ᴺᴼᵂ ᴾᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : Chapter 9
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When Ren and Laney got Kai back to his apartment and got him to his bed he Immediately passed out. Ren and Laney stood in Kai's living room when Laney turned and looked at ren.
"What was that all about?" she raised a brow at ren
"Do you think he will forget about this by morning time?" Ren refused to look at laney
"Don't avoid the question Ren, what's been going on?" laney snapped her figures trying to get ren to look at her
Ren thought about it, how does she explain all of this to laney?
Ren took a deep breath and sat down next to Laney. She knew she needed to explain the situation to her friend, but it was a complicated one. "Okay, so there was a night when Kai showed up at my apartment" Ren began, trying to ease into the conversation.
Laney nodded, a puzzled expression on her face. "Yeah, that's really not out of the ordinary"
"Well, it's not what it seems," Ren replied, feeling a little nervous. "You see, it just so happened that Chan was there too."
Laney's eyebrows shot up in surprise. "Chan? Why was he there?"
Ren took another deep breath. "He was actually there to help me build a dresser. I had bought it and I needed some help putting it together. So, I asked Chan and he kindly offered to come over that night."
Ren sighed. "I think he misunderstood the situation. He saw Chan there and assumed something was going on between us
"Is there?" Laney gave her a look "why was Chan of all people there? Why'd you ask him?"
Ren let out a heavy sigh. She knew this was gonna happen. She knew that Laney would have a lot of questions. It went so much deeper than just a dresser.
"I don't understand" Laney said as she looked at ren "why was chan at your apartment?" she asked again getting impatient
ren ran her fingers through her hair "its not like that I swear, we just kind of clicked yah know, you know that bar you saw me at? yeah well I was there with chan, since then we started texting and that turned into late-night video chats and that turned into us casually hanging out," Ren groaned.
"Okay, um well, why did Kai get so upset?" Laney asked
"I have no idea, it just came out of nowhere, then he turns around and does this that outburst he had in the parking lot was new even for me" Ren looked down at her feet
"Is there something going on between you and Chan? why have you not told me anything about this if there's not?" Laney just wanted answers
ren sighed and took a deep breath "Look, I know it looks bad, but nothing is going on between us. We're just friends, I promise."
Laney studied Ren's face, trying to read her emotions. She knew her friend well enough to know when she was lying, but right now, she couldn't tell.
"Okay, but why didn't you tell me about this? We tell each other everything," Laney said, feeling a little hurt.
"I know, I'm sorry. I just didn't want to make a big deal out of it. Chan and I are just hanging out, it's not serious. I didn't think it was worth bringing up," Ren explained.
Laney nodded, understanding a little better now. She couldn't be mad at Ren for not telling her, but she wished she had known.
"Okay, I believe you. But can you promise me that you'll be honest with me from now on? I don't want our friendship to suffer because of secrets," Laney said, placing a hand on Ren's shoulder.
"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.
With her work responsibilities taken care of, Ren allowed herself to fully relax and unwind. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, imagining the warm sun and gentle ocean breeze of her soon-to-be vacation spot. A smile spread across her face as she drifted off into a state of bliss, knowing that she deserved this much-needed break
Thoughts of chan clouded her mind as she lay there, something that had started becoming a more frequent thing. The thought of being on vacation with Chan made her giddy. She knew it wasn't going to be just them but being around him outside of work had started to show a different side of him, one she enjoyed, this time it would be for more than just a couple of hours.
After everything kai said the night before it all swirled around in her head and it brought light to the feelings she had for chan, feelings that snuck up on her and now she needed to deal with her own feelings hopefully better then kai did. The thought of chan stayed in her mind and butterflies fluttered in her stomach just as the butterflies sped up there was a knock at her door.
She opened her eyes hoping this wasn't about to be yet another problem, she stood up from the couch and waddled over to her front door. As she slowly opened the door she was met with a smiley chan as he held bags of food in his hand.
"I didn't order food" she smiled as she joked
"Oh, dang" he looked at the bag and read the receipt "that's unfortunate, i heard this place was really good" he grinned
"I wouldn't mind stealing it from whoever it belongs to if the cute delivery boy came in and ate it with me" she absentmindedly flirted with him
What she didn't expect was for him to do it back
"And miss the chance to comment on this crime with such a cute girl?" he smirked as he replied to with a small blush
She moved out of the way letting him enter the apartment, and she wondered why he was here right now.
"So why did you deliver this to me?" she tilted her head as she followed him over to the couch
"The truth?" he raised a brow at her as he made himself comfortable on her couch
"Duh" she rolled her eyes playfully
"Would it be totally lame for me to say it was because I missed you?" he stared at her
"So lame" she sat down beside him a smile on her face
"Then it's because I was hungry and had no other reason" he smiled as he took the food out of the bags
"Well, that's a much more believable reason," she laughed, grabbing the food out of the bags and opening them up. "What did you bring?"
"Just some BBQ. I know it's your favorite," he said, handing her a box of rice.
"Wow, you really did your research," she teased, taking a bite and savoring the familiar flavors.
"I wanted to make sure you were well-fed," he said, his tone turning serious. "I know you've been busy lately."
"Yeah, it's been hectic," she sighed.
Chan was kind of sad and glad that she didn't take him too seriously when he told her the real truth, a conversion that he wanted to have but one he wasn't ready for the fear of rejection settled in his stomach at the thought of having that conversion right now.
The two sat eating their food and chatted, joking around and talking about the show that played on the tv.
"Are you ready to be stuck in a house with me for a few days?" chan looked at her
Ren looked up from her phone "its gonna be miserable" she smiled
"I'm the least of your problems, there's 7 others you really have to worry about"
"And i'm sure they aren't as bad as you" she grinned as she picked on him
"The worst," he laughed as he shoved more food in his mouth.
As Ren finished her food she stared at the tv absentmindedly, she slowly started to fall asleep as she unconsciously laid her head on chans shoulder. The warmth and comfort she felt when he was around had put her at ease, something that was very much needed. The smell of his cologne surrounded her and she wondered what it would be like to cuddle with him, to be wrapped up in his arms. With Chan there was no stress, the bond that had been created between them was easy and never forced. He felt safe. As Ren drifted off, Chan wrapped his arm around her shoulders and smiled as she relaxed.
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