You're Kinda Sexy When You Get Angry

CHANYEOL

I lifted Baekhyun onto the kitchen counter, ruffling his wet hair in order to dry it. We had just finished a long and quite marvelous shower. “Okay, where’s dinner?” I pulled the fridge open and scanned the shelves for something we could eat. We spent money mainly on condoms and olive oil, so most of the food belonged to Tao and Kris.

“You’re wearing it.” Baekhyun chuckled. “Just kidding. How about we have some… yogurt?” He suggested. I pulled some out of the freezer and got out a spoon, feeding some to him and then taking some for myself.

“When did Tao and Kris say they would be home?” I asked, getting onto the counter with him. He shrugged.

“They should be here soon.” He rested his head on my shoulder.

I tapped the tip of his nose then gave him a small kiss on the forehead. “So what are your thoughts on the olive oil so far?”

He opened his mouth to respond but stopped when he heard Kris’ voice outside the door. At that moment, we had the same idea. We jumped off the counter and tiptoed to the door, pressing our ears up against it. There was no sound.

“Can I sing you a song?” I asked.

He groaned. “If you whisper.”

“Eaaaaavesdropping with Baekhyun… it’s my favorite sport…”

“You’re done.” He pushed the door open. “Tell me if you see anything.” I stuck my head and looked around until I saw them. Tao and Kris were a few feet away, sucking face against the wall of our dorm. I pulled my head back in.

“Don’t look. What has been seen can’t be unseen.” I closed the door gently behind me. He gave me a questioning look before opening the door again. After a few seconds he pulled his head back in, giggling. I began to laugh too as we looked out again. “EW.” I yelled. They immediately separated, Kris’ face becoming red with embarrassment. “Cock-blocker Chanyeol on his way to victory...” I sang softly before Baekhyun pulled me by the shirt collar back inside. A few seconds later the two decided to join us. Kris avoided making eye-contact with any of us, while Tao remained indifferent as always, as if it had never even happened. To break the ice, I put in my DVD of Cinderella and sat with Baekhyun, who held a notebook. I raised an eyebrow.

“Just watch what they do and tell me what happens.” He said, tapping the notebook with a pen, a devious smile on his face. Thus began the observation session. And I swear to God, it was by far the most annoying observation session. Every ten seconds they would make some kind of shitty joke. And no matter how stupid their jokes were, I had to keep pausing it so they could laugh hysterically at each other. I buried my face in a pillow for the eleventh time after Tao had declared that Cinderella had “emotional isSHOES.” This, of course had Kris rolling like a buffalo. Hold up. Roll like a buffalo? I like it. I am so writing that down.

Anyway, the movie ended and they left, holding their stomachs and chuckling. “What conclusions can we make from our data?” I asked. Baekhyun grunted.

“Kris has almost completely forgotten about his shoe, that’s for sure.” He muttered. “Judging by the way they laughed at everything the other said, and how red Kris’ cheeks were even when they weren’t being dumb, we can officially conclude that those two are…” He scribbled something and circled it. “Banging.”



TAO, Two Months Later

Slowly I tiptoed inside and saw Kris in the kitchen, stirring some ramen. I wrapped my arms around his waist. “When will that be ready?”

“Two minutes.” He turned around and hugged me. “You’re home late.”

“I was studying. I brought you a present though.” I said, digging into my pocket and pulling out the money I had owed him for two months. He raised an eyebrow. “It’s to repair your shoe.”

He smiled. “I had forgotten all about that. I can’t believe you actually got it!” I ruffled his hair and set my backpack on the table before going into the bathroom. “Could you get my wallet from the front pocket of my bag?” I called. He nodded and I shut the door. I finished doing my business before walking back out into the kitchen to see Kris sitting on the floor, staring at something in his hand. His face was twisted into an expression of fear and sadness and confusion.

“What is this?” He asked, lifting it up. I recognized it immediately as the pistol I had used earlier that day to get the money.

I bit my lip and looked away, trying to come up with some kind of other lie. “There’s nothing in it.” I choked, failing to come up with any excuse.

“You weren’t studying today, were you?” His voice dropped to a whisper. I shook my head. “Tell me what you were doing.” I pointed to the money on the counter I had given him earlier and shrugged. He took a deep breath. “Okay. I won’t get mad. Tell me what you did. I’m going to give you a chance to explain. Did you… steal this?” He pushed himself up and crossed over to me, his knees trembling. I nodded and avoided his stare, ashamed.

“The gun’s not loaded. I just use it to scare them. That’s how I got your money. I point it at them and they hand it over.”

“What are you saying? You say this as if it’s something you’ve done before.”

“It is.” I lifted my eyes to his. “That’s how I was able to afford this place. I was accepted and my mom began working three jobs to make enough. It wasn’t enough. After selling more than half our furniture and belongings it still wasn’t enough. So I put on a ski mask and got to work.” I explained. He gripped the kitchen counter, breathing heavily as if he was going to pass out.

“How many times did you say you’ve done this?”

“I didn’t.” I looked away again. “But in case you’re wondering… four times.”

KRIS

“Why didn’t you tell me this earlier?” I said breathlessly. He stood there, unmoving, expressionless as usual. He pressed his lips into a thin line. “Why the hell aren’t you talking?” I yelled.

“Because I knew you’d react this way.”

“Give me one reason why I shouldn’t react this way!” I snapped, my face growing hot. “You’re a thief and a liar, Tao!” I lowered my head, not wanting to see him.

“Do you think I do this because I want to? Do you think I take pleasure in lying to you?” He yelled. “I didn’t tell you because I liked you. And you already had gotten over hating me for your fucking shoes, why should I go and tell you this about myself? And you liked me too. So why should I go and tell you something like that? And in case you didn’t know, all the theft is what led me here in the first place. All this bullshit led me to you.”

We were silent for a moment. The only sound was the ringing of the clock tower outside. “I happen to be grateful for all that bullshit. I don’t regret anything because I would not have met Baekhyun or Chanyeol or most importantly, you.” He stopped before mumbling, “I love you.”

My head snapped up. “What?”

He stood in front of me and, for the first time, I saw him as an actual human—fragile and vulnerable. Tears were bubbling up in his dark eyes. “You heard me the first time.” He whimpered, swatting a tear from his cheek. “But if you want, I’ll say it again. I love you.”

For a minute, I stood there in shock before walking towards him, hugging him against my chest and holding him close. I didn’t know what to say to him. He sobbed into my shoulder, repeating over and over that he was sorry and he never meant to upset me. “I will do whatever you want,” He whispered, gazing up at me with red and wet eyes. “But please, don’t turn me in. I’ll make things right.”

“Tao… I don’t know.” I replied. He bit his lip and put his face back into my shoulder. As a kid, it was drilled into me that dishonesty was the worst thing in a person. I had learned to report bad things and put justice and morality before everything else. I was never to even speak to anyone who could ever break the law for any type of purpose. And now here I was, with the most perfect and gentle person I had ever known, who also happened to be a kleptomaniac. I cupped his chin in my hand and tilted upwards so I could see his eyes. His bottom lip trembled as he melted against me once more. “Let’s go to bed. We’ll talk about this later.” I said, smoothing his thick, black hair.

He nodded and I led him into our room, removing my clothes down to my boxers and crawling into my bed. He sat there weeping. I propped myself up on one elbow and beckoned him to come over to me. He did as I asked, sitting on my mattress as if it were a bomb about to explode at the slightest touch. I took his hand and brushed it against my lips. “Lay down. I said we’ll talk about it tomorrow. Sleep in my bed tonight, okay?” I gulped, feeling my stomach clench at the thought of sharing a bed with him for the first time. Slowly he moved next to me, still in his clothes from today. After taking a deep breath, I brushed away more of his tears.

“Don’t cry, okay? I hate seeing you upset.” I sighed, closing my eyes and letting him squirm into my arms. Bending down slowly, I gave him a small kiss to assure him that for now everything was okay. Again we made eye contact and he smiled that precious little smile I liked so much. “Aren’t you uncomfortable?” I asked, motioning to his clothes. He stripped down to an undershirt and some boxers before cuddling against me again, still crying.

Each sob ripped at me, making me feel for him even though I knew I shouldn’t. I thought of what he had told me earlier about his mom working three jobs and selling their stuff. I thought of how a month ago he had to sell some of his clothes so he could finish paying some debts and I immediately felt horrible for never helping him, for never even asking if he needed anything or asking why he kept selling his stuff.

“Kris,” He murmured. “I’m so sorry. I just didn’t know what else to do. No one wanted to hire me.”

“Shh, we’re not gonna talk about it.” I reminded him once again, rubbing his back and burying my face in his hair. I closed my eyes for a moment and his bawling stopped. I opened one eye to see him gazing at me. I opened my mouth to ask, but was immediately cut off by a few small kisses on the corner of my lips. Before I could object, he was on top of me, his mouth pressed hard against mine. I could feel bruises forming as kissed me harder.

“Tao,” I interrupted, placing my hands on his chest. “What are you doing?”

“I’m really emotionally fragile right now, the least you could do is pretend you like me.” He began tearing up again, moving away from me and rubbing his eyes.

“Don’t say that. You know I like you. I would not have invited you into my bed if I didn’t like you.” I captured his lips again violently. He let out a soft groan before putting his hands on my cheeks to pull me closer. His tongue slid in once again, battling mine for dominance until he had won. The smell of him filled my lungs, making my stomach flip over. His wet lips drifted down to the hollow of my neck and his hands moved lower as well. I felt his warm and sweaty fingers fiddling with the waistband of my underwear and I finally came to a conclusion.

Even if he was a criminal and a liar and my complete opposite, there was no one in this world who could ever make me feel as happy as Tao could.