I couldn't sleep. I ended up repainting my living room walls, just to be awake and see them return from their date. What if they don't return and she goes back to Yan's? What if they have sex? What if she falls in love with him? Silver lining was that she wasn't home, and I could punch as many walls as I wanted. Once I was done painting, I sat on my couch, just waiting. How pathetic. I jumped up as footsteps echoed in the hall. I quickly rushed to my door, only to find Yan looking right at my peep hole. A loud knock landed on my door and I looked over to the clock on my wall which struck 2AM. I quickly took off my shirt and socks, pretending I had been asleep. I opened the door, ruffling my hair and yawning.
"What are you doing here?" I asked as he stood in front of me, drunk and with a bottle of whisky in his hands. Suddenly Kai peeked from behind him.
"I'm so sorry, he insisted on coming to drink with you. I couldn't stop him." Her cheeks were rosy like she had had plenty to drink. Yan was one to encourage.
"Oh, that's okay. Come in." I opened my door, wider allowing them in. Within the first two steps Yan began falling to his knees. Kai and I grabbed him, helping him to the couch. He seemed to be out as soon as his head touched the couch.
"Oh, thank god." She exhaled, chuckling. "That was quite a date." She laughed, removing her heels from her feet.
"Oh yeah?"
"Oh yeah. All he could talk about was you. All he wanted to do was drink and to top it off he tried to kiss me in the cab, after he had been sick." She slumped onto a chair in my kitchen.
"Oh god." That sounds gut wrenching.
"Yeah, it was pleasant." We both laughed.
"I'm sorry." I said, feeling guilty that I had got her involved with Yan. If I had told him I had feelings for her, none of that would have happened.
"That's okay, it wasn't your fault." She smiled, exhaling an exhausted breath.
"It kind of was." I rubbed my neck embarrassed. "When he found out I moved next door, he was convinced that it was because of you and though I assured him that it wasn't, he insisted on asking you out to prove it." I chuckled, sitting down on the other side of the table. Her smile quickly turned into a frown and she stared at me insulted.
"So, he used me to try and make you jealous?" She asked, getting up off the chair. Fuck, that sounds bad. I opened my mouth looking for an excuse, but nothing came out. "I see." She quickly turned around, leaving my apartment.
"Kai, wait. That's not…" She slammed the door, before I could even finish. Fuck! I slammed my fist on the table. I walked over to the living room, determined to awake Yan and punch him, but that wasn't going to fix anything. I opened my door and walked over to Kai's door. I knocked lightly, but she didn't answer.
"Kai?" I called out, but she ignored me. Damn it! I exhaled a deep breath and returned to my apartment. I slammed the door of my bedroom and went to bed. After a couple hours of overthinking, I managed to fall asleep.
I knocked on Kai's door the next day, but she didn't answer. I assumed she was at work because I couldn't hear her at all. Yan had disappeared early in the morning, out of embarrassment I assumed. I spent the day trying to think of a way to apologise, but nothing seemed good enough. Around 8PM I heard her door closing and walked out knocking on it again, but she ignored it. There was no way for me to apologise, without making it obvious that I had feelings for her. I figured that the only way to see her was to go into work. I made dinner and sat down in my living room to watch something on the television. As I pushed the button on the remote, I heard Kai singing. I turned the television off and walked closer to the wall to hear her. I couldn't remember doing much else other than listening to her for the rest of the night. I awoke with a speech already prepared. I heard her leave for work, so I knew that I was going to see her for sure. I got dressed and made my way over there. I still had more than a week of holiday left, which was unfortunate. If Kai weren't going to forgive me than the only way, I could see her was at work and that meant not seeing her for more than a week. Chaos took over all of the offices as I entered the building. Surely, I'm not that scary. I got into the lift and made my way to my office. I practised my speech on my way. As the elevator doors opened, I could see Kai in the distance at her desk. I walked past her and into my office to check on the work being done before I talked to her. I didn't want to seem too eager. After a half hour, I scooped up all the courage I had and walked to her desk, but she wasn't there. I looked around, but she was nowhere to be seen. I returned to my office and after another half hour decided to go home whether I had spoken to her or not. I walked past her desk and she was still hiding. So immature. I got into the elevator and made my way back to the apartment. I was determined to catch her on her way home before she unlocked her door. The hours were crawling by and after each one I was getting more and more frustrated. Perhaps I should get her something? Is that creepy?
For once I was thankful for the awfully loud stairs as I heard her coming up. I opened my door, waiting for her and as she noticed me, she slowed down, exhaling a miserable breath.
"I don't have anything to say." She said, getting her keys from her jacket pocket and walking over to unlock her door.
"Well I do, can you please just listen." I begged, coming to stand beside her.
"Look, I don't want to be involved in whatever game you and Yan have going on. Just leave me out of it." She quickly unlocked her door and rushed to shut it in my face. I placed my foot in between the door, stopping the door from closing.
"There is no game! I didn't think he would really ask you out, just to mess with me. I'm sorry." I said as she held the door slightly open for me to talk.
"Fine." She replied with a straight face and shut the door. I let my head fall back in annoyance, before walking back into my apartment. I sat down on my couch and turned on the television, allowing the sounds to drown my obsessive need to listen to Kai through the wall.
Kai's P.O.V.
I couldn't help but be frustrated with Jun. Secretly I was still a little bit terrified of him, so talking back to him was taking all the courage I could muster. I had to admit, I wasn't upset because they involved me in their stupid games, I was upset that Jun was not at all jealous of Yan's and my date. Though I vowed not to think about him, I somehow convinced myself that he liked me. That he moved here because of me. That he wasn't just being nice and was genuinely concerned for me. That he cared. I'm so stupid. I plugged in my headphones and cleaned my apartment as I sang along to my playlist. No matter what I did, how hard I tried to drown Jun's face out of my mind, I couldn't. He was everywhere. I couldn't even bake without thinking about those mooncakes I made for him. It was frustrating. I showered and crashed on my bed, with my headphones still in my ears. Even in my dreams, I couldn't escape from Jun. I jumped awake as a scream pierced my ears. I took in a deep breath and my lungs began filling with smoke. I coughed and slowly opened my eyes to my room filled with thick grey smoke. Another scream echoed through the building as I managed to get off my bed. Oh my god. The building is on fire. I had already inhaled so much smoke while sleeping, I couldn't stop coughing. As I reached the door, I quickly pulled on my door handle, which felt like liquid metal being poured into my palm, but I didn't have time to dwell on the pain. I got to my knees and began crawling into my living room, only to find my curtains, kitchen, and floor on fire. The fire was blocking my way out. The entire floor around the door was on fire and it was burning everything I had ever bought. There was nowhere for me to go. For a second, I felt like just giving up. I could hardly see anything around me. I slowly began crawling to the corner of the room, trying to get myself to my bathroom. Behind my bathroom's wall was Jun's bedroom. If I'm loud maybe he'll hear me. I crawled to my bathroom, which was consumed with smoke. I began banging on the bathroom wall as hard as I could, hoping Jun would hear me. It felt like I had shattered glass stuck in my lungs. I couldn't call out to him without coughing even harder. After banging on the wall for what felt like hours, I couldn't do it anymore. I laid down on my bathroom floor and let the smoke drown me.
Jun's P.O.V.
I awoke to a loud banging on my wall. As I opened my eyes, I realised how hot the room was and the fog that had covered my vision was smoke. I quickly got out of bed and put on some jogging bottoms and a zip up jumper. I could see through the gap under my door that the building was alight. I quickly slipped on my shoes and kicked the door open. I knew better than to touch it. The entire building had been swallowed by flames and thick smoke. I kicked through Kai's door, but her apartment was filled with smoke and nearly her entire living room was on fire.
"Kai?!" I called out, but I couldn't hear anything. She was banging on my bedroom wall, which is connected to her bathroom. I had to make a choice. To wait for the firefighters or to go in there myself and try and save her. The fire had swallowed near enough the entire apartment and there was no clear path to the bathroom. I inhaled a deep breath and quickly ran through the smaller fires and into her bathroom. She was lying on her bathroom floor in a small t shirt and underwear, with nothing else covering her. I quickly lifted her into my arms and ran from the building as quickly as I could. I carried her across to the other side of the road, to be further away from the fire and the smoke. I laid her down on the ground and pressed my ear to her chest. She wasn't breathing. I couldn't hear anything but a small vibration. I had no time to panic. I began CPR and hoped that an ambulance was on its way.
"Come on Kai." I begged, blowing air into her lungs. I continued to push on her chest. After a couple minutes she began violently coughing. "Oh, thank god." I helped her sit up as she continued to cough through the smoke in her lungs. She continued to breathe deeply, inhaling as much clear air as she could. She looked terrified. I quickly pulled her into my chest and held her as tightly as I could. I could see several people, hanging from their windows, trying to escape the fire. I felt Kai turn her head to look at the spreading fire that had taken the entire building.
"Oh my god." Tears began to stream her face.
"No, don't look." I said, pulling her closer as she buried her head into my chest. Quickly several ambulances and fire trucks pulled up to the road, starting to rescue the people trapped in the building and trying to put out the fire. "Here." I said taking off my jumper and wrapping it around her. I lifted Kai into my arms and carried her to one of the ambulance cars. "She needs oxygen." I said to the EMT standing by the ambulance. I sat her down inside and stepped out, looking at the burning building. My laptop and my phone were all inside. So much of my life and business were on them. I couldn't let them burn. "I'll be right back."
"No!" Kai yelled out, but I had already began running towards the burning building. A couple firefighters tried to chase after me and stop me, but I didn't care. My door was wide open and swallowed by the smoke. Thankfully, I knew exactly where both of them were. I quickly ran in and grabbed them, running back out, only to find that the stairs had all fallen apart. The only thing stable enough was the railing attached to the wall. There was nothing to hold onto or have a grip on. I slowly climbed onto it and glued myself to the wall, slowly walking across the railing. Several people were hanging out of their windows, begging to be saved.
"My baby!" A man yelled through the third-floor window, holding his toddler out of the window. You'd think things like these would never happen to you. These things only happen in movies. But I was right in the middle of it.
"I can catch him." A familiar voice said from below me. I had to stop and slowly move my head towards them to be sure that what I heard was correct. Just as I had thought, there she was – Kai – standing on the first-floor landing and holding her arms out covered in a blanket.
"Kai!" I yelled out, quickly trying to walk across the railing. I jumped off and ran over to get her away from there. "Let's go! We need to go!" I insisted, but she was stubborn.
"Grab one side." She said, giving me a corner of the blanket, while coughing into the sleeve of the jumper. I laid my laptop down on the floor and extended the blanket.
"We have to go!" I continued to insist, but she refused.
"Go!" She yelled at somebody above us and as I clenched onto the blanket as hard as I could, holding it open and looked up, a little body was quickly falling towards us. A loud cry erupted as the toddler landed on the blanket and Kai quickly wrapped him up with it, lifting him into her arms.
"Thank you." The man hung out of the window crying, while the toddler held his hands up, trying to reach for his father. My heart was breaking. We quickly ran down to the ambulance and handed them the toddler, who was covered in grey ashes and sobbing.
"It's okay. You're safe now." Kai said, letting go of his little body. She turned around to look at me and before I could say a word, she lifted her hand and hit me right in the chest.
"Ouch." I said taking a step back.
"What the fuck were you thinking?!" She added on as tears began to collect in her eyes. "How could you go back up there?!" She yelled even louder.
"I'm okay." I said softly as I pulled her closer. She continued to cry as I held her close.