Indebted To You (A BaekYeol Fanfic)

Part VII

Kai

I was happy that Chen and his groupies hadn't decided to make an appearance when I decided to go for a run in the park later that evening. My dad didn't really like me being out alone at night, but I always seemed to feel most calm then, when barely anyone was around and it was quiet enough for me to hear my own thoughts.

I was staring down at my phone to change the song when I felt someone run into me. Looking up, I realized I recognized him. I didn't know how exactly he was related to Suho, but I saw him hang around him enough time to know he associated with him.

"Watch where you're going," I said rather sternly, causing his eyes to go wide.

"S-Sorry," he said quietly, bowing at me. "I-I wasn't paying attention."

"Obviously or else you wouldn't have run into me," I said. I looked him up and down, trying to figure out why someone like him would be hanging around my neighborhood at this time of night. "What are you even doing out here? You aren't exactly from these parts."

"Just out, I-I guess. I...I needed some air," he said, looking up. From the way his voice sounded, even he sounded unsure of why he came here. I was about to tell him to go home when a car with some guy I had never seen inside pulled up beside us slowly.

"You boys need a ride?" he asked after he rolled down the window. I could tell by the look in his eyes that he wasn't offering us a ride out of the kindness of his heart.

"No. Keep driving, creep. Go fuck someone your own age," I shouted at him, waving him off. 

He sent me a quick glare before scoffing. "Whatever," he said, quickly speeding away after that. I turned back to him and he was looking at me with a bewildered expression. 

"Don't act like you didn't know what he really wanted. This is why you shouldn't be out here alone. Pervs like that will scrap pretty, vulnerable young boys like you right up," I said, letting out an annoyed sigh. He looked at me for a moment longer before looking down again, some kind of embarrassment written on his face. "Come on. I better walk you home in case he comes back around," I said.

"What?" he said, blinking at me with confused eyes. He shook his head and furrowed his eyebrows. "Why would you...y-you don't have to walk me home."

"Well, clearly I do because if I hadn't been here, you would officially become a missing person's case," I snapped back, slightly regretting the harshness in my voice when I saw him flinch a little. "Just accept my offer while I feel like being nice." Before he could say anything else, I grabbed his wrist and started pulling him back in the direction he came from, but we were barely able to make it to the end of the street when I saw Suho and Chanyeol headed toward us. "Great. Just what I needed tonight," I said under my breath.

"Kyungsoo! Where the hell were you? You almost gave us all a heart attack," Suho said. He looked at me and then down at my hand, which was still holding onto his wrist. He reached forward grabbed his other arm and pulled him over to his side. "Did you have anything do to with this?" he asked. 

"No. He's the one who ran into me," I shot back at him. "I figured with how much you hate me, you'd tell him to stay out of these parts past daylight."

"Watch yourself, Kai," he said, stepping a little closer to me. "That better be what happened because the next time I see you within any distance of him, under any circumstances, you're dead." 

I chuckled a little. "Trust me, that won't be a problem," I said and turned back around to walk away. I looked back once and saw the kid, whose name was apparently Kyungsoo, looking back at me as he walked away with Suho and Chanyeol. I sighed and went home. 

Taking the higher road would definitely be more difficult than I hoped it would.

Kyungsoo

I know it wasn't exactly the greatest first meeting, but I couldn't seem to forget Kai even after we made it back home. Maybe it was because I realized that if he hadn't been there, I really would have been taken by some stranger. Or maybe it was because despite how annoyed and uninterested he seemed in me, he still offered to make sure I got home safely. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but there was definitely something about him.

"Did you hear me? I asked what you were thinking leaving like that," Suho said after I finally stopped disassociating. "And going into that neighborhood? Did you have a death wish?"

"I was thinking you wouldn't care," I said with a soft sigh, meeting his eyes. "You usually treat me like I'm invisible anyway. Besides, I wasn't running away. I just needed to get out of his house for a while."

"That's hardly an excuse, Kyungsoo. It's actually pretty selfish if you ask me, worrying everyone because of your own feelings," he said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

I looked at him in disbelief. This was why I felt like I needed to leave in the first place. Everyone in that made me feel so suffocated. 

"I'm selfish?" I said, coming to a stop at the end of our driveway. "Did you ever think that it's your fault I'm like this? Growing up in the shadow of you and all your friends' egos isn't easy. Every time I tried to talk to you or god forbid spend time with you, you'd push me away and tell me to leave alone. And it doesn't help that mom and dad do the same thing, only paying attention to me when they're telling me to make sure I turn out exactly like you. Before you go around calling people selfish, look in the mirror first." 

I walked away, almost in tears but holding them in for as long as I could. I walked into the house without him and my parents instantly rushed over to me.

"Oh my god, where have you been? We've been worried sick," my mom said, putting her hands on my shoulders. "Nothing bad happened, right? Where did you even go?"

"Since when do you care about me?" I said as I cut her off, making a surprised expression come over her face. 

"Kyungsoo, please don't talk to your mom like that," my dad said as he came to stand by her side. "Do you even know how worried we were about you? Of course, we care about you."

I actually let out a small laugh as more tears threatened to fall from my eyes. "Just do me a favor and worry about Suho like you've always done," I said, looking between the both of them. Suho came into the house right as I finished talking, but I only glanced at him before going upstairs to my room.

The tears came pouring out as soon as I hit my head hit the pillow.