FOOLS AND GENIUSES | ✓

CHAPTER 43

Vijay and Kiara bickering on the airplane above.

ikigai

(n.) your reason for being

Laughing at something Vijay said, Kiara stepped out of the production house as the afternoon sun warmed her skin. Thousands of fans had gathered for even just a glimpse of the actors as they crowded around and suddenly everything felt too confined. The air felt trapped in her lungs as bodyguards barricaded against the fans pushing and shoving all around them. Limbs reached out through any possible opening to grab at her as people tugged at her clothes. She stumbled past them, grunting with the effort of pushing through towards their car as the faces around her blurred. In the corner of her eye, something sharp glinted against the sunlight as she squinted against the bright glare.

Kiara barely had enough time to react upon hearing a shout of agony as a burly man elbowed past the crowd, toppling over a few bystanders to charge straight at Vijay with his knife plunging forwards. She knew that face, in fact she was sure she had seen it somewhere else before and that's when it hit her– the attacker looked awfully similar to one of the bodyguards constantly hovering around Amit. This wasn't random, it was a planned ambush and one that was meant for her.

Snapping out of her shocked state, Kiara looked down at her hands to see them coated in thick warm blood as it glimmered in the daylight. The piercing sound of someone screaming left her ears ringing, only to realise it was her. She dropped to her knees, frantically stripping off her jacket and rolling it up when the body before her unexpectedly morphed into Chris. Falling back onto her arms, she scraped her elbows in the process but hardly felt the sting in shock of it all.

She whimpered at the sight before her, hands hovering in panic over his body as she struggled to reign in her terror, "This is all my fault, my fault, my fault, my–"

He took shuddering breaths as he fought against the pain to gasp, "B-breathe."

"Shit," she strained to smile down at him as she applied pressure against the stab wound with her discarded jacket, "Yeah I'm breathing, bub."

"T-this is n-not your f-fault, okay?"

"Okay."

"Y-you're okay right, t-trouble?"

Even through all the pain, he only seemed to care about her as she bitterly laughed, "For once in your life don't worry about me, hero."

Focussing all her attention at stopping the gaping wound from bleeding out, Kiara failed to notice Chris slowly drifting out of consciousness as the blood loss slowly forced his eyes shut. Trying to elicit any response, she shook his shoulders and gently tapped his cheek but to no avail. She sat back on her haunches as the grim realisation that he was gone hit her with unbearable force. Releasing a heart-breaking wail, she fell upon his body as tears streamed down her cheeks and seeped into his shirt.

Abruptly shooting up in her seat, Kiara woke up from the nightmare momentarily disoriented by her surroundings as she hysterically reached out in front of her. She sighed in relief at the sight of Vijay unharmed and calmly sleeping but still imperceptibly ran her hands over his body to confirm. In her panic, she hadn't noticed Chris reach over and interlace their fingers as she whipped around to face him with teary eyes.