On a seemingly ordinary summer day, timid Alice Gardner crosses paths with Kai Anderson, a notorious figure in their small town. As serendipitous encounters bring them together, they find themselves irresistibly drawn to each other, driven by a mutu...
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Kai was hoping with all his might that he won't end up hitting the glass window of a certain apartment while throwing rocks at the wall beside it. He wasn't planning on trashing around tonight—he's saving that for another time.
He saw the lights on a second ago when he passed by the place, so he figured that someone might be in there, awake but already planning to go to bed since it's almost midnight.
He can't risk breaking a window since he's in so much trouble already, so he was aiming at the wall instead. The noise it would make might at the very least get the attention of the person inside, right?
After a few minutes, he noticed that his plan wasn't working, so he decided to climb up the tree beside the building and try to come up with something.
As he did so, he noticed the window by his left. Kai went near it, sitting on a branch that was extending towards the window.
He made sure that the branch was sturdy enough to support his entire weight before knocking on the window, "Hey! Hey! Open up!" He said discreetly at the same time looking around, as if avoiding something or someone.
"Please? I need you to open up!" He begged.
A full minute later, the window opened and Kai chirped as he squeezed himself through the opening.
He was now inside a stranger's room. He felt his feet sinking into something soft, so he figured he was now standing on a bed.
The lights abruptly turned on, which made him cower on his spot.
"Wait! Don't turn it on!" Kai was covering his eyes with his arms, startled with the sudden brightness.
" . . . What do you want?" Said the person who turned off the lights and opened the dim lights alternatively.
He heaved a sigh of relief and relaxed on his spot, "Thanks by the way. I really owe you one." Kai looked around the place and saw the familiar girl he was thankful to standing by the door.
Kai held his hands up, "Let me explain!" The girl raised an eyebrow at him. "Look, I'm trying to hide from someone, okay?" He stated.
The girl was silent.
"I'm not a bad guy, I promise!" His hands were still up, "So let me stay for just a while, please?"
The girl was obviously flustered. She gulped then nodded, all the while doubting if what she did won't have any consequences.
Kai saw how she was breaking out in a cold sweat, especially after him seeing her slowly lowering the vase she has been holding unto with her shaky hands the entire time; probably had instantaneously grabbed anything that she could use to defend herself from a threat.
"Shit." He whispered to himself, "I didn't think this through." Feeling guilty of frightening a girl with appearing out of nowhere so late at night then suddenly begging her to let a person in hiding in her room, Kai sparked a conversation to ease the tension.
"Hey, we're no strangers to each other, right? I don't bite."
She cautiously approached him whilst gripping onto her pajamas after seconds of contemplating.
"I'm Kai Anderson by the way."
She sat down and stared at him with an anxious expression on her face.
"I figured it's time to introduce myself. We keep on bumping into each other and all . . . "
Now that he mentioned it, it was also a coincidence that he ended up in her room, out of all places in town.
" . . . Alice Gardner."
Kai smiled softly. Alas, he didn't have to wonder what her name was every now and then.
"W–Why are you hiding?" Alice stuttered, still trying to compose the adrenaline rush.
Kai scratched the back of his neck, slightly embarrassed, "W–Well . . . My friends and I were buying alcohol. I was about to pay at the store, but the thing is, I, er, kinda forgot my wallet. And what made matters worse was the kid in midnight shift is new, 'cause I'm close with the usual cashier and he knows how reckless I am and he just lets it slide. My friend joked about stealing the beers instead of paying since they were too confident in me and didn't bring a single coin so no one was really able to pay, so the kid heard and called the cops on us."
"O . . . kay . . . " The amount of foolishness with what he said and remembering the past antics Kai and his friends had done convinced Alice that he wasn't a totally bad guy.
"Long story short, he thought we were playing some prank. Don't you think the kid is too stern? Anyways, why are you still up?"
"Studying."
"Studying?! It's summer!"
"I have a report to make."
"You know, nothing good will ever come if all you do is keep on studying."
The tip of Kai's fingers that were resting on the bed hit something and he noticed that it was an open book.
"Kandinsky?"
Alice's eyes rounded, "You . . . know Kandinsky?"
"I know things."
"You must know a lot about art then?"
"I know a lot of things." Kai smirked, "Mostly about causing trouble." He observed how messy Alice's hair was, and how her eyes were starting to droop and that her pajamas made her look like a child. The thought of it made him smile.
As much as he wanted to stay longer, he thought that he might've been disturbing Alice and any more of her plans to sleep, so he got up and fixed himself. Maybe the people chasing him could be gone now as well?
"I'd love to chat more, but I gotta bounce."
Alice merely watched Kai who opened the window and turned his head from side-to-side, scanning his surroundings.
"By the way, I'm really sorry if I startled you. Won't happen again I swear."
Before closing the window and climbing back down the tree to flee, he took one last look at Alice.
