My Beloved

Chapter Three

~KAIRA~

I stomped through my small apartment in search of Kalu. That dog is so dead today. I have had enough of his mischief.

(You say this every single time when Kalu does this, Kaira; it has become our routine now, baby.)

No, this time I'm dead serious. Why am I justifying myself to my own subconscious? You shut the fuck up and let me focus on the job at hand in peace.

(You say this too every time.) My subconscious replied in a sing-song voice. That bitch. Yeah, now I'm swearing at myself.

My apartment is small in size, a living room attached to a kitchen and my bedroom, which can fit my queen size bed and a cupboard. But it's cute and enough for a single girl like me.

I reached my bed and bent down to look for Kalu. I have already searched behind the curtains, under the small sofa I have in my living room and the only place left now was this. There he is, his green eyes blinking and peaking innocently at me. I went behind the bed and picked up the little fur ball by his mane. After putting him on the bed, I went to take the cane out of the cupboard.

(Oh, not this again! You are not going to use the cane this time either. So don't bother taking it out from the cupboard.)

"I told you to leave me alone. Okay, yes, I'm not going to use it. But at least it'll scare him enough to not pull this stunt again, you know" I reply in my head.

(Not going to work this time too but go ahead and satisfy your soul, young lady.)

"Why, thank you."

I went back to where Kalu was and looked at him sternly. "Who do you think of yourself, you little thing. Every time I warn you about chewing on things like my favorite pair of shoes or my books, or any other thing from the apartment, you still go ahead and do just that. Enough is enough now! I'm not going to let you off the hook so easily this time. So, prepare yourself for what is coming your way now!"

I raised the cane to scare him, my face devoid of expression. However, what I saw in front of me baffled me, causing me to halt midair. Kalu was looking at me with his signature puppy-dog eyes, his head tilted to one side, his mouth forming a slight smile, and his tongue sticking out. Here, I'm trying to scare him, but he is sitting there looking all innocent and cute, with a happy face on top of that. As if he knew I don't have the guts to beat him in this lifetime, at least. Am I that bad of an actor?

(Yes, you are.) I made a side-eye face to that bitch for popping up in my head again.

"Don't think you are getting away this time by giving me that puppy-eyed look, Kalu," I told him, and as a result, it only made a bigger smile appear on his stupidly adorable face. I huffed and sat down beside him, eventually falling flat on the bed, looking up at the ceiling with my legs hanging from the side. Kalu started coming slightly closer and then began to lick my face, in the same manner he did when we first met. Again, it made me think of that night.

I have started believing my best friends now. That night was just a dream which my mind came up with due to the lack of dating activities altogether in my real life. But what about the note and the feather? How can anybody explain that? I get up from my position and go around my bed to the small bookshelf I have on the aligned wall. I take out four to five books and place them beside Kalu on the bed, warning him in the process with my eyes not to chew on them. But somehow, he looks more interested in what I'm about to do than those books. With his tail wagging in his sitting position and his tongue sticking out, he keeps looking at the bookshelf. I then take out a long midnight blue coloured feather sitting at the back of the shelf behind those books I just took out. It still has that simple yet tormenting note attached to it.

"What is happening in my life? Am I going nuts? One can think that night was just their wishful thinking and move on if it's not for this physical proof. Ahhhhhh! I'm so fucking confused!" I exclaim to no one in particular. Then I turn to ask Kalu the same questions I ask him every day, whenever I take out this feather.

"Am I crazy, Kalu? Am I crazy for still believing in him and having that hope of him returning one day?" and, to my surprise, he nods his little head sideways. Something I have known about Kalu so far is that he is way more intelligent than a normal dog, but what he did just now is a first. I sit on my knees, facing him, so that we are now eye-to-eye in height. I stare into his unique, deep, dark green eyes and try to figure out whether he's real or not. Sometimes I feel him watching or answering me as if he can understand everything I'm doing or telling him at that moment.

So far, he used to bark once to say yes and twice to say no, which was much more dog-like than nodding his head. That is a human trait, and I still can't wrap my head around that action of his. I often saw him growling at guys who approached me while we took a walk in the nearby park. I am aware of the fact that dogs don't like any other dog's scent on their owners, but this little guy here starts barking whenever he sniffs any other guy's scent or perfume on me. As if, according to him, I'm not allowed to meet or date any man. Hence, I haven't yet brought my male best friends over to my house. Kalu is surely going to throw a fit when that happens. Mia, my one and only girl best friend, is the only one allowed to be inside my apartment. Kalu was distant with her too, but at least he didn't growl or bark at her.

After staring deep into his eyes and trying to figure him out for a minute or two, I gave up. I turned around while sitting in the same manner and started arranging books back on the bookshelf while hiding the feather once again in its place. I heard my cell phone ringing on the kitchen island. I got up and started walking out of my bedroom, knowing too well Kalu was following at my feet. I looked at the time; it was half an hour to five, and I knew it was Mia calling to remind me of our meeting at six.

"You haven't started getting ready yet, right?" Mia spoke from the other end, knowing me too well.

"I have more than an hour to do that, Mia; why would I start getting ready this early? Besides, I don't take that much time to get ready like you, you know." I replied.

"I know, and that's why I'm calling to remind you that you should put some time and effort into getting ready today, Kaira. Today's meeting is really important for both of us, and although we are not to wear formals or official attire considering the setting of the meeting, it is as official as it can get. So try to ditch your loose t-shirts and normal blue jeans for today and wear something nice for once."

"Ayee! I dress nicely every day!"

"Yes, yes, if you say so. Honestly, you look effortlessly beautiful in anything, but do that; putting in some effort today is what I'm saying."

"Okay, okay, I'll find something nice to wear," I replied after hearing her buttered-up words.

"If you don't come up with anything, let me know. I'll swing by the apartment and lend you some of my outfits."

"No need to do that. I already have a dress in my mind that I haven't worn in a long while, so it's pretty new." As much as I admired Mia's dressing style, I doubt I'll be able to pull off those outfits. So I declined her help politely. After deciding to meet at the cafe directly, where the meeting was going to be, and saying our goodbyes, we hung up.

Mia was an orphan like me; the only difference was that her father left a lot of generational money and acres of grassland someplace away from the city for her when he died of an untreatable illness two months ago. Looking at the bond we share now, anyone will be surprised to know that we just met two months ago, on the day of her father's funeral. I was on duty for one of my part-time jobs, serving coffee to customers. A lady walked in and ordered a black coffee with two drops of honey. I went back to the counter after serving some of the customers their respective drinks. While passing the lady, I noticed her beautiful black dress, which made heads turn, but if her puffy red eyes with a solemn expression were to go by anything, then the dress was meant for a funeral rather than a date.

As she was waiting for her order, a father-daughter duo walked in, laughing at some inside joke of theirs and high-fiving in the process. Seeing them, her eyes filled to the brim, and she started running out of the cafe. I ran after her to hand over her drink. I don't know what speed this lady had, but at one moment I saw her just opening the cafe door and the next in the middle of the street.

The street was empty for the most part at the start, but then I saw a blue sports car coming towards her at full speed.