bad alive {dong sicheng}

32

keni sat on top of the piles of pillows, in the center of the two beds that lucas and her had pushed together, glaring at the tall boy, who was pacing back and forth in front of her.

"can we just stop talking about this and go to sleep?" she tried to be pacifying, tapping the space next to her, wanting just to cuddle and sleep like they usually did every night.

lucas held out his hand, a signal for her to stop trying to avoid the topic of discussion and she continued to glare at him, folding her arms so tightly that it seemed like they weren't going to unravel anytime soon. 

"don't ignore this," he reprimanded.

she rolled her eyes, "it's not a big deal, it'll be fine lucas i'm not going to do anything."

lucas finally sat down next to her, yanking her arms out and holding her hands with both of his own, "i know you, you'll just keep it all in to yourself and then you'll blow up and i know you'll do something you'll regret. he may be a dick but he's still your father. if you do anything, you'll just be falling into whatever your mother has planned and i don't trust that woman."

keni took her hands away, "at least she kept tabs on me all the time, unlike him she wanted to know how i was doing this entire time," her voice was venomous.

lucas sighed, "she's using you."

"so?"

lucas rolled his eyes, exasperated, the girl was almost impossible to talk to. 

but maybe he was the wrong person to be talking to her. after all, keni viewed lucas as her safe place, only to comfort her. she didn't like him trying to give her advice and reprimand her about her life. 

she pushed him away and walked away, leaving lucas alone in the room as he stared at the ceiling in frustrations. 

keni went to one of the only places that she felt free. the rooftop. 

it was dangerous but she kept coming back to this place when things got to her head a little too much. except this time someone was standing there and waiting for her. she paused as she saw him leaning against the railing.

"i knew you would come here," winwin said while beckoning for her to come stand next to him.

she hesitated but ultimately came up to him, "how did you know?"

"you're a good person keni, don't let this moment ruin that for you," was all that winwin said and keni tensed.

after an awkward minute, it became evident that he wasn't going to say anything else on the matter and she was grateful. for once she actually felt like opening up her own feelings and thoughts. 

"the minute i was born they didn't even want me, now i'm just a pawn in their game of chess," keni sighed. 

winwin turned to look at her, his eyes soft, "look at me."

keni looked up at him, his fingers lifting her chin so that he could see her eyes clearly. 

he smiled a little as he saw the stars reflected in them, "you aren't a pawn. you're a queen and do you know how important the queen is in a game of chess?"

keni shook her head, mesmerized by the beauty of his face.

winwin lowered his voice to a whisper, both of his hands cupping her face, "the queen always wins the game."

keni didn't need to say anything else, she saw the confidence he had in her in his eyes and that alone was more assuring than anything else. she only smiled at his words as their foreheads touches, resting on each other, breaths mingling as the breeze around them swirled. 

"i'm sorry," winwin spoke after a few minutes of just enjoying each other's presence.

"for what?"

"for running away from you," winwin explain, now embracing her into a bear hug, "i was scared."

keni smiled slightly, her face buried into his chest as he swayed back and forth. an apology this genuine was all that she needed. 

he picked her up, hoisting her legs around his waist and stared into her flustered and flawless face, admiring every single feature.

"do you want to go to sleep now?" he asked after she took a hand off from around his neck to rub her tired eyes.

keni nodded and wrapped her arms back around his neck, leaning in so that her head rested on his shoulder as he carried her down the stairs and into his familiar room.

"i missed this," she whispered as he laid down next to her.

winwin only kissed her on the forehead before falling asleep to keni playing with his hair gently.