AllFreeNovel
Share Us
It's not just his father he lost today; part of the reason I want to find her is to put Nathan's mind at ease, so that he can concentrate on his grief.
But after looking all night with no luck, I wonder if she was ever anything more than just a figment of my imagination.
Sometime around 3 a.m., while I'm thinking of who else and where else I can look for her, I fall asleep. Face smooshed on the desk, pen stuck to my face, drool on the leather desk mat.
The events of the last few days, and frankly, since I ran into her three weeks ago, have wreaked utter havoc on the routines I’ve put in place so that I can maintain a functional adult human life.
And now that she’s gone I’m not sure if I can, or even want to, try to go back to the person I was before.
"Hey."
A female voice says, and touches me on the shoulder, yanking me out of sleep.
"Kiara?" I jump out of my desk chair, ready to pull her into my arms.
But it's not her.
"Hey, it's us." My-Linh says, gesturing behind her where Damien is standing. He’s almost a foot and a half taller than her but right now, hunched over, face etched with concern, he looks so much smaller than he really is.
"Hey, guys,” I say, genuinely shocked and happy to see them. They’re not Kiara but definitely the next best thing. "What are you doing here?"
My-Linh reaches her arms up and gives me a tight hug. When I finally let her go, Damien takes her place. Our hug is a little rougher, not as long, but touches me just as much.
I'd been texting them regularly ever since the newspaper incident, and they’d been following with me through the whole time I was at the hospital, and the last half day trying to find her.
"We came so you wouldn't have to be alone," My-Linh says as I sit back in my chair. Standing up, she’s only almost as tall as me sitting down. To put her hand on my shoulder, she had to reach up. I sometimes forget how short she is until something like this happens.
I can't help but let out a little chuckle.
I must be delirious.
"What?" she says, looking confused. But my chuckle turns into a fit of giggles. Not funny in the slightest, but my body needs release, and this is what it's deciding to do.
My brother and his fiancée stand there watching me, My-Linh's hand still on my shoulder, me slapping the table in my incoherent laughter.
"He's lost it." Damien says in his trademark deadpan way.
"He's just tired. I think. What are you laughing at, Kylian?"
I look up and her face peers at me, worried.
"You!" I blurt out between the giggles, still gasping for breath.
She snaps her hand back and the lock of worry is replaced with hurt. Damien, touches her face gently and then nudges her to the side. Then, grabbing the desk, he spins it around so that I’m facing him dead on.
His voice has an undercurrent of danger that is hard to miss even in my mania when he says, "Hey. Pull up. You're hurting My-Linh's feelings.”
And instantly, nothing is so funny anymore.
The words hang between us, the warning that doesn’t need to be said: "Hurt her and I will decapitate you with a rusty butter knife."
I look past Damen to see her watching us, eyes wide. "My-Linh! I’m sorry, I wasn’t laughing at you, exactly, I just couldn’t speak from the giggles. It was just so funny to see how much taller I am than you. I didn’t mean anything.”
Her eyes fill with relief, and she pushes past Damien to give me another hug. "It's fine! I was just worried about you. I didn’t think laughing was what you'd feel like doing right now. Have you eaten or had anything to drink?"
I shake my head and walk out to the kitchen, with them following behind me, whispering something to each other.
"Guys. I am so grateful for you guys being here, but I don't know if there's anything for you to do. I've looked for her everywhere. I'll get up in a few hours and do another round."
