Winter Hearts

Killing Him Softly Gently Kindly

Hongbin watched Ken out of the corner of his eye, and noticed Siana's response from across the street was polite, but lukewarm. He could see that, although Ken had started out turning on the charm almost out of habit, it was he who was getting charmed by Siana, as they all were, but perhaps was believing too much that his attentions would be reciprocated.

Hongbin hoped that Siana wouldn't lead Ken on, even if unwittingly. He hoped she had that extra sense that many didn't - to do the right thing at the right time, not too late, not too cruel.

He felt she would, and watched her carefully as she crossed to meet them. She was smiling sunnily back at Ken, but he felt the smile didn't quite reach her eyes. In fact, he got the impression she like a close friend about to drop some bad news, all ready to be business-like about it.

Hongbin looked at Ken, who was smiling almost dopily at her. Oh, he hoped she was kind about it.

Siana reached their side and looked at everyone, asking what they were doing here.

"Panos asked us to join the game," Hyuk piped up.

Siana realised that must have happened at the end of the night last night. It reminded her that maybe they were aware of her leaving with Leo. She sensed an opportunity to get things straight with Ken.

"Oh, I didn't know. I left early with Leo," she stated, baldly, hoping she didn't go red or get emotional.

She looked at Hongbin in the eye, trusting that he would be as sensitive and knowing as he had proven to be at dinner. He remained pokerfaced. She looked at Ravi, who seemed surprised. She saw that Hyuk was keeping his face non-reactive like Hongbin. When she finally looked at Ken, she saw innocent eyes wide with surprise.

"You left with hyung? Why?" She was trying not to read his expression as crestfallen, but rather as curious. She felt awful, as if she were a cat about to play with a wounded bird.

"He walked me home. But my dad picked us up before we got there." She paused a moment, letting Ken absorb the information. It was enough information to give a big hint, but was also somewhat commonplace, an observation of polite behaviour on Leo's part. She hoped there wouldn't be more questions, because she didn't want to have to spell it out to Ken that he could be cute all he liked, as long as he didn't expect it to go further than companionship.

Ken smiled, flirtily.

"Ooooh, alone time with hyung!" Siana hoped it didn't show in her face that he was absolutely right, and more.

"Did he keep you safe from monsters?" he asked, playfully.

"He did actually. We bumped into those gypsies again. Thank goodness he was there," Siana said, trying to drive the point home without driving too hard.

"What! Are you okay?" Hongbin asked, concerned.

Siana nodded, saying clearly, "Leo was with me when I needed help."

She felt like she was all kinds of liar.

She let that statement sink in, watching Ken's smile as he nodded in understanding. She smiled too, trying not to appear pitying, but warm, neutral. 

Ken's smile seemed to waver, but it remained. "Ah. I see. Leo Hyung was there for you."

She wanted to hug him, but that would be the worst thing to do at that moment.

"That's when I called my dad," she said, "And I think he was grateful Leo was there. I think he showed him the studio."

Ravi nodded thoughtfully.

Siana felt she could not go any further with it, so she changed tack. Looking up brightly at Ken, she asked, "You ready to get hurt?" She hoped that her high-handed, flirty banter would signal to him that between them, it could be just about fun and nothing else.

Ken smiled back, nodding vigorously. She noticed that all the seduction had gone out of his flirting - he seemed to get the hint. He was playing along, and she sensed that he had accepted the possibility that she might not be interested in him.

She felt relief that he had taken the hint so graciously, even if he was unaware that he was doing so. She didn't think he had a conniving bone in his body, and it was highly plausible that his good nature lead him to act this way almost without thinking. Even if it was going against what he wanted.

She realised it was safe to joke with him, maybe even flirt back more, but that she could easily cross the line into being a tease. So she wanted to keep things light and upbeat, easy for the boys to be comfortable with her around.

She led them to the unlocked door in the court perimeter, and they made their way to the bleachers on the side, partially covered by the school building rooftop. Along the wall of the building were various lockers, and she punched in a combination code in one of them and opened to reveal a basketball.

She tossed it to Ken, who began dribbling, running around the ball in a comedy mime. She could see he was good, and looked forward to playing.She heard the door creak open and saw the welcome sight of Panos walking in, across the courts.

All the boys turned, a couple of them wolf whistling as Panos flexed his way towards them. She laughed. They had obviously clicked after she had left last night, and that made her happy. Amidst the high-fiving and chest-bumping, she felt happy to be towered over by all these boys, happy that her cousin and her new-found friends were friends, happy that they were about to drop some heavy on each other on the courts.

They chose teams: she and Ken on one team, Panos and Hyuk on another.

After a quick warm-up it was time to play ball.