Chapter 4

I Need You

I've never been stressed my whole life.

For the whole week I've been trying my best to avoid Kai. Unfortunately we have the same Hip-hop dance class. Good thing it was just one class. But it still stresses me out endlessly. I found out that he's a quiet one. He's not as talkative and loud like Baekhyun or Chanyeol or Chen. And he usually have his headset on. But that doesn't stop me from feeling his presence whenever he's around.

I tried to play it cool especially when Lay and Sehun talks to me in class and of course Kai is with them or whenever some of the Wolves greets me or have a few chat with me. It's true they seem to move in packs. And it's making it more impossible to avoid him easily.

But I'm probably the queen of misfortune. In my Choreography Class, I had my very first SAA project. Choreographing a dance is not new to me in fact it is one of my favorite things in the world and I got really excited but the professor burst my bubble when he said that my dancers have to be of the opposite sex.

The dance must be something out of my comfort zone to overcome any unknown fears.

I started looking for my dancers. Since Lay and Sehun are in my Hip-hop Class, I thought it would be easy to work with them. So I asked if they can be my dancers.

"Sure." says Lay.

"Really?"

"Yeah." says Sehun. "But isn't it's for Choreography Class? I have that class last semester. Isn't it should be three or more dancers?"

"Yeah. I'm still looking for maybe one or two more dancers." I said.

"How about Kai? Wait I'll call him." says Lay, then he pulled out his phone from his pocket.

"No!"

They both looked at me confused.

"Uhm .. what I mean is ..maybe he's busy?"

"Maybe. Actually he got more dancing classes than we do but it's still worth a try." says Lay.

Lay dialed his phone then he puts it on speaker mode as we wait.

"Hello?" His deep voice is sending chills throughout my body.

"Kai! Where are you?" says Lay.

"Lay? At the cafeteria with D.O. Why?"

"Can you come here for a sec?" says Sehun.

"Where are you?"

"Dance Building second floor." Lay answered.

"Dude we're still eating." we heard D.O. said.

"It'll be quick. Bring your food here. Krystal just wanted to ask something to Kai." says Sehun.

There was silence.

Will he come?

Of course he will! It will be a good opportunity to tease me again like he did when he gave me back my phone although after that he never talked to me again. But surely he will not let this opportunity to pass.

"Sorry, I have somewhere else to go to." Kai said then he end the call.

Did he just rejected me?!

Lay and Sehun looked at each other puzzled. "What's up with him?"

"He's in a bad mood I guess." says Lay.

"Sorry about that." Sehun said to me.

"It's okay. I'll look for someone else. Any recommendations?"

"Hmmm how about Luhan?" says Lay.

"Yeah he's a pretty good dancer too." says Sehun.

"Or Xiumin. Would you like me to call them too?" says Lay, readying his phone.

"No it's okay. I'll ask them myself maybe later. I got Foreign Language Class with Luhan and Xiumin in the afternoon anyway."

"Okay. Just text us if they're not available and we will force Kai to join us." says Sehun playfully then they waved goodbye.

Turns out Luhan and Xiumin are also busy with their schedule and can't squeeze anymore activities. I spend the whole day looking for any dancers but none were available since I also have to make practice plans according to Lay, Sehun and mine's schedule.

At the end of the day I was forced to face the fact that Kai is the only available dancer I can get that will work great with our schedules.

I gather up the courage and waited for him at the gates. I spotted him with Chanyeol. They were walking towards my direction while laughing. Kai's face looks so cute while telling a story to Chanyeol animatedly. I realized that every time he will talk he had this permanent pout on his lips like a little chubby kid talking. Pass the aura and body build, he always has this cute facial expressions that makes him so adorable. I saw him hit Chanyeol in the arm but I guess it didn't hurt because Chanyeol is still laughing.

"Krystal!" Chanyeol noticed me. They walk over to me. I noticed Kai's smile faded and he looks down at his shoes, not meeting my eyes.

"How was your day? Are you waiting for someone?" Chanyeol asks.

"Yes. Actually I was waiting for Kai."

Chanyeol eyes grew wide then he turned to his friend. "Bro you didn't say you have a date today."

"I don't have a date." he said, looking a little irritated.

"It's not a date." I said quickly. "I was just hoping I can talk to him about the dance I had to choreograph."

"Oh. Alright. Then I'll leave you two." says Chanyeol.

"Hey where are you going? I thought we'll eat at the new cafe?" says Kai, holding Chanyeol's arm.

"Let's just go there tomorrow. Or you can still go today. You can go with Krystal." he said.

"Huh?"

"Okay bye bye. Enjoy your date!" he shouted while running away and winking at the two of us.

Good job making it more awkward than it already is, Chanyeol!

There was silence. It's getting really awkward. I just wanted to ask him to be my dancer but now that subject seems like the least in my concerns.

"So you decided to stop avoiding me now." he broke the silence.

"I'm not avoiding you."

"Yeah, right." he started walking at the side street of the school. I followed him.

"I just have nothing to say. It's different from avoiding." I said.

"You're pretty good with avoiding but not lying."

I didn't answer. We walk in silence although I don't really know where we are going.

"Wanna talk about what happen-"

"I don't wanna talk about it." I said abruptly. I didn't meant to say it in a harsh way but I think it surprises him.

"Fine." he said.

I took a deep breath. I can do this. "What I really wanted to talk about is the dance. Lay and Sehun already agreed to be on my team and they told me it would be really great if I'll add you to the group. They said the prof in Choreography Class is very meticulous when it comes to projects like this and they also said that you're the best."

I tried with the complimentary approach. Hope he will buy it.

"Is that the reason why you wanted me on your dance?"

"Huh?"

He stopped suddenly. We were at the side street and it's getting dark, the street looks deserted. He looked at me with those dangerous eyes. Where is that cute little eyes he had minutes ago?

He walked towards me, through instinct I backed away from him but my back reached the wall at the side of the street. He put both his arms on each side of me, blocking my way out.

"What are you doing?!"

"You wanted me because I'm good at dancing?"

"Quit being a freak! Let me go!"

"Answer me." he said, his stare fixed on me without a hint of playfulness.

"Yes. I could use your talent in my dance. I need to pass this project, I'm already behind the lessons since I came halfway through the semest-"

He pulled back. He removed his arms on my sides then stepped away from me. "It's always about using people isn't?"

He crossed the street and within seconds he was gone.

It's always about using people isn't.

His words keeps repeating on my head. And I can't erase the image of his face full of sadness in his eyes when he said them.

Obviously he have issues about the matter. I feel sad for him. It must be the down side of being too good as a dancer. He must have his own problems to deal with. I felt like I wanted to comfort him and caress his angelic face to sooth his worries away.

Shit what am I thinking?!

"Jung Krystal!"

I cringed from my sister's loud voice.

"You space out too much. Are you sure you're okay?" she asks.

"Why? Are you sick Krystal?" my father asks.

"I'm not. I'm just thinking about my project, that's all." I continued eating my dinner. I didn't realize I stopped eating when I started thinking about Kai (for the fifth time this evening).

"Are you sure? We can go to the hospital after dinner." dad says.

"Really I'm fine. I'm just worried about my project."

Then there was a doorbell.

"Do you have visitor tonight, dad?" I asks.

"Oh that's probably Chan. Jessica will you let him in."

Jessica went outside to open the gates. She came back with a tall guy with red hair. I almost choked at my rice.

"Chanyeol?!"

"Oh! Krystal!?"

"You know each other?" Jessica asks.

"We're classmates. What are you doing here?"

"My dad asks me to deliver this documents to Mr. Jung. I didn't know you're Mr. Jung's daughter." he said. The smile on his face is always there. 'Happy virus' really suits him.

"That's right! You two go to the same school. I forgot to mention to your father that one of my daughter's attending SAA now." says Dad.

"Only one? How about you?" Chanyeol asks my sister. Is he blushing?

"I go to SKU." my sister answered. She went back to her sit and continued eating. Chanyeol is still looking at her and I can see the sparkle in his eyes. Oh-o, somebody has a crush.

I tried to cover up my laughter with my hands. I can't wait for tomorrow so I can tease Chanyeol and see him blush like this again.

"I told your father I'll just get it tomorrow. I'm sorry he bothered your evening." says Dad. He stood up and took the document from the blushing Chanyeol.

"It's nothing Mr. Jung."

"Did you have dinner already? Come join eat with us."

"Thank you but they're also waiting for me at the house. I just came to quickly drop the documents." says Chanyeol.

"Okay, off you go then. Be careful on your way home and thank you for delivering the documents Chan. And say hi to Minsoo for me." says Dad.

"I'll help him out." I stood up and Chanyeol and I went outside.

Why not tease him now?

"Your cheeks matches your hair."

He quickly covered his cheeks. I burst out laughing.

"Would you like my sister's phone number or would you rather get it yourself?"

He cleared his throat, trying to recover from his embarrassment. "And why would I want your sister's phone number?"

"Fine. If you don't want then maybe I'll just give it to her other suitors."

"She have suitors?!" he asks quickly, eyes wide from shock.

I laughed even more. "Thought your not interested?"

He cleared his throat again. "I mean...phff! Of course she has suitors.

We reached the gates. I opened it and Chanyeol went out. His face still burning red. It would be really nice if my sister will date a guy like him: kind, funny and thoughtful plus he's a good looking man.

"Alright you have my vote." I said.

"Vote?"

"If you like my sister and wants to know her better you can always ask for my help. I'll gladly lend you a hand. But let me warn you, my sister's a handful."

He rubs both his ears which I just noticed turned red as well. This guy is so adorable. "Thanks." he said shyly.

"Don't mention it, Big bro." I said. Now his cheeks, ears and hair have the same color.

"I'll help you with Kai too."

My laugh faded. It's like Chanyeol just poured iced cold water on my laughing fire. Why did he have to bring Kai in the conversation?

He noticed my frown. "Did your date didn't go well? Just bear with him. He's just a little shy at first but eventually he will open up. He's just like that. Kai has good heart, you know. You will be surprised when you get to know him."

Are we speaking of the same person? Is the Kai he knows different from the Kai I just talked to?

"It's just that I really need him in my team. I can't find another dancer that will fit with our schedules. But when I talked to him earlier. He seemed bothered by it."

"It's not his fault. During freshmen year, the whole school had already acknowledged Kai as one of the best dancers the school will ever produce. His popularity is really high, inside and outside of SAA. Some students were not happy about it. They believe Kai is an attention seeking arrogant who wants the spotlight all to himself. All they see is the Kai with oozing confidence on stage but off stage he's really a dork who's too shy to start up a conversation and they didn't know that."

"There's a senior named Junhee, like you, he asks Kai to be in his dance routine for his Choreography Class. He complimented Kai with flowery words and Kai easily agreed because Junhee is also one of the people he looked up to. During the actual performance Junhee played dirty. Kai got hurt by one of dancers and Junhee said it was an accident but we all know he planed it well to stop Kai from progressing with his dancing career."

"That's horrible!" Now I know why he said that. He must have thought I'm using him like that bastard did to him.

"We tried telling the Dean about it but she refused to believe saying in dancing people really get hurt if not careful. Later on Kai himself asked us to just drop the protest. Good thing his injury is not that severe but it still took him a whole semester to recover before he is allowed to dance again."

"The poor guy got traumatized."

"It's a blessing in disguised though because during that semester he enrolled to music classes. It woke up his passion for singing." the smile went back to Chanyeol's face.

"No wonder he refused me. I'll refused too if that happened to me."

"He's really traumatized. He never danced with other people too, did you know that?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"From then on he refused to perform with other people. With the exception of us." he said.

"By us you mean Wolves?"

Chanyeol laughed. "So our group name reached you already, huh. Yeah that's us. Our Wolf-Growl performance is Kai's comeback. It put his dancing skills into a higher level. The irritation on Junhee's face is a sweet revenge."

Chanyeol kept talking, telling me how amazing their performance was but I zoned out in the middle of it, thinking deeply.

That incident made Kai lose his trust to anyone. I know how he feels. I was once used by someone close to me. But I never thought something as big as getting an injury had happened to him in the past. It would be hard for him to give his trust again.

And then I said those words.

I could use your talent in my dance.

I sounded like that Junhee jerk.

It's always about using people isn't.

Even in my sleep his words hunted me.

The following day I woke up with a headache.

Good thing it's Saturday. I went to the video store. I wanted to look for songs that I can use for my choreography project. On my way home I saw a small box laying on the ground near the tree. It has umbrella on it to prevent the box from getting wet by the heavy rain.

I'm curious on what's inside the box but I just ignored it, when I passed by I heard a sound.

I turned to look where did that sound came from. It sounds like a bark or something. There was another one and when I looked around, a small brown tail appeared on top of the box.

"A puppy?"

The umbrella was blown away by the strong wind. Then I saw the puppy's head popped out of the box. It's curly brown fur getting wet from the rain. I rushed over to him but I collided with someone.

"Ah!"

I slipped in my shoes. I was about to fall in the ground when two strong arms held me tightly on his body, preventing me from my fall.

I looked into my rescuer's eyes as he stares back at me.

Kai?

I'm frozen in his arms. His warm eyes looking deep into me. Then he did the most stupid thing.

He let go.

I fall to the ground completely. Dropping my umbrella in the process.

"Aw! What the hell!" I yelled at him but he's not beside me anymore. He's there at the box, picking up the puppy in his arms and caressing it's fur.

I stood up and rushed to them. "Why did you do that?!"

"He's getting wet." he said looking at the dog.

"So am I!"

He looked at me from head to toe. "You should carry umbrella when it's raining."

"Wha-!" I run to my umbrella on the ground.

He picked up the box and disposed it at the trash. I just realized it has 'Adopt me' written on it. Then he started walking away.

"Hey where are you taking him?"

He turned back. "Home." then turned away and walked again.

"He's not yours." I run up to him. I tried to take the puppy from his hand.

"And he's not yours either."

"I saw him first."

"No, I saw him first."

"No, I did."

"Then why didn't you get him earlier?" he asks.

"I was about to when you bumped me. Give him to me." I took a good grip around the puppy's body and pulled him out of his hold.

"Hey cut it out! He's getting hurt!" he shouted.

And sure enough the puppy started whining and barking loudly. We both stopped pulling.

"Shhh... Sorry baby. I'm sorry. We didn't mean to hurt you."

I watch in awe as he keep saying sweet words to the dog, apologizing and caressing it's body.

So this is his soft side.

I sighed. "Fine, you won. You can have Monggu."

His brows knitted. "Monggu?"

"Yep. That's him." I pointed the dog.

"What kind of name is that?"

I chuckled. "I'm actually craving for sweet mung bean soup. The name just popped out in my head."

"Seriously? Monggu?" he asks.

Monggu the puppy barked.

"Guess he likes it." he sighed but then he smiled at the dog as he plays with him.

There it is again. His smiling eyes.

Something is seriously wrong with this dude. One minute he's a freaking dominant now he's as gentle and soft as a baby.

Is he bipolar or something?

"I can let you have him in one condition." I said.

He raised an eyebrow.

"You'll join my team." I said with determination.

"Not gonna happen."

He started walking again.

"Then I can't let you have Monggu. I saw him first."

He didn't say anything. He continued walking. I had to jogged to keep up with him.

"I'm not like that guy. I don't use people for my advantage. Believe it or not but I know what it feels like to be used and disposed like trash."

I know how it feels...

He stopped walking. I managed to stop before I almost bumped into his back.

"You really want me on your dance?" He looks into my eyes again.

"Yes. I need you..." Why did that sound like something else?

His lips curved into the smirk that I knew too well.

"...in my dance. I-I need you in my dance project."

He bites his lips trying to cover his smirk. "Alright. I'll be on your dance. But I will pick the song."

"What? No. My routine, my song."

"You said you need me...right?" he said teasingly. I'm getting distracted with those smirks I want to slap it off his face.

"Fine! What song?" I said giving in before I do something sinful again.

"You'll know." he turned and walked away.

I looked at his fading figure with the same thought yet again.

I'm so dead.