Kim's POV
Jack and I managed to creep into the villa's garden, and climbed atop the largest tree to make camp. He was right now standing on a branch, the wind flying through his hair, as he looked out for anymore security cameras.
"We're all clear, but if anyone comes to take care of the garden, we're dead."
I sighed, sitting down on the sturdy tree branch. Jack found this tree two nights ago, and decided this was the best place we can stay. At first I was a bit skeptical about our hideout being 60 feet into the air, but when I went up, I realized that the place was perfect: the leaves grew all around us, covering us from anyone looking up.
Jack stole some large blankets and made hammocks for us to sleep in, and took a kitchen knife just in case we need to attack anyone.
He sat down, looking glumly at the ground below us. I noticed a deep cut on his cheek, now dripping red.
"Jack? What happened to your cheek?" He subconsciously reached up, and looked surprised when seeing he red on his fingers.
"Oh, I kind of cut myself in the kitchen." He said in a quiet voice, giving a sheepish smile.
"What?' I asked. I carefully made my way to the branch Jack was on and sat down in front of him. I put my hand on the side of his face, and brushed the cut with my thumb.
"Jack, its deep. It can get infected," I said worriedly.
"Its fine," he insisted, but he didn't make any move to take off my hand.
"We can take care of it later Kim. We just need food right now," he said. After a moment's hesitation, I surrendered and took off my hand. We sat next to each other in silence.
"Look what we got ourselves into," Jack said with a humorless laugh. I cracked a smile.
"One day, we'll look back at this and laugh at ourselves," I answered.
"As if that day will ever come," Jack muttered in response.
I shielded my eyes from the blaring sunset. "I just wish we could get out of this stupid resort."
"You think? This was the dumbest idea on earth," Jack said, scoffing.
I smiled at his cockiness. We fell into silence once more.
"Kim, don't you have a sister?"
I was surprised by that question. Jack always talked about what's going on now. He never really showed interest in my life away from him. "Yeah, her name is Serena. She's 8."
Jack leaned back, a smile playing on his lips. "Tell me more," he said.
I grinned. "She is adorable. She has pretty grey eyes, and blonde hair like me. She loves to sing, and she's really good at it too. Her favorite color is green…." I went on, telling about my family, how my dad is rarely at home.
"He always is off in Beijing, or Dubai, or Singapore. He almost never has a day off." I then told about my mom.
"She's a great cook, and an accountant. She leaves early at 7 and comes back late at 9. But there is always a fresh meal on the table," I elaborated. I told how my parents didn't think a girl should do karate, and how I always have to sneak out of the house to the dojo.
Jack gave a sympathetic smile when I finished. "Have they ever seen your karate? If they had seen what you did to Ricky Weaver, they would be begging you to go to some karate academy."
I laughed. It felt good to laugh after such a long time. Jack laughs with me.
"Hey, I'll get us some food and other supplies okay?",
"Do those supplies include hair gel?" I asked jokingly.
His brightened up. "Why? Did you see any anywhere?" he asked eagerly. I punched playfully as he waved bye, making his way down the tree.
2 hours later
Jack came back up, his hair an even huger mess, smiling at he pulled up a cotton sack. I quickly took the sack from him as he pulled himself up.
"Got us some good food!" he said excitedly. He carefully stood up ion the thin branched, and held onto the branch above him.
"Pass me the rope that's in the bag," he said. I tossed it to him and he caught it. He tied one end to the branch. He motioned for me to give him the back. He took it and used a knife to make a hole in it, and then tied the other end of the rope through the sack so it was hanging on the branch.
"You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to get some food," he said, smiled ear to ear.
"Oh yeah? What did the great Jack Brewer do to gather a few scraps of food?"
"Hey!" he protested. "I didn't get scraps of food!" He took out a box salad, passing it over to me. "I worked hard to find some good, no great food." He then pulled out a bottle of wine. He opened it, but instead of wine, the smell of fresh tomato soup filled my nose. He took a bowl out of the sack, and filled it with the soup, and handed it to me. He closed the wine bottle, and pulled out some silverware, and gave me a spoon.
"Dinner served," he said, bowing.
I looked at the food in my hands, amazed. "How- how did you get this?!" asked wondrously.
"Well, I stumbled into the kitchen, when this huge French cook came up to me and said, 'You are new serving boy?' And I just played along. Before I knew it, I was serving all this fat guys some food, and took advantage of it and stole some. I am expected tomorrow at 9 in the kitchen," he finished.
I tried to contain my laughter, but failed. "Hey! At least we have really good food because of my new job!" he protested.
We eagerly ate up, and in minutes all the things Jack had brought us were finished. He sighed contently, then pulled out what seemed to be a piece of broken mirror, and a bottle of hair spray.
"Really?" I asked, amused.
"When somebody finds us and tries to take us out, I want to look good fighting him!" he sprayed his hair while peering into the small piece of mirror, and used his fingers to comb through his hair.
When he caught me looking at him, he stuck out his tongue. "Accept it. I love my hair."
A warm feeling fluttered through my chest. It was amazing that in the most horrible situations, Jack could make a person smile in seconds.
A few moments later, I was dragged out of my thoughts when Jack spoke up. "It's late, we should get to sleep. Here, I'll take first watch and wake you up when it's your turn."
Always the gentleman, isn't he? "Jack, I just sat here for 2 hours while you went out and worked. I'll take first watch, tonight," I insisted.
He looked like he wanted to argue, but after a few moments of hesitation, he surrendered.
I grinned at my small victory. "Go sleep, you need rest for your job tomorrow."
He cracked a small smile, and within moments, he was fast asleep. I sighed, and looked out at the setting sun, it's beautiful colors blazing through the sky. I thought of the irony of all this, and how I wished that Jack and I were seeing this sunset safe at home.
6 hours later
I looked up bleary-eyed at the full moon peeking through the branches. The resort was dead silent, except for the strong, ice-cold wind flying through the air. I kind of regretted not planning anything before we went to sleep, because it was freezing. I was only wearing the thin sleeveless shirt and knee-length shorts given to me when we were making the movie.
I hugged myself tighter, but nothing helped. Jack used the logic that only one of us would be sleeping at a time, so he brought only one set of blankets. I turned to look at the said person.
I noticed something was off. His chest wasn't rising slowly like a sleeping person's would. Instead, it was rising and falling in quick, shallow breaths, that can almost be heard. I looked at his face. He was awake, but I noticed a tear, glistening in the darkness, rolling down the side of his face.
"Jack?" I asked in a soft voice. He bolted up, quickly wiping his eyes. "huh?" he asked, disconcerted.
I sat down next to him and just gave him a hug. He cried. Jack Brewer. Crying. Not once did I ever see him cry, but now he is. I rubbed his back, waiting for him to explain. He began to shake slightly, and again, though I felt bad for him, I was intrigued.
In a few moments, he wiped his eyes, and got up. "I should probably watch now," he said. He was going to leave me hanging? Not going to happen.
"Jack, what happened." I asked in a quiet voice.
"Kim, it's nothing, just the whole thing got to me and-"
"What happened?" I asked in a firmer voice.
"Kim, please, let it go," he pleaded.
I held his shoulders, and looked at him straight into his warm brown eyes. "What. Happened." I asked, my voice now having a dangerous edge to it.
He looked at me one last time, before sighing and sitting down.
Even though given the circumstances, I had to marvel how comfortable we have become with sitting 60 feet in the air in only a few days.
I sat down next to him.
"When I was looking around for food yesterday, I heard the same voices that were in the car behind a closed door. So I eavesdropped. And I heard," he took a deep breath at this point, "I heard my grandfather died." He finished in a small voice.
Ouch. Not what I expected. I scooched closer to him and our fingers intertwined. "Kim," he started off. "He meant a lot to me. He got me through a lot of tough times. We then moved to Seaford, and I didn't even get to tell him bye. And now…"
"It's too late," I realized out loud. "Jack, I'm so sorry," I said. "But you know," I started again, "sometimes, you just have to forgive yourself Jack."
He looked at me, his eyes suddenly threatening to spill tears again. "Forgive myself? Kim, to be honest, he was more to me than my parents were. I didn't send him a letter or anything. At night, we would sit together, and he would tell me how he was happy that I was there. 'One person that truly cared,' he would describe me. And I let him down. Now I can never forgive myself," he exclaimed.
I didn't know what to say to that. After a few moments, I asked "Ever heard of second chances Jack?"
He looked at me with heartbroken eyes.
"Maybe you should give yourself one. You know why? You deserve it. For sitting by him all those years, and truly caring for him. You deserve it Jack."
He thought about that for a few second, and I thought I could see the gears shifting in his head. Finally, he gave a small smile. "Kim, thank you… for everything."
For a moment, we leaned in, and I saw his eyes, sparkling in the darkness. He tucked a stray piece of hair behind my ear, and smiled. "You should probably get some sleep," he whispered.
"Probably, but we don't follow the rules." And like that, we sat next to each other for the rest of the night, under stars, just enjoying each other's company.