𝗺𝗼𝗼𝗻𝗹𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁 彡 𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐠 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧

22 | incandescence

CHAPTER 22
incandescence
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"Just step into the damn car, Riley."

"No, I am not stepping into that car with you, Christopher."

He sighs and leans his head on his wheel. "Rye, come on. It's raining, your clothes and shoes are drenched, and you still have forty minutes to walk since you walked the wrong way. Just let me take you home."

You shake your head and keep walking away from him. It's true, you did walk the wrong way. You thought it was the right way, but because you were drunk you mistook a turn for the wrong one and walked twenty minutes in the wrong direction. It's been ten minutes since Chan found you, and you still need to walk ten minutes back to the house and then thirty to your dorm.

"You're so stubborn, holy crap."

He keeps driving besides you. It pisses you off, but you're definitely not getting in the car with him. He is an asshole and you want him gone.

He sighs frustrated, "Come inside. I'll leave you alone once you're safely home, okay?"

You stop walking and turn your head to him. He hits the breaks and looks at you.

"Promise?" you ask him. He nods.

"I promise, Rye."

You sigh and walk up to his car. He unlocks the door and you step in, your drenched clothes staining his whole car. But Chan doesn't mind, he just wants you home safe.

"And stop calling me that," you huff. You put on your seatbelt.

"Can't help it," he says. You roll your eyes. In reality, you might not even mind that much.

Chris starts driving in the direction of the dormitories, his eyes on the road and sometimes on you. Why he's checking on you, you have no idea. He's probably just being annoying, like usual.

"Why are you even taking me home? You hate me. Wouldn't you rather have me fall down on the road and rot to death?" you ask.

He laughs, "I don't get why you don't see it," he says. He takes a halt at the traffic lights and moves his head to look at you. "I don't hate you, Riley. Can't you see that I care for you?"

Your heart starts to beat faster. Does he truly care for you? Can that be right?

Chris turns his head back to look at the road and moves back to first gear, ready to leave once the lights turn green.

"You're lying. You hate me, you have said so multiple times! You don't care about me."

"Why do you think I agreed to tutoring you, Rye?"

You scoff, "That's easy, you have told me yourself. You just wanted me to pass my tests for your own benefit so you could skip your classes," you answer. "You don't care about me, so you're a liar, Bahng Christopher. It was not because you care about me."

"That's what you made from it. You have always hated me since the beginning. I can't remember a time when you were nice to me. So yes, I told you that it was only for my own benefit, but that was after I tried telling you that it was because I care about you. I wanted you to pass because I wanted to help you. I wanted you to see that you're not terrible at English. You're smart, you just needed to see that yourself. That's why I helped you, Riley, so you could see that you're not as bad at English as you think. It was nice I could skip the classes, but I couldn't care less if I had English classes for a few hours a week or not. I just wanted you to pass your tests because I wanted it for you, and not for my own benefit," he admits.