Black Soda Drink [exo]

XIII

He hadn’t disturbed me at all that day and it wasn’t until late in the evening that I finally ventured out of my little hole. I needed to pee anyway.

Kris was lying on the couch, his arm covering his eyes. His phone was silent but the screen showed that somebody was calling him.

His mom again.

I shook his shoulder and whispered, “Wake up. Your mom’s calling you.”

He rolled over. “I’ll get it later.” He didn’t sound tired at all but he didn’t sound happy about the call either.

“Are you sure?” I rocked on my heels, wanting to help but also needing to run to the bathroom. “It’s your mom, though.”

“It’s none of your business.”

I nodded, even though he couldn’t see, and tiptoed to the bathroom. Kris was a guy who rarely talked about himself, but he always found his own time to open up. I just had to try not to pry, no matter how much I wanted to know his stories.

When I quietly crossed to the kitchen, Kris was already sitting up, staring at his phone. I had the biggest urge to go over and hold him. I didn’t even care if he told me anything or not. I thought he would feel better after visiting the bridge but I guess that wasn’t true. Something was still troubling him.

I put my unfinished noodles in the microwave. It was an awkward minute and a half as I stood against the counter, waiting. What could I do to make him feel better?

When I had been feeling stressed, Kris had taken me dancing…Or rather, he danced for me until I nearly peed my pants laughing.

I opened the cupboards and pushed aside the dishes and spices. I pulled out a can of Cola and put it in the freezer before grabbing a shank of beef. I wanted the meal to be a surprise but the living room was right behind me. Hopefully, he would be stuck in his stupor for a while.

Twenty minutes later, I had a dish of spicy beef with a bowl of rice at the side. I smelled the rice again, just to make sure it hadn’t gone bad from yesterday and then poked my head into the living room. Sure enough, Kris was still sitting in the same spot. Had he fallen asleep in that position? I wasn’t exactly quiet as I desperately tried to cook.

I brought the food to him, placing it gently on the coffee table. He didn’t look up so I went back for my noodles and his Cola.

He still didn’t look up, not even when I made it quite obvious that there was his favourite soda was sitting right in front of him. He must really be sad about something.

I took a seat on the floor, hoping to get a peek at his face from this angle, but he had his face covered by his huge bear paw of a hand. The first noodle I ate didn’t taste very good.

“Kris, the food’s going to get cold if you don’t eat it,” I said quietly.

I turned back to my food as he pulled his hand away from his face. He was crying, or had been. In the split second that I saw his face, I could tell his eyes were rimmed with red and his cheeks were damp with tears. I didn’t want him to know that I saw, though.

He told me himself that he had a sensitive ego.

We ate quietly, much like we always did, and it wasn’t uncomfortable this time. I picked out the small pieces of beef for him when he had neared the end of the plate and didn’t seem to notice the leftovers. I handed him a napkin when he nearly dropped some sauce on the rug. I wanted to act normal.

But I couldn’t get the image of Kris crying out of my head.

“Hmm, I think you finished all of it,” I said as I pushed around some pieces of pepper and looked for any meat that hadn’t been picked up. “Was it good?”

He nodded and quietly said, “Thank you.” His eyes didn’t meet mine.

I cleaned up. He offered but I told him it wasn’t much. It really wasn’t because once I was finished, he still hadn’t moved from the couch.

I frowned, not knowing what to do.

His phone rang again.

“Yuan, do you and your parents talk often?” He was staring at his phone but he was talking to me.

I gingerly took a seat next to him. “Often as we can.”

“You miss them, don’t you?”

“Of course,” I said, remembering the tears my mom cried at the airport. “They’re my parents. But they always make sure to call me every week, sometimes even more. It used to be annoying but now I look forward to the calls.”

“But you said your parents forced you to come here.”

His phone stopped and a missed call was shown on the screen. “They did, but they were only looking out for me.” I gently nudged his arm. “What about you? How did you get here?”

“I came willingly,” he said with a sigh. “Left my mom back home to come here, looking for fame. But here I am: a bank teller.” He held out his empty hands as if to show how much he had.

“Does your mom disapprove?”

Kris shook his head. “No, she’d never disapprove. She’s the kindest woman I know and I could say I wanted to go to the moon and she’d support me. But I feel like I’ve failed her. I’d left her and I failed her.”

“You didn’t fail her.” I put a hand on his sleeve. “As long as you’re still trying, you’re not failing her.”

He covered his face again, not letting me see his eyes as he explained himself in a frustrated tone. “I don’t know why she still worries about me so much. I literally packed my bags and said I was leaving, even when she warned me about everything. Why can’t she just leave me alone?”

I leaned my cheek against his shoulder and stroked my thumb along his arm. He was shaking. “Because she’s your mother and she still loves you. Even if you left on your own account, that doesn’t change anything.” Tears were pooling in my eyes now and my throat tightened. “Yixing left us willingly, but he’s still my brother and he’s still your best friend. We still love him.”

“I miss them both but…It’s different,” Kris uttered.

I nodded, even though I thought it was along the same lines. I didn’t have the voice left to say anything else because I was already crying. Maybe I was the one shaking and not him because the next thing I knew, I was curled up in Kris’s arms, sobbing into his chest.