10 November...

Chapter 9

7 February 2025

Kai Pov...

I led her into a place I hold dear to my heart, my mom's fruit garden. My mom was always fond of cooking and trying new recipes. She would always attempt to make American foods like apple pie or anything of that sort because I had always wanted to try the foods like that, and it brought her joy everytime she saw my eyes light up when I took a bite. But what made it better, that it tied up the other homemade foods from back home, so this is her place. Not because it was called 𝒎𝒆𝒊'𝒔 𝒈𝒂𝒓𝒅𝒆𝒏 but because it was her peace. A place where she could take a breather and just think.

So in hindsight, I rarely brought anyone here. It was the last thing I had of her left. The one thing that made me feel that even though she wasn't here in the flesh, she would always be there for me 𝒘𝒉𝒚 𝒂𝒎 𝒊 𝒔𝒉𝒐𝒘𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒔... No focus Kai, remember the plan 𝒃𝒖𝒊𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒓𝒖𝒔𝒕- 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒔𝒐𝒏 𝒌𝒂𝒊- 𝒂 𝒔𝒘𝒆𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒔𝒐𝒎𝒃𝒓𝒆 𝒗𝒐𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝒊𝒏 𝒎𝒚 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒔𝒑𝒐𝒌𝒆 -𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒘...

"Lets make a truce." I stated "Why would we need to do that?" She said that while looking straight at me with her beaming brown eyes, I almost stuttered while speaking, 𝒂𝒍𝒎𝒐𝒔𝒕...
"I know you feel the tension, princess." I implied because I can't forget what I did to her that night "Its because of you, remember" she pointed out "That's why I am here to address it." "Oh really now" she said in a cheeky tone "You making this harder than it needs to be." "What exactly is hard" she said in a mischievous tone, I sighed. This is going to take a while.

"I regret how I have been treating you." "Hm, what exactly have you done." I glared at her for a moment and she giggled "Can you just allow me to do this." "Okay talk then" she crossed her arms as though she was a mother getting ready to give their child whooping. "I know that lately I have been-" she chimed in, "Cold towards to me, yes continue." I took a breath trying to find the patience in me to continue "Yeah that and I actually quite like you." She looked confused "Like me?" "Yes princess." "Why the change of heart all of a sudden?" She questioned "I realized there was no need for me to do that to you since you been nice to me" "Coming back to your senses I see" " Yes princess" she thought for awhile " Hmm I can forgive you, but their's something I want." I chuckled "What would you like princess" "Friendship." I took 2 steps back, 𝒇𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒏𝒅𝒔𝒉𝒊𝒑... "You wanna be friends with me?" I was genuinely confused by that. Nobody ever Crosses that bridge with me. "Yes, friends" I didn't believe her "There's a catch, right." "Nope that's all." I analyzed her for a while. The change in attitude doesn't make sense. It did sound genuine 𝒓𝒊𝒈𝒉𝒕...

"Cats got your tongue, sir" "Oh I see." I chuckled "Come on lets explore this place." She grabbed my arm and we looked around. She seemed so intrigued by all that was being grown in here. It shined another light on her, something more about her that I can add to the list  𝒇𝒐𝒄𝒖𝒔 𝒌𝒂𝒊...

"Back home, in our little garden, my mom and I grew these fruits. It's nice to them again." She said while picking a fruit in the bushes. "You miss home?" She looked back at me "It was a safety net for me..." Her voice broke off, she was trying to collect all her thoughts I suppose. Something about seeing her like this shattered my heart into a million tiny pieces 𝒈𝒆𝒕 𝒚𝒐𝒖𝒓 𝒉𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝒊𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒂𝒎𝒆 "But life back home wasn't it so that's why they sent me here." "What's it like?" I asked "Constantly running away from someone." "Who?" I asked, "My mama never told me, I just know there's a lot going on." She looked like she was use to all the lying and running and was defeated, "I can finally rest now." She said while lying on the ground "Come lie down with me." I shook my head "Don't be boring" "Do you know how much this shirt costs." I reminded her "If you knew how many fucks I give, then you would know I don't care." I was shook "Come lay down before I drag you by your legs."