Chapter 37
KAI
There’s no way out of this bathroom.
“You gotta be fucking kidding me,” I groan.
Diana looks around. Her brows knit together as she hugs the towel tighter around herself. “Um…maybe you can crawl out the air vents?”
My eyes widen. “Di, you can’t be serious!”
“I’ve never snuck out a boy before!”
“Oh, really? Are you sure? I couldn’t tell.”
Diana smacks my chest with a loofah. “We don’t have time for this!”
Suddenly, there’s a knock at the door.
“Miss Diana?” Helen shouts. “Are you alright?”
“Yes!” Diana rolls her hand, trying to ease out a fast, convincing lie. “I-I’m just trying to kill this spider by scaring it with the sound of my voice.”
I snort.
Diana smacks a hand over my mouth, but it only makes it worse because Helen sounds even more concerned.
“Do you need help with the spider?”
“No!” Diana swallows hard, before softening her tone with a nervous smile, “No. It’s alright, Helen. I can handle it myself.”
“Oh, okay, well, I am going to start preparing meals for tomorrow.” The concern in Helen’s voice shifts to a stern, cautious tone. “Shout if you need anything.”
“I will!” Diana promises.
We hold our breaths, eagerly waiting for Helen’s footsteps to retreat far enough from the bathroom. When we hear the clang of pots and pans being taken out, we slump back in relief.
Diana opens the shower door and steps out. “Quick! Put on your clothes,” she whispers, “I think I know a way out.”
I grab my clothes and shove them on. “I’m not going to fling myself off the balcony if that’s what you’re thinking.”
“No!” Diana looks back at me with wide, horrified eyes as she fastens the knot on her robe. “Why would I ask you to do that?”
“Well, I don’t know, Di. After you suggested I shove my ass through the air vents, I thought some disclaimers were necessary.”
Diana glares at me before she bundles her wet hair up and clamps it into place with a glittery claw clip.
I zip up my pants and make sure not to move too fast. I don’t wanna rattle the loose change I have in there from all the late-night vending machine runs.
With our feet lightly padding across the floor, Diana and I sneak out of the bathroom and head towards the front door. I snatch my shoes from beneath the coat rack.
“Oh, Miss Diana!”
“āiyā!” Diana yelps and shoves me into the corner.
“Merde!” I stumble and grip onto the coat rack for balance.
From this angle, I can see Diana’s back reflected in the mirror on the door. She faces Helen, a short Asian woman with a dignified lift to her chin, a pixie haircut, and soft freckles dappling her nose.
Helen tightens up the knot on her pink Anpanman apron. “Would you like salmon or pickerel for tomorrow?”
Diana flashes an overly bright smile that makes her lips quiver. “Salmon is just fine!”
“Alright, salmon it is,” Helen agrees.
Suddenly, the door whips open and Diana’s driver walks in with a scarf.
“Helen, you forgot your—”
His eyes land on me.
Then it all happens so fast. He swings out a gun from his coat. My hands fly up. Diana lunges towards him, batting his arm down, while Helen tries to rein her back.
“Hans, no!”
“There’s a man in the corner!” Hans shouts.
Helen gasps. “How did he get in here? I didn’t even see him!”
“I can explain!” Diana insists. Desperation flashes on her face as she shakes Hans’ arm. “Please. Put down your gun and don’t hurt him.”
Hans softens. My breath unhitches when he slowly lowers his gun. Still, he keeps an unflinching eye on me while he tucks the gun back into his coat pocket.
“You know who he is, Miss Diana?”
“Yes.”
Then, with a defeated look my way, Diana takes a deep breath and tells Hans and Helen everything.
“It’s truly nothing worth reporting about, I swear,” she promises. “This isn’t real. We’re just casual acquaintances. Right, Kai?”
The words cut my throat like wires. But I force them out anyway because she’s right. At the end of the day, this is nothing more than a transactional relationship no matter how I feel about her.
“Yeah.” I nod and fake a smile. “That's right.”
Helen and Hans’ tensed shoulders fall slightly in relief. They don’t say much, but they make their point pretty damn clear with just a few words.
Hans jabs a finger at my chest.
“Treat her well,” he warns. “If you don’t, I have a gun.”
“And I know how to use it, too,” Helen chimes in.
I level their hard stare with my own. “I will. You have my word.”
They eventually leave to give Diana and me some privacy. I blow out a breath, bracing my forearm against the door. The thought that Hans and Helen now know about us makes me feel naked and exposed that I can feel the fear slowly creep in.
“Well, we managed to keep this a secret up to now.”
Diana snorts. A tired, bitter smile drags across her lips as she slumps against the door. “We’re just lucky it was Helen and Hans who figured it out. If anyone else did…”
We’d risk getting caught by the wrong people and ruining whatever’s left of our reputations.
The unspoken threat hangs heavy over our heads. It should make any sane person back out of this, but neither of us make a move. We’re in too deep now. We know we’d drown without the other. The relief is the only thing we’re clinging onto in this disastrous shit storm we’re both trapped in.
My phone buzzes. A text from Rowan flashes on my screen, reminding me of where I need to be right now.
I shut my phone off with a groan. “I gotta go.”
Diana’s face falls, yet she nods in understanding. Maybe it’s the trick of the light, but she almost looks sad. “I’ll see you later then?”
“Yeah.” I offer her a small smile. “Have a good night, Di.”
I’m about to leave before her hand reaches for my arm.
“Wait!”
I turn around. My brow arches up. Diana undoes her hair and hands me her glittery clip. “A platonic token. For luck on your presentation.”
She looks up at me with a gentle hope that makes her dark eyes glitter like night skies.
This time, a real smile breaks across my face. Our fingers brush together as I reach out to take the hair clip.
“In that case…”
I reach into my pocket and pull out a quarter. Someone had glued specks of glitter onto the Canadian goose, making the coin glint like a star.
I rub the back of my neck. “Honestly, I don’t know why I’m giving this to you when you probably have a ton of these—”
“I’ll hold onto it.” Diana takes it from me and hugs it to her chest as if the coin is the most precious thing in the world.
My heart pathetically aches at how adorable she is. I want to brush her hair back and kiss her forehead. Just do anything rather than feel this distance between us.
But all I can do is hold onto her hair clip and carry it with me as I leave.