Finding Love in Winter Nostalgia

Chapter Twenty-Four

I am awoken by the harsh autumn sun shining on my face. I groan and turn away to find Kairo's side of the bed empty. I glance at the clock on the bedside pedestal: it reads 07:10.

We slept extremely late last night. Is he seriously incapable of sleeping in just once?

I get out of bed, checking myself in the mirror before leaving the room. I find him in the living room, cuddling his teddy bear, busy on his MacBook. He looks up and beams at me, but I narrow my eyes at him.

"If this stuffed son of a bitch is going to be the reason my boyfriend doesn't return to bed so he can be the sight which greets me when I open my eyes each morning, I will gut it," I say, approaching him.

"Hey! Be nice to Barry. He has feelings, too." He flashes me a dashing, radiant smile.

"A he? So, I've been replaced, huh?"

"Oh, don't be jealous, babe." He chuckles. "Come here." He pulls me down onto the couch and presses a chaste kiss on my lips. "I promise we weren't being naughty; just reading all these articles about you. Last night's posts made the news—big time."

I'd be offended if they didn't.

"Kaizy, what did I say about internet stalking me?"

"That I shouldn't do it because of lazy journalism and misinformation, and to ask you about whatever I wish to know, blah-blah." He rolls his eyes. "But I wasn't stalking you this time. Your Instagram is still logged in on my phone, and it has been going off the hinges with notifications. I've gained over forty-thousand followers overnight, and they're still growing by the second, babe." He turns to me, elation etched on his countenance. "Anyway, I went to look at your posts from last night, and the top comments said you were trending on Twitter. So, I went to check that out and found links to articles about you, which is how I ended up on Google."

"And? What'd they say?"

"Here." He places the Mac on my lap.

There are numerous articles by some of South Africa's biggest media outlets all published in the past few hours.

'DRACO BROWN RETURNS TO SOCIAL MEDIA WITH LIFE UPDATE OF THRILLING ADVENTURES'

'HAS THE PRESIDENT'S SON SECRETLY BEEN STUDYING ABROAD THIS ENTIRE TIME?'

'DRACO BROWN STUNS IN R470,000 CARTIER'

'DRACO BROWN BROMANCE WITH KAIRO, FIRST BORN SON OF BUSINESS GIANTS MARGRET & NKOSIYABO MILANO'

'DRACO BROWN LIVING HIS BEST LIFE ABROAD WITH FRIENDS'

'DRACO BROWN WITH PASSION FOR SINGING AND TO STAR IN NEW COOKING SHOW?'

Attached to the last headline is the picture I posted wearing the cupcake apron.

I can't help but laugh at the absurdity of it all.

"What's funny? Why do you look so happy?" Kairo asks, amused.

It still surprises me how much of a household name Draco Brown is.

"Journalism has seriously gone to shit. What the hell are these headlines?"

"Tell me about it." He kisses my temple and stands up. "May I take you out for breakfast?"

"Yeah, sure."

"Come shower with me."

"Uhh, go ahead without me, baby. I wanna browse through my comments a bit." I continue scrolling the page, reading the headlines. Material comes flying into my face and lands on my lap. It's his pyjamas. By the time I look up, he's already off to the bedroom—butt-naked. "I don't know who the fuck you expect will pick these up!" I shout, and he waves me off.