KARMA COLADA

Chapter Seven

"YOU'RE what?"

Naomi regarded Mila and Xavier's befuddled expressions with a weak smile. "I'm going to Thailand. Tomorrow," she reiterated with a slight shrug of her shoulders.

A pin-drop silence ensued.

Following the tense lunch at Phoenix Cuisine, Naomi returned to the shop to find them both in the midst of alphabetising the corner shelf of second-hand books.

Xavier had agreed to help out at the shop in exchange for free lodging, and fortunately for Naomi, he and Mila seemed to get along quite splendidly.

After all, they immediately ganged up on her the moment Naomi told them the situation. The two of them shared an unspoken look, making Naomi feel like a total outsider in her own sanctuary.

What felt like an eternity passed before Mila became the first to recover from the news, protesting, "Boss, I know I said you should find your own adventure and travel. But I didn't mean this—with a man you barely know, halfway across the universe to a place where you don't even speak the language."

Naomi replied with a dismissive laugh. One that didn't sound sincere, even to her own ears. "I'll be fine, Mils. It'll only be a week!"

In the meantime, Xavier still looked visibly stunned, his green eyes blinking rapidly in thought. He weaved his fingers through his hair, and Naomi couldn't help but let her eyes feather across that marvellous bicep, straining against the sleeve of his white t-shirt.

"It's fucking reckless of you, Nomie," Xavier chided, oblivious to her ogling. "Not to mention, I don't like the guy."

Naomi recoiled in surprise. "You met Leon?"

At the mention of Leon's name, Xavier pursed his lips in disgust, making Naomi wonder just what happened between them to warrant such an adverse reaction.

"Unfortunately. He was a complete asshole, by the way."

"I don't know, I kinda like him," Mila dissented with a feline smirk. "All hot and bothered under that turtleneck, and those blue eyes—" she stopped when Naomi casted her an amused look.

Leon's White Walker eyes popped into Naomi's mind, and she instantly agreed with Mila's sentiment. But she decided it was best to keep it to herself.

"He's...prickly, I admit. But nothing I can't handle," Naomi assured with a confident flip of her straight hair. Although, the lack of response she got gave away Xavier and Mila's skepticism.

"I'm still against you going," Xavier uttered in a serious tone, staring her down as if she were a teenager who got caught shoplifting.

Just beneath the surface of Naomi's skin, irritation brewed. Who was he to stop her, anyway? Xavier couldn't expect her to bow down to his every whim after re-appearing in her life again following a whopping decade of silence and indifference.

Naomi may be a pushover at times, but she was a grown woman capable of making her own decisions—unlike the seventeen-year-old girl who used to hang onto his every word.

And Xavier needed to get that through his head.

His very, very, beautiful head.

"I'm going," Naomi declared, jutting her chin out in defiance. "This is a matter of principle, and I must make good on my mistakes. And that's the end of it."

Xavier knitted his brows together in silent fury. He hated being disobeyed.

Always did.

Thankfully, Mila cut the building tension between them with a proverbial knife, offering a hopeful, "Well, Naomi collected enough good karma in her lifetime to protect her from the evil eye. If anyone deserves a safe passage filled with only sunshine and rainbows, it would be Naomi."