She scoots herself off the chair and runs into the living room.
I put my hands on my hips and stare at Kai. He looks over at me with wide eyes and a smirk on his face.
“What?” He shrugs his shoulders with plates in his hands.
“I know this was your idea.”
“You could have said no,” he says, passing me to get to the sink.
I silently turn around and grab the rest of the plates off the table and put them next to the sink for Kai to wash them.
“You know you wanted to play hooky with me today.” He winks.
He’s always been a little flirtatious with me—especially when no one is looking. He’s never gone further than a small touch or a wink here and there, so I’ve never taken it too seriously.
“What makes you think I wanted to play hooky with you?”
“For one, you agreed to it.”
“Yeah, for Amari.”
“Sure, keep telling yourself that.”
“Where is this conversation coming from?” He’s been known to try to rekindle things with me, but over the past four years, he’s stopped trying. It shocked me, because I never expected it to stop. I mean, I knew it had to stop eventually. His small little gestures have always given me some type of hint. But when the conversation stopped about us getting back together, I thought maybe the gestures were a way of messing with me.
He shrugs his shoulders and continues putting the plates into the dishwasher. “When are you going to get rid of Liam?”
I stop abruptly while wiping down the table. “What?!”
“You heard me,” he says, staring in my direction.
“I obviously heard you, but why are you asking that?” I ask with a stern tone, narrowing my eyes at him.
“Just trying to start a conversation.”
“Then that brings me back to my last question. Why are you asking that? Where is this conversation coming from?”
He wipes his hands on a towel and turns to me. “Look, your relationship is looking like it’s getting a little serious.”
“No shit. That’s what happens in relationships.” I gulp down the last of my coffee and throw another pod into the Keurig. I’m going to need more caffeine for this. Just when I thought he was done trying to pursue me, he hits me with these absurd questions out of nowhere.
“Don’t you think it’s time you gave us another chance?” he asks, his lips turned downward and his eyes giving off a puppy-dog vibe.
“Where is this coming from? You haven’t asked me to give you another chance since…I don’t even know. But it’s been years.”
"Well, you told me to work on myself, and I have been. Look at everything I’ve built. I didn’t build it for just me.”
“Kai, I can’t take you seriously right now.”
“Why not?”
I lean my hips against the counter and stay silent, lost in my thoughts. Ihavealways wondered what it would be like if we got back together. Would it feel like it used to? Have we changed enough to actually make this work again? Those thoughts have always flooded my mind. It’s always lingered in my subconscious. But again, the bad lingers too. It makes me not want to even try again, because I don’t want to relive the hurt from the past. Although I know he’s changed a lot, I guess I’m scared to let myself go down that path. I don’t think I could take another heartbreak from Kai. Plus, Liam has been so good to Amari and me. He’s so patient and loving. My relationship with Liam is not something I’ll end just to fall into old patterns.
Kai steps in front of me and whispers, “That look on your face tells me you’ve been contemplating it, too.”
I remain silent while we fixate on each other.
“I will not stop trying until you’re mine again.” The statement rolls off his tongue in a low-pitched voice. He takes a few steps backward.
