Serendipity ○ All 14

35. Kota

Sitting at the table of the newly opened Café, Kota spun the cup of tea in his hands, waiting for it to cool down. Luke and Marc were bustling back and forth behind the counter, making orders of coffee and baked sweets.

Several survivors stood in line at the register, trading goods for their treats since money had no value any longer. Luke and Marc had insisted it was free and that they just enjoyed doing what they could to bring joy to the people of New Haven, but the residents wouldn't hear it.

So now it looked like they'd be bringing home a bunch or random stuff. There were chicken eggs in a basket, fresh baked bread, and homemade jewelry that the kind old lady spent her time to make. Mrs. Betty was even kind enough to bring fresh milk from her cows, which was used to mix in the coffee.

The rest of their brothers were busy helping prepare for winter, with North being in charge of rationing and canning food. Nathan, Axel, Raven, Silas and Brandon had joined on the hunting trip, with Gabriel and Corey insisting they were too soft to kill an innocent animal.

Sean and Owen had been spending the day setting up the clinic with the help of Gabriel, Victor, and Corey. Everyone was accounted for, even Addie who was still working on the cottages.

It was the third day in a row that she had spent at the nudist colony, and Kota found himself missing her. That was why instead of helping somewhere, he was waiting on his sister to join him at the café so he could clear some things up.

It was torture waking up in the house only to see that Addie had already left for the day, only to return home covered in mud and exhausted. She barely had enough time to shower before she was passing out in someone's bed or the couch downstairs.

Kota realized that it wasn't fair of him to keep putting off the confrontation he had to have with his sister.

Because not only was he missing Addie, so were his brothers - maybe even more. The general mood of the house was crabby, and Kota was ready to crawl out of his own skin. Maybe if he fixed things with Jess, everything would go back to normal.

The bell over the swinging door chimed, and he looked up to see his sister shuffle through the door. She really was all grown up. It had been years, and she wasn't the small mousy brunette any longer. In that child's place stood a young woman. It was high time he realized that. Maybe if he had sooner, they wouldn't be in this situation.

To be fair, he couldn't put all the blame on himself. People were hurting because of her decision to hide things, so she had to learn the consequences of her actions, even if he had to be the one to tell her so.

Jess smiled brightly as she sat across from him in the booth. "Hello, brother."

"Hey, Jess," he replied, his lips twitching up.

"What's the occasion?"

Kota put his hand to his chest and pretended to be wounded. "Are you saying I have to have a motive to invite you for coffee?"

"Absolutely," she said bluntly.

Marc rushed over with a steaming cup of vanilla flavored latte. He winked at Jess. "Enjoy, little gremlin."

"I thought we agreed I'm too old for that nickname," she replied with an angry blush on her cheeks.

Resisting the urge to laugh, Kota watched as she glared at the retreating man. "Give him a break. You know he's teasing."

"I'm getting really tired of you guys treating me like a child."

"We know you're not a child," he replied with a sigh. It was the same argument over and over.