Lena started singing a lullaby but after a while, she forgot the lyrics so just hummed it instead. She continued to hum until she could feel that Kris" was not shaking as much.
She let goes of her hug from him but he suddenly grabbed her hand, not letting her go.
"Kris... I am just going to call Keso okay? I am not going anywhere." She whispered.
He let go of her left arm and Lena fumbled to get her cellphone. She had 10 missed calls from Keso and 5 from James. She had her phone on silent when she was in the party. She called Keso and he picked up after the first ring.
"Did you find him?"
"Yeah, he"s with me." Lena replied.
Keso took a deep breath. He lost the sight of Kris when the crowd gathered around. "Where are you guys now?"
"Um. I took him inside a random room to avoid the attention." Lena tried to recall where they were.
She could not go out the door and see because Kris was still tightly holding her hand. "I pa.s.sed the main hallway... so maybe somewhere at the opposite side of the building. The door had potted red flowers outside of it."
"Ok. We will come right away."
Lena hung up the phone and tossed it aside on the bed. Kris suddenly released her other hand and stood up. Without looking at Lena, he spoke in a solemn voice. "You can go out."
Lena was going to refute it, saying that she will stay with him. But maybe Kris just needed to be alone. She stood up and was about to walk out but she saw how frail Kris was. What if he does something bad when she leaves?
His head was low and he was looking at the ground. She walked up to him. Lena put her hand on his face and lifted it up. She moved her soft hands up to his cheeks.
"Are you going to cry?" She softly asked.
"No." He stared into her delicate eyes.
She knew he was lying. She let go of her hand and wrapped them around his waist. She hugged him gently as she hid her face on his shoulder. "You can cry. I won"t look. And if you want... I can cry with you."
Kris did not want Lena to see him like this. For a long time, his mother was his only big reason For him to push forward... but recently, just the thought of Lena, he felt like he can achieve anything in the world.
He tried a memory game when he first shook hands with the ladies. Just like hiding away pain, he can just hide away the thought of the woman"s existence. However, when he slowly glanced up to see Lena dancing with another man, his mind lost focus for a moment.
When he paid attention back to the woman he was currently shaking hands with, his mind went blank. There was another woman right next to him, shoulders touching each other. Filthy piece of things...
He felt his eyes turned dark first... a shadow that covered it. Then the shaking began, from the fear and anger from his heart to his hands. In the moment of darkness, he hit the person he first saw. Hopefully, the man only broke a few teeth...
Kris was very silent. Lena was going to lift up her head to check up on him but he put his hand on her head and kept it down. His other hand gripped her waist.
He closed his eyes and just held the sweet woman in his arms. He lowered his head and pushed her closer to him so he can take in all her heavenly scent. It was calming.
"I don"t need to cry."
Lena blushed... "Oh G.o.d! Why am I thinking about something so dirty when I am consoling a friend..." Of course... they were inside a bedroom designed for couples. The room was dark, with only small light showing the intimacy of the setting.
She cleared her throat. "Should I teach you how to cry?"
Kris was silent again. But after a few minutes, he suddenly picked up Lena.
"Ah." She yelped from the unexpected movement.
He picked her up and he sat on the bed as he placed her to sit on his legs. Lena"s was sitting on top of his leg, her knees bent on the sides.
Her eye widened. "KRIS... what are you doing??!! This is more of an intimate position..." Her mind exploded to the moment she previous sat on top of him and kissed him like a hungry animal.
Her eyes looked at Kris" clueless expression and then down to his lips. Then her eyes looked down on how she was sitting on him.. and his crotch.
"Oh my gosh, oh my gosh. Lena girl, your such a bad girl to be thinking about that right now..." She closed her eyes.
She tried to get up but Kris held her legs. He put his forehead on hers and she opened her eyes to look at his.
"Didn"t you say you were going to teach me how to cry?"
Lena backed her head away from him. "I can"t cry if you are looking at me like that." She turned her head sideways, looking away from him.
Kris smiled at her shyness. He dropped his head on her shoulder, resting on it since she turned her head away.
"I don"t need it. Just let me stay like this for a bit."
He removed his hands on her legs and wrapped them around her waist.
"Is it just me or it"s hot in here?" Lena was dying...
"Have you considered a different present?" Lena asked, trying to keep her mind occupied instead of wondering off thinking about very bad things... things she could do him right now.
Kris closed his eyes, still resting his forehead on Lena"s shoulder. "No... you muted the microphone too fast after she asked if you were a virgin."
"HE HEARD IT?!" Lena"s mouth dropped open and she cleared her throat again. "You don"t HAVE to give her a hug. You can give her something else." She stayed focus on the original topic.
"Like?" He lifted his head and looked at Lena.
"Hmm... Like baking a cake? We can bake it together tomorrow."
Baking with Lena... and a gift for his mom... that"s a win-win. "Ok."
"And you can buy her something else... "
"A vacation?" Kris suggested.
"Yeah, that works. A vacation with the perfect pair of mom and son. Hmmm.. like a cruise s.h.i.+p vacation with lots of seafood."
"This is for my mom we are speaking about you know, not you..."
"Yeah, but everyone loves seafood except for Keso." Lena gasped. Yes.. she had forgotten that Keso was looking for them. And they are currently in such a vulnerable position... they cannot be seen like this.
She quickly got up and patted her dress down. Lena looked back at Kris who was staring at her without blinking. She looked behind her... she felt like he was staring at an exotic thing.
"So... cake and tickets to a cruise. I can pick up the ingredients tomorrow and we can have an afternoon baking lesson?"
Kris blinked. "Yeah."
At that moment, Keso opened the door and James was right behind him. Lena walked out to greet the two men who were huffing and puffing from all the running, searching for them.
Kris stared at Lena"s back. One step at a time... for now, as long as he can hug her.. it was a victory for him. He could see that hugging his mother was only a reach away.