When 9 am came and went and Iko was still asleep on the bed, Cinder and Kai agreed they would visit Peony without her. Cinder admitted feeling guilty about how long they'd stayed up when Iko was clearly exhausted, so it was the least they could do not to wake her up.

They left a note on the bedside table and drove to the hospital, the need to talk prevented by the radio music between them. Cinder was fiddling with her hands again, though it seemed more of a mixture of excitement and worry than full-out dread. Peony had woken up last night. Woken up. The only person who could tell Cinder of any developments was asleep in her hotel room, so things were pretty up in the air, but Cinder was hopeful. More hopeful than she'd ever been throughout this entire thing.

Kai kept his eyes on the road, but he stole a glance at her now and then. After they hugged, they got breakfast and pretended like nothing had happened. It was a step up, but part of him was disappointed that it hadn't lead to anything more.

He'd never actually asked if she wanted to be more than friends. They just knew they cared about each other. It was enough to make him both giddy and nervous but also unbearably awkward.

It was a relief when he finally parked.

When Cinder walked to Peony's room, she paused when she realized "Linh, Peony" was no longer on the door. Had she been moved? Had she gotten worse or better?

Her heart pounded as she found a help desk. She started smiling when she was directed to a wing with stable patients and took off at a near run in the direction of her sister's new room.

The room was no longer singular. Many beds spanned the length, and the inhabitants looked Peony's age and younger. Some of the beds were empty, and the teens were at various levels of sick, but they all looked okay, not like Peony had been. Most were awake.

"Cinder!" Cinder turned to find Peony in one of the beds by the door, a big smile on her face. The rashes were still there—Cinder didn't know if they'd ever fully leave—but there was a light in Peony's eyes that made Cinder relax.

Peony moved to get up when Cinder neared but winced and sat back against the pillows. That's when Cinder noticed that Peony's forehead was still shiny with sweat, that her eyes looked older than before.

Cinder came to stand by the bed, smiling faltering but not fading.

"It's good to see you up."

"I didn't know you were coming to visit LA," Peony said, matching her enthusiasm.

Cinder tilted her head. "You don't remember me coming before?"

Peony scrunched her nose in thought, then shrugged. "I don't remember a whole lot after I blanked out. Some dreams...but not anything else." She shivered.

Cinder nodded. She wasn't disappointed, not really—she couldn't have expected Peony to remember anything from when she was half-asleep.

"Did you say anything important?"

Cinder shook her head. "Nope." She took Peony's hand and squeezed. "Just that I came down here for you, not a simple visit."

"Iko missed you too, you know," Peony said, frowning. "I did, of course, but I think Iko took it worse."

"I know." Cinder sighed, a sigh that encompassed much more than she'd intended. "I feel bad, knowing how I just left like that."

"Oh, don't get us wrong, though," Peony said, squeezing Cinder's hand back and then withdrawing it. "We're happy you're doing so well in NorCal. Did you bring anything for me?"

Since Cinder started getting her own paychecks, she'd saved a little for spending money, but more often than not, it'd end up being used for gifts rather than for herself. A pair of shoes for Iko, a souvenir for Peony. In her hurry to pack she only brought two with her, but she was glad she remembered those as she reached for her wrist and pulled off a bracelet. It had a grainy picture of the Golden Gate Bridge printed on a long, plastic bead. It was hideous.

"It's...beautiful," Peony said, holding it in her hand.

Cinder laughed. "You don't have to pretend. I found the most ugly, SF-like one I could and bought three." She held out her wrist where another two were. "I'm giving the third to Iko, though I bet she'll find some way to get out of wearing it."

Peony grinned and slipped it around her wrist. It hung loosely, and Cinder noticed how Peony seemed more gaunt, her wrist more skinny.

"Thanks for remembering us," Peony said. "You've always been thoughtful."

Cinder shrugged, but her cheeks were warm. "I can't forget you guys. You're my sisters."

"Then go back to the Bay Area for me, okay?"

"What?"

Peony looked away, at the other beds.

"I love you being here, but don't let me keep you from your future, okay?"

"I can't just leave you before you've gotten better."

Peony looked back, meeting her eyes, her smile sadder. Cinder wondered if there was something she wasn't being told.

"Yes, you can."

Kai was sitting in the Imperial Coffee he found the day before when his phone rang.

He knew his dad was hiding something from him, or at least wasn't telling him something. Otherwise, why would Kai be in LA without protest when he was so needed at school and business meetings and everything else?

He'd been hoping otherwise, that his dad was just being nice and giving him a break. And he was. But there was more to it, and Kai's face drained, second by second, as he found out the truth.

"Imperial Coffee is failing," said CEO Rikan Huang, his father, his role model, and his boss, with not a word more or less than he needed. Kai's father was compassionate. He was also blunt.

"Woah, woah. What?" Kai asked, peering around the cafe. He put a hand around his mouth and the phone, wondering if it was bad he was taking this call in a public place. The people at the other tables seemed preoccupied, though, so he didn't bother getting to the car before continuing.

"What?" Kai repeated again when his dad didn't say anything more.

"Imperial Coffee's stocks are tanking. Profits have been dropping, and we'd already seen this trend, but it's gotten worse. We don't know if we can get out of this one."

Kai shut his eyes, opened them, shut them, and opened them again. Was this a prank? A nightmare? He brought his phone from his ear and opened the stocks app.

Imperial Coffee was down. Very down.

"Why?" Kai asked. He had a lot of questions and more statements, but in that moment he didn't think he could manage more than a single word.

"The CEO of Café Eclipse has been getting more and more aggressive. This has been going on for a while, but..." His father paused, and Kai held his breath, using every shred of his mental control not to flip a table and cause a scene. "I didn't want to concern you when you already have college and other jobs. I thought we would be able to come to terms with her, but she asks for what I can't give."

"And what is that?"

"A merger. She wants to own Imperial Coffee. And..." He paused even longer.

"And...?"

"And she wants your hand in marriage."

Kai found it hard to meet Cinder's eyes when he picked her up from the hospital. She didn't notice his shift in mood right away, instead talking about how much better Peony was, how she was clearly on the road to recovery.

"She said they still don't know what it is but—"

Kai took a deep breath. "Cinder?"

She stopped talking and turned to look at him. Her movements became measured as she found him worried.

"Kai?"

"Since Peony is doing better..." Kai gulped. He had no time to process, no time to work it through. He just knew he had to get back, had to be there, had to watch his world fall apart... "Does that mean we can leave for home soon?"

Cinder tilted her head. "Do you have a reason to be back?"

Kai nodded. He didn't know what he would say if she asked what it was. She had a right to know since she was an employee, but his father was pretty clear: don't talk about it with anyone else.

Thankfully, Cinder didn't ask.

"How urgently do you need to get back?"

"Urgent."

Cinder took a deep breath and twirled a loose piece of hair around her finger. "We can drive back today, then, as soon as we drop Iko off and pack. Is that good?"

Kai almost sagged with relief. It was already 11 am, but if they left in the next hour, it would be fine. They'd get back late but whole, and then he could be rising from his own bed by the next morning.

He'd already decided: he'd stay at his real home, not his dorm. Not just because of Thorne, but because he had a feeling his father needed him now more than ever. He'd try to keep up school, but he'd drop tutoring and maybe cut his hours at the cafe.

He'd figure something out because he had to. He was young and inexperienced, but if there was any way he could help, he would.

"Thank you," he breathed.

Cinder looked out the window, at the cars and tall buildings passing them.

"How can you thank me," she said, "when I owe you everything?"

Iko was awake by the time they reached the hotel, and Cinder gave her her bracelet without much fanfare. Iko put it on, though she crinkled her face at it.

Cinder and Kai didn't have a lot to pack, so it was mostly a matter of getting their things to the car, signing out from the hotel, and then dropping Iko off. Pretty soon they were on the road again, eating burritos they'd picked up before getting on the freeway.

"Talk to me," Kai said, yawning. "I'm still tired from yesterday; you can't let me fall asleep."

"It's 12:30 pm," Cinder said, skeptical. "How can you be sleepy now?"

"Three hours isn't enough."

"You'd think you'd be used to this, with all the stuff you balance normally."

"Excuse you, but I am typically very well-rested."

"That I find hard to believe," Cinder said. "And yet I do, because you seem like the kind of person who could take on the world and still have time for naps."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I don't know," Cinder said, tapping the car-door window.

Kai was smiling, but his smile turned back to a frown as everything trickled back.

He couldn't marry Levana. He couldn't even imagine it. His father said she thought it would make the transition into the merger seem more diplomatic—he was wary that she was doing something illegal that she didn't want exposed with suspicion. She was also getting older, and while she'd once been married, she was no longer and worried her image was being hurt by it.

But him? Kai? He was still so young, and Levana was a decade older, and it made no sense. His gut squirmed at the thought.

"I've been thinking," Kai said, and Cinder waited for him to continue until she realized he was looking for a sign that she was listening.

"Yes?"

Kai took a deep breath. Sorry, Dad, he thought, guilt twisting his stomach. His dad had never told him he had to marry Levana; in fact, he seemed very opposed. But there was only one real way to end it. Only one way to fully evade something he didn't think he could ever do.

"Would it be too forward for me to ask to be your boyfriend?"

He held his breath, staring at the road ahead and wanting to sink into the floor. Cinder was silent for a long time, and he finally glanced over at her. She looked thoughtful, and her cheeks were pink, but she didn't look angry or indignant.

"Yes," she said, and his heart sank. "It kind of is forward, for me at least. But, you know what?" She shrugged casually, but he could've sworn her shoulders were stiff. "I think I'd like to try it out, too. If that's okay with you."

Kai couldn't help it: he smiled, wide. Amid this confusion, there was something to cling onto now.

"It's okay with me," he said, and they fell into a comfortable silence, with Kai watching the road, Cinder looking out the window, and both of them trying unsuccessfully not to smile.