No one is completely independent

A second later, Kai looks at me and everything goes back to normal. "What now?"

"Now?"

"Yeah. This is your show, Hilary. What's your plan?"

Beyond getting him alone to ask in-depth, personal questions, I don't have a plan. I didn't even know where we were going so that I could create an itinerary. Which I would have, had I known. I'm great at itineraries.

The idea of getting back in the car feels like a burden. I could stand and stare at the ocean for hours, but there is the issue of food. "Lunch?" I ask Kai.

He digs the keys out of his pocket and in one fluid motion, swings them around a finger and catches them. "There's a diner up the street we can stop at," he says, "and a market across from there for groceries,"

It surprises me he thinks of that. I'm not sure why; he is an adult, after all.

I walk quickly to catch up to him as he retraces our steps back to the car. "Do you know how to cook?" I peer up at him curiously. That question wasn't included on my list either, but it's not a bad one.

"We wouldn't die," he says, holding back a smile, "but I'm not planning on either of us cooking. Unless you want to clean up the mess after."

I wrinkle my nose, "And waste beach time? I don't think so. But we must make sure we get healthy stuff. No junk food just because we're feeling lazy,"

"Whatever," Kai says as he walks around the blue car to his side.

"Aren't you going to open the door for me?"

He leans into the passenger seat, eyes already hidden behind sunglasses that reflect my image at me. I uncross my arms, realizing that stance makes me look like more of a brat than I am.

"That's only when people are watching. Get in the car,"

I roll my eyes. Fine. If that's the game he wants to play. I open my door and slide in. He's reversing us out of the driveway before I even have my seatbelt on.

"Kai," I remark when I see that he doesn't have his, "put your belt on before we crash. The last thing I need is for you to go flying through the window,"

"Anyone ever tell you, you're a bit controlling?"

"That's rich, coming from you,"

"The difference is, I've never denied it. In fact, I've cultivated it. Made it a core part of my personality,"

"Why would you do that?" I ask. I hate when people say I'm controlling or bossy when, in fact, I'm usually right and they just don't want to listen.

Kai pulls into a parking spot in front of a diner that's shaped like a large fishing boat. Flags fly from the pole outside and there are tables on the deck for outdoor eating. Once the car is off, he smirks, opens his door, and steps out. We weren't even driving for two minutes.

I get out too, not expecting him to come around to open the door again. He's standing at the end of the car, waiting for me, sunglasses put away in his front pocket. I now realize the clothes he's wearing are intended to be casual, something one would wear to the beach. The effect is somewhat lost because he still looks like someone who would wear a seven-thousand-dollar suit on any given Tuesday.

"I do it so people can't use it to insult me," he finally answers. "For instance, you call me controlling, yet you still do what I want,"

He's proud of himself, thinking he's made a point. I smile mockingly back. "Wow, I'm learning so much about you. So glad you thought of this trip and forced us to come out here. Oh wait" -I hold up a finger as if a thought has just occurred to me "-that was me,"

His narrow dark eyes widen slowly, and I can't tell if he's more impressed or surprised by my response. I walk past him, eager to keep his mood up. "Now, let's get some food and see what else I can force you to admit to,"

I refuse to look back. I only know that he's following when I step into the diner, which smells faintly of fish sticks from the second you cross the door, and I feel him step in right behind me.

"It's seat yourself," Kai grumbles close to my ear.

I go to the left and take the booth at the very back next to a window. "Is this good?" I ask, already sitting.

"It's fine," Kai sighs, sitting across from me.

It took a while, but I think I've finally figured Kai out. At least part of the big picture. After our argument, I spent hours turning it over in my head, trying to figure out where it went wrong. Something he said stuck out to me and when I focused on it, it put our whole relationship into perspective.

"I needed more of a challenge,"

I feel stupid for not putting it together before, though I may have always known, somewhere in the back of my mind.

Kai may not always enjoy being challenged, but he likes having a challenge. It brought to mind what Rick said about him seeking out risky situations. If he doesn't have something that pushes him, he goes out to find something or creates a situation. I don't know; it's a work in progress. But now that we're here, away from everything, my goal is to not back down. When he pushes me, I'll push back.

I look at Kai over my menu. Almost everything is fish-based, battered, and fried. Not feeling the fish, I've settled on a burger and fries. The menu is mostly so I'll have something to look at and hide behind if Kai notices me looking at him.

I don't want to push him over the edge. I'll have to be careful of that.

The waitress sets down two glasses of water and then pulls out a pad and pen from her apron, asking for our orders. Kai lets me go first and I tell her what I want, pointing to the menu. She turns to Kai next. I'm not sure if he even touched his menu. His hands are steepled on the table in front of him.

"One coffee, no sugar, no cream. An order of the grilled salmon with broccoli on the side. Thank you,"

I take a sip of the water as the waitress leaves. "You have the menu memorized?"

"It's a seaside town, not that hard to guess what they'd have,"

"Oh," I'm still not entirely convinced he doesn't have a favorite food but I have no evidence to the contrary. "I'm sure the fish is great here,"

"Probably better than your burger,"

Instead of responding to that easy trap, I pull out my phone to look at the full list of questions I want to ask. We're slowly working our way through.

"Here's one," I say, putting down the phone. "What is your biggest dream?"

I don't think he could look more like someone was trying to kill him than if someone was actually trying to kill him. Honestly, the way he closes his eyes at the word 'dream' as if it takes everything in him not to leap across the table to wrap his hands around my throat, makes me think I've tripped one of the triggers in his head.

I try to keep my laugh low. "Well?" I say after too long of a moment.

"I don't have dreams," he mumbles out, stressing the word. "I have goals,"

"Goals then!" I say, rolling my eyes. "I didn't know you hated the word 'dreams' that much. Sorry,"

He looks out the window our booth is pushed up against with a long-suffering gaze. "It's just such a...pathetic word. Dreams. You can dream of riding a unicorn while it flies by pink clouds, doesn't mean it's actually going to happen,"

"I think that's a Pegasus you're talking about," I intervene, not that he notices, "the one with the wings,"

"Goals are concrete," he continues, looking at me with all seriousness. "Things you can conceivably achieve,"

I have to say, though he seems irritated, I love it.

"What is your biggest goal, Kai,"

"To become Chairman of Hiwatari Enterprises,"

I wait for more. When he doesn't continue, I arch a brow. "That's it?"

"You asked for my biggest goal," He shrugs a shoulder. "That's it,"

"So, what happens after?"

"I'll figure it out when I get there,"

"Do you have smaller goals?"

"Sure,"

Again, I wait. "And they are?"

"Survive whatever my grandfather throws at me until he dies or relinquishes the position to me,"

I snap and point a finger at him. "Like getting married,"

His eyes sharpen. "Exactly."

"Do you," I pause, doubting I should even ask this question. The urge won't leave, so I press on. "Do you like your grandfather?"

Kai stares at me. His jaw works as I wait patiently. "Is that relevant to your job?"

My eyes fall to the table. "Well, no," I say, "I was just curious,"

"Then move on to the next question,"

Deciding to give him a break, I back off what I consider the be the hardball questions. We'll circle back around to them. Instead, I focus on the meaningless ones. I don't think I'll have any need for his answers, but they do get him talking. Sometimes.

"If you were a dog, what breed do you think you'd be?"

"Next,"

"Okay. If you were a cat - "

"You dragged me out here for this?"

~/~/~/~

The market is across from the diner, just as he said it would be. Attached to it is a darling little café and gift shop that I make him promise to bring me to before we leave. From the grocery side, I choose things that don't require a lot of prep. Things that we can pick at if we need. The café is within walking distance and with it being so close, I think I know where I'll end up most days, so food is no longer my top priority.

But the gift shop!

Kai tolerates my enthusiasm well. Even though I grip his arm in excitement a just about every turn, he doesn't try to shake me off or make me feel stupid for it. He just...stands there.

In a moment where I am mesmerized by a little crystal trinket shaped like a heart, I turn to see him standing at the front of the shop, holding our bag of goods that I didn't realize he'd taken from me.

There's something wickedly charming about him and I have to convince myself that I know him and, even more unbelievably, I am here with him. The shopkeeper interrupts my daydreaming by asking if I want to take a closer look at anything in the display case and I wave a hand, declining the offer.

"I'm ready if you are," I say as I approach.

"Nothing you want?"

I hadn't even thought that was an option. The prices in this place definitely say 'I'm here on vacation and left my budget book at home' but I guess that doesn't apply to me now. The account Kai set up for me has had a stream of deposits over the past two months and without having to pay rent or any utilities, I have respectable savings for the first time in my adult life. In fact, I've hardly ever needed to touch it – Kai's covered everything that I've had to do for his family. Strangely, though I now have the money for it, I don't feel the need to get anything.

"No, I'm good," I say. I try to take the bag of groceries away from him but he moves it out of the way of my hand.

I smirk. "So much for all your gentleman-ness being just for show,"

"Gentleman-ness isn't a word," he says, taking his sunglasses out as we leave the shop to head back to the car. It's a weak, half-hearted come back and as we cross the street, Kai makes sure he's next to me. Not ahead of me but directly at my side.

'It's okay to enjoy yourself occasionally,' I want to say, but I hold the comment back, not wanting to scare him off.

When we return to the house, he unlocks the doors for us. I walk in slowly, taking everything in. It's small compared to the places he usually brings me to. Immediately to the left is the living room. Its main feature is two white linen sofas, all plush cushions, and pillows. They face each other, centered by a stone fireplace, painted white, with a wood mantle. Behind the farthest sofa are two French doors that open to the deck and beach.

To the right is a small dining room with a round table and that feeds into a small kitchen. Just a basic two-burner stove, standard fridge, and a sink.

"There are two bedrooms in the back," Kai says, dropping the keys on the table, "but we're sharing a bathroom,"

"How will I live?" I ask sarcastically. My eyes study the keys he put down as he walks down the hall, probably to put his bag away.

Standing my suitcase up, I leave it to pick up the keys and study them. There are only two keys attached to the ring, along with a plastic keychain. It's dark red; whatever image that was originally on it has faded away with time.

Kai walks back into the room. "What are you doing?" He scowls, striding across the room to the sofa.

"Why do you have keys, if this is your parent's place?"

"For emergencies," he says as if that were obvious.

I squint at him.

"Hilary, just because I don't talk to my parents, doesn't mean I never speak to them,"

"There's a difference to you?"

"I don't fill them in on my day-to-day. I don't call them every week to check-in,"

"They don't get invited to meet your fiancée," I fill-in-the-blank, putting the keys back down.

There's no answer from him. Thinking that's the end of the conversation, I grab my suitcase and wheel it to the hall.

"No," he says, catching my attention, "I don't invite my parents to my grandfather's, who does nothing but antagonize them, so they can meet my fake fiancée,"

I put the pieces together, "But if there was someone special...?"

"I would introduce them, eventually,"

"Kai," I say slowly. With this new information, I reorganize everything I previously thought about his relationship with his parents. In the matter of a week, they've gone from dead, to ostracized, to distant. "You're very confusing,"

"Yes," he nods, darks eyes alight with humor. He knows he's made of contradictions. He's practically daring me to try and figure them out.

I know it's useless, but I so desperately want to. So much so, that it scares me.

Wheeling the suitcase down the short hall, I come to three doors, one of which is closed. I assume that's one of the bedrooms – the one that Kai took. The one to the right is the bathroom, meaning the open door to my left is the other bedroom. It's a beautiful room, light and airy with a white bedspread and beachy themed décor. I drop my bag by the bed and set my suitcase up so that I can take it all in.

On the dresser made of pale wood, is a series of pictures in frames. At the center of them, is one with two women, side hugging each other, their round cheeks squished together. For one of them, the position tilts their big round glasses off their nose.

Beyond that, they have matching dark chocolate brown hair and wide smiles. The one without glasses I immediately recognize as Kai's mom. She looks older than her companion – her face more mature compared to the youthful baby face of the other.

I pick the frame up and carry it back into the living room. Kai reclines on the sofa, shoes kicked off, head back. I don't think he's sleeping, but it's hard to tell.

I lean over the sofa near his head. "Um, Kai," I shout-whisper, just in case.

"What?"

"Oh good, you're awake. Is this your aunt?" I ask, holding the picture up.

He peeks one eye open before closing it again. "Yeah,"

I turn the picture back around. "She's cute," I say. "Your mom, too,"

"Well, yeah," he chuckles, "she made me,"

Regardless of his arrogance, he's right. She's no show-stopper, but there's something about her that's captivating, and if I remember the picture he showed me to prove his parents are alive, his father is pretty average too. And yet -

I look at him. Even with his eyes closed, he's got something that makes my brain stop working for a whole five seconds. One would think I'd be desensitized to whatever it is by now.

"So, the questions," Kai intones curtly without opening his eyes. Good thing, too, because I'm still standing over him.

Right. Back to work.

I put the picture down and pull out my phone. Sitting on the couch across from him, I open my notes app to take down any important information and then open the document that has the questions. Scanning through, I figure now that we're alone, he can freely answer some of the more personal ones.

"You said that you'd introduce your parents to someone special. Have you ever done that?"

"No,"

"Any past relationships?"

"No,"

"Not even, like, in school?"

"No,"

"Are you lying to me to get out of answering the questions?"

"You think I'd waste my time with that? I could be working right now,"

"Kai," I scoff, unable to contemplate what he's saying. "You've never dated anyone?"

He opens his eyes to look at me from his position. With an annoyed huff, he sits up, rotating to sit on the couch properly. "I went to an all-boys school," he says. "There was a sister school down the hill, but the thing you have to understand is that everyone who attended those schools had families like mine. If they didn't already know who they were going to marry, they knew that their parents were going to pair them off to someone eventually, even if they didn't want it. And you didn't just go around starting relationships with people. It could get back to the family. With names like ours, it was never as simple as just dating,"

"Oh," I utter, "that makes sense."

"So, no. No past relationships. We snuck around a lot but it wasn't serious,"

"What about after school? Like at college,"

He straightens, already exasperated. "I have numbers. Numbers of people I like to spend time with. People who get it. I don't reach out often, usually only when there's something to celebrate."

"I get it," I whisper, looking down. Because it a weird way, I do get what he's saying.

"You do?"

I glance back up at the subtle inflection of his voice. His head has fallen to the side and there's a strange emotion behind his eyes. The sizzle of his stare almost has me shrinking back but I stay strong.

"Yeah," I say, feeling like a deer caught in headlights, "after my college boyfriend broke up with me, I thought it was easier to not have a quote-unquote relationship but to have a sort of friends-with-benefits type deal. Eventually, I figured out I like the stability and predictability of relationships. But I see the appeal of no requirements, no strings,"

"You never told me that boyfriend's name,"

"Uh-huh, I see what you're doing," I focus on my phone instead, even though I haven't recorded anything. "We're not talking about me. We're talking about you."

"Ah," Kai sighs, "right."

I swallow, trying to get my mind to focus on the words in front of me instead of how smooth his voice sounds. It's not easy.

"You told me about Rick, but what about Rei. You hired him next, right?"

"Yes. Just before I graduated,"

"How did you meet him?"

"Rei was working at a Chinese restaurant that was close to my apartment. I ordered from there a lot because I typically studied late and they were the only place that stayed open,"

"And he was their cook?"

"He was their delivery boy," Kai shakes his head. "He wanted to learn though. One night, I got distracted with a paper and couldn't place my order before their last call. The cook had already left for the night, but Rei took the order and delivered it, even though he didn't have to. I didn't ask him to do that and I wouldn't have blamed him for hanging up on me,"

"You like people who help you," I conclude. It's what Rick, Rei, and I have in common. I'm willing to bet that Spencer has a similar story.

"I like when people do more than what's asked of them and don't expect anything in return," he says. "I feel it says a lot about their character. It's the kind of person I like to surround myself with,"

"And then from there you suddenly asked if he would be your chef?"

I can tell he's getting tired of talking about himself. His eye close and tense as if he's in pain. But he's trying. With a deep breath, he continues.

"I don't like food. I don't like cooking it; I don't understand it. I don't know what pairs well together. When Rei dropped off the meal that he prepared, he told me he changed my order slightly. I was irritated. I didn't ask for that. But it tasted better. Remarkably better. I couldn't believe that Rei was just the delivery boy when he could cook like that. So, the next time I ordered and he delivered, I asked him about it.

He said he came from a small village and he was traveling the world to learn about food from different cultures to develop his skill. While he was still only working as a delivery boy, he had big goals for himself and Mariah. He just needed to save for it.

While I don't understand food, I understand passion. And I knew I would be graduating soon. It occurred to me that I could take the burden of figuring out what to eat and hand it to Rei. We came to an arrangement where he would be my private chef. He would follow me where I went and work only for me, and I would give him the freedom he needed to travel a few times a year and try new things. It's worked out well so far,"

"So, you just didn't want to learn how to cook?"

"For me, it was either hire a personal chef or eat out every night," he insists. "The former I'm constantly worried about being poisoned or whether the food would be good and the latter I gain three hundred pounds,"

"That's a bit extreme,"

Kai shakes his head in frustration. "I liked Rei. He worked hard, was never late, and had a passion for something. He did right by me and I wanted to return the favor,"

"I like Rei, too," I smile kindly. Letting the quiet linger for a moment so he could calm down, I continue, "It sounds like you've had to defend that decision before,"

"Not everyone understands being friends with the help," he mutters, spitting the last word.

His words call back a conversation I had with Mariah a while ago. She was talking about Kay and how she refused to speak to them when Rei catered for their events.

"Well, I'm not judging," I assure him.

There's still tension with him and I blow out a breath. "Let's take a break," I say, standing and stretching. "It's been a suitable amount of time since lunch. Let's go for a swim before the sun sets,"

I wait as he sits silently for a long time with that same unreadable expression. A small dent forms in the corner of his mouth as he frowns as if he's still distressed from the questions. When he looks up at me, most of the bite is gone.

"Are you waiting for me to help you change?" He asks.

I almost smile. Instead, I laugh, give him a breathy, 'you wish,' and carry on down the hall. In the bedroom, I allow myself to react by muffling a scream in a pillow from the bed. It's going better than I could have imagined but something I didn't predict was the effect of finding out more about him. It's everything I wanted and at the same time everything it's I don't need if I want to be able to put an end to my feelings after this.

Kai's different than I thought. I think he's probably different than most people think. He's not this titan of industry – a powerful, angry godlike being here to dominate. Sure, that's a part of him, but I think it's a smaller part than what he makes it seem to those on the outside.

I change into my new bathing suit quickly. The red with white polka dots is classic and the high waist makes my curves seem softer. Throwing a thin white cover over it and a hat on my head, I head out. To my surprise, Kai's changed too.

To basic black swim trunks. It's not the color that surprises me, more that he even packed anything. I didn't take him as the swimming/beachy type. And I tell him so.

"I'm not going to lay out on the sand in my pants," he says, throwing a light blue towel over his shoulder.

I choose not to explain that I meant I couldn't imagine him on the beach, period, in favor of letting my excitement run wild. Who cares if Kai likes the beach or not? We're still here.

It's not an easy trip out, despite how close we are. Kai insists on taking an umbrella and a beach chair. The towel simply isn't good enough for his tush, I guess. He also brings a book and a cooler with water bottles. The cooler and chair are hassles he saddles me with as though I'm his pack mule, but as soon as my toes hit the sand, I don't care.

I'm at the beach!

Hello! Hope everyone is doing well. So they're finally alone and finalllllllly talking. Lots of Kai for this chapter and the next few. I'm interested in your thoughts on anything that caught your attention. Thank you to everyone who stops by, regardless if you review or not. I really appreciate your time.

Take care until next time - Konix