Dear Citlali [Completed]

Chapter 12. Kai

After a hot shower, I sat on my couch, with a cup of coffee and I closed my eyes, rewinding in my mind the day that had passed. I had shared a nice moment with Dovi at the gym. I admitted I was in great need of blowing off some steam too, and it was a good opportunity to not do it alone.

Dovi had this strange capacity to be mysterious and completely open at the same time. Maybe it was an age thing. Citlali and they had lived so long compared to me. Or maybe it was a vampire thing. I didn't know much about vampires, but I assumed their life had their own challenges.

There was a darkness, for sure, that haunted Dovi's and Citlali's eyes, like all the not-so-many vampires I had ever met. But in Dovi, there was something else. It was in their voice, the way they speak. The best I could explain it was that their voice connected them to the present while their eyes reminded us of the past. 

And there was me. The young immortal. I thought they must find me and my reactions ridiculous. The immature one. That's what Ameyal had thought, even if she hadn't said it like that. Citlali and Dovi would not show it either, even if they felt the same way.

Dovi always listened to me with intent, like what I was saying was important, like I was important. But it could be just politeness.

With Citlali, it was different. She was so tender, even in this state of anger of hers. Her presence seemed to wrap everything and everyone in the room in a hug. But I was the one who wanted to hug her, to chase her sadness away.

My mind stopped wandering. I opened my eyes, and I suddenly realized where my thoughts were going. Damn. I knew them for less than a week. And I could have studied their face for entire days, just to decipher every one of their emotions.

I took another sip of my coffee and stood up to look through the window.

Come on. I had to get a grip.

They were stuck with me but they didn't choose it. We were there for Ameyal.

I went to bed, ready for another night of insomnia. But I fell into a dreamless sleep and woke up the next morning as exhausted as before.

When Citlali sent a message saying she wouldn't show up and that she would see us the day after, Dovi told me they would go check on her at her hotel. And I hesitated between staying home and going to the house alone. I shook off my anxiety, took a deep breath, and decided to keep on with the research. After all, pacing my apartment would probably make me even more nervous. It was better to keep myself busy.