Short Stories-Kai Ships Only! Volume 3

🍯Beomkai- Red Scarf

"You know, I gotta say, I never expected to see you again."

Beomgyu didn't expect it either. There was something about the blonde that he just couldn't get over. Mixed emotions came whenever he thought about him. On the one hand, he hated him with every fiber of his being. On the other hand, he still had the scarf was he given the day they met.

Kai was in prison because of him.

His cooperation lead to an immediate arrest yet he couldn't bring himself to throw the scarf away. Though weak, it still had the blonde's sweet peach scent. Visiting him in jail was his attempt to resolve his confusion. Seeing his angel face behind a thick plastic window, didn't make his feelings clearer. "I didn't either to be honest."

"Well... while I got you here..." Kai pretended to ignore the scarf loosely wrapped around his visitor's neck. The wool was an odd choice considering it was July but he guessed it wasn't weirder than visiting the person who kidnapped him. "What did you spend the money on?"

"I uh- I didn't."

"You didn't?"

Beomgyu couldn't explain why either. The day he got it was the day he transferred the money into a high interest savings account. $250,000 has been sitting in there untouched since. "No."

"Interesting." Kai started to lightly drum his fingers against the metal table when the conversation went dead. The palpable tension could be cut with a butter knife. Beomgyu clearly wasn't going to speak so he took the initiative. "So...? How's the weather outside?"

"Sunny. Really hot."

"Sounds nice."

"It is." Beomgyu fiddled with one of the ends of the scarf, still unsure of why he was there and what he was expecting out of coming. "What's it like in here?"

"It's fine. Gets repetitive seeing the same people every day and doing the same thing but it's manageable."

"Glad to hear that."

"Yup." Kai willed the clock to move faster after the conversation went dead again. The bottom of the scarf looked frayed and worn out. Certainly not the state he left it in. "What's it like out there?"

"It's fine. Nothing really changed to be honest. You were right about one thing though."

"That was?"

"I had a good story to tell."

"You told it well on the stand."

"Thanks..." Beomgyu briefly recalled sitting in the courtroom and fumbling around with his tie while Kai was being questioned. They asked the blonde if he had any part in killing Yeonjun beyond hiring hitmen to do it. He was then looked right in the eye and told "no." That day, his confusion started.

"So... I think I should get going. They're about to serve lunch soon."

"Right... food."

Kai stood up out of his chair then started to walk away. Before he was out of sight, he stopped and teased "fabric softener and air drying."

"What?"

"Fabric softener in the wash. Air drying to dry or else the scarf is going to disintegrate."

"Oh... thanks." None of Beomgyu's confusion was resolved as he watched the blonde turn the corner. He just stared at the scarf in his hand until an officer suggested he go.

Two weeks later, Beomgyu came back for reasons he still wasn't sure about. "Hi again..."

Kai decided he wasn't going to suffer through another awkward conversation so he decided to cut to the chase. "What are you doing here? Don't you have anything better to do?"

"Not really... I just..."

"You just what?"

"I don't get it."

"What don't you get?"

"I thought you killed Yeonjun." Out of nowhere, that admission, that phrase, unlocked an anger inside of Beomgyu that he didn't know he had. His ears started to feel hot. When he looked at the blonde, he didn't see a person. He saw the color red. "I was sure you did! YOU told me you were going to! What the hell happened after I left?!"

Kai was more confused than ever. They were both at the trial. He already told him this part and saw no point in sharing it again. "I already told you what-"

"-I KNOW WHAT YOU SAID BUT WHY?!"

"Why what?"

"WHY DID YOU CHANGE YOUR MIND?!" Beomgyu reluctantly took a deep breath after an officer shot him a warning look. "You said you wanted to shove your ring down his throat and watch him choke on it. Why did you change your mind?"

"I don't know."

"What does that mean?!"

"It means I don't know."

"So you're telling me that I had nothing to do with it?!"

"I'm sorry..." Kai shook his bangs out of his face to give himself a second to process the conversation. He knew he was a little crazy but Beomgyu's behavior was insane. "Are you offended that I didn't kill him?"

"NO!"

"Then what?"

"I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE I DIDN'T HAVE ANY EFFECT ON YOU!"

"Says who?"

"YOU!"

"But I never said that."

"WELL YOU'RE ACTING LIKE IT!" Beomgyu was given a verbal warning to either calm down or leave.

Kai was close to leaving again. This time, it was from irritation. "What's this really about Beomgyu?"

"You, ugh, you completely changed my life and I'm not even a thought in yours."

"While that's not true, why does it matter?"

"BECAUSE I LIKE-" Beomgyu stared at the blonde with his jaw wide open. He didn't bother to finish his sentence or see Kai's reaction. Instead, he simply got up and left.

During the drive home, there wasn't a single part of him that didn't wish he kept his mouth shut versus the horror of realizing why he had been confused after all this time. The second he got home, he ripped the scarf off and threw it in the trash. He then kicked the can as hard as he could and sunk to the floor. "Fuck..."

Months of therapy was undone by two visits to prison. Beomgyu felt equal amounts of depressed and insane. His biggest regret was not staying to hear what Kai was going to say back. At the same time, he didn't want to know. If the blonde liked him back then what? Kai was serving 25 to life. He was never going to get out.

And if he didn't feel the same way, what then? Keep going to therapy and hope he forgot about him one day? How was that possible when he was sitting on a quarter of a million dollars because of him?

The more he thought about it on his kitchen floor, the more he realized why Kai so intriguing in the first place.

Two months ago in the court room, he heard about his childhood, how happy he used to be, and how that lead to finding the person Kai hoped to be his fiance. What Yeonjun did to break them up would've made anyone snap.

Beomgyu understood him. Sympathy turned into empathy every time they looked each other in the eye. When the blonde spoke on the stand, he didn't speak to a lawyer. He spoke to him. By the end of the trial, no matter how hard his lawyer tried to paint him as an awful person, Beomgyu just couldn't see him that way. Yet despite feeling that way, he kept his mouth shut which inevitably lead to a life sentence.

One week later, to both of their surprise, he came back with a freshly washed scarf and a determination to finish what he started.

Kai only had one question to ask after seeing the bright red wool around Beomgyu's shoulders. "You were saying?"