An Immortal's Favour

Jack- Not Her

*

Almost two days after Mother had left for her business trip, I got a call from Gale. She rambled apologies for not being able to ring me over the past week, to which I replied, "It's fine, it's fine. Calm down, I can hardly understand you."

"Sorry, but so much has happened! I don't really have time to tell you now; I need to be somewhere in a few minutes, but I hope you're doing well."

"I'm okay, don't worry. Oh- just before you go, I wanted to let you know I'll be joining you in a week, around about. I'm just waiting on Mother to send something over to the house first. She's on a business trip right now."

"Tell her I said hello when you get the chance. Goodbye!"

For the next few hours, I searched through the car, making sure that everything for the trip was still in order, and swapped out some of the clothes I'd packed with some other ones in the house.

The weather was pleasant again that day, and so I chose to spend the rest of the morning out and about. I'd been resting on a bench underneath a large, leafy tree in City Park for around half an hour when I spotted someone familiar strolling along the pale, stone pathways that wound through the grass. I nearly choked on my yam.

No, that can't be her...can it?  I sprang forward, not noticing the box of fried yam I'd been eating from had slowly started to slip from my hand.

Kaia ambled to the same vendor I'd been so happy to talk to fifteen minutes earlier. She smiled, the baggy legs of her patterned culottes fluttering in the June breeze as the vendor got to work, piling yam into one of his cardboard boxes without a care in the world. I leaned forward even more, which only proved to be a mistake.

"Shit." Ketchup dribbled down my beige slacks, my food falling to the floor, and I wiped at my trousers anxiously. Kaia reached her hands forward and took her food from the vendor, handing him some money and facing him with her large, glossy lips still stretched in that smile of hers. She turned and started walking in my direction, her dark sunglasses making her seem even more intimidating. When she saw me, hands on the floor, picking up dirty pieces of yam, her head tilted to one side and with one hand, started to pull some tissues from her bag.

It was inevitable that I'd run into my ex-fiancée eventually, but I didn't think it'd be when we were both hunched over the floor, gathering up bits of soiled food. After throwing away the starchy mess that'd been my lunch into a bin, I started to step away, unsure of how much longer I could stay there with my hands shaking violently. But Kaia saw.

Oh, she saw.

"Wait, don't leave. Please." Kaia brushed her free hand through her hair, which- like that of other fashionable women -had been cut short. The chunky bracelets on her forearms slid down.

I swallowed and took a seat, out of curiosity if not anything else. Though, a feeling of dread still kept me from saying anything right away.

"I didn't think I'd see you here," Kaia started, picking at her yam with the tip of her smooth nail as she sat on the seat beside me.

"That makes two of us. How's Akosua doing? I haven't heard from her in a while."

"She's doing fine in Anglia."

"Is she still afraid of catching bad press from me?"

"It's not like that." Kaia sighed. "She just needs a break from-"

"From what?"

"Look, no offence, but you haven't been handling things very well. You're giving off a lot of negative vibes."

"And you expected different?" I deadpanned, folding my arms. "Actually, forget it. I don't have a lot of time on my hands, so..." I moved to stand, but Kaia held onto my wrist. Her grip, though firm, was gentle, as if touching me alone would've been enough to send me running. I squirmed, pulling my arm out of her hand, but stayed seated; I'd decided to listen to her, so I might as well have stayed committed.

"I've made up my mind," Kaia stated. "Jack, we should give things another try."

"You- what?"

"I know what I said before. And I'm not here to demand anything from you. All I'm saying is that I'm willing to try again. I- I miss you. I read all of your letters. And the telegrams."

"You can't be..."

"I'm dead serious. I'd planned to tell you later, but, since you're here now, I didn't want to waste the opportunity." She crossed one shapely leg over the other.

Of all the times we could've been having this conversation, it had to be that. I swear, my back was about to snap from the bulk of my stress.

"You want this?" I asked, because I had to have been dreaming. But there she was, eyes shining, dark skin glowing with her typical radiance, offering me a second chance that I may or may not have deserved.

"Don't you?"

"I don't know," I said and immediately regretted it, thinking I'd gone and ruined my only chance.

Kaia nodded, her head barely moving. She got up, brushed down her trousers with one hand. "Take your time. Your mother knows my new number, so if you ever feel like talking-"

"I get it," I interrupted, feeling as scared as I was relieved.

She shrugged, eyes turning from mine. Her biting down harshly on a piece of yam was the last I saw of her; I couldn't bring myself to watch her leave for a second longer. The air around crackled with all the pent-up energy in me and was heavy with the residual scent of Kaia's sharp perfume.

For the rest of the day, our conversation still occupied my thoughts. But, with time, something more troubling began to claw at my mind, even more persistently than the thought of my ex-fiancée. The urge to pay a visit to my old apartment gnawed at my head and became harder to ignore. When I watched television it was there. When I read, it muddled every word on the page. Damn, even cooking wouldn't get rid of it. Coming to the conclusion that enough was enough, I put everything, utensils and all, in the kitchen away, cleaned up after myself and hurried out of the house.

I didn't see a point in wasting any more petrol, and a quick hop on the tram proved sufficient. My old apartment was in the Nadoma neighbourhood, a quiet, sensible closed community where trouble didn't tend to stir much. And even after the fight, even after moving back in with Mother two years ago, I couldn't bring myself to let go of my rooms just yet.

I drew in a shaky breath and walked on, fingers already closed around the key in my pocket. Once in my apartment complex, I took the elevator to the fifth floor and noticed one of my old neighbours hauling a tote bag over her shoulders, about to shut her door behind her. The elevator doors slid closed and I lifted a hand in greeting.

She looked me up and down with an odd mixture of amusement and surprise. Her lips stretched into a spiteful smile, and she leaned her head back through her door to murmur something to whoever was inside.

"...Didn't think they'd both show..." A chorus of giggles followed, and unimpressed, I moved on.

The plain door of my apartment was a deceiving thing and hid the chaos behind it well. I pulled out my key and braced myself.

*

Discussion: So Jack is met with an old face and old troubles. Should he take Kaia up on her offer?

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