Chapter 27| More Who Care

Chapter twenty-seven: More who care

O L I V I A

The next day was dull. Kai had obviously stayed over, but I wasn't speaking to him much. He was respecting my need for space and gave me as much as he could. He still couldn't resist being in the same room or stealing kisses every once in a while.

I sighed as I clicked send on my report for that week's progress to Jane. Hopefully, she would be able to work with my substandard attempt and make it look like it was actually worth something before sending it forward. It was almost dinner time but I had no intentions of eating. I knew Kai was tinkering around in the kitchen so I just stayed in my room, laying down. I was feeling a little under the weather.

The doorbell rang. I didn't get up. Kai wasn't supposed to open the door in case it was a stranger. I wasn't expecting anyone so I thought they'd just go away. But the bell rang again. Kai popped his head into my room.

"Can you please see who that is?" He requested. "I would but . . . ."

"I know." I sighed, getting up. "I'll get it."

He smiled at me once before he retreated to the kitchen. I slipped my feet into my furry slip-ons and trudged towards the door.

The bell rang again, prompting me to snap crabbily, "I'm coming! Jesus Christ!"

I pulled the door open with exaggerated force, keeping my bitch face intact. I started in surprise as Jane flinched away from the door and Brian grimaced.

"Hi?" Jane greeted me tentatively. "Is this a bad time?"

"For a normally sweet girl, you look pretty murderous right now," Brian commented.

I stared at them in shock.

"What are you guys doing here?" I asked when I found my voice.

"We came to see you because we were worried about you." Jane frowned. "You didn't answer any of our calls or texts."

"I texted you that I was alright," I said as I opened the door and tipped my head in that direction, wordlessly inviting them in. They clambered in.

"And then you went MIA so we thought that the exact opposite had happened," Brian told me.

"Ah," I nodded, "Make yourselves at home."

"Thanks." They removed their coats, hanging them on the hook and plopping down on the sofas.

"What can I get you? Water? Hot chocolate?"

"Nothing," Jane refused.

"Will you guys like to stay for dinner?" I asked them. A sudden realization hit me and it was all I could do to not let my hands flail about in panic.

Kaison!

"It smells heavenly," Brian sniffed. "Why not?"

"You said you weren't a good cook," Jane accused. "This smells out of the world. What are you making?"

"Haha." I laughed nervously. "I was being modest?" I excused but it came out more like a question. I dodged her inquiry by not acknowledging it. Why? Because I wasn't aware of the night's menu myself.

Awesome.

"Okay," Jane said, her tone uncertain. She glanced at Brian and they exchanged a weird look. She looked back at me. "That's . . . very, uh, noble of you."

My reaction was something between a cringe and a pathetic attempt at a smile.

"Why are you so jumpy?" Brian asked, unfazed by the heavy awkwardness in the air.

"I'm not," I said, my voice a pitch higher than usual. I resisted the urge to look back into the kitchen. "You know what? Give me a few minutes. I'll go get your food. You can watch the TV if you want."

"Okay . . . " They trailed off.

I was halfway down the kitchen by that time. I glanced around like a maniac but I couldn't spot Kai. What the hell? He was right there a minute ago.

"Kai?" I hissed lowly when I got there. Where was he?

"Here," he whispered back from the other side of the kitchen island. I jumped violently in surprise, tipping over a pan from the counter. It went crashing to the ground with a loud smash.

"Sorry!" I cried, hastily picking it up.

Jane and Brian turned to face the kitchen and I shot them a wobbly reassuring look. They smiled back awkwardly before they turned to give each other a knowing look. Kai stifled a laugh down there and I kicked his knee. That just set him off more and a snort escaped him.

Jane and Brian whipped around again and I kept myself from a facepalm.

"What was that?" Jane demanded.

"It sounded like a man," Brian stood up. "Do you have someone over, Liv?"

"Nuh-uh?" I tried to force my lips up. My hands clutched the counter hard.

"Your roommate, Griffin?" He thought out loud.

I was going to say yes but Jane beat me to it, "Nah, she mentioned he was moving out last Friday."

"It was probably your imagination." I barked out a laugh. "It's nothing."

"Are you sure?" He frowned.

"Yeah, it's a pretty secure building," I said as reassuringly as I could.

"Okay." He sank back into his seat reluctantly. I sighed in relief as I turned my back to them and faced the kitchen.

"What were you making?" I asked Kai lowly. He quickly listed it and instructed me to do the little that was left to do. I was so busy trying not to ruin everything, I forgot to keep an eye on my colleagues.

"Hey," Jane sauntered up to me. I almost dropped the container in my hands. "Whoa, relax!" She laughed. "You're even jumpier than we thought. These days were shit for you, hun?"

I laughed with her, my heart thudding in my chest. "Yeah."

"How can I help you?" She asked.

"Just sit down," I told her. "I'm almost done."

"Nah." She smiled, walking to the back of the kitchen, beyond the island to wash her hands. I quickly dropped the container on the counter, crossing my fingers in anticipation. "I'd love to help!"

It took her a minute to register the full-grown man crouching away from plain sight. She froze, staring at him with her jaw dropped. When her mouth opened and closed but no words came out, Kai decided to take matters into his own hand.

He put on his most charming smile and waved at her. "Hey."

Her answering scream was short and shrill.

"The fuck?!" Brian sprung from the couch and half-ran over to us in alarm. "What is it?!"

"Kaison fucking Jennings!" Jane screamed again. I covered my ears with my hands as a reflex. Holy shit, the girl could scream.

"Actually, my middle name is Eric." Kai stood up, dusting his hands on his pants. A sign of nervousness. "It's a pleasure to meet you guys." He extended his hand for Jane to shake. The poor girl was still in shock and ultimately, he just dropped his hand.

"Brian Walter," Brian introduced himself. The guys shook hands and it looked like a firm shake.

I wanted to disappear before any of them turned to me and I had to explain. I knew for one that walking backward slowly never works. I had seen it fail on the screen too many times. So I racked my brains for a distraction.

"Oh, my gosh! I love you!" Jane squealed like a teenager, solving that problem for me. Kai chuckled shyly.

"Thank you," he said.

"Wow!" She looked at him with starry eyes. "Can I hug you?"

Brian and I exchanged a look. She was definitely going to regret that later.

"Uhh . . . sure?" Kai agreed.

She practically jumped at him, clutching him tightly. It made me uncomfortable just watching it. Kai was visibly squirming.

"Hey, look! Dinner is ready!" Kai exclaimed, gently worming out of her grip. He quickly put my body between them both and the action made me want to laugh. I caught his hand and squeezed it comfortingly. Some of the tension in his muscles dissipated.

"What were you doing down there?" Brian refused to let it go.

"He was trying to find the earring I lost this morning," I lied quickly. "Did you?" I looked over my shoulder and tried to look as genuine as possible.

Kai shrugged, easily playing along. "Nope."

"What are you even doing here?" Brian asked as he poured himself some water. Those team dinners had him well acquainted with my kitchen.

"Visiting my girlfriend. Duh."

Brian spit out his water. My hands flew to my mouth and a hysteric laugh bubbled up my throat.

"Those articles are true?!" He asked incredulously.

"Which articles?" I asked him. He gave me a deadpan look. "No, seriously. We have been staying away from media of all sorts."

"Oh, there are many," Jane said as Brian cleaned up the mess he made. "That's why we were worried."

"If you're talking about the ones that say we're dating, yeah they're true," Kai stated, putting an arm around me. For some reason that made me feel less jittery and lifted a huge weight off my shoulder.

"Bitch!" Jane slapped my hand. "Why wouldn't you tell me?"

"Umm, it didn't come up?"

"I swear to God," she cursed. "I've never met someone who keeps their cards as close to their chest as you fucking do."

"I'm sorry," I said unapologetically.

"I hope I'm not crossing a line, but what about Chelsea?" Jane questioned. She seemed to be over her starstruck moment.

"She's just a friend." An involuntary scowl shadowed Kai's face. "We were never official."

She bit her lip in thought. "Oh."

"This is exactly what we've been avoiding all weekend." I groaned. "Guys, I love you, but can we just eat? I'll order pizza because we're sure to run out. It's enough for three, not four."

"Sorry about that." Brian smiled sheepishly. "We'll set the table."

"It's no problem," I replied with a smile. "And, thanks."

I felt relieved. At least that was two less people I needed to hide from.

* * * * *

My friends got along well with Kai. Jane was completely over her inner fangirl and it was such a relief because I was not sure how I would react to a handsy fan who happened to be my friend. Nothing pretty, that was sure.

As usual, Kai's cooking was impeccable and the pizza tasted like cardboard after that. But since we were hungry, we made do with it. We talked for a long while after we finished eating, both the parties getting to know each other. Brian discussed a lot of football with Kai while Jane and I talked and did the dishes in the kitchen. They left around half past nine.

I talked to Sam for a while after they were gone. She told me she would be here by Wednesday. She was an architect so she could work from home. She had been given an assignment with specifications and she would be working on that. Her parents wanted her to stay with them since they lived in the city but she had refused. She wanted to bring our dream to life: living together.

Currently, I was lying on the bed with Kai, half of my body on top of his and our limbs intertwined. It was dark since we had switched off the lights and were done with our night routine.

"I love you," I mumbled.

He breathed out a long breath. "I was afraid that had changed and I'm so happy to know that it hasn't."

"Hun?" I looked up at him.

"You were mad and you were pushing me away," he explained. "You didn't want to talk. I thought for sure that you would kick me out."

"That's stupid of you to think that," I chided him. "How could you even think that I don't love you anymore after one incident when I didn't stop loving you after six years of being apart?"

"I don't know." He sighed. "I'm just easily insecure when it comes to you."

"Me too," I confessed. "The distance did a number on us. And for the record, I was not mad. I was hurt because I thought you didn't want the world to know we were dating. I thought you were somehow ashamed of us. But when you told Jane and Brian, I realized it was not so."

And that's putting it mildly.

"What the- why would you think that?" He frowned. "I could never be ashamed of you, mon amour."

"You wore so many disguises whenever you were out with me. We acted like fugitives whenever we went out, always running away from the paparazzi."

"That's only because I didn't want you to have to deal with them!" He blurted. "I did not want you to be associated with me and lose the privacy you had. I didn't want them to tear you down like they do to me. I know you're sensitive to these things."

"Oh." I buried my head into the crook of his neck. "Now it's me who feels stupid."

He chuckled lowly, his hand stroking my back in soothing circles.

"And to think we could've enjoyed this weekend cooped up together, alone, instead of not talking and being alone under the same roof," he remarked. "That's a heavy loss. This can never happen again."

"I agree," I murmured. "Promise to talk about it the next time something bugs you or me?"

"Only if you do the same."

"I do."

He kissed my shoulder sweetly. "Then I promise, too."

I smiled against the flesh of his neck as the scent of him and his rhythmic heartbeat lulled me into a peaceful slumber.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

A/N:-

I'm so sorry for being late! Time just got away from me😅

QOTD: Have you ever been in love?

See you tomorrow! Take care <3

All my love,

xoxo.