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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Even though Kai was on the other side of the street, he still caught sight of what was going on very clearly. His mouth was hanging agape as he stared at the window of a restaurant where a man and a woman were sitting across each other.
A familiar woman and an unfamiliar man.
The next thing he knew, he was already crossing the street and had his face plastered on the glass window, scrutinizing the situation.
Alice jumped out of her seat when she saw Kai outside—his hands on the window and cheek pressing onto the cold glass, with this sort of 'betrayed' and flabbergasted look on his face. Thank goodness the man she was with excused himself to the restroom. If he didn't, he would be able to see how embarrassing it was, and she wouldn't want that of course.
"What are you doing there?!" The girl mouthed.
Good thing Kai was skilled at reading other people's mouths.
"What're you doing there?!" He returned the question.
"Sitting!" Alice emphasized, trying to make sure that Kai would understand what she was saying, with such a huge barrier in between them and all.
"Who's the guy?!"
An awkward laugh escaped from her lips, "Long story."
After her response, Kai pointed at himself then at the empty chair in front of the girl.
"What?" She asked, confused at his gestures.
"I'm—" Kai poked his chest with his index finger, "going in!" Then, he pointed inside the restaurant. He exaggerated how his mouth opens every time he spoke so that the message would get across properly, even if he looked comical.
"Huh?!"
Alice stood up from her seat as she watched him hurriedly run towards her as if it was an emergency.
"What's going on?"
"What?"
"Who are you with? He looks old! Why are you with him?!" He scanned the restaurant and their table, speculating something.
"Are you on a date?!"
Alice's entire face scrunched up, revolted by what he said.
"Okay, look,"—She sighed—"let me explain before he gets back and sees you here. Tamara's sister—you know Tamara right?—she set her up on a blind date. She never wanted to go, but she has no choice because she would get an earful from her family if she didn't. She was on her way, but her prof suddenly called for her, and it was important. So—"
"So you're like a sit-in?" Kai shot her a frown.
"Er, yeah? If you could call it that. It's just until she gets back. I already told him that I'm not the one he was supposed to be meeting with."
Kai crossed his arms, unimpressed.
"You're keeping him company? Why did you agree?"
'Yeah, why did I agree?' was what she asked herself as well. For someone like Alice who is bad at speaking with strangers and dealing with small talk, it was odd for her to accept such a favor, even if it was from a dear friend. Perhaps because the events that had led to this circumstance was all too sudden so she didn't get the chance to say something? Who knows.
She just blankly stared at Kai, with words stuck at her throat.
"Pardon?"
The two turned their heads at the guy who neared them, wiping his hands with a handkerchief.
"Do I know you?" The man asked. He looked like he's in his mid 30's, with an unironed polo suit and a slightly unkempt appearance.
Kai squinted his eyes at the elder, "Now that I look closely, you do look familiar." He scanned him from head-to-toe.
"You're the geezer hanging out with college girls!"
The man nervously glanced at everyone around them; then at Alice, who was stunned as she looked at Kai. She promptly grasped him by the arm and turned her back away from the man.
"Hey! What are you doing?!" She whispered.
"More like what are you doing?! Who let you guys hang out with a pedophile?!"
"I told you! It's a blind date for Tamara! Her sister set her up!"
"Jesus, is her sister demented or something?!"
"Do you know each other?" The older man glared at Kai, "Miss, please tell him to leave. This is a private matter and he's disturbing us."
He then sat down, "Now, where were we?"
"Aren't you banging younger girls, creep? I saw you with one sometime ago."
It was pretty transparent, with the uptight tone of his voice, that Kai was pissed off. Like, really pissed off. But what made Alice genuinely concerned was that the exasperation wasn't visible on his face at all. He looked composed, despite the storm brewing inside of him.
The man smirked instead for an answer.
Alice jerked when Kai grabbed the man by the collar, fury slowly showing in his eyes. Only in his eyes.
"You didn't answer my question."
"W-What the fuck do you want?!" He tried to remove the younger's hands but failed to do so as Kai's grip on him tightened even further.
"T-The one you saw was my younger sister, okay?! S-So could you please let go?!"
Before he could go on, Kai caught a brief glimpse of Alice with his peripheral vision. She was biting down hard on her lip, having no idea what she should do. Hearing the people gasping and whispering around him made him realize that he was causing a scene—for a good reason though. So out of respect, especially for Alice, Kai closed his eyes, exhaled, then hardened his jaw to calm his nerves down.
He put his hands inside his pockets as he leaned closer to the man's face, drilling his menacing eyes unto his soul.
"Oh? You take your sister to motels?"
Cold sweat trickled down the man's forehead, "That wasn't . . . How did you—"
Kai grabbed Alice by the wrist, still leering on the man.
