Revamped!
[Guys, I'm now finished high school.] [2020: The nostalgia that AN has is a lot. This school year will be my third year in uni].
Kai-nd of a Legacy: Part Two
After the whole incident of Jacin running away from Andromeda Academy to figure things out for himself, he was allowed to stay in Commonwealth for a longer period of time than he originally planned. (Despite only thinking he'd stay a day at most.) His parents even sent him clothes since he barely packed any himself but he got the hint from how many clothes he got as to how long he should be staying. He also got sent PDFs of his assignments which he knows he'll skim on the plane ride home.
As of now, because Winter and Cinder are at school, Jacin is just sitting alone in the living room of the Blackburn Mansion, surfing through channels. Nothing interests him so he's incredibly bored.
He turns his head at the sound of Levana's heels clicking their way into the room. She's dressed in a crisp pencil skirt with a matching top blazer. Her dark hair falls past her shoulders and her lips are a dark shade of red. She's striking and even Jacin can't object to that.
"Jacin," Levana starts, "since you have absolutely nothing to do, come help me at the office."
Jacin nods as he gets up and starts following Levana to her car. It isn't until the car is in motion that he starts asking her questions. He wonders if he's even allowed to stand beside her in a political office but Levana wouldn't waste her time with the offer if he wasn't. He'll feel like a child who got dragged with their mother because the babysitter cancelled.
"Help with what?" Jacin asks.
"Moving boxes around," Levana lists, "organizing files, all that. I don't need you lounging around here with your mind rotting away as you eat all my food."
Jacin stares at her. "Yes, Levana, that was exactly what I had planned for the day."
Levana looks at him with a little smirk in her eyes. "You're a strange one, aren't you?"
"Iko has told me that several times."
"I happen to like the strange ones. People who look normal and live a normal life are the ones you must watch out for. That's why you and Winter work so well together - you're both odd."
Jacin's touched. That will forever be remembered by him as the nicest thing that Levana's ever said to him.
-o-
Meanwhile, at school, Cinder walks down the hallways and approaches her girls who stand in front of Scarlet's locker. They seem to be in the middle of a deep conversation so Cinder isn't sure if she should be butting in now, but since they're all here, now is the best time. Besides, with her question, they'd silence themselves immediately.
"Have any of you heard from Kai?" Cinder asks.
They shake their heads. Cinder leans against the neighbouring locker distressed.
"We were just talking about Kai," Winter says to Cinder.
"What if he's being distant because he'll dump me?" Cinder asks.
"That's ridiculous," Cress states in a comforting tone, "unless Kai would dump the whole school."
"He left halfway through yesterday," Scarlet tells Cinder. "He got signed out and just didn't show up today."
As Cinder, Cress, and Scarlet continue discussing Kai, Winter feels her phone vibrate on the inside of her skirt. She pulls it out and sees it's a message from Jacin. Winter reads it and her jaw drops. She unconsciously lets out a yelp which captures the attention of the other girls.
"What happened?" Scarlet asks.
Winter turns her phone over so they could all read the text that Jacin sent.
Jacin Bae: Go to any news outlet you can. Levana's giving a speech on Mayor Rikan and it's bad news.
-o-
Levana: - and I'm deeply saddened to have to report that Mayor Rikan is severely sick. In terms of the future of Commonwealth, that will be decided by the mayor himself and his council through myself and Konn Torin. There will -
"Turn that off," Wolf commands.
Sitting in the passenger seat of Wolf's car is Thorne, who turns off the radio that was broadcasting Levana's speech. They two of them decided to cut school the moment they heard the news about Kai's dad. They needed to be there for their friend.
Wolf pulls into Kai's driveway and the two boys step out of the car. They both walk to the front door and Thorne knocks. Almost instantly, Kai opens the door. They notice that he's still wearing his school uniform which was definitely from yesterday since he wasn't at school today.
"Dude," Thorne says, "we heard about your dad and just wanted to know if you and him were okay."
"Oh…" Kai mutters. "Yeah, he's fine, I'm fine, it's all fine."
"Is it?" Wolf asks, already knowing the answer.
"No…" Kai moans, leaning against the door for support.
Wolf holds on to the door so it doesn't swing back and forth as Kai rests his head on the doorknob. Thorne puts a hand on Kai's shoulder for support.
"My dad told me a while back that he would resign from being mayor," Kai mutters regrettably. "That was when I should've noticed something was wrong but for some reason, I just didn't ask. He loves being mayor and the people love him. And now, he's sick and it's spread to his lungs and -"
"Hey…" Thorne interrupts, saving Kai from eventually sinking in sadness. "How about we just grab a bite to eat somewhere and you could get some fresh air?"
Kai looks up with a small smile, nodding. He steps out the door but Wolf puts his firm hand on his chest, stopping him. Kai looks at Wolf confused since Thorne offered to take him out.
"Change your clothes," Wolf orders.
Kai looks down at his day-old uniform before shuffling back into the house. Wolf and Thorne get back in the car and Wolf starts the engine. Kai steps out of the house in a new outfit and gets into the backseat. Wolf pulls out and they start heading down the road.
"There's more," Kai says. "I read the first page of my mom's journal and apparently she was friends with someone who had a daughter about our age. The thing is, my mother and this friend of hers wanted her daughter and me to get married."
"What?!" Thorne exclaims. "That's crazy. Who is she?"
Kai shrugs. "All the family friends that I know don't have daughters my age. They're either way older or way younger."
"So, what about the girl is important?" Thorne asks. "Are you going to find her and marry her?"
"I don't know," Kai replies.
Wolf laughs, sounding like a hearty chuckle. "Dude, it was written on paper, not in stone. This isn't a fairytale. It's the real adult world in which missing princesses don't kiss frogs. You don't have to take that seriously."
"But I want to," Kai argues. "I want to know what plan my mom had for me. I want to know who this girl is and how my mom knew her mom, whoever in the stars her mom is."
"I guess you could say that you have kai-nd of a legacy," Thorne says cheekily.
Thorne looks at Wolf and Kai for a reaction to his pun. Kai is unamused with a cringe on his face and Wolf gives him the dirtiest glare ever. Thorne sits back, straightening his back, and accepting his pun with pride. If anyone were to ask, it was an amazing pun for having been thought of on the spot.
"This isn't a bad thing," Thorne says, going back to the concept of the mystery girl. "You're only curious and it's technically not cheating on Cinder. You don't get anywhere in life without temptations. We can do whatever we want. In the end, we all live the life we choose for ourselves."
"Yeah…" Wolf says, nodding. "We'll help you find her. And in a way, you're getting to know your mom better."
Kai and Thorne nod. Now, they're convinced that finding this mystery girl is a good idea. Nothing can stop them now.
"I don't even have a name for this girl," Kai says. "I read one entry."
"Read the rest," Wolf obviously prompts.
"There's a lot going on in my life now and seeing my mom's writing is a lot," Kai says. "Let me take my time for a bit."
"And after you get a name, we'll use the Internet," Thorne says. "She's bound to be on social media somewhere."
-o-
For Kai, after hanging out with the boys, the rest of the day consisted of calls and text messages not only from Scarlet, Cress, and Winter but from everyone else in the city who had a soul. That moment impacted Kai: not only were people so compassionate but it also showed how much his father has done not only for him but for the city.
Kai looks up from where he's sitting outside his house and sees her approaching him in the darkness. When she enters the light cast by the porch light, he sees Cinder. She isn't smiling, but she also isn't sad. Her emotion is somewhere in the middle of that spectrum. She takes a seat next to Kai, turning her legs towards him.
"Are you really okay?" Cinder asks him.
Kai shrugs. "I thought my life was over when my mom died. That's when I felt my world crumble to pieces and for a moment, it seemed to get better but as time passed because I grew up and moved on. Now the pieces are breaking again."
"Trust me, Kai, it'll get better." She puts a hand on his leg. "And if it doesn't, I will do everything in my power to do so."
Kai looks at his girlfriend in a new light. He thinks about all that he knows about her and although it isn't much, it is more than he knows about the girl in his mother's journal. Then, something about Cinder strikes him and he straightens a little.
"Aces, Cinder…" Kai mutters. "Where are your parents?"
He remembered that Cinder lives with her aunt and step-cousin. Her parents aren't in the picture and he doesn't remember her being asked where they were.
Cinder takes a sharp, tense breath at the sound of that question. She takes a moment to shake it off and look back at Kai.
"Don't worry about them," Cinder replies, patting the spot on his leg where she put her hand. "Put your thoughts off of me and aim them somewhere else."
Kai nods. Cinder's words replay in his head and give him the motive to kiss her so he does. It's their first kiss as boyfriend and girlfriend but that didn't change anything. Kai not only wanted this but he needed this.
The moment Cinder kisses him back is when his dream of her became the dominant force in his life. His instant reaction is to hold her skin and feel the warmth of her face against his own. It only takes seconds before her scent of freshly cut grass hits him stronger than the scent of tea tree from his mother's journal. It was intoxicating and Kai feels stuck between Cinder and the mystery girl is his mother's words.