FOOLS AND GENIUSES

CHAPTER 46

Kiara fight training above.

TRIGGER WARNING: This chapter talks about suicide and the aftermath of death so please proceed with caution and sensitivity!

agape

(n.) the highest form of selfless, sacrificial and unconditional love

The minute Kiara collected herself after her outburst that dreadful day, she immediately arranged for the first flight over to Hong Kong, forcing herself to push forwards. Kabir, of course, was more than happy to oblige as he knew she needed the solace of home. Still, while her father and brother provided as much comfort as they could, she had never felt as alone as she did now. The girls had called and texted non-stop for the entire first week but they backed off after receiving non-committal responses, realising she truly wanted to be left alone. 

The first day she arrived, she went straight to her room and remained locked in there for the entire day only to emerge the next day seeming completely fine. Recognising she was in a state of denial, her family anxiously awaited the inevitable breakdown.

Not a day went by where Kiara didn't think of Chris, long to curl up in his warm embrace, miss his cinnamon scent. But that didn't matter when she could no longer look at him without remembering her best friend. He must have called at least fifty times over the time they were separated but she declined each one, reminded of her own failure with every ring. Logically, she knew he shouldn't be punished for her inability to emotionally compartmentalise but her mind didn't seem to care.

For the first two weeks after Vijay's death, Kiara kept her mind busy. Thinking about him made it feel as if her chest was constricting and there was simply too little air to breathe so she threw herself into her charity work. When she was working, she could be someone else entirely– someone who made a difference. Dedicating this humanitarian project to him, she focused on a topic that was close to his heart and roused the Unicef team into establishing safe havens worldwide for vulnerable women. Stepping into a leadership role, even for a few moments, helped quell that overwhelming weight of sadness on her heart.

Rubbing her forehead, Kiara felt herself gradually zone out of an excessively long conference call regarding the logistics of financing her ambitious project. She never truly understood why such advertised charitable organisations fussed over trivial issues when the more immediate need was to facilitate for those less privileged. If needed, she was more than willing to pay for the expenses out of her own pocket. The treasurer, Sean Carney, droned on about the supposed financial liabilities of such a largescale project as she tried and failed to pay attention to his monotonous voice.

Mercifully, the deputy executive director of advocacy, programmes and safeguarding, Anna Kettley, interceded, "While I understand your concerns, Sean, I do believe Kiara's project proposal is entirely feasible. As it stands, we currently have plenty of funding through our charitable trusts and foundations, corporate partners and grant-making bodies."

Sniffing dismissively, Sean sighed, "Anna, I think you're failing to understand that those barely cover the funding for all our other initiatives."

Trying to recollect the seemingly never-ending pages of accounting reports she received, Kiara ran through the various sources of funding Unicef received. Quickly calculating the income and expenses, she perked up upon realising the gap in Sean's logic.