By the morning, everyone in the apartment building all agreed that Wendy shouldn't be hanging around anymore. Word had gotten around the building how the cafe had to throw her out the other day because she was arguing with Kai and Cole about who planted the smoke bomb. Everyone agreed that it wasn't fair on Kai, having the mother the man who raped him living next door to him was like rubbing salt in his wounds. While Misako went to work early that morning, Wendy took the morning off to try and clean off the spray paint.
After over an hour of scrubbing, however, the words on seemed to stand out more against the white door.
If she couldn't clean this off then she would either have to paint over it or get an entirely new door. Hopefully, the landlord was alright with that. Ever since he tried to get her to leave last night, Wendy had been scared that the slightest thing would make him evict her if she wasn't careful. While Wendy was vigorously scrubbing away, Nya suddenly walked out and grinned when she saw Wendy. Jay, Cole, Skylor, and Zane had given her a very serious lecture last night after they had learned that it was her who spray-painted those words on Wendy's door.
Kai had strangely remained silent throughout their lecture.
Obviously, it didn't do any good because Nya leaned against the floor and crossed her arms, watching as Wendy desperately tried to clean the words away in vain.
"That's just as hard to get rid of like me." She snickered as Wendy froze, her fist clenching in fear and squeezing the water out the sponge. Jay stepped outside and noticed Wendy crouched next to a bucket of soapy water, trembling slightly. The ginger-haired man couldn't help but feel bad for the woman.
"Poor woman." He said out loud.
"Poor woman?" Nya scoffed. "Have you forgotten what her son did to Kai?"
"I know you're upset, but she isn't guilty of anything." He defended her, much to Wendy's shock and Nya's anger.
"But she wouldn't believe what Morro did and keeps saying Kai's lying!" The noirette growled.
"Come on Nya, it's not easy for any mother to admit that of their son," Jay replied and Wendy clenched her eyes shut, almost as if that would block them out. "Maybe you just need to give her a bit more time."
"It'd be easier if she clears off and stops upsetting Kai." She hissed and Jay rolled his eyes.
"Why don't you go and make yourself useful and go get us some decent coffees?" He suggested as he forced some cash into her hands. Nya huffed but didn't argue and left, still glaring at Wendy as she disappeared into the elevator. As soon as she was gone, Wendy turned to Jay, who was making his way back to his own apartment.
"I-I don't even really know you but thank you for sticking up for me." She stammered nervously.
"Well, I may not agree with what you've done and I wish you would leave Kai alone, but bullying you won't solve anything will it?" He shrugged, making it clear that he wasn't Wendy's friend but he didn't approve of Nya's harassment, especially after he learned that Wendy had been there for Kai when they couldn't. He glanced at the now soaked door and sighed.
"You'll never get rid of that with soap and water, you need a specialist cleaner."
"Right." She muttered, staring hopelessly at the vile words, and Jay felt pity for the nurse.
"I've got some inside, just give me a minute and I'll clean that." He offered and quickly rushed inside, wanting to get this over with soon.
"Oh that's really kind of you, thank you so much," Wendy called after him as he vanished inside his apartment to get the cleaner. She smiled weakly as she picked up the bucket and sponges to put away and headed inside her own apartment. As she was dumping the water down the drain, she noticed something out the window and looked over. She also dropped the now-empty bucket when she saw Nya standing in the car park next to her car, smiling and waving up at her.
Wendy backed away and started trembling as tears blinked into her eyes, scared at what the noirette would do next...
Later that afternoon Lloyd arrived to check on Wendy at his mother's request. He was surprised to find not only the graffiti gone but Wendy hiding in her brother, curled up in the fetal position. She looked absolutely terrified by something, but she refused to tell Lloyd what it was that had scared her. She was scared there would be more trouble, whether it be from the landlord or Kai and his family.
"Can I buy you another coffee?" She offered the freckled man.
"No thanks, I'm leaving anyway." He said, not meeting her gaze.
"I'd like to do something for you after the way you helped me this morning."
"Well there's no need, really, I was just being neighborly, you know?" He rambled nervously before speed walking out the cafe.
"What was all that about?" Lloyd asked in confusion.
"He scrubbed all that graffiti off." She replied with a shadow of a smile and Lloyd's eyes widened in surprise. He was sure that they all hated Wendy and was a little confused as it why Jay suddenly helped Wendy out. "You see, some people are starting to be okay about me being here." She added, cutting off his thoughts.
"But Kai isn't."
"Yeah well, I was there to help him when he needed it." She huffed, still upset at what happened last night.
"Yeah and then you ruined it all by calling him a liar." He argued and she looked away. "Kai will be trying to stay away from you, so maybe you could do that same for him?"
"Nya Smith's the one who you should be telling to back off, everywhere I look she's there!" She hissed, her terrified eyes darting around as if she would see Nya lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce.
"What'd you mean?"
"She's been standing my door all day!" She cried and they started walking back to the apartment. What neither of them realized was that Skylor had been waiting in line and had heard their entire conversation. She wasn't surprised to hear that Jay had helped when as he was one of the most sensitive men she had met and would no doubt pity her. What shocked her was the insinuation that Nya was stalking Wendy. After her girlfriend had vandalized Wendy's apartment, twice, Skylor had hoped the lecture they had given her and made her see sense, but it seemed they were wrong.
Forgetting her coffee and muffin, Skylor followed the pair back to the apartment with the stealth of a ninja.
Not knowing they were being followed, Wendy and Lloyd continued talking about Wendy and Kai's situation.
"That baby's my grandchild, I'm just looking after my family." She defended herself.
"Yeah, and I'm looking after mine too, that's why I don't want you and my Mom stuck in the middle of it all." He replied as they began walking up the many stairs to Wendy's floor. They could have taken the elevator, but Wendy refused, saying that she had been scared of elevators since she was a child. If things were as bad as she and Misako said, Lloyd didn't want either of them from getting hurt.
"But I'm not the one causing all the bother." She said as they finally arrived on their floor and found Nya leaning against the wall next to Wendy's door, casually scrolling through her phone. As soon as the noirette noticed them, she turned off her phone and waved as a sinister smirk cracked across her face.
"You go inside and I'll talk to her," Lloyd told Wendy and she nodded, all but running inside her apartment while Nya stared at her. Once he was sure Wendy was safe, Lloyd approached his newest co-worker. "Listen, I've suggested that she stay away from you and Kai, you could do the same with her then maybe things will settle down." He told her calmly, but his glare showed what he was really feeling.
"I don't know what you're talking about." She shrugged innocently, but she had a cruel smirk. Lloyd knew shouting at her would solve nothing so instead, he gave her an annoyed grunt and entered the apartment, slamming and locking the door behind him. As soon as they were gone, Skylor approached her girlfriend.
"He's right." She told her, clearly angry and disgusted with Nya's attitude. "This isn't getting you anywhere."
"I'm not going anywhere until that woman is out of here." She snarled.
"She's probably gonna call the police! You're wasting your time! Look at the state of you, you haven't slept properly in days!" She cried, but Nya just gave her a bored look, which really pissed Skylor off. "Morro's dead! So stop taking your anger out on her and focus it on getting your life back together!"
"I'm not doing this for me! I'm doing this for Kai!" She suddenly shouted before storming off somewhere, but Skylor was too angry to chase after her...