation, which was only a week away. The thought of escaping to a peaceful and relaxing destination sounded like heaven right now.

She collapsed onto her couch, grateful for the chance to finally rest her tired body. As she scrolled through her work app, she made sure that the schedule for the upcoming week had been posted before closing the app. The last thing she needed was to be surprised by any last-minute changes or assignments.