Chapter 47
DIANA
“I’m sorry—you did it in a treehouse?”
I blush behind my hand. The pomegranate margarita Stella had made for me wobbles between my fingers, as I rehash everything with a half-addled brain and a loose, unabashed tongue.
Every detail I share has Stella wide-eyed and gasping, while her tuxedo cat, Rufus, stares at me with such disapproval that my dignity is suffering.
“It was a treehouse suite,” I clarify, “The Wing and Flame happened at a venue that also hosts weddings.”
“Still! That’s way more interesting compared to my first time.” Stella narrows her eyes and points to herself. “Do you know where I lost it? In the backseat of Michael Soutthiphanh’s car at a Denny’s parking lot while my parents were at the temple.”
I giggle into my margarita glass.
“It’s not funny!” Stella whines. “Not everyone can have their first time in a rustic suite with a sexy hockey player.”
I was stressing so much about keeping my arrangement with Kai a secret that I didn’t realize just how freeing it is to finally talk about it without needing to whisper or watch my back.
I knew from the moment Stella asked about me and Kai, there was no other way I could hide the truth.
But I’m so relieved that I didn’t because in so little time, she’s become a friend I’ve always wanted.
One who you can gossip with and cry in front of.
That’s why I’m sitting on a cozy couch in her apartment, drinking pomegranate margaritas and talking about boys instead of doing classwork and fussing about what the headlines are making up about me.
A little twinge of shame nips at me.
You should be working so much harder to get your life back together, except you’re here, wasting your time.
When I called her to check in, Helen had scoffed and told me to ignore that voice.
You deserve to live your life instead of moving through it deadline by deadline, she said. It’s about time you know what it’s like to be happy without consequences or restraints, Miss Diana.
“As envious as I am about you and Kai—” Stella’s smile drops into a frown, as she runs her hands through Rufus’ fur. “It can’t be easy to be friends with benefits and still have feelings for him, right?”
The sweet margarita grows sour in my mouth.
“No, it’s not easy,” I confess.
“Well, why can’t you tell him how you feel and date in secret until the CEO vote is sorted out? Once you take over the HMG, your dad has to loosen up the noose around your neck.”
Sometimes, I let myself dream about Kai feeling the same way about me.
He’ll hug me close and tell me that everything is going to be okay.
We’ll keep our relationship a secret until I have the courage to tell bàba about it.
My toes curl, hope bursts in my heart at knowing I can talk to Kai and see him whenever I want without hiding.
Suddenly, my phone lights up with a text from Kai.
Kai
Hey, Di. I’m sorry to do this, but I can’t talk on the phone tonight. I have a big assignment I need to finish before Halloween weekend. I hope you understand. Have a goodnight.
His blunt text makes me shrink back in embarrassment. I’m daydreaming and pondering about being with him when he couldn’t care less.
God, why did I think Kai would think about me as anything else besides someone to rail when he’s stressed?
I backspace my response one too many times. Each word feels bogged down with too much emotion and not enough nonchalance. I abandon the attempt and simply like his text.
“Hey…” Stella squeezes my arm. “What’s wrong?”
“It’s nothing,” I swallow hard, mustering up a small smile. “Kai just canceled our phone call tonight. He has an important assignment to do.”
Stella gasps. “Oh, how dare he?” She slams her glass down, making Rufus leap off the couch and scamper away. “He is picking school over you?”
“It’s not that big of a deal.”
Except I can’t ignore the possibility of Kai lying to me.
What if he’s off with someone else? What if she’s so much prettier, and so much bolder than me that she’s made him change his mind about being friends with benefits?
All throughout the night, Kai’s odd text lurks in the back of my mind.
I try to forget about it, but every word I say brings me back to that text.
It’s so blunt and straightforward. None of Kai’s warmth and playful humor comes through.
Usually, his texts leave me daydreaming about the way his eyes crinkle when he laughs, or when he towers over me with that teasing smile on his face.
It’s a text, Diana. You’re simply overthinking this when there’s more important things for you to mull over.
“Put out one fire at a time,” I whisper. The first fire was Sophia and severing any ties she has to Gregory and Jonathan. That’s my priority right now.
Not Kai.
But no matter how much I try to get my mind off it, I can’t ignore the feeling that something is very wrong.