Forget Where We Were (reupload!)

Chapter 9

Kiran stepped out of his bedroom, heading straight to the kitchen to get his early morning coffee. He was half-asleep, hair sticking out in all directions.

"Good morning to you too, darling, Happy weekend," drawled Theo, who was lounging on the sofa, both feet tucked under him.

Kiran hummed and mumbled, "Good morning, Theo. Glad the shop's closed today. Wanna just stay in and do some stuff, I dunno."

Theo raised an eyebrow, "Hey, what's with you? You've been like this the past few days, it's alarming. Are you sick?"

Kiran sighed and brought his cup of coffee to the sofa. He placed the cup on the table and sat on the other end, pouting.

"Thanks for the concern. Didn't know I still have a roommate," pouted Kiran.

"What? Why am I the villain here?"

Kiran rolled his eyes, "Sure. After you spent the whole weekend with Lukas? After you left me alone in the house? Maybe you should just move out and live with him."

Theo blinked once, twice, before laughing out loud, "Are you jealous of me finally having a boyfriend? Aww, did it fail with Mister Alhaitham the Sumeru Scribe? And you were so smitten with him."

The thought of it made Kiran's blood boil. He crossed his arms over his chest, "Ugh, I hate him. Why did he have to leave so soon? I didn't even have the chance to ask if I could write him or something. There's something about that unemotional straight face that I just can't get over! Why did he have to appear?"

Theo was grinning from ear to ear, "So you do have a crush on him."

"I do not! I met him a few days ago! We're acquaintances at best. If he likes me, he would communicate," said Kiran as he sipped his coffee. "I don't fall for guys who would refuse to chase me."

Theo hummed, moving on the couch to face Kiran as he swallowed a bite from his buttered croissant. "Then you already lost. How come you already expect him to chase you when you haven't even given him any signals that he could do anything."

"What does that even mean?" Kiran rolled his eyes. "Seriously, the thoughts you plant in my head, Theo! I swear I was not even trying to find a boyfriend or whatever before. I just wanted to find out who I really was and hopefully, regain my memories and remember my past, but now I am weirdly crushing on a guy from Sumeru who would never look at me that way."

"Oh, you sweet sapling. Romance is part of life! You do know that, right? Sure, we found you all bruised and broken, but you're here now. You're safe and you're slowly doing what you can, given the situation you got. If you fall in love with someone, that's not gonna hinder you from trying to find yourself and get your memories back, right?"

Kiran finished his now-warm coffee in one go before pushing himself up from the couch, "But it's weird! I don't even think he likes me! I literally talked his ear off, and he even has earpieces to block off the noise! He must hate me! It's not going to happen, Theo. I'm just gonna drop it and focus on fixing the briefcase."

"Sure, do that," shrugged Theo. "Or what if? What if you send a letter to Sumeru asking the Scribe if he can suggest books on how to fix ancient-looking things, what about it? Or maybe ask if his earpieces are doing okay, something like that?"

"Lame."

"How'd you know? Did you try yet?"

"Ugh."

"It's not gonna be lame if it works," Theo replied in a sing-song voice. "I dunno, you never know~!"

"I don't like you right now," groaned Kiran as he walked towards the study where they kept their tools for when they have to bring home some work from the shop. "I know your little romance with that Fatui worked for some reason, but that does not mean everyone's gonna get the same results, okay? But fine, I'll still try. It's not like I have something to lose but my dignity and pride."