Chapter 26 Kairo #2
He shook his head. “I don’t think life ever gonna let us be more than what we are.”
I sat up. “Nah,” I said.
“Don’t shut yourself out of happiness just because you think you don’t deserve it.”
He frowned. “I’m serious,” I continued. “You paid your price already. You ain’t gotta keep serving a life sentence emotionally.”
He stared at the screen again, listening.
“You deserve to be happy,” I told him. “And sometimes things don’t work the way we planned the first time… but that don’t mean it’s the end of the story.”
I thought about Khloe without meaning to.
“Sometimes, love just waits until you’re finally ready to receive it.”
Kordai nodded slowly.
“Yeah…” he said. Then he smirked. “Damn. That weed got you sounding like a motivational speaker.”
I laughed. “Shut up.”
Right as the couple in the movie kissed, my phone started ringing. I grabbed it from the table to see that it was Kemi.
“What’s up, Kemi?”
“Hey,” she said. “I’m sorry. I had a long weekend, so I didn’t see your message about the closing paperwork. It’s on my desk.”
“You good,” I said. “You alright?”
“I won’t be in tomorrow,” she continued. “I gotta clean up my house.”
“What happened?”
“A pipe burst.” She sighed. “Flooded parts of the house.”
“Damn. You good?”
“Yeah,” she said quickly. “Nothing major damaged. Just gotta clean and straighten everything up.”
“Where have you been staying?”
“My cousin’s house.”
I frowned immediately. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
She laughed softly. “I’m fine, Kairo. I don’t want to bother anybody.”
I shook my head because Kemi did everything on her own and never wanted to ask for help. I knew she didn’t want to spend extra trying to get a hotel. She didn’t play about her savings account being stacked for a rainy day.
“You not bothering nobody,” I said. “I’m booking you a hotel. Take tomorrow off and just relax, and I’ll have someone come and make sure your house is straight.”
She laughed again. “You must hear my cousins’ loud-ass kids in my background.”
I could faintly hear yelling and cartoons in the background.
“Exactly,” I said. “You need peace.”
“…Okay.”
“Just send me what side of town you want.”
“Alright,” she said. “Send me the details once you book and I’ll meet you there.”
“Bet.”
The hotel lights shined as I pulled into the circular drive.
Valets moved smoothly between luxury cars, glass doors opening automatically as soft jazz floated out into the night air.
I laughed to myself climbing out the truck.
Of course she picked somewhere with a spa.
Free massages probably came with the damn towels.
I walked toward the entrance and spotted her. She stood near the doors with her bag beside her, smiling like the world hadn’t inconvenienced her at all.
I shook my head. “Couldn’t pick somewhere regular, huh?”
She laughed. “If I’m being displaced, I’m doing it comfortably.”
Fair enough. We stepped inside and I checked in at the front desk while she scrolled through her phone behind me.
The clerk handed me two room keys. I turned and passed them to her.
She looked at me for a second and her smile faded. “You look like you been crying.”
I shook my head. “It’s been a long weekend.”
“I’m all ears if you feel like talking.”
“Nah,” I said quickly. “I’m good.”
She crossed her arms. “No. Come on.”
I sighed. “Let me grab something to drink first.”
She handed me one of the room keys. “They don’t take cash at the snack bar so you’ll need this to charge it to the room.”
I nodded.
“I’ll meet you upstairs,” she said, grabbing her bag and heading toward the elevators.
I watched her walk off before turning toward the snack bar. I grabbed a Red Bull and some crackers. My eyes lingered on the chocolate for a second. I almost grabbed it then I pictured myself suffering through cardio and put it back.
Kordai and that damn weed had me hungry like I hadn’t eaten in days. I paid with the room key and rode the elevator up alone, checking my phone. No messages from Khloe. I stared at the blank screen. Part of me wanted to see her name. Another part knew space was probably the thing that we needed.
Give her time, I told myself.
The elevator dinged. I walked down the hall and the room door was open. Kemi’s bag sat near the couch while water ran in the bathroom.
I stepped inside just as she came out with a towel, wiping her face.
She laughed. “It’s hard trying to keep a skincare routine when you’re sharing one bathroom with five people fighting over hot water.”
I smiled. “But I can’t complain. They let me stay.”
I sat down, popping open my Red Bull. “You should’ve said something sooner.”
She shrugged. “I’m a big girl. I would’ve been okay. But when you offered… I told myself not to turn down my blessing.”
She walked over and sat across from me. “So,” she said gently, “tell me why you look like you lost your best friend.”
My chest tightened because I had. I took a deep breath and I told her everything. All of it. From the moment I saw the missed calls. To the argument. To Khloe leaving. To my mom’s words. To the way my marriage suddenly felt fragile in my hands.
Her face moved through emotions as I talked — hurt, understanding, agreement — especially when I repeated what my mom said.
When I finished, she scooted closer and took my hand.
“Kairo… you are a good man.”
I looked down, shaking my head.
“No, listen,” she said, squeezing my hand. “You’re strong. You show up for everyone. You provide. You protect. You love hard.”
Her thumb brushed across my knuckles. “But you don’t let people see when you need protecting too.You try so hard to be strong for Khloe that you don’t let her see your struggles,” she continued. “You think being a man means carrying everything alone.”
She shook her head gently.
“She doesn’t need perfection. She just needs access to all versions of you. You gotta let her see you break sometimes,” she said softly. “That’s how people learn how to love you correctly.”
I stared at her. The kindness in her eyes. The patience. The warmth.
She smiled. “You’re an amazing husband. An incredible father. And you’re human, Kai. You’re allowed to hurt too.”
Something shifted inside me. All weekend I’d been holding everything together. And right then… someone was holding space for me.
I noticed how beautiful she looked sitting there.
Before I realized what I was doing, my hand moved to her face.
Her eyes widened slightly. I hesitated for half a second then I kissed her.
I was expecting for her to pull away, but she didn’t.
Her hand slid into my shirt as she leaned into me, kissing me back.
I don’t remember deciding to move. One second we were sitting there, her hands still wrapped around mine… and the next I was pulling her toward me again.
The kiss deepened. Heavier and hungrier. It wasn’t romantic. Just… desperate. I stood, lifting her. She gasped in surprise as her arms wrapped around my shoulders, and I carried her toward the bed.
My body knew what to do, but my mind did not. We started to move clothes from each other and they disappeared between kisses. My hands were searching for closeness more than desire.
She looked beautiful. I knew she did. But the truth was… I wasn’t really seeing her. My mind kept drifting somewhere else. Back home. Back to Khloe. Back to every moment I wondered where I had failed her.
Is this what it felt like to give someone else intimacy? Is this what she was chasing?
I wasn’t there because I wanted another woman. I was there because I wanted to understand. I needed to feel something other than betrayal sitting heavy in my chest.
Kemi touched my face like I was fragile. Like I mattered. Like I wasn’t breaking. And maybe that’s what pushed me over the edge.
I lowered her onto the bed, following her down as she pulled me closer. She looked at me with complete openness.
For her, it was a release. For me… it was an escape.
I kissed her again, harder, letting instinct take control. My hands moved with urgency, my body driven by emotion more than passion.
I needed noise, movement, and pressure. Anything loud enough to drown out my thoughts. And so I gave myself over to it.
I wasn’t gentle or thoughtful. I fucked Kemi so hard that I’m sure everyone on the floor heard her cry out. It was just that intense. Every motion felt like I was trying to outrun something chasing me from the inside. The room filled with breath, tension, and heat as time blurred together.
She held onto me like she had been starving for some form of connection.
Like she had waited a long time to be touched in that way.
I realized she wasn’t pretending. She was fully present, open, and happy.
That realization almost stopped me, but I selfishly kept fucking her anyway, chasing a feeling that refused to come.
Trying to replace hurt with sensation. Trying to prove to myself that I could do what Khloe had done.
Trying to understand how stepping outside love could ever feel right.
When I released, everything disappeared. My thoughts, anger, and questions. Just breath, movement, and intensity until the tension finally broke and the room fell silent except for our breathing.
We collapsed back onto the bed together, chest rising. We both stared at the ceiling while our heart slowed.
Kemi smiled softly, completely at peace. She reached for my hand, and I let her hold it. But inside… I felt nothing. No victory. No revenge. No understanding. Just an emptiness that felt deeper than before.
I don’t know how long we laid there staring at the ceiling before Kemi slowly turned onto her side to face me. I felt her eyes on me before she even spoke.
“What are you thinking about?”
“I’m scared to say.”
She studied my face. A tear slid from the corner of my eye before I could stop it. She reached up and wiped it away with her thumb.
“Tell me,” she said softly. “Are you thinking about Khloe?”
I closed my eyes. “Yes.”
There was no point in lying. She sat up slowly, reaching for her clothes off the side of the bed. I pushed myself up immediately.
“I’m sorry.”
She held her hand up to stop me. “I’m fine,” she said gently. “I promise.”
I could see it in her eyes. She wasn’t fine, but she wasn’t breaking either.
“Sit down,” she said.
I grabbed my clothes and sat on the edge of the bed like a man waiting on judgment. She dressed quietly, then came back and sat in front of me.
“I know what we just shared didn’t mean the same thing for us both,” she said.
That hurt worse than anything because she was right.
“You weren’t here with me,” she continued. “Your body was. But your mind wasn’t.”
I couldn’t even defend myself.
She tilted her head slightly. “You let your mind tell you that it made sense.”
“The same emptiness you felt that made you do that?” she continued. “That’s the same emptiness that made her do it.”
Damn.
I never once thought about it like that.
“You weren’t chasing pleasure,” she said. “You were chasing relief. And relief feels logical when you’re hurting.”
I ran a hand down my face.
“I’ve never seen a man love his wife the way you love yours,” she said.
I looked up at her.
“And don’t change that. Don’t let this moment make you pivot.”
“I’m sorry that it was you,” I said.
I meant it. Of all people, I hated that it had to be here in that room when I needed to feel something.
She laughed softly. “Don’t worry about me.” There was no bitterness in her voice.
“I promise what just happened will never leave this room. And it won’t affect my work. I’m not built like that.”
“I’ve accepted something about myself a long time ago,” she continued. “I’m the woman men come to before they figure it out.”
I frowned. “What?”
“I speak life into men,” she said calmly. “I build them up. I show them how to love. I give them the foundation.”
She smiled faintly. “And then they go give it to another woman.”
That made my stomach twist. “Don’t say that.”
“It’s true.”
She shrugged lightly. “I watched my ex-husband become the perfect partner for a woman he met two years after our divorce. Everything I begged for? She got it naturally.”
She looked at me. “I’ve watched you take advice and apply it. I’ve watched you fight for your marriage.”
“And that’s why I don’t feel used. Because you didn’t come here for me. You came here because you were bleeding.”
“Maybe,” she said gently, “God put me here to be the aid. The bridge. The lesson. The quiet space men sit in before they go home and fix what they almost lost or what they really wanted.”
I didn’t know what to say. She reached forward and took my hand.
“Go home,” she whispered. “Go home and make it right with your wife. Please.”
There was no jealousy in her voice, just sincerity.
“You still love her. I can feel it in the way you say her name. And if you don’t fight for that woman, you’re going to regret it forever.”
My eyes burned again. “I don’t want to lose her.”
“Then don’t.”
She squeezed my hand. “But don’t go back blaming. Go back owning. Your hurt doesn’t erase your part in this.”