High Key Stressed {Choi Yeonjun Series}

Chapter 6

Yeonjun stared at Luz' shorn hair that curled under, right along her jawline. Gone were the long, flowing locks that had reached to her bottom. Yeonjun realized that he would no longer be able to catch furtive glances of her while she pulled her hair up above her head. He sighed exaggeratedly.

"I don't get you," he said. "We've already talked about how Huening Kai is young and impressionable, and then you go and do something like this."

"Wow," Luz replied sarcastically. "It's fascinating how you can turn Kai into a victim here. For your information, I turned him down when he tried to kiss me," she revealed.

"Wait, he tried to kiss you?" Yeonjun choked out, startled by the new information. He knew Kai liked her, but he hadn't been aware of this development.

Luz rolled her eyes. "Seriously, I have to ask myself what gives you the right to meddle in my life. You try to pass this off as some kind of concern for Baby Kai, but this isn't about him at all. What is your deal? Is this jealousy? What is this?" she questioned, staring into Yeonjun's eyes. He broke the gaze first and looked down at his shoes.

"I don't know what it is," he admitted. "I just don't like the idea of you two getting close. And it doesn't get much closer than this. He's now weighing in on your hair choices. That's pretty damn close."

"I make my own choices," Luz reminded him. "No man dictates what I do with my hair."

Yeonjun nodded, conceding her point. "But I just feel like this type of intimacy is going to confuse Huening Kai. He doesn't need any encouragement to like you."

"Encouragement," Luz repeated. "Ah, so, you think I am encouraging him. You think I'm so needy that I just try to make every man I come in contact with fall in love with me. Well, this is really good information," she said. "I'm glad we've cleared up how you really feel about me." She turned her back on Yeonjun so that he couldn't see that tears were gathering at the corners of her eyes. "Why should I care what he thinks of me?" she questioned inwardly. Although she didn't want to care, she had to admit that she did. Somehow the thought of him being disappointed in her made her feel very uncomfortable.

Yeonjun swallowed hard. He had never intended for this conversation to take the turn it had. He pondered whether he should tell her he had feelings for her or whether he should continue to try to hide it.

"I don't play games," Luz said with her back still turned to him. "If I were encouraging someone's affections, they would know it."

"How would they know it?" Yeonjun asked for himself, no longer thinking of Huening Kai.

Luz spun around quickly. For the first time, Yeonjun was glad her thick braid was gone and could no longer cause him physical harm. She took several steps toward him, never breaking eye contact.

When she was just inches from his face, she let her glance fall to his lips. Yeonjun held his breath. She took one more step forward, forcing him to back away slightly. He fell into a swivel chair that was behind him. Luz pushed the chair with her foot until it was backed against the wall. She leaned over him, breathing softly against his cheek.

"This is as far as I can go without some encouragement from you," she whispered. Yeonjun searched her face for a moment. She really couldn't be clearer, he realized. She was here in front of him, offering her affection. He struggled for a moment, trying hard to remember why it was that he thought he needed to keep his distance, but his mind was muddled. He was utterly intoxicated by her hazel eyes and the smell of cocoa butter that drifted up from her skin. He tried to form words, tried to protest the inadvisability of them getting involved with each other, but nothing came out of his slightly open mouth. He slowly moved closer to her lips, a centimeter at a time until he finally met her soft lips with a soft moan of exaltation.

"Finally!" Luz thought as she felt him pulling her toward him. He tugged at her waist until she sat down atop him on the chair. She could feel his excitement growing as she gently rocked her hips against his. His breath came in short pants against her neck as he trailed kisses down her neck to her collarbone.

Suddenly, the moment was broken by the hard slam of the practice room door. Luz jumped to her feet and whirled around to see Huening Kai standing by the door with a mixture of surprise and hurt on his face.

"Sorry," he said rather too loudly. "I didn't know I'd be interrupting anything. When I left, I couldn't have guessed things would have led to this so quickly. Don't mind me, I just came back for my water bottle that I left here."

Yeonjun jumped up from the chair. "Kai, it's not what you think," he rushed to explain.

"Really? Because I think it's exactly what I think," Huening Kai spat back. "It's interesting, though, considering your many warnings to me about not getting involved with people we are working with professionally."

Yeonjun nodded. "I know how this must look after the conversations we've had about this very issue. I want you to know that I didn't intend for something like this to happen. I swear it," Yeonjun said in a pleading voice.

"Stop, hyung. Just stop," Kai said, holding up his hands. "You're a damn liar! You said you weren't trying to get in her pants, and I come in to find this. I mean, come on. You're a liar and a hypocrite," he finished emphatically, flashing Yeonjun his middle finger in protest before opening the door and running into the hallway. He slammed the door again behind him and took off for the exit.

Yeonjun followed him, sprinting to catch up to him. "Kai!" he yelled. "Kai, just stop and we'll talk it out."

Huening Kai kept running, never looking back. Yeonjun finally caught up with him and grabbed Kai by the arm. Kai whipped around and punched Yeonjun in the face with his free arm. Yeonjun stepped back and touched his lip as the salty taste of blood reached his tongue.

"Okay, I deserve that," he conceded.

Kai lunged at him again and Yeonjun ducked the punch. "Dude, come on. I let you land one punch because I deserved it, but you can't keep coming at me," Yeonjun scolded. "That's enough man. You got your shot in. Now, stop and listen to me."

"I don't have to listen to a damn thing!" Kai shouted. "You know how much I like her, and you led me to believe that you weren't pursuing her."

Yeonjun agreed with a nod of his head. "You're right, but I also said you shouldn't pursue her either, if you recall," he defended.

Both men were so involved in their dispute that neither noticed that Luz had approached. She slid between them, facing Huening Kai.

"Kai, this is my fault," she said with contrition. "I knew you liked me, and I shouldn't have been so vulnerable with you. It caused a short of fake intimacy that I didn't mean to foster," she explained.

"Oh, so it was fake? Thanks for that," he said caustically. "I thought we had a couple of moments where we were real with each other, but I'm learning that people are terrible. They never say what they really mean, and I shouldn't trust what I think my heart is experiencing because, for the other person, it's not even real." His voice broke unintentionally. He really wished he could control his voice. He didn't want to be vulnerable in this moment. He didn't want to be exposed as the inexperienced kid that he was inside. Despite all the suggestive dancing and lyrics, Kai had very little real-world experience with women. But he hated that Luz could see that. Everything inside him wanted to scream at both of them that he hated them and would never forgive them for this betrayal, but he knew that saying that would only cement his image as child who couldn't handle grownup emotions. So, instead, he chose to go out the door into the outside air. He never looked back at Yeonjun's and Luz' stricken faces.

"So, now, I know," he said aloud to himself as tears streamed down his cheeks. "Now I know that people are the absolute worst," he added as he waved down a taxi.