Okay. I know I have been missing for a few weeks now, but it's summer. I've been having too much fun. Like WAY too much fun. xD Anyway, enjoy this update! IDK when the next one will be. :P I am quitting my job for a new one, so give me 2 weeks before regular updates come back for a few days and then I start my new job. Adult life...Enjoy your youth while you can!
Chapter 30
"Do you think May caught the bouquet?" asks the purple haired girl.
Without raising his head from his homework, the white haired boy replies, "She'll tell us everything when she calls." He knows today is the day of the wedding, so he won't hear from his caretaker for a while. Plus, Kai wants May to enjoy herself. It's the reason he hasn't called her at all these past 2 weeks, though she does call him every night.
Sliding up next to him, the girl swings an arm around his neck. "Do you think she and Drew danced?"
Kai sighs at his friend's relentless questions because they're supposed to be working on their homework. "She said she's dancing with Mr. Ash."
"But that's just one dance. They have more songs at the wedding." With Kai remaining silent, Shay grins mischievously at him. "I thought you like Drew?"
"I don't not like him, Shay."
The girl rolls her eyes at him. "C'mon, New! You can't say you don't like him!"
Kai frowns, but his attention is far from the homework in front of him, even if he won't let Shay see his face. It's not like Kai doesn't care for Drew. On the contrary, Kai finds comfort in the man's presence. Drew makes May happy, and Kai knows he can rely on Drew for anything. Kai trusts Drew, much to the boy's annoyance. However, why is it so difficult for Kai to admit this?
"Well, Drew's gonna be around for a while, so you're gonna have to say you like him someday." Shay knowingly tells him before returning to her side of the table to work on her homework. She understands that it takes Kai a while to open up to others, so she won't push him. Although, she will put ideas into his head to get him to think about things, like Drew's presence in Kai's life.
After a couple of minutes of silently working, the boy quietly speaks, "May likes him." Shay raises a curious eyebrow at him. "And I like May…"
When Kai doesn't continue, Shay just grins warmly at him. "Good enough, New!"
Knocking on the bedroom door gets both children's attention. They're currently working on their homework in Shay's room. Kai sleeps in Shane's room whenever he spends the night. The door to Shay's room slowly opens as Pam nervously looks at the curious children.
"What is it, mom?" Shay nonchalantly asks because her mother isn't speaking.
In a small voice, Pam replies, "Kai, can you come out here for a second?"
Like always, the boy complies, so he stands up to head to the door, but Shay quickly approaches her mother too. "What are you doing, mom? Why are you being so secretive?" Whenever May calls, Shay talks to her too; therefore, Shay is always involved with everything Kai does in this house. Moreover, Pam's behavior is very concerning to the young girl.
Sighing, Pam gives her daughter a reassuring smile. "Wait here, sweetie. Your father and I just need to talk to Kai."
"Why?" whines Shay.
Kai puts a hand on her shoulder. "It's about your birthday party." He really has no idea what Pam wants to speak to him about, but he won't be surprised if this is the reason. Pam and George like to plan Shay's birthday early because they don't get to celebrate Shane's since his is during the tournament season. Kai and May have been in on these plans in the past.
Shay's eyes light up excitedly, and she hurries back to her seat. "Okay! See ya soon, New!"
Pam wants to giggle at her daughter's antics, but she can't. Not right now. Not with what is about to happen. Leading the confused boy out of the room, Pam slowly walks down the hall with him. "A woman claiming to be your mother is here." Pam knows she doesn't have much time before they meet their uninvited guest in the living room; thus, she's breaking the news to Kai quickly.
The boy stops in his tracks as his eyes meet Pam's concerned ones. His mother? The last time he saw her was when she dropped him off at the orphanage years ago. He thought she had abandoned him. What is she doing here? How did she find him? "Who?" He whispers.
With a tight smile on her face, Pam bends down in front of Kai to meet him at eye level. "She says she's your mother. If you don't recognize her, then George and I will make sure she never comes back." She sees Kai's nervous hands fidget with each other, so she reaches out to console him. "Everything will be okay, Kai."
As much as Pam wants to send this woman away, she can't. This woman has papers showing she's Kai's mother, and Kai has every right to return to his birth parent if he chooses to do so. Who is Pam to hold this knowledge away from the boy? Kai has already suffered enough, which is also why Pam was hesitant about bringing Kai out. Nevertheless, Kai deserves to meet his mother if he wants to.
After Kai takes in a deep breath with his eyes closed, he opens them to determinedly look at Pam. He has a lot of questions for his mother, so he really hopes it is her in the living room. "I'm ready, Mrs. Enbar." Pam can't help but smile warmly at the courageous little boy who has gone through so much already. She nods before fully standing up to lead him into the living room.
As soon as they enter the space, they spot George scowling at a woman with dark pink hair who is just nonchalantly looking at her pokenav. Seeing Kai freeze and stiff up confirms to Pam that he must know this woman. Pam lets out a breath of concern, but this gets George and the woman's attention where the woman smiles brightly at Kai.
"Kai!" the woman hurries over to hug the stiff boy who doesn't move. Pam and George worriedly watch the pair until the woman pulls away to hold Kai at arms length. Kai is still avoiding eye contact. "Kai, look at me." The boy doesn't move. "Kai Brenden Birch, you will listen to your mother!"
"Or else what?" Kai shouts, which takes back all of the Enbars. They've never seen the normally calm boy raise his voice before, besides for the few times in the beginning of Drew entering his life. "You're gonna take me back to the orphanage?" Challenges Kai as his glossy pained green eyes glare at the woman's red eyes.
Before the woman can say anything else, George approaches her. "I think you should leave now, Ms. Izumi."
"I'm leaving with my son." she already told the Enbar parents this earlier, so Ms. Izumi grabs Kai's wrist.
However, the boy roughly pulls away. "I don't wanna go anywhere with you!" He exclaims.
"You will listen to your mother-"
"You're not my mom! You left me!" Kai was trying hard to hold back his tears, but they're flowing down his face now. All of the pain and abandonment he felt when his last parent willingly left him are coming back. The bottled up emotions he tried to hide behind his calm exterior, though they never went away.
"You need to go!" Pam interjects as the woman now tightly grips Kai's wrist.
"I'm going." she hisses in annoyance.
Before the Enbar parents can object more, footsteps are heard running into the room as Kai is tackled to the ground in a tight hug, causing Ms. Izumi to release him. "Leave Kai alone!" Shay cries worriedly. After hearing the shouting, she grew concerned and spied from the hallway. However, once she saw Kai being forced out of the house by this woman, Shay knew she couldn't let her friend suffer.
Ms. Izumi glares at the girl, but Pam and George come to Shay's rescue. No one messes with their children. "You need to leave. Alone." George sternly tells the woman.
Shaking her head, Ms. Izumi turns her attention to the angry boy. "You better come with me now, Kai. You remember what happened the last time you disobeyed me." Her menacing look makes the boy flinch. Although he was young the last time he saw his mother, the events she is speaking about traumatize him enough to give up.
Pushing Shay's arms away from him, Kai defeatedly walks past the Enbar parents where George grabs him. "Kai, you don't need to go with her."
Kai gives George a small smile. "I'll be okay, Mr. Enbar. Thank you." The boy then walks away from George's extended hand and into the arms of the grinning woman.
"I always knew you were smart, like me." Ms. Izumi whispers to Kai. She then looks at the furious Enbars. "We'll be leaving now."
"No!" Shay shouts with tears in her eyes, but Pam holds the girl back. "You can't go, Kai! She left you!" Shay knows how much Kai resents his mother, but he doesn't hate her. While she doesn't understand Kai's relationship with his estranged mother, Shay knows that Kai doesn't belong with her. Kai belongs with May!
Nevertheless, the boy continues silently walking out as tears slip down his cheeks. He doesn't have the strength to speak to his best friend. He can't face her right now. Not like this. Soon, the mother-son pair are out of the house, and Shay weeps into her father's arms.
George, clutching the hysteric girl, looks at his wife. "Call May." he urgently says. Pam nods before pulling out her pokenav to call Kai's guardian.
Sinnoh
"I'll be right there!" May shouts into the device and ends the call.
She then scrolls through her contacts while the man beside her worriedly asks, "Is everything okay, May?"
Too focused on the task at hand as well as the news Pam just shared, May doesn't hear him. Instead, she dials Leaf's contact and puts the nav to her ear to listen to the ringing. Of course, Leaf sends May straight to voicemail. Misty does the same to her. Drew had left his pokenav with Alex who had conveniently asked to play games on it right before Drew was instructed by Paul to get a table from the storage closet. Therefore, only May has a pokenav right now.
"May!" Drew exclaims at the woman who keeps furiously calling her friends to no avail. With the small nav light, Drew sees May's glossy eyes. That look he completely recognizes as her trying to be strong before a breakdown. Thus, he puts his hand on the pokenav to take it out of May's eyesight. Before the woman can argue with him, Drew envelops her in his arms tightly where he buries his face in her hair. "Take a deep breath, May." He softly tells the fidgeting woman.
"Let me go, Drew!" comes the muffled response in his chest, though Drew's strong hold doesn't waver.
"Not until you calm down." Drew has no idea what's going on with May. One moment, they were making out in this closet, the next, she's having a panic attack. Is it claustrophobia? Or does she hate the fact that she kissed him this much? Drew dismisses the thought from his head. Right now, he knows May needs someone, and he hopes he's the best person for the job.
"We need to get out of here!" May insists while still struggling in his hold. "Give me back my pokenav!"
Sighing, Drew holds her tighter as he nuzzles her hair with his face. In a husky voice, he softly replies, "Please, take 3 deep breaths, May."
He is relieved to feel her take her first long shaky deep breath, which only makes Drew not want to let her go even more. Once she finishes with the last breath, she isn't fighting his hold anymore. Instead, her eyes are closed in frustration as her face is buried in his chest. His chest she always finds comfort in. Bringing her arms up, May wraps them around Drew, much to his surprise.
The two stay in each other's embraces for a while until Drew quietly asks, "What's wrong?"
The events of Pam's call come back to May who tightly keeps her eyes closed to prevent the tears from slipping out. She can cry later. Right now, she needs to get back to Cianwood as soon as possible. "Kai." May croaks out.
Letting out a breath, Drew whispers, "What about him?" He hears the pain in May's voice, and all he ever wants to do is keep the pain and sadness away from her. THe usually bubbly airhead he fell for and traveled with deserves to always be happy.
Sniffling, May responds, "His mother took him."
Drew instantly freezes up. Kai's mother? Drew thinks back to the papers Brianna had given him the last time he saw her. He noticed that Kai had a mother, but Drew didn't think too deeply about it. Why would Kai's mother come back now? How did she manage to find him? If the orphanage told her, then they would've warned May ahead of time.
"I need to get back to Johto."
May's voice breaks the man out of his thoughts. Drew nods and says, "I'm coming too."
"You don't have to-"
"I said we're raising Kai together, May. I promised you both that I'd keep you together." Drew then pulls slightly away to look at what he presumes is her face in the dark closet. "I promised you that I'd protect you both." And he promised himself that he would never let this woman be anything but happy again. "We're a team, and I know we're not alone." Drew gives her a reassuring smile, even though she can't see it.
He is relieved, though, when he feels her face pressed against his chest again. "Thanks, Drew." As much as May wants to remain independent, she knows she can't be selfish when it comes to others, especially Kai. May will need all the support and help she can get. Plus, May likes being on a team with Drew again. Well, she also likes him, but right now, she's got other things to focus on than her feelings for this man. "We need to get out of here."
Drew agrees and he turns on May's pokenav screen that's still in his hands. "Yeah."
When May sees him scroll on her device, she knowingly tells him, "They all sent me to voicemail." She had called both the men and the women who quickly sent her to voicemail after 2 rings. Of course, they're not going to pick up when May calls them again.
Drew taps away on the screen while replying, "Duh. But they'll see a text."
Once he sends the text, he looks back at May where he sees those determined sapphire orbs he loves. He finds himself inching towards her mesmerizing eyes, especially as the light on the pokenav screen turns off. May nervously closes in on the man too, but the two are broken apart by May's pokenav ringing.
Mentally cursing whoever it is, Drew picks up May's pokenav, which makes the flustered brunette curiously eye him. "Hello?"
"Gary's coming right now. What's wrong?" comes Leaf's panicked voice. While she had been ignoring May's calls, she saw the message pop up just now indicating that Kai is gone. Although Leaf is skeptical of the text as a way for the pair to get out of the storage closet, the maternal instinct in her tells her otherwise.
"The Enbar parents said his mother took him not too long ago. We gotta get back to Johto, Leaf." Drew coolly tells her. Yes, he is very worried about Kai and everything going on right now, but Drew knows that keeping a level head is the best way to go about things. Moreover, with May panicking, Drew needs to be the one making sure she doesn't do anything stupid.
Eventually, the storage door swings open, and the pair squint their eyes from the intense light since they had been in the dark closet for a long time. "You're welcome." Comes the arrogant snicker.
Once Drew's eyes adjust, he spots the smirking auburn haired man. Gary doesn't know why Leaf ordered him to release them, but he won't argue with his pregnant wife. Although, Gary did take his time getting to the closet. Drew hangs up on Leaf before grabbing May's hand to briskly walk past the laughing Gary.
"Hey, Drew! C'mon, man! You can't be mad when you got lipstick all over your face!" Gary cackles while following the pair.
With flushed faces, May and Drew bring their free arms up to their faces. Drew annoyedly shouts to Gary, "We're leaving."
This only makes Gary laugh more. "Make sure to use protection!" After seeing the disheveled appearance of the pair and then their embarrassed reactions as they quickly walk hand in hand out of the closet, Gary believes they'll be heading back to Drew's hotel room. He and everyone else will eventually find out that the pair is going back to Johto for Kai.