Boom. Clack.

The front door was slammed open. Me and Elric jumped apart so fast and scrammed to different sides of the couch that I somehow managed to slide off the couch and get on my feet before the person who barged in walked into the living room.

Kai stomped in breathless and stood in front of us in the middle of the living room. He was red in his face like was running to get here.

I panicked thinking maybe we got caught.

"Why did you say that? What did you mean by that?" Kai asked me, trying to catch his breath.

"Um?" He was staring at me and I just couldn't figure out what he was referring to. "What are you talking about?" I asked.

"Why did you ask Lucy to set Remi up with someone? Is that what she thanked him for? Did she say something? Did she want to be set up?" He asked, taking one last breath and staring at me intently.

I found myself dropping down on the arm on the couch. This was just...i was in shock. "Um.." I used my most gentle and patient tone. "Why do you care Kai?"

Oh my god.

He stood there contemplating if he should proceed with this conversation all the way. But he was already here.

"Just answer the question." He said, wiping the sweat of his forehead. "Answer and I'll tell you."

"I'll go make some coffee." Elric got up and made his way to the kitchen.

I sighed. "No. She didn't ask for it. I wanted to set her up so I asked Lucy."

He seemed to go from red to pale in a second. He made his way to the couch and dropped there devastated.

I stood there in silence because I felt anything I could say would be WRONG in this situation. So I just remained quiet waiting for him to say something.

Even after a few minutes he hadn't said anything. Elric came back with the mugs and passed him one with black coffee. He gave me a mug with hot cocoa and then sat down on the couch hoping the awkward silence would stop.

"So..." Elric finally spoke.

"Can you not do that!!" Kai said and then explained himself. "Can you not set Remi up with a friend or anyone.?"

Elric cleared his throat completely shocked by what he was hearing. He glanced at me for guidance and I just shrugged my shoulders. How the hell am I supposed to know what to do. It was a first for me too.

I felt like the air was punched out of my lungs. Kai was this close to admitting his crush. I was at the verge of falling off the couch and my sanity.

Elric leaned forward cupping his mug with both hands, looking at his hot cocoa and then finally drew the courage to ask the most feared question in this household. "I have to ask you this because it's confusing me.Do you like Remi?"

Dear god this man has balls. He totally asked him that.

"Yes." Kai answered, staring Elric dead in the eye. "I like her."

A bomb just went off in our house.It was so loud that I couldn't hear anything else except the echoing apocalyptic words that Kai likes Remi.

Elric straightened his back and brought the mug to his lips. "I see." He took a sip and then brought the mug down. "Then out of respect for you, I won't introduce anyone to her."

"Thank you." Kai nodded and then turned towards me.

Oh god.

"I know this might be shocking to you." He told me.

"Oh you have no idea." I whispered.

"But I've liked Remi for a really long time. I hid it from everyone so I get it that you might find it surprising to hear this. I mean you couldn't even tell, right?"

I somehow slid off the armrest of the couch to the couch itself.

I used my most sincere tone. "Noooo.I didn't know. This is news to me. I never would have guessed."

Elric just gave me a glance and then back at Kai. "Me too. I didn't know."

"Do you hate it?" He asked me. "That I like your best friend. Do you even hate me for it? Cause this might complicate things and.."

"No. Absolutely not." I interrupted him. "If you like Remi that's great. Go for it."

He smiled in relief. "I would ask you two to keep this a secret. This has to remain a secret." He said.

"Sure. For how long?" I almost went off without he questions, but Elric urged me to drink from the cocoa and take a step back with the questions.

"Well for quite a while in the future. I can't date Remi now." Kai said, taking a sip from his coffee now that the weight was off his chest.

"Why?" I asked again.

"Well you should know that better than anyone. She's your friend, you know what she wants and why I can't do this now." Kai answered and straightened his back.

No.How would I...UGH..I looked at Elric who just shrugged.

I took a deep breath. I gulped down the rest of the hot cocoa and cleared my throat before starting the next sentence.

"I'm a bif afraid to ask this, but what are you waiting for?"

Kai relaxed his shoulders. "Well first I need to graduate high school. Then university. Then get a masters degree. Find a well paid job. But I already have it covered since Lucy and Ace are going to have a huge company. I also have to start putting on some weight and muscle. Once I have enough funds to buy a house big enough for five children then I will tell her."

I blinked twice trying to process what he said. I turned to Elric. "Oh my god, Remi is going to die alone. Or she'll be single until she's thirty."

"Let's not be dramatic." Elric took the empty mug from my hands and gave me his that was still full.

"Is this why you desperately want to be rich and successful? Going abroad to study.. To impress Remi?" Elric asked.

"Not to impress her. Well that too. I know her parents want the best for her. I heard them years ago chatting with mom and dad that they hope Remi finds a decent, successful guy to marry in the future."

"What? When was this?" I asked shocked.

"Five years ago for her birthday party."

"And you just decided..." I couldn't believe what I was hearing. We were 12.

Kai sighed. "I want to be the best first instead of telling her now and have her reject me."

"I can't..with this..ugh." I sighed and finished the rest of Elric's cocoa.

"What makes you think she'll reject you?" Elric asked.

"I'm sure she will. And it's going to be awkward because I'm Francy's brother. But later on I doubt she will reject me. I'll be rich, successful, smart, from a good family. Not even her parents can say anything. But now. What do I have to offer her now?"

"This is um.. real dedication." Elric smiled awkwardly. "I'm kind of impressed about how mature and willing you are to do all of this for her."

I put the mug down on the table. Elric flinched as he didn't know what I was going to do next.

"Kai." I pressed my palms together and brought them to my lips. "What if she gets married before then? Or get a boyfriend now and fall in love. You can't wait."

Kai shook his head. "I can wait, I will wait."

"No you can't." I argued. "What if she has a boyfriend then."

Kai crossed his arms defensively. "Oh please. What will that guy have? I'll be rich, successful..."

"Time. He will have more time with her." Elric sighed. He saw where I was going with this. "I hate to tell you this too but maybe you won't like her for that long. People change. Life changes after highschool. Or maybe you will like her. You'll like her even more that it will drive you crazy rather than drive you forward."

"I like her that much now." Kai said. He was really serious. "You can't even imagine how much I like her. And I won't change my mind. Ever."

Elric nodded. "Okay.Okay. I get that feeling. But I still think you shouldn't waste the time you have with her now."

"So what the hell am I supposed to do then?"

"Date her." Elric said. "Rather than focusing on all these other struggles like university, money, jobs, focus on other struggles first. Like getting her to like you. Getting her before anyone steals her from you. And when you do, then focus on dating her for the long run and so on. To keep her interested. To keep the relationship going."

"Yes." I clapped. "Yes exactly. Live for now! Have ambitions, have plans for the both of you but live now. You need experience for expertise."

"That was a good one." Elric said.

"Thank you. I just came up with that." I smiled.

"So you think I should tell her how I feel?" Kai asked.

"Yes." We both answered.

"Okay then. I'll re-give this some thought." Kai nodded.

The silence was back in the room. Kai got up and headed for the door.

"I'm going back. Thanks for the talk."

"Sure. Any time. " We waved but he got out of the door as fast as he came in.

"Did that just happen?" I laughed, dropping my back on the couch.

"I think so." Elric laughed. "And it's your fault."

"My fault?" I asked, snorting.

"It's because you made that comment about setting Remi up."

"Well how am I supposed to know he will run back to the house to interrogate us." I asked.

"It's because you poked him where it hurts." Elric hit me with a Santa pillow next to him.

I grabbed the pillow laughing. "Well at least we got to the bottom of his crush. I thought he would take the secret to the grave." I hit him back.

He tried to steal the pillow from me so he could hit me again.Seeing how tight I held onto the pillow he let go in defeat. "Well I guess he learned it from you. I have to hand it to you guys, your parents raised some resilient children."

"We are tough indeed." I smiled. "But we're warm lovable people as well."

"Oh yeah?" He leaned over. "How warm let me check." He squashed me and the pillow on the couch. I couldn't stop laughing. He was trying to kiss me but the pillow was in his way.

I was completely down on the couch and he was over me but the pillow kept swaying him left and right and he just couldn't kiss me.

"Why is this still here.." He tried to throw it but ended up losing balance and falling off the couch. I jumped to check if he was alright and was still laughing.

"are you okay?"

He was laying on the ground with a defeated look on his face. "I don't think I'm okay."

He rose in a sitting position and ruffled his hair. " You know what. Since we keep getting interrupted, let's go do something else."

"Like what?" I asked.

He dusted off his clothes and helped me get up. "Let's go on a date in winter town."

I only blinked once. "Give me ten minutes. Just ten minutes."I ran to get changed before he could say anything.

This could only mean one thing.

My winter date fantasy clothes will finally be worn.