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Kota counted to stop himself from blushing as he thought about Sang upstairs in his bed. Tell the truth, even if it’s not the full truth. “I came in for an extra towel,” he said, and was about to give a reason but then stopped himself. If she didn’t ask, he didn’t have to make one up.
“Hmm hmm,” she mumbled. “Well then get out of the way, this basket is heavy.”
“Let me take it,” he said, but she nudged him out of the way. He shrugged. “Let me get some things out of the way and then I can help with breakfast.”
“By the way, there was a letter in the mailbox for you.”
“A bill?” he asked, expecting his cell phone bill, which he covered.
“No, just a letter. I didn’t know you had a friend in Virginia. Did you get a new pen pal?”
He almost shook his head and then stopped himself. “Oh, yes. I...” He stopped again. He didn’t have an answer. Best just to be casual about it, but he was curious. He didn’t have a friend in Virginia. The fact that she’d asked specifically about a pen pal made him suspect it was a hand-written envelope, so it probably wasn’t junk mail, either.
He considered going to get it, but he needed to hurry along, too. Sang could wake at any moment and walk downstairs. He didn’t want to have to explain to his mother why there was a girl up there.
His mother had turned toward the washing machine and was loading her clothes inside. Kota backed away and started toward his room again when she called out to him.
He stopped and poked his head back into the laundry room. “Yes?”
“Is Victor still coming over?” she asked.
“Yes,” he said. “I was trying to get some chores out of the way. I still need to brush Max and do a few other things.”
“If you’re heading to the kitchen, get out the things for breakfast. He’ll have time for pancakes, won’t he?”
Kota smirked and shook his head. “Don’t go all out.”
“It’s my day off. If I want pancakes, I’ll make them. I just need to know if you’re running out the door like usual.”
Kota sighed. There was never an easy way to explain. His mother knew they belonged to an Academy, and that they sometimes disappeared without warning to deal with ‘school stuff.' He suspected she was much more aware of what they really did than she let on, and turned a blind eye on most of it. She might not know everything, but she was smart.
Not to mention, this Academy paid for things like his little sister’s education and had been helping to support them ever since...
He shook off the painful memories of his father finally leaving. He had no time to think about that now.
“We’ll stay for breakfast. I’ll start in the kitchen as soon as I can,” Kota said.
“And wake up Jessica.”
“Okay.”
“And my closet door is squeaking something awful. I thought maybe you could look at it. Do that thing you did before to make it stop.”
Kota’s smile tightened. Normally, this wouldn’t be an issue, even if Victor was on his way to take the two of them off for an appointment. If Sang wasn’t upstairs, he could probably have fit all that in just fine.
“Sure,” he said, and then hurried off upstairs with the towel and Sang’s clothes bunched up inside.
He stood at the top, wondering how he was going to manage things with Sang likely waking up and wandering around alone if he was downstairs doing a list of chores.
He put her clothes away in his closet for now to hurry along, and then moved to the bed, hovering over her. He made up the pull-out bed and gently put it back into place. When she didn’t stir, he watched her for a minute, thinking he could lock the door behind him, deterring his mother from going up. And then if she started down, it would maybe give him a chance to hear her jiggle the handle. He would have to explain her appearance then.
Then, there was the issue of going to their scheduled appointment, leaving her to fend for herself and return home. He couldn’t just run off.
He’d have to catch Victor on his way in and convince him to help.
Would Victor insist they call in the Academy? That it would be best to perhaps let a female group handle Sang’s situation?
Kota hoped Victor would understand and wouldn’t press for them to hand off her situation. Sang had started to open up to him. He felt a connection to her already. It would mean another job on top of the one they were doing, but he’d know if it would be too overwhelming to ask. He wouldn’t let it take over the high school job they were working on this year. Anyway, she was going to be at that school, so it just made sense.
Kota looked over Sang one more time as she continued to sleep. Even if a girl team came for her, he’d still want to at least be friends.
He had promised her, after all.
He went down the steps again to rush through his few chores. He carefully locked the door behind him to keep Sang safe. He would always keep her safe.
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