WANNA BE YOURS

t h r e e

The ride to the store was far from quiet, in fact it was barely even civil. It was naïve of him to hope for peace when he knew how loud the two girls sitting on the front got when they were together. The only difference between Kaira and Misa was their chronological age.

Sighing he tuned out their loud singing and wondered if stew would make a good enough dinner. They soon pulled up into the same parking lot he had found Kaira in earlier.

He trudged behind the two girls watching them chat excitedly as they tried to guess what dinner was. A fond look crossed his face but his peace was soon interrupted.

"Sen you are going to make pasta tonight, aren't you!" Misa exclaimed, turning to look at her brother, her eyebrows furrowed.

"No way he'd make pasta," Kaira interjected. "Sen is all about eating healthy."

It was years of his mother hammering healthy eating habits into him that had made him this way.

"That's right no pasta," he said, giving a pointed look at his sister who puffed her cheeks and stomped towards the entrance.

"She listens," Kaira commented, recalling how Misa would throw tantrums when she was younger.

"Yeah, you should too."

"Huh?" She looked at him dumbfounded but nevertheless followed him into the store.

Misa ran off to the toys section the moment they set their foot in, he called after her reminding her of stranger danger.

"She'll be fine, she's smart," Kaira said, pushing the cart while tugging Sen away. "Like me."

"If you're so smart then let me see you do the groceries yourself," he said looking down at her.

She turned her head in the general direction where Misa had gone.

"I think I'll just join her."

"You're staying right here and helping me out," Sen scowled, wrapping his fingers around hers while watching her grin.

A comfortable silence fell over then as Sen filled the cart with the necessary ingredients . The familiar sounds of the department store filled in their silence.

"Oh," a surprised voice whispered. Sen turned away from the vegetables to find a pink haired girl looking at Kaira and him.

"Hi!" recognition laced Kaira's voice, she walked away from Sen pushing the cart towards the short girl.

"Kaira," the girl started, her voice timid. "I noticed you weren't at school, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I just caught a fever," Kaira lied.

"Take care," after a second thought she added. " I could bring over the missed assignments for you."

"Oh no it's fine Sen helped me out with it," Kaira said pointing a finger at him. The pink head turned to face him as an unreadable look crossed her face.

"That's great," she said, nodding. "I'll see you at school then?"

Kaira hummed in agreement and watched her walk away.

"Isn't she the girl you like?" Sen asked, walking towards the cart, his arms filled with potatoes.

"HUH?" Kaira's hands flew to her flushed cheeks. "N-nothing like that. What are you even talking about, you idiot.

Sen watched in amusement as he saw her grow even more flustered by the second. If memory served him right he clearly remembered Kaira mentioning the girl before.

"Yeah sure," he nodded.

"I don't like her," Kaira insisted, hitting him on the arm. "I just said I thought she was pretty and that was like three years ago during first year."

"Mhm," he nodded his head again, tossing broccoli into the cart.

"You're the worst," Kaira mumbled.

"Better be nice to me," he started. "Or I'll poison your dinner."

Not being able to come up with a verbal response she slipped her cold fingers under his shirt knowing how much he hated it.

"Jesus woman," he flinched away from her, startled.

Soon they were leaving the store with their arms occupied with bags and Misa trailing along. The ride back home was just as loud much to Sen's displeasure.

"Get the rice in the cooker, will you," Sen said, nudging his chin towards the cooker that sat on the kitchen platform.

Sen sat down at the table, leaving the vegetables to cook for a while.

"Have you heard of the carnival?" he asked as he scrolled through his texts.

"Hmm? What carnival," Kaira replied, still struggling with the cooker.

"Nathan was talking about it the other day," he said. "Apparently it's a big deal."

"Are you going?" Finally done with the task she had, Kaira took the seat opposite to him.

"I don't have much of a choice Nathan will drag me along either way." He shrugged.

Kaira hummed in response thinking that going would be a nice change. A pop up notification caught her eye. She read the text and then read it again. Her shoulders instantly relaxed as she felt the weeks of stress leave her body. A dazzling smile split her face as she pointed towards her phone while looking at a confused Sen

"My father is leaving for Germany for a few weeks."

He smiled back at her, genuinely happy for his friend and also glad that she will not be in harm's way for a while. But the conflicting nature of her expression and words stung his heart. No child was supposed to feel relief seeing their parent leave. 

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short chapter<3
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