Zuro

👑III👑

It had been a month since the argument and classes and extracurricular activities had started. Zyah had been avoiding Kyan ever since they'd adopted the puppy and agreed on the name Zuro.

They took turns at feeding him and when Kyan was out at soccer training, Zyah had taken Zuro out for walks. Kyan would walk into the house after training amused that the dog would be curled beneath Zyah as they both slept.

Zyah had also set up a study group with three other students from her classes. Shannon, Alaina and Geoff.  So whenever Kyan had no training, on a Monday and Thursday the three of them would go to the library and do the work together  with Zyah instead of like the rest of the week where they'd have to struggle on their own.

It was a Thursday afternoon and Geoff was rambling excitedly about some girl he'd met on his way back to his dorm room. "So we agreed to meet at the third quarter party tomorrow tonight." He finished as Shannon turned to Zyah. "Why haven't you said a word about the hunk you're living with?" She couldn't suppress her eyeroll. "We're just bestfriends. We always wanted to be roommates. That's why we're not on campus."

Zyah explained the situation as best she could without crying. She missed him but they were both stubborn and neither would come out and apologize, what made it worse was that she was at fault. "Jesus Captain." She heard his gruff voice before being pulled out of her chair. "Let go of me Kyan."

Angrily, she pulled out of his grip. Her friends stared at the guy behind her. Alaina seemed worried as her forehead wrinkled. Zyah turned to face him and when she realised he'd been crying. Her resolve softened and her anger dissipated. "Kyan, what's wrong?"  She whispered, she hated when he looked so distraught. Then suddenly she panicked. "Where's Zuro? Kyan is the puppy okay?"

Kyan felt weak, he couldn't bring himself to tell her, his legs shook before giving in, he fell to his knees and fresh tears fell from his face as Zyah embraced him. He was tall, his head reached her stomach on his knees and she held onto him, confused. "Zyah. I'm sorry Captain. I'm so so fucking sorry. I really didn't want you to go through this, I'm sorry Captain. I'm fucking sorry."

He kept repeating this, over and over again.  Why is he sorry. "What did you do Kyan?"  He looked up at her with blood shot eyes. "I wish I could've done something Zyah. That's my problem." She frowned confused. "Kyan, where is my dog?" She asked sternly. At any other time that would have amused him but not today.

His jaw was taut and Zyah couldn't help the uncomfortable feeling in her stomach as he grabbed her belongings and led her out of the library. When she saw the dog tied up on a leash outside of the building. "Way to cause a scene, you fucking idiot!"

He flinched because he knew that anger and the sadness that was about to cloud her now wasn't a good combination. "It's not about the dog Zyah. Vernon called you five times within fifteen minutes." Zyah pulled her phone from her pocket and lo and behold.

Five missed calls from Vern

"So, he reached you didn't he? Because that's what he does, he calls you when he's not around to reprimand me as if he were my father, well I'm going to call my dad and let him know how Vernon wants to replace him!"

Kyan once again flinched, how was he going to tell her? How was he going to tell her that her parents were way out of reach?

He watched her try and try to get hold of her father. Knowing that he wasn't going to pick up, Kyan pulled the phone from her ear. Shook his head and pulled her into a hug. "I'll tell you at home."  He picked the dog up and put him in the backseat of the car, waited for Zyah to get comfortable before closing the door for her and getting into the drivers seat.

When they reached the house, Zyah had Zuro in her lap as they sat on the couch watching Kyan pace up and down. "Zyah. Vernon called me because he knew that what I'm about to tell you he couldn't say over the phone."  Zyah frowned, but kept quiet. "I'm listening." She saiud eventually after Kyan said nothing either

Kyan sighed heavily before blurting it all out. "Captain, your parents were in a car crash early hours of this morning, your father asked Vernon not to get you worked up about anything but they passed on just an hour ago."

Her head was spinning, her heart was burning, or maybe it was breaking, she didn't know how it felt, but she didn't like this new feeling. "No, no they wouldn't. Mamma said that when I got home from college, she'd have my office ready and she'd read all my books and brag about me to Mrs Patters and Ms Livia. We had it all planned out."

Kyan watched her shake as she spoke, knowing that he wasn't ready for her breakdown. "Papa, he wasn't supposed to go either, remember how he'd tease that he'll be the one walking me down the isle on our wedding day?"  Kyan let out a small smile, Pappa Cardin was the only one who knew how Kyan felt about Zyah and promised not to say a word, unless Kyan took too long. "I never even had a serious boyfriend yet and he left."

Zyah's empty eyes met her bestfriends teary pair as he slowly knelt before her. There was so many emotions flowing through her, she didn't know which one to give into. Eventually her tears fell and she'd cried until she probably couldn't anymore. Kyan held onto her as she did, soothing her, and also feeling her pain.

He knew that apologising wouldn't help a bit neither would telling her that things were going to be alright. So he just let her cry until she was ready to call her brother.

The two had talked on the phone for hours in her room. Kyan knew that they needed their own time to mourn together and he wasn't going to invade it. It wasn't until he'd heard a shrill scream coming from Zyah, that he barged into her room.

"I'm sorry Captain, I know it hurts."  He kept saying that until her sobs died down. He pulled her into the position to lay down. She then turned to face him. "I want to go home Kyan, I need to be with my brother." She whispered, the pain couldn't be more evident in her voice than what was on display in her eyes.