"Okey okey, but I think we actually have to start talking about what we should do for the wedding", I said through laughter.
We were sitting in our seats in Coffee Talk, and it was quite fun. When we first arrived I was scared that it would be a little awkward but Chan was literally one of the most social persons I knew. He directly started talking and didn't even look awkward for one second.
I was able to talk with him without even stuttering or embarrassing myself, he just made me feel comfortable. After some jokes here and there we were totally distracted and forgot to even talk about the upcoming wedding.
"You're right, you're right. So what exactly is it that we're supposed to do?" he said after finally being able to stop laughing.
"So first off, my mom knows about us, not about it being 'fake' though. I felt like I had to tell her. As for the dance, we'll be going to a reserved dance room that they fixed for the dance we're going to dance at the wedding. And we're not the only ones there. It's going to be like an arranged dance, there is going to be a choreographer who will teach us the dance and arrange how we'll be moving. There will be a video of the dance so that we can practice after the classes because I will be needing it. What else?" I said as I thought about what else there was to say. "Ah yes. At the wedding itself you'll have to stay by my side or at least be with me for some time and then you can go to your friends or family, as long as you've been seen with me."
"Alright, and when do these dance classes start?" he asked.
"The day after tomorrow at around 1 p.m. until let's say 5 or 6 p.m. if we include the self practice."
"The days?" he asked yet again.
"If I'm not wrong every Tuesday and Friday. I hope that works out for you", I said.
"It should work for me", he said, nodding.
"Thank you again for doing this for me. I really don't know what I would have done otherwise", I said, sighing.
"It's nothing, really. I'm glad I can help", he said smiling, making his dimple show again.
The rest of the night we just talked about almost everything. About old memories we had together when we were little, in high school and so much more. We hadn't even realised that everyone left the place and that it was so late already until the worker there told us it was closing time. It was almost eleven and we were still talking and to be honest, I liked it. Chan was really kind and knew exactly what to say in every situation.
We slowly walked in the direction of the car but he turned a little and avoided the car and walked further, confusing me a bit.
"Do you mind walking for a while? I'm not really in the mood to go home yet", he said, looking at me with a pleading expression.
"Oh, sure", I said walking further with him.
We just walked next to each other not minding the silence between us. It wasn't awkward, it was a comfortable one. I could feel my heart speeding up and beating harder while being with him.
Even though it was summer the nights would be a little cold and the wind breeze would send shivers through my body as I felt the cold air hit my bare arms.
After only a few seconds I could feel the fabric of Chan's jacket resting on my shoulder after he placed it there.
A little confused I looked at him. "What was that for?"
"You looked cold", he said, putting his hands in his jean's pocket while looking up at the sky.
"Aren't you cold then?" I asked, staring at him while he still looked at the sky.
"Nah, not really", he said, but I could kinda tell he was from the way he was lightly pulling up his shoulders to warm himself up.
I held the jacket closer to my body to make sure it didn't fall off and to keep myself warm. I managed to mutter a small 'thank you', trying not to get his attention too much to hide my embarrassment.
After walking for a while we decided to return back home. After we said our goodbyes I walked to the door, I looked behind me and saw that he was waiting for me to go inside. I was trying to keep myself from smiling so that he wouldn't think weird of me.
After rummaging through my bag I realised I had left my keys inside, so I knocked on the door but no one opened. I knocked again, but again nothing.
"What do I do?" I said silently as I knocked again on the door but was greeted with silence yet again.
"Something wrong?" I turned around and saw that Chan had opened the car door and stood there looking at me.
"No one is opening the door and I forgot my keys inside", I said.
He walked to the door himself and knocked on it, harder than me. "Are your parents home?"
"I don't think so. The car isn't here so I assume they are still gone", I said as he nodded.
He knocked again. "Felix!"
I took out my phone and called Felix but he didn't pick up.
"He isn't picking up", I said.
"Now what?"
"Wait, I'll call my parents", I said as I delayed my mom's number because I knew that dad wouldn't pick up.
"Hello dear, is there something wrong?"
"Mom. I'm in front of the door but no one is home right now, where are you guys?"
"Oh, we? We will be home late, your dad had a party at the company and we'll have to stay till the end. Look under the doormat there should be a spare key and if it isn't there I'd say you spend the night at Tiffany's, no?"
"Okey, thanks. Bye."
"Bye."
And I hung up the phone. "Okey, they were no help. Step aside for a second."
He did as I told and I bend down to look under the doormat but as I expected, nothing. I one time took it from it's place and left it in my room to never return it back to its place.
"Let's hope Tiffany picks up because she is my only hope at the moment."
But as I expected, no answer yet again. Something was off but I couldn't quite come up with what it would be. Nor Felix nor Tiffany would be sleeping at this hour, both of them were late sleepers.
"Do you have a place where you can stay at? Like your family or some", Chan asked.
"I wish. My aunt is out of town to plan all of the wedding things and my grandparents went with them. And no other family member lives here", I said starting to get really frustrated. "I don't get it though. Felix and Tiffany are never asleep at this hour, both of them stay up super late."
"Coincidence, maybe both of them went to bed early today", Chan said while shrugging.
"What do I do now? I can't make you wait with me till my parents come, you go home I'll just wait till they are home", I said.
"You're crazy, I'm not going to leave you here alone in the cold while it's dark. You're coming to my place then", he said already turning around to walk to the car.
"I can't- I mean, wouldn't it be a bit inappropriate?" I asked.
"Why would it? It's not like you're doing this on purpose or something. I can't let you alone at this hour so you're coming to my place", he said almost entering his car. "Come on, get in."
I slowly walked to the car entering it. "I'm so sorry that I keep putting you in these situations. I'm just bad luck."
"Stop it, you don't have to blame yourself. It's really nothing, it's not like I mind spending time with you" he said, but the words left his mouth so easily that it couldn't even be misunderstood as a confession. And it wasn't.
"Sorry", I managed to say before he started the engine and drove to his home.
We walked inside and the first thing I heard was the sound of children playing.
"Shh, he's home", I heard a girl's voice say.
"Wait for me", I heard a little boy's one afterwards.
Chan walked in first and I just followed after him.
"CHRIS!"
A little body wrapped itself around Chan as he himself crouched down to give him a hug while the girl came walking with a smile on her face. I could see Hanna's and Lucas's eyes glistening after they saw their big brother.
As soon as I made eye contact with Hannah her eyes widened and she took a little sprint in my direction and hugged me.
"Luna!" And shortly afterwards Lucas came to me and hugged me as well making me fall to the ground with him on top of me as laughters filled the room.
"Wow, calm there", I managed to say after the fall. "How has my little monkey been?"
"Good!" Lucas said.
"Isn't it pretty late? Shouldn't both of you be in bed right now?" I said as I gave them a fake stern face, sitting upright.
"Mom and dad left us here alone because they thought Chris was home, but he wasn't so we waited till he would come", Hannah said while playing with the tips of her loose hair.
"Where are mom and dad?" Chan asked.
"I don't know, an after party from a company. We didn't quite catch what they said", Hannah said while walking back to Lucas to take him off of me.
"So irresponsible of them", I heard Chan say through a sigh just loud enough for me to hear because the children were busy talking between themselves.
"Okey both of you upstairs now, I'll come in ten minutes." He said to the two youngest.
"Yes sir." Both of them said at the same time while laughing, running upstairs.
"What's wrong?" I asked him when I saw that his face changed.
"I can't believe my parents just left them alone here, they knew I was gone. I just hate it that this happens all the time. What if something happens to one of them", I could tell he was frustrated by the way he was talking and the way he kept running his hands over his face. "They are so irresponsible."
"But Hannah is old enough, no? Isn't she fifteen?" I asked him.
"Yes but I just feel uneasy when they are left alone. I have been taking care of them since always, like what if something happens while I'm gone. Hannah is old enough to stay home alone but not old enough to take care when let's say a burglar breaks in", he said as he slowly picked up all the toys that the children left on the floor. "You can sit down. You want something to drink?"
"No I'm good", I said but instead of sitting down I helped him with cleaning the toys.
"You don't have to help", he said as both of us came eye to eye, crouched.
"It's the least I can do", I said as I stood up to put the last ones in the box filled with other toys. "So you were saying."
"Yes, it's just that I have been caring and loving them more than my parents did. Let's say ever since Hannah went to school that's when I started to care for them. I was only twelve, Hannah six and Lucas was one. My parents would leave for the company, leave only Lucas with my grand parents and I had to make sure Hannah would eat her breakfast. I helped her with her homework, I made sure her backpacks were filled with enough snacks or if she had all her books. I still do all of that. Even now for Lucas. And then when I had my drivers license at sixteen, everything was in my hands. I brought them to and from school", he said as he slumped down on the couch before I sat down beside him.
"You really care for them and they really love you. I wanted to say that I know how you feel but it actually isn't the same. Even though I can't really help you with all of this, I am glad you told me", I said, looking at him with sympathy.
"Sometimes I just get really pissed because of them", he said with a sigh. "Anyways, sorry for bothering you with my rant. I'll go to Lucas, if you want you can go to Hannah and in the meantime I can prepare the guest room for you."
"It really didn't bother me, I'm glad you told me. Thank you, again for everything", I said, giving him a small smile.
He walked upstairs and I just walked behind him. He walked to Lucas's room and pointed the way to Hannah's room for me. I knocked on her door and she gave me permission to enter.
"Hi there Hannah", I said as I slowly walked to her bed sitting on the far end.
"Hi", she said giving me a bright smile. "What are you doing here so late?" she asked me.
"Well, there is this little problem I had. I couldn't get in my house and nobody else was available at this hour, so here I am", I said as I sat a little closer to her. "How has everything been?"
"Good, I guess." She said a little unsure.
"Oh no, that doesn't sound very convincing. Wanna talk about it?" I asked her.
She moved a little to the said pointing for me to sit next to her. She covered both of our legs under the blanket as she comfortably placed her head on my shoulder.
"Okey, what's wrong?" I asked her. "Where did the smily Hannah of two seconds ago go?"
"I miss my parents. I know that I see them every morning and every night at least one time, but we barely talk. I don't want to sound selfish, but I kinda miss their attention. I'm the only girl in the house so it's hard to open up about some stuff to my brothers. I can't tell them about the guys I like because Chris will get overprotective and what will Lucas understand about it", she said while playing with the loose threads of the bedsheet.
"What about me, you can tell me everything if you want. I'll listen to whatever you have to say. Hey, listen up. What if I tell you that we'll do a girls night, just the two of us. I'll kick Felix out of the house and you can stay over. How does that sound", I said as I looked at her sideways.
She sat a little more upright and turned to me, widening her eyes. "Are you serious? Would you really do that for me?" she said while giving me a smile that reminded me of Chan's.
"Yes, I'm serious. Let's do it this Saturday. I'll take care of the snacks and I'll make sure there are movies and we'll do these fun challenges if you want. We can talk about our daily lives, things that you want to talk about, whatever you can imagine. My parents will probably be home late so we'll have the house for ourselves", I said as I saw her eyes grew bigger with every word I said.
"That would be amazing", she said while giving me a side hug.
"I'm glad it made you happy. It's getting late, I think you should sleep", I said to her.
"You're right", she said while getting fully under the blanket after I stood up.
"Goodnight", I said as I walked to the door.
"Goodnight", I heard her say. I opened the door but just before I could close it, she spoke up again. "Luna?"
"Yeah?"
"Thank you", she said.
"Anytime", I answered as I switched the light off and closed the door behind me.
When I turned around I saw Chan closing the door of Lucas's room. He was closing it silently which made me think that Lucas was probably already sleeping.
"Is she sleeping?" Chan asked me.
"Not yet, but she's probably going to sleep now. What about Lucas?" I asked him.
"Yup. Read him a story and he fell asleep", he said. "I'll show you the guest room."
We walked to the guest room but not that there was anything special to be shown, just the room and the bathroom. Nothing special. He just gave me pair of leggings and a T-shirt of his to sleep in.
"If you need anything just knock on my door. Most likely I'll be awake", he said walking to the door.
"Chan."
"Chris", he said after me giving me a smug smile which made me laugh a little. "Yes?"
"Thank you again for everything, it feels like out of every problem I have you come with a solution. So thank you", I said as I sat on the bed.
"It's no problem", he said as he walked to the door. "Good night."
"Goodnight", I said and he closed the door leaving me behind in the guest room.
I let myself fall on my back on the bed, staring at the ceiling. I was literally sleeping in Chan's house. It was all making no sense. I didn't know how all of this happened but to be honest I'm not complaining. Even though I knew it already Chan just confirms it the more I'm with him. He's really kind and just knows how to make a person feel comfortable.
He was just a little different than others.